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Level Up Your Website with Billy Polson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

0:01
Hi.
0:02
This is Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady host of the small Bizchett podcast.
0:06
I want to serve you.
0:07
This pandemic has been so hard on America's small businesses and on just America in
0:12
general.
0:13
If you're ready to start your dream business, boy, do I have a great offer for you?
0:17
I am giving away 1000 copies of my best selling book, become your own boss in 12 months.
0:23
Over a hundred thousand people have this book It has been printed in multiple languages
0:28
around the world, and I wanted to find a way to serve America small businesses in this
0:33
pandemic.
0:33
And so I am giving away a 1000 copies of my book.
0:37
All you have to do to get your copy is head over to begin my biz dotcom slash free offer
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to, you know, sign up for your copy.
0:46
All you have to do is pay shipping, and we will mail one out to you.
0:49
I am so excited about this.
0:51
I wanna serve you, grab your copy today.
0:56
Ending small business failure.
0:58
Welcome to the small biz chat podcast with a number one small business expert, Melinda
1:04
Emerson.
1:05
Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
1:09
you need succeed and live the life you dream of.
1:13
Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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Melinda Emerson.
1:18
Hi, everybody.
1:19
I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
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America's number one small business expert, and I wanna welcome you to small biz chat Now the
1:28
small business chat podcast is a peer to peer interview show that gives small business owners
1:32
a way to get invaluable business insights Now the goal of small business chat is to end small
1:39
business failure, and we want to give our small business audience an opportunity to hear sage
1:44
advice from multiple angles.
1:46
With that, let me introduce my guest, Billy Paulson.
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He is a nationally recognized performance coach, fitness on motor motivational speaker
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and founder and cofounder of Decati as a fitness performance coach.
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He was named by men's Journal magazine, one of the top 100 trainers in America, as well as one
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of the top trainers in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle He also is the founder in
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2015 of Decardi's business movement, which continues to assist 100 of fitness
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professionals worldwide with building and growing a successful fitness business.
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Billy, welcome to small biz chat.
2:26
Thanks, Linda.
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Happy anniversary.
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Oh, thank you.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much for being here.
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Alright.
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Tell me about your background.
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How does one go on personal training and business case.
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Take take me on this story.
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I'll be honest.
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It starts back in 1998, LEAFar Back.
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I graduated from college with a statistics degree and sitting behind a desk was not my
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thing.
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So I did technology for many years and coached on the evenings and thought that was the only
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thing.
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The only way I could do it would be for fun.
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And I honestly, in 1998, I got tired of sitting behind a desk all day, and I took a self
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assessment course.
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And that course, at the end of it, the 6 weeks, I did my presentation of what I loved, and the
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whole class said to me, why are you not a personal trainer?
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So that's when that started.
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I built my independent personal training practice here in San Francisco.
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I did that for 6 years, a tiny small, basement gym, no windows.
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You couldn't even jump rope the ceiling with so low, and I knew there had to be something
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bigger.
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There had to be something better where you could actually jump So my husband was a trainer
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at the time as well.
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And so in 2004, we opened Diakati Fitness together.
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Diakati is an interesting business model that It's like a WeWork for fitness.
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So we run the facility and it allows independent trainers to run their practice out
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of our facility.
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So just before COVID, we had 84 independent trainers that were running their practice out
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of our facility.
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And that's kind of how the business movement came along.
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When we opened, we wanted it to have the 5 star experiences if they were on staff, but to give
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them all the benefits as an independent contractor.
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And we didn't realize that some of those benefits needed to be teaching folks how to be
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better business owners.
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So after years of doing that in house, We decided in 2015.
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You know what?
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We need to take this show on the road.
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There's so many independent trainers.
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There are small studio owners out there.
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That really needed better business owner's skills on marketing and branding and finances.
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Thanks, Suzanne.
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I took some notes from my folks.
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We went out to really make a difference in the fitness industry for helping the small business
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owner.
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And that is I pivoted now, and I just do full time business coaching, business performance
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coaching for, again, studio owners and trainers around the world.
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Wow.
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Okay.
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So what are the leading ways in which, like, I know that you believe that their web site is
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like key.
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And I'm a big fan of that too.
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I believe your website is your number one sales tool.
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So when you jump in and you start coaching your people, that's where you kinda start with the
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website.
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Right?
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What do you kinda help them kinda get focused on that?
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I'll do a little step first, not little, but we'll start with branding.
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Right?
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We'll start with going deep on everything from really finding who their target customer is.
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You mentioned that earlier, being very clear on that.
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As you all know, the fitness industry right now, there are countless options out there.
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So unless you are really smart and a little courageous with defining a narrow target
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customer, do we're fighting against the world right now with virtual training in every single
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person's home.
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So,
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The Peloton people are evil.
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Right?
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The Peloton people are evil.
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They're they're everywhere.
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They're everywhere now.
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So we have really had to go deep with folks on their brand and their target audience, but then
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on their differentiators.
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Honestly, that's probably one of my favorite things to do even above and beyond the website
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is helping fitness business owners really determine how they will not be the same as
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every other of the millions of fitness business owners out there or fitness offerings out
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there.
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And helping them think creatively about that, digging deep on how are they unique in their
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market?
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How are they the leader in their market.
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And most importantly, how are they the best fit for that target customer?
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And really helping folks to find those differentiators is where we start then we come
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to the point of building that foundation, that website.
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So as folks arrive on-site, all of that information is crystal clear.
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Mhmm.
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So if somebody wants to immediately connect with their customer on their website, it's
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about the branding.
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It's about what do I offer and I'm here for you, and they know that you're here for them.
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So now let's talk about mobile, though, because we live in a mobile first world.
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So it's not It's about your website, but it's about it's about this.
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It's like, you know, be people 24% of people now only operate their whole life from a phone.
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Right, and the number is getting higher and higher.
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So how can people make sure that whatever website they have is really engaging mobile
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customers and even looking into mobile advertising and things like that.
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Like, are you helping people with some of that as well?
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So for the mobile side, you bring up an excellent point two things.
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1, over 50% of users are using mobile for their marketing in terms of as they're looking and
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shopping.
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So That's a one in every two people looking for your services.
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So you have to lean into mobile in that way, but even more importantly Google is now using
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mobile as their SEO baseline for deciding their indexing and deciding their rankings on pages.
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So you have to force or even more.
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Make sure that you are your site is mobile friendly and definitely tuned for mobile.
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With that in mind, again, that branding is gonna have to be what really shines through.
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Once you have that clear set of differentiators, on your your website, and
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we'll keep it on the mobile idea.
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When do they come to your mobile website and they pull it up and they have never heard of
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you ever, you've got less than 6 seconds to impress them.
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I call it the drive by billboard idea.
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Like, they're driving down that freeway.
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They're flying in through sites shopping for a personal trainer.
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And you've got 6 seconds to slow them down and to get them to read or see what is attracted to
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them and inspiring to them.
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So before you start heading out of doing lots of paid ads and trying to get people there, do
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the free stuff first.
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Like, go deep and go really strong into branding.
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Make sure when someone arrives on your site, that target customer, they see themselves on
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your site.
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They see pictures of them They see videos of them.
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Folks like them with the same issues doing, like, experiencing a day in the life with you.
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Videos are so valuable in that way because when someone lands on this site, you cannot have
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stock photos in this day and age, especially in the fitness industry.
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Absolutely not.
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It has to be a real person that's already worked with you and that has to be a
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representative of that target customer you're aiming at.
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Right.
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So don't have all the skinny people on the website.
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Is it the biggest mistake?
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That's a big turn off.
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I wanna tell you.
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That's the turn off.
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And half the
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time, that is not who needs our services.
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Why would you put people on there that don't need your services?
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Like, put the folks who are your real customers, the folks who really need help from
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you, and you know what?
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It's a perfect point.
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On the website, make sure your language is spoken from the perspective of the customer and
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their feedback and how things have been for them in using your products and services.
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So, there's a great percentage.
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80% of people will trust what your clients say about you more than what you say about
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yourself.
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So you got 4 out of 5 people who wanna hear what your client said, not the jargon that
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you're writing about yourself.
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So make sure that social proof and testimonials are front and center on your website that speak
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let your clients be your marketing.
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I love it.
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I love it.
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It's like having an unpaid Salesforce, right, when you can engage your customers.
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When you can engage your customers of love on you, it's like pure gold.
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So if I'm a business owner and I'm trying to figure out what can I do to get better
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engagement and conversions?
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Like, what are 2 or 3 ideas I can do?
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Like, right now?
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Like, what are 2 or 3 things I could just implement with my website?
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They can't put yourself in the shoes of someone who who's shopping for your services, but they
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have no idea who you are.
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So all that, you have to constantly come back to them.
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Donald Miller, one of my my favorite business coaches and business mentors, talks a ton about
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the content that you write on your website needs to be spoken in the language of your
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clients and what's in expiring and speaking and explaining to them how would you improve their
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lives?
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So first of all, make sure you're filtering everything on your digital marketing that,
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again, is focused on speaking the language of your clients.
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They see themselves and it's inspiring and exciting to them.
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The next thing, social proof, we already mentioned, On the homepage for that, again,
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drive by billboard.
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No big bodies of texts where they're telling you, like, 10 sentences of their experiences
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with you.
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Think about your differentiators and pop out the sections of your social proof for your
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testimonials that point out your differentiators to your clients.
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Point out what you want them to know about their experiences, put it in a different color,
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put it in a bigger font, and make sure that that social proof is, again, drive by billboard
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friendly on your homepage, then give them a button that leads to the whole story about
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Natalie and the whole story about Elizabeth.
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So they can really see Natalie's goals and what she was looking for when she came to you.
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Or, again, Elizabeth, the breakthroughs that she's had, have those on a big results page.
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But on that home page, drive by friendly, social proof, and that will immediately help a
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potential customer trust Yeah.
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This person knows how to work with me.
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They've worked with folks who have my issues.
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They've worked with folks who have my goals.
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I see myself on that homepage.
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Love it.
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Love it.
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Love it.
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Alright.
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Now SEO has changed a lot.
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Right?
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It's not just about knowing your keywords anymore.
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You gotta know a whole lot more.
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You gotta know a whole lot more than just your keywords Right?
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Talk to me about how you need to be thinking about that if you're gonna play the content
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game.
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Right?
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If you're gonna develop content, what do you need to know about SEO?
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Again, the keywords are the basics.
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For sure.
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Right?
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Like, your headers, make sure get it's just like going back to your target client.
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Make sure you know those keywords.
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Those are still the basics you need to have in there.
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One thing I will see on keywords I'll give you a quick background story.
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When we opened the business movement website in 2015, we were on page 5 for our ideal keywords.
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We spent a year going deep into learning SEO and adjusting it.
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SEO is a long game, and it's a moving target.
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At the end of that year, we moved up to the top of page 1, and it's just from doing the little
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things that I'll tell you right now.
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1, on the keywords, We use the photo names and the URLs are great places to put those keywords
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in the unique versions of them.
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Even more than the headers on the page.
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So think about your URLs.
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Like, we have a page that's called deicati.life/best personal trainer in San
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Francisco.
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That's the URL.
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And so immediately that pops up for that search.
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So that's a great keyword advice.
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The next thing on SEO is think about the functionality of your website and make sure
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that every single interaction, every single purchase, every calendar appointment, all send
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folks through your website.
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Every single visit counts.
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Obviously, the link backs and the functionality on the web in terms of from your social media
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in and out, even better is press, obviously, if you have press that goes in and out, but the
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links in and out of your site are so valuable as well, especially from very reputable
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sources.
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The last thing I'll say as you are trying to, again, define who you are.
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You've got the keywords.
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You've got the functionality.
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Make sure that you're constantly or consistently maybe consistently is better than
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content updating your site.
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So many of my clients come to me.
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I just want the site to look amazing, and I never have to look it again.
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And you can't.
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You especially after this past year, there's so many websites, fitness websites where it looks
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like COVID never happened.
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There's not a mask on-site.
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There's not a safety protocol.
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And you cannot do that.
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So make sure that you are consistently updating your site.
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It feels very current.
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Google being they will love a site that is alive and really flourishing to make sure that
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they are, again, checking and indexing you, re indexing you.
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One of the other things I wanna say too is when you're thinking about SEO, you gotta think
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about, obviously, your keywords, like your c keywords and that kind of stuff in your long
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tail keywords.
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But you also have to be thinking about intent.
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If you don't have content that solves the person's intent, why are they searching?
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You're done before you get started too because that now goes into it like intent the intent of
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the search and the keywords they're using to search are now, like, hand in hand.
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So you really have to be thinking about that as well.
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So it's about what you said relevancy, authority, Volume.
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Like, key word volume.
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How many times are people typing in this word?
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Right?
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Very, very important.
15:29
And you nailed it.
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The content sharing is it also a great way to connect and to gain their trust.
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So many folks hold their most valuable content tight.
15:39
And they're like, you know what?
15:40
I want them to pay for this.
15:41
Absolutely.
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No.
15:42
No.
15:43
You gotta give away your best.
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I'm free.
15:46
Give away your best.
15:47
I'm
15:47
100%.
15:48
Yeah.
15:49
Like, how are
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you gonna get somebody to pay you and you're gonna give them your mediocre content?
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It's like, ah, that it doesn't work like that.
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Now one of the other things that I'm gonna particularly pick on you for a minute in the
16:00
fitness industry, y'all like hype.
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Y'all like hype language or websites.
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And That that has become, like, persona non grata now, but but how do you help people?
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You know, there's a balance between I always have a rule.
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It's not boastful if it's facts.
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Right?
16:19
So if I'm telling you a fact, that's one thing.
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But you have to be careful of running review.
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There's a there's a thin line between boastfulness hype, you know, exaggerated
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because I'm insecure that I don't have the credentials, so I'm gonna exaggerate the little
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credentials that I have.
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Right, to look like I'm somebody where somebody talked to you.
16:40
So you gotta you gotta be careful.
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I can't tell you how many times people send me a bio or something.
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And I'm like, What are they saying in this?
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I'm reading it going.
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No.
16:50
No.
16:50
Don't.
16:51
When you said postpone us, I thought we were gonna say BS.
16:54
Which is bad for you and it is unfair.
16:57
I'm trying to be polite, Billy.
16:58
I wasn't gonna say that, but, I mean, I I do think it's worth noting though that we do have
17:04
this thing about, you know, and and in your industry, you guys are a little guilty of it.
17:08
You guys in the plastic surgeons.
17:10
You guys promised magical results.
17:12
Like, I, you know, I I just kinda wanna I want you to, like, you know, give one public service
17:17
announcement about why this not a good idea.
17:20
I will happily speak for the fitness industry in this way.
17:23
It has to be real.
17:24
It, again, you have to put yourself in the shoes of a customer who has no idea who you
17:31
are.
17:31
And a lot of times, the folks who come to us, They're desperate.
17:35
They've tried a lot of things on their own.
17:37
They've been frustrated by mixed messages.
17:40
And, again, mixed messages due to die that promise things that they won't do or workouts
17:45
are promising.
17:46
So it's gotta be real.
17:47
It's gotta be so genuine.
17:49
That's why, again, I'll go back to videos.
17:51
It's gotta come from you.
17:53
Like, it's hard for you to say something that and say it in a way that sounds real when it's
17:59
it is, like, just a bunch of bull So a video is great.
18:03
Then we go back to that idea of testimonials and let your customers say what it is that as
18:09
amazing about your business.
18:10
Let them say what the results are because those will be real.
18:14
Let your customers be the marketing, and and that would keep it so genuine in this day and
18:19
age, folks really are looking for that connection more, I think, often, even than the
18:25
results.
18:25
They just want them to hear them.
18:27
They want someone to to understand them, and that's where the messaging should go as opposed
18:31
to promising, I don't know, a size 2 or whatever it would be.
18:35
Right?
18:35
Yeah.
18:35
I love it.
18:36
I love it.
18:36
Well, listen.
18:37
Thank you so much for those valuable tips.
18:39
I have enjoyed so much learning from you.
18:42
And when we come right back, we're gonna ask Billie a little bit more about his business
18:46
movement.
18:47
I'm Melinda Emerson.
18:48
You're watching small fish chat live, and we will be right back.
18:52
Hi.
18:53
I'm Melinda Emerson, small biz lady, and I'm known as America's number one small business
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expert.
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20:06
Welcome back to Small Bishop.
20:08
I am with my guest, Billy Paul said, and he is a performance coach and business coach, and he
20:14
is gonna talk to us about how to really take your business to the next level.
20:19
He's a fitness expert.
20:20
So Billy, I know you created the business movement.
20:24
Quickly, tell me what that is.
20:26
For sure.
20:27
It is I always say that we search out folks who want to be pioneering fitness entrepreneurs,
20:33
folks who don't wanna be the same as every other personal trainer, every other studio gen,
20:38
they want to do it in a new, adventurous way so that they are doing So my job, it's very
20:48
similar to yours.
20:49
My job is to help them gain whatever skills and resources they need in order to do that, for
20:53
sure.
20:54
Awesome.
20:55
Awesome.
20:55
Now one last question for you about websites.
20:58
I hate to harp on this, but I know it's important landing pages.
21:02
I have more people tell me that they get turned off from a website from their landing
21:07
experience.
21:08
So you depending on you might come in from a link, you might come in from an ad, How can we
21:13
make sure that we give customers the ultimate landing page experience when they get on our
21:18
website?
21:19
Your job is to make it easy.
21:21
Like, the customer experience that you would deal with, like, for us, you would deal within
21:26
a gym.
21:26
That customer experience doesn't start when they walk in the door.
21:29
It starts when they land on your page.
21:30
It needs to be easy.
21:32
It needs to be very concise and not feel frustrating to them.
21:35
So especially for folks that have a wide variety, of target customers or a wide variety
21:41
of products and services, having that landing page that sends them directly for what they're
21:48
looking for It sends them directly to coaching or to a course or to a specific product.
21:55
That will make their customer experience truly like boosted to that 5 star on your website as
22:01
well.
22:01
For us, for example, the business when we we built what we call the customer user experience
22:06
tool, So when someone lands on our site, they immediately tell us that they're a trainer or a
22:11
gym owner.
22:12
And then the the site is completely reindexed only to give them the data that they need.
22:18
So anything that you can do, that's a unique way of taking all the data you have to share
22:24
with clients and the product and services, filter it down to make it so simple and easy
22:28
for them to find what they need within 1, 2 clicks Max.
22:32
Make it easy for them.
22:33
Love it.
22:34
Love it.
22:35
Billy, what is your favorite favorite podcast?
22:38
You know, I apologize gonna go fitness industry.
22:40
It's the fitness business podcast, but I will give a little disclaimer that no matter what
22:45
your small business is, there always excellent nuggets in there that'll help you out.
22:49
So fitness business podcast.
22:50
Love it.
22:51
Love it.
22:51
What is your favorite business app?
22:54
Favorite business app.
22:57
Asana.
22:57
Asana has been so helpful for our team in terms of management and sharing projects and
23:03
deadlines and keeping us on task, Asana, for sure.
23:06
Alright.
23:07
Good one.
23:07
Good one.
23:08
Alright, Billy.
23:09
What's your favorite old school marketing tip?
23:11
I don't want it to be too similar, but my uncle used to always tell me you can never have too
23:15
many friends.
23:17
So it's about having a glow and walking in every single conversation is one that will take
23:22
you somewhere.
23:23
So, yeah, always looking for your next friend.
23:25
Alright.
23:25
That's a borderline, but I'm a give you that one.
23:28
Okay?
23:29
Alright.
23:30
Billy, what's your favorite business book?
23:33
No.
23:33
I promise this is one I had already.
23:35
Mike McCallaway's clockwork.
23:37
Hands down for folks that having trouble micromanaging, and they've gotta be better on
23:42
delegating clockwork.
23:43
It's excellent.
23:44
Oh, I'm gonna tell Mike McCallis.
23:46
He's got some fans up in here.
23:48
Alright.
23:49
You guys are awesome.
23:50
Thank you so much for being here.
23:52
If you want more information about how to start and grow a successful small business, head on
23:56
over to my blog.
23:57
Succeed as your own boss.com to get more information.
24:01
And we always say here, at smallbizchat.
24:04
Our mission is to end small business failure, but I leave you with this.
24:08
You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
24:12
God bless everybody.
24:13
Good night.
24:16
Thank you for listening to the small biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
24:21
For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
24:27
Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.