Latest / Curiously Guided Podcast / Ep.09 | Do You Even NEED a Website? A More Honest & Holistic Perspective

Transcript

Ep.09 | Do You Even NEED a Website? A More Honest & Holistic Perspective · Curiously Guided Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to the Curiously Guided Podcast, where your hosts, Shay and Mariah, two intuitive business strategists exploring the intersection of entrepreneurship, spirituality, and the subconscious mind.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you're interested in exploring and learning how to integrate strategy with energetics to help you grow a profitable business in a way that actually feels good, then you're totally in the right place.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so in today's episode, this is I feel like I say this every time, but this is one of my favorite topics.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to be talking about websites.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And before you switch to another episode, just like hold on a second.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're coming at it from a more honest and holistic perspective.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: So me and Shay, we both got into like this online business space being website designers.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: So what better perspective can you get than two ex website designers that decided to get out of website design?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like it's just it's the perfect foundation.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: This episode, like we haven't even recorded yet.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: We're just obviously doing it on the fly, but like I already know that it's going to be super powerful because we're just going to riff back and forth.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I'm just I'm really excited for this conversation.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: And just to give you, the listeners, some background, Ray and I actually kind of um bulleted out some topics we wanted to cover.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh our initial brain dump was more like a four-hour episode.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we're actually gonna break this down.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: We have quite a bit we want to say about websites.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like Mariah said, both of our backgrounds are in the website world and we both still work in the website world in kind of like um an ancillary way these days.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a lot to say.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: We have learned a lot.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we know a lot about um just a lot of, I often describe the website world as like the wild, wild west.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: It is everything's out there at any price point, and it's really a mixed bag.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so our hope and our intention for this conversation in this bigger series about websites we're gonna do is to really um rethink the traditional wisdom and knowledge that's out there.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a lot of things have changed, even in the time from when Mariah and I first started until now, about what's important in web design.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's definitely the option to spend a lot of money here, and that's certainly right at certain phases in business, but there's also a lot of other options.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so Mariah and I just want to have more of a holistic and comprehensive conversation around what all goes into a website, why you may need one for your business, what all your options are, and then kind of give you guys some tools to really, you know, use this as an opportunity to tap into your intuition, connect with your curiosity, you know, um evaluate things uh with how they feel in your body.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, as you're making website decisions, it's a really great chance to practice this idea of does this feel right?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're hoping to give you some bigger context so you can make more informed and um curiously guided decisions as you're thinking about a website or maybe investing in a website revamp or you know, any and all of the above.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, with that, Mariah, let's we wanted to start kind of high level.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: This is actually a question that Mariah and I both feel a lot of do you even need a website?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think, Mariah?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: What a what a loaded question.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it depends.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like it my un if you would have asked me this four years ago, five years ago, I would have said, oh my God, absolutely.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: You have if you're gonna have a business, you absolutely need a website.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, years later, I have this different perspective of like, yes, I do think that websites are insanely powerful.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Mine person, my website personally works for me on autopilot, bringing me in, leads clients sales.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: In that perspective, yes, absolutely.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: In another perspective, if you feel like having a website is too much, if you feel like you want to focus more on Instagram right now, get some clients, test your um your packages, your services, like you're really in the beginning phases of business trying to figure out what makes you different, how you want to serve people.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you actually don't need a website right now.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like we know so many people that are making a killing in the online space with their income and they have never had a website.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, do you need a website?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, of course you don't, but it can absolutely make your life a lot easier.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it kind of requires a little bit of self-reflection, which I feel like a lot, like we don't hear those words in the website design conversation.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I've ever heard somebody say, hey, before you before you invest in a website design package, before you just decide to DIY it, self-reflect.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Reflect on what your business needs, reflect on how you want to show up, reflect on what the goal is right now, short-term and long term, before you jump in and decide that yes, you need one or no, that you don't.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I liked what you said about it's certainly not mandatory.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: You can definitely run a profitable business online.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a big mistake a lot of people make is when they're starting a business, the first thing they invest in is a website.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I probably would never make that recommendation because you really need to have that proof of concept in your business first.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what are you selling?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: Does the market want it?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, can you sell it at the price point you want to sell it at?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Is it profitable?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you have that proof, it makes all the sense in the world to really invest in a website that's going to um, I talk about websites almost as like junior salesmen.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they're doing a lot of the work for you.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they're open 24-7 all around the world, communicating all of your unique value propositions, nurturing your people, attracting people to the website.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like a website can be the full marketing funnel.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: So they're certainly powerful, but you need a strong business before you can have a strong website.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: So, especially at the beginning of your business, I do not think it's mandatory to have a website.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I have always had one and loved it because, like Mariah and I talked about in our last episode, we have more of the lazy girls' approach to marketing where I want to do something once and then it um pays dividends over time.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we have always had websites because I think it allows me to um honestly automate a lot of the marketing in my business and it makes me look good and it helps me have great first impressions.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it helps me clients answer all their questions before they get on a sales call with me.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not necessary, but it makes life easier and it makes growing your business a lot easier because it makes you look established just right off the bat, right?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that like it's a good point, especially of just like where you are in your business journey.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then, like, let's say that like you're new in business and you're like, you know what, but I'm really feeling called to have a website.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like I really feel like that is the next step.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: I want to create some kind of foundation.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to keep sending everybody to like a Google Doc.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like I remember the biggest thing for me when deciding to have a website was A, I was like trying to become a website designer.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So like I personally in my field could not move forward without my own website.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's just how I felt.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing is that I really wanted to blog.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: So naturally, if I want to create content online that lives long term, I need a place to put that content.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that I wanted was to create an email list.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, naturally, having a website was the next step.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I would say that like even that first website that I created myself, like it was simple.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Simple, simple, simple.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So like even if you're even if you like want a website right now and it like the thought of it feels really overwhelming, just create, just have a simple one.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like you don't need a fully custom website.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would even say don't have a fully custom website within the first like one to two, maybe even three years of your business, because a lot of shit is going to shift and change.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna want to change a lot of stuff on that website.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like, as you continue to evolve in your business, evolve as a human, the services that you offer and the way that you show up and your messaging will shift quite dramatically in the first few years because you're kind of throwing noodles at the wall to see what's gonna stick here.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: So when I have people like even locally, like friends from high school and things like that, that come to me and they're just like, hey, like I think that I need a website.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, have you like, do you have a website already?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, no.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, honestly, you probably only need like a super simple website.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I usually recommend as a platform Squarespace.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that this is going to like get us into a next topic that we want to talk about of like, what are the differences in platforms?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what are the platforms?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Are there certain website platforms that you should stay away from?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Which ones make more sense?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like just piggybacking off of like the piggybacking off of what we kind of said before.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's like Squarespace is a really amazing option for somebody that wants to keep it simple or wants to DIY it or wants to not have to worry about maintenance.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's a huge thing with websites that a lot of people forget about.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: They need to be maintained.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of like do you want to spend time going in and updating software?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't mind that, if that doesn't scare you, then WordPress is another really great option here.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: So before we like dive too far down that rabbit hole, let's do kind of an overview.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Before we even talk about the different platforms, one word you brought up that I want to talk about is the different types of websites that you can get, because these days it's a lot different.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: It used to be getting a website made was a big ordeal.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was very expensive.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: They were all very cuss, what we would call custom builds, where someone is like actually hand coding the website like to the specific um inch and pixel of what you want.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's what we mean when we say a custom site, something that is really built.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost like handmade, built for your business.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: And um in recent years, another style of website has become more popular, which is called like a template-based website, where really the platform, whether it's WordPress or Squarespace or Show It, has built a foundational website where you can really just go in and change the fonts and the colors and the branding and the text, but the website's already built.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so those template-based websites are fantastic for what Mariah just described of like a simple option of something to just get you up, get you started.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I really love Squarespace because of that ease of maintenance piece.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: I think that gets forgotten a lot in this world.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we can build a website and make it beautiful, but if we don't think about how it stays beautiful, um, it's gonna fall to crap right away.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: So Squarespace makes that ease of maintenance piece very easy, which I like.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, in terms of websites, you can have, you can have a more template-based website, you can have a more custom built from scratch website, and then there's kind of this lane of designers that have popped up in the middle who do what I would call like a semi-custom, where they take a template and then they do some like front-end coding, which is CSS and like almost like the decorative style of coding.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: I call it like the wallpaper.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they can come in and make some customizations on a template, and then you can have the best of both worlds where it doesn't really the trade-off with templates is sometimes you can be like, oh, that's a Shopify website or that's a Squarespace website, but when you can kind of come in and customize a little bit, it it gives it that really custom look and feel, but then you still get the ease of use on the back end.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: So know that when it comes to websites, and it even can be as simple as um, you know, there's a lot of just landing, what we would call landing page type website generators where it's literally just one page.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: I know like Kajabi does this.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um there even um a link tree could be an example of this.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you can really make simple.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um this can be so simple, especially these days.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: There's like auto generators.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: So if you are at the beginning of your business, we definitely don't recommend a full build until you have that proof of concept, a full custom build.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Start with something simple.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: So those are kind of the difference in the websites.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then let's talk about um, you'll hear people say platforms or CMS, which means content management system.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: And they'll ask you which one you want to be on when you build your website.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so these days the most popular ones are WordPress, Squarespace, Show It, Um, Shopify for e-commerce.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: And um, if you're like doing a course, a lot of times people are using things like Kajabi.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, what else am I missing, Ryan?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Wix.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would like Wix and Weebly are the other ones that kind of get tossed around.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: But like if I'm going to, like if I'm gonna give my honest and holistic perspective on this, my suggestion would be to stay away from those from an SEO perspective.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Wix, Wix and Weebly, right?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, Wix and Weebly.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the way that they're coded, Google just doesn't like it.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't like it.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: You have to do a lot more band-aid solutions when you're looking to grow.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I've had to turn down, you know, back in my website designing days, I had to turn down some projects because it was like they wanted more customized features on Wix and Weebly, but I didn't feel comfortable creating on a foundation that felt very unstable to me.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of people like Wix and Weebly because, you know, and GoDaddy website builder, things like that, because they have commercials out there.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: These commercials are like get your website done in like three minutes.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's like, you know how when things sound like too good to be true, that's Wix Weebly and GoDaddy Website Builder.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I can if I can pop in and just give a public service announcement, do not use GoDaddy Website Builder.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Please.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Hard no.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Mariah.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, the the issue with these is like it might seem super easy for you to DIY it yourself.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: The issue becomes when you hit that next step of growth, then it's like you're hitting roadblock after roadblock after wall after wall after wall.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I just suggest if you want to start simple, then start honestly, Squarespace is usually where I would suggest, unless you are open to hiring somebody to help you get WordPress, Shopify, or show it set up.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Then definitely, like to be completely honest, my website has always been on WordPress.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I am a WordPress girl because I like the customization.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: I also understand coding and I don't mind updating my own website.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: If anything that I said sounds disgusting to you, please stay away from WordPress.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think Ryan and I have two um different viewpoints on this, which is honestly kind of nice.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, she came up with WordPress, and WordPress is no doubt about it the most powerful platform out there.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: It can, it has all the bells and whistles.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you're going to do a hard content marketing strategy where you're doing a lot of blogging, um, WordPress is the best.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's the best for SEO, it's the best for bloggers, no doubt.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but the trade-off there is it usually is a better fit for bigger businesses that have dedicated web support because it does need constant updates and you really need to stay on top of um, you know, apps getting updated and new plugins that got an update, and then you have to update your site to make sure everything still works together.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: So it the learning curve is a bit higher.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why you'll see traditionally um web design studios are actually more like web maintenance studios.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: They make a lot of their money from the ongoing, like you pay them a monthly fee and they do all of the updating for you.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: So WordPress is so strong.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but unless you are a WordPress pro or you have one as a friend, or you have a dedicated web team, it can be harder to keep up maintenance-wise.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let's do a little triage.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, if I was getting on a sales call with you, I would want to know what type of business you're having to what you what type of business you want to build now and in the future.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's one thing that people forget about is they build their website for right now, but then let's say they want to add an e-com arm on in six months and they didn't tell their web designer, then all of a sudden the website gets dated almost immediately.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I think um the first thing is what kind of products am I selling?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: Is it services or product-based is kind of the the big two.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and how big am I?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like how much resource do I have to maintain this site?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and what phase am I in in my business, right?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're a truly services-based, you know, you're a designer, you're a copywriter, you're um a real estate agent, you know, you um anything that's not what we would call e-commerce, which is more like product-based, like selling physical lotions and supplements and pills.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're service-based, we're always going to put you, I would prefer to put you on a square space.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like exactly like Mariah said, uh, it's very easy to look very nice and um it's easy to maintain long term.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: These days, another popular platform is called Show It.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: And Show It is pretty cool because it's built on top of WordPress, and designers can have a heyday and show it, and you can get those really cool custom design sites without as much maintenance.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's it's easier for you to kind of come in and do day-to-day things with Show It.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's definitely rising in popularity and a really cool option.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you're a photographer, that's who it was made for.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you have a very beautiful portfolio of work, show it is a really great option for you.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Squarespace is great too.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: I would call Squarespace more of just like a generalist.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's like pretty good at a lot of things, um, but it's not fantastic at one or the other.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, show it, I would say, is fantastic for the visual side of things, and you can actually design for desktop and mobile separately and pretty easy without a lot of hard custom coding.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's really nice.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you definitely probably want a show it designer if you are going to use show it because it is quite a bit of design.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And if you tweak and update your site a lot, there can be a lot of annoying things about like fixing fixing it on desktop and then fixing it on tablet and then fixing it on mobile.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: So that's not quite as straightforward.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you have a bigger business and you're making millions and you want to make a lot of millions and invest in like a content marketing team, I would put you on WordPress all day long.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then um, if you are a products-based business, Shopify is the way to go.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: It is very, very powerful in terms of um, it does one thing and it does it really, really well, and that's helping e-commerce businesses.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a fantastic option if you're product-based.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: And then finally, the another one that's on the come up is Kajabi, which is super simple design-wise, and it also allows you to like run courses.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: So if you have what I would call like digital products and courses and downloads and all that kind of stuff, um, and you want to do the design yourself and have it look kind of nice, Kajabi is a nice option for that.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of like a high level of all the options.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: Mariah, fill in the blanks for me.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: What I missed.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: So Shopify for e-commerce, hands down.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would choose Shopify for e-commerce over WordPress for e-commerce.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: WordPress, super powerful, but it can get a little clunky when you're selling things.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, yeah, I just I really love Shopify for e commerce websites.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you have a small shop or a big shop, it has all the shit that you need.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's amazing.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Also, from an SEO perspective, also very lovely.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, Shopify, I have a lot of clients I've worked and Done a lot of like SEO intensive sessions for clients on Shopify.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen really great results.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like the way that their coding and their foundation is built, it's amazing for Google.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: WordPress, also amazing for Google.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: People always say, like, you can get better SEO results if your website is on WordPress.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not the truth.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: It really isn't.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't matter so much about the platform as long as you're not on Wix, Weebly, or GoDaddy Website Builder.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you're not on those, then SEO is pretty great throughout the rest of the platforms that we've been talking about here.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: But the biggest thing that WordPress has is the ability to use Yoast.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yoast is an SEO tool.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a helper.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't go through and like do anything crazy with Google.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like a scoring system.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's a tool.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of people get confused.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: They'll think that like, oh, well, if my website has Yoast, then I can show up on page one.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, getting the green light on Yoast doesn't mean shit if your website and your content doesn't make sense.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Show up on page one of Google, just a clarification.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, on page one of Google.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: So then we go into Squarespace.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Squarespace, really great for SEO.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: They've they've done a lot of work in the past few years to where like you can customize a lot of things that are important for SEO.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Also really great, you can get on page one of Google with Squarespace, no problem.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Kajabi is where it gets a little sticky here.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: So Kajabi, amazing.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: I use it personally to host a course that I have.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: I would never create my website on Kajabi.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason is because it wasn't created for that.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you need one simple like landing page or literally like a home page and an about page and then your courses, you absolutely can do it.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: But just know from an SEO perspective, it's lacking a lot of foundational things.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I've even had to turn down like SEO clients because they're on Kajabi.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, listen, they're just, they're not up to par yet.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think that they're getting there, they're starting to realize that there's a huge market that they can tap into.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that their developers are like trying to work on a lot of things, but just keep that in mind.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why it kind of comes down to like, what are your priorities in business?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: What do you need?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's really going to help you decide which platform is really the best for you.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's like, are do you want to DIY it?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to create it yourself or do you want to hire it out yourself?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of like the next question after you sit down and figure out what kind of website you need in general.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love this.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost like we're creating a checklist.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, number one, do you need and want a website?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yes or no?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: Number two, what type of site?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, a kind of a really template easier site or more custom or somewhere on that spectrum.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then number three, what platform should you be on?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've kind of talked you through how to think through that.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: And now it comes to do I want to build this myself or do I want to hire a pro to do it?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we've kind of touched on this a little bit already, but for me, that answer is what phase are you at in business?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: And um what platform do you want made the most sense based on the pros and cons that we just went over?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um if it's Squarespace, if you've made no money, maybe if you came to me and said, I've made no money yet, but I have this really great business idea and I need to just get my face out there and I want to look like a pro online, honestly DIY it or find a newer web designer that can do it for under 2K.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it at the beginning of your business, do not go hard into your website, would be my advice here.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: And if you have the space, just like with everything in your business, if you can do it first and then hire it out later, it is a lot easier to do.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I made this mistake in my business.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: I tried to hire out my social marketing almost immediately.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: And the person I hired really struggled because I had no voice.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I really had no understanding of what went into that because I had never done it for myself.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I didn't even really know how to communicate with her.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I've I've heard that over and over again.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like you should do your sales at the beginning of your business, you should do your marketing at the beginning of your business.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I think doing your website at the beginning, while you have more at the beginning of your business, you have more time than money, usually, right?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: So while you have more time and money, try to DIY it.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, learn some of the initial language, become a little fluent in this.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, think about what your business needs, make these decisions, because then phase later, when you are ready to hire it out, you're gonna be in a much more empowered position.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're taking yourself out of that, like, I suck at tech, I don't know how to do anything, and more into, oh, I know about this and I've thought about this, and I've heard these words before.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's just gonna put you in a better spot.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I would say if you are a baby business, you're new in business, DIY it or find a really inexpensive solution just to get something up and get that wheel moving and start collecting data.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's another big piece Mariah and I like.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: You need to collect some data before you can really make hard decisions about what works and what doesn't work.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I would say DIY it first.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then as you are making money and you're really ready to scale now, you have proof of concept and you're ready to take it to the next level and scale the business.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's when it's time to bring in a pro and get on the appropriate platform that's gonna grow with you and not like Mariah said, if you're on the wrong platform and trying to grow, it's literally just constant headaches.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: Things aren't working well together.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: So thinking about like that growth plan and then picking the right platform and really investing in it because it it legitimately is this sales tool that costs a couple dollars a day and can make you a ton of money, can save you a lot of time in your back-end systems, and can help grow your audience like around the brand and increase, you know, the lifetime value of a customer and encourage people to come back, you know.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it is so valuable and um it's definitely worth the investment, but only if you're in the right phase of business and you have that proven business model, in my opinion.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like, okay, so if DIYing it sounds like a headache, I'd like to invite you to shift the perspective.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because kind of like Shay said, like at this point in your business, or even if you've been in business for five years, but you're realizing that you have more time than money, that's a really, that's a really good kind of thing to focus on here.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Is like if you have the time, know that whatever you're creating, like your website does not need to be perfect.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Your website never will be perfect.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you outsource this to a pro, your website will never be perfect because it goes back to kind of what I said in the beginning of like your website is going to be evolving because you as a human are evolving and therefore your business is evolving.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just the fact that like the longer that we're in business, the more we get to know our clients, the better our packages, our services, and like how we help our people, it shifts.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like there will always be something on your website that will that you're probably going to want to change.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really empowering to have at least a little bit of knowledge, know-how, confidence to like at least change the text on a website.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of look at it is like I don't know, anything else in life.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's all like we're all just testing and tweaking here.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, it's also a really good time considering like you can find tutorials for literally anything on YouTube, on Google, literally anywhere to walk you through a process.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Also, know that there are like DIY website courses that you can follow.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of them are pretty budget friendly.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: They'll walk you through literally all the steps to setting things up.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then another tip that I wanted to give you here, and this is gonna this is gonna go for whether you want to DIY your website or if you want to hire out a website designer.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Regardless, do me a favor, go to Google and start typing things in and try to find websites that you like that you don't like.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Just take note of things that that really either light you up or that you're like, oh, that's that's a hard hell no.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's a no for me.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, like for me, for example, it's like, I don't know, having the the menu be like the hamburger icon of like the three little bars.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's a hell no for me personally.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: I like the full menu at the top.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to have to click in order to see a menu.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like just no, like noticing those little things can help a lot as you're going through the process of DIYing it or hiring somebody out.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because even when you hire somebody to do this for you, they're gonna need you for feedback.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna need you to to understand your style, what you like.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like just take a little bit, go to Google or hop over to Instagram, take a look at some of your competitors, look at their websites.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: What do you like about them?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: What do you not like about them?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: And just keep in like that list of like, yeah, like what you gravitate towards and what functionality you want.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like, do you want people to go on your email list?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Are you going to blog?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's like a huge question.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to blog?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Don't think that you have to blog.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Some people are like, blogging is the only way to increase your SEO.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: And like, yes, it's the best way to increase it.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: But like when you're regardless of what phase you are in business, you absolutely do not have to blog if you don't want to.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of like the whole, the whole premise of our other episode of intentional marketing is like you get to do this and grow this business any way that you want to.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: Don't like move forward thinking that the only way that you're going to get successful is if you blog.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going on a blog tangent, but I feel like that needed to be said.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: No, I love that.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: And that's actually, you know, I mentioned when you're thinking about where what kind of site you need and then what platform to be on, I mentioned what are you selling?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: But Mariah brings up a good point.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: What's your marketing strategy?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: How do you want to show up?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because the website is almost like a central hub for your marketing efforts.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's really kind of um where you're driving traffic to in most cases.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're out there trying to get seen, trying to nurture relationships, and then you want to send people to your website, right?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so think about is it a hard blogging strategy?
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: Is it a video strategy?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: Is it email newsletter?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then make sure the platform you're on has really nice integrations with those types of things because the website does really play a key role in that bigger marketing effort.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I like what you said about um like the website just being your foundation here.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you think about it, the website, like everything that you're doing online points back to your website.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: When you're on Instagram and you're talking about something, usually people will be like, click the link in my bio, and the link and bio will lead to some kind of page on a website.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: When you're having a conversation with somebody in person, yeah, my website is MariaMagazine.com.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: When you're handing out business cards, you have your website on there.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you're getting your vehicle wrapped, you have your website on there.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Literally every social media platform points back to your website.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I even went through this phase where, like, when I was creating my own website, I remember being confused about the goal of the site.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of was like, okay, where do I want people to go when they're on the site?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: What is the overall goal of this?
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I was leading people to like my Instagram.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: I had my Instagram feed at the bottom, I had embedded YouTube videos like on the homepage and like everywhere.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: And now when I look at that old version of my site, I'm like, this is so confusing.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because like the goal wasn't to have people find my website and then redirect them over to Instagram, over to YouTube.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was to use Instagram and YouTube to bring them to my website.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of had it a little bit backwards at first.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: And now that I realize that it's like, no, like the the website is the goal here, it makes it a lot easier to keep the website itself a lot more streamlined.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: And when things are more streamlined and they're more goal focused, you get better conversions.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: What does conversions mean?
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: Conversions is I don't even know, like the actual Webster's dictionary thing.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: But my thing is like conversions is just like completing a goal.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like a conversion could be getting somebody on your email list.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: That could be a conversion, making a sale, that could be a conversion.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's like somebody landing on your website and signing up to have like a free coffee chat with you or a consult.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: That could be considered a conversion.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Or it could be somebody, I don't even know an example of another conversion, but yeah, it's like the end goal.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the big ones, right?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that's something that a lot of people miss in this world.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately, like a lot of the metrics that you hear around even SEO and website success, those are all really like designed to make marketing teams look good.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: So you'll hear like traffic was up by 80%.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: But really, anyone can help you drive traffic to your site.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's not that hard.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: What we're interested in is is that are those leads warm?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, are those qualified people that are interested in what you have to offer?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so what Mariah and I are more interested in measuring is more of those conversions.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, did someone come to the site and then do what I wanted them to do, whether that be join the email newsletter, make a sale, you know, whatever it is.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: So measuring conversions, I think in the idea of conversion, designing your site for conversions, it all comes back to like what is that user experience, the user journey, where do they start, where do they go to next?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: Where are you trying to drive people?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: What's the goal?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then designing everything around that, that's where you really get to the juice and the magic with all of this.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it is keeping that user in mind and designing everything for them and your business goals, right?
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like kind of the overlap between the two.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I really think that's important.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like Mariah and I talked about, we'd love to cover, you know, what is important and what is not important when it comes to websites.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: And they're they're all certainly important to different degrees, but in my opinion, the most valuable thing you can do if you are building a website DIYing or if you are working with a designer is to have first start with that more forest through the trees approach where you zoom out, you take a look at the business, what's your revenue goals, you know, what are your audience growth goals, and then you reverse engineer like what could our website, what does our website need to be to help facilitate people on their journey to help us accomplish those goals, right?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: So if you can base everything around strategy and like really build a solid plan of action and then go into the website, every single page has a goal.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're thinking about when someone's on my about page, this is a story I think that they should hear, and then this is the action I want them to take.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if they don't take that action, here's like a sub-action, here's another option for them.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so really being intentional about what is on the site, I think is the if you're gonna choose like where to invest your time and energy, that is the biggest bang for your buck.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that really thinking about conversions and how to convert your people, um, that that's where the magic happens.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of like my little soapbox around, yes, you can have, you can buy a designer that will design you a really beautiful, standout, modern website.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: But if it's not designed for your business goals and your people, it's gonna fall flat.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen people spend like lots and lots of money on websites that then don't work because it was done with beauty in mind only and not business strategy.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: So that's um, you know, my two cents on if you're gonna prioritize your efforts, I would always prioritize more on strategy and content.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then let the design facilitate a really, I think design is important, I'm a designer, but let it be kind of the icing on top that kind of comes in and facilitates a really sophisticated user journey that you've really been intentional about.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: And just to simplify it even a little bit more, if all of this is like, okay, great, you're saying website strategy, you're saying strategy with content, but like what does that mean?
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm gonna break it down.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Clear, over, clever always.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you want to make it so damn clear what you're trying to say on that site and like programs, for example.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: We see tons of business owners creating programs, and all these programs have cute little names, and the cute little names have their own cute little branding.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: Cute little branding has a cute little landing page.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't give a shit what your program name is.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: I want to know what service you're offering and what transformation I'm getting.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm paying for.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not giving you money for your branding because you look cool.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to look cool, by all means, you can absolutely look cool.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: But like also looking cool doesn't pay the bills.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've tried it, you know?
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's yeah, it's it's clear over clever always.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the same thing with the words that you're using on your website.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same with your menu, it's the same with your blog posts, it's it should be the same with your social media marketing.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like you basically within the first three seconds of somebody being on your website, they should be able to tell who you are, what you do, who you serve, and how you help them.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you're using these phrases that everybody else is using because they're buzzwords, and I'm left scrolling and having to like click throughout your website and your about page and your services pages just to see what the hell you do, I'm losing interest.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: It makes me think that you're not clear enough or you don't have enough focus, and therefore I don't feel confident in making a purchasing decision with you.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's a huge thing.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: When it comes down to content, just be super clear.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have to use like any like super clever marketing tactics.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: We can literally be clear on what we do and how we help people, like SEO search engine optimization.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: I literally help you rank better on Google.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's not a marketing strategy, that's what I do.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like just how can we break this down in a way that my mom could understand?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've heard it referred to as like, does your website pass the grunt test before?
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: But literally the idea of like, could a caveman come and just look at your top of the fold landing page?
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_02: So where someone lands on your website and what they see immediately, can I answer all those questions?
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: What does this person do?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: Why does it matter to me?
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what's the transformation here?
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then how do I move forward?
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, in Mariah's right, when you confuse, you lose is another way to say that.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: But um usually the answer to almost every single website question I get is the answer I'll give is what is the transformation?
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: If you can be really clear on where your person is starting, and then with you as the guide, where you're taking them to, what is that transformation they can expect from working with you?
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that that is it.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: And how can we say that in one sentence and be crystal clear and hit people with it immediately?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, a lot of times I see there's a lot of like kind of people bury the lead almost.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_02: The important information is down at the footer when it needs to be like it feels almost painfully obvious in kindergarten level, but that is what works is just being so plain, so simple, kindergarten reading level, obvious.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: And like asking the question how can I simplify this?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: How can I simplify this even more?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: And another thing that I want to bring up is just Just something that whether you're DIYing your website, whether you're hiring somebody out, like whether you're hiring this out, you're probably going to be like, okay, how do I know if this website is working?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: How do I know?
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like conversions.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that maybe it's like maybe I'm checking my newsletter email list to see if it's grown by any number.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're tracking that.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're just taking note of like the emails that you're getting in your inbox from the contact form on your page.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have like Dub Sato or Honey Book, and like you're getting clients booking consult calls.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: But another thing that's super, super simple and it's free is Google Analytics.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: It literally takes three minutes to set this up.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I've created like I have a YouTube video that walks you through the entire process.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to put that in the show notes because, like, this shit is so important and it's going to be really helpful, especially when you're DIYing it now and you hire somebody down the road.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because I remember when I was like helping people redesign their websites, a lot of people DIY'd their websites and then they were ready to hire it out.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: So they came to me and I'd be like, hey, do you have Google Analytics?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see what content is already working for you.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: What pages are getting traffic?
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: Where is this traffic coming from?
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like having you will never regret having that data.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's super simple.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you don't want to look at the data yet, even if you're like, that sounds awful and overwhelming, don't look at it.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: Just set it up.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like we mentioned earlier, um with this type, with this type of stuff, it's always better to have some data around what is working and what is not working, as opposed to just most what most people do, which is like feelings, you know, like I feel like my website's working, or I feel like it could be better.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um instead of feeling, you know, actually track data.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's free.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: And again, it's it sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think if there's one takeaway from this episode that we would like you to walk away with, it's um we really want to demystify the website world for people.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it fortunately, we live in a time where literally everything has a very simple tutorial on YouTube.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: Any question you could have, just Google it and you can find an answer.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so um I think it's easier than it has ever been these days.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_02: And what makes me really sad is when people kind of go into the website process of like, I know I need this, but I'm bad at tech, and and you kind of hand over all your power to a designer and you just you know go with what a friend told you and spend a bunch of money, and then you follow their process.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: It it's instead if you can kind of go into it more of like, I can learn about this, I can answer my own questions.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: You you just are gonna get a better end result if you are an active participant in the process and if you are thinking about your long-term needs, and you can find a better fit to support you in that way.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, this is kind of teeing us up for our next episode.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_02: Ryan, I really want to talk about website wounds and website trauma.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: Most of the people that we work with on a daily basis have been burned in one way or another by a past website experience.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we do really want to do a deep dive into what to look out for, what to think about, kind of how to heal these old website wounds that a lot of people have, and just a different mindset and perspective on that.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: So that is what we will get into next time.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but before we wrap up, Mariah, any closing thoughts?
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like before you move forward in your website journey, shift the perspective around thinking that the having a better website is the answer to your next level of success because it very rarely is.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so I've seen a lot of people that are like, yeah, I'm spending, let's just say 10K on a website because this is how my business is going to blow up.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not uh you build it and they will come.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how it, it's not how it works.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's more so about like building a website and creating this foundation that supports you where you are and has room for flexibility for you to grow and know that like you don't need a website to hit your next level.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: And also like your website can support you as you grow to that next level.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: So, like visual, like if I could pop in, the visual I'm getting is almost like the website can be gasoline on your fire, but you've got to have the fire.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't have that fire, putting gasoline on nothing is gonna result in nothing, right?
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_02: So it can certainly make it faster and bigger and help you, but it is not everything.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a really important point.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and like if you haven't tested out your messaging in social media, I would suggest doing that.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: Do that before you hand over$10,000 for a new website.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's like, even when you have a website, there has to be some kind of way that you're driving traffic to that website.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: There has to be some kind of visibility strategy.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, like creating a website and then thinking, wow, this new website is instantly going to increase my visibility.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's not correct.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: The website is where we throw people when we've become more visible.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like if you're having a visibility problem, don't confuse that with a website problem because they're not the same.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're not the same thing here.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I see a lot of people falling into I have a visibility problem and then paying to have a website solution, and then they're still left with a visibility problem.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: No doubt.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think that it's more so about, I mean, yet again, like everything in all these episodes, it's about self-reflection.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: It really is about getting curious.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: What do you need?
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want?
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: How do you want to show up?
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: And how can you build a website or build another kind of foundation that feels really good, really motivating, really inspiring for the way that you want to grow your business online?
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then also know that like you can take your time on making a decision.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you have like consult calls with like three different website designers, just know that like you never have to say yes on a sales call.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: You never have to say yes right away.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_01: You can absolutely take the time that you need to sit with all of the information, to Google things, to to allow yourself to marinate in the different options because there is no shortage of options.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's options like for literally everything, and that can be really overwhelming, which is why we suggest getting really clear, but like never feel intimidated or bullied into a decision.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think that the most important thing to kind of help prevent those website wounds and like website trauma that we're gonna dive into in another episode.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: In order to prevent that, you have to stay in your power.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_01: You have to learn to trust yourself, to have the confidence and the courage to ask questions.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: Tech can be overwhelming, websites can be overwhelming, especially when this isn't your wheelhouse, but you are allowed to be empowered in your decision making.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_01: And in order to be empowered in your decision making, you have to ask the questions.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: You have to open up and to and to have a conversation and communication with somebody, whether it's somebody that you're buying a course from, whether it's somebody that you're hiring.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like try to find the answers to the questions before moving forward, because then you'll be able to make a more educated decision that feels really good.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you also like before you hand over anybody money, it's like you want to make sure that whatever decision you make, you're supported.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: Whether like you have to pay for continual support, which is fair, we want to pay people for their time, but it's like you never want to feel intimidated, especially with like these big tech words and things that a lot of agencies like to use to intimidate people.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my soapbox for the episode is like just stay empowered, stay curious, and ask your questions.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and what Mariah is hinting at is we really want everyone to have more of that like growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset around websites.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so my big tip that I would love to share with you is if you are the type of person that's told yourself in the past, I'm no good with tech and it's overwhelming, you know, instead of repeating that phrase to yourself over and over, flip that to something more like, I'm getting better and better every day.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm surrounded by more resources than there's ever been, I can learn new things.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I that little switch, um, I've brought that into whole teams before and whole organizations, and it turns things around.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's much more empowering of like, I may not know now, but I am confident enough that I can find out the answers and I can ask questions and I can learn, you know.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_02: So um I think that is such a better, more empowered place.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I really it sounds kind of maybe out there for people, but it makes a big difference when you're making big investment decisions in your business as a whole, but especially as you're thinking through website stuff.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so with that, I think we're gonna close this episode down.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_02: If you enjoyed this episode, feel free to share it with someone you think would love it or tag us on social media.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we would love to know what resonated with you guys about this is what questions.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: Mariah and I could talk about websites literally all day forever.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_02: So, what questions do you have for us around websites?
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: What struggles have you had in the past?
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, please reach out to us, hit us up in the DMs, whatever is easiest, um, and let us know.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_02: We'd love your feedback on that and it would help us guide, it helped guide us in making future um content for y'all.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and if you have an audience or like you have a friend or somebody that kind of is in this website world, is thinking about creating a website, is having questions about platforms or anything like that, please feel free to share this episode.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: We really create these to help.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we hope that this was a more honest and holistic approach to the website things.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, we gave you a few helpful tips in order to help navigate you through this process in a more empowering way.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, just we we can't wait to jump into more website content.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: We love this shit.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_01: But until next time, remember that you guys have the power to create whatever the hell you want.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: So follow the nudge, ask the questions, and let curiosity guide the way.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, even with your website.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you in the next episode.