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Make Your Website Stand Out

Lesson 16 from: Build A Stand-Out Business

Tara McMullin

Make Your Website Stand Out

Lesson 16 from: Build A Stand-Out Business

Tara McMullin

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Lesson Info

16. Make Your Website Stand Out

Lesson Info

Make Your Website Stand Out

All right, welcome back welcome back guys thank you so much for being here let's take a look at what today's goal is today's goal is to create a plan to make your website a key asset asset of your stand out style let's create a plan to make your website a key asset of your standout style but before before we get to that we need to recap where we've already been so let's take a look at what we did during session three so during session three you defined the vision you're leading your business toward you identified what audience responses generate riel results in your business you tracked your key performance indicators and you declared your chief initiative so that you can use focus as a way to stand out in a crowded market. Now strategic clarity must lead to considered execution or you'll still be left with little traction. I know cem really visionary entrepreneurs people with really big ideas crystal clear vision I you know, just ideas for changing the world, yet they get stuck and do...

n't gain traction in the market they don't stand out and it's because they haven't brought that vision into each and every thing they do on a date today basis the execution the decision making doesn't match the vision I don't want you to get stuck there so for session four and session five we're going to be focused on considered execution so in session for and we are just beginning session for you will audit your website and create a plan to incorporate what makes your business stand out right? A standout business bio create sales messages that help individual products stand out, build a compelling community with a focus to point of entry and create your digital sales and marketing plan plan. We have a lot packed into the next five lessons, and michael for you is to give you that bit by bit bite sized actions that you can take to bring your vision into the everyday, well considered execution that you need to gain traction and stand out in a crowded market. Now do you ever get the feeling that the road you're traveling on isn't the one that's going to take you to your destination? Do you ever get the feeling that the day to day actions that you are taking that the the things that you're executing on the places where you're investing your time or energy or money just don't seem to be getting you any closer to what it is that you really want? That vision that you're holding for yourself and your customers? Yes, yes, all right, so I don't want to miss mix metaphors, but it's kind of my thing, I'm really good at mixing metaphors, you've got a sandwich problem. No reaction to that whatsoever you've got a sandwich problem so uh this is a quote from the new how by miller for merchant who is just an amazing business thinker she also wrote one of my absolute favorite business books called eleven rules for creating value in the social era she says an air sandwich is in effect a strategy that has clear vision and future direction on the top layer and day to day action on the bottom and virtually nothing in the middle no meaty key decisions that connect the two layers no rich chewy centre filling to align the new direction with new actions within the company does that sound familiar? Does that sound like what your business is air going through on a regular basis man finding this idea of the air sand which was such a revelation to me because it was exactly what my clients were facing too. You know miller for works with enterprise level corporations places where there is literally a lot of space between the vision and the execution because the vision is done in the c suite and the execution is done by technicians on the ground level of the business and what she noticed was that there just there weren't managers there weren't you know, vps there weren't director level people making real decisions, they weren't guiding riel productive action and that's exactly what I see happening with you guys so the distance between vision and execution might just be the difference the distance between your two ears or the distance between your brain and your fingers, but you still have this air sandwich problem where you've got strategy on the top layer you got day to day action on the bottom layer and there's no meaty key decisions there's no rich, chewy center yes, yeah okay, so over the next five lessons, well, the line, the standout strategic vision you've created with a tough decision making to set you up for a lined and productive execution so let's before we get into that let's, review the key components of a standout business first using your strength, leveraging your passion, finding your unfair advantage, having a clear focus, building your business on your guiding principles, sharing your vision and speaking with a unique voice. Now what we're going to do is take these seven key components and weave them into the day to day action that you are spending so much time and energy on, so that every action you take every minute you spend in your business gets you mohr results that's what I want for you let's, take a look at where we're at in the bill to stand out business process this is the beginning of session for we've had three action packed session's already full of fifteen other lessons and now we're on lesson sixteen make your website stand out I want to bring us back to a concept we talked a lot about previously which is noise there is so much noise online how many websites are there out there there virtually just like yours I mean just even thinking in my business how many other websites giving you business advice are there? How much noise am I competing with on a day to day basis competing with a lot of noise yet I've been able to build a community ah following a platform that supports my business and that grows day in and day out and I want you to be able to do the same thing the idea here is to identify the small actions that we can take to break through this noyce toe leverage your quiet power and to make stuff happen for you for you to make stuff happen. So we also talked about the gap between promotion and visibility. We spent a lot of time promoting our businesses we expend a lot of energy promoting our businesses and we see spend ah lot of social capital promoting our businesses yet how often does that really translate to visibility and two people really seeing or perceiving what it is that we're doing and what it is that we have to offer them very rarely and the reason for that is that you know promotion is just broadcasting promotion is just part of the noise if you're going to be visible you need to leverage those seven key components of a standout business you need to become the signal and you do that by tapping into your quiet power so let's talk specifically about how you do this on your website. What does this look like when it comes to your digital home when your website visitors land on your website do they immediately get a sense for who you are and what your business does kind of tally these up in your mind right now do you get it take do they get a taste for you and your business is unique personality do they have clear channels for engaging your business? Is there an easy way to get a hold of you or find out how to purchase what it is that you're offering and do they know what your business will help them work towards? In other words, do they know what results you're promising? What that transformation is in a previous lesson remember I said value is transformation do they know when they land on your website what transformation you're aiming for for them do they know that you have the transformation in mind that they haven't might what do you think to me on a scale of one to five how does your business stack up on a scale of one to five? How does your website stack up lisa three three four four four four to three at half three six treece you vixen gabby what? Uh, four and a half you just had a redesign so you're good two and a half three like a three point five three point five. Okay, good. I feel finally after years that I could say five. Next. Yeah, beautiful. I am so glad that so many of you are so confident. Your websites nice. So your website is one of the easiest places to merge strategic vision with careful execution. This is my home home page and I'm going to use it as an example of how emerge strategic vision with careful execution. So let's, take it a little closer. Look here. Uh, what do you see going on in the top bar? Yes. It's navigation. And it tells you immediately who I am and what kind of options you have for working with me diving further into what I d'oh aah! It doesn't tell you exactly what I do up here, but it gives you an idea of what's available to you. Now this piece it's your business go boldly. Does anyone know what I'm referencing here other than briana? Yeah that's, right, I'm referencing star track so you would know if I said boldly go, but I changed it to be tricky I was so proud of myself when I came up with that and it also plays into the power peace to write like I'm I'm the maestro I combined power with prestige those are my fascination advantages and so when I asked you to go boldly part of that is used is inspiring you and you aspiring to that power and prestige that I am body but mostly it's a star trek reference ok on dh then this little button down here says make it so which is the same thing so that's my personality this could just be the run of the mill home page right but it's not because it's got those little elements in it those things that add personality without me having to say hey guys, I'm going to start a rag all right next up I give you clear action for engaging my my services I would like you to sign up please for the quiet power strategy bath you can get it free. All you need to do is put your e mail address in and give your business clear direction now I'm getting out the result of working with me one of the things that I can help you do is get clear direction in your business hopefully some of your feeling not right now the other thing that you could do is find your quiet power that's what this button is now two things basically go to the same place but it's two different it's two different messages it's two different ways to say the same thing it's still lens that focus, but it gives people some options that's how my home page kind of incorporates who I am and what I do, what I have to after my customers what my unique personality is and kind of what I stand for let's look at another fan favorite what what website is this male champ? They're one of our big stand out business examples so what's going on up here a top, very similar idea, they they actually don't say male chimp anywhere on here now dubai that's kind of an interesting choice, but they've got the little logo so you know this this is if not if, even if you don't know, this is male champ, you know, this is about monkeys sending e mail, which is pretty exciting. I am excited about that. Um they also give you features pricing and support so one thing they don't have upon that that tab is it about paige, but you can tell immediately that this is software because it says features and very easily gets you to the pricing, peace and pricing is one of their kind of unique selling proposition and that they have a free offer there and then they bring that home with that big red button that says sign up free so again a very direct way to get into further into their business now the kind of hint at uh this whole thing is hinting at their personality, but this is kind of hinting at what some of their values are send better email it's not just about sending fun email it's about making email fund for you so that you can send better email to your customers do you want to send better e mail yes so immediately you're like yeah I want to send better email cool so you keep going then they they actually show the user interface on the home page this is a really unusual thing to do but because it's such a selling point for them because it's built into their values they're guiding principles and and the reason that you would want to work with them it makes a ton of sense to put their user interface on their home page and then finally they got this fun little picture of monkey down here again monkeys so many monkeys, which is great I mean they're just a fun and a reverend kind of company and you wouldn't expect anything less in fact, this home page is actually I think as minimalistic and cem simplistic as I've seen from them but I really dig it I think it if it shows instead of tells right it gives it gives you all of that information very click quickly without having to say, hey, we're the we're the fun in a reverent email marketing service provider, because that was kind of boring. So let's, look at the five must have stand out home page elements five must have stand out home page elements first, your home page must have a clear representation of what the business is and what it does. So we got that idea on the male chimp age. We got that idea on my page. Does your website have a clear representation of what the business is and what it does? It has to have a message that's focused on what's in it for the visitor. How many of your web sites have a message that has what's in it for the visitor? What did they get out of going deeper into your website? Ah, your website should have a taste of your personality. How do you do what you do differently? How do you do? What is your stand out style? How can you incorporate your unique voice? Your unique point of view? We've talked about a bunch of different ways to go about figuring this out, incorporating this. All I'm asking you teo to do is choose one, choose one, get it, give a taste of your businesses personality you're home beach also has to have a call to action that's based on your chief initiative and your kp eyes now you're chief initiative remember is made up of multiple parts conditions, sub goals systems and team support, and so you're called action might not be directly related to your chief initiative. It might be inspired by one of the things that you're doing to get there. Ok, most often your home page you're called action is going to be about opting into your list. I know people don't like to hear that, but there's a reason it's really effective it's really clear and it's a big, big opportunity with some exceptions, there may be other calls calls to action and then finally there is a path to engage the business further, and that can actually be part of your call to action you're called to action might say, give me your email address, I'll give you this and now they're on a path teo getting your auto responder siri's where it might be read my latest article and now they're you know, into your blog's system it might be schedule your free consultation and now they're on your work with me page, so you've used created a clear path to engage your business further, so clear representation of what the business is and what it does a message focused on what's in it for the visitor, a taste of the business is personality, a call to action based on your chief initiative and kp eyes on a pass to engage the business further. Now what we're going to do is bring up to at least two hot seats and I'm going to do a quick audit of each of their websites were focus mostly on the home page who might go a little bit further on that, depending on what we dig up in your work sheets for this lesson. So in this free worksheet war today's class or for today's lesson, you've got a complete website audit in here all of the questions that you need to be asking to audit your website to see where your areas of opportunity are and then you have corresponding questions to create a plan to make changes do you question toe audit and you've got a question for making a plan okay, sound good. Yes, you're all going to do this tonight. Yeah, ok, good. Uh let's bring cathy up first so you want me here? Yes, I would like you hear thank you and I'm gonna use this fun little mousey device contraption here and go back over teo rock your culture so cathy again tell us who you are, what you dio and where we can find you online I'm kathy bork I, of course have rock your culture it's at rock your culture dot com grow balance lead also goes there as well. And I worked with businesses on creating a culture that enhances their communication with their employees. Cuts down on employee turnover some employees development, that sort of thing. Perfect. So the first thing I wanna point out here is a major pet peeve of mine. Welcome to rock your culture if you use that word welcome on your home page. You are missing in opportunity. Okay, obviously you are welcoming people to your website. I understand where this comes from, but if you are, if this is your headline, you're missing a huge opportunity. No, I won't hold this against you too much. You have a couple other things wrong, a lot of developments. This isn't about being wrong about opportunity, opportunity, opportunity. So now the other two headlines. Well, maybe not the catchiest headlines in the world. Uh, do you speak tio? What what's in it for the visitor, right? Leadership development and workplace culture. Okay, now, um, tweaking and cultivating your workplace culture for greatest greater satisfaction uh, community connecting, communication and bottom line and developing tomorrow's leaders from today's employees that was really good. I like that one I wouldn't lead with this okay or instead of leadership development that's not leadership development isn't sexy developing tomorrow's leaders from today's employees that sexy yeah that's a good help line that's a good headline uh I also like connecting communication and bottom line um that's a good tagline for you because, uh communication within your business is related to the amount of money that you're going to make right and ideally your profit as well exactly now communication uh is one specific thing and culture is I would say something else like communication is a part of culture right yeah and that would be why going back two weeks one I struggled with so much stuff because I had a problem communicating what it is I do so communication was the one thing I knew people could wrap their head around sure sure sure so the easiest way to get people to be able to wrap your head their heads around what you do is to tell them the change that you're going to make right so communication is a thing okay when you have good communication what else do you have? What results from good communication? Well, it enhances your relationships. Okay, now relationships are interesting so connecting relationships and bottom line yeah staying communicating connecting workplace relationships and bottom line yeah, maybe um yeah I like relationships I think it may be speaks a little bit more to culture to because it's really people are oriented right and not the obviously communication happens between people but I think it's still like it feels more like media, okay? We're like directives then actual people um and we're not going to come up with a specific headline for you today but I want it I want you to see what some options kind of are okay now tweaking and cultivating your workplace culture for greater satisfaction yeah who's greater satisfaction the world waits I don't want to pick that piggott this wound so go go for it but this is just I mean, so first of all a slider you're already coming at them with three messages and really it's more like six messages and it feels like it screams at you I and this is one thing I'm working with on my designer with is because I'm just like, okay, we got it, we got to take it down a notch so I've started tweaking it myself because in my mind it feels like it's screaming at you I want people to know that I'm fun and I'm enjoyable and I'm loving but I hope I don't scream it um I mean honestly I don't see screaming okay? I mean your business is called rock your culture that's you know, fun and different and kind of you know it's rock and roll right rock and roll right yeah yeah okay you know yeah like get a rocking I'm not concerned about that now that's done photography is not rock and roll okay, well, this is a missed opportunity in terms of personality teo you know, there are actually really great web sites out there where you confined like current aesthetic stock photography for absolutely free for commercial use unspool ash is one of them now unflashy dot com is awesome but it's also getting used everywhere like if you were to go on there you'd recognize a whole bunch of images just from your facebook stream or from my slide show. Ah, but there's another website called stock si dot com was charlie were you guessing that know what's that stock is dead? Stock is dead like remotely we'll send you a month every month they send you a new image and then they have a really low, low low fee if you want like, um custom stuff done. Okay, so stock is dead stocks he's really great it's because the pricing is really straight forward and you just pay in cash which sounds silly, but a lot of the stock photography sites you have to buy credits and then buy so you're always spending more money than you have to essentially they it's they have set you up to right to take advantage of you stock c is great and you're going to find pictures that look exactly like what you imagine you know, like what you don't want to have on your website, you know they're they're instagram ready essentially or their pinterest ready? You would never pin that helps, right? No, no, no, no. Okay, not even on my pinterest and I've got a rock your culture? Yeah, yeah, you know, rock your culture and between rocker culture and work with kathy, you've got the what is this business? And what is it? What does it do? Uh, basically taking care of I mean as well as you can from any home page combined with ah headlines. So what I want you to do is pick one headline because with this slider, you've got about six headlines and you've got this headline communication, relationships and experience are the new business currency, which I completely agree with you on and it doesn't tell me what's in it for there someone who's hiring you okay so what's in it for someone that's hiring you that transformation that lower employee turnover, lower employees, chloe power employee turnover, yes, happier customers definitely a bigger bottom line bigger bottom line going from I talked about going from that daily grind where you just dread going in the door to a nice smooth flow I just don't know how to put that in tok what's a misconception that your audience has about how you get those three things misconception is that, um it's gonna be complicated that it's gonna be complicated that's goingto take a lot of time which in a day to day capacity it just not okay um and that it's expensive maybe no, no, no. Okay, um sometimes that's a good way to get to a headline is reversing an assumption um what is or or a misconception? I'm trying to come up with a headline for you so I might do something like um small actions yield big results lower employee turnover, happier customers, bigger bottom line and that's all I would have so instead eh? So I'd get rid of the slider have keep a hero image up here. This is also when it's just static is a hero image. Okay, okay, so keep a hero image I don't know maybe it's you maybe it's a picture of you maybe it's not I mean, I would honestly, I have no problem with stock photography as long as it reflects your sensibility and aesthetic and your customers as well, ok, so and in your industry a great photo from something like stocks he is I'm going to set you apart really, really well because everyone has that other photo I know right now so that's not helping you at all so I would use a big beautiful picture like that here and put that headline up what was that to somebody grab a headline yeah, you get small steps big results all steps creak result or something like that, right? Lower employee turnover happier customers bigger bottom line love it okay, love it and get rid of this. Yeah, okay then I want you to tell me uh in this section maybe a little bit more about oh, how you get there like now I want you to tie um lower employee turnover happier customers and bigger bottom line to culture what is culture and what does it have to do with those three results? Okay, does that make sense? Yeah, and you know, three sentences, maybe three or four sentences. This is not your time to beaver boast this is your time to be very concise, right? Okay, now you have what? Welcome to rocker culture again. Okay, so, uh, what's on this video I didn't watch it. Oh, it's uh me explaining with their headaches are I mean, it asked them is this what you're going through? And it explains what every person that has employees what their headaches are perfect so in that case I would take this and I would move this up toe under here okay and I would basically I would be redundant I would basically say the same thing in text that you do on your video okay so just create two columns one with text one with the video because different people are going to want to experience that different ways and it absolutely doesn't matter that it's redundant okay okay um see what else we have down here so now we need to know and I would say this is this is a lot of stuff to have on the home page it's a lot of stuff period and then I was also going to ask that after you get past the home page I would kind of like to get rid of that bottom part and I have that unlike my blawg page but I haven't okay, so you're footer is actually a really important part of your sight. Okay, so you keep that on every pain I would yes as long as it's not like a sales page. Okay, you can get rid of this certainly on a page by page basis either in your template or uh it's an easy it's an easy piece of code okay um but you've got to sign up here uh you've got recent posts I got this one thing that's missing here is like terms of service and privacy policy okay uh any kind of legal disclaimers that your lawyer might want you to have that stuff it's kind of gnarly and your your footer as well okay, yeah uh now um yes yes so you could hire patrice to help you out with that? You know, now we got a newsletter sign up. You know, I totally missed this as we were scrolling through that's not a good sign oh, and you're called action is newsletter sign up why people get on your newsletter kathy and well and actually it wasn't at the end of my video thie end of my video it says uh sign up for my newsletter my e mail but it's I give you five free tactics to implement today to help with your employee turnover in those things but we had a huge way had a huge thing with male chimp two weeks ago which is why my son got the hat on and it wasn't male chimps fault everyone out there it was not male chimps fault, but it was the people that we're hosting my web site so then everything kind of got screwed up but no and it shouldn't say newsletter sign up so there's there's lots of different ways to incorporate a sign up box in much sexier ways yes, the male chimp form is great it always works you never have to worry about it but it's uh, difficult to customize, especially if you don't know what you're doing in fact it's impossible to customize if you don't know what you're doing, there are plug ins that you can use to customize male chimp forms. In fact, what was it? Just opt in forms for male champ was one that I downloaded that's not by male chimp it's by some guy I upgraded to pro and it's great, you could do all sorts of stuff, okay? There's probably also something built into your template or there's a lot of templates. Now you're a theme where you could hook up here male chimp account because male chimp hasn't opened a p I and so they allow people to create all these integrations for it, and so were press themes is sorry I'm speaking for where yeah, way over my head! I know they're there likely an option inside of your theme for hooking these two things up in allowing you to customize that much more easily. What I wouldn't do is actually put the call to action in the form you want your called action to meet more formulated the way your website is okay, so I just have the form and then put a text box or however your theme is and put that headline, get your free copy of whatever you're often is called or get my five best tips for reducing employee term over making your customers happier and increasing your bottom line enter your email address below okay, well, what about the whole? Because I've been listening to tim page and conversion cast okay? The double op tin so like instead of just having that even on there where they have to click on something to go okay, so point of clarification a double opt innes technically, what male chimp does automatically, which is when you put your email address in and then they send you a confirmation now and then okay, so that's you know that's just what I want to clarify for everyone else. So what you're referring tio don't know what that particular name is called it's something that I have experimented with all a lot right now so the wisdom on it or the the research that I had read on it most recently is that when you do that you get fewer leaves so you'll get fewer side ups but those sign ups are more highly qualified I think that's about her chest? Yeah, ok s o right now I'm actually experimenting with the opposite where I'm experimenting with putting my form up front and center like that that often box that I have across the body or the middle of my pains that's new it's part of a new experiment okay, melissa just to clarify that what you're talking about is having can you confirm that what you're talking about is to have a button that takes you to a landing pages that were just either a button to a landing page or a button to a pop up god it's got that extra step right on dh this is all about this is one of the elements of ah of a standout website is this further engagement because every clique you encourage every click of visitor makes is one step further into your world it's one step more with them more likely to act on what you're offering them and so having not just like click here to download encourages that extra click which that encourages the extra behavior of putting your putting their email address and and it kind of makes them confirm in their mind the value of what it is that you think that was what saying is it's getting them to yes quicker something like yeah and so for a business that's really built on one toe one sales or one to one service that could be really, really good for a business it's built much more on scale where you're actually looking toe optimize numbers and conversions and this and that because you know just you know tweaking tweaking your conversion or tweaking your your auto responders siri's point one percent make you thousands of dollars on the other end then that that might not be a sw good so that's something now I'm really I'm driving down the rabbit hole that something to experiment with or talk to your web designer about okay okay okay so the main things here that I wanted teo to say ok, so we've got your what you are uh there's the ability to work with you personally we crafted a new headline here uh we made this next part ofyour sight about echoing more of those pain points so the visitors really know what's in it for them and then we've asked them to sign up for a newsletter that's not just a newsletter but is five great tips kathy's five best tips for reducing turnover making your customers happier and increasing your bottom line right so now we've got that pathway toe working with you more uh the only thing that I don't see here is a called toe act of said we've got let's chat contact me now do these types of different kinds of services they are supposed to eventually show I see what you got there not yeah that's not what I would dio so because grow your business, develop your balance and lead the game doesn't I mean much to me right? I'm assuming they're three different packages that you have in mind give me something really functional like a is your problem inter employee turnover here's the package for you is your problem customer service and support here's the package for you do you need me to customize a package for you here's here's? How to contact me and we can talk about what that looks like that makes perfect sense. Yeah really, really, really make sure that every message on your home page is about what in it for them because that's going to get them moving further dwell on it just reiterates those things from the top back down two yes, exactly exactly. And so I would just edit a lot of this stuff out. Okay um and then I would make your call to action on your newsletter side up not in in addition to changing the headline I would make it really, really prominent. So we talked about having the the problems on the video like the text in the video and then I would have that I would have full band blow band in a bright colors you might use that pink whom that orange now please do keep in mind that pink turns off men that's ok ok that's fine yeah by owning men that's totally fine that's totally fine. I just wanted to keep that in mind I am perfectly happy pants purple is highly attractive to women more than pink yes, if you want more information on that vanessa van edwards creative life course is really it's okay and so you could really die vinto like color theory and branding and you know, person personally positioning yourself with the colors and body language that you choose but anyhow okay yes that's that's what? I would do it. I'd either make that band orange or pink and and just sit your say you're called action to your newsletter in their perfect okay, her. Any question? No. Good, thank you. Thank you. Oh, shelly. Yeah? You were saying, like, do a band across and let's say, kathy want to do something really quick? Could she use something like hello bar to make it like the bright color thing and that it links to male champ? Sure, sure. I mean, even in bed hello, bar. Now, in the middle of the website and you can say, like where you want it at the top, the middle or the bottom oh, no. Interesting. Okay, um it's under the settings go digging god, I haven't used hello bar in years. Yeah, absolutely. There's lots of different things. Natalie lucia's, pop up, ally plug in. Is there really another really great option? It's one that I used, um because that that also has the full with bar that you can use or a pop up, which you can also do click to pop if you spring for the pro version so you can get that getting an action and then getting the opt in thing going on very easily. S o I I really like that one as well, yeah, absolutely by all means I mean, this isn't getting having optimizing your website isn't necessarily about making your website perfect it's about really inspiring those actions that create results right it's about getting people to take action on the things that are those kp eyes that you're tracking this the responses that you want because you know they inspire you and create results yeah amy so when you had talked earlier and you had said to your website look like everybody else teo immediately I went to all the logistics stuff like this because my site looks very much like yours my name and then you know, the navigation and then the picture and then the opt in box and have so I kind of went do I need to do things different? And we see that commonly in our space so aaron the experts based whatever and so I thought, do I need to be doing something radically different than that? So there is a huge opportunity to balance what works with what is different about you okay, so there are certain things that we know work really well now there's always options there's never just that one thing schmidt works really well okay, so I would folk I would think about you know what is different about me how do I do what I do differently how do I want to represent my personality on which one of those things that work really well can I use to represent that right so that that band opt in it works really well the click to pop opt in works really well and just because lots of people are doing that doesn't mean that it's that you're not differentiated it's much more about the message or even the funt that you're using to communicate your personality than it is about the function of that thing now that that I mean I love innovative website design okay but but you were saying just basically joan mimic somebody else's personality when that's not yours yeah absolutely absolute and I see that all the time okay and that's so counterintuitive to me so there's no way that would happen yeah yeah cool on so kate is our second hot seat for this go around so I'm gonna pull up your sights and we'll uh we'll close this pop up for now okay so this is freesia ara veda am I saying that right ayurveda now you have a brick and mortar practice correct dio and you are kind of building out the online component of your right so this is much more reflective of where my business was than where it's going yeah and I'm guessing is a lot of people in that kind of arena yeah uh being honest even with yourself uh breathing slowly in a fast paced world I like that one conscious eating choosing foods that feeds your soul I like that one too feel your inner glow skin isn't created from the outside okay, so one thing that you're doing really interesting here is putting up headlines that are kind of counter intuitive there again they're against those misconceptions or against those assumptions that we have like we're in a fast pace world we have to be fast right? And so I love the side like breathing slowly you know that felt good um I don't love the slide shows I'm not saying that there's not another opportunity for slide shows on websites but I think one of those messages would be so much more focused and would lead you up to a call to action so much better okay uh so what's your what's your called action here at the bottom says learn more there's appointments medicine for a healthy happy life learn he'll connect so your connect a schedule a free twenty minute phone called conversation consultation um this one goes to a sales page and what's this one uh basic education about iron veda okay, so like an information, okay. Oh, and you've got cem cem forms on here okay, so this is, um this is what I would call pillar content on pillar content is a great next step I would leave that up there here's what I'd get rid of probably is instead of connecting being scheduling your free twenty minute phone consultation uh since you're wanting to build your online business I still just think it should be in email right right yes um and you've got a pop up that came up and I didn't take a good look at that what what's in your papa so pop up is signing up for the email list and it's a little bit wordy well this thing is like the declaration of independence everywhere don't let john hancock um basically yes it was it was why should I sign up for this for my email list and a couple of reasons and a okay a couple a couple couple couple of reason on the end and then a filling so what's the one big reason people should sign up for your email list because they want to be inspired to be inspired teo connect with themselves differently um that is very boring that's very boring and it's not it's not differentiated at all what is the um let's just go with breathing slowly and a fast paced world why why breeze slowly what's the benefit to me to go against the grain to actually when we take that moment we turn off autopilot so we won't be turning off the auto pilot on your health no it's her half the autopilot that actually led you to ill health often times. So it's more of a learning about taking that moments that we're able to take conscious action. We have that freedom in its moment to take conscious action versus a reactive way of being in the how about there's? No autopilot for your health? Oh, you like that? Okay, so, there's, no autopilot for your health. Uh, enter your email address below to get what is there a walking after isn't just e mails? There is going to be a welcome gift very soon. Okay, well, that's fine, even if there wasn't you know, we're going to talk in a later lesson about crafting a welcome gift really focused point of entry to your list, but even if there's not your your newsletter, your newsletter, your emails that you're sending out should be valuable enough the people who should want to sign up for them so you can say, enter your email and just below and every week I'll send you new information on being the pilot for your health or or taking your health in the direction you wanted to go. Getting to your health destination on time, whatever it might be, you don't have to use a silly metaphor like I am, although I love the autopilot thing so yes, about that's what I would do and then when you've got the welcome gift done, then you can just edit it to incorporate that welcome gift, okay, got it on dh, so that would be that that would be the next thing now. So, like I said, I think I want to see it opt in form or really specific call to action to that on your home page, and I bury this twenty minute phone consultation because you're not yes, eggs exactly. You're not happy to bury that. Now, you know what? A friend and another plane of mine, dr samantha, that dr samantha dot com she decided for the time being, what is most important to her is getting people either into her office or on to the phone. And so hey, sure, fine, if that's, what if that's what's most important to you, then that's? What should be there, but so often I hear oh, no, I'm I'm happy to get rid of that, and if you're happy to get rid of it, it should not be on your home page. It should not be your main called action. Okay, I have no problem with free consultations, I have no problem with it being a call to action, but make sure that it's actually that's a that's a kid make sure that's a k p I for you make sure that's a response you actually want do you dread when people contact you for a free consultation occasionally yeah that's good enough to say that yes yes I know that I don't think there's anything wrong with admitting that um okay so yeah and then this learn peace I would make that kind of like a secondary called action so maybe your newsletter you're called action here for your newsletter is living in here and then your learned piece goes down here and so maybe you give us your thinking back to that what's in it for you you give people some key questions not key questions about arab ada key questions they're asking so go back to your perspective math and think about what questions they're asking about their health or certain pain points that they're dealing with and say let me tell you more about tara veda and how it can address these questions that I know are on your mind and then that and then let's go back to this page again real quick uh because what I would do is actually make this probably full width and I would insert your oh not schedule a free consultation insert your opt in sign up keep at different points they were out here so like maybe one here and then one here and then when here okay which could be so super effective I used to have I think I still do have that on a couple different pages on my site so like there's a there's a form on my about page there's a form on my work with me pages ah form on a couple of different evergreen pillar content pages that I have so get lots of links and so that way even though you know I update with the opted incentive is for those with the welcome gift is they're they're they're just they're they're doing their job and it doesn't even matter how well they convert because they're just they're like if people are going to those pages you want people to be able to do this action that benefits you so it's kind of in the middle of the text so the people are okay yep so they're just reading and then oh get this free gaff toe okay you know or they just keep reading and maybe by the third time they get to it they're like I really like what this lady has to say I really wanted to make sure she gets in touch with me got it okay um let's just scroll back up here quick to your navigation and take a look at that um so yeah, I think this works is this this basic response oh god how I feel about it yeah you know so you've got clinic you don't have work with me or true, I might switch clinic to work with me although clinic works too and that you're standing out and that it's a brick and mortar practice you have a clinic but that's also not the direction that you're headed in this is a good time to start making those changes so like when we talked about your chief initiative and we talked about what can you change now there's certain things like that that you know you don't want teo you know you don't want to sabotage yourself but there are certain things that you can change now is you could change work with me andi could still have a section on clinic there, but it would also have um you know, here's how you can work with me virtually or here's when the next virtual group is turning okay, mix on yes, yes, cool yeah, and then I would move that actually up to probably second so home clinic or work with me about basia this I would put at the very end because it's not the most like it just it doesn't tell me a lot it's much better I'm assuming this is this page, so I wouldn't I think it's much better at the bottom of your home page than it is in your navigation and almost looks a little scary up there you know what I mean with their big words yeah I forget yeah fish full yeah well I know I know uh any questions no this is great actually helps of the prioritizing that the thief initiative because everything goes back to that then everything just kind of tumbles down into its appropriate little trickle down yes frankly I didn't even have to tell her to say that very good cool thank you, kate all right perfect. Great. So like I said in each of your work worksheets there is a full audit that you can go through and just kind of ask yourself these questions be ruthless I was kind of ruthless be ruthless to yourself you owe it to yourself you know stuff you owe it to yourself tio to be really honest about what you see and how it's working out for you because if your websites not working for you what is all right? So with your website focus on simplicity and clarity one thing that we did with both cathy and kate was saying eliminate this eliminate this eliminate this focus focus focus that's the number one piece advice I have I have about building a website that stands out the more focused and simplistic it it is the better go to the point of like have I gone too far because you could always if you could always make it mork complex but that editing process is the hard part so push yourself edit edit at it focus focus focus clarity, clarity, clarity do you want to repeat any other words? Okay, and use that simplicity and clarity to clearly communicate how your business stands out this whole boot camp should have to this point should be giving you ideas for how you could incorporate different things and just like kate said, if you use your chief initiative to prioritize the changes you need to make in your website, you may not want to do everything right now it might not be in the budget it might not be you know you might not have the time on your calendar, but use your your chief initiative and user kp eyes toe prioritize the changes that you want to make questions about websites that stand out. Melissa yes, so my question is, I I, um I'm an artist and creativity instigator and part of my being a creativity instigator is sharing my various art forms an expression we talked about, how that was your unfair advantage, right? And one of the things that I have on my website is my visual art work, and so I I just go crazy trying to figure out I'm a visual artwork. I have my music, I have like it gets very messy very quickly, you know? So right now I'm figuring like the main thing that I want to be promoting on my website is the creativity instigator peace right so does it make sense for me to just how doe I incorporate my my creative expressions that are part of what I dio and that people can actually buy or pay for how to incorporate those into my website? Should I just have it like people have to dig deeper in order to find those so your website your website is probably always going to be fairly visually complex where I would really focus on focus is on your messaging so if you know that highlighting the creativity instigator piece is the the thing that you want to focus on then make all of your messaging around that and then the art and the music can kind of cohabit e with that without you without you feeling the need to highlight it I think that we think that just because we have something on our website means we need to steer people toward it that's not true you can have music you can have our like we said it's your unfair advantage you should have those things on your website it is one of the most interesting pieces of what you d'oh but it's not necessarily the focus of what you're doing or why someone would be on your website right now, right? Okay, another thing that that you could be doing is building specific landing pages so that when you're performing music you've got melissa didn't ready dot com slash music and that's the website that your guided that's the page that you're guiding people tio they land on your home page no big deal but otherwise you've got a page that's devoted to music and the message is focused on music and that's not necessarily something that's linked in your navigation it's something that's just there for you to give that that out how does that make sense and you could do the same thing with fine artist well yes oh I already have pages but they are in my navigation yeah and I think that's okay um I just you know in terms of call to action or focus and simplicity perhaps landing pages that aren't linked there would also be helpful because what I what I would do on the art and music pages that are linked in your navigation is also focused the messaging there on creativity, instigation or on the same thing theme so maybe you're not talking about working with you as the creativity instigator but your work you're talking about how the music or the art is part of of creative export creative exploration for you and it's a lot it's what allows you to be so good at your work does that make sense? Yeah okay so just a slightly different focus meghan you can have what to think about um howto weave your fascination advantages into your website, copy or even just broadly like I'm mystique and prestige so what? What kinds of things could I weave into? Yeah, so you wanna sneak one of the key ways that you can use that particular advantage is making sure that every page every called action is reflecting back something that you have heard something that you're empathizing with something that you've perceived about your customers I see you doing this I hear you asking this question I I know that you're struggling with this thing because that points to you being an excellent listener on dh then did you say power? No, no prestige procedure sorry. Then I would speak to results so people who come to my workshops get these results um well, like yesterday we talked about bounty and then way also talked about aesthetics and so some of the results that are most important to you our esthetics so that's another way maybe your hero image is one of your clients gardens and it actually has a testimonial right there. I would have a headline and then a testimonial that supports that and then an image of their garden that you're really excited about and that brings that prestige element and it backs up the mystique element as well, because you're highlighting someone else you've this is someone who you've brought into the fold and taught the wisdom of your ways so that's that's one way andhra member to that that archetype chart sally's brilliant archetype chart is chock full of adjectives that you can incorporate into your copy toe either highlight you or to highlight ah your customer and to show them that you you get what's important to them then just as a plug for a future lesson in less than twenty four we're going to be doing sally's and some builder exercise where we're actually going to create a tagline for how your personality creates distinct value and that tagline it can change the game on how you write copy because it's it's it's going to give you that shorthand that you need to make sure that everything you do is super focused okay so just a little plug for lesson twenty four other questions how about one more for shelf I have my blogged on my front page of the website and I was just wondering how you feel about that um I go back and forth on it for myself um how do you feel about it and what kind of results have you tested it the other way um no I haven't I would encourage you to test it the other way I would just build a very simple, very focused very clean home page and leave it up for a month give yourself plenty of data and see what happens okay look at your conversion rate figure out what those kp eyes are going to be first on then look at those look at those things and see dismissing it just is this lower my bounce right? Does this increase the number of people who clicking through to my shop? Does this increase the number of people hopping onto my email list but test it because that's thank you for that question because that's such a great place to kind of leave things on with the execution piece is that I don't have the answer to your website question I can tell you about best practices I could tell you about, you know, research that I've read online because there are so many awesome people probably with alert personalities that air doing copious amounts of research on what really works aunt, I love following that stuff I love listening the podcast reading the block post whatever, but just because so and so says it works doesn't mean it's going to work for you, so you've got to be able to test it and you can use you know what? Maybe testing system if you're you know really into that kind of thing or you can switch it for a week or a month and give it a try and test it yourself. Okay, okay, but you test it. Uh, yeah, so let's get to today's homework use your worksheet to perform your own website audit again if you haven't gotten the worksheets all you have to do is r s v p on the course page and you'll be able to download all of the worksheets. All of them are valuable. This one is extremely valuable, if I do say so myself, create your action plan to make important changes on your website. Outsource those changes when necessary. This is important. Your job is not figuring out how to build a website unless your job is figuring out how to build a website, in which case, you probably don't need to outsource this. But unless you're a web designer, developer, outsource when necessary. Like shelley, said there's, great options out there for for testing some of the stuff easily yourself when it gets behind beyond easy. When you find yourself feeling frustrated, you have passed the point where you should be outsourcing.

Class Materials

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Syllabus
Worksheets
Student Intros
Keynote Template
Powerpoint Template
Business Style Guide - Keynote Version
Business Style Guide - Powerpoint Version
Business Style Guide - PDF Version

Ratings and Reviews

user-fb18d9
 

At first I was tuning in to watch live from my computer at work but I kept missing nuggets (because I was at work obviously) so I just bought the entire course. I have been doing the exercises at my pace and I love it. I had done my Fascination Advantage test before but didn't know how to incorporate them into my business. I am Mystique and Prestige. I thought I had to be loud and showy as a photographer which does not suite my style. After finding out that Sue Bryce has a Prestige and Mystique advantage (which truly made my day) I now see how I can make those advantages work for me. Tara has taught me so much already. I finally feel confident in my choice to not do wedding, family or boudoir photography. For a long time I felt like those were the only options. But I know now that I can do whatever I want as long as I fill a need and I have a good business model. But most of all I feel focused and confident about the choices I am making as a photographer. This is a feeling I've never felt after taking any other workshops or reading any other self-help books. I am a Tara Gentile fan for life.

a Creativelive Student
 

This course has totally transformed my way of thinking 'business' & relating it to & using my unique qualities as a person to help my business stand out...never saw this link before, thanks Tara! What Tara has done with this course is help me become my own business coach by helping me to recognize my vision; my uniqueness & how I'm going to bring these together to make a successful & profitable business. I would recommend it a 100 times over :-) Thanks Tara & Thanks Creativelive...you ar e helping to create star businesses! :-)

Amy Lamp
 

I can't say enough good things about this course. Tara provided so many new ways for me to think about my approach to the business I'm building -- from branding and personality, to vision and goals. The sessions are very methodical and focused, with actionable steps that help us move in the direction we WANT to move, not the direction that others say we should. And that's my favorite part of this bootcamp: that the key to a stand-out business lives within each of our unique styles. The sections on Fascination Language were pivotal for me. They got my brain energized about all of the ways I can use my natural approach as an advantage, as opposed to feeling held back by things that drain me. I was also impressed with the questions from the audience, how smart and relevant they were, and how astute Tara's responses were. If you missed the live broadcast of this bootcamp, the cost to purchase is well worth it.

Student Work

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