In this week’s episode I have the very lovely Ben Bellamy. Ben is a WordPress website creator who designs creative and modern websites for entrepreneurs. We talk all about websites, the key things you might be missing out on and how to convert prospects to customers.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
- Your website is your digital shop front.
- Don’t just rely on social media for your business, you need to utilise your website too.
- By having a website, you can attract customers from Google.
- Every service you offer should have a sales page – by the time someone reaches the end of that page, they should want to buy.
- Writing about ourselves is difficult, so it may be worth hiring a copywriter.
- Before working with a website creator, try to collate all the content so they can understand what you want to include on your website.
- Your website needs to incorporate your target customer, as well as you and your brand.
- Your website imagery is so important – work with a brand photographer that will represent you and hit your target audience.
- Give your audience a free opt in to grow your mailing list – share on your website to promote them.
- Add your awards, badges and social proof to your website – this builds trust.
- Make sure you include some testimonials on your website – this increases trust and customer belief in you.
- Website speed is SO important – it needs to be as fast as you can make it. Reduce file sizes of images and don’t use too many plugins.
- Show examples of your work on your website – give customers an idea of the amazing stuff you have done.
- Link to valuable resources on your website – shout about all the amazing tools you use and recommend – this shows that you know what you are talking about.
- ‘About’ pages on websites are one of the most visited – make sure yours has photos of you and it is personal.
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…
It is so important to not just rely on social media for your business, you need a website where you can talk about you, your brand and attract those all important customers.
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS
- An introduction to Ben 09:02
- Do I need a website? 09:37
- Brand disconnect 12:28
- The process of working with a website creator 18:35
- Working with WordPress 29:20
- Benefits of hiring a website creator 30:12
- The 90 day programme – Ben’s experience 39:05
- Website tips for converting your audience to customers 42:58
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAYS EPISODE
Winning website formula that converts your audience in to customers download
Transcript below
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing on this very fine day? You know what you think at episode 132, having done this once or twice before that I would have the intro.
So totally so not now, but I totally don't. Every time I start, this is about the fourth attempt I've made at doing this intro because it's really weird, but I hate doing that first bit. And then once I start and start talking, that's it. Then I can talk with Britain, not a problem, but yeah, that first bit always gets me.
So couple of things I need to update you on. First thing is. And I don't ask very often and I'm hoping you'll be very kind to me. That's I'm just going to ask you straight out. If you haven't yet reviewed the podcast or subscribed, or it's your first time, then please, please, please. Could you go over to iTunes?
And what you have to do is you have to find the podcast either by my name or Marketing That Converts. You click on the podcast and they have to scroll to the bottom of that page on your phone. And then that's where the reviews will be. And you hit five stars and then you add a comment and you write what you think of the podcast.
I'd be so very grateful if you did that. Had a dream last night, actually that someone gave me a one star. And I think it was because I gave a wine a one star and the owner came back to ask me, why would you have felt really bad about it actually, but I just didn't like it. Anyway um, maybe I have another one star in the podcast I need to check mine. But yes, if you wouldn't mind, that would be amazing only because obviously the promotion of the podcast is actually a really hard thing to promote as in, a podcast is like not an easy thing to advertise and get people immediately signing up and listening. So the reviews really help my rankings and obviously the rankings help when people are looking for a marketing podcast. So if you do enjoy it and you don't mind spending three minutes today doing something for me.
I would appreciate that. So very, very much. Thank you. Okay. The next update, before we get on today's interview, which is good one, um, is that my 90 day program is reopening in September. Now, if you don't know what the 90 day program is, let me explain. So the 90 day program is for very go getting ambitious entrepreneurs, business owners that want to take their business forward fast.
So you've got an idea in your head or you're going to do a launch or you've just created something or you want to create something and you need to really step up and take the next level in your business. So you might have already been part of a membership. You might have already downloaded some courses and you know what, it's just not moving fast enough.
And I can tell you absolutely a hundred percent why there's no accountability. So I have been in many group programs, I've been in amazing group programs with huge, huge people. As I've talked about many, a time on the podcast, I have paid lots and lots of money to do these things, but they were group programs and therefore I wasn't held accountable enough and being like a petulant child that sometimes I am. I just didn't do the work, which obviously there, that is not a smart move Teresa. You just spent all this money and maybe you didn't do the work cause you shouldn't have done. Anyway the only person I consistently show up for, to do with my own stuff is my coach Mary. Because Mary sets me work and I don't want to let her down. So I've been running a 90 day program now for probably the last six months.
And I have had lots and lots of amazing business owners and entrepreneurs going through it. So people who have done their first ever launch of their membership, and crushed it like hundreds of members. People who have literally had an idea and we've got it off the ground and launched it and sold it and they've got people in their programs. People who needed to stop consistent content and through the support of the 90 day program, they managed to create a podcast and start a new podcast. So this is really for people who are ready to take the next level. And the cost for this is higher than my Academy way higher than the Academy. Because part of the 90 day program is you get to be in a very small group of people. So no more than 10 in any one 90 day program.
And then you get one-to-one calls with me as part of that program. So, if you are interested, if you think this is something that you might want to do. The cost of this is $2,500. Okay. And this is only going to be for this one program. And for a matter of days, that it's going to be this cost because the cost is going to go up.
But if you think you are ready to take the next step. If you're scared that $2,500 scares you, good! Because honestly, I only do stuff where I've put skin in the game, money on the table. Cause then I make sure I do the work. So if you're interested head over to teresaheathwareing.com/90day not days, day.
Okay. And there is a option to join the waiting list. And as soon as I open the doors and have my next intake of 90 day students, then you will be the first to know. And like I said, if the price scares you, good. I want people who are going to commit and do the work. I want people who are sat there thinking I've got an amazing product or service.
Why is no one buying it? Why can't I get in front of my customers? Why did the ads not work? Why is it that people aren't opting into my lead magnet? So if you're sat there thinking that's me, then this is absolutely for you. Okay on with today's interview. So last week I shared the news that I had got a new website and I had worked with one of my amazing Academy members who is also a 90 day member.
And he has helped design and create my new website, which I love. So if you haven't checked it out, do you go check it out. But I thought it would be great to have him on just to give some advice about sites. About some of those key things that you might be missing out on in terms of getting your customers who are viewing the site to actually convert, to become customers.
Did I say customers to convert, to become customers? If I may, if I said that I meant prospects, you know, I meant, okay. So today I interviewed the lovely Ben Bellamy. Do you know what? I've just tried to read his bio twice, I messed it every time I hate reading on the podcast. Let me try again. He's a WordPress, a website creator who designs creative and modern websites for entrepreneurs who wants to raise their revenue and create customers. Ben is the range of talented business owners on their websites. And in turn has helped them transform their brands to position them as experts in that respective industry. There we go. Finally got it out. Ben was at absolute pleasure to work with. He really did understand what I wanted from a website. And I'm really happy to welcome him onto the podcast to give you some practical takeaway things that you can do for your website to ensure that it is converting those prospects into customers. So here is today's interview.
So I am very excited today to welcome the very lovely Ben Bellamy to the podcast. Welcome Ben!
Thank you for having me.
My pleasure. We're laughing because I just really messed up and we just have to start again. And I said, not a word. So we deleted that so we could spare your ears of my bad language.
So, Ben it's on the podcast today because as I said in the intro, I have been working with Ben to create my brand new site, which I told you about last week. And I just thought it would be great to get Ben on because I know that, and as I don't talk about it very often, but once sites are crazy, crazy important.
And I actually, when I was doing the site and when I approached Ben and said, you know what, let's, let's bring you on, have a chat with, with each other about it. I've thought to myself, God there's hardly any episodes that really address websites. So I'm really, really excited about today. But Ben let's start off as I always do.
And, you know, cause you listen to the podcast and introduce yourself to my audience and let them know how you got doing what you're doing today.
So, um, so my name is Ben. Uh, I am a WordPress website designer. I work with entrepreneurs all around the world, helping them with their websites and in turn, helping them raise their revenue and create
customers.
Fab! And you
did it so very succinctly.
So obviously in the days of social media that we are in now, when I first started marketing, which is a really long time ago. I remember people saying to me, do we really need a website? And it was like, yeah, she really do. And now we get, well, we did used to get the, do I really need social media? Yes, you do.
But it's almost had a really. All this amazing tech and this amazing social media, we've got now. I think has almost had a negative effect on sites and the fact that people maybe think they don't need them anymore. Do you think that's the case?
Yes, absolutely. It's the same principle, as we're told to build our mailing list because we don't own our own social media.
And so, um, for that fact, we should also very much be paying attention to our websites. Um, we shouldn't just rely on having social media. Our websites are our digital shopfront. It's where it's the best one, the best tools that we have within our sales kits. So we should be utilizing our websites. And not only that, but to attract people through Google as well.
Um, if that's relevant to your business is also really good customer stream. Um, so we kind of do, I think definitely at the moment, there's a lot of heavy focus on spending time on social media. Um, and I think, I think we definitely have to consider our websites as well.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think you just had a couple of things there by it's your shopfront and, and it absolutely is.
And you know what, prior to COVID I would have said to some people, “Well, actually you can get away with it because you physically have a shopfront.” Or that's not the way people find you or look for you or whatever. But the truth is now, everybody is online, whether they think they're an online business or not, they need an online presence.
And especially what COVID has taught us is we have to be flexible and quickly jump online and change things and move things or whatever. And interestingly enough, on, I don't know whether you saw this in your business, but I know for sure it happened with lots of people that I spoke to. They went back to their web developers at that point and went, “Oh, I need to change this.
I need to add this. I need to move this. I need to”, did you get much of that? When that happened?
Massively! Over the last four or five months, I've spoken to so many different business owners who, um, a lot of them for the most part have never done any kind of form of social media. Um, lots didn't have a website. And, most people were relying on word of mouth, recommendations and regular customers. And then of course lockdown happens. It gets to the point of thinking, “Oh, my customers stream has suddenly disappeared. I need to start thinking about my digital presence and so very much so I had a lot a loss of that.”
Yeah, and I did, I saw it lots and I saw people adding e-commerce parts on their site payments.
And that's sort of thing because they never had it before. But for me, and the reason I want to do this episode so much is one, we've got some great tips later for a winning formula to convert people from just kind of visiting our site to actual customers, which is great. And Ben's going to talk us through that, but I've always been a big advocate for having a good site. Because obviously inevitably, one of the first things people do is they'll Google you. And even if they find you through a social media platform, that the chances are they're going to go and look at your site. And for me, it was so important that it looked good. That it represented me well. I didn't want someone to go to a site and think, “Oh, Like she doesn't know what she's talking about” and granted I'm in this space, so it'd be pretty awful if I didn't have a nice site. But I know I've gone to websites and I've been totally put off.
They could be the best company in the world. And I take one, look at their site. It's either out a day. It doesn't work properly. Links are broken, all these kinds of things that really affect how good a site is. And I've immediately thought, no, I'm not signing for that. And you're gonna see that all the time.
Yeah, absolutely. I see a lot of disconnect between people's lovely Instagram pages and it's all very well curated. They've got that brand coloring their fonts. Everything's really nice and pretty. Um, and then you go to their website or even sometimes I will say people's landing pages. If they necessarily don't use the website, maybe they use a landing page tool.
Um, there's a big brand disconnect. And so that really impacts the customer journey. Um, especially as people will follow you on social media to spend time with you there.
But
when they actually want to buy from you, chances are they're going to be looking at your website and they're going to come back and look at your website, and then they're going to look again.
And so it's really important that probably the same amount of time you're putting into social media, you should really be looking and putting time into your website. I've known some business owners who will launch their website and then it will sit there for maybe one, two years and they do nothing with it.
And it's a living, breathing thing. Really. You have to take care of it.
You know what? I'm so glad you brought that up. Cause when I was about to go, obviously I've sat here. Like yeah, I've got my lovely, shiny new website. It's so beautiful, looking after it for me. But the truth was when Ben came well, when we started working together, when I spoke to Ben.
My site was sat doing nothing for about two years and it was a beautiful site. And then funny thing, I always got my compliments on it, even up to like the last few months. But it didn't, it didn't work. It didn't represent me anymore. And that's again, like the other thing. Cause Ben and I have this discussion about, cause the other thing that I need to tell you is that Ben's in the 90 day program with me and we'll talk a bit about that as well.
But so in our discussions in the 90 day program, we talk about the fact of people will see Ben's role and Ben's business as a project. Right? As I did okay. I saw my website as “I need a new website. Let's just get this product done. Website's live projects done.” Don't you think about it anymore? And obviously that's the problem.
That's why two years down the line, I've got a website that doesn't represent me and who I am right now that doesn't show me off in the best light. But I look at it and I kind of cringe because I've just paid no attention to it. And actually, Ben is working hard to reeducate me and in turn were looking at how Ben's business can reeducate lots of business owners to say, like you said, that the site is a living breathing thing.
And actually it belongs to us, it's very static. And when you do look at how much effort people put into their Instagram, and so creating content, actually the site gets forgotten about, and it really, really
shouldn't.
Yeah, absolutely. Um, it's so important. Uh, and I think that people would be surprised actually, when you look at revenue, how much extra money they would make, if they invested some time and a bit of money into their website. Um, I think people would be really surprised at what they could have, what they could achieve.
Hmm. And one thing I want to say as well is that, you know, the listeners know that I use landing pages, okay. So when you go and check out the Academy, that's a landing page. When you, when you go and get one of my downloads, that's the landing page. Also, I'm really heavy on social media. So you might sit there and want to look at my website.
That's by the way, it's not like I'm getting millions of heads, right. So it's not like I'm investing in my site because I'm a different level. I don't, you know, in terms of traffic, it's not as high as you would think. However, it's still really important. It sounds like I'm kind of going, I do all this other stuff, so it's fine.
But that's what I'm trying to say that even though I do all this other stuff, which I do way more than probably the average businesses, because this is my world. But I still feel the need to invest in a really good site, because like Ben said, you see a great social media profile or you see a great landing page, and then you think I'll go check this woman out.
You put my name into Google one, do I come up? Which like, God, my site is my name and it's very unusual. So I do. And then you go to my site and if it's God awful. What if it's out of date and not attractive looking and doesn't represent me and things have wrong on it or broken needs. That doesn't say
“Teresa is a professional come and hire or work with her, or get her to speak at your event” that says, “Oh God, that's not great.” You know, and, and this, this person serious.
Exactly.
Yes. And os for me, that's why I wanted Ben on. That's why I wanted us to talk about this today because of the fact that. Honestly, the certain things I suggest you invest in when you first start a business that, you know, I know not everybody agree with me. But personally it's brands and it's a website. You know, because those two really set you up completely in terms of you look like a real company, a real business. So, so, um, obviously Ben's just completed my site. So I just wanted to, uh, it's for you guys, really, just to get you to understand maybe the process we went through, what sort of things we looked at. So obviously I approached Ben and said, “I need a new site” and we talked about what it was and what I needed, didn't we?
Yeah, we did. A lot of it obviously I, because I work with you in your Academy and starts your 90 day, and I'm a listener to your podcast. So I know your brand, they see your brand. But I, no matter who it is, who I work with, I always like to make sure that I really do understand it. Because sometimes it's easy to presume and especially where people are.
Uh, maybe putting out a certain type of brand and they may be planning to make a big change. Their goals are changing. So it's important to kind of sit down and sometimes ask stupid and repetitive questions that are kind of a bit like, “Well, shouldn't, you know, that?” Because you just don't want to presume about somebody that you really know what their plan is.
So it's very much, the first session is very much about nailing down, actually, what the brand is. Who the target market is. And also what the, what your goals are, because that's really important. Cause we're not just thinking about designing something for now. We're also thinking ahead to the future and where you want to be.
Yeah. And I worked a long time ago in an agency that did websites predominantly. And I would say the guys designing and building the sites. Cause we, cause it was a big agency. So we had a whole development team, but a whole design team and one that led to a bit of disjointedness. Because obviously the designers would often not think about what the developers could do and vice versa. But then the other aspect was they weren't marketers.
And, and honestly that is so important because you can have the best looking site. You can have the most wizzy, it's amazing techie, fancy pants site. But if you're not talking to your customer, if you don't understand me and what my objectives of my business are and who I'm talking to, then. It would be pointless.
Yeah, exactly.
So, so that was the first thing. The other thing I want to touch on is obviously one thing that you're really good at is doing personal brand sites. So what would you say if we've got people out there who are listening, who are personal brands, what kind of stuff are you thinking is really important in terms of having a site that is aimed.
Well, as a personal brand, is it different to maybe a product site? Is it different than maybe a company site? What's your thoughts around that?
So if you are a personal brand, you almost probably doing some form of a core content or consistent content, so whether that's
a podcast or a blog or a video series. And so whatever that content is, you spend a lot of time doing it. So it's important to actually highlight that on your website, even for new people that are seeing you for the first time, that could be the very first opportunity when they're looking at your websites that they get to experience your call content.
And then all of a sudden you've gained a new podcast listener that you wouldn't have had before. So I think that's really important to definitely highlight that. Um, I actually don't see people doing that enough, which kind of is when you put so much effort and time into something, you really want to shout about it everywhere.
Yeah. And actually that was a good point because initially my original, like I say, the original, this is like before this new site I've got about three or four different sites, but the last site I had. On the homepage said nothing about my podcast. So unless you saw podcast in the menu bar, and then eventually I changed it.
So it just had a static image and go listen to the latest episode. Whereas in this one, what's great is obviously it shows the latest episode. It's really encouraging them to do those things. And also. Like you said, make the most of that make the most of my lead magnets make the most of all the different content that I've got going on. Because I do produce a lot of content and therefore you want people to see it when they go there.
The other thing for me, which was a real kind of wake up call and I kind of get, I love doing this stuff because. Honestly, I think sometimes people listen to the podcast, and think “you've just got to also nuts, Teresa it's easy for you.” If flip is, yeah, I get it wrong as much as everyone else. And I just, you know, my job is to make a mistake and tell you not to do it. But like, so one of the things that we did was we made a big change to the speaker page.
Now on the original site, this speaker page was literally like a very short page Teresa speaks basically. Didn't say much more than that. And like one image of me speaking and prior to working with you and having the site done. I was speaking to a very lovely lady who helps people get speaking gigs and whatever.
And she went to my site and she was like, “This is awful.” Thank you very much! And she's like, “It literally tells me nothing.” And she's, “I'm looking for credibility.” So, I then sent her my media kit, which I have, which is very beautifully designed and looks great and has all my stats on there and has all the packages and everything that I do.
And anyway, I sent her that and she's like, “Why the hell is that not on your site?” Like, sometimes you need someone to say something like that for you to go. “Oh, God. You're right. Yeah. Why isn't that? My site.” So when we were together, one of the things that you did was, was really turned that speaker page into almost like a mini site in itself, because it has so much on there in terms of a nice long page, lots of information.
And then those key call to actions throughout the entire site, as well as let's try and get them to do that.
Yeah. And I think this kind of comes down to accessibility. So as human beings, we want everything. Now we want it tomorrow. We want to be able to go on anything really say, you go out to a restaurant, you want to know what food is on offer.
You will know how much. Yeah. And so I think it's very much that in the same sense that you want to get. As somebody looking to book somebody to do a speaking job. You would want to know all of the information upfront, as much as you can say. And by the time that person has gotten to the end of that page, they should be sold on the fact that, “Right, this is the person.”
“This is the person that I want for this speaking job.” Even down to sales pages in general. Every website should have a sales page. You should have a sales page for every service that you offer. And once that person's gotten to the end of that page, they should be convinced that you are the person that they should be booking.
Yeah, absolutely. So like I said, it was a big of a victory. It wasn't, they made it incredibly easy. He, luckily, obviously Ben knows me and knows my brand, which would help those initial conversations. But obviously he would have just had longer conversations with people that he didn't know to get to the same level as where he was with me.
So it was really easy in terms of the design. And obviously I sent Ben and if you are having a site, then if you're thinking about how the site done. I sent Ben lots of other websites that I like the look of and gave him reasons why I like the look of them or reasons why that appealed to me more than something else or whatever.
The other thing I did, which I think is particularly helpful. And Ben will tell you whether it was or not is I gave him all my content before he even started. So literally folders of images. Text for every single page. Maybe not like there's a couple of pages that probably weren't completely finished off or after you designed it, we sort of decided there's a space here we could do as some texts. But you pretty much had everything upfront and, and having done websites of clients a long time ago.
That's gotta be the way forward as it.
Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. You definitely hold the award for the most organized client, but I've had so far. Sorry, everybody. But it is just such a dream to have all the content before we start. And I really, really try and push this. I don't like to use the word mandatory, but it's, um, the content writing, especially if you're doing it yourself, I would always recommend collaborating with the copywriter if you can't afford to do so.
But what I think about ourselves it's hard. We find really easy to talk about other people write about other people. But when it comes down to us, naturally, we find it difficult. And so in my experience, I found that getting content from people tends to be, um, it can be the longest or the most difficult thing.
It also is important to have as much of the content as you can do beforehand. Because it's my job to look through that and go, okay, “Well actually I can see what you're trying to say here, and I need to then represents that visually in a way that you necessarily wouldn't have thought of. That's kind of my job to pull that apart and put it back together in a way that represents your brand and looks nice.”
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, I don't know how people do without it, to be honest. Without having those assets there. Because, how can you even start to design or build a page and you don't know what's going on that page. And like I said, it wasn't like, you know, you did your first design and then that's it.
You're done. You're not having anything else. We've tweaked it. And we changed it and we made it work where it needed to. Just because sometimes when you see it in a site, you go, “Oh, actually, that isn't what I thought. Or we need to change the text or whatever.”
You can talk about things and plan things, but until sometimes you actually visually see it in front of you,
the thing that you thought in your mind. “Yes, this is exactly what I want.” When you look at it, you go, actually, that's just not right. So you never truly know until you see it. And that's the importance of working with a designer and having a good relationship and getting it to the point of being a place where, um, it's right for bids, right for you. And it's right for the designer's happy.
And then the other thing I want to touch on before we move on is, I needed a site that could work for me in terms of, and this was a discussion we had right off the bat in terms of, like I said, I change lead magnets all the time. I, you know, I create new content that is a lead magnet, or I create new content that I need to put on a site that, or if I'm doing a challenge or I've got a webinar coming up, it's like, Oh, neat.
I want to use my site for that reason. I obviously people are visiting the site. I need to make the most of that. And I couldn't, I couldn't get it, the content to do that. And then maybe that's half the reason why people think sites are just create it, leave it because they don't have the accessibility that I've now got, or the teams now got.
And also having you. In terms of working with us, going forward to do all these updates. Cause when Ben came to my site literally, it was on it's dizz, like how it was still surviving. I don't know.
Is probably one of the mysteries of the world I think, about your website. I think that, so actually I don't think this is something we've said, but I specifically deal in WordPress websites and your website is on WordPress.
The platform. Yeah. People don't realize that WordPress has actually got an easier and more accessible over time when WordPress first started, it was very difficult. You needed somebody who had the know how in order to do, to make changes, to build it, to do stuff. Over time people have created ways to get around that.
And now I use a piece of software called element or pro, which in its essence is a website builder, which connects into WordPress. So it just means for the clients, there is so much easier for the client to go in and make text changes, make image changes, move things around in real time. Whereas before you would have really struggled to do that. So it's definitely a leap forward.
And I think I just want to touch on the fact of, as Ben said, my site is WordPress always has pretty much been WordPress. The reason I stayed with it and I didn't take it to Kajabi because initially I did want to build my own site and Kajabi, but I realized that one.
Kajabi as much as I love it. You know, if you listen to the podcast, I'm a big, big fan and use it for everything else, but it couldn't do what I needed it to do. As in like some of the plugins and things that I have that make my life easier. Kajabi couldn't quite do that. Cause it was it's an off the shelf thing.
There's, there's not much manipulation you can do to it. And secondly, I didn't want to spend what would have been the best part of probably. I reckon three, four weeks full time. If I did nothing else on trying to create my site, cause creating my landing pages, my sales page took me about three days and you know, granted it's done now and I just replicates it when I need to.
But the point is. My time is way more valuable than having to do that. And that's gosh, I just realized, as I said, that, that science, like your time's not Ben. But it's no, no, but I meant I would spend three weeks doing such that probably should have taken three days, but I don't have the skills and the expertise.
Whereas obviously this is what Ben does full time. So if you're sat there thinking, well, I can't afford it. And I don't want to pay for it, or it's not that important. I want to urge you to try and just shift your thinking on this because one, like I said, and like Ben said earlier, it's your shop window. It's your, like, this is your first impression to the world online.
Obviously we've got social media. That's great, but it looks the way that it does because it's social media. You know, you can't change the look of your Facebook page or the grid of the Instagram. You know, you can only sort of manipulate the content that you put in there. Your website is absolutely yours.
You'll kind of “Hello people, hello world. This is who I am. This is my business.” So I would highly recommend that you do invest that money. The other thing I recommend that you do is that you go to someone like Ben, that you have a site done by a person that does sites. Because there are certain things that Ben has bought into the site or that we use in the site that really helped, not only from a timing saving points of view, but also from a usability point of view. So you're listening to this podcast now, and the link to the podcast will be the number of which the podcast is. So we use a plugin called pretty links, and basically it enables us to do teresaheathwareing.com/ and then whatever number the podcast is.
So that plugin that's great. I don't think I could have had that on another site. Uh, on specially like Kajabi site. The other thing that Ben did, which I didn't do on my old site and I wouldn't have done, if I hadn't have gone to Ben, was I use captivate to publish my podcast or captivate has a, is it a plugin, Ben?
It is. Yeah.
Yeah. Let's see, this is a little, I know about it. Right? So captivate, you have a WordPress and that means I can, instead of like uploading the podcast, it's captivate and then uploading it again to WordPress and messing with it in there and doing some stuff. And basically giving myself double the amount work I've now saved that time.
Or the team has saved that time that we don't need to do that. Now it's all in WordPress. We go into the site, we put it in done. Boom, ready to roll. So it's things like that, that someone who. Knows what they're talking about can look at it and be like, why are you doing that? Why are you like, tell me how you do that?
Why would you do that? And that's the kind of thing you need. Whereas like, I wouldn't have had the expertise. And again, I don't want you to sit here thinking, well, “Teresa, you know, you're at a different level, you've done this long” or whatever, whatever. I've always had someone else to do me a website. I have never, ever, I've never done my own site because I knew I wasn't good enough.
And I knew that, you know, I needed that other person than that kind of involvement in terms of best skills, their our ability. And then one last thing I want to say on this, cause I'm literally taking over this podcast is if you're sat there going, I don't want to spend the money and I can't afford it. I want you to think.
And I said this in the group the other day, that's a in the Academy. Do you know what your hourly rate is? Okay. So I want, you know, I'm, I can, I can see you like going yes or no. So if you have just shook your head go, and I don't know what my hourly rate is. I want you to work it out. I want you to think.
If I was charging for my time, what would my actual hourly rate be? And then times it, by the number of hours you mess around in trying to work, I had to do something and honestly, and then look at. You know, even if it's like two, three, four, five pounds and pounds, whatever it might be. You've just got to look at the time.
And if you were charging your own time out, is that really worth it? And what difference would it make? So I get obviously some inquiries through the site, but I don't get that many cause honestly I get lots of DMs and things and already I've had a number of inquiries through the site from the site going live.
I didn't tell you this Ben. You know, I've already had a number of inquiries that have gone through the site. Which maybe it was just easier for them to fill in the form. Maybe they could see it easier. Maybe I inspired them more. You know, maybe they saw the content that they needed in order to fill in the form.
So. So, yeah, I just think for me, I've just had a little run there. A nice one though, but seriously, it's something I've always paid for, no matter how much and believe me, obviously I started, well, you know, my story, I started on zero with no money whatsoever and I had a site from day one, cause it's so important.
It's interesting because I have obviously worked with a lot of different people over the times that I have, um, of the time that I've been doing this. And.
The
people that have designed their own website or have built something themselves often have built it, thinking about what they like. And it's really important to remember that actually you need to be designing and building a site that is for your target customer. Because if your target customer doesn't, doesn't like it, doesn't resonate, then it's not about you.
As much as your website has to talk about you and show your brand, you have to massively incorporate your target customer into it. Um, and like you say, you should be spending more time. Your time is more valuable spending it on your own business and doing things into that rather than doing something that really could take you a really long time and actually could take a designer considerably less time.
Yeah.
I often say to people, you wouldn't have a cake maker build your house. You would go to a builder. So it's the same thing that I like to play here. You would employ a website designer or a web developer to build
your website.
Yeah, absolutely. And I can assure you, it was way less pain than if I had had done it because I could literally put together the content send it to Ben. He'd send me the sites. I'd look at it. I'd send him some tweaks. He had tweaked it and come back and we did it really quick. And granted at the time, life has been a little bit difficult for me. So how we bloody used to do it. I think even if I had been on the ball more or more available, it would be done in a matter of literally weeks.
Wouldn't it? And I think as it was, it was only like something like six weeks in, was it six weeks or something? I don't know.
I think,
I think it was around that time. I think it was about six weeks. But I normally, I generally like to keep it somewhere between two to three, maybe four, obviously life gets in the way as a kind of good mark.
I often see people, there are some projects that I see people talk about that go on for months and months, months, like six to eight months. And I just, unless we were talking in a corporation level, Humongous website. Massive. I would maybe say, okay. I can understand that. However, this level for the people listening to this, there's just no need for it to be for it to be that long it took.
No, not at all. Not at all. So. Okay. So. Let's just quickly talk about my deeper going on, we're going to give you these tips. Because obviously we sat here and don't get me wrong. I will tell you my recommendation that I think you should go to someone. However, Ben and I sat asked that hand, knowing that not everyone can do that in the first instance, but at the minute you can, we want you to, because it's really important.
But if you are doing your own site, do you want some people are good at this stuff? Like I'm not like we've got a couple of Academy members that. Fully do their own site and they like it and they find it easy. And that's absolutely great if that's their thing and it's good. And it works then. Okay.
Obviously I'm not going to suggest you're going to get someone else to do it if you're doing great. So we have got some tips that will help convert your audience to customers so that you can go and review your own site. But I just wanted to mention the 90 day program, because like I said, we don't mention it very much.
And by the time you're listening to this, the doors are currently shut and they're going to be opening again in September. So Ben why did you want it to do something like the 90 day program?
So. I wanted to do the 90 day program. The moment that I discovered you. And just because I, I resonate to you and now we kind of resonate together.
And so when I looked at the stuff and I looked to listen to your podcast, I just knew that you were the person that was going to be able to help me take my business forward. Now at the time, when I looked at it doing the 90 day program, wasn't within my budget because I really just started out. However, as soon as I have come to the point of being able to invest in myself, and that is the biggest thing is investing in myself and my business.
So I know that the money that I spend, I almost said to me, we'll be able to recoup that and much more. And I think almost in a way it's a little bit the same as you've just said about having someone on the outside. Do your website for you because of a different input. It's really easy as business owners to sit here and we're in our own business bubble and we almost need someone from the outside to come in and go. Actually,
maybe you need to be doing X, Y, and Z, or we need to be trying this, we need an outside perspective. And that for me, um, I just knew that I needed to invest in myself. And, um, to kind of take my business forward. And so that was the biggest reason why I decided to join the 90 day the 90 day program.
Yeah. And do you know what I love the fact that you talk about it investing because that's what it is. You know, the years I have spent thousands and thousands on learning and developing and working things out. Because when you come into business, you know what you do, right. Obviously you're good at that.
You build websites, you don't need anybody to help you with that. You know what to do. But that doesn't mean you can run a business. That doesn't mean because I knew how to do marketing, than other people that I could then, cause it's the hardest thing to do yourself. You know, turn it around or it didn't mean I knew how to do finance or manage people or, you know, so sometimes like you said, having that other person that maybe has done it a little bit longer or has had some different experiences.
Is a really good, it's just a really good signing board. And the other thing for me, the one thing, the one reason I love the 90 day program is because we get to do some one to one work. And that's, what's really great about that is because then we get to really deep dive into your business and who you are and what you do.
And although, obviously I love the Academy and you've been on lots of coaching calls and we do some great stuff on there. We can't spend a good hour. Talking about what your business is and what direction it's going in and what you need to do and how you can plan it. And that's sort of thing. So for me, that's what I love about it.
Cause I can, I can really see the difference. And also what's great. And what you're about halfway through now, but what's really good about the 90 day program is because the price point is in the thousands. When I say thousands, that makes sense. Like it's 10 grand. Does that mean it's not, it's like two and a half grand.
So because it is at that point, I want people who are willing to invest because you won't then do nothing. Because that would be an absolute waste for, and the same with me, I, you know, I've talked really openly before that I spent 15 grand on something for James Wedmore and it made me feel sick, literally physically sick.
That is then that money. And then I did the work because if I didn't then well what an idiot I would have been. So, so I think putting your money where your mouth is or some skin in the game, as people I'd say, just means that you're going to do the work, which means you're going to have a better outcome.
I'm going to have a really satisfying outcome because it's like, great, look, that's where Ben was. This is where he is now. And we'll be able to see those changes. So, yeah, it's cool. I'm, I'm really enjoying it,
really enjoying it.
Yeah me too.
Cool. That's good. Okay. Let's get on with these tips for people in order to convert your audience into customers.
So what's brilliant about this. You'll all be very glad to hear is Ben is going to go through these tips one by one .And explain what it means, but also he has a download that you can go and get all this so you don't need to write furiously. You can literally just go to Ben's site and get this download for yourself.
So before we start and I will put it in the show notes, what's the link for the download?
So the link for the download is Benbellamy.co.uk/winning.
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. Okay. So how many points do we have? I forgot.
Okay. We have got eight points.
Okay. So let's get going then. Point number one.
Okay.
So, amazing imagery. Your imagery and your website is so, so important. No matter what you do, what your business is, whether you're a personal brand, even down to selling products. So I would really encourage people to work. With a brand photographer because they are so great at being with take amazing photos that represent you really well and hit your target audience by having those photos.
Not only do you get good snaps for your social media, but for your website is so, so important. I think that although iphone photos are great and they might be really good for Instagram. To take it up to another level to have a brand photographer is a really, really good, it sets you apart from other people.
So in time your customer is looking at that and hopefully they're going to see that level of professionalism through your images.
Yeah. And to be honest, it's not as expensive as people would think. I mean, I've had shoots before that costs me a few hundred pounds that were great. You know? So it's abs again.
I know we're saying again, pay for this, pay for this. All right money bags. But there's just these things that, you know, I see some people pay for some stuff. I just think that's just crazy, man. Why would you pay for that? And then not have the basics like. The website or the photos. So photos. Yeah, absolutely.
And one thing that was lovely actually is when I sent my file over to Ben, he was like, “Oh my God.” Like, cause I've had quite a few photo shoots. I say too terribly vague, but it literally was, here's a million pictures of my face. You picked which one do you like? Terrible. Okay. Number two.
Okay. Free opt-ins.
So
I'm
a fan of this.
We love a lead magnet. We love an opt in. Um, as we know, growing our mailing list is really important. We don't own our own social medias. So we want to be sharing this stuff really prominently on our websites. It's a great way to get people on our mailing list. And once they're on your mailing list, we're going to be able to cultivate those potential customers over time.
There's potential. Yeah. There's people who were, could turn into your customers.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm a massive fan of that one really important. But again, having the ability to put those lead magnets or links to those lead magnets on your site is important because lots of them don't. They just go straight from a social media thing to a landing page, whereas you're missing a whole host of people that aren't new.
Yeah. Okay.
So it's not just one thing actually.
Sorry. A great tip is to actually show the, um, the show, the lead magnet. So I know you're really good Teresa because you like to do a mockup. So if you go to Teresa's website, you will see she's got lovely clipboards with the front image of the lead magnet on there.
So if people can actually physically see the thing they're downloading, they're actually more likely to want to have it and download it.
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Number three.
So, uh, awards, badges and social proof. So for the same reason that when you go to an online shop and you will see, um, logos for PayPal, um, and all those kinds of lovely things that instantly gives the user trust.
So you want people to feel trust in you. So if you have any awards. I mean, if you have any awards, you should be shouting about it anyway. Cause that's amazing. Um, so that's something that you should be showing off any kind of badges and also social proof. So anyone can kind of say anything about themselves, the internet, but you need some evidence to back it up. So any kind of social media comments, any kind of messages that you might get that people have given you permission to share. Um, it's just really good to show that. Training and experience and show those results in that way.
And actually, what was interesting and I want you all to go and have a look at it as you're listening to this is, um, if you go to my site at teresaheathwareing.com and go to the speaking page. When I sent Ben my social proof, I sent it with the caveat, please try and make this look good. Because the problem with social proof is obviously is like Instagram posts and Twitter posts and stories. And, and therefore it's not consistent in look or feel or brand or anything.
And I am all about the aesthetics. And so, yeah, so for me, I was a bit like, how are we going to make this look good? And he did a great job of adding in that social proof, because like Ben said, it's all well, and good if I say “Look I'm brillant”, but if I've got a whole load of Instastory posts that say. She was brilliant that has so much more weight to it. Doesn't it?
Definitely.
Okay. So number four leads nicely into kind of what we just discussed. Number three.
Yeah. So testimonials the same reason that when we plan to go to restaurants, we look at the reviews. If we go to a hotel, we're looking at TripAdvisor, we're looking at the reviews.
You really want to be including some testimonials. Again, it's a trust thing. We want to convert that customer. We want them to trust you believe in you. And that happens from other people's experience. So, um, really, really important. Again, if we can link through to some reviews that have been left on Google or Facebook, or maybe an external place, that's really preferable because a testimonial on a website, anyone can make that up.
Anyone can write that. So if you can externally link that out, that's really good.
And also if you are having testimonials on your site, I'm guessing images are a great.
Images
are excellent.
You know,
sort of a photo of the person who gave the testimonial.
And
actually if you can
get a video testimonial of people that's even better because you're literally hearing that person.
Say how amazing you are, so that just, you could really get much better than
that.
No, exactly. Okay. Number five.
Speed. Now, this is one of my biggest things. Nobody likes a slow website. We're all impatient. If the wifi goes off for a minute, it's like, hell enough. So your website needs to be really fast as fast as you can make it without compromising any kind of design or the quality you want to be looking at, reducing the file sizes of your images, not using too many plugins, if you're using WordPress and if you are using WordPress or whatever platform you're using use the speed optimization that they offer, because it's really, really important.
Um, cause quite simply, if it's slow, people are just going to go somewhere else.
And then we'll see my face glazing over there. That's why I've bending myself cause I know what you're talking about. I know what it's like to be on the end of a slow site and I do not want to be on it. So that's fine. As long as it's fast, that's fine. Okay.
Number six.
Uh share examples
of your work. So again, it's another evidence-based thing. Um, we're talking a lot about trust. People want to see and be able to put themselves in somebody else's shoes and be able to imagine the great results that you're going to be able to give them. The best way to do that is to show examples of the amazing stuff that you've done.
Yeah, absolutely. And it can be done in a variety of ways, you know, in terms of case studies or videos or, you know, social proof stuff. So, yeah, I think that's a really, really good one. Okay. Number seven.
Um, linking to valuable resources. So you're the expert in the industry you want to be
um, shouting about all the great things that you use. And you've probably picked up quite a few different tips and tricks and tools over your time of building your business. So you want to be saying to your audience, “Here's some things that I would recommend.” And I think it's just a great way to really show potential customers that you know, what you're talking
about.
Hmm. Absolutely. And then finally, number eight.
So sales pages, we've already kind of touched on this. If you don't have a sales page on your website, you absolutely should go and work out what you kind of, what you need to put on your sales page. A sales page should convince the user. By the time they get to the bottom that they want to book your services, you're the one for them.
So there's some things that you would add to your sales page. And actually, if you go to Teresa's website, she does have an amazing lead magnet about the sales page. Yeah. Say things like, um, talking about the problem you solve for your customer, answering any potential objections, showcasing your testimonials, having clear call to actions, um, and talking about the outcome that they'll have.
That will be amazing once they've bought from you.
Yeah, absolutely. Those are great and all really, really important. One other thing I would like to add is your about page. Because funnily enough, I was writing the email, it's Wednesday recording this. I was writing the email ready to go out. And, um, and I was just writing a few tips down in terms of websites that I talk about it very much.
And one of the things I talked about was on the about page is like, that's normally one of the most visited pages. Cause people like to know who they're dealing with. They'd like to know who is behind the business and whether you are the business and you're the face or whether you are it's a product or a service that doesn't necessarily rely on your face.
People still want to see that. And I constantly see. Like no photos, stock image, about pages that just go, we are this. And we are that. And often they're not a “we” it's an “I” don't ever be afraid to go “I”. You know, if you are your business, then that's fine. If you have a team then fine. But like, you know, it just sounds so generic.
So one thing again, that we did on my site is I've literally written out my entire story, and I wrote it like I did get someone's proofread it. But you know I tried to be really honest about it, really honest about my journey, how I got to do I do, why, why I choose to take that path. What's good about it. What's bad about it.
What I do my social life, which is mainly drink gin, as you well know. But yeah, you know, it was really, really important for me to, to make the most of that about page. Cause I know people are going cause they want to find out about me. And then one final thing I want to add before we wrap up is. I was, I'm approached a lot to get people for people to come on the podcast.
And I get lots of requests, which is very lovely. And there is a point in my new page about my podcast, where you can click and apply to come on the podcast. Um, and we do get lots of requests and. I was very close to saying yes to this one lady. And so the team taking the application form, I review it with them.
If we need any additional information, they get that for me. And then I obviously go through their social. I look at their sites. I look at, you know, cause I need to make sure they get, I'm not bringing on anyone on here. You know, this is really important. So I went to this person's website and I'm obviously not gonna tell anybody who. And you know, I'll keep that a very private, but I went to the site and the site was amazing, right. It was really, really good. It looked beautiful. It had all the photos, it was a really well done site. And I was like yet sold. Great she's coming on. So it gets closer to the interview and I can't live on the stories.
It gets close to the interview and I'm going back through stuff to put, to submit questions. Cause I always give questions to the person I want to interview. And or I reviewed the questions they suggested anyway. So I'm looking for questions, I'm thinking, right? What are we going to talk about? What, what actions am I going to have for the audience bla bla bla bla.
And I went back to a site and I was like, Oh yeah, it's beautiful. Isn't it? And then I try to find the substance, right. I tried to find the actual, where's the consistent content. Where's the proof like, so I went and properly read the about page instead of just glancing at it, looking how beautiful it was. I read it, it told me nothing.
I then went to the speaker page and it was actually my stepson who came in at the time. And he's like, there's no pictures of them talking like on stage. And I was like, Oh my God, you're entirely correct. Like, she's got this amazing Instagramable looking images. It looks fab. And yet not one single picture of her speaking on stage.
Although she said she was a speaker and then I started to dig around on it on social media and whatever. And there was literally no substance, like none at all. And I couldn't cobble together. Questions, this woman's answer. So I made the very brave decision to go back to her after I said, yes, I'm saying no, because of the fact that.
You know, I just sort of said I'd reviewed things and it wasn't right for the audience, but the point was, her website was so well done. I was swayed like that in a millisecond. And that's the difference. There obviously, but what I needed, I did my homework eventually and realized it wasn't for me. But I'm giving you that example, not just saying, great.
You can compete with your site. But to say that so much difference it makes, like if I had gone to her site and it was. And it was terribly done, which actually would have been more in line with the kind of content was that she wasn't putting out there that I would have instantly gone. No, she's not right. But the point the site did look good.
She had got great photos. She had the pages were designed lovely. It was obviously really well done. And my first reaction was great. This looks perfect. So literally on first sight alone. I was really impressed. And then, like I said, it's only cause I had to put some questions in and do some digging and really research her. Because obviously I, I need to know who I'm interviewing, that I then realized there wasn't anything behind it, but does that help Ben?
And if I just like basically make you laugh.
No, but I think that comes back to having really great social proof.
Yes.
Verified testimonials and all that kind of lovely stuff. You want to back it up and say, people can actually see that you are who you are. You are amazing. You do a great job. Um, and you've got the evidence to prove that.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Ben, thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
My pleasure. I am going to encourage you all to go into my site, which is very beautiful and I love it. And also go and check out Ben sites as well. And obviously I will link to everything in the show notes. So it'll all be there and you can go and say hi to Ben.
That would be lovely. Thank you so much, Ben.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Okay. There have it. Hopefully we have given you some nice practical things that you can go out and have a look at your website and see how that's working for you. And if you need to make some tweaks. Obviously I would highly recommend Ben. Likes I said he was an absolute joy to work with. So if you want to go check out his stuff, I have linked up to him and all of his good stuff in the show notes. teresaheathwareing.com/132. Brilliant stuff. Okay. I will be back next week for a solo episode. And if you get chance to go do that review, I would love you forever.
Thank you so much guys. And I will see you next week.
