Your business deserves a website!
As someone who started a business without much, if any, business experience, or really any articulated goals except a determination (really, a desperation) to not further waste my life after three years of law school… I know it ain’t easy. I know how difficult it is to summon the courage and confidence to believe that you do have something of value to share with the world, and it’s worth leaving your (un)comfort zone and giving it your best. Easy to type, hard to do, right?
But let’s say you are at that point in your journey, and you’re thinking that your services need a website. You’re realizing that you’re ready to be legit. I have a lot of clients/friends ask me for advice on creating successful, brand-friendly websites, so I thought that today I’d help you get the process started.
Some issues for you to consider:
1. What’s the goal of your website? What do you want people to take away from the site? What’s your message? (If you’re not sure, take some time and look at websites of your competitors. If it comes to that, even being able to identify exactly what you don’t want on your website will really help your designer.)
2. Who’s your ideal client, and how is your website going to attract and keep his/her attention? How are you going to build your audience? What sort of habits do your ideal clients have online, and how you can make sure that visiting your site will become one of those habits? Think about your website from your clients’ POV: what are their needs and how will you meet them?
3. What services are you offering and why? Ideally, your services should derive from your understanding of your clients’ goals. (This is one reason it can be so difficult to build a business from scratch, and I’m convinced, why so many small businesses fail: necessarily, it’s going to take time to identify your audience and gain their interest and trust. You have to factor in that (lonely, frustrating, financially dire) period as you start creating your business plan.
Right about now is a great time to start identifying your network (i.e. potential clients). Go through your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, making a list of people and groups whom you think could use your services. What about college and grad school alumni organizations, religious groups, fellow joggers, people at the gym, people from that cooking class, band camp, people from your political/social organizations, people you volunteer with, groups you volunteer at…you’re starting a business you need clients. You need to make sure as many people as possible know of your business. More people = more opportunities.
If nothing else, spend as much as possible researching the competition’s websites, both good and bad. If you’re not ready for a website, that’s fine, how about a Tumblr or Etsy account, or even a Facebook page? At least give the ideas in your brain a real chance to make it. Don’t be so quick to reject yourself! There’s people out there making money, I swear, off of hand-made mermaid tails. Next time you’re about to dismiss your own ideas, consider that: there’s a human out there making and selling hand-made mermaid tails.
I personally spent years with a Blogspot account before I got the nerve to hire a real, live website designer, and I’ve already revised this website twice since it first went up in 2013. I thought I knew exactly how I wanted my website to look, and then Leah started asking intelligent questions and I was sad. I think I eventually sent her 9 pages of notes. That poor woman.
Your website, and your business, will change drastically, the more you commit and learn…and that’s wonderful! You’re not, after all, aiming for perfection–which is impossible–but you do deserve a website that makes you proud, and allows you to present your talents to the world.
Want some more personalized nagging coaching? Oh, of course you do! Become a fan of my business Facebook page, “Carlotaworldwide Creativity Yenta,” and shoot me an email at carlotazee@gmail.com!