2019 is almost over and you’ve decided that you want to launch your website. You have your ideas and concepts swirling in your head, but are you ready to hit the ground running? Building a website takes more than just registering and hosting your domain, and choosing a platform. The main thing you must have is content for your site.
Whether your site is one page or 5 pages, you’re going to need content for each section . Your customers need to know who you are, what you do, and how to contact you . They also would like to know if you’re good at what you do. The process of collecting this content doesn’t have to be difficult. Today my goal is to help you get your content ready for your new site.Listed below are 8 basic questions that you can use to get website content ball rolling.
Question 1: How many pages do you need? You can do a one page site with 5 sections or you can do a basic 5 page site. Most sites have the following basic pages ( Home, About, Contact, Services, Gallery/Testimonials, and a Blog).
Question 2: Do you have your logo and brand colors ready?
Question 3: Who are you?
Question 4 : What do you offer?
Question 5: How can anyone contact you ?
Question 6: Do you have pics, testimonials and Reviews that tell your story ?
Question 7: Will you need to collect email address or will you need a link to any social media accounts?
Question 8: Do you have a tagline/mission statement?
Don’t want to keep coming back to this blog post? Download this list as a worksheet It’s free!
When I first started my business, I thought that I had to know it all in order to offer the service. I had quite a few clients that needed services that I didn’t offer because I didn’t have the training or time to offer it. Luckily I found out about the power of outsourcing and hiring help. That’s how I lucked up and found Fiverr.
One service that I offered was logo design. I would do the hard work of interacting with clients and gathering requirements, then acting as the middle woman between my client and the contractor. I’ve had the pleasure of working with quite a few really great contractors, but I found a really great graphic design couple that specialized in simple signature logo design. Here are a few logos that they created for me in the past:
The process was simple. I created a logo design questionnaire for my clients, they filled it out and we chatted via video if necessary, then I reached out to the contractors, paid them and waited for the results. Once the design was delivered, I made sure that my clients were happy before closing out the project with the contractors.
One thing that I liked about working with them is that they were very good at translating my requirements and delivering a great design in a short time. If you are need of a new signature logo or want to check out more services that they offered, you can find them here: Signature Logo Service
Fiverr isn’t just limited to graphic design services. You can find services such as :
Last time I spoke with you all, I had just created a new site for Comedian Lance Thompson. Since then, he has booked more shows and he’snow ready to start selling t-shirts and DVD’s both in person and on his website. So what’s the solution? Should he build a new site? Sign up with Shopify or another E-commerce platform, or should he build on the site that we already created?
We decided that the best solution is to extend the site that he already has. In order to sell products on his site, we must add a shopping cart and connect it to a payment processor. We will also give people the option to download a digital version of the DVD or have a hard copy shipped directly to them. It sounds like a lot of work, but wit the help of WordPress, Woocommerce and Paypal/Stripe or Square, we can make it happen.
The look of his site won’t change much. We will add a shop section that will include a picture and description of the product and an add to cart button. The customer will purchase their product and receive a receipt. Easy peasy….
Stay tuned for the end results. In the meantime, comment below and let me know your thoughts on the chosen solution.
Meet Comedian Lance Thompson. Lance is a clean comedian who’s been hitting stages on the East coast since 2006. I recently created a new website for Lance. His new site is a simple one-page layout that he can easily add to when a new section or page is needed. Today I’m going to show you the different e-commerce revenue streams that Lance can tap into as a comedian, host, and poet.
Currently, Lance gets income from paid comedy, hosting, and poetry gigs. I won’t go into the exact amount, but he charges a set rate depending on the length of time of the performance. There’s no way Lance can clone himself so that he can perform, multiple shows at one time, so his best bet is to diversify his streams and be open to some e-commerce solutions.
Selling DVDs– Lance has professional-quality video footage of his performances that he could package up and sell-through his website as a digital download or as a hard copy.
Selling t-shirts/Hats/Mugs – Comedians are known for having witty lines and catchy phrases. Lance can create a line of t-shirts, hats or even mugs and sell them through his website. This would be a great way to make more money and grow his brand. The beautiful part is that he wouldn’t have to manage any inventory. The products can be ordered and shipped directly to the customers.
Teaching online comedy courses– Lance has spent years studying his craft which would make him a great resource for how to be a comedian, how to write jokes, or maybe even teach others how to be confident. He can create a course on Thinkific and students can pay to take the course at their own pace.
Writing poems/ material for others– Not everyone was blessed with the gift of comedy or poetry writing, and that’s ok. Lance could always generate income as a comedy writer for small businesses, movie scripts, plays, etc….
There are other options for Lance, but this would be a great start for him. Do you have any additional solutions to add to the list? I’d love to hear them! Comment below and let me know.
Do you need some help with finding solutions for your business/brand? Contact me for a 1-on-1 Strategy Session or send me a quick email.
Creating posts for social media doesn’t have to be difficult. I want to share my strategy for creating a quick on the go social media post. Today I’m going to show you how to quickly create a post that can be used on Instagram or Facebook.
Step 1: Start with a picture
I always always always start with a picture or create my graphic in Canva first. It works for me because I am a very visual person. If you don’t have a picture to use, you can create an Instagram post sized graphic using your logo, brand colors, and desired font. Regardless of what you decide, keep it simple.
Today I’m going to use a recent picture of my daughter Journey and her big brother Kweli.
Step 2: Write from a space of inspiration
Use your own voice or your brand voice and write. What does the picture say to you? What message or lesson are you trying to teach? Is it meant to inspire or create laughter? You don’t have to overthink it or try to get it right or perfect. Just speak/write freely and edit later.
Here’s my caption for the demo post :
My brother came to visit this weekend and as usual he just won’t get out of my face . I appreciate the love , but can a baby breathe?
Step 3: Hashtag and tag it up
This part is easy. What hashtags are in alignment with your industry? I use tailwind’s Hashtag finder to find relevant hashtags. I have a pdf of 300 Instagram hashtags that you could use to get you started. For this particular post, I’m going to use comedy-related hashtags as well as any baby hashtags.
Have you ever woken up to your site being down unexpectantly due to a missed payment or forgetting to renew your hosting? I feel your pain. This happened to me a few months ago. I spent all night writing a blog post and scheduled it to go out the next day, but when I went to check the site, it was down. I contacted my host and they informed me that my hosting had expired. How did I miss the email reminder? I set up my hosting a year or two prior and used a totally different email address. Because I also hosted sites for others, their sites were down too. In order to get everything restored, I had to pay about $180.00 to cover premium hosting for the year. Unfortunately, I didn’t have it to pay. So what could I do? What were my options?
If this sounds familiar, here are my 3 top tips to help you get through this:
Contact your hosting provider and ask them if you can pay for the month instead of the entire year. For example, normally my hosting would be 14.95 per month for 12 months which is about $180.00 for the year. Instead, Bluehost allowed me to pay for one month and do a month to month plan until I could afford to pay for 12 months or more in advance.
You can always switch to less costly hosting solutions. There are many options for hosting, and sometimes you can catch a great promotion. I had a client who was paying about $15 per month for her hosting and helped her switch to Bluehost where her cost were only 3.95 per month for 12 months. That’s over $100.00 saved.
Call your current host to reassess your chosen hosting package, and see if you can downgrade to another package that still fits your hosting needs. For example, you may have signed up for the premium package because you thought you needed 25 email address and the space to host 10 sites. At the moment you only have your one site and you only use 2 email addresses. If the basic package allows you to host up to 5 sites and 10 email addresses and is $3.00 or $4.00 less, then downgrade and save!
Have you been in this position before? How did you handle it? Comment below and let me know your thoughts.
