You’ve been on the fence for a while, bursting with this GREAT idea for an online business but nervous about where to start.
You’re downloading all the free guides and mini courses you can get your hands on. Your mind is bursting with information, and you’re trying to figure out what do to first.
There’s one thing that keeps haunting you…
Do you really need a website right away? And if you don’t need one now, when is the right time?
Before you jump in and spend tons of time and/or money on your website, here are 3 things you need to know first.
1. YOU NEED A SOLID BUSINESS FOUNDATION
Let’s face it, our business ideas often take on lives of their own! The first few years of my business I had one great idea after another until I finally settled on what I loved doing and who I loved helping.
You might be one of the few lucky people who are crystal clear on your business foundation from the start. But for most of us, it takes some time to make decisions about our online businesses.
If you aren’t totally sure about some of the basics of your business, then you probably aren’t ready to get a website yet.
That’s because a lot of these questions will have a major impact on how your website is structured – and be a major pain to change in the future!
Imagine you start out wanting to sell online courses. You create a logo, decide on branding, and go through all the work of setting up a course platform site on Kajabi.
And then six months later, you decide you’d rather spend your days posting on social media for other people and become a social media manager.
That whole Kajabi site you made? You’ve got to scrap it! And worst of all, you’ve got to start over on a new platform because you’re no longer selling courses.
That’s a lot of time and money you wasted with very little return.
So let’s do it once, and do it right!
Here are a couple questions you should consider about your business foundation:
- Do you want to use your own name or choose another name for your business?
- What name do you want to use for your domain?
- Do you want to sell services, products, or both?
2. YOU NEED TO HAVE A CLEAR CLIENT AVATAR
Creating a website that converts viewers into customers or clients is all about strategy. And that the heart and soul of that strategy is your client avatar.
A client avatar is simply a fictional character that represents your ideal client. Digital marketers use client avatars to help them get to really know WHO they’re marketing to.
Have you ever visited a website and thought they must be reading your mind because it sounded like they were talking right to you?
That’s the power of using a client avatar.
WHY A CLIENT AVATAR IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR WEBSITE
For your website, your client avatar (also called buyer persona) will help you choose branding and write words that really get your ideal client’s attention.
But if you don’t know WHO you’re talking to, then you’re never going to be able to talk right to that person.
And the results are you’ll sound generic, and most likely attract no one! So make sure to get crystal clear on your ideal client before you get a website.
Here are some questions to consider when creating your client avatar:
- What are your ideal client’s goals when it comes to your product or service?
- What are her challenges to accomplishing those goals?
- What are her objections to buying from you?
3. YOU NEED TO BE READY TO MAKE DECISIONS
I know, this seems like a duh point to include. But you wouldn’t believe the number of web design projects I’ve worked on that have stalled out because clients just couldn’t make another decision.
You can have your business foundation all in place, know who you want to help and how you want to help them, but never go any farther than that!
The truth is starting a business can be really scary. It brings up fears that we often don’t know we have. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of rejection. And let’s not even get started on that nasty imposter syndrome.
A lot of times those fears rear their ugly heads when it comes to making decisions. Reality sets in that you really are doing this, and you can become overcome or even paralyzed with fear!
And there will be LOTS of decisions to make when you get a website – especially if you build the site yourself! You’ll have to choose your visual branding (colors, fonts, images, logo), decide which words will sway your ideal client to buy from you, and then decide what layout will be best!
And then there’s decisions like what platform will you use (Wix, WordPress, SquareSpace, etc)? What do you want your email address to be? Do you want a popup? What do you want to use for your optin?
The list goes on and on and on.
Working with an experienced web designer is a great way to be able to get the support that you need to make these decisions. Strategic web designers can help walk you through all of these decisions and more!
In fact, web designers like me live and breath in this world. We know what works well to attract your ideal client – and what won’t! We know what platforms will be BEST for you to manage, based upon your unique business model and personality.
I designed the Websites in a Box to take the overwhelm out of getting a website for you!
Each site is expertly designed for your unique industry, completely done for you so you don’t have to touch a lick of tech… AND created to fit within your budget!
