Episode 25: What Type of Website Do You Need for Your Business?

Episode 25: What Type of Website Do You Need for Your Business?

Most business owners have website shame. Even after you get a new website, it seems inadequate, or out of date quickly. But re-doing a website can be expensive, and time-consuming. So what kind of website do you REALLY need to get clients?

In this episode of ‘A Profitable Impact,’ Pamela will go over the different types of websites (yep, there are different types!) and which one is right for the stage of business you’re in.

You’ll discover:

• What the different types of websites are, and the pros and cons of each.
• What you can start with to simplify the process (and make it much less expensive).
• What you don’t need, so you avoid spending thousands of dollars and months of time!

Timecode Guide:

02:10: Discover the 4 main types of websites, and Pamela reveals which of those 4 types are most relevant to you as a transformational entrepreneur (whether you’re a coach, healer, consultant, course creator, or expert service provider of any kind).
04:59: Learn how to simplify your website creation process and produce a site you’re proud of that actually gets you clients and didn’t cost you an arm and a leg.
08:26: [Activity] Take notes as Pamela walks you through the one-page website format so you have a checklist with examples to build your own.

Podcast Transcription

Episode 25: What Type of Website Do You Need for Your Business?

Introduction

Intro (00:00):
You’re listening to ‘A Profitable Impact.’

Pamela (00:02):
Even after you get a new website, sometimes it seems inadequate or out of date very quickly. Redoing a website is so expensive and time-consuming. What kind of website do you really need?

Gene (00:14):
Welcome to ‘A Profitable Impact,’ where every single week we help experts like coaches, healers, course creators, and other online professionals to expand their reach, to increase their impact in the world, and to be well-paid for their extraordinary skills and talents. My name is Gene Monterastelli, and I am the lead coach in Pamela Bruner’s Impact Accelerator coaching program. And now please welcome my friend, my colleague, and the CEO of Attract Clients Online, Pamela Bruner. How are you doing today, Pamela?

Pamela (00:44):
Doing well, and we get to talk about websites today!

Gene (00:47):
We do, and this is something that we hear so many questions about because we live in a digital world and this is one of the ways that we put our best foot forward.

Pamela (00:55):
It almost feels like the website is the way you get dressed now. And considering that so much of business has gone online and most of our clients were working online before, you know, before lockdown. And now even as the world starts opening up, having website shame is a real thing. So, what I want to talk about today are the different types of websites, and the pros and cons of each one for particular businesses. Also what you can start with to simplify the process and make it much less expensive. So, if you’ve been hearing horror stories about, “I spent $5,000 or $10,000 on a website and it was terrible,” this will overcome that for you. You don’t need that. And specifically, what you don’t need so you can avoid spending all that money and months of time building the wrong thing.

Gene (01:43):
As we have the conversation today if you are hearing strategy or information that still feels a little overwhelming or you’re not exactly sure what the best next step is, we would encourage you to have a conversation absolutely free with one of our coaches. All you need to do is go to BookMyBreakthroughCall.com. That’s BookMyBreakthroughCall.com. And you can get on the calendar with one of our coaches so they can help you to navigate the tricky world of websites for your business.

4 Website Types: Brochure, One-Page, E-Commerce, Blog

Pamela (02:10):
So, let’s talk about the different kinds of websites. Now, the list that I’m going to give is not necessarily an exhaustive list (I’ve seen lists where there are 10, 12, even 15 different kinds of websites), but they’re the websites that you’re probably most familiar with and the ones that are most relevant to you as an online professional, whether coach, healer, course creator, expert of any kind, whatever.

Pamela (02:32):
The first website that I want to talk about (because it’s the most common one) is the brochure website. This is what most people think of. It’s got a Home page, it’s got an About page, it might have a Services page, it might have a Testimonials page, and a Contact page. And it is the online equivalent of a brochure that, back in the days of yore when no one was online, we would physically hand to people. And people still sometimes put brochures offices and things like that. A brochure website is what most people think they need when they’re starting off, but often it’s overkill and we’ll get into that a little bit more later. Your brochure website may contain a blog or it doesn’t have to, but we’ll talk about blogs also separately.

Pamela (03:15):
The second kind of website, and this is the one that I and Gene and I teach our clients, is this idea of a one-page website. Now, some people think of a one-page website in terms of a landing page. It’s a particular type of page that’s good for people opting into a free gift, or a lead magnet, or something like that. But a one-page website is designed to do one thing. It is designed to get your ideal client or reader to take action on whatever it is that you do. And we’ll go through the one-page website format in just a little bit, since that is I think a great place to start and make it really simple for you.

Pamela (03:58):
There are e-commerce sites. These are the sites you go shopping. Amazon is an e-commerce retailer. We won’t talk much about e-comm sites because, although you may sell things on a brochure site or you may sell things even from your blog, for most people in the transformational world, your revenue is not going to come largely from product, it’s going to come largely from services. So, we’ll set the e-comm site aside for now and say, “there’s a whole other world of e-comm out there, but we’re not going to really address that.”

Pamela (04:30):
And then the final type of site I want to talk about is a blog site, because that is another way to start your online presence is just to create a blog and have that be how people know you and how people interact with you. Anything you want to add to that, Gene?

Gene (04:48):
No, I think it’s a pretty straightforward definition, all of that. I think what’s going to be interesting as we talk about the couple in more specifics on some application thoughts that I might want to share with you.

How To Simplify Your Website Creation Process

Pamela (04:59):
Yeah. So, let’s talk about how you simplify the process of creating a website that you’re proud of that actually gets you clients, and it’s also much less expensive. And that’s this idea of a one-page website or a landing page. Now, there are an immense number of technological services willing to help you with your one-page website, whether that’s Leadpages, or ClickFunnels, or any of these. And the format for a one-page website is fairly simple, at least. We’ve got a definition for it, and seven steps that we can take you through for the one-page website. And if you already have a brochure site, don’t despair and think, “Oh, I’ve got to throw out this entire six-page website. I have to just narrow it down to the one-page website.” No, you don’t. Because the other thing that you can do is, you can take our one-page website template and you can apply it as the homepage of your brochure site. So, it may be that instead of throwing out your entire brochure site, you need a facelift on the homepage. Think of it as repainting the front door of your house. We’re going to give you a really great way to introduce people to you on your homepage, just by updating it with this particular structure.

Gene (06:15):
And I think that for me, it’s not that this is just the simplist way to enter in, by having a one-page website. For me, this is the primary most valuable reason my website exists. The primary reason my website exists is to get your email address so that I can continue to market to you, and send you information, and nurture that relationship without expecting you to come back. I have lots of other value on my website, and there are other things that we’re doing inside of that. Recently over the last couple of weeks, there have been a lot of changes in the podcasting space around subscription, and paid podcasts, and all of that sort of stuff. And I got an email last week and the response to, “how do you solve the problem of all of this chaos going off in the podcast space?” The response was, “create a mailing list.” And get people on your email list so that you can keep reaching out to them as things change. And so, by having a simple one-page website where the transaction is, “I get your email address; you get an amazing freebie from me,” is one of the most valuable ways that we can use our web presence. Because once I have your contact information, we are now connected in a way that I can utilize in lots of different ways, and I’m not waiting for you to take action.

Pamela (07:29):
Exactly. And you know, often with brochure websites, they don’t focus on what you just said, Gene, they don’t focus on getting an email address. One of the ways we know this is, if we look at a brochure website and it says, “Sign up for our newsletter.” Well, that was pretty hot stuff in like 1995, but it is not very hot now. And so, every page on your website should have some kind of call-to-action. It should have some request for the reader to do something with you. You can change your brochure website and just say, “Book a call with me,” “Call me,” “Schedule a call,” “Here’s my calendar link,” things like that. However, that’s a big ask. For someone to actually decide they want to talk to you, and reach out with no other knowledge than what’s on your website, that can be a little scary for some people. So, the one-page website format that we’re going to give you generally ends in a lead magnet or free offer of some sort.

Activity: One-Page Website Format Checklist (Take Notes!)

Pamela (08:26):
And so what I’m going to do is I’m going to walk through the one-page website format. If you don’t usually take notes and you usually listen to this podcast while you’re walking, this is going to be something where you either want to pull out your phone and take notes or go home and listen to the section again, because this is a structure that can be very useful for you.

Pamela (08:45):
So, the first part of a one-page website is going to be the call-out. And while this is optional, I think it’s a great idea to indicate who your ideal clients are at the top of your website. So, the top of a one-page website for me (and I’ve got a different level of business and so I’ve got a different kind of website), the top of a one-page website for me might say, “Coaches, healers, and experts: Do you struggle with ____.” Something like that. So, I’ve called out my target market at the top of my website. And usually, I’ll ask a question after that. “Do you struggle with marketing and sales?” Or, “Are you looking to grow your business and have a bigger impact in the world?” “Would you like to be well-paid while you make a big impact in the world?” So, you see, all of those kinds of questions are engaging. In addition to calling out the target market, when you ask that one basic big question, in essence, you’re saying, “this is for you.” “If this resonates with you, this is for you, keep reading.” A big stop sign on the internet.

Gene (09:48):
And it’s really important to make people feel at home and connected. You know, I think about the bars in my neighborhood and the variety of them. And I was out one night with a friend and we looked around and my friend turned to me and she said, “we’re 15 years older than every single person in the room, aren’t we?” And recognizing the sense of feeling a little bit out of place and how discomforting that was once we made that realization. Where on a website when you’re saying, “this is who I’m serving, and this is what they’re struggling with,” what you’re doing is you’re galvanizing people in a way where you’re opening your arms and say, “I am talking directly to you. I have something useful. I understand where you’re coming from,” which makes it so much easier for them to sink in and really read what we’re sharing.

Pamela (10:30):
I love the fact that you demonstrate business concepts with bar anecdotes. So, thank you for that. Hahaha!

Gene (10:37):
Haha! You know, I can only speak from my personal experience.

Pamela (10:40):
Hahah, it works. Okay. So, once you’ve called your target market out and you’ve asked this big question, then you may ask additional pull questions. You can call these pull questions, or you can call them pain points. “Do you struggle with ____,” “does this resonate with you?” And you’re going to put all the negatives there. If we were talking about Attract Clients Online, if we were talking about my business, it would be, “Do you know how to market yourself online? Do you feel like you’re not well-paid for what you do? Do you wish you could attract higher-paying clients? Do you wish you could find clients online more easily?” Like all of those things would be pull questions that would attract my ideal client.

Pamela (11:19):
So, if you’re taking notes on this and intending to use this one-page website template, I would invite you to not just craft 3 or 4 of these, but to craft 7, or 8, or 10. Not because you’re going to put all of those on your website, you are not. You probably want to put no more than 3-5, but you want to pick the best 3-5. And if you write 7-10, you’ll get 3-5 good ones.

Pamela (11:42):
After the negative, then you want to write the positive. And often the way they start this is, “Imagine if you could say,” or “Imagine if ____,” and then you’ll put 3-5 good things. “Imagine if you could say, ‘Wow, marketing my business is so much easier now,'” or, “I love the fact that I get very well-paid for serving my ideal clients.” And so you put those down as bullet points. That’s the next section.

Pamela (12:07):
Now, at this point, you’ve called out your target market, you’ve asked them if the pain resonates with them, you’ve given them a vision for a brighter future. You’re basically having one side of a sales conversation with your ideal clients on this page. But at this point, because you’ve said, “Imagine,” and because you have shared all these wonderful visions, ya’ better put something in there to give them a sense that this is real. And so, one of the things I love at this point is to either share your story or to put a testimonial in, and the way that you might do that is, “This is absolutely possible. I understand. I’ve been where you are.” “Hi, I’m Pamela Bruner of Attract Clients Online, and 12 years ago, I had what I call an imaginary coaching business.” And so I go into a little bit of a story and tell about how I turned that around and created a seven-figure business in under three years. And that creates some social proof, some reassurance that I can deliver on this transformation that I just described between the pain points and the benefits, and then post that.

Pamela (13:14):
So now we’ve got four different sections. We’ve got the call out at the top, we’ve got the pain points or the pull questions, we’ve got the vision/the “imagine if you could say this,” we’ve got your story on your website. And then, if you haven’t done it yet, now is the time to put a testimonial on there. One is fine. Just a testimonial that says, “Hey, somebody else says that I can do what I’m saying I can do.” All right, that’s section five. And then you get to the next section which is, “If you want to get started today, download my free gift,” “get my PDF,” “read my eBook,” and something like that. And so you put that in. So, did I leave anything out of that structure, Gene?

Gene (13:59):
No, you’re going through it absolutely right. That is what we need to have in a one-page website.

Pamela (14:03):
Okay. So you can see, while it may take a little while for you to create the language around this one-page website format. Once you create that language, you will use that language on that one-page website, and you’ll use it other places in your marketing and online. So it’s a great, great exercise to do that. And especially if you have a website, a brochure website, where the start of the website is, “Come on a transformational journey. My name is ___, and I was certified in all of these different modalities.” I promise you you’ll get better results if you change that copy to the one-page website outline that I just went through.

Gene (14:41):
And one of the things I really like about having an outline like this for a one-page website, I have a couple of outlines that are similar for sales copy that I write, that when we recognize what each of these pieces are and the function that they serve, and you can now write these pieces in the order that makes sense to you and come to you. That you don’t have to start at the top of the website and write it from word one till the very, very end. So that as you’re working through it, you can start with the point that feels really natural. You might be in a circumstance right now where you know your own story and why you do this particular work. Or, you know a couple of testimonials that you want to use. And so by putting those in the document to start with, it’s going to be easier to fill in the gaps with the holes that are there. And so, take the structure, put the headlines in there for each of these chunks in your document that you’re working on this, and then work on it in the order that makes the most sense for you, and you’ll be fruitful if you do it that way.

Feeling stuck? As a podcast listener, you can book an exclusive FREE Breakthrough Call with one of my expert coaches to get all your business questions answered.

Website Things You Don’t Need

Pamela (15:37):
Great suggestion. So now let’s talk about what you don’t need, because if you’ve spent thousands of dollars on the wrong site (and I have), where you spent months of time trying to create language that didn’t really work, the truth is I believe this one-page website format can work very well. Especially if you’re transitioning, like if you are switching from, as I did, sort of generic life coaching where I couldn’t get clients to becoming a business coach with a very specific message based on my success in the music industry. So, I created this sort of format for the one-page website and it let people know much more about me. So, you’re hooked up with a web designer and they’re saying, “Okay, well, you need a page with your Services, you need an About page all about you, and you need a Raves page, and a Contact page.” You may not have that many testimonials yet. You may not actually know what all the services are that you’re going to be offering. There is a myth that you need to put your services and your prices on the website that’s absolutely untrue. Your website is there. I love what Gene said, “Your website is there to do one thing.” In his case, he says, “get you to sign up on his email list,” because that will enable him to control the conversation. It’s kind of like, let’s use a dating analogy, Gene, ’cause that’s another thing that you pull out from time to time.

Gene (17:01):
Again, we’re speaking from personal experience, and online dating and marketing have so many things in common.

Pamela (17:07):
Yes, they do. If you are out and you give someone your phone number, you are at the mercy of them calling you, hoping they call you, hoping they didn’t lose your phone number, that kind of thing. If you get their phone number, now, they can always ghost you, they can ignore you, they can not answer and not respond to your texts, but you have their phone number. You are in control of the conversation. Same thing with someone opting in to your email list on your website. So really once they opt-in, then you can invite them to a call with you to see if they are interested in your services. You can give them more great content to show them that you are trustworthy and that you can help them. There’s so much you can do when that is the end result of this one-page website.

Pamela (17:55):
Now, as I said, if you have a brochure website already, then I’m going to give you a couple of tweaks so that you take anything off that does not serve you. #1: If your prices are on your website, take them off. If you say, “But I have existing clients who book sessions or something like that with me through my website,” then put that session link on a page, give it to your existing clients, and don’t have it on your general website so no one else can see it. Nobody needs to know your prices until they talk to you. You’re an expert, and you should be a highly paid expert, so get rid of those prices. There’s nothing wrong with an About page, but most people write their about page all about their credentials. The About page should be more about your story and your personality so people know why it is what it is about you that convinces them or that helps them understand why you can help them. So, don’t make it about a laundry list of credentials and lots of letters after your name and stuff like that. Make it more personality-based and story-based. And then, you know, again, nothing wrong with a Testimonials page. If you’ve got one, leave it there. Nothing wrong with a Contact page. If you’ve got one, leave it there. But if you don’t have any of this, just create a one-page website that at the bottom invites people to opt-in for a freebie, a lead magnet, some kind of irresistible free offer. If you don’t have a freebie or lead magnet, just invite them on a call with you for now until you get one.

Gene (19:23):
And Pamela, there’s one other thing I’d like to kind of throw in here to help people like not feel so overwhelmed. And when I think of a number of things in my business, particularly if I’m transitioning my website and I have a one-page website like we’re talking about that is a stop-gap before I move onto something that’s more comprehensive, it’s really easy for us to want to have it be beautiful and perfect and the most amazing thing ever. And for things like this, the way I like to think about it is, I like to think about it like men’s dress shoes. There are a small percentage of men’s dress shoes that are absolutely amazing, and they get noticed. Those are the shoes I try and wear. I love shoes. Most men’s dress shoes are black and blue and gray, and they’re fine. Now, if I am wearing one of my bespoke tailor suits and I’m wearing my tennis shoes with them, the suit does not elevate the shoes, the shoes pull the suit down.

Gene (20:22):
And I look very, very foolish. When I am thinking about logos and websites and layouts, particularly when I’m in a time of transition, what I want is men’s dress shoes. I want things that look professional, that look crisp, and are not getting in the way of the thing that I’m actually trying to do, which is to communicate my message about how much I care about my audience and the transformation trying to provide. And so, as you talked about at the beginning, this idea of having jealousy of other people’s websites, it’s easy to be really, really jealous of something that looks beautiful and elegant. And you and I have seen beautiful, elegant websites that are really unuseful for business because people look at them and go, “Ooh, isn’t that a beautiful website?” And then they click away. And so as you step into this, make sure it looks professional, make sure it looks crisp, but if you follow the steps that Pamela just laid out for you, you’re going to have a useful website for your business, which is way more important than something that is dazzling and beautiful.

Final Thoughts: Websites Types, Mindset, and How to Move Forward

Pamela (21:23):
Let me finish off with a couple of final points here about this. One is, you know, I mentioned a blog site earlier. If someone says, “Well, what if I want people to opt-in and then I want them on my blog. Should I have a blog?” Yes, you can absolutely have a blog page. It’s probably not the homepage that I would send people to, but if you are a writer or you love video, and all you want to do is put out content like that, a blog site might be the right site for you, rather than the one-page website. That’s going to be the case for very, very few people. Usually, it’s not about your writing, it’s not about your personality, it’s about how you can help your clients. So air in the direction of the one-page website, but it’s okay to have a blog site if you lean in that direction.

Pamela (22:08):
The other thing to know, and I love Gene’s example of men’s dress shoes, a phrase that we use very frequently with our clients is, “done is better than perfect.” Again, “Done is better than perfect.” So, if you’re trying to create a website and you’re thinking, “ah, well, maybe I should make one of those five-pagers. You know, I’m a go-getter. I can do this.” No, get it done with a one-page website. Then you can upgrade it. Then you can shift it later. Because the truth is, your website generally won’t get you clients. Your website may reassure people who are considering being your client that you’re for real, you have an online presence, it’s all okay. But your website isn’t going to be the determining factor. You’re going to be the determining factor. So, don’t waste a lot of time on your website. Make it fine for now.

Gene (22:57):
As you’ve been hearing this conversation and you’ve been hearing the strategy behind the best way to create a web presence that will be useful for you and your business, if you’re still feeling a little confused, overwhelmed, and you’re not exactly sure how to implement some of the things that we’ve been talking about, we would love for you to have a conversation, absolutely free, with one of our coaches. All you need to do is go to BookMyBreakthroughCall.com. That’s BookMyBreakthroughCall.com. And you can get on the calendar of one of our coaches.

Gene (23:24):
If you know someone else who would enjoy the conversation that we’re having today (another coach, a professional, a transformational entrepreneur), please be our ambassador and pass the episode along to them.

Gene (23:36):
If you have a question, a comment, or a topic that you’d like us to cover in the future, please reach out. We can be reached at AttractClientsOnline.com. Click on that ‘Contact’ link, and make sure you put a note in there saying that this is a question for the podcast. And on a future episode, Pamela and I would love to be able to answer that.

Gene (23:53):
If you haven’t done so already as well, you can Subscribe to the show. In podcasting ‘Subscribe’ is always free. You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, basically everywhere you get audio, just search for ‘A Profitable Impact,’ click Follow, click Subscribe, and turn on those Notifications so each time a new episode comes out you know right away.

Gene (24:17):
For ‘A Profitable Impact,’ I am Gene Monterastelli. Until next time, I hope you have an impactful week.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Building a business as a coach or expert is challenging, especially if you’re trying to find your clients online.

Join business coach and online marketing expert Pamela Bruner as she uncovers the secrets of successful transformational businesses. If you want to make a difference in people’s lives, expand your reach, and attract high-paying clients, you’ll love this show!