Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- It’s not how much business you do, it’s about how much money you put in your pocket.
- Bring an entrepreneurial spirit to all jobs, where you own what you do.
- Understand the value of networking. Build relationships with businesses that have the attention of your audience.
- Have your own website so you can truly express your brand and capture the attention of visitors.
- Make yourself accessible. Your site must show what you do and where you do it. Having contact information is crucial.
- Create an inviting experience. Your home page is your virtual receptionist. It must showcase what you want people to see first.
- If you're a local business, have a Google My Business account to rank on Google.
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 254 most people that are creative of
Speaker:doing it for the love of what they do and that
Speaker:passion is just intoxicating and attracts people Attention.
Speaker:Gifters, bakers,
Speaker:crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun whether you
Speaker:have an established business or looking to start one now you
Speaker:are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue.
Speaker:Welcome to today's show.
Speaker:I've got a topic for you that I know is going
Speaker:to be of interest or at least it should be to
Speaker:almost everybody here,
Speaker:but first a past guest spotlight.
Speaker:Do you recall Patty from enchanted events?
Speaker:We heard from her last summer and she's using a business
Speaker:building strategy that I love.
Speaker:She's bridging one career into another,
Speaker:so going from years of nursing into her very own floral
Speaker:business. You can hear all about it on episode 225 as
Speaker:you'd expect with a floral business.
Speaker:Weddings are a big target industry.
Speaker:That's exactly where Patty set her site and it's paid off
Speaker:since we talked.
Speaker:Patty's done a number of weddings including one in a Frank
Speaker:Lloyd Wright house,
Speaker:a beach wedding,
Speaker:one that included a dog in the ceremony and a wedding
Speaker:where the bride was from India with a lot of her
Speaker:family coming to America to attend.
Speaker:Patty reached her goal of ten five star reviews,
Speaker:which means she's eligible to be entered into best of not
Speaker:award consideration.
Speaker:All this while growing her business on the side and really
Speaker:just starting out goes to show you that when there's a
Speaker:will, there's a way.
Speaker:Congratulations Patty.
Speaker:I love seeing your quick progress and success.
Speaker:We continue with the wedding theme.
Speaker:As we move into our conversation today,
Speaker:Brian has spent his entire life in this industry,
Speaker:so if your product aligns with weddings,
Speaker:you're going to find some really valuable nuggets here.
Speaker:Equally and even more important,
Speaker:we're talking everything about websites.
Speaker:I don't know if it's in the water,
Speaker:but this topic has gotten a lot of attention lately in
Speaker:my communities in the breeze,
Speaker:which is my free Facebook group and also in my coaching
Speaker:programs. So here you go.
Speaker:Tips, tricks,
Speaker:and best practices when it comes to your website.
Speaker:Today it my pleasure to introduce you to Brian Lawrence.
Speaker:Brian is one of the true thought leaders in the stationary
Speaker:and wedding industry,
Speaker:a multi-store retailer who won top dealers for numerous invitation brands.
Speaker:He then became VP of Encore studios for 14 years and
Speaker:went on to consult,
Speaker:do web design and marketing for hundreds of stationary and wedding
Speaker:retailers and wholesalers in the past year.
Speaker:Brian has targeted in his efforts to meet the tremendous demand
Speaker:for industry focused,
Speaker:website design and effective yet affordable digital marketing and social media
Speaker:strategies. Brian has spoken at both wedding MBA and the national
Speaker:stationery show numerous times.
Speaker:He's also the author of the wedding's expert guide to sales
Speaker:and marketing.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Brian, I am so happy to be here and very excited
Speaker:to be creative with the creatives.
Speaker:Oh, I love that.
Speaker:And it's perfect timing for us to be coming together with
Speaker:all of this because it's the start of the new year,
Speaker:just a little bit in and popular wedding season is going
Speaker:to be upon us.
Speaker:So this works out perfectly.
Speaker:Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker:There's so much psychology that goes on in both with the
Speaker:wedding client and with the industry.
Speaker:It's sort of a switch that gets turned on like right
Speaker:after the holidays.
Speaker:Yeah, seriously.
Speaker:I totally agree with you there.
Speaker:Well, before we dive into everything,
Speaker:I'd like to do what has become a tradition here,
Speaker:which is have you described yourself by way of a motivational
Speaker:candle? So if you were to share with us what color
Speaker:resonates with you and a quote that you would put on
Speaker:a candle that speaks completely to you,
Speaker:Brian, what would your motivational candle look like?
Speaker:Well, second side of me is a deep spiritual practice on
Speaker:a daily basis.
Speaker:So this,
Speaker:I did put some thought into this and sort of close
Speaker:my eyes and I saw my candle as an eternal,
Speaker:bright yellow light where I always want to be.
Speaker:My true self to just manifest and always want to choose
Speaker:kindness and mindfulness over self-interest and be able to see clearly
Speaker:in front of me with this internal illumination and the quote
Speaker:that I've also written a lot of my own quotes.
Speaker:So I chose a quote that I thought is really great
Speaker:for a creative audience and that quote is the genius that
Speaker:could be found in moments.
Speaker:Your quiet inside and your tank is full,
Speaker:is worth more than hours expended on running on empty.
Speaker:Oh, tell me more about what that means.
Speaker:Well, it means that if you really take care of yourself
Speaker:and are balanced,
Speaker:that if you get the right amount of sleep,
Speaker:because I know a lot of people that are creative just
Speaker:get lost in the process and then all of a sudden
Speaker:they find themselves overtired and they're not just operating on the
Speaker:highest level.
Speaker:But if you're mindful of that,
Speaker:sometimes you can get so much more done in such a
Speaker:short period of time when you have the bandwidth rather than
Speaker:struggling when you don't.
Speaker:And to try to do more to Knoxville enough.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:sometimes it's just a confusion.
Speaker:You feel the void that you're feeling when you're trying to
Speaker:continue to work.
Speaker:It's really the void of being tired that you just need
Speaker:to stop.
Speaker:Yeah. You know,
Speaker:I so agree with you because I also think the majority
Speaker:of us,
Speaker:when we've started our businesses decide that we're going to be
Speaker:super women or men and then just do everything and conquer
Speaker:everything and we get worn down like you said.
Speaker:But it's so scary to start paying somebody else to do
Speaker:some of these things.
Speaker:So we hold on to things way longer than we should.
Speaker:And I think to your point,
Speaker:if you're not healthy and balancing everything,
Speaker:your work's going to suffer and your growth will suffer as
Speaker:a business.
Speaker:Absolutely. The other thing I was reading into it,
Speaker:and maybe it's just because I was combining it with what
Speaker:you were talking about with your color,
Speaker:is when your trying to work so fast and juggling so
Speaker:many balls,
Speaker:I think you lose all the things that you were talking
Speaker:about. Valuing being true to yourself,
Speaker:letting the inner light flow,
Speaker:being mindful.
Speaker:And all of that because you're being so tremendously busy meeting
Speaker:deadline after deadline order,
Speaker:production, product creation,
Speaker:all of that,
Speaker:you lose some of what is so valuable for you as
Speaker:an artist.
Speaker:Right? Yes,
Speaker:and one of the greatest tools that I've used over the
Speaker:years as far as resources is finding great interns and I
Speaker:approach the intern process with so much thought and I understand
Speaker:that I'm getting an intern to help me to make things
Speaker:easier for me,
Speaker:but I also look at it as a great learning experience
Speaker:and a great opportunity to mentor.
Speaker:I have interns right now that started as an intern that
Speaker:worked for me and it's for there.
Speaker:If you are looking to learn,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:look, I'm 61 years old and nobody has 25 years social
Speaker:media experience.
Speaker:It's all new to us.
Speaker:The people that are younger that it's intuitive to could be
Speaker:tremendous teachers.
Speaker:For those of us that may have the business savvy but
Speaker:just need a little bit more of an understanding of an
Speaker:innateness of what social media really is.
Speaker:So just being able to discern in your mind what you
Speaker:do best and if all possible,
Speaker:while it's a good idea to understand and do everything in
Speaker:your business so that you could have a reasonable expectancy to
Speaker:understand if someone that you're giving that privilege to is not
Speaker:doing it right at some point,
Speaker:it's really,
Speaker:really important to delegate.
Speaker:And how do you know when that point is?
Speaker:It's a matter of when you realize that the quality of
Speaker:your work is starting to suffer.
Speaker:If you're creative and you're realizing and you're finding a stagnation,
Speaker:that's as good a time as any.
Speaker:Okay. So it's not even necessarily a revenue point.
Speaker:Like when you grow your business to this amount of revenue,
Speaker:it has to do with the quality that you're putting out.
Speaker:Really? Yes.
Speaker:And essentially show you want to have goals,
Speaker:financial goals.
Speaker:I personally don't believe in them.
Speaker:I believe they're limiting.
Speaker:Phew. Just put right action and intention into whatever you do.
Speaker:And most people that are creative of doing it for the
Speaker:love of what they do and that passion is just intoxicating
Speaker:and attracts people.
Speaker:And if you have that purity in the way that you
Speaker:approach your business,
Speaker:you don't have to sell yourself.
Speaker:You're just letting people buy from you.
Speaker:You just making it so enticing Because of the spirit that
Speaker:you put out.
Speaker:Cause passion,
Speaker:influence. That's other people,
Speaker:right? Yes,
Speaker:absolutely. People love to buy from people that just radiate success
Speaker:and happiness and satisfaction rather than when they feel that being
Speaker:pushed. So true.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:today's sales strategy is not a push anymore.
Speaker:It's all about a poll.
Speaker:Right. All right,
Speaker:so we're getting ahead of ourselves just a little bit.
Speaker:I want to back up first and I'm really curious,
Speaker:Brian, how did you get into the stationary and wedding industry
Speaker:in the first place?
Speaker:I actually started very early in life.
Speaker:I did grow up in catering.
Speaker:I worked in a wedding venue and which was also an
Speaker:outdoor beach club and really learned a lot there.
Speaker:I probably learned a lot more than I learned in school
Speaker:on how to work with people.
Speaker:Part of my job was based on gratuity.
Speaker:So I was very entrepreneurial at a young age and this
Speaker:particular venue,
Speaker:when it became an adult,
Speaker:the owner said,
Speaker:Hey, you know,
Speaker:you can't work here forever.
Speaker:What are you going to do?
Speaker:And he said to me,
Speaker:if you do something wedding related,
Speaker:I could recommend a lot of people to you.
Speaker:So I really started from scratch and you know,
Speaker:it wasn't a photographer,
Speaker:a florist wasn't a chef.
Speaker:So I researched invitations and favors and I just started that
Speaker:business from scratch and opened up a store and realized that
Speaker:if I wanted to be wedding focused,
Speaker:that that wasn't enough,
Speaker:that I had to look for other revenue streams.
Speaker:So I ended up sub renting space to a photographer,
Speaker:to a florist and then ended up just realizing that I
Speaker:should just sell those services under one business name.
Speaker:And it's in the Northeast,
Speaker:it's called wedding centers.
Speaker:And that's what I did for 14 years before I left
Speaker:that retail environment.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:And I just want to point out to our listeners too,
Speaker:that you saw an opportunity that just by the course of
Speaker:your life,
Speaker:I mean obviously when you were younger,
Speaker:you weren't thinking necessarily that's where you were going to go,
Speaker:but you saw an opportunity come to light,
Speaker:which was that gentlemen telling you,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I have a whole source of contacts who could be really
Speaker:valuable to you if you're interested in this type of a
Speaker:business and that somehow clicked with you to get started.
Speaker:Absolutely. Interestingly enough,
Speaker:I ended up,
Speaker:I got my degree in food service management and nutrition and
Speaker:while never really went into that field,
Speaker:I've always kept that lifestyle.
Speaker:I've been a vegetarian for over 40 years,
Speaker:so I went to school.
Speaker:A lot of people go to school to learn how to
Speaker:do something that they do professionally.
Speaker:I went to school and learned how to do something for
Speaker:my health.
Speaker:Hmm, And do you see it applying to business at all?
Speaker:I really did not get a lot out of going to
Speaker:school as far as applying it to business now.
Speaker:No. It's all what I learned at that place that I
Speaker:worked. And then just constant.
Speaker:I've always been a self starter,
Speaker:very internally motivated.
Speaker:Well actually once I became an adult once I was more
Speaker:of a free spirit when I was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in my teens.
Speaker:Yeah. But I just do want to point out and have
Speaker:everybody who's listening to think about,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what is in their current daily life and you know,
Speaker:if you are still working in nine to five,
Speaker:which is absolutely no problem.
Speaker:You know how I feel about that.
Speaker:Starting a business on the side while you still have security,
Speaker:financial security isn't a bad move,
Speaker:but what other opportunities might that job bring you context for
Speaker:the future or whatever it might be,
Speaker:connections, learning,
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:So don't discount wherever you are right now.
Speaker:And I would even say as you continue to go on,
Speaker:because Brian is,
Speaker:you were like you were talking about with your retail shop,
Speaker:you just saw you analyze situations and just moved and manipulated
Speaker:the situation according to where you saw the value and where
Speaker:you could see the growth.
Speaker:And at different crossroads in my professional life,
Speaker:I always thought about how I could bring forward something that
Speaker:from what I did,
Speaker:I've stayed in the wedding industry on some level,
Speaker:my entire stationary instrument,
Speaker:entire career.
Speaker:So when I made a decision to leave the retail environment
Speaker:for personal reasons,
Speaker:I had a young family.
Speaker:My last store was in a mall and it really just
Speaker:threw me into such,
Speaker:it was just too much.
Speaker:I was working 70 hours a week and the wedding industry,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:most people come on weekends and during in the evenings,
Speaker:but having to be open all those hours because you're in
Speaker:a mall and I learned a very valuable lesson that it's
Speaker:not how much business you do,
Speaker:it's how much money you put in your pocket.
Speaker:So true.
Speaker:Yeah. Expand on that too.
Speaker:If you have a business that isn't scalable and you're just
Speaker:spending a lot of money and you're just working harder and
Speaker:harder to produce the product and the amount of money that
Speaker:you're spending to get that business isn't enough to sustain you.
Speaker:Sometimes it's a matter of just changing the ratio of just
Speaker:spending less money but doing a bit business more on your
Speaker:terms that allow your creativity to stay fresh.
Speaker:Well and for you giving up that retail shop,
Speaker:I mean huge overhead all of a sudden was released for
Speaker:you. Exactly,
Speaker:and I ended up approaching Encore studios,
Speaker:which is a company that was a great company that no
Speaker:longer in business because the whole stationery is many listeners that
Speaker:are in the business.
Speaker:No has changed a lot of wholesale suppliers.
Speaker:Ended up going out of business because of so much online
Speaker:competition, do it yourself,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:but I approached them to say,
Speaker:Hey, I've done a lot in the industry.
Speaker:I was a good client of theirs.
Speaker:I also at that point had written the book,
Speaker:the wedding experts got to sales and marketing and I said,
Speaker:I thought I could really make a difference in their business
Speaker:and they created a position for me.
Speaker:I walked into an office,
Speaker:they never had anybody that worked in marketing,
Speaker:right? They were the type of business that just was talented
Speaker:and attracted a lot of people because of how beautiful the
Speaker:designs were,
Speaker:but they never did any marketing.
Speaker:They always wanted to do marketing,
Speaker:so they just gave me a blank slate to start.
Speaker:It was like building a business inside of the business and
Speaker:that's one of the things that is a great opportunity sometimes
Speaker:is to bring an entrepreneurial spirit to a job where you
Speaker:own what you do Right and talk about the value then
Speaker:you have for that company because you've created the whole department
Speaker:and the position you have all that knowledge And also if
Speaker:many of the listeners are involved in their pursuit while having
Speaker:a full time job,
Speaker:if you could harness the understanding that now you own your
Speaker:own business,
Speaker:what it must be like for you,
Speaker:the owner of the company that you work for to own
Speaker:the business and have that entrepreneurial empathy that you bring to
Speaker:that job that could even help you grow in your job.
Speaker:You said something a little bit ago that I'm really,
Speaker:really curious about and I would direct this to people who
Speaker:are listening,
Speaker:who are stationary designers or possibly make favors for the wedding
Speaker:industry just because that's your area of expertise,
Speaker:but really all of our makers,
Speaker:you made the comment that because of the way things are
Speaker:changing, and I saw this too for sure with the national
Speaker:stationery show,
Speaker:which is why I stopped going,
Speaker:I just saw traffic in diminishing interest in like all of
Speaker:that. I saw it all changing and I wasn't tied into
Speaker:just that industry.
Speaker:But that's a little bit of an aside,
Speaker:but you said that you saw the industry changing and it
Speaker:was moving away from some of these larger wholesalers because the
Speaker:DIY people were starting to take a firmer hold.
Speaker:Can you talk a little bit more about that specifically directed
Speaker:to other people who are looking at doing a DIY type
Speaker:like so they're stationary designers,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:custom designers?
Speaker:Well, the main point that I was making is that online
Speaker:retailers were much better at marketing and because the internet became
Speaker:such an elegant way to look for product,
Speaker:it became the way that consumers would start researching years back.
Speaker:The only choice they had was to order a mail order
Speaker:catalog from wedding magazine or to go into a physical place
Speaker:and look at invitations physically.
Speaker:So what I'm saying is that the local retailers were caught
Speaker:off guard and they never really marketed themselves to fight for
Speaker:the turf in their area.
Speaker:A local retailer,
Speaker:well, they need to do is think about what they can
Speaker:do in their local area and if everybody did that did
Speaker:the best that they can in their own corner of the
Speaker:sky, I think the industry would have been different and a
Speaker:lot of the wholesale brands didn't step up to the plate
Speaker:to try to support their retailers and use their faster resources
Speaker:to gain more attention to the retail environment.
Speaker:I had done that when I was with Encore,
Speaker:I had called up advertising programs.
Speaker:I was all about trying to get brand recognition to try
Speaker:to bring people in and get them off their computer screens
Speaker:and into the store.
Speaker:I know that doesn't exactly answer the questions that you were
Speaker:asking, so why don't you ask me to elaborate on a
Speaker:way that is helpful.
Speaker:Okay. So you will do that.
Speaker:And then I want to move into the whole website thing,
Speaker:but, so I guess another way to phrase the question and
Speaker:what I'm trying to understand from your perspective,
Speaker:because you have so much knowledge on this is what is
Speaker:the potential and the opportunity for someone who is,
Speaker:and let's just say they're accustomed stationary designer,
Speaker:so they make their own line of stationary.
Speaker:They might be going wholesale,
Speaker:so they would like to be able to distribute through some
Speaker:brick and mortar shops as well,
Speaker:but they're also online.
Speaker:What do you see as like maybe a definition of the
Speaker:market as you see it today for a DIY or,
Speaker:Well, one thing as you said about the stationary show,
Speaker:it is a totally different show than it was.
Speaker:It doesn't mean that you shouldn't display there.
Speaker:If you're stationary focused,
Speaker:but it's more if you are willing to share samples.
Speaker:I mean that very generously so people could really conceptualize your
Speaker:work beyond just looking at it on an image.
Speaker:But at the same time,
Speaker:the imagery is just so,
Speaker:so important.
Speaker:So everything that you do has to be lifestyle shots,
Speaker:glamorous shots.
Speaker:If you have a DIY product,
Speaker:that's fine,
Speaker:but don't have DIY photography,
Speaker:right? There's a lot of choices for an invitation business.
Speaker:Your imitation designer,
Speaker:there's only one first page of Google.
Speaker:You really have to find creative ways to stand out.
Speaker:And there's a 21st century strategy that I don't think will
Speaker:ever end,
Speaker:and it's becoming less used as we go into the 21st
Speaker:century. And that's networking music to my ears,
Speaker:Brian, you know,
Speaker:I find too few people understanding the value of networking and
Speaker:working with influences emails and any type of marketing is so
Speaker:crowded. It's just hard to be looked at most of the
Speaker:time you're overlooked.
Speaker:But if you have relationships with businesses and entities that have
Speaker:the attention of your audience,
Speaker:where your designs are being introduced by somebody that you know
Speaker:people will pay attention to.
Speaker:To me that's the most important thing.
Speaker:So how do you get in front of these people?
Speaker:How do you identify who they are and get in front
Speaker:of, get their attention?
Speaker:If you have great product,
Speaker:it's a matter of getting it in front of them.
Speaker:Sometimes it is a matter of having some sort of incentive.
Speaker:Like a purchase incentive you mean?
Speaker:Yeah, I'm sorry,
Speaker:financial incentive.
Speaker:But let me give you an example of a scenario for
Speaker:say event invitations.
Speaker:People don't typically,
Speaker:when they're left to their own devices are not looking for
Speaker:invitations until safe four or five months before the wedding.
Speaker:Seriously, or the event.
Speaker:Sometimes it's even closer when it's a different event,
Speaker:they may start browsing earlier on,
Speaker:but when they're looking online,
Speaker:they're not discerning between retail environment or online retailer.
Speaker:They're just looking through the results.
Speaker:In Google,
Speaker:they're looking on Pinterest or Instagram just to get design ideas.
Speaker:And if they go to a website and they see online
Speaker:retail and they see hundreds of invitations,
Speaker:they're going to say,
Speaker:Oh wow,
Speaker:that's a nice selection.
Speaker:Let me see the one I like the best within the
Speaker:context of that one environment.
Speaker:But those several hundred invitations may not even touch the elegance
Speaker:of people that are listening to this podcast.
Speaker:But the idea is is that they're never going to be
Speaker:found. So a venue that just like other vendors is a
Speaker:very important source to refer business.
Speaker:And many venues don't really have a station that they recommend.
Speaker:And the way to approach a venue is not just to
Speaker:say, Hey,
Speaker:I have nice invitations,
Speaker:but to explain that your product elevates the perception that guests
Speaker:will have.
Speaker:That's the first thing that a guest will see with the
Speaker:name of that venue being brought to their attention.
Speaker:And also being creative of saying,
Speaker:I could help you with day of affair,
Speaker:like seating cards and other creative things that could enhance the
Speaker:decor of the reception hall.
Speaker:That's just one example.
Speaker:So if the venue is saying,
Speaker:I have this great local invitation source,
Speaker:why don't you check them out,
Speaker:maybe give them some sort of gift certificate on the save
Speaker:the dates.
Speaker:Because typically if you sell the save the date,
Speaker:you have a better chance of getting them for the invitations
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:So it's a matter of really just,
Speaker:I call it street fighting,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to get your piece of the market.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's what you're meaning also by networking when often
Speaker:when you think of influences,
Speaker:you're thinking of the big time representatives of any industry.
Speaker:But I think here or in addition to what you're saying,
Speaker:I'm not sure which would be venues.
Speaker:So obviously hotels,
Speaker:conference centers,
Speaker:wherever it might be.
Speaker:And I think that's a great idea,
Speaker:Brian, because often we're thinking direct to customer or wholesale into
Speaker:local boutiques.
Speaker:Right. But instead going to the venues,
Speaker:and I'm thinking event planners too.
Speaker:Yes. The event planners and wedding planners.
Speaker:The thing with that group is that they typically don't do
Speaker:a very high volume.
Speaker:So if you have more of a luxury product where every
Speaker:order is meaningful,
Speaker:then that's a great source because you could help collaborate with
Speaker:them so that they can incorporate there or their custom his
Speaker:own individual stamp of individuality on their invitation From a customer
Speaker:service standpoint.
Speaker:Then also your keeping relationships with,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:let's say five or 10 venues and event planners and they're
Speaker:bringing you in multiple clients each year and you're nurturing the
Speaker:relationship with them and continuing to provide them what they need
Speaker:versus going one off all the time.
Speaker:Finding a new bride,
Speaker:selling them on the invitation,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that kind of a thing.
Speaker:Yes. I mean it's a combination of both.
Speaker:And also looking for the right social media influencers and bloggers.
Speaker:There are bloggers that have a very local wedding or event
Speaker:following where people are looking to these bloggers for ideas and
Speaker:those ideas are expressed visually.
Speaker:So sometimes it's,
Speaker:sometimes that does require a pay to play where it's not
Speaker:just editorial,
Speaker:but the right partnerships could be money well spent.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:we've kind of alluded to website in and out here.
Speaker:We've interweaved it into our conversation so far and you're an
Speaker:expert on websites,
Speaker:so I'd really love to get into this more in terms
Speaker:of our conversation and just to lay it out a little
Speaker:bit, Brian,
Speaker:I see that a lot of people that I work with
Speaker:and a lot of people who are in my Facebook groups,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:it's this tech stuff and the website that holds them up,
Speaker:they get nervous,
Speaker:they get anxious,
Speaker:they go for an easy solution at sea or something like
Speaker:that, which I'm not saying is bad,
Speaker:but I'm always a proponent of also having a website that
Speaker:you own.
Speaker:So first I want to see if you agree with me
Speaker:there and then I'd love to get into your thoughts and
Speaker:opinions on a website all about websites after this quick word
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Speaker:so Do you feel like an Etsy site or heaven forbid
Speaker:people just having a Facebook page and selling off of their
Speaker:Facebook page is sufficient or do they need their own dedicated
Speaker:website? They need their own dedicated website for sure.
Speaker:Yay. Thank you.
Speaker:Again with an opportunity to really express the brand and to
Speaker:really get their attention and create a whole platform,
Speaker:but a platform is not a,
Speaker:I'm not talking about something complex,
Speaker:but answers to the question of why.
Speaker:Why should this be a resource for this particular site visitor
Speaker:and just photos that,
Speaker:wow. Then I mean Facebook and Etsy is just such a
Speaker:busy place.
Speaker:It's always an environment where people can go from one resource
Speaker:to another.
Speaker:At least if you have the right website and you have
Speaker:a website that really is captivating,
Speaker:you have an opportunity to capture the attention of that particular
Speaker:visitor and possibly bring them to the finish line because people
Speaker:have very short attention spans.
Speaker:It has to be done where you're really grabbing their attention
Speaker:with, I would say aspirational photos that people could envision.
Speaker:It's not just showing a catalog shot of an invitation,
Speaker:but maybe showing like one of the invitation that might be
Speaker:photographed with another event prop.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:sometimes photographers takes some really great shots of invitations,
Speaker:but so something that people that make it look like it
Speaker:relates to the reason that particular person would use that invitation.
Speaker:The two biggest categories for custom invitations are wedding and in
Speaker:the Jewish community bar and bat mitzvah is still a very
Speaker:big possible investment in invitations,
Speaker:so having the right type of styled shoots revolving around creating
Speaker:the mood of those events along with the invitation.
Speaker:What do you think about information about the artist who's behind
Speaker:the designing of and the style of the cards?
Speaker:Where do you put that in the waiting of a decision
Speaker:of someone to buy?
Speaker:I unfortunately don't think that has a lot of weight and
Speaker:it's because of the lack of attention.
Speaker:People are really just driven by imagery and getting to have
Speaker:a preference
the workmanship along with the way that it might look and
Speaker:just always offering to have samples available and sometimes a worthwhile
Speaker:strategy is to try for the sample and then say to
Speaker:them that if you decide to order,
Speaker:we'll just deduct the price of the sample.
Speaker:Okay. I'm just wondering online with all the photos and yes,
Speaker:the samples.
Speaker:If a video of an artist actually a behind the scenes
Speaker:of card creation or something would help deepen the relationship.
Speaker:I think it's a nice second level aspect to have.
Speaker:I don't think that someone is going to click on to
Speaker:that as the first interest.
Speaker:The first interest is really liking the imagery that they see
Speaker:so it resonates enough with them to want to look further.
Speaker:And if someone is buying invitations online,
Speaker:I mean that is a process that's going to take time,
Speaker:but if it's a product that is sold through face to
Speaker:face, then you're not selling the product.
Speaker:Just selling the appointment.
Speaker:And most retailers,
Speaker:that's what they're doing is they're selling the meeting.
Speaker:So if you have a physical location,
Speaker:it's showing the physicality of the location.
Speaker:It's sharing the benefits of having a face to face experience
Speaker:as opposed to a faceless experience ordering online.
Speaker:And if you are selling online,
Speaker:you have to be really accurate and helping them with ideas
Speaker:to help them avoid mistakes because left to their own devices,
Speaker:the littlest mistake that's made could ruin the whole process.
Speaker:That's a big benefit for the retailer to tout that we're
Speaker:going to take you by the hand to make sure that
Speaker:every detail and we guarantee the work.
Speaker:You don't have to worry about any problem with your invitations
Speaker:if there's a mistake,
Speaker:never even know about it because we'll have already corrected it
Speaker:rather than you having to first deal with a problem.
Speaker:So I find that the process of being very elegant but
Speaker:also being benefit driven in talking about the experience of working
Speaker:with you I think is really important.
Speaker:Tandem to get across.
Speaker:And also if you're a local business showing the locality,
Speaker:the first thing that people need to see when they go
Speaker:to a website is what you do and where you do
Speaker:it. And a lot of people miss that they don't have
Speaker:contact information.
Speaker:Well they rely on to contact them is sometimes they don't
Speaker:even have a phone number and email.
Speaker:They just have a form.
Speaker:You want to make yourself accessible.
Speaker:It's a really important thing.
Speaker:And have contact information,
Speaker:tell people what to do,
Speaker:create a guided experience on trying to help them navigate through
Speaker:your site.
Speaker:In a way that beats what your intention is.
Speaker:And for many listeners,
Speaker:I would imagine that it would be to set up a
Speaker:meeting or to get an email with questions and if it
Speaker:is somebody that's working with Etsy or another third party,
Speaker:it's driving them to that platform.
Speaker:But one of the mistakes that I think people make is
Speaker:that say they have a nice image that they also have
Speaker:on Etsy,
Speaker:they may just drive them to the homepage of the Etsy
Speaker:site rather than driving them to the product.
Speaker:If someone is interested in that product on your website,
Speaker:take them to the product on Etsy.
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:Yeah. Especially if you're doing social media posts or something with
Speaker:a picture.
Speaker:Right. Yeah.
Speaker:So I am hearing from you and what I think is
Speaker:fair to say,
Speaker:tell me if I'm following along properly,
Speaker:is when you're building a website,
Speaker:you would put the customer flow of the website differently if
Speaker:you also have a physical location versus if you're just selling
Speaker:online and the physical location.
Speaker:Really your main of your website is to convince people to
Speaker:come in and have a meeting with you.
Speaker:And online,
Speaker:I'm thinking if I were purchasing myself,
Speaker:we're going to have a wedding in our future probably within
Speaker:a couple of years,
Speaker:but like you can't feel the paper and the texture and
Speaker:see the true depth of colors of paper online.
Speaker:So pointing out things like that would be reasons why taking
Speaker:a little bit more time and actually going to a location
Speaker:consulting going through some of those books.
Speaker:And man,
Speaker:I never knew how expensive those stationary books are until I
Speaker:had our mutual friend Cheryl Oberman telling me all about that.
Speaker:That's crazy how expensive those are.
Speaker:But that whole experience of purchasing a custom wedding invitation would
Speaker:be completely different in store than online.
Speaker:Absolutely. And also if you think about it though,
Speaker:when you're a retailer and you're investing in inventory,
Speaker:it's a constant necessity to replenish.
Speaker:But when you invest in an album that's just sales tool.
Speaker:So typically one order and you recover your investment.
Speaker:But of course it does add up when you're having a
Speaker:lot of different lines.
Speaker:But I just wanted to clarify that in case anybody in
Speaker:the listening audience is not as clear on that.
Speaker:It's not a high investment for the potential return because usually
Speaker:these albums last for a few years.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:It isn't a brochure or a full color catalog.
Speaker:It's an actual sample album that is hand created.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:each album is done individually.
Speaker:It's a very expensive,
Speaker:laborious process to create.
Speaker:Okay, so brick and mortar is all about,
Speaker:as you were saying earlier,
Speaker:getting the appointment,
Speaker:having people come in and then working with them from there
Speaker:and then online.
Speaker:If you're just ordering online is an entirely different experience,
Speaker:then you really have to sell your product,
Speaker:which means lots of options.
Speaker:I'm pulling from this what you had said before,
Speaker:many choices.
Speaker:So people just don't go and see two or three cards
Speaker:and if it's not their style,
Speaker:then they're going to jump and go somewhere else.
Speaker:And also the quality of the photos I would say for
Speaker:both are extremely important.
Speaker:But the content of the photos is different because if you
Speaker:have a brick and mortar shop,
Speaker:you're going to want to show maybe where the consultation room
Speaker:is and people looking through some of the options and working
Speaker:together on what font it's going to be in.
Speaker:All of that.
Speaker:But then if you're just selling online,
Speaker:then you're going to want all the options of all the
Speaker:different cards,
Speaker:paper choices,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that kind of thing.
Speaker:Am I following you right?
Speaker:Yeah. You're all following my,
Speaker:but let me elaborate a little bit.
Speaker:So number one,
Speaker:the vest choices that an online retailer would have needs to
Speaker:be woven into the website in an elegant way.
Speaker:And I've seen too many websites where they just start off
Speaker:with just a page of thumbnail images and that is not
Speaker:the way to go.
Speaker:The way to go is to still have a very elegant
Speaker:front lobby homepage where people could get a sense of the
Speaker:brand and create an inviting experience to look further rather than
Speaker:just start off with an overwhelming amount of images on a
Speaker:page that isn't displayed in a large enough way or elegantly
Speaker:enough to really capture their attention.
Speaker:So that's number one.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:most invitation retailers have a thirst to have some sort of
Speaker:online exposure and while it doesn't always work out to be
Speaker:financially rewarding,
Speaker:the online part of it,
Speaker:it's still an opportunity for people to view a lot of
Speaker:things if they want to just dig a little bit deeper
Speaker:before going to a place.
Speaker:So the hierarchies are very,
Speaker:very important where you have to think of your homepage as
Speaker:this virtual receptionist that very,
Speaker:very clearly and simply and elegantly showcases what are the things
Speaker:that you would want people to see first and help them
Speaker:click onto that.
Speaker:One of the important things that a lot of invitation retail
Speaker:is miss is the importance of having separate landing pages for
Speaker:the important events rather than just clumping the fact they sell
Speaker:invitations and stationary into one melting pot.
Speaker:So if someone's getting married,
Speaker:I want them on a page that talks about their wedding
Speaker:and their wedding invitations.
Speaker:If someone's planning a bar and bat mitzvah right into that
Speaker:landing page,
Speaker:that landing page should be so complete that it's almost like
Speaker:a homepage.
Speaker:If somebody is advertising on a wedding industry platform,
Speaker:they could use the landing page to link to rather than
Speaker:the homepage because if someone's getting married,
Speaker:why not bring them right into a wedding page.
Speaker:Makes sense.
Speaker:Any other comments on just overall general web development?
Speaker:Sure. Another thing that's really important and a lot of people
Speaker:are also very concerned with online visibility.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:they want their website to generate traffic.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:there should be an emphasis on good practices to help you
Speaker:index your site properly.
Speaker:So that involves installing Google search console,
Speaker:which helps any updates that you make on your site to
Speaker:be quickly indexed by Google.
Speaker:Having a blog on your site is a way to continually
Speaker:update your site in a way that is also satisfying to
Speaker:your reader,
Speaker:to your visitors as well as satisfying to Google that where
Speaker:they will typically rank sites higher than for businesses that update
Speaker:their sites more frequently.
Speaker:And also what's called your title tags and meta descriptions,
Speaker:which a lot of people miss even working with when they're
Speaker:trying to do things themselves is that tells Google how to
Speaker:rank you and you have to vary your keyword terms.
Speaker:People don't just search to find you by one phrase and
Speaker:a lot of times people use the same phrase over and
Speaker:over again.
Speaker:But my main point is that in this industry with creative
Speaker:people that are really trying to radiate the beauty of their
Speaker:work, you don't want to compromise the experience that you want
Speaker:your visitors to have for the sake of Google.
Speaker:You got to pick sides and it's all about the user
Speaker:experience. And what I'm saying is that use the behind the
Speaker:scenes tools that are available on your website and on your
Speaker:website to help your ranking.
Speaker:Don't compromise the integrity of your site and start trying to
Speaker:play with wordings just to squeeze in what you think of
Speaker:keywords that Google index,
Speaker:because first of all,
Speaker:Google knows better now.
Speaker:They don't weigh that as the way they used to.
Speaker:Right. So in other words,
Speaker:speak the language that your customers speak and understand and don't
Speaker:try to jam in keywords just because you think that's going
Speaker:to rank you higher in Google.
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:Yeah. I remember how people used to do that and like
Speaker:sentences didn't even make sense.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:It sounded like rain man.
Speaker:Yeah. Or they'd use the same word like seven times on
Speaker:the first page or something.
Speaker:That was crazy.
Speaker:I'm glad we're out of that era that was not,
Speaker:but everyone was trying to figure it out.
Speaker:Right. Still trying to figure it out.
Speaker:Yeah, because it's always changing.
Speaker:What would you say to someone who's building a website and
Speaker:is all done and they've done everything that you've said?
Speaker:Like Brian,
Speaker:this would be the perfect example that you would put up
Speaker:in one of your lectures about how a website should be
Speaker:done and they just put it up and that's it.
Speaker:That's all they do.
Speaker:What's going to happen to that website If they're a local
Speaker:business, certainly want to have a Google my business account because
Speaker:Google my business is really the best way to rank on
Speaker:Google because the only competition you have is local competition.
Speaker:When you're trying to rank on Google organically,
Speaker:any body in the world could come up for wedding invitations
Speaker:in Chicago with the right approach to their website and you
Speaker:will have many industry platforms that are trying to intercept traffic
Speaker:that may have been looking for a retailer to bring them
Speaker:to their site to then deliver them to their advertisers.
Speaker:So Google my business is really the way for local business
Speaker:to really focus on getting online visibility.
Speaker:It's much simpler to rank.
Speaker:Also establishing your business on a lot of other directories like
Speaker:Yelp being Facebook,
Speaker:four square,
Speaker:and there are other secondary directories that in themselves don't necessarily
Speaker:generate a lot of traffic but collectively could be meaningful and
Speaker:also is a way that Google validates your locality.
Speaker:So they differ to how much exposure you have in other
Speaker:directories as a ranking factor.
Speaker:Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker:That's interesting.
Speaker:So what you're saying is just because you put up the
Speaker:picture perfect website,
Speaker:your job isn't done.
Speaker:You need to do things to get people to your website
Speaker:and a lot of it is Google.
Speaker:Right. And also there's nothing wrong with doing a website yourself
Speaker:as long as it doesn't look that way.
Speaker:Oh, you mean like you manually doing your own versus hiring
Speaker:someone to do it.
Speaker:Yes. And hiring somebody.
Speaker:One of the challenges of hiring generic web designers that don't
Speaker:really have industry experience is that you're losing the opportunity to
Speaker:have somebody that has worked with other businesses to take a
Speaker:lead role in helping you to expand beyond your own thinking.
Speaker:And that's why I have success with my clients in the
Speaker:sense that I could help guide them.
Speaker:A lot of times the whole design process and what to
Speaker:include, what to not include is daunting and to not have
Speaker:to be involved in constantly straining to come up with the
Speaker:answers and just having someone that could run with it makes
Speaker:the whole process with typically a better and faster outcome as
Speaker:well as an easier process where you're not put in the
Speaker:position where someone has to pick your brain before they can
Speaker:help you.
Speaker:Oh right.
Speaker:You're talking about someone who has industry knowledge.
Speaker:It helps a great deal.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. What do you feel about platforms?
Speaker:You know we've talked a little bit about ethics.
Speaker:If someone's doing their own website comments from you on like
Speaker:a WordPress site or Shopify or you know,
Speaker:some of the other kind of template driven sites there are
Speaker:out there.
Speaker:Well, there's certainly been a lot of talk that Shopify is
Speaker:a good platform for online retailing for a business that is
Speaker:trying to stay,
Speaker:has already established third party things.
Speaker:With Etsy,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:and wanting to get the best chance of online visibility and
Speaker:an elegant platform.
Speaker:WordPress is definitely the way to go.
Speaker:Wix has some good themes as well and it's pretty easy
Speaker:to navigate.
Speaker:Also, Squarespace is a very photo rich platform that really has
Speaker:different themes that allow one to display photos in a very
Speaker:nice way.
Speaker:A lot of photographers use Squarespace for that purpose,
Speaker:but in general it's all about any platform.
Speaker:Using the right approach.
Speaker:You can make it elegant.
Speaker:You have to remember that even the desktop experience is now
Speaker:scrolling. People don't just,
Speaker:they just get onto the site and scroll down.
Speaker:It used to be that you need to have your desktop
Speaker:website above the fold,
Speaker:like everything had to be seen right away for that people
Speaker:to go further and you can't rely on the navigation bars
Speaker:anymore. People just scroll down.
Speaker:If you're going to have navigation bars,
Speaker:they need to be sticky so that people see them at
Speaker:all times and those are typically innate on mobile,
Speaker:but you have to start about designing your site for mobile
Speaker:and then optimizing it for desktop rather than the other way
Speaker:around because now the other thing is that the lion's share
Speaker:of internet searches are going to be mobile.
Speaker:It's gone past the 50% Mark.
Speaker:However, with that being said,
Speaker:I don't think it's going to change for online retail is
Speaker:that the majority of sales are going to take place on
Speaker:desktop, especially with invitations where there's a lot of customization.
Speaker:I don't see people sitting on their cell phone with their
Speaker:other half watering their wedding invitations that much on a mobile
Speaker:device. That makes sense,
Speaker:but a first point of contact for sure could be that
Speaker:And very much likely will be.
Speaker:That's really interesting.
Speaker:This is the first time I've heard that because I've always
Speaker:heard above the fold,
Speaker:above the fold,
Speaker:you know your most important things and clearly still there has
Speaker:to be a good statement to motivate someone to start scrolling.
Speaker:But I also,
Speaker:and when I redid one of my websites and I hired
Speaker:someone out to help me,
Speaker:he took me through a customer experience.
Speaker:Like you're telling a story on your homepage,
Speaker:you're bringing them through an experience and then leading them to
Speaker:what to do next.
Speaker:Absolutely. That's very well said.
Speaker:Okay. Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:With that.
Speaker:Now the other thing,
Speaker:and I'd love any updated information on this.
Speaker:Do you remember,
Speaker:was it like two years ago or something?
Speaker:I believe it was Google who was going to rank much
Speaker:lower. Any sites that weren't mobile friendly?
Speaker:Yes. I think it's even a little bit more recent,
Speaker:but absolutely the case.
Speaker:Yeah, and also there's now what's called a mobile first ranking,
Speaker:meaning that all new websites,
Speaker:the first thing that Google will look at to index your
Speaker:site will be a mobile site and they're going back to
Speaker:existing sites to do the same thing.
Speaker:So what are they doing?
Speaker:Like kind of scoring the site?
Speaker:Yes. They have different algorithms and criteria to decide if that,
Speaker:how that site,
Speaker:it's also the user experience.
Speaker:Speed is very important.
Speaker:People don't want to wait.
Speaker:So if your site takes longer to load and sometimes that
Speaker:people have videos on their sites that are actually lodged inside
Speaker:their site,
Speaker:that could be a really slowing down of the site loading.
Speaker:Yeah, and multiple pictures that are really,
Speaker:really big too.
Speaker:Yes, correct.
Speaker:So that's where a pro understands how to find that best
Speaker:balance to create the best user experience,
Speaker:but also to make sure that the site loads quickly.
Speaker:Okay. Give his listeners,
Speaker:we've given you tips splattered throughout this whole conversation,
Speaker:so might make sense to go back again with a pen
Speaker:and paper and write things down.
Speaker:Compare a lot of the things that Brian's been talking about
Speaker:against what you have going on right now with your website.
Speaker:You may find just one or two things that you can
Speaker:adjust and change,
Speaker:which is going to improve the user experience and in turn
Speaker:get you more appointments or bring people to some of your
Speaker:product and hopefully bring them over to a sale.
Speaker:Brian, what would you say to someone who's just now?
Speaker:Okay. We've convinced them that a website's important.
Speaker:They've been thinking about it for a while.
Speaker:Tech is scary,
Speaker:but they get it.
Speaker:What are the first couple of steps someone brand new should
Speaker:take to getting a website up just so that they don't
Speaker:walk away from this and say,
Speaker:okay, I get it,
Speaker:but then still don't start taking any action.
Speaker:Well, the first thing is to choose a domain name.
Speaker:The domain name is something that there's an advantage,
Speaker:I believe in bringing in at least one word in the
Speaker:domain name.
Speaker:What you do that it just makes it clearer if somebody
Speaker:sees your domain on a third party source that that,
Speaker:So if I'm,
Speaker:this is going to be a stupid name.
Speaker:It's the only thing I can think of.
Speaker:Betsey's crafts,
Speaker:right? That's the name of the company,
Speaker:but she specializes in custom paper invitations.
Speaker:It's a terrible name.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:Right? Like I wouldn't say Betsey's designs.
Speaker:I would say Betsey's invitations,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just something that helps people understand a little bit more specifically
Speaker:what the focal point of the website is,
Speaker:is helpful.
Speaker:So maybe it starts with even considering if you've got the
Speaker:right name for your business.
Speaker:Yes, and also you can toy with more than one domain
Speaker:name for marketing purposes.
Speaker:It's great for you to have the domain name that is
Speaker:the name of your business,
Speaker:but you could also look for keyword domain names that cue
Speaker:people like exquisite invitations or something.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:some of those domain names are hard to find,
Speaker:but there is a turnover of domain names where they come
Speaker:and go because people go out of business.
Speaker:But the domain name itself is important to establish,
Speaker:but it's not that important in the scheme of things because
Speaker:most people in this day and age won't type in your
Speaker:domain name.
Speaker:They'll just click from somewhere else.
Speaker:Oh, that's true.
Speaker:And just a point of clarification for everybody,
Speaker:you wouldn't then have multiple sites under all these domain names.
Speaker:What you do is you have the site under one name
Speaker:and then you've bought these other domain names and you can
Speaker:redirect them to your site.
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:say in the event industry,
Speaker:you're advertising your wedding invitations.
Speaker:You could have Betsey's wedding invitations point to the landing page
Speaker:on the Betty's invitation site.
Speaker:That's a strategy that makes,
Speaker:if somebody sees that domain name on a wedding site,
Speaker:it makes them feel that they're really focused on not only
Speaker:in invitations but wedding invitations.
Speaker:The second thing is finding the right host.
Speaker:Can I just say one more thing about domain names and
Speaker:this is just for everybody wedding invitations and all that aside.
Speaker:If you have a company name and your website is a
Speaker:variety, like a different unique spelling of a general name,
Speaker:it's best to then buy a domain also in a name
Speaker:that people would normally do.
Speaker:Like let's say Betty's spelled her name,
Speaker:B, E,
Speaker:T, Z,
Speaker:Y instead of S Y she should buy what normally people
Speaker:would type in and redirect that to.
Speaker:So if you have some type of a creative naming to
Speaker:your business that people wouldn't automatically understand if you're just saying
Speaker:it to them,
Speaker:get that domain name and redirect it to your site as
Speaker:well. It certainly could only be beneficial because it's very inexpensive
Speaker:to, on a yearly basis it's between 10 and $20 a
Speaker:year. So that's not a very big business expense to have
Speaker:domain names that protect your brand from error.
Speaker:I think that that's a good suggestion.
Speaker:Sorry to interrupt the flow.
Speaker:So we've got the domain name down.
Speaker:What's next?
Speaker:The hosting,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:once your website goes live,
Speaker:the host is probably more important than the web designer.
Speaker:If something goes wrong,
Speaker:the site goes down.
Speaker:So having a host that is very responsive and communicative is
Speaker:usually a better outcome.
Speaker:And some of the larger platforms that most people tend to
Speaker:gravitate to because they're more well known,
Speaker:take more time to respond that usually have to fill out
Speaker:a ticket.
Speaker:You have to wait a long time on hold.
Speaker:So looking for a smaller host usually gets better results.
Speaker:I have a source called overhaul X that is a very
Speaker:type of person that you can text if there's a problem
Speaker:and nobody wants to have their site down for something that
Speaker:could be fixed in two minutes down for a day because
Speaker:there's a whole process and a hope bureaucracy that is involved.
Speaker:So that's just a little tip on that.
Speaker:And then also just taking some time to research competitors.
Speaker:Maybe develop a Google doc with a lot of ideas of
Speaker:things you liked about,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:other sites or you didn't.
Speaker:And also develop an outline of the different sections that you'd
Speaker:want. So this way,
Speaker:if you decide that you want to hire somebody,
Speaker:you have a clear picture of what you want at that
Speaker:time. Of course,
Speaker:that's open to change and discussion based on trying to collectively
Speaker:arrive at what's for the highest good if the person that
Speaker:you're hiring has experienced.
Speaker:But otherwise you'd be able to give that site designer that
Speaker:may be generic a little bit more direction.
Speaker:Right. So you come to the table with ideas versus just
Speaker:coming to a meeting with no clue yet.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah,
Speaker:yeah. Great advice.
Speaker:Okay, so for you guys who are just beginning here are
Speaker:the first four steps.
Speaker:Your domain,
Speaker:multiple domains if you need to,
Speaker:and again please don't get in your way about tech tech,
Speaker:all this stuff is not that hard to do.
Speaker:Some of it you might want to job out some of
Speaker:it you do yourself.
Speaker:So domain name,
Speaker:get a hosting company that's going to be responsive.
Speaker:Then go ahead and look at competitors,
Speaker:not to copy but for inspiration.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:what do you like about their sites?
Speaker:What do you not like?
Speaker:What do you think might be missing that you would want
Speaker:to add?
Speaker:What kinds of sections based on your offering to your audience,
Speaker:right? Not what everyone else is offering.
Speaker:Like you don't want to go into competitors and then overwhelm
Speaker:yourself and feel like you have to offer every single thing
Speaker:that they do.
Speaker:If that's not part of what your normal business offerings are.
Speaker:So don't get too swayed off course of what you offer,
Speaker:but then figure out what your sections should look like.
Speaker:And those would be your first four steps.
Speaker:Anything to add to that,
Speaker:Brian? Well,
Speaker:just if someone is doing it themselves,
Speaker:a platform that they want it,
Speaker:Right, and then select the platform and then get rolling with
Speaker:it. Right.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Wonderful. What is up next for you,
Speaker:Brian? What are your next targets,
Speaker:missions, ideas,
Speaker:incentives, efforts in the future?
Speaker:I've put in a lot of work in developing a vast
Speaker:or understanding of online marketing to be able to share with
Speaker:my existing clients and when I'm onboarding new clients the best
Speaker:possible ways that they could rank locally.
Speaker:So besides developing a beautiful website,
Speaker:I can also make sure that they're getting the best possible
Speaker:chance for online visibility.
Speaker:And another thing that I'm intending to do is to spend
Speaker:more time consulting with people that are doing the websites themselves.
Speaker:So look,
Speaker:I have only a certain amount of bandwidth to do websites
Speaker:and I'm not going to take on more business than I
Speaker:can at a particular time.
Speaker:I might say to somebody,
Speaker:well we can get started with the website in three or
Speaker:four weeks depending on how the workflow is,
Speaker:but I could always get involved on a consulting basis to
Speaker:help direct somebody to do a couple of hours of consulting
Speaker:or if somebody wants to run ideas by me.
Speaker:So that's another direction that I'm looking to work with.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:I'm still going to stay within my industry because I feel
Speaker:that that's how I can offer the most value.
Speaker:Well, and you have so much experience too.
Speaker:I mean just the knowledge of how the industry has changed
Speaker:and grown and adjusted over time too.
Speaker:It was a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker:And one other thing that I did want to share is
Speaker:I did do a presentation that a month ago and I
Speaker:recorded a video and I would be happy to share it
Speaker:with any listeners because it has so many different ways to
Speaker:either improve your website or can be an influencer on how
Speaker:to create a website.
Speaker:The things to think about.
Speaker:So you know,
Speaker:if you want to share the contact information with your audience
Speaker:state, email me,
Speaker:am I able to give my email address to them to
Speaker:email me to request the uh,
Speaker:so they,
Speaker:they could email me@brianbrianatbrianlawrence.com.
Speaker:Just request the,
Speaker:a sample of the video of the video and I'll also
Speaker:send the slides so that you could look at the actual
Speaker:slides of the presentation if you want to take shortcuts just
Speaker:to get an idea of what to expect in the video.
Speaker:Okay. And is this only for the stationary and wedding industry
Speaker:or virtually for anyone who has a website?
Speaker:I would say that the ideology behind it is very much
Speaker:for anybody.
Speaker:Certainly the examples,
Speaker:the site samples are industry focused.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:wonderful. And your website is Brian lawrence.com.
Speaker:Beautiful. Perfect.
Speaker:So give biz listeners go over there if you want to
Speaker:learn more to see what Brian's up to and see his
Speaker:website. And I'm quite sure it is a model example of
Speaker:a website.
Speaker:So that would always be interesting to take a look at.
Speaker:And then if you're interested in getting this video,
Speaker:then just email Brian,
Speaker:brian@brianlawrence.com also all of his contact links will be over on
Speaker:the show notes page.
Speaker:As always,
Speaker:Brian, thank you so much.
Speaker:I didn't really know what to expect with our talk and
Speaker:I love that we just went through and there's so many
Speaker:golden nuggets like just dropped throughout our whole conversation here,
Speaker:so it's been fabulous.
Speaker:Thank you so much for your time and for sharing all
Speaker:of your knowledge on website development specifically keyed into this unique
Speaker:industry. It's been a pleasure talking with you.
Speaker:My pleasure.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Wow. Excellent information for us all to review.
Speaker:Whether you're just now putting up your site or are up
Speaker:for a review of an existing site,
Speaker:it may make sense to listen to this all over again
Speaker:with pen and paper at the ready.
Speaker:Another thing that comes to mind when I think of weddings
Speaker:is the big gorgeous wedding cake and the not to be
Speaker:ignored. Sweet table.
Speaker:We'll dive into this sweet category next week.
Speaker:I do hope you plan on joining me.
Speaker:Remember to subscribe and then for sure you won't miss it.
Speaker:I'll see you then.
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