Shownotes
How To Sell Products Through Your Website
(What's a Boost, you ask? See details below) Today, I talk with Wendy Duckett of Mystic Moon Soapworks. Her business is relatively new, but she has made great strides already. I'm impressed that she started out just as a recommend - by validating her product idea to make sure there are people out there who will buy it. But even though her website is up and looking good, she's not getting the results she hoped for.In this Boost, we cover:
- Why having your own website is the gold standard
- Should you change the platform your website is built with?
- Website navigation best practices
- The importance of what shows "above the fold"
- How to drive more traffic to your website
- Ways to encourage shopping on your site
- How to start collecting visitor emails for your email list
- and more!
Tune into this whole conversation to hear all the tips and best practices on how to sell products through your website!
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Gift Biz Unwrapped,
Speaker:episode 390.
Speaker:That's Really important feedback to know.
Speaker:Cause these are all things in my discovery process of trying
Speaker:to figure out is it a move worth my time?
Speaker:Is there an advantage to changing Attention?
Speaker:Gifters, Bakers,
Speaker:crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one,
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is Gift 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 Height.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:And I am so happy that you've joined me here today
Speaker:because you're catching an episode of a new show format called
Speaker:A Gift Biz Boost.
Speaker:What's a boost?
Speaker:It's your chance to listen in while I address a current
Speaker:issue faced by one of your fellow handmade makers.
Speaker:Too often we stall in one area of our business where
Speaker:if we can just get past the block,
Speaker:it will open the path to new business growth.
Speaker:That's what this is all about,
Speaker:to give a boost and clear the way for the next
Speaker:big move.
Speaker:At the end of the show,
Speaker:I'll tell you how you can sign up for your own
Speaker:free gift Biz Boost.
Speaker:Today we're talking to Wendy Duckett.
Speaker:Her business is relatively new,
Speaker:but she has made great strides already.
Speaker:I'm impressed that she started out,
Speaker:just as I recommend validating her product idea to make sure
Speaker:there are people out there who will buy it.
Speaker:You'll hear her explain in her own words right at the
Speaker:beginning how she accomplished this.
Speaker:The topic she wanted to talk about today is one that
Speaker:haunts many a product maker who's trying to find traction online.
Speaker:That is after spending so much time and effort,
Speaker:getting a website up and functioning,
Speaker:there's no activity and therefore no sales coming from the site.
Speaker:If this is a struggle for you,
Speaker:then you are in luck because we go into detail on
Speaker:how to change the situation.
Speaker:I think Wendy was pleasantly surprised by my first recommendation to
Speaker:her, and I'm completely confident that as she puts everything in
Speaker:place that we've discussed,
Speaker:the results of her website will swing in her favor.
Speaker:Now, I will alert you to the fact that Wendy's internet
Speaker:connection wasn't playing nicely for us during this call.
Speaker:I've cleaned up the audio as much as possible,
Speaker:and there are really only a few places where it's a
Speaker:little tough to hear,
Speaker:but you'll definitely understand the message of what's Garbly being said.
Speaker:So with that,
Speaker:let's together go and listen as I give Wendy a boost.
Speaker:Wendy, I'm so excited that we are here today and gonna
Speaker:talk about a calendar having in your business right now.
Speaker:Thank you for joining me.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:I'm super excited to talk about this.
Speaker:It's just something that I've been thinking about for a long
Speaker:time. So it's great to have a professional,
Speaker:help me figure some of these things out.
Speaker:Oh, it's my favorite thing to do.
Speaker:So I'm really excited to dive in.
Speaker:But let's get everybody more acquainted with you and your business.
Speaker:So why don't we start with that,
Speaker:Share a little bit about you and what your business is.
Speaker:Perfect. My name's Wendy Duckett.
Speaker:I live in Lancaster,
Speaker:Pennsylvania, and I am the owner and creator of Mystic Moon
Speaker:Soap Works.
Speaker:I started making soap and bath body products out of my
Speaker:home here in about 2019.
Speaker:So I've been at it for a couple of years,
Speaker:but it's still kind of not going in the direction that
Speaker:I wanted to go in.
Speaker:I do have my products in four different marketplaces here locally,
Speaker:so I'm just looking for ways to continue helping me streamline
Speaker:and get it to grow.
Speaker:Okay. So the business is relatively new and I'd say with
Speaker:the challenges that we've had over the last couple of years,
Speaker:when I talk with someone who's really started their business in
Speaker:2019, I say kind of cut in half in your business
Speaker:because you didn't have all of the channels and all the
Speaker:opportunities available to you that you would've had.
Speaker:We had traditional,
Speaker:regular years.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:So that would suggest that you are even younger of a
Speaker:business, I guess I would say.
Speaker:Yes, that's true.
Speaker:Yeah. As far as getting the product to people,
Speaker:definitely. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. And you're also selling at craft shows and such?
Speaker:Yes. Right now I just do the holiday ones.
Speaker:My products don't like the heat so much,
Speaker:so I stopped doing all the summer events,
Speaker:but I do do four or five holiday shows November,
Speaker:December, as well as in my marketplaces.
Speaker:Wonderful. And what are you seeing in terms of the receptivity
Speaker:of your products?
Speaker:My in-person events that I have are very favorable.
Speaker:I do ask for,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:personal feedback and that does help me to kind of tweak
Speaker:my pipeline,
Speaker:tweak my recipes,
Speaker:maybe I don't get any feedback from my marketplaces.
Speaker:It's kind of like a retail store.
Speaker:I don't get to see the people,
Speaker:I don't get to hear what they're doing,
Speaker:what's selling,
Speaker:what's not selling.
Speaker:I can see that part of it,
Speaker:but those in-person events are so important from gathering that information.
Speaker:I really want honest feedback,
Speaker:especially if it's a new product launched,
Speaker:what's good about it?
Speaker:What don't you like about it?
Speaker:And I really seek out that honest feedback and I've changed
Speaker:some recipes,
Speaker:tweaked things along the way in response to that.
Speaker:That's amazing.
Speaker:I love that you're doing that already because there's nothing like
Speaker:hearing directly from your customer,
Speaker:and if you're not providing what they want,
Speaker:there's no reason that they're not gonna buy.
Speaker:You're not gonna build a business around it,
Speaker:but you're seeing sales,
Speaker:right? You're seeing sales and repeat sales and all of that.
Speaker:I am,
Speaker:yes. There's certain things that I can't keep on the shelves
Speaker:and there are other things that aren't selling them.
Speaker:So I have to kind of step back and take a
Speaker:look at what isn't selling.
Speaker:And just because I like it and think it's a wonderful
Speaker:product doesn't mean that other people are going to respond to
Speaker:it and buy it.
Speaker:So stepping back,
Speaker:evaluating what I offer in my product line is part of
Speaker:that streamlining process.
Speaker:Right. Wonderful.
Speaker:I love everything that you're talking about here,
Speaker:Wendy. That is absolutely perfect.
Speaker:So where you're at right now is you validated your product,
Speaker:so you know that what you're making will sell.
Speaker:There is a market for it.
Speaker:Yeah. You don't see it on your marketplace,
Speaker:but you're seeing it in person.
Speaker:So that absolutely perfect.
Speaker:What is it that you'd like us to talk about today
Speaker:in the boost?
Speaker:My struggle that I'm dealing with right now is the online
Speaker:presence. I basically don't have one.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I have a website up,
Speaker:it's hosted through GoDaddy.
Speaker:I've had it since the beginning.
Speaker:People look at it based on their reactions,
Speaker:but I still don't have that online presence.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:what am I funneling money into?
Speaker:It's like leading me money.
Speaker:I'm not getting any return out of it.
Speaker:So I'm struggling with that whole concept.
Speaker:Okay. So you're saying you don't have any online presence,
Speaker:You do have the website up and running,
Speaker:and I remember we did back in,
Speaker:I think it was 2020 probably we did a review of
Speaker:your website.
Speaker:Yeah. And I made some changes,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and added things here or tweaked things there,
Speaker:but don't get any sales people vote,
Speaker:but maybe for a reference that I'm just not getting a
Speaker:sales there that I have locally.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you do have an online presence because you have the
Speaker:website and honestly it looks really good.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I remember a little bit in my mind's eye what it
Speaker:looked like before and it already looked good then,
Speaker:but you've made some additional improvements.
Speaker:I did do a little bit of homework before we got
Speaker:together and we could talk about what you could do on
Speaker:this current website,
Speaker:but I know as you were talking about potentially coming on
Speaker:and doing a boost with me,
Speaker:one of the things you were thinking is,
Speaker:do I wanna change my platform?
Speaker:And why were you thinking of moving off of Go Daddy?
Speaker:Well, I think because the expense,
Speaker:the Go Daddy is $40 a month will say,
Speaker:whereas Shopify is $30 a month.
Speaker:So if I can create or duplicate the type of vibe
Speaker:that I have on my Go Daddy site,
Speaker:which I love with a cheaper venue,
Speaker:then that's $120 difference in my pocket that can go towards
Speaker:marketing or something else.
Speaker:Okay. What do you currently love about your website?
Speaker:What's working?
Speaker:What do you like?
Speaker:Let's do a little pros and cons of your current site.
Speaker:Okay, so I'm not sure if it's necessarily how it functions.
Speaker:It's the look,
Speaker:I love the layout,
Speaker:the theme of it maybe that I,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that I went with the fonts,
Speaker:the color patterns,
Speaker:and I know that those are all things I can duplicate
Speaker:in another platform.
Speaker:So I'm hoping to kind of maybe think about what's available
Speaker:in the other platforms and use some of those tools to
Speaker:help me boost my sales I'm not currently taking advantage of
Speaker:or that aren't available to me in my other platform.
Speaker:Okay. What are you doing,
Speaker:if anything,
Speaker:to direct people over to the website?
Speaker:I post on Instagram and I cross post onto Facebook and
Speaker:there's links to my website there.
Speaker:I try to not be salesy on the Instagram post,
Speaker:but there's always of course the information and check this out
Speaker:kind of in the language of my post to get people
Speaker:to take a look at it.
Speaker:I also have my website on all of my product packaging
Speaker:for my local people so that they can either buy again
Speaker:or see what else that I have to offer that's online,
Speaker:that's not necessarily in the marketplace.
Speaker:Okay. This is one of the things that I know a
Speaker:lot of people struggle with,
Speaker:and you might be a little bit in the middle because
Speaker:you already have the idea,
Speaker:but maybe there's some emphasis that can be done regardless of
Speaker:your platform.
Speaker:We're gonna go back and talk about the platform too in
Speaker:a minute,
Speaker:but so often,
Speaker:and I think you've probably seen it in Gift Bis,
Speaker:Brie, you see this too,
Speaker:is people put up their website and they're like,
Speaker:Okay, because now I have an online presence and I have
Speaker:a website.
Speaker:Like where are the sales?
Speaker:How come there are no sales yet?
Speaker:You put a website and Yeah,
Speaker:exactly. And I like to say that your website,
Speaker:you've heard me say this before,
Speaker:Wendy, I'm sure is your online headquarters.
Speaker:It is the home base for everything that you do with
Speaker:your business online of course.
Speaker:And not talking about if you have an Etsy shop,
Speaker:your very own website is the golden nugget.
Speaker:That's what you wanna get to.
Speaker:So you've taken fabulous strides and you started out just with
Speaker:your own website,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:Okay. So you started with your own website,
Speaker:which is fabulous.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I don't have any issues with people starting with ET tea
Speaker:cuz that those are super easy to get up and going,
Speaker:but this was a wonderful move on your part cuz it's
Speaker:the harder of the two.
Speaker:Let's face it.
Speaker:So for a second,
Speaker:I actually wanna get back to this platform conversation because we're
Speaker:entering into fourth quarter.
Speaker:It's huge selling season.
Speaker:I know everyone talks about Shopify.
Speaker:If you were just starting out from the beginning,
Speaker:I'd say go with Shopify.
Speaker:But what I'm hearing from you is really the financial thing
Speaker:is really what's leading you one way versus another versus that
Speaker:your Go Daddy site has anything that's not working functionally.
Speaker:I know there's a couple tweaks,
Speaker:we'll probably we may talk about that and bring that up
Speaker:in the conversation here,
Speaker:but my feeling is for you right now,
Speaker:entering fourth quarter for sure,
Speaker:taking your time and switching over to a Shopify account is
Speaker:going to be a lot of work and land you in
Speaker:the exact same place that you are at right now with
Speaker:your Go Daddy.
Speaker:Even though you might be saving a little bit of money,
Speaker:you might not because some of the things that you have
Speaker:in your GoDaddy account would be added apps that you would
Speaker:need to then purchase to include for your Shopify account.
Speaker:Does that make sense?
Speaker:Yeah. So right now,
Speaker:I mean I think,
Speaker:and this conversation's gonna go further than this,
Speaker:I have a lot to talk about,
Speaker:but I mean I think really for you,
Speaker:your site looks great.
Speaker:I mean I love the vibe and the feel of it.
Speaker:And it's called Mystic moons soap works.com
Speaker:for those of you who are listening and the coloring is
Speaker:great, your pictures are great,
Speaker:your page layouts are great.
Speaker:I made some purchasing from you last night,
Speaker:first off because Christmas shopping already.
Speaker:But also I just wanted to see how the shopping cart
Speaker:was functioning.
Speaker:It's smooth,
Speaker:it's beautiful.
Speaker:And I don't see any overwhelming reason for you to jump
Speaker:off of this platform,
Speaker:especially right now.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:if at some point you said,
Speaker:You know what,
Speaker:I just wanna check out Shopify.
Speaker:You could sign up for a free trial or even pay
Speaker:one month and start seeing how you would jump things over
Speaker:and see if you had to add apps and all of
Speaker:that. But honestly,
Speaker:I don't think that's the move right now.
Speaker:How does that sit with you?
Speaker:That's really important feedback to know.
Speaker:Cause these are all things in my discovery process of trying
Speaker:to figure out is it gonna be a good move for
Speaker:me? Is it a move worth my time?
Speaker:Am I gonna recover anything?
Speaker:Is there an advantage to changing other than $10 a month?
Speaker:So if the problem isn't lying with the functionality of the
Speaker:website or the look of the website,
Speaker:then knowing that piece of it is important and then I
Speaker:can focus on,
Speaker:okay, so then what's the problem?
Speaker:Let's work on that part.
Speaker:Yeah. And the problem we're defining is you need more people
Speaker:coming over to the site and taking action off of the
Speaker:site regardless of where it is.
Speaker:That's why I'm saying if you were to duplicate this,
Speaker:bring it over to Shopify,
Speaker:I think now you're on Shopify.
Speaker:Yes. But you're still sitting with the same issue,
Speaker:which is an issue that many,
Speaker:many people have.
Speaker:So I'm saying you might be surprised that I'm even saying
Speaker:this Wendy,
Speaker:cuz I'm always talking Shopify.
Speaker:But right now,
Speaker:no, I wouldn't even bother.
Speaker:I wouldn't do it.
Speaker:I think it's more important to get people over and taking
Speaker:action on the site than it is to make a switch
Speaker:of a platform.
Speaker:I will say years ago when I switched my platform over
Speaker:to Shopify,
Speaker:I did see a bump in business.
Speaker:I don't know if that's the case anymore or not.
Speaker:And Goad is a credible,
Speaker:reliable platform and for all the reasons I just discussed,
Speaker:I would stay put and the activity that you would wanna
Speaker:be doing is really getting this one to work for you
Speaker:for the time being.
Speaker:Okay, I like it.
Speaker:Okay, you're saying that,
Speaker:that sounds good.
Speaker:So what I'd like to do is talk with you a
Speaker:little bit.
Speaker:Let's just review the site for a minute.
Speaker:I'll tell you a couple of things.
Speaker:This is a website review 2.0
Speaker:for context here.
Speaker:I say it's a 2.0
Speaker:website review because I did a whole review of Wendy's website
Speaker:inside Gift Biz Breeze about a year ago or so,
Speaker:and she implemented a lot of the things that I had
Speaker:talked about.
Speaker:Then let's talk about how you get more people over and
Speaker:taking action on the site.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Yes. All right.
Speaker:So here is my suggestion for you,
Speaker:and I don't know the limitations if there are any with
Speaker:goad, but if there are,
Speaker:that's fine.
Speaker:Your website right now,
Speaker:like I said to you before,
Speaker:look stunning.
Speaker:I love the themeing.
Speaker:It all feels the same throughout the photos that you're putting
Speaker:up. Really show the quality of your products.
Speaker:Everything is very self explanatory.
Speaker:The navigation is easy.
Speaker:I love it and I love the background that you have.
Speaker:I love the background.
Speaker:Yeah. So all the improvements that I'm gonna suggest are just
Speaker:additional enhancements.
Speaker:If you left it just the way it is right now,
Speaker:until we get into other things I think you should do
Speaker:that would be fine.
Speaker:So I'm gonna be more nitpicky than anything else.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:The first thing that I would do is where you have
Speaker:your event soap favors,
Speaker:I would move that right after shop because that sounds like
Speaker:a very interesting product and like I'd put it right between
Speaker:shop. Gotcha.
Speaker:And your pride giving.
Speaker:And the reason I say that is if someone's coming over
Speaker:to look at your products and they see shop,
Speaker:they might not even look at the whole navigation bar,
Speaker:but if it's right next to it,
Speaker:then they'll see the event soap favors.
Speaker:Okay. Yep.
Speaker:Easy to do.
Speaker:I can do that.
Speaker:Yep. Okay,
Speaker:perfect. And then all the other things I would probably just
Speaker:put contact us at the very end because people are used
Speaker:to looking to the right for something like that.
Speaker:So just flip up the order of the navigation bar.
Speaker:And I told you this is super picky,
Speaker:but just in terms of the flow of the site,
Speaker:then on both my Mac and my pc,
Speaker:I'm looking at what sits above the fold and Oh yeah.
Speaker:For people who are listening,
Speaker:I think you already know this Wendy,
Speaker:but for people who are listening in above the fold,
Speaker:what that means is when someone lands on the homepage of
Speaker:your site,
Speaker:what's the first thing they see before they have to start
Speaker:scrolling down?
Speaker:And you want to capture people's interest right there because people
Speaker:will jump off so fast if they don't get interested right
Speaker:away, they may not even scroll.
Speaker:So you may lose an opportunity.
Speaker:So for you,
Speaker:I'm just wondering Wendy,
Speaker:if there's any way this top bar that's mystic moon soap
Speaker:works could be narrower.
Speaker:Like there's a lot of white space on the top and
Speaker:white space on the bottom before your navigation bar.
Speaker:And if you were able to get rid of a little
Speaker:bit of this,
Speaker:it will boost up your header image higher up,
Speaker:if that makes sense.
Speaker:Okay. So this is one option.
Speaker:Oh, I also love your tagline.
Speaker:Making personal care luxurious.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I absolutely love it.
Speaker:I also love this font.
Speaker:You don't have to tell me what it is at some
Speaker:point, but so then your image here,
Speaker:I think you'd have to play with it a little little
Speaker:bit. If there was a way to get this whole image
Speaker:above the fold,
Speaker:it may already get above the fold if you are able
Speaker:to eliminate some white space.
Speaker:But I would just play with that a little bit and
Speaker:see what you can do to make it a little bit
Speaker:more impressive above the fold.
Speaker:I think that it could attract way more people if there
Speaker:was a little bit more interest in that initial landing spot.
Speaker:Okay. Okay.
Speaker:That might be something I have to reach out to,
Speaker:like to support people that might be behind the scenes kind
Speaker:of a thing.
Speaker:But that doesn't mean it can't be done.
Speaker:So I can certainly do that.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah,
Speaker:it could be.
Speaker:And all of these options that I'm gonna talk to you
Speaker:about are way less time intensive then moving your whole site
Speaker:somewhere else.
Speaker:Yes, yes.
Speaker:Love that.
Speaker:Yeah, it seems to me that that's just a border buffering
Speaker:type of an issue where it's just one place when you
Speaker:know where it is,
Speaker:you just change the numbers to be a little smaller and
Speaker:the whole thing will shoot up.
Speaker:So anything you can do to just make that first landing
Speaker:a little bit nicer.
Speaker:The other thing I would suggest is add in some more
Speaker:reviews that are more current 2022.
Speaker:Oh, Okay.
Speaker:Yep. And you're gonna get one from me when I get
Speaker:my soaps,
Speaker:cuz I have to do the reviews as honest,
Speaker:right? So I would do that.
Speaker:I would also,
Speaker:I know you donated for the National Baker Crafter Maker Day
Speaker:last year,
Speaker:go back and contact whoever that winner was and ask them
Speaker:to do a review.
Speaker:So those are two right there.
Speaker:And then you know any other customers you have or whatever.
Speaker:Okay, I would do that.
Speaker:So that's another real quickie I'm thinking.
Speaker:I love,
Speaker:So one of Wendy's navigation bars is about pride giving is
Speaker:what she titles it.
Speaker:And if you purchase one of the products that's in the
Speaker:pride giving category,
Speaker:there's a donation given.
Speaker:And I was looking at that.
Speaker:I was very interested,
Speaker:this is something that I support heavily and I'm like,
Speaker:well what happens?
Speaker:Like where does it go if I buy one of these?
Speaker:What's the donation?
Speaker:Like, I didn't understand enough of what that does.
Speaker:So maybe a little more verbiage there of what the donation
Speaker:is. Like does it go to a group?
Speaker:Like how does that work?
Speaker:I would be interested in that.
Speaker:It's in there.
Speaker:I'll have to figure out.
Speaker:It's been a while since I put that in there.
Speaker:What was,
Speaker:I guess June?
Speaker:So I'll have to look and see.
Speaker:There's also I think images of what is being donated.
Speaker:It's like a mini gift bag of a rainbow bar of
Speaker:soap and a lip balm and a lotion sampler.
Speaker:So I think,
Speaker:yeah, I could definitely go back and see what's being perceived.
Speaker:Maybe it's a little too hidden.
Speaker:I need to bring it a little bit more forefront.
Speaker:Yeah. Or maybe I didn't read it well for every Pride
Speaker:soap purchased,
Speaker:we're donating a mini donating.
Speaker:Where Does it say to a local LGBTQ community service program?
Speaker:This year we're working with our local.
Speaker:Yeah, okay.
Speaker:It is there.
Speaker:That was my impression.
Speaker:Maybe just read it through.
Speaker:If you like the way it is,
Speaker:leave it there if not,
Speaker:and maybe change up the wording a little bit.
Speaker:But you could go back and say,
Speaker:Sue, I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker:This is totally clear.
Speaker:Okay, it's your option.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So there's that.
Speaker:Okay, I said moving the left,
Speaker:I would love for you Wendy.
Speaker:Now this is a long time play.
Speaker:It's not something that's gonna necessarily give you more visibility right
Speaker:away, but I'd love to see you add a blog here.
Speaker:Those were the only improvements I had for your website.
Speaker:So how about that?
Speaker:And I went through all the navigation,
Speaker:every page,
Speaker:all of it looked good.
Speaker:So now how do we get more visibility over to this
Speaker:site? And the things that I'm gonna suggest to you are
Speaker:good things to include whether you stay with GoDaddy or sometime
Speaker:down the road you make a switch.
Speaker:Cause like I said,
Speaker:you're gonna have the same situation on different platforms,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in terms of drawing people into your website and getting visibility.
Speaker:So the blog,
Speaker:the reason you would have a blog is for search engine
Speaker:optimization. Okay?
Speaker:And what that means is when you have good keywords,
Speaker:and we're not gonna go into all of this now,
Speaker:I can give you a couple of the podcast episodes to
Speaker:listen to and you might listen to them with a different
Speaker:frame of mind.
Speaker:Cuz I know you're a listener,
Speaker:but you weren't really thinking of a blog before.
Speaker:When you have good keywords and people search,
Speaker:they end up finding you and your website.
Speaker:So that's where it helps increase visibility.
Speaker:So there is a little bit to learning what keywords to
Speaker:use, what should be topics that I should use.
Speaker:And I've got you covered there.
Speaker:But adding a blog,
Speaker:and I'm not talking about like a whole book of an
Speaker:article, it can be 500 2500 words,
Speaker:which when you get going isn't so hard to do.
Speaker:And the topics that would come up that I think you
Speaker:should write about are more evergreen topics that people would be
Speaker:Searchie about,
Speaker:right? That then would bring them back to you.
Speaker:Okay. And we could talk about that more later cuz I
Speaker:wanna stay on what we're talking about.
Speaker:But for example,
Speaker:I'm thinking of just a couple to get your mind spinning
Speaker:here, how to make the most out of your soap so
Speaker:it lasts longer healing benefits with soaps that contain X.
Speaker:And obviously you have products that contain X,
Speaker:just things like that that then are evergreen type content,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Okay. And I guess I'll leave it at that for now,
Speaker:just so that we can continue the conversation.
Speaker:But let's say you did a short article,
Speaker:I don't know if you'd even wanna say every month,
Speaker:every other month,
Speaker:something so that you continue to get some information up there
Speaker:will help attract attention over time.
Speaker:And the nice thing is the more content you get up
Speaker:there, the more likely because you have different topics,
Speaker:the more likely people who you would've never met before will
Speaker:see you.
Speaker:The other thing that's nice about that is you can use
Speaker:those in social media posts,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:Five ways to make your soaps last longer click here and
Speaker:then they get over to your website and then they see
Speaker:all the goodness that's presented over on your website.
Speaker:Yep. Love that.
Speaker:So that's something,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:maybe you could even get an article or two even put
Speaker:up this year,
Speaker:right? And then next year have it in your plan.
Speaker:It all depends.
Speaker:Okay. So after this I will give you links or direct
Speaker:you to the right podcasts to listen to about that.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:So that's one thing is adding the blog.
Speaker:The thing I think that could really help you here is
Speaker:giving an extra prompt for someone to actually purchase now.
Speaker:So I'm thinking of a couple of different opportunities.
Speaker:One, having a monthly sweepstakes that people would enter to win.
Speaker:And then you would put either header,
Speaker:banner, or we're gonna talk about a popup in a minute,
Speaker:but maybe even a popup,
Speaker:something where in exchange for their email address,
Speaker:they get entered into win.
Speaker:The thing that's nice about something like a sweepstakes.
Speaker:Now yes,
Speaker:it's cost for you,
Speaker:right? Because you would have to donate the product and then
Speaker:you're gonna have to send it or somehow get it to
Speaker:a whoever wins.
Speaker:But that's something immediate where I could say,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I didn't enter my email.
Speaker:That's easy.
Speaker:And then you start capturing emails from people.
Speaker:So something like that where when people land,
Speaker:even if they're not in the buying mode right now,
Speaker:right? Who's not up first sweepstakes and the sweepstakes should always
Speaker:be your product,
Speaker:right? Not something that doesn't associate with your product because you
Speaker:want, who could be potential customers in the future.
Speaker:I do do something like that in my live markets.
Speaker:Like during the holiday time,
Speaker:I have a sample of the gift basket that's going to
Speaker:be won.
Speaker:And that's how I collect the emails at my markets.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:oh, if you gimme your email address,
Speaker:then I'm gonna do a drawing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:after my last show,
Speaker:blah, blah,
Speaker:blah. So it's a kind of the same thing in place,
Speaker:but I didn't transfer that to the online thing,
Speaker:so love that.
Speaker:Yeah. So there you go.
Speaker:So do that.
Speaker:And then what do you do with the emails at your
Speaker:live shows?
Speaker:I have to be honest,
Speaker:and I'm not doing anything right now.
Speaker:Okay. So when you did those live shows in the past,
Speaker:did you say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:give me your email and you're going to be included on
Speaker:my list or in any way,
Speaker:did they buy into getting more emails From you under underlying
Speaker:field that that's going to happen?
Speaker:I just really haven't done the work to make that happen.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So here's what you do with this.
Speaker:Do you have an email platform already?
Speaker:Okay, so load in all those addresses,
Speaker:okay? This is your very first job load in all those
Speaker:addresses. Send out an email that says over the last couple
Speaker:of years,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we've met face to face at a craft show and I
Speaker:was honored to have you come to my table,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever you'd wanna say.
Speaker:Wanted to let you know that I'm instituting something new.
Speaker:Okay? And this is gonna be the first time they've ever
Speaker:gotten an email from you probably,
Speaker:Right? Right.
Speaker:And then tell them about the sweepstakes.
Speaker:Okay. Or something like that.
Speaker:And maybe you even say,
Speaker:click here to enter into this month's drawing.
Speaker:And then the thing that's nice about the email platforms,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:established platform like MailChimp is there's always an automatic unsubscribe at
Speaker:the bottom.
Speaker:And then somehow,
Speaker:like at the very end,
Speaker:say PS always know that if you don't want any further
Speaker:communication from me,
Speaker:you can unsubscribe at the bottom.
Speaker:And I would only say it in this first one because
Speaker:you have email addresses,
Speaker:right? Someone might have given you an email address last year.
Speaker:Sure. So I think that's just being respectful and responsible,
Speaker:but a lot of those people I think will stay.
Speaker:And you never know,
Speaker:you could even get some business right off of that first
Speaker:email because what if they bought it a show and didn't
Speaker:remember how to get in touch with you again?
Speaker:Yeah. And here it's holiday time.
Speaker:Hello. Yeah.
Speaker:And so then if you have a sweepstakes on your website,
Speaker:that will start to fuel additional people into your email list
Speaker:and then also for the shows that you have coming up.
Speaker:Yeah. Make it a habit that when you come back,
Speaker:you load those emails in,
Speaker:okay. And your email list will start to grow,
Speaker:which will also,
Speaker:as you start emailing them,
Speaker:I have a tips and talk episode coming up talking about
Speaker:blog article topics and email topics.
Speaker:Perfect. It's the episode that's coming up this Wednesday.
Speaker:Great, Tommy.
Speaker:So two tips and talk episodes that feed right into what
Speaker:we're talking about right here.
Speaker:And I did not do that on purpose just Happened.
Speaker:So this starts to build a process where automatically in what
Speaker:you are doing day to day,
Speaker:you are increasing your emails,
Speaker:you are getting people who come onto your website to offer
Speaker:up their email and you start building momentum.
Speaker:And then if you do send emails,
Speaker:you're gonna start getting business.
Speaker:People are attracted,
Speaker:they're coming to your website for a purpose.
Speaker:They're either coming to enter the sweepstakes or they're coming to
Speaker:buy from that email.
Speaker:So what we're actually doing here is using multiple ways to
Speaker:bring people in to your website because some of them you've
Speaker:met face to face,
Speaker:some of them have landed on your website and signed up.
Speaker:If you go to any networking groups or even in person,
Speaker:like you're at a party or something and you meet some
Speaker:new people and you get into talking about your business and
Speaker:then say,
Speaker:Hey, I do sweepstakes every month,
Speaker:go over to my website,
Speaker:sign up.
Speaker:Maybe you'll win.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:just super casual like that,
Speaker:you're gonna start to build,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we all know that we get more business from people that
Speaker:we've either touched multiple times,
Speaker:seen in person,
Speaker:or have already been customers of ours.
Speaker:So this is a way you can work that in your
Speaker:favor. Make sense?
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:The other option that I'm just going to give you,
Speaker:I actually prefer what we've just talked about.
Speaker:The other option is a popup that will give you like
Speaker:a first time buyer discount.
Speaker:And you've seen those before.
Speaker:And yes,
Speaker:this comes directly from your margins.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:when you offer a discount,
Speaker:but you consider it a promotional cost,
Speaker:right? And so that's another option.
Speaker:And maybe try the sweepstake,
Speaker:see if you like it,
Speaker:if it's working,
Speaker:stick with it.
Speaker:Or maybe at some point you wanna roll over.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:the nice thing about a first time purchaser discount is it
Speaker:prompts someone to go and buy right away.
Speaker:And usually the way these work is you ask them for
Speaker:their email and then the code comes in their email.
Speaker:Cause you want that email.
Speaker:Just wanna give someone a discount and not have their information.
Speaker:That's not good.
Speaker:And I did look on Go Daddy,
Speaker:they have instructions right?
Speaker:Built in there of how to either do popups or if
Speaker:you'd prefer to do a banner.
Speaker:Okay. But I'd like the sweepstakes way better,
Speaker:especially over the holidays.
Speaker:But I think without making things too cumbersome,
Speaker:I think that's the action plan,
Speaker:what we just talked about.
Speaker:So doing a little tweaking to the site,
Speaker:but then most importantly,
Speaker:putting up a sweepstakes or something where you're gonna be able
Speaker:to attract email addresses and then be able to communicate with
Speaker:them later and continually.
Speaker:And by way of making your in-person events work better for
Speaker:you because there's lay after someone leaves your table or someone
Speaker:purchases, and then also people who just happen to land on
Speaker:your site because of your blog articles.
Speaker:This starts to build momentum.
Speaker:The other thing to remember is when you do social,
Speaker:so if you're posting the new right Christmas soap,
Speaker:something like that,
Speaker:make sure then to link back to your website and not
Speaker:necessarily just to the homepage,
Speaker:but to the actual product page where you're selling that soap.
Speaker:Okay. And I was gonna say one other thing about that.
Speaker:Oh, you could even promote the sweepstakes on social if you
Speaker:wanted to.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Right? Yeah,
Speaker:Yeah. You promote the sweeps could promote the blog articles,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:So Loop cuz people enter in at different places with you,
Speaker:but they always land on your website then.
Speaker:And then you get their email and then it's like clean
Speaker:communication moving forward.
Speaker:Okay. How does that sound?
Speaker:No, I mean they're all things that I've heard and just
Speaker:like, it just,
Speaker:it makes sense.
Speaker:Kind of link them all together.
Speaker:Like you said,
Speaker:that whole big loop around you're grabbing from here and from
Speaker:here and from here,
Speaker:and they're all funneling In.
Speaker:Yeah. And then you communicate with them all together from there.
Speaker:Unless you start dividing your list.
Speaker:But let's not even talk about that,
Speaker:Wendy. I mean,
Speaker:I can't restate this enough.
Speaker:You are so much further along with your website than so
Speaker:many other people because it looks great.
Speaker:Like the point is to get people over there because when
Speaker:they get there,
Speaker:they're gonna have a marvelous experience already.
Speaker:So many people are still working on their experience and making
Speaker:it function and what platform and all of that.
Speaker:You've got all that down.
Speaker:I do have one question about that for you.
Speaker:Okay. My photos.
Speaker:Sure. So I don't have a,
Speaker:I'm very consistent.
Speaker:I use the same backgrounds for all of the pictures.
Speaker:I tend to use the same layouts of the soaps,
Speaker:whatever. So when you see them,
Speaker:there's that consistency.
Speaker:What's not consist is the size of them.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:is that detracting in the presence?
Speaker:Like some of them might have a marginal,
Speaker:I'm struggling with taking this sizing consistently.
Speaker:It looks like some of your pictures were shot of vertical
Speaker:and some of your pictures were photographed horizontal.
Speaker:It looks to me like that's why that's happening,
Speaker:but honestly it's not a deterrent for me.
Speaker:Okay. I wouldn't even worry about it right now at all.
Speaker:I didn't even notice it until you brought it up and
Speaker:I was right.
Speaker:Yes. You know,
Speaker:I just purchased some of your products,
Speaker:so I was looking at all your products,
Speaker:but I love that it's a consistent background and the lighting
Speaker:is all very similar.
Speaker:You know how you'll see some sites where there'll be a
Speaker:dark picture and then a bright picture,
Speaker:and then one is outside and one is inside.
Speaker:To me,
Speaker:it's all just kind of thrown together.
Speaker:Yours looks like it was a plan.
Speaker:I think it looks beautiful.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Okay. So I wouldn't even worry about that at all.
Speaker:One Less thing to worry about.
Speaker:Yeah. And then the only other thing I think let's address
Speaker:here is you were talking about there seems to be an
Speaker:inventory updating issue when people make online purchases.
Speaker:Well, you tell me what you're experiencing and then I'll just
Speaker:tell you my initial thoughts.
Speaker:There's an inventory tracker on there where I'll put a minimum
Speaker:quantity. So if I hit,
Speaker:we'll say three,
Speaker:I'm supposed to be notified that I'm low so that I
Speaker:can make concessions.
Speaker:And if it hits zero,
Speaker:it's not supposed to be able to sell.
Speaker:And what's happening is it's selling more product than I have
Speaker:because that piece of it isn't working.
Speaker:So I have to figure out why can somebody buy something
Speaker:that's not available?
Speaker:Yeah. So I'm thinking that that has to be something in
Speaker:the setup because that has gotta all be automated.
Speaker:So either you're clicking the button that is allowing for back
Speaker:orders potentially,
Speaker:or you either have that checked or have that not checked
Speaker:or something is funky there.
Speaker:But it should be all just very mechanical.
Speaker:It's kind of like a computer you put in this and
Speaker:comes out this something must not be linked.
Speaker:Right. Or who knows what.
Speaker:But goad should definitely be able to help you get that
Speaker:fixed. If you just put a little attention to it and
Speaker:look through it shouldn't be an issue at all.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:I'll definitely,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:look, that that's a huge,
Speaker:huge piece of things.
Speaker:Some things I right.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:so if that happens and last it happened,
Speaker:it was things I could just whip up real quick and
Speaker:get out the door.
Speaker:But soaps need four weeks to cure,
Speaker:so I can't just whip up a so out.
Speaker:So it's important,
Speaker:I need to look into that.
Speaker:Right? And you need it to be working.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:Like this is probably something where you say,
Speaker:This is so irritating,
Speaker:I gotta figure it out.
Speaker:But not now.
Speaker:And then it happens again and you're like,
Speaker:it's still happening.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I mean I've done things like that too where it's like,
Speaker:I know I've gotta look at this someday and I just
Speaker:don't. And then finally I sit down and I focus on
Speaker:it and I figure it out and it's like,
Speaker:why didn't I do this a year ago?
Speaker:So hopefully it can be as easy as that.
Speaker:I can't imagine with a company as well known and established
Speaker:as GoDaddy is that you can't get it to function properly.
Speaker:That's my thing That I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's those cuz you're doing it yourself.
Speaker:I know what I know.
Speaker:So it's Right.
Speaker:And if there's something that you're questioning,
Speaker:honestly, go to Google,
Speaker:type in the question and specifically say goad and that'll bring
Speaker:you to the help articles of GoDaddy and you're like,
Speaker:all of that stuff.
Speaker:I was actually doing a little bit of that because since
Speaker:I don't use GoDaddy as a platform,
Speaker:before we started talking,
Speaker:I wanted to make sure there was something integrated for popups
Speaker:and make sure there was something integrated for banners before I
Speaker:started talking to you about it.
Speaker:Yeah. As I'm telling you to stay on that platform,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:Okay, great.
Speaker:And all of that stuff was coming up for me,
Speaker:so I don't think that you'll have too hard a time
Speaker:to figure that out.
Speaker:So that'll be important.
Speaker:Okay. Tell me,
Speaker:1, 2,
Speaker:3, when we're all done talking,
Speaker:when you've had time to digest this and you start taking
Speaker:action, what are your steps?
Speaker:1, 2,
Speaker:3. First step is gonna be emails.
Speaker:And second step is going to be getting that sweepstakes organized
Speaker:so that when people come onto my site,
Speaker:they have a great experience and they're giving me those emails
Speaker:so that I can then add them into my email campaign.
Speaker:And three would be Well,
Speaker:and with that email campaign,
Speaker:you have to actually start sending those emails.
Speaker:Oh yes,
Speaker:absolutely. Yes.
Speaker:And into a blog.
Speaker:I love that idea and I love that I don't have
Speaker:to be hitting them every single week.
Speaker:I know the email campaigns,
Speaker:I can load those things automatically.
Speaker:I take a block time,
Speaker:set them all up and let that run auto Well,
Speaker:and the blog could be a topic of one of your
Speaker:emails. Hello.
Speaker:Right? Like you can just have a teaser that talks about
Speaker:something that's in the blog,
Speaker:read more here.
Speaker:So they kind of,
Speaker:each of them kind of support each other at the same
Speaker:time. So,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:Wendy, I'm excited for you for these next steps.
Speaker:I think you've got it,
Speaker:and I think what we're talking about should lead you to
Speaker:increased sales way faster than switching over a site.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:You'll have to circle back with us and let us know
Speaker:how it's going.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:I know you're in gift bis,
Speaker:brie, so you can talk about it there too if you
Speaker:have further questions.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:And I'll update because you're always asking us,
Speaker:what are you gonna do this week?
Speaker:So you'll see what I'm doing.
Speaker:Okay. I'm gonna be watching for it.
Speaker:Thank you so much for doing the Boost with me today,
Speaker:and I am so,
Speaker:so excited to see what you do with this.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me to bring so much
Speaker:clarity to this area that I know I've had things I
Speaker:needed to work on,
Speaker:and it just lays out a pathway so I can click,
Speaker:click, click,
Speaker:just work on those steps and get where I need to
Speaker:go. Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks, Wendy.
Speaker:There is not a doubt in my mind that Wendy is
Speaker:going to put in play all the things we talked about
Speaker:here today.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:when this actually airs,
Speaker:I bet she'll already be well on her way.
Speaker:Action takers always make my day and that,
Speaker:that is definitely Wendy do jump over and take a look
Speaker:at her site,
Speaker:Mystic moon soap works.com.
Speaker:You'll see what I mean about its vibe and flow.
Speaker:She's primed and ready for those sales that I know are
Speaker:coming her way.
Speaker:All she needed to do was pull out a megaphone and
Speaker:announced to people that she's there.
Speaker:Do you have questions about getting your business started?
Speaker:Do you need ideas on how to increase sales?
Speaker:What about eCommerce or online marketing?
Speaker:These are all topics we can chat about.
Speaker:If you'd like to sign up for your own gift biz
Speaker:boost, head over to gift biz unwrapped.com/boost.
Speaker:This is a chance to get coaching at no cost to
Speaker:you except for some of your time.
Speaker:As you've just seen,
Speaker:you'll walk away with actionable steps to move you forward in
Speaker:a single area of your business.
Speaker:That link again is gift biz unwrapped.com/boost.
Speaker:I wanna make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook group
Speaker:called Gift Ms.
Speaker:Breeze. It's a place where we all gather and are a
Speaker:community to support each other.
Speaker:I got a really fun post in there that's my favorite
Speaker:of the week,
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:where I invite all of you to share what you're doing
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people.
Speaker:And just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post F every single week.
Speaker:Without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what?
Speaker:Aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group Gift Biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.
