Transforming Your Website Into a Client Magnet: A Web Design Masterclass with Melanie Fountain

Unlock the secrets to a captivating online presence with my latest chat featuring Melanie Fountain, a wizard of Showit web design.

 As a creative entrepreneur, you know your website is your digital storefront, but are you making the most of it? Melanie and I dissect the anatomy of a website that not only mirrors your brand's essence but also guides visitors to confidently take action. We'll have you rethinking your digital strategy, ensuring your website is more than just a pretty face in the crowded online world.

Connect with Melanie:
https://melaniefountain.com/
https://www.instagram.com/themelaniefountain/

And make sure you check out the newly revamped Girl Means Business website, designed by Melanie herself: www.girlmeansbusiness.com

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Ask Me Anything: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1R0DmOLEQ8xjWf98Xcf7K9YBhhaXRiIkuoOTqirVHlRk/prefill

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Let's Work Together:

The Focused Photographer Lab (marketing membership): www.girlmeansbusiness.com/lab

1:1 Coaching Sessions: www.girlmeansbusiness.com/contact


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Free Resources:

Email Marketing Starter Kit - www.girlmeansbusiness.com/emailkit

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Instagram: www.instagram.com/girlmeansbusiness

Facebook: www.facebook.com/girlmeansbusiness

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hey there and welcome to the Girl Means Business podcast, the show where we're all about helping you feel confident both as a mom and a business owner. I'm your host, kendra Swalls, mom of two, former teacher and full-time photographer and business coach. Each week we'll discuss the challenges, success and secrets that make you say I can do this, because you absolutely can. So pop in those earbuds, grab your favorite snack and let's get ready, because this girl means business. Hey there and welcome to the Girl Means Business podcast. We are doing our first interview episode of the new year Now.

Speaker 1: 0:45

If you remember, when I came back last fall and brought the podcast back from a little hiatus, a little break, I did say that one of the things that was going to be changing up was how often we do interview episodes, and the reason why is because, as much as I love doing interviews, they tend to be a little bit longer, a little more time intensive, both on the interview part and then you listening. And I know that as busy moms, business owners, all the things, we don't have a ton of time to listen to. An hour long podcast each week, much less multiple hour long podcasts in our lives. So I wanna keep most episodes pretty short and sweet, but every once in a while I will find somebody that I just absolutely love and know that you will enjoy and get value from as well, and that is exactly who our guest is today. So Melanie Fountain. She is a show it web designer specifically for creatives and anyone who's kind of been in a creative, artistic industry. I found Melanie because I was looking for somebody to help revamp my website. I designed my website on show it a couple of years ago just on my own, and, while I like my website, it wasn't fully feeling like it was embracing my personality, my style, my brand, and so I searched for a long time, looking for some web designers to help kind of rebrand my website, and I came across Melanie and I just fell in love with her and her style and we just really clicked. So we hopped on a call. We were talking about web design. I was like you know what I would love for you to come onto the podcast and share all of your knowledge with my audience, because I know that the things that you and I are discussing in this call could really benefit other people as well, and so that's exactly what she did.

Speaker 1: 2:32

We hopped on a call to record this episode. She is going to break down some of the key elements that you need to have on your website, as well as some things you can do away with or not focus all your energy and time on, so it'll help you sort of streamline the things you need to be focusing on when it comes to building a website for your business. We are also going to answer the important question of our website still relevant. With social media being such a big aspect of marketing and branding these days, do we still need to have a website and, if we do, how much of that plays a role in our marketing? We dive into all of that. I think you are absolutely gonna love it. I cannot wait for you to listen.

Speaker 1: 3:12

So let's get to my conversation with Melanie. Hey, melanie, welcome to the Girl Means Business Podcast. I'm so excited to get you here, so excited to talk to you today a little bit about website, website design, copy, all the things. So introduce yourself to my audience. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do. Hey, kendra, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2: 3:33

I'm excited to be here. My name is Melanie and I am a show at Website Designer. I also do business coaching for single moms and so I've been in business since 2018. I am a single mom. I actually just recently moved from California to Texas, so I've had that life change and I've been.

Speaker 2: 3:56

I've been in business, like I said, for about five years or so and what I really like to work a lot with service providers, creatives and big thinkers that want to grow and scale their service-based businesses. So I'm happy to be here. Like I said, I work a lot with show-it designers and then, with my background being in virtual assistance, when I actually started my business, I was a general virtual assistant, kind of doing a little bit of all the things, and then for a long time, I did Pinterest management and in doing that, I realized that so many people were investing in social media managers and Pinterest managers when they didn't even have websites to drive people to. So that's when I started dabbling in show-it and I fell in love with the design ability and how easy it is to use, and the rest is history.

Speaker 1: 4:53

I love it. So I didn't know about the Pinterest part, but that's really cool because that's a whole other conversation we could have, because Pinterest fascinates me and I have yet to dive into that area yet. I am curious why you were specifically leaning towards show-it, because I've used several different platforms. I'm currently on show-it and I love it, but I was wondering if there was a particular reason or if there's a reason, maybe you recommend a certain platform to people Like does it matter what platform they're on?

Speaker 2: 5:22

So it really does matter because when you're thinking about which platform to choose, it depends on which services you offer. Are you strictly informative? Are you a blogger? Do you have e-commerce?

Speaker 2: 5:36

And what I love about show-it is it serves the purpose for all of those.

Speaker 2: 5:40

But what I really love about show-it in particular, is that it's easy for anybody to use and, ironically enough, when I first started my business, I said I'm never going to be a web designer.

Speaker 2: 5:55

That's not something I enjoy doing and that's because I've worked with things like WordPress or Wix, where WordPress in particular, while it has a lot of functionality, is kind of clunky Sometimes. There's a huge learning curve and it's not for the not tech savvy and if you want to get it to look the way you want it to, especially if you have a creative mind, if you're a creative business or you just want to add your own personal flair to it, you have to do a lot of work to get it to look the way you want it to on WordPress. So when I found show-it, I realized how much functionality it has. It has all the functionality WordPress has in terms of SEO, in terms of optimization, in terms of customization, but then I found that it's even easier to customize without all the coding, and even my not so tech savvy clients can navigate it and are able to use it.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Yeah, that's it, and that was kind of what drove me to it. I had been on I don't even remember I think I was just on a WordPress site prior, and it was kind of the same thing. I was like it was so Either I had to hire somebody to do it for me or I had to spend hours trying to figure out how to make it work the way I wanted it to. And show-it was one that I think a lot of photographers have used and still use, and so that was one that someone steered me towards and I absolutely love it. So, yeah, I just was curious that was kind of a little extra question I threw in there just for my own sake of why you lean towards show-it.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Okay, so the big question I have for you is are websites kind of still relevant today? Because, with so much focus and emphasis on social media and you see these kind of one-off platforms come out that are like Like Canva, for example? Canva has a website place built into it where you can design a landing page or kind of this sort of really basic website and you can drive people to that to get the contact info and kind of all the basic info of your business and it brought me to this idea of like are websites still relevant? Do we still need to be focusing a lot of our time and energy on that with the direction that everything is going? I know I have my thoughts and opinions, but I wanted to kind of hear what your thoughts and opinions were and where you see websites kind of falling into the whole realm of marketing your business.

Speaker 2: 8:21

Really, that's such a good question and it's something I've gotten asked a lot surprisingly and it's more important now than ever to have your own website, especially when you're looking to scale your business and really take it to the next level. Thank you, platforms like social media. They're borrowed land and you're fighting to get your voice heard. It's all based on algorithm and the algorithm of the day, really, because while social media serves its purpose, it's really the discovery point in the funnel process. That's where people can learn about you. That's where you can nurture your audience. But when people get to your website, they're focused solely on your business. It's your opportunity to show off what you have to do and take them from somebody that's just discovered who you are to somebody that could potentially be a client.

Speaker 2: 9:15

That's really the turning point in that funnel, because on social media, you're on borrowed land and your website you own that domain. You're self-hosted. I hope that's a whole other conversation, but that's where you can get people to join your email list. That's your small space in the internet. That's your corner of the internet where you can call home and that people can come and learn about you. They can take their shoes off, they can learn about you and you can really show them who you are.

Speaker 1: 9:44

And what you have to offer. I love what you said too, about they're focused. I think we forget that part that when you go on social media, they're this ADD brain of they're just scrolling to get as much information as they can from as many different places. When they go to your actual website, their sole focus is on you and your content and your business, and that is huge. If you can get someone to spend even two to five minutes of focused energy on your business, like you've already kind of won and if you don't have a place for them to focus on just you, which is your website, then you're just going to be more noise in all the chaos.

Speaker 1: 10:27

So I hadn't really thought of it in that way before, but that makes a ton of sense. Like I love that kind of way you've framed it for us there that that is your place for people to come and just focus on you. One thing I've always said about social media is it's like a cocktail party. You come dressed in your best attire your full face, hair and makeup, and you're just there to kind of make small talk with a bunch of people, but you want to get them out of that cocktail party and over to like a quiet little coffee shop where it's one on one, just you and them, and that's what your website can be for that, so I love that idea.

Speaker 2: 11:03

That's so good. I've never thought of it like a cocktail party, but you described that perfectly.

Speaker 1: 11:07

Yeah, I mean, everybody's coming to impress, you know, but not to actually have anything of like substance necessarily. So that's how my brain likes to think of it.

Speaker 2: 11:17

Well, because the goal of social media really is to get people to sign up for the email list, to get them on your website, to take them, to nurture them and to take them to that next step, and your website very likely is that next step. So if you're on social media and you're spending all of your time just posting, there needs to be a purpose behind the posting, and so a purpose to going to the cocktail party is to, like you said, get them into your corner and to have a deeper conversation.

Speaker 1: 11:45

Yeah, I love that. Ok, so let's dive into the we talked about a little bit. Like you know, yes, we need websites. Those are still very relevant. We need to have that little corner of the Internet that's for us and for our business, that focus space. So now let's talk about what we need to have on that website in order for it to be really effective, because I've looked at a lot of websites when it comes to doing audits and working with one-on-one clients and things like that, and I've seen like the good, the bad, the ugly, and I've also worked with people who've helped me, like with creating my websites, and so I kind of have an idea of like what doesn't necessarily work and some things that do you know?

Speaker 1: 12:24

I mean, I think it's it kind of ebbs and flows a little bit too. But let's just say creatives. Ok, we're going to kind of just focus on like creative business owners. What are some of the like key things that they should have on their website? So, when someone does leave, that cocktail party of social media comes to their little corner of the Internet and now they're here, what is it that we should have them do once they're in our space?

Speaker 2: 12:52

Sure. Well, I'd say that the number one thing that you should focus on off the bat is to make sure that you're making it super duper clear why they're there and what you can do for them. Because when you go to a website, somebody has maybe three to five seconds before they decide if they want to keep scrolling on your website. Because of social media, because of TikTok and video, our attention spans have gotten a lot shorter. So when they get to your website, you have just a couple seconds to make enough of an impression to get them to keep scrolling on your website, to keep clicking through and to keep wanting to learn more about how you can help them. So you really want to make it off the bat really clear who you are, what you do and how you can help them, and you can do that in just a couple lines in your header and one scroll in, and you can have a really strong call to action. So that brings me to the second thing a really clear and strong call to actions. Once they know who you are and how they can help, or how you can help them, the next step is now how can they work with you? And so making that really clear on your website. And one thing that I see often in websites are having too many call to action. So you want to make those call to action. You want to have one, two maybe tops, and that could be the next step and how to work with you, whether that's to book a call, fill out a contact form, whatever that looks like in your business. But also you want to make it really clear or in that second thing would be maybe your email list or something like that. But those are, I would say, happen it to call to actions, unless you're trying to get them to a specific page, but really the funnel throughout your website is just to get them to those one or two places. You want to make that clear, you want to make that concise and you also want to repeat that often through your website.

Speaker 1: 14:44

Well, that's one of the things I think I've noticed the most when I'm looking at websites is, you know, and so I come from a teaching background. I taught elementary school and I kind of always compare it to like. When I was working with like my second graders is I had one of two problems Either you don't give them enough information or enough direction. You don't give them enough direction and they end up kind of like wandering around the classroom just doing their own thing, or you give them too much information at one time and they're like whoa, I can't handle all of this, like my brain's going to shut down. And I think the same thing happens with our content, with our websites is I've seen some, and I'll just use photography For example.

Speaker 1: 15:24

I've seen some photography websites where I log in and the whole first, like half, of the homepage is this beautiful photo and that's it. And I'm like OK, now what? Like I don't know what to do with this. Like I don't know where you are, I don't know what you offer, I know there's nothing to click on. I have to like scroll three times to get to where I need to be and I'm like, ok, that's not enough, and so I just click away.

Speaker 1: 15:48

Or I've seen ones where I come to them and it's like they throw an entire essay at me of like their entire history, of why they do what they do and their equipment that they have, and all this stuff. I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's too much. So it's like this Goldilocks thing. If we got to find that middle ground, like you were saying, keep it simple, like tell them what you offer and how you can help them, but then also give them an action to take, and then that's really all I mean. Obviously there's more to it than that, but, like those are the key things that you need to have in place.

Speaker 2: 17:33

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 17:34

And you stole the word right out of my mouth when you say Goldilocks, because it's really finding that Perfectly warm middle space where you have, where you don't have too much going on, too much text, too much design, too many pictures.

Speaker 2: 17:49

But then you also don't want to leave a lot of open space.

Speaker 2: 17:54

You don't want to leave any to the imagination.

Speaker 2: 17:57

When people, by the time somebody gets to your website, generally they already know that they want either want to work with you or have an idea that they want to work with you or somebody like you. So you want to give them just enough information to get them to the point that they want to book that call with you. And so, kind of talking about the context that you have on your website is having enough information on there where they can make an informed decision that by the time they book a call, fill out a form, they already know generally what services you have to offer, what comes in those services, how you work. And also, generally speaking, I'm an advocate for having some sort of pricing on your website so that people aren't blindsided by the time they talk to you, because you want them just warm enough that Goldilocks porridge amount by the time they get on the call with you to to say Okay, well, I'm on the call with you now, let's just see if we hit. Let's just see if we hit it off.

Speaker 1: 18:51

Yeah, I'm with you on that. Like I'm all for putting pricing on there, like whether it is a like starting at or like here's my full pricing, like that's a personal call. But I always try to put myself into the shoes of my audience, like, okay, like when I'm looking at someone's website, you know what am I looking for. And honestly, like, for example, I know, like I've hired you to help me revamp my girl means business website going into 2024. And I'm super excited about that.

Speaker 1: 19:20

But, like, when I was looking at designers, there were several that I looked at that were great, but I had no clue if they were anywhere near my budget. I had no clue. Like you know, I really wasn't clear on some of them, even, like if they were familiar with show it or working with photographers or coaches. And you know, and your, your, stood out to me as, like, you gave me, just like you said, all the information I needed, not too much, not too little. And you were like, okay, here's kind of my pricing, so that I knew, yeah, she's in my budget, I can work with this. Like, let's move forward.

Speaker 1: 19:57

I wasn't going to reach out. Honestly, like I'm the type of person that If I don't have enough information, I'm not going to reach out to you because I'm afraid that then, if you're out of my price range, I'm going to feel guilty if I tell you, no, I can't afford you. I'm going to be a little bit embarrassed when I tell you that I can't afford you because you're out of my price range, or I'm going to feel like you're about to try to trap me into paying more than I really can because I feel guilty. Stuck in this kind of conversation with you, you're going to sales pitch me and you don't want your audience to feel that way. So give them just enough information that they feel confident coming into that call or email or whatever is. However they contact you.

Speaker 2: 20:37

Yeah, I love that and thank you, by the way. But you really want to empower people to feel like you're the right person because really your like like we said earlier, your website is your corner of the internet. You're like your virtual home, almost, and to trust somebody to see your vision and take that to the next level by outsourcing, that's a that's a big step. That's a big, that's a lot of trust you're, you're putting in somebody and so speaking about or even before you're a creative business to, if you're, you know, if you're a photographer, you're capturing somebody, probably one of the best days of somebody's life. So you want to give just enough information on your website where you're making them feel comfortable and you're empowering them to reach out to, to find out just that last little bit of information you to make that next decision. So it's important just to give enough and you don't want people to feel like they're going in dark.

Speaker 1: 21:37

Yeah, Okay. So if someone is sitting here listening to this and thinking like, Okay, I'm at a point in my business now we're like I created my website when I started my business. It's kind of just been sitting there doing its thing. I'm listening to this, I'm thinking like I kind of need to revamp and make some changes to my website. Where should they begin? Because it can feel, especially if they're not super tech savvy or if they're like I don't even really know like what I need to do here, like where are some starting points as far as like what are some places they can go and make like little changes to make things kind of have more of a better impact?

Speaker 2: 22:16

Absolutely so when, if you're looking at just a small tweaks that you're looking at making on your website, looking at the overall flow. I love what you said in your most recent episode about look kind of revamping your website during or not website your business during the holidays, kind of what to do during this time, maybe having like a friend or family member or Biz Bestie, kind of look through your website and see where you can improve. I think that that was a fantastic tip and I think that having somebody go through and kind of give you your own audit even web designers they offer if you don't have a friend or family, they offer, you know, audits whether you sometimes free, sometimes very small investment to go through and see what you can do to optimize. So but if you're looking at maybe add, updating some testimonials, updating your, your services, your packages, looking at your branding, does that reflect with? Does it reflect who you are as a business owner now, have you updated your photos, it recently? If you're a photographer, or as a creative business, those are some like really good things to start with. But if you're looking to make big changes and I think that's the point you've had the same website since you started your business and now you're wanting to really take it to the next level. Or you've raised your prices and you want the look to reflect that.

Speaker 2: 23:34

And then it's kind of just asking yourself some questions. Things like am I on the right platform? Am I, you know, are, say, you're on wix and it's not really getting you anywhere with SEO. Maybe think about something like show it. I'm not going to be impressed. Or, you know, whichever one works for you, but you know, show it fans over here. Shameless plug Then you.

Speaker 2: 23:55

Then you ask yourself okay, am I going to DIY? If that's the case, let's look at some templates. That's one of the things I love about show it is. There's so many like dozens and hundreds of beautiful templates you can customize yourself. Or do you want something more custom? Are you going to work with the designer? Then it's figuring out who's the right person for you. That can, somebody that has social proof, somebody that has examples of websites, somebody that's within your budget and has the similar kind of thing that you're looking for. Just kind of looking at those sort of things. But really I would say when you're looking at your website doesn't reflect where you are now in your business. Are you on the right platform? And if not, what are the what? What do you see with your vision? What do you want on your website? That would really take it to where.

Speaker 1: 24:39

Yeah, and that's one of the things that, like I've been, I kind of did a self audit which led me to working with you was that I was like okay, I've had this website up for a while, it is again. It served its purpose as far as like being a home base. It had, like the podcast info, even though I found out some of my links weren't working. But you know, fix those. But it, you know, it kind of just was again sort of this holding spot of like okay, if you want to go find out all of my information, here's where you go. And I was looking at when I sat down and really went through kind of the self process of like what do I want this to actually be? For me, it was the decision of I want this to be a resource hub. I don't just want it to be a place people go to find out like who I am and listen to the. I wanted to be a place where they come for tips and resources and information and guidance and in order to do that, I needed to kind of step it up, like you said, like take it up to this next level and then that's with the. You know this coaching with my photography website, like I don't feel like I need that as much because it's not necessarily a resource hub for clients. It is a little bit. I have resources on there, but it's more of a here, come, get the information you need and then reach out to me and let's chat.

Speaker 1: 25:53

So I love what you said about kind of knowing what is the purpose of what you want your website to do, because that can help determine what are the things I need to make changes on. And I also, like, was it about reaching out to someone and doing an audit? Because we and that's why I mentioned what I called the mom test that you were referring to like having someone else look at it with fresh eyes. We get so in the weeds with it. You can't see the forest for the trees, because you probably designed it yourself. For the most part, it's your content, it's your photos, it's your stuff and you're looking at it going. Yeah, it makes sense to me that when they come to this page, they click over to this thing, but we don't always see it through like objective eyes. So I think having that either an audit or a friend is such a key thing to have done to your site because it can really tell you where people are dropping off and what's not working for them.

Speaker 2: 26:45

Yeah, and even like you, when you reached out to me, a lot of it was like I know I could do this myself, but I'm so busy with my own client work. I really want to take it to the next level. So I want somebody with fresh eyes that can redo this in a way that I wouldn't even be able to see. And it's knowing, and it's really and this is an any point in business knowing your limitations in terms of your own time, resources, energy and even knowledge, to be able to say okay, is this the time to be able to outsource this, even with coaching, for example, like you said, am I like I could do this all myself, but this is going to take me so much longer to get there if I just do this myself. So it's also just knowing yourself enough to know, knowing yourself enough to say I need help.

Speaker 1: 27:32

Yeah, and that I mean that's good advice for business in general, not just your website, but like you know, knowing when it's okay to say, hey, I need help with this. And so I know, like, copywriting is not necessarily like you're not a copywriter, but do you have any tips? Because I think that's where a lot of us struggle, where we're like okay, I know how to make it look pretty, especially if you're a photographer or you're working in like graphic design or anything that's like art related. You're like I know how to make it look pretty. How do I make it so that the words on the page connect with my audience, like, do you have any tips or advice for that?

Speaker 2: 28:10

Absolutely so I'm going to. So I have a lot of copywriter friends and if you are in the space to invest in copywriting, it is well worth the investment. But if you're deciding, if you're at the point now where you're like I'm redoing my website but I also can't afford to do copy, right now too, there are so many amazing resources. One, copywriters usually have a lot of templates. They have website templates that are a lot cheaper than investing in copywriting like custom copywriting that you can go and tweak yourself.

Speaker 2: 28:45

Another really great resource and this is sort of controversial, but I will say things like chat GPT can be really, really helpful and they can save you a lot of time. And if you have people that you look up to in the space say, jenna, could you're a reporter field, you could say if you like the way their copy goes, you can say use the you know, speak in the tone of Jenna Kutcher and write a description for this website and you can tweak it to sound like you and it does a good enough job for now until you're ready for something more custom or SEO friendly.

Speaker 1: 29:19

Yeah, oh my gosh, I love, like, chat, gpt and AI stuff. Like I will say, though, that I've seen a couple of photographers who have posted blogs that were fully written by AI Right, and you have to go back and personalize it yourself. You cannot take it, copy and paste it word for word and have it feel supernatural. You're going to have to, like, go and get and tweak it a little bit. So, yeah, it's, there's. There's a lot of nuances to still work out with the whole AI thing. So, yeah, well, this has been so helpful. I'm sure a lot of people that are, like you know, coming off the holiday season, starting 2024 off, they're going to be looking to revamp their websites. This is a ton of great information for them. So, before you wrap up, tell everybody where they can get in touch with you or learn more about you or follow you if they want to maybe reach out to you and get you know, work with you in the future.

Speaker 2: 30:10

Absolutely Well, my website is MelanieFountaincom. That's just my name, or you can follow me at the Melanie Fountain on Instagram, facebook or any of the places.

Speaker 1: 30:20

Awesome. Well, melanie, thank you so much for being here and I appreciate it. Have a great day. We'll talk soon. Okay, talk to you soon. Thank you, I'm so excited to be here and to Melanie for coming on and sharing her expertise with us.

Speaker 1: 30:34

I am so excited for y'all to check out her work on the girl means business website. I hired her because I loved her style. I loved her vision for my website and we had a very similar thought process in that I want the girl means business website to be a resource hub for anyone looking for business and marketing advice, so I would love for you to go check it out and let me know what you think. You can go down to the show notes and click the link or head to girlmeansbusinesscom. There you will find all the information about myself, about the podcast, blog content, free downloads, ways to work with me, all the things there at girlmeansbusinesscom. Melanie has done an incredible job, making it look polished and perfect. So go check it out and then let me know your thoughts and I will see you back here again next week. Same time, same place. Thanks again for tuning in to this week's episode. Don't forget to leave a review and follow us on socials at girlmeansbusiness. See you next week.