AI-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT - MAY CONTAIN ERRORS
Introduction
"Good morning, I wanted to talk this morning about do I need a website? I've had this conversation three times this week actually with different people in different places of just, you know, come up in conversation of do I actually need a website? And it is quite a common question as well and my answer to that would be no.
The Necessity of a Website
You don't need a website in the same way you don't need social media and you don't need a booking system and you don't even need to take payment by card. But if you have those things, it's going to make things a lot easier. So I don't need a dishwasher, but I still want one in my life because it's going to make my life a lot easier.
It's going to save me time and just generally make my house nicer. And it's the same thing with your website. So if you're trying to run a modern online business, then a website is your hub. It's the hub of that. It's critical to be the place where all of the other things that you're doing in your marketing come back to your website.
One of the first parts of the timeline to website success, one of the symptoms of being in phase 1 is that you're a bit skeptical whether your website can bring money into your business, can be doing the things that you want it to be doing long term.
And that's quite common. If you're just getting started and you don't really know where to start with your website, then having that feeling of like, is this ever going to work for me is really common. So don't worry about that. If that's how you feel right now.
Website as an Online Store
Essentially, your website is your online store. So it's the place where all different marketing that you're doing in different places comes back to your website. And that's where the sale happens. So that's where people can hand over their credit card and, they can give you some money basically.
Bookings and Payments
Essentially it's the place where you can take payments so people can make bookings and whether that's bookings for something like a free call or so you can start to get to know them or they can you can take payment for, if they're making a paid booking then do all of that stuff can happen in the background and you can come back to your computer in the morning and, oh, I've got some bookings in today.
So your website can help with that. So essentially what it should be doing is it should be there helping you with your marketing, should be helping you with your sales, should be helping you with your customer service. It should be there supporting your business.
Ownership of Content
And I think one part of the thing of actually having a website is it's all content that you own. It's content that no algorithm can take away from you. And as you build that up, that becomes an asset for your business. So all of the content that you create through your website, whether that's blog posts, whether that's links to your podcasts or your YouTube or your other social media, all of the things that are in there become then an asset to your business.
Building Confidence
And I think in creating those, it can also help you to increase your confidence as well. So as you're actually thinking about creating content for your website, you have to think about the problems that you solve for your clients. You have to think about the type of people that you're trying to attract. You have to think about what problems they have and how you actually solve those. You have to think about the social proof.
Benefits Over Social Media
So you have to think about the ways in which you doing what you do help people and I think that can massively increase your confidence. If you've got a lovely place where you can send people to find out everything about you, where they're not then getting distracted by the scrolling. So if you send someone to your social media, you can have a beautiful looking social media account. Where they can go in and read about you, but the chances are they'll get distracted because I know every time I go on Facebook, I end up getting distracted and then I come out of it and then I go back to where I was and I'm like, Oh, that was why I went into Facebook.
You know, you know what it's like with social media. Whereas if you're with somebody and you send them to your website then hopefully they'll spend some time looking around the website they'll be able to see what it looks like. They'll get a feel for your brand. They will be able to absorb some of your content and then hopefully take the action that you want them to take from there really.
Professionalism and Legitimacy
So that's I think is really helpful if you've got that there as a base for a place for you to send people. You also then feel like I think when you're meeting people and talking to them about your business, I think it gives you an extra level of professionalism. You feel it yourself and also for other people as well. It helps you to look like you are a legitimate business and you're building an asset for the future as well.
Long-term Benefits of SEO
So yes, you, if you're working on your SEO, that might not pay off right now. It might not pay off in six months time, but it's something that we'll be building for the future and a year, and then you've got, you know, you've got that snowball and it's rolling down the hill now and it's getting bigger and bigger and actually having that, that positive effect on your marketing.
So then you're not having to create content all the time. You're not having to reinvent the wheel every single week. And with website, if you're just gradually adding content to it, so maybe if you're adding one piece of new content a month to your website, that can be enough just to signal to Google that you are, this website is still live and it is still, being looked after.
Quality Over Quantity
Okay. So don't feel like you've got to create like two, three, four blog posts every single week. You know, if you, if you're creating some genuine good content and putting that on your website and also using that as a base for all of your other content that you're creating. So for me, I struggle with this a little bit with, with creating blog posts.
It's one of those things that I say, Oh, I must do that. I must do that. I must do that. But it's not something I particularly enjoy doing for myself, but I do love coming on here and going live and like delivering content like this. So one of my things to do is actually then take these lives and make those into blog posts that then can be read by Google's bots and put them on my website and make sure that I've got it there.
So regardless of whether you actually enjoy, some people love writing blog posts and that's great, and but regardless of whether you do that or you do enjoy it, I think it's finding a way of how you actually do enjoy creating content and working out how you can get that onto your website.
Sustainable Content Marketing
So how, what's the way that I can get that into a sustainable piece of marketing and then using that sustainable bit. So once you've got it on your website as a blog post or as a video or something, how can I then use that to create all the other bits of marketing for social media? If you want to, you don't have to, but it's, rather than sort of thinking back from the social media point of view of I need to create three posts this week, how can you actually take that piece of content, that anchor piece of content, and actually then make that into your social media stuff?
Because then you can keep linking back to it as well, and especially if it's something like a, what we call cornerstone content, which is like the main topics that you talk about in your business, where all of your other content comes off the back of that and is kind of linked into these main pieces of content. They should be something that is evergreen.
So it's something that you can use and keep referring back to over and over again. So you're not having to create these, these mountains of content. You've actually got something where you could maybe just write a different spin on it slightly or answer a question or something or add a frequently asked question into that page that would then update that and then give you another angle to actually approach that content as where you're going to send people.
Building Your Email List
And then hopefully at the end of that content, you would have something which would then bring them into your world, bring them onto your email list or, you know, booking appointment or something like that.
So, the big thing as well is that no algorithm can take that away. I can't remember if I've already mentioned that, but if you, if it's content that you create for your website, you own that content. And if it's on your own domain, then there are ways you can back it up and, and making sure that, you know, if you've got a WordPress website, you have to be aware of it getting hacked and things like that.
Essentially that content is yours and you can, you know, no algorithm is going to take that away from you. Your website can be earning you money while you're, while you sleep, which is always a bonus if you wake up and you've had a sale overnight while you've been asleep or when you've been out walking the dog or something along those lines.
Conclusion: Do You Need a Website?
And that's amazing. That's definitely something that's a win and is further down the website success timeline. So, as I say, it's a conversation that comes up a lot that of whether you actually need a website. But I think if you think of your website as your online store, think of it as your hub for your business. It's, it's the place in your business that's going to help you with marketing, sales, customer service, all of those things. Then I think even, even if you've got a very simple website, you've just got something, you've got to start a website. Having something makes a massive difference and it just helps you I think to take yourself seriously as well.
So if, knowing what to do about this, knowing how to make, take your website from what you've got right now to something that's, is a bit more of a asset for your business, it's going to help to actually make a difference in your business. If that feels like you don't know what to do next, then you could book a discovery call with me.
So a website potential discovery call is a free 20 minute call with myself. And what we will do is we'll basically look for if there's any, anything quick, any quick wins that you can get that I can see for your website. Anything sort of major that's holding you back from moving forward, I'll let you know. And if there's anything that I have that I offer to my clients that can help speed up that journey for you, then I'll let you know about that as well.
So if you want to book a discovery call, just go to my website, the website successhub.com and you'll see a big button at the top, top right, where you can book a discovery call and yeah, get on a call and let, let me know if there's anything else I can do to help. I'll see you soon. Bye!"
