Victoria Rayburn [00:00:00]:
Remember, your website needs to give visitors clarity. If every button gives your website visitors a different instruction and takes them to a different web page, you are only going to cause confusion and increase your chances of losing a prospect. Instead, use the same CTA over and over and over again so that website visitors know exactly what they need to do next
Victoria Rayburn [00:00:17]:
Hey there. You're listening to the Priority Pursuit podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners and leaders define, maintain, and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love. We're your hosts, Victoria Rayburn and Kelly Rice. And today we want to explain why we cringe every time we hear small business owners and leaders say, we just need a basic website.
Kelly Rice [00:00:27]:
Oh, my gosh. Just like, wait, we have to use air quotes? Yeah, I cringe. Just hear you saying it now because it just, there's so many things that people don't know that you're like, that's like telling it, you know, a baseball or softball player just go out there and hit the ball.
Victoria Rayburn [00:00:46]:
You're like, ah, that's.
Kelly Rice [00:00:48]:
There's so many more things than that.
Victoria Rayburn [00:00:49]:
Oh, my goodness. Yes. Okay. And yeah, y'all, just for the record, we aren't trying to be judgy or cynical when we say we don't like this statement. I feel like we're starting off on a really negative note here today.
Kelly Rice [00:01:03]:
We just like hearing it because we know that investing in a website that doesn't leave prospects through their brand story is a waste of money and time. And in fact, like a basic website, I'm going to use these air quotes.
Victoria Rayburn [00:01:16]:
Through the whole thing.
Kelly Rice [00:01:16]:
Right. It will likely cost just as much to build as a strategic one, but it won't just generate any business and it won't elevate your company. It won't do all of these types of things. So that's why it's like cringeworthy. It's not necessarily judge worthy, if that makes sense.
Victoria Rayburn [00:01:34]:
Yes. Okay. So I mean, you know, we completely understand why people might think that they just need a website that, you know, like list your contact information and maybe your pricing or a couple other important details. A basic website like this, you know, just doesn't help you make sales or sell, set you up for success long term. Like Kelly said, unfortunately, when you create a website like this, you'll end up wasting time and money and delay your potential growth. And this is a problem because your website, when built strategically, has the power to be your small businesses most powerful marketing tool. So basically, if you only have a basic website, you are missing out on business because it's not functioning how it's supposed to. It's not serving as that 24/7 salesperson.
Kelly Rice [00:02:18]:
Yeah, exactly. So with that in mind, in today's episode, we want to break down what your website needs to be enabled to. Okay, I'm going to start over because, you know, my brain's not working today. I got so excited about what we're going to talk about. We're going to break down what you need to know in order to create a website that is going to help you create more engaged clients, you know, generate more business growth. Do all of the things other than just kind of be a place online where you store information?
Victoria Rayburn [00:02:53]:
Yes. And for the record, these five things that a basic web like. Well, these are five things that just a basic website just can't do.
Kelly Rice [00:03:01]:
Yeah.
Victoria Rayburn [00:03:02]:
So Kelly, you are our certified story written guide, so why don't you take the first one because it's super important and let's. Great place to start. Sure.
Kelly Rice [00:03:12]:
So one of the most important things that your website needs to be able to do is to invite prospects into a story so that they feel comfortable and know that you will help them successfully solve their problem. And the reason for this is because they wouldn't be on your website if they didn't have a problem that they were trying to solve. Right. So we've talked about the power of story in past episodes, but just as a quick reminder, the average attention span of a human is about 8 seconds. And studies show that you only have 5 seconds to capture a website visitors attention. And the best way to do this is to create clear messaging that invites them into a story. Because as humans, we love and remember stories. There are very few of us that can actually retain lists of facts.
Kelly Rice [00:04:03]:
And like statistics and research shows that when you use a story based marketing format, people are at least, I think it's around 20 times more likely to remember your offer or your brand. And this is because stories have the unique ability to bypass the analytical part of our brains and resonate with our emotions. And it just makes it way far, just more memorable than a plain list of features and benefits, which again, are what a lot of the basic websites offer. So your website is arguably the best place to invite prospects into what we call your brand script or your brand story. And we've done entire episodes about how to write a website using story based framework. And I highly recommend going back and listening to episode 107 where angel, who is Treefrog's content director, she breaks down exactly how to write copy for specific pages of your website and in a way that shows prospects like empathy and helps them lead them to success. Because again, utilizing the seven elements of story, there's a specific way that you can write things that help invite people into the story. And we'll be sure to link that episode in the show notes.
Kelly Rice [00:05:22]:
But the fact of the matter is that what many would refer as basic websites, it literally can't do this. So go back and listen to that episode on how to write those types of things. Because when your site only talks about how great your company is, it lists your products and services and contact information. Website visitors won't be engaged enough to really stay on your website or even remember your business the next time that they need something. And as a result, you're literally going to miss out on business. So, like, you and I know that I could talk about the power of story marketing for hours and probably days, you know, if not longer. But if you have questions about it, please go back and listen to episode 107. And when you develop your brand story and then tell your story on your website, I can almost promise you will get more qualified leads, especially if your competitors aren't using story in their marketing.
Kelly Rice [00:06:21]:
Mm hmm.
Victoria Rayburn [00:06:22]:
Honestly, you know, a story is something that seems so simple because like you said, kelly, as people, we naturally enjoy and remember stories we tell them. We listen to them every day. That said, I 100% understand if you're listening and thinking, you know, this sounds bizarre. But like Kelly said, go back and listen to episode 107, which we will link in the show notes. Because when you hear Angela explain how she and her team tell stories through web copy, you'll more than likely wonder why you have, like, haven't been writing your web copy like that the whole time, right?
Kelly Rice [00:06:57]:
Absolutely. And also, like, as a side note, if you haven't read building a story brand by Donald Miller, we highly recommend it. And we'll go ahead and link to that book in the show notes as well. It'll help you realize that we're also not crazy you when we tell you to write story in your web copy. But we also have more to talk about today. So, Victoria, will you explain the next thing a website needs to be able to do in order to generate business growth besides, you know, building your brand story?
Victoria Rayburn [00:07:29]:
Absolutely. Honestly, I'm surprised you wrapped on the story spot so concisely because I know how passionate you are about it. But anyway, if you want your website to be a lead generating sale making machine, it has to encourage your prospects to do more than browse. It has to drive potential customers to actually take action. And in order to do this, your website needs to include a direct call to action or a CTA for short. In other words, you need to clearly invite your website visitors to do whatever it is that you ultimately want them to do, such as buy now or schedule a discovery call. Whatever it is. Then you want to use your CTA to drive prospects to take action by doing three things on your website.
Victoria Rayburn [00:08:14]:
So first, make sure your CTA stands out and make it actionable by putting it on colored buttons. Now, your CTA should be as concise as possible, preferably no more than four words. You know, the shorter the better, and it needs to fit nicely on a website button. So as you build your website or you have a designer build your site, put your CTA on buttons. Use color to help those buttons stand out and make your buttons linked to a page where site visitors can take action, where they can do whatever it is that you want them to do. So, for example, if your CTA is schedule a discovery call. Make the buttons take prospects to a page where they can, you know, schedule a discovery call. Imagine that.
Victoria Rayburn [00:08:57]:
From there, include CTA buttons in the top right corner of your menu and throughout your website. So as prospective customers peruse your website, they will be ready to take action at different times. Very few are going to read every single word on your website. I'm sorry if that breaks your heart, but it's true. But they're going to be ready to take action at different times. So, for example, some are going to need to read testimonials before deciding they want to work with you and others are going to need to see pricing. But when you place CTA buttons strategically throughout your website so and the top right corner of your menu, and then in various places throughout your website, you can ensure that your website visitors can easily take action whenever they are ready. And this is going to make them much more likely to inquire or purchase before you lose their attention.
Victoria Rayburn [00:09:45]:
Because remember spans are short. Last but not least, and this is important, I want to encourage you to use the same CTA remember, your website needs to give visitors clarity. If every button gives your website visitors a different instruction and takes them to a different web page, you are only going to cause confusion and increase your chances of losing a prospect. Instead, use the same CTA over and over and over again so that website visitors know exactly what they need to do next. Now, I know that sometimes on a podcast when you're just hearing things, it's kind of hard to visualize what this means. So if you would like to see an example of how to use CTA buttons, please check out Treefrogmarketing.com. Our CTA is schedule a discovery call and if you go to our website, you will quickly notice CTA buttons all over the place, telling site visitors, prospective customers to do exactly that now.
Kelly Rice [00:10:42]:
Sorry, I was gonna say I feel like it should be like Vanna White during this episode, going here, here, and here's where you want to put your CTA buttons.
Victoria Rayburn [00:10:52]:
Oh, my goodness. Yeah. And when you look at, you might like, feel like the cravis is a little obnoxious, but. Right.
Kelly Rice [00:10:56]:
Yeah.
Victoria Rayburn [00:10:56]:
People's attention spans, they're so short. I mean, you, you know, it's like you could be working on something. You can be checking out a new product or service and like, the dog needs to go out or something happens and then you totally forget what you're doing. So just don't give people a chance to forget what doing. And yeah, you know, you might hear all of this and be thinking something like, you know, that isn't necessary. If I just have a simple, basic website, people are going to know they need to contact me. They're just going to know to go to my website, they're going to know what to do next. And I completely understand this thought process.
Victoria Rayburn [00:11:29]:
I'm a very optimistic person and sometimes I want to give people more optimism than they actually deserve. So with that in mind, I just want to kindly tell you that you're wrong if you are leaving room for uncertainty on your website. By not clearly telling website visitors what they need to do and not telling them again and again and again, you are drastically increasing the likelihood that people will leave your site before taking action. In other words, unless your website tells prospective customers exactly what to do, you are missing out on business. And if you still don't believe me or you think I'm being a little bit dramatic, I want you to think about your relationship with your spouse or whomever you are closest to in life. I love my husband, but I cannot tell you how many times one of us has been frustrated with the other because one of us has failed to do something, quote unquote, obviously. Also, I fully acknowledge that I often need Zach to remind me to do something more than once, especially if the task isn't part of my normal routine. If it's just not something that, you know, I just naturally do without thinking, you know, Zach is the person I love most in the world and I, of course, I know I want to make him happy and I would never intentionally not do something that he's asked me to do.
Victoria Rayburn [00:12:44]:
But if I can't read his mind or, you know, I get distracted before doing something he asked me to do, it happens. It's just called marriage. So how in the world can you expect prospects to do what you want them to do without having a clear CTA that you repeat again?
Kelly Rice [00:13:00]:
And again. And again, you can't. Right. So long story short, build your website the same way that you should be able to communicate with your husband. Right. Tell him multiple times. I mean. Right.
Kelly Rice [00:13:14]:
You know, it also goes back to the make them think it's their idea to want to work with you. Same thing as being married. If you make your husband think it's his idea to do the XYZ, that, wow, that's a great idea.
Victoria Rayburn [00:13:27]:
Oh my goodness.
Kelly Rice [00:13:28]:
Yeah, we can go on for days.
Victoria Rayburn [00:13:30]:
Yeah, we won't get off on that subject. Now. I'm thinking of all kinds of analogies. Let's move on to the next one. I'm gonna let you cover that.
Kelly Rice [00:13:40]:
Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, we're really going to need to create one that just is like marriage marketing analogies. And we'll save it for another day because I feel like all of these memes will come out of it. So if we do it, we'll be able, we'll share it with all you, I promise. Right. But something else that your website needs to do is actually include information your prospects need, not necessarily the things that you want to tell them or you think that they should know. Right.
Kelly Rice [00:14:06]:
So now you might be thinking, I'll just give them the information when they contact me through my website. Right. But here's the thing. If your website doesn't provide the information that your prospects are looking for, they will more than likely leave your site without ever contacting you, simply because it requires too much work on their part to learn about your products or services. So they don't want to necessarily talk to you to be convinced, because most people don't want to feel like they're being sold to. So you have to determine what information is important to your ideal customer and make sure that that information is clearly stated on your website and it's easy to find. So, for example, if price is important to them, make sure that you're adding pricing, right? If they're looking for a widget with a specific feature, make sure that that feature is highlighted and, you know, are they more likely to be comparing your packages and your pricing to competitors? If so, detail out what your package options are. And I really want to encourage you because we're going to get off on a tangent and I'm going to forget to do this.
Kelly Rice [00:15:10]:
To check out our free guide, eight things every small businesses website must include to convert visitors into paying customers, and we'll put a link in the show notes. Or you can visit Treefrogmarketing.com website, but I promise you that your website will help you make more sales and generate more leads when it simply answers prospective customers questions. Plus, when your website is written using a story based format, it will build or filter leads for you. Meaning that you and your team won't need to spend so much time communicating with inquiries who aren't like a good fit. And you'll be able to spend more time talking about how you can serve the needs of your website visitors and your prospects because they'll already qualify themselves. So you'll basically just spend less time selling and more time figuring out how you're going to provide this solution for someone. So that is really, really important of reasons why you need to have the information that your prospects need and want on the website versus the information you just think that they need to know and they can contact me later, right?
Victoria Rayburn [00:16:21]:
Absolutely. I mean, that alone is reason enough to have more than a basic website. So yeah. Kelly said, please check out the eight things every small businesses website must include to convert visitors into paying customers guide. We will link to that in the show notes. You can find it Treefrogmarketing.com website. But that is going to walk you through the things that are essentially proven that need to be on your website. And then from there, if you know who your ideal clients are and exactly what they need from you, you're going to be able to add that information to your website.
Victoria Rayburn [00:16:52]:
And so essentially, your website is just going to answer all of their questions and going to make you the obvious choice when they're comparing options, right?
Kelly Rice [00:16:59]:
Because the whole goal of marketing your small business is to make your life easier, right? And the one way to do that is to pre qualify your leads. Because you can't spend your valuable time talking to leads that are just not qualified for your business or the tire kickers, or that waste your time by, you know, going out and getting proposals. And you're spending all this time doing all of these things when they're not really a good fit for your, for your organization to begin with. But again, I could talk about this forever. How about you take the next one? Victoria. So this episode doesn't last for 4 hours. Yes.
Victoria Rayburn [00:17:37]:
Yeah, we're trying to keep this really short. And yeah, like we said, guys, you know, this statement we talked about the beginning makes us cringe and apparently makes us rant a little bit. So we're gonna try to stay on task here. But something else that a strategically built website can do, but a basic website can can't, is help establish you and or your business as an expert or authority in your field. So to help potential customers trust that you know what you're doing and so that you don't have to awkwardly brag about yourself, we recommend adding authority to your website by including testimonials from happy customers, links to publications where your business has been featured, awards your business has received, client logos if you work with businesses that are recognizable, portfolio that showcases your work and or case studies that show the results you deliver for your customers. Now, I am by no means saying that you need to include all of these items. I mean, you know, pick the stuff that works best for your ideal clients. You know, if you're a wedding photographer, you're probably not going to have a case study to share.
Victoria Rayburn [00:18:39]:
If you are a financial advisor, you probably can't share your portfolio on the Internet. That's kind of not cool. But in order to invite prospects into your brand story, which Kelly discussed before, you have to establish yourself as the guide. Now, for the record, your small business does a lot and you should be proud of your achievements. However, you cannot go around telling potential customers how great your products, services and accomplishments are because when you only talk about your business, what you offer, and how you know what you're doing, you're going to come across as pompous and salesy and nobody likes that, you know. So, for example, we all dread running into the last person who only ever talks about themselves and thinks they have all the answers. No matter who you are, I can guarantee you you are thinking of a specific person right now and that is not how you want your business to be or to come across. Essentially, when we put ourselves and what we have to offer at the forefront of our marketing messaging, we make ourselves the hero of the story.
Victoria Rayburn [00:19:44]:
However, in order for your marketing to actually work, your customer needs to be the hero and you need to be the guide. Now, the fact that your customer needs to be the hero may be hard to hear because, you know, we all naturally think that we want to be Superman or superwoman and save the day. However, in reality, the hero is the one who needs help completing their mission. They need help solving a problem, but the guide in a story is wiser, more powerful and has all of the answers. The guide may not be the one to go on the epic adventure, but the guide does help the hero save the day by giving them plan that the hero can use to reach success. And again, you can establish yourself as the wise guide on your website by including testimonials from happy customers, links to publications where your business has been featured, awards, your business has received client logos, your portfolio, case studies, you know, blog posts and downloads that show what you know and serve your audience well. I mean, so many things. But yes, long story short, remember, people do not buy from businesses.
Victoria Rayburn [00:20:50]:
They buy from people or brands that they know, like and trust. And your website is one of the best places to foster connection with prospects and show them that you can help them, right?
Kelly Rice [00:21:02]:
Because your website is one of the best places to show prospects that you can help them or enable them to solve their problem. But again, I love the analogy of everybody has that one person that they're like, I'm never naming my child that.
Victoria Rayburn [00:21:17]:
Because of whatever, right?
Kelly Rice [00:21:21]:
You're just, you just associate that with that one person with it. And you don't want to be that as a business. And that's why businesses that, that create their story and invite people in are more successful and are remembered more and honestly just more respected because they're the guide and their whole goal is to help people, right? It's not to sit there and I'm just gonna, you know, sell you XYz and then I'm gonna move on to sell you another XYz. Those that invest in being the guide really truly want to help people succeed. And again, that goes back to when you were talking about people don't buy from businesses, they buy from people that they trust. So, okay, I know it's been a lot of information, but we would literally have to get through two more reasons. And we want to encourage, you know, to encourage you to have more than just a basic website in the next one is that your website can drive prospects into your sales funnel. Now we've talked about sales funnels in past episodes, but a sales funnel is simply a content marketing framework that takes potential customers through a process to become paying customers.
Kelly Rice [00:22:32]:
So it essentially allows you to serve your prospects. You build trust with them and you help them see that your product or service is the answer to the problem they're solving. Because again, a sales funnel is used as a transactional or a transitional call to action. Your first call to action might be, hey, buy this thing or do this thing. But if they're not ready for that and you need to build more of a relationship with them, that is exactly what your sales funnel does. And it's actually the third step of the flywall marketing method. So if you're a regular listener, you know that marketing strategy we recommend for nearly all small businesses because it focuses on the four areas that are most important to help your business succeed. When it comes to marketing, but if you're not familiar with the flywheel marketing method, please go back and listen to episode 103 where we explain the strategy and why we use it for all of our agency clients.
Kelly Rice [00:23:30]:
It will be sure to include it in a link in the episode show notes, but for the sake of conversation. The flywheel marketing method is a marketing strategy where your website and online efforts are in sync and they function as a flywheel to continually produce results. It's a four step system and includes understanding your audience and creating clear messaging, which we've said, I don't know, in every single episode, ever.
Victoria Rayburn [00:23:58]:
Building stuff, right?
Kelly Rice [00:23:59]:
Building a strong foundation with a strategically built, SEO optimized website. Again, which is back to why you don't just want to build a basic website. The third thing, the third step is creating content in a sales funnel that serve your ideal clients well, because the whole goal is to move, move them through the system to help them want to become a paying client for you. And then the fourth is promoting your products and services and content. So again, creating a sales funnel is step number three in this strategy. And you can learn more about this specific sales funnels actually in episode 114, but I think for the sake of everyone, because there's so many episodes going around and there's so much information going around, we want to make something extremely clear. You need sales funnel because 98% of website visitors don't make a purchase the very first time that they visit a website. And as a result, you need, excuse me, a means of keeping the conversation going with them.
Kelly Rice [00:24:59]:
And a sales funnel will allow you to do exactly that. Plus, you know, you add them to your email marketing list and, you know, there's all kinds of things that you can keep the conversation going with. It also allows you to build relationships with your ideal audience and guide them through the natural phases of the relationship. So they want to do business with you, right. The whole goal is to help people know that you can help them solve a problem. You don't necessarily want to sell something to them. So we've talked about this in past episodes of the podcast, and nobody likes to be sold to. So, in fact, going straight for the sale is the equivalent of laying ice on somebody for the first time ever.
Kelly Rice [00:25:43]:
Walking up to them, getting down on one knee and asking them to marry you. It's really uncomfortable to think about. It's not appropriate and not likely to end very well. But I really, but I know that we're gonna get, like, comments on this episode going, well, hey, this is exactly.
Victoria Rayburn [00:25:59]:
How I met my wife, right?
Kelly Rice [00:26:00]:
Like, okay, for some of you, it might work, but for the majority of it, no. Right?
Victoria Rayburn [00:26:05]:
So you're only looking for one spouse. You know, you need multiple customers. So if it works one time, great, but it's not gonna work for you, right?
Kelly Rice [00:26:11]:
It's not. It's definitely not gonna work again. Right. So think of your sales funnel more of, like, dating. And essentially by you're providing your prospects with the content and information they need to get to know you and to see how your product or service can make their life better, they'll naturally want to purchase from you. So, long story short, having an effective sales funnel will help you both increase sales and build your loyal customer base, you know, for the long term. And again, you can learn about, you know, how to build an actual sales funnel in episode 114. And just remember that 98% of people don't make a purchase on the very first time that they visit your website.
Kelly Rice [00:26:53]:
And as a result, it is so important for your website to be able to drive visitors to your funnel so that you can keep the conversation going, you can provide them with value, and then ultimately you can make more sales. So we'll include a link to episode 114 in the show notes, and you can find it, you know, if you. If you want to stop right now and search for it, you can find it wherever you're listening to this podcast, right?
Victoria Rayburn [00:27:18]:
Yes. Just scroll back about 30 episodes or so. Yes. Yeah. Having sales funnel, huge, huge things for small businesses. And, yeah, few small businesses actually take the time to create them, which is super unfortunate because, again, like Kelly said, you know, at the point of sales funnel is to get people onto your email list. And email marketing currently has an estimated ROI of 3600%. That's 3600.
Victoria Rayburn [00:27:48]:
If you don't have a funnel and you aren't utilizing your email list, like, you're leaving money on the table. But this episode is getting long, so I'm not gonna go on an email marketing rant. We're gonna move on to the last thing that your website needs to do, and that needs to be. That it needs to be found on Google. And I say I'm not gonna ramp now.
Kelly Rice [00:28:07]:
Right, SEO?
Victoria Rayburn [00:28:08]:
Yeah, probably. I'm going to ramp this really, really tight. But regular listeners, you know, probably knew I'd managed to bring up SEO in this episode somehow or another. So let's go. If you aren't familiar with SEO, it stands for search engine optimization. And it is simply the process that helps your website rank well on Google or other search engines. When users conduct searches related to your products, your services, or your content. So in other words, SEO helps Google users find your website or content when they're in need of products or services you offer, or find your content when you have a blog post or another form of content or media that answers their question or solves their problem.
Victoria Rayburn [00:28:55]:
So for small businesses, SEO is a particularly valuable marketing tactic because when people want to intentionally look for a product or service, they use Google. So in fact, 97% of people use Google when they're in need of a local product or service. This means that when most people need to purchase something or invest in a service of some kind, they are most of likely going to go to Google to find whatever it is that they're looking for. So as a result, if your website doesn't appear among the first Google search results, you're missing out on business. Not because you aren't great at what you do, not because you don't deserve, not because you don't serve your customers well, but simply because your ideal clients, they can't find your website where they're actively looking for an answer to their problem. So with this in mind, I want to, to make something clear. It is not enough just to have a website, or even to have a website that contains everything we've discussed so far. Assuming your ideal clients are looking for your products or services on Google, which they most likely are, you need to make sure that your website is optimized for search engines so that potential customers can actually find your website.
Victoria Rayburn [00:30:03]:
Because unless your website is optimized for search engines, you are drastically limiting the reach and effectiveness of your, like the most powerful, your most powerful marketing tool could have. You know, yes, you can share links to your websites and content on social media, via email, through ads, and in, you know, countless other places. But when your website ranks well on Google, people can literally find your business while you are sleeping, when they actually want to make that purchase. So in other words, SEO can result in consistent business that requires very little work on your part. Assuming that your website does serve your ideal customers well and leads to conversions.
Kelly Rice [00:30:40]:
You know, you got to do the other things.
Victoria Rayburn [00:30:42]:
Exactly. Yeah. SEO can get people to your website. You cannot convert them. Now, the problem with just having a basic website from an SEO perspective is the fact that a basic site probably isn't very helpful. And this is an issue because Google's goal is to help its users find relevant, helpful information as quickly as possible. And if your website is, you know, a little more than a contact form that maybe explains your products or services a little bit, it likely isn't going to rank well for searches related to your products or services because it isn't helpful. It doesn't give people the information that they need.
Victoria Rayburn [00:31:18]:
So Google is just not likely to rank it very well. But on the other hand, if your website answers your ideal client questions, offers valuable content like blog posts, videos or other media, and serves your ideal clients well, your site and your content will be much more likely to rank well on Google and to be found by prospective customers who are actively looking for your products, your services and your content. And, you know, because they can find it when they need it, they're going to be so much more likely to invest. Okay, like I said, I'm going to try to keep that super short and sweet. I'm just going to stop the SEO rant.
Kelly Rice [00:31:56]:
I'm not even going to ask you any questions because we would be here for hours.
Victoria Rayburn [00:31:59]:
Yeah, yes, I get it. Yeah. But it's a big deal. So anyway, I know this episode has included a whole lot of information, but Kelly, so I can't even rant. I'm going to ask you to talk. Before we wrap up this episode, I want to just pose a question to you because, you know, after explaining why having a website isn't enough to small business owners and leaders, they often ask us this next follow up question. And that is, if a small business is already receiving, receiving enough business, do they still need a strategic website? Does their website still need to do everything we just discussed? Or could they get away with having a simple, basic website just so people can contact them?
Kelly Rice [00:32:40]:
And that is a great question. And like you said, we get it all of the time. So here's the answer. So even if your small business currently has all of the business that you need or that you can handle, I still encourage everyone to invest in a strategic, lead generating website for two reasons. First, eventually you're going to likely need more business or you want to experience more growth. For example, like if the economy shifts, currently a new competitor enters the market, one of your competitors levels up their marketing, or, you know, for like countless other reasons, you may lose some market share or some business, and you may want to get to the point where you want to grow your business. So if you can work less and make more money, make a bigger impact, or for any of the other reasons, you may just want to be able to grow. And that is going to require more business coming in.
Kelly Rice [00:33:36]:
So basically, to give your business security in the long term, I always recommend investing in and building a strategic website that does everything that we discussed. Plus, whether you invest in a basic website or a strategic website, you're likely to still going to pay a similar amount of money. Most marketing agencies and copywriters and SEO people and web designers have starting out prices and those prices are going to be very high for a website that doesn't necessarily help you connect with your prospects, convert site visitors into paying customers, or generate new leads or help your small businesses get found on Google or really just grow. Right? So it's the, you kind of have to weigh your options of I'm going to pay x to just build this thing that sits on a server somewhere out in Internet space or I'm going to pay to develop something that's actually going to be the powerhouse of my marketing efforts and the foundation of all the things that we do to set my business up for long term success and really to get the most out of your marketing budget, I highly recommend investing in a strategic website because like when we talked about one of the first things that you may lose business, your competitors may come in, you may have an economic downturn and that's not the time to think about oh my gosh, I need a great marketing plan or I need to build a strategic website because I need more business. That's that. It takes too long then to generate the growth that you need. So that's why we're constantly recommending build it now and really utilize it when you need it. Is that fair? Yeah.
Victoria Rayburn [00:35:17]:
Oh yeah. No, we can talk about marketing foundation.
Kelly Rice [00:35:20]:
And I was passionate. I'm using my hands.
Victoria Rayburn [00:35:25]:
Oh man. This website has inspired so many ideas for other podcast episodes that I promise this is not going to become a show where we rant about marketing. But, well, okay, maybe I don't.
Kelly Rice [00:35:36]:
But unless that's what you want and then let us know, we'll rant all day long. Just pick a topic.
Victoria Rayburn [00:35:42]:
Okay. As we wrap this episode up, I do want to remind everyone that your website is your small businesses most powerful marketing tool. If we have not said and ranted enough about that already.
Kelly Rice [00:35:55]:
Right.
Victoria Rayburn [00:35:55]:
In fact, after identifying your ideal client and clarifying your message, website development is the first thing that we recommend that small businesses invest in from a marketing perspective. Well, we hope you found this episode helpful. If you want to make your website even more powerful, please check out our free guide. Eight things every small business website must include to convert visitors into paying customers. We will link this guide in the show notes or you can find it by visiting Treefrogmarketing.com website. There is nothing that we want more than to see your small business succeed. And the truth is, you need a website that converts, because without one, you are drastically limiting your company's ability to grow right?
Kelly Rice [00:36:40]:
And like you said, Victoria, check out the show notes or go to Treefrog Marketing website to get your free website guide. And thank you for tuning in to another episode of Priority Pursuit. If you've enjoyed this episode, we hope you'll take a moment to share it with your small business friends and that you'll join us next week for even more marketing boundary and pride priority driven tactics so you can use them to build a life and small businesses that you love.