How to Clarify Your Website Messaging (So Customers Instantly Get It) with Beth Hope

Is your website beautiful… but still not converting?


In this episode, leadership and communication coach Beth Hope explains how to clarify your website messaging so customers instantly understand what you do, why it matters, and why they should work with you.

If you struggle to describe your business in one clear sentence, or if prospects land on your website and leave confused, this conversation will be a game changer.

Beth breaks down how clarity creates confidence, how your website becomes a mirror of your identity, and why business messaging must be simple, human, and consistent across all touchpoints.

What You’ll Learn


✔ How to clarify your website messaging (without overthinking it)
 ✔ Why confusion kills conversions — instantly
 ✔ The simplest way to explain what you do
 ✔ How clarity creates confidence in your brand
 ✔ How leaders can communicate with impact
 ✔ Why your website is a “mirror” of your business identity
 ✔ How AI fits into human communication
 ✔ How to avoid website messaging overwhelm


About Beth Hook

Beth Hope is a leadership and communication coach helping business owners find clarity, purpose, and confidence in their work and messaging. Her approach blends self-awareness with practical communication tools so leaders show up with confidence online and offline.

⏱️ Timestamps


00:00 – Intro
 00:32 – Why your website messaging matters
 01:12 – Your website as a mirror
 03:00 – How leaders find clarity
 05:14 – Why simplicity beats cleverness
 07:44 – How to communicate confidently
 10:22 – How AI affects communication
 12:48 – Practical ways to clarify your website messaging
 15:20 – Common mistakes business owners make
 18:25 – How clarity builds trust
 21:00 – Final insights


📌 Related Episodes

• Why Your Website Isn’t Converting — with Dr. J.J. Peterson
 • Top 5 Mistakes Business Owners Make on Their Websites
 • How to Write Clear Messaging Using StoryBrand

🎧 Subscribe for Weekly Website Growth Episodes

We cover:

 • Website messaging
 • SEO & content
 • Conversions
 • Website strategy
 • Leadership communication
 • AI for business


👉 Want a free website audit?
Visit WPMinds.com and request your audit today.
https://wpminds.com/request-free-website-audit/

Refrence Source:
Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-hope-executive-coach/
Website: https://www.andhope.co.uk/

#websitegrowth  #podcast  #businessgrowth  #websitesolutions #growthhacks 

Transcript

Rana 0:00

So do you think that once you are clear on your who you are, your mission, it reflects in your website communication as well?

Beth Hope 0:05

Definitely. And I I think we need to remember that it does and make sure that we audit it. Because your website is basically a mirror for who you are. You've de-audited. So if someone new lands on your website, can they tell what you do in one sentence? You know, could they explain it to my six-year-old niece? All right, they do blah blah blah.

Rana 0:23

What are the other ways you you help leaders find confidence at?

Beth Hope 0:27

So finding who you are as a leader. So, you know, there can be a misconception that leaders have to fit a particular mold, you know, be loud, be this, be that. And so quite often I have leaders that are a little bit more introverted, and I think fantastic.

Rana 0:40

How do you see uh AI changing in your world, in your coaching and leadership world? Welcome to the website growth show, brought to you by WP Minds. I'm your host, Rana Shell Baz. On this show, we speak with business owners, agency leaders, and marketers to learn what's working to improve their websites and grow their businesses. If you're wondering how your website is performing, please visit wpminds.com and request a free website audit. My team will share what's working and what can be improved to grow your business. Most leaders spend so much time trying to grow their business and they forget that the first growth that matters is their own. Today's guest, Beth Hope, she is an executive coach and ICF board member who helps business leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations find clarity, confidence, and purpose in how they lead. Beth believes leadership isn't about doing more, it's about finding who you are. It's about being more of who you are. Beth, welcome to the Website Growth Show. I'm really excited to have you on the show.

Beth Hope 1:37

Thank you so much for having me.

Rana 1:39

Before we get into the details, I would love to start with your why, why you are helping leaders grow.

Beth Hope 1:45

Great question. So I, you know, I had before starting my own business, obviously I worked in the corporate world. And I just think there is there's such a gap to bring authenticity and confidence, true authentic confidence to leadership to really make corporate life and working life better effective. And that's what I love helping leaders to do is find their authentic voice, their true powerful presence, and really bring that constructive mindset so they can do this long term rather than risking burnout.

Rana 2:20

Fantastic. And what what is the favorite part of your day-to-day work with leaders?

Beth Hope 2:25

So much. Love. So one of my big loves is doing presentation coaching with leaders. So really helping them get clear on their messaging, who are they communicating with, how are we going to do that, then how they bring that out, you know, in their physicality, making it less scary, you know. We all can get a little stage fright sometimes. So how can we really reduce that and work with our biology rather than against it? So have a master's in psychology and neuroscience. So I love bringing in those kind of tips and tricks of actually harnessing our physiology rather than letting it run the show.

Rana 3:05

I love it. And you mentioned the clarity in the message. Why clarity in a message is really important for leaders?

Beth Hope 3:13

So I think now, and particularly if we look at the corporate world, it is so dynamic, a lot of change, and it's got to be fast-paced. So when you're a leader, if you're leading your team, your company, your board of directors, your shareholders along into a new world of change, then you need to make sure that you've got a nice, clear, concise message that someone can hear and tell their partner about it clearly. And especially at larger companies, you know, presses and media are interested in what they're saying. So we've got to be really clear on what are we saying, how we're saying it, and most importantly, how is it going to be heard and remembered?

Rana 3:54

The last piece is very important. So sometimes we say a lot of things, but how other person understood or understand that part, that is, I think, the missing pedal of most communication. So I love that. How do you find the uh how do you help leaders find this clarity? Yeah, do you follow any process?

Beth Hope 4:11

Yeah, so obviously it depends, you know, case by case on who I'm working with and what our overall objective is. But the main principle is really getting clear on who is your audience? Who are we talking to? And that's something that you need to actually challenge yourself on. Because we can say, oh, you know, we're we're talking to employees, so I'll just do this. Okay, but are those employees that are potentially about to be made redundant? Are they employees that you see as high flyers that are going to push your company to the next level? Are they actually shareholders, in which case there's different tonalities, there's different messaging that we bring out? You know, so it's it's kind of the same as a website, right? You've got to really think, who is my audience? Who do I want to be reading this? Because it's in that granular space that actually we need to make those tiny psychological nudges or soften edges here and there for it to be engaging, for it to be remembered, and for someone to say, I'm heard. This, these are the people I want to work with, this is where I want to be. So, really first and foremost, get clear on who your audience is.

Rana 5:23

Excellent. And do you in your work, have you done any recent work where you gone through this exercise and it made a big difference in their communication?

Beth Hope 5:33

Yeah, so I work with a lot of leaders around this. And for example, you know, there was a recent leader that I was working with where we were actually reframing those kind of lists of achievements into impact bring. So if we go into that era, then it becomes engaging. You know, why am I doing what I do? And how do I kind of connect with that passion that started this whole thing in the first place? And so by working through that and kind of flipping the script on it, it's meant that the leader in particular has been able to bring their company along a big change that they've recently gone through, a restructure and a and a new direction value.

Rana 6:15

Amazing. And we encounter so many messages on a daily basis. So this is what I was on a podcast a couple of days ago. And it's a story brand framework. So we've been using on our websites and all communications. The similar messages, so this short, concise, speaking to the problem really helps everywhere, not just on websites. I think in all our communications. Yeah. And what are the other ways you help leaders find confidence? And I know you talk about clarity, purpose, and confidence. How does it work for you helping leaders find confidence in their communication and in their day-to-day work?

Beth Hope 6:52

Yeah, so it really starts, you know, what I focus on is that authentic confidence. So finding who you are as a leader. So, you know, there can be a misconception that leaders have to fit a particular mold, you know, be loud, be this, be that. And so quite often I have leaders that are a little bit more introverted. And I think, fantastic, pull this out. You know, let's make this your your powerhouse, your your differentiator, because you can be a fantastic introverted leader as well as a fantastic extroverted leader, all equal, but it's how we meet that. So it's really understanding who you are, what are your values as a person? How does that then relate to the company values, your mission, your goal, your purpose? How does all of this kind of weave together into one core thread that you can always go back to? Because I think if we know who we are and we have those values, when we come into a challenging situation, like for example, um a client really pushes back, or you've got to have a difficult conversation with an employee who's maybe not performing. If you can rely on your strong core thread, you'll then lead with authenticity. You'll know how to react, you'll you'll be better prepared in those situations rather than having that panic thing of, oh, what does a great leader do in this situation, which kind of can tie you up into all these knots. So it's really understanding that core. Who you are and how does that come out in terms of those core actions?

Rana 8:29

I love this answer and I I I cannot uh you know agree more with with this one because as you mentioned with the situation, you can't fake it like a servant leader. Uh as a leader, you come across, you know, every day is a new day. You come across situations every uh every day, every hour. If you are not your foundations are not strong, it's very hard to think how that servant leader will act. You have to be acting instantly. So you uh basically work with leaders, you identify their own core strengths and you build on on that. You don't suggest you must you should be a servant leader, you should follow someone.

Beth Hope 9:06

No, it all depends on who they are as leaders and how does that work and what leader do they want to be. Um and I guess uh another side of that is really making sure that inner critic and that destructive internal monologue becomes constructive rather than destructive. So how do we tune in to those thinking patterns or traps? What are our own traps that kind of trip us up mostly? Imposter syndrome is a very common one that I come across a lot in my work. And so it's really reframing that because there's this whole, you know, fake it till you make it, which is absolutely not not my cup of tea. Because I think if you're in that mindset and you haven't done the work or don't want to do the hard work of really looking at that inner critic, that imposter, and and reframing them and making them helpful to you, then it's gonna leak out in all of your communication, whether that's written communication, a LinkedIn post, how you show up in a client meeting, your website, those insecurities and those those smalls, you'll never be good enough. It will come in language, like adding the word just. Why just do this? You know, it's those ways we undermine ourselves. It leaks out and we can't really fake it. So let's actually make it authentic and do the hard work.

Rana 10:24

So what I am I'm getting is as a leader, you don't have to change it. You have to be authentic, you have to build on your core skills, and you don't need to become copy someone to become a a better and better leader.

Beth Hope 10:35

No, exactly. And it's wonderful it's wonderful to see people. So for example, one of my one of my clients who's who's C suite level, you know, they used to always see people on stage as very different to who they were in terms of appearance and and looks and things like that. And it was, oh, do I need to be like this person in order to be standing on that stage as a kind of CEO, having these big conference keynote moments? And then it was actually, you know, we've worked together for a while and got to that authentic point where now they are the ones on stage and being like, right, you can now inspire someone who also looks a bit more like you or sounds a bit more like you, or say, actually, no, you can be yourself on stage. You don't have to be this old-fashioned style of corporate leadership. Let's bring our style or our authenticity because it's amazing that we can inspire a whole new generation of people to say, actually, you know, I do belong on stage. I can do keynotes, I can communicate effectively. I don't need to let my inner critic or an old story I've been telling myself rule my life anymore. Let's change the narrative and and really lean into who we are.

Rana 11:45

Excellent. And uh, once you found this uh clarity and authenticity, how does this translate into your as a leader in business communication and business growth?

Beth Hope 11:55

Well, if you think all of that is, you know, whether we're thinking about communication, websites, emails, Slack messages, all of these different ways that we have to communicate, they're all a mirror of you. Now we always need to think written communication can come across very differently from spoken communication, because when we're when we're reading something, we're also maybe bringing our own tone of voice into some things. So if, for example, you're having a bit of a challenging conflict with someone, I would always say actual face-to-face communication is better because if they're angry and you write a message that you think is really nice, they might read it in an angry tone, which can then flare up and and kind of perpetuate challenges anyway. So really think and just pause and just ask yourself, is this mode of communication the best for the situation? So is it good to suddenly fire off a Slack message, quickly respond to an email, put out a LinkedIn post saying this, leave a review saying that, you know, contact this and that. Just take three breaths and think, right, what's the best mode for what I need to be communicating right now? And how could this be perceived?

Rana 13:07

Amazing. And uh this is very important. I totally agree with this, you know, the mode of communication, the same communication, different mode can make a lot more difference. And I'm trying to avoid especially personal communication, text messages, and I try to maybe leave a voicemail because I know it will land totally differently if I write something in a situation. And also in a team meeting, I'm trying to go on a quick one-minute call instead of starting a chat on a written because I totally agree. It can it can uh mode of communication can change the entire situation.

Beth Hope 13:44

Exactly. And it's also thinking, you know, I think especially in in today's corporate world, we can have this pressure that everything has to be like quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, otherwise we're missing out on something. And I was working with a leader who um who came to me because they were leading a strong team, but felt that, you know, morale wasn't quite there and they they realized they felt very reactive. And it was because every time he was messaged, he would immediately fire back, blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah, you know, sending message, message, message, message. Because he felt this urgency of I need to come back to it, I need to do it, da la la la la. And kind of came with that initial emotional response that wasn't always constructive. And the change that we worked on was literally taking 10 breaths and not allowed to respond to any messages within half an hour of it. So every message had to wait at least half an hour. And just by doing it, then he was able to get away from the laptop, you know, get a bit of fresh air, get a new cup of tea, sit back down and just respond with one clear message rather than message, message, message, message, message. And that made all the difference. You know, efficiency went up, team morale and cohesion increased, all just because everything felt less reactive. Because we've also got to remember as leaders, we set the tone and the expectation. So if your boss or your boss's boss or the CEO is message, message, message, message, message, quick, quick, quick, you know, blunt at all hours of the day at 10:30 p.m. or 6 a.m., that sets the tone for everyone trickling down the organization. So we really need to think boundaries, calm, concise, and lead from there.

Rana 15:23

Brilliant advice. And I think we stopped uh uh communicating through Slack as well, and I think we put a mark on what type of communication is the urgency of that. So when Slack, somebody Slack to us, it means something urgent only. Regular communication should go onto the email. Because we are a remote team and working hours different with Slack. Whether you realize or not, when you get a message, your mind starts to work. So you have to be uh very careful who you are messaging, their time zone, whether they're working or not. So I I think we experience the same. And also uh because of this mode of communication, that's why I think we are going back to working from office. So because it's not just a text or a voice, there are so many other soft communication or body communication when you are sitting with someone, you know they are with someone, or there are other matters going on in the office which you realize, which you can't realize when you are working remotely.

Beth Hope 16:20

Yeah, so there's little chit-chat moments in the kitchen or grabbing coffee together.

Rana 16:25

Exactly. So uh amazing. Coming back to this all leadership authenticity and clarity, how leaders can show up this in communication, particularly in websites. So do you think that once you are clear on your who you are, your mission, it reflects in your website communication as well?

Beth Hope 16:42

Definitely. And I I think we need to remember that it does and and make sure that we audit it. Because your website is basically a mirror for who you are. You've got to think, you know, it's like a shopfront.

Rana 16:55

Exactly.

Beth Hope 16:56

It will be what people see first, potential customers see first, potential competitors, potential employees will see first. They'll come to that. So it really needs to reflect how you lead, who you are, what matters to you, what are your values and actual values, not, you know, some four random words that you picked out as core values that don't actually reflect in anything else. So, really, you know, that is your place to not only show your credibility in terms of credentials and all of that, but actually build that trust because trust is that emotional connection first over logic. So we need to build out that tone of voice because that is your attractor for a whole plethora of people. So let's make sure it's nice and clear and really reflective of who you are, sort of like a dating profile, right? It's got to be your advert for who you are before someone gets a chance to meet you face to face or virtually.

Rana 17:50

Absolutely. While we are discussing about websites, so I know you don't probably do website work, but I think as a leader, as a coach, you must be visiting so many websites. So do you see any common communication mistakes which businesses do on their website?

Beth Hope 18:05

Yeah, I think the first thing is that they haven't got clear on who their audience is. So especially in the corporate world, if for example your audience is governance lawyers, then maybe your tone of language and everything needs to be more corporate or have a few pieces of jargon. But otherwise, simplify your language. Don't have a whole host of corporate jargon just because you think it maybe makes you sound more intelligent. Always think, how can I simplify this message? You know, if someone, and this is really important to do, and something we really need to be doing every three, four months, is a clarity audit. So if someone new lands on your website, can they tell what you do in one sentence? You know, could they explain it to my six-year-old niece? All right, they do blah, blah, blah, and she'd get it. You know, that's what we need to be doing. And it's difficult when it's it's our website that we've created and that we know our businesses inside and out, because we can really lose that objectivity because we're too much in the weeds. And so it really helps, whether it's a trusted friend, a colleague, or, you know, asking someone in your network, hi, would you mind just taking a quick look at my website and just getting a feel of what do you think I do and who do you think I serve? Because that will give you a lot more useful information than endless amounts of Googling and being like, oh, how do I optimize everything? Let's make sure we're optimizing it in the correct way that's actually landing to who we want to attract.

Rana 19:33

Amazing. Excellent, excellent response in our technical world of websites. We call it that when somebody lands on your website, particularly on homepage, they should under five seconds they should know what problem you are solving, how you are solving, and how they can connect, contact you. And you don't need to be clever, you need to be very simple, clear, and to the point. So but most people talk about something else, philosophical ideas. So that's the biggest mistake we we see. People are losing out on on websites.

Beth Hope 20:03

Exactly. And you know, you want it to be attractive. So, yes, websites design is highly important, but we've also got to make sure that content is there but concise. Always think of it. I love a food analogy. So, you know, we've always got to think of it rather than a big watery gravy, kind of you're you're boiling it down and down and down and down and down until we've got that kind of gorgeous jus that just gives you all the intensity of flavor without any of the fluff or the or you know anything else getting in the way. And I think I remember because I um had a rebrand the beginning of the year. And um, because I I shockingly hadn't updated my website in about nine years, and I was like, this is abominable. We need to, you know, my business has changed, my clients have changed, we're at that elevated S, so we need to elevate. And it was great doing competitor research on all the other coach websites and being like, right, if I land on them, what do I think? Do I think I'm their ideal client? Does it connect? You know, and there was one in particular that I kind of had this reaction to of like, I really wouldn't want to work with this person, but it was brilliant because I knew exactly who their client was. I knew their client wasn't me. And that's fantastic. It saves me time, it saves them time because I'm not gonna inquire. They and that really taught me, okay, this website is so clear on what they do, who they're doing it for. There's no no frills, they're not afraid to be controversial or they're not afraid to be quite blunt about it because that's their vibe. That's not my vibe. I'm very kind and warm. So my tone needs to be different. But it was wonderful seeing something that was kind of the antithesis of my business to be like, okay, I actually kind of like it because it is so clear. So how can I take those key core messages and put them into my tone of vice, my warmth, my ideal client? So that when they land on, they go, Ah, I feel trusted, I feel seen, I feel held. This is the right coach for me.

Rana 21:58

Excellent suggestion. And on when we talk about clarity, another mistake uh we see business people do a lot is they try to put everything on the website. And when I speak with the uh people, I think my favorite example of uh simple website is I'm a minimalistic, simplistic person, is the Google. They are the one of the largest company in in the world. But when you land on their homepage, it's always been just a search because that's their call to action. They want people to search. Once they search and they get answers, they click on ads. They have all the money in the world but their homepage is a blank white page, the search bar only. Because that's what their clarity is, that's what they they want people to to search. So uh amazing. I know you I think you notice a lot of things about websites so I can see you have uh you know you know what you are doing. So how important is the website in your businesses?

Beth Hope 22:54

Yeah I think important I think it is in in kind of any business because people either come there as a first point of call and that's their first introduction to you and who you are or they do it as sort of background checking, you know, they'll look at website LinkedIn Instagram whatever's relevant for kind of the service industry that you're in. And and so it's just that extra backup either that first point of call that needs to be like that shop front or it's that backing up the credentials that you bring, building that trust, building that picture of who you are as that kind of extra point. So it's definitely very, very useful and as a wonderful place to also showcase those wonderful testimonials, you know, those heartfelt stories, that social proof again linking back to what we were saying around value. What value do you bring? It's no point me waffling on about all the value I bring, let my clients tell you what value I bring. Let you see yourself in them and see where you could be I agree.

Rana 24:02

And when you built your website or rebranded your website what was the main goal of the website is it a like a shopfront as an online business card or you wanted something else from the website?

Beth Hope 24:15

Yeah so it is sort of that shopfront and also a really good place for me to house all the media that I do, blogs, you know, build that thought leadership in my area and keep being kind of vocal in the coaching community itself as well as talking to corporates. But in the rebrand and really what I'm doing and I was actually thinking it's probably about time that I need to reordit my website anyway because I think we really need to be doing that kind of once a quarter at least was to clarify it. So I noticed you know in the rebrand and and I think you have to keep A B testing with these things when I rebranded and changed things my traffic dropped and I was like okay interesting what has gone on here? So I spent, you know, quite a few days and weeks of of my time thinking about SEO optimization, looking at my website with fresh eyes and really understanding actually if you came to it, there is no clarity here. So I went back I changed I changed the look of of how the homepage sat, made it much more visual, less text any text that's on there, I got to think about SEO optimization, got to think about is it portraying me, my value, how I'm gonna help someone, let them see themselves in my website, in my stories, in my services. And so yeah then I'm, you know, then you give that a few months, you wait, you test, you see, okay, how's traffic changing? Is it not? Is it what are we noticing? Okay, let's keep iterating. Because I think websites are never a one and done. You know, we've got to keep in that iterative mindset, especially when algorithms, AI scraping and all of this stuff changes every two seconds, we've kind of got to keep on top of it.

Rana 25:53

Very interesting. I was not expecting having this you know technical conversation with you but I I'm really intrigued and want to know more about this rebranding and traffic drop. So did you manage to re-uh regain your traffic?

Beth Hope 26:08

Yeah it's definitely it's definitely regaining. I think there's much more opportunity to do more with it. And again it's always one of those things you know when you're a business owner so I'm a I'm a single business owner so it's just me. You know, it's finding that balance of getting the funnel and building that funnel and thinking about SEO and websites and LinkedIn and Instagram and all of that stuff and how it all cumulates as well as actually doing my job and coaching and the work that I love and and having the brain space you know for all of this stuff. But yeah it's something that I'm monitoring a lot more and really got in my in my diary that I kind of need to experiment with different things and I'm quite open to that and I find it quite fun um to try all of this stuff and I mean to learn all about SEO optimization and and how you know AI will scrape it. So if someone Googles, you know, to your point about Google, when we Google now you generally get the AI summary first. So it's okay now my website has to be able to be read and put in that AI summary because just actually being top hitter on Google isn't enough now. You know we have to work with all of these things and then think about how all of that comes as well as just how an actual human experiences our website. So it's much more multifaceted than maybe it was 10 years ago.

Rana 27:24

Yes and SEO world is upside down at the moment. So there are quite a few interviews and podcasts that are aligned with SEO specialists to you know try to to keep learning about this SEO because it's it's for uh even SEOs it's very difficult at the moment. So so many things are going around because traffic are gone down because of AI overviews. Imagine from nine 10 organic results I think I was reading maybe only two results are left AI overviews on a page then ads then a couple of organic results and then ads again so it's it's very difficult to get a traffic from Google at the moment. Okay coming back to your website scenario so you had the idea you have you are a coach you have the clarity strategy why you need a website and you built a website yourself. Is that you built it yourself?

Beth Hope 28:13

Yeah so one of my friends um is a website done it so she built the original website and everything so I use Squarespace because then it's easy for me to update and maintain it because you know when we were discussing what was going to work I said you know there's no point me having a terribly complex website if I have to ask her every two seconds for something when I need to update the next media you know interview that I've done or the next press release I've done or my next blog. You know, I wanted to make sure that I could kind of be self-sufficient ish. I mean I still go along with bigger things and when I need to make bigger changes but I really needed to make sure that it was something that was easy to use once it was up and running and now yeah I can I've I kind of rechanged the look of it after we did the rebrand myself which was fun.

Rana 29:03

Amazing so you build it you're happy with your your build and the next once you have the website the next challenge is we talk about SEO there are different ways website only works when people start to come in onto your shop front and you know eventually because most people expect website to support their business help them grow their business. So in your you know all this trial and error with social media SEO and having your own job because time is the essence here as well what worked for you? I'm just asking for other coaches you are trying to do what you have done already build a website and then how to bring people onto your website to make their business work.

Beth Hope 29:45

Any advice for those people I would say you know I definitely haven't cracked it and there is a plethora of opportunity for me to do all of this better. So very open to advice as well. But I think the first thing is always be iterative you know keep looking keep experimenting and don't be afraid of experimenting. I think you know we can be very worried especially in kind of the age of the internet where everything feels you know once it's there, it's there. But we need to experiment you know as you said with the AI overviews and SEOs, it's changing so much all the time that I don't think you can necessarily say, right, this is the formula I've cracked it and this will be how it will be for the next 10 years of business because business is also changing. You know I'm seeing a lot of my clients now kind of over the past three, four years are going and experiencing restructures, redundancies, changes in agility and pivoting all over the place. So business world is changing, therefore my online footprint also needs to keep up with that. So iterate, be curious and experiment and have a bit of fun with it because I don't know about you, but you know business development has never been the thing that lights my fire of passion. But it's kind of been getting through that and thinking actually what do I enjoy? Well I like love doing podcasts like this. I love writing blogs that connect with people and give something tangible love. I actually really enjoyed redoing my website and thinking about SEO optimization and and kind of changing the layout actually really got into that which I surprised myself with so if we lead with joy and curiosity and iteration then just keep going down that path and see where it takes you.

Rana 31:26

Brilliant advice and I have an opinion on this one which I come to after clarifying my response to my answer I know marketing easy to try everything if you if you want to share is there anything SEO worked for you, social media worked for you just just a generic way. Something worked for you better than others?

Beth Hope 31:44

Yeah I think for me uh especially in the coaching world doing things like blogs thought leadership media and stuff like that media I also really enjoy so that's been good you know I've had people reach out from the from the US being like oh I s you were on the top 20 executive coaches so I've found you through this and I'm like oh great you know it was lovely to also be featured in that list but it's it's something that's connected because now with my business largely being online after COVID I have clients from the US, EU obviously UK where I'm based and and kind of globally and it's wonderful because that's you know how they how do they reach me other than online?

Rana 32:25

Exactly so this is why I clarified the uh this point and the whole point of this show the main broader idea is because we believe there is no one way to grow a business and I also believe there are frameworks of marketing frameworks like SEO, social media, podcast, be offline networking other stuff. But every business is different. No matter which framework you you pick, you have to try and trial and error it depends on your personality some people are good at writing some people are very connecting you know the way you're doing Instagram your exercise videos so for some works uh something else. So this is why we are looking for stories, how you started and out of all these marketing options what for worked for your business maybe someone can connect and try try that because there are lots of generic advice we always say SEO you have to do this one. But whether the SEO is for you or not that's a question. This is the question we are exploring uh on on this podcast.

Beth Hope 33:24

Yeah I think that's wonderful you know that's wonderful advice and also remembering that that will change. So I think what worked for me 10 years ago when I started my business I'm seeing is now not going to be working as well and I have to pivot I have to think more SEO optimization. I have to think more okay online presence what am I doing here there? You know, AI overviews, things like that to get noticed in in those ways and get someone who isn't in my network. You know, a lot of my business has grown from word of mouth and referrals and people going from one company where I worked with, they go to their next company and they bring me along with them and then I get into that company, you know, like little bees kind of pollinating that's worked fantastic for 10 years. But also now I want to I want to take it up to the next level as well you know and and keep growing my own business. And so yeah, always think what's worked for me but actually what do I also need to iterate and play with a little bit. Let's experiment.

Rana 34:24

Amazing this is the again first advice to kind of which I remember of 15 years ago when I read emails from Michael Gerber, a business book again marketing is trying few things but the the difference between the businesses who are you know getting bigger successes, once they know what's working for them, they orchestrate on that part. So if the networking is working for you you you crack the code you should first you should try to do more of that while you are you're finding next marketing puzzle or next marketing support. So this is you know this is very important. As I said the time is again depend on your individual business resources, time and how much you want to put into your marketing there are two advices one is you know specialize in one channel and do more of it and then there is advice to be everywhere. So it depends on individual uh circumstances how you yeah want to market your business.

Beth Hope 35:20

Exactly and and A B test things you know we're in a way where we can easily do that and not necessarily at much cost, especially if you're a kind of solo business owner like I am. And you know one of my friends who's also another business owner she was doing that where you can you know earmark 40 50 quid of of something and be like right okay I'm gonna send out these 20 different reels on Instagram and see each one slightly different and then see okay what is it coming to and like for for instance on my website I know when people send me a reach out email I know exactly which of the call to action buttons they've pressed, therefore which page they're on, what's connecting more you know there's all of these ways we can we can trial and test these things. So let's have a bit of fun with it. And what you made me think of there is there are three questions that I think are really, really useful. One, what is working well? As you said, what is working well? Let's look at the positive before we start going, oh my God, my website traffic's dropped everything's gone wrong. Actually what is working well? Second, how can we do more of it? Just as you were saying there, if networking's working great do more of it. If SEO optimization's do working do more of it but expand the positive. And then the final question is what one thing can we do differently over the next two weeks or month? So put a timeframe on it, choose one thing to do differently because we don't know if it's going to be better or worse until we try. But it also helps us really have a singular focus rather than get overwhelmed and think, oh my God, right, now I need to go completely redo my website from scratch, make everything much clearer, change all the copy, SEO optimize everything, think about AI overviews and now it all feels too much and I'm lost and I'm just gonna sit in a corner and not look at it at all because it's it's horrible. No, okay. Try one thing different for the next two weeks then in two weeks' time assess. Try another thing. Layer up small step by small step because that's what's going to create that fundamental change.

Rana 37:22

Amazing advice most people or businesses need consistency than intensity. So if you will be consistent you will find find your your thing which you can orchestrate to to to to do more of it. But when you keep trying one day something else another day something else usually it's just a you know you are you are wasting your your time. Amazing you mentioned uh creating you know 20 reels uh here and there using AI how do you see uh AI is changing in your world in your uh coaching and leadership world how the AI is going to impact uh that world it's that's a great one and one that we're uh we're talking about uh a lot in the coaching community you know there is a thing as AI coaching and there's a big question mark around the ethics behind that so I'm a director on the International Coaching Federation UK chapter uh and my my kind of area on that is is credentialing standards and ethics.

Beth Hope 38:17

So I'm hugely really thinking okay how can we because AI is not going anywhere. And I think if we ignore it as an industry, then someone's going to develop it and it's gonna come up and it's going to be unethical. It's not going to be serving people in the correct way. So I think we really need to look at how are we meeting this? How can we work with it? How can we train it? How can we think, you know, as you were saying there, where is it going to be most useful? Maybe for now it's most useful in helping coaches run their own business, you know, like a virtual assistant style, making sure that we're efficient and effective so we can show up in our coaching sessions efficiently and effectively and as our best selves and the best coach we can be to serve our clients. There are instances of AI doing coaching that is very much an early phase. It's currently not really hitting the ethical standards that I would want to see and yeah it really isn't there. So we need to be very careful of that. But I think as coaches we can't shy away from it. We need to meet this head on and really band together and think great how can we make this work for the coaching industry rather than hope that it's kind of an annoying thing that will go away because I I would worry that that would come at the detriment of clients and the coaching industry integrity.

Rana 39:28

Yes we are we we are also betting on the positivity of the AI then I I'm I'm confident you will find a way to use AI also with authentic authenticity and human connection that's our hope as a human hope to you know of the survivors and I think we really hope that we will achieve definitely all the leaders who are listening if you could leave one key takeaway to lead with belief, with clarity with more authenticity to grow themselves and their businesses what would it be?

Beth Hope 40:00

I think a really wonderful starting place is to get clear on what are your three core values. So as a person what are your three core values and three as a max because otherwise I think you know we can make a lovely long list of all of these things that are important and yes they are but if it really came down to it what are those three? And then from there how do you show them in action? So if for example integrity is one of your core values but actually you're a leader you're just about to make everyone redundant and is going to come out of nowhere okay how are you showing integrity as your action? How are you showing up every day? So it's just a point to think how can we take that one small step towards living our core values? Yes it doesn't need to be 100% of the time but let's try not aim for like a 70-80% that we are that there will always be some extenuating circumstances that's fine. But really come back. What are your key core values those three and how are you showing them in action that then you can take small steps there to be that wonderful leader that you are. Amazing and can I ask your core values how those core values help you every day show up as a coach actually it was why I started my business was because I was in a very toxic company before I uh before I handed in my notice and thought hell I'll do this myself because I was used to working HR and it was going through a restructured process that they were not doing ethically and ethics is a huge part of who I am that integrity that ethics my dad is a professor of medical ethics so it's it's very ingrained in me. And I just thought you know what this I don't agree with this and I can't act on something that is so fundamentally dishonest. So I handed my notice and I thought great I didn't have a business plan when I started my business I still kind of don't whether that's good or bad but I had my values and I thought okay if I keep building my business from these three core values of integrity, ethics and helping people to really be that authentic powerful wonderful constructive person that they can be, then everything grows from there. So that's how values have shown up in my business. It's it's the fundamental of of everything I do.

Rana 42:19

Thank you so much for uh sharing this personal you know how you how your values are helping your business. We started this uh website development agency 15 years ago as well when we started we built policies and other stuff and rules and stuff and then very soon we realized no it's not easy to implement all those policies and and procedures then very quickly I come up with you know five core values guiding rules so every day you come up with a different scenario and these are the guiding rules we we run through that problem through that guiding rules and see how it uh helps us our team our customers one of the guiding principles it's probably not related but is everything is figure it out. I'm not a developer. I was a business owner struggling to build a website it in my team I loved it so much. So I started this business so we always say everything is figure it out. Whenever there is a challenge we get together we don't know how we'll solve it but we believe it's solvable and we work hard and so far that is keeping us going going. Exactly. So amazing and uh lastly if there is any question I should have asked you about our today's conversation which I haven't what would it be or if there is any that's a wonderful question.

Beth Hope 43:39

I think there's somewhere you know obviously we've talked a lot about how kind of that confidence in who you are as a leader translates into the clarity of message. But then there's also a question of if we flip that and say okay now you've got your clarity of message, you're clear in what you do, how does that then kind of come backwards to help instill that confidence of leadership? So how do they both kind of symbiotically boost each other? And so that's another thing for you to ponder on is how does that clarity in your message shape the confidence you have in your leadership style because all of this ties together and all of it perpetuates each other and it's just reminding ourselves that it goes it flows both ways. So let's make sure they're positively boosting both sides.

Rana 44:25

Excellent and for me a clarity and the purpose that equals confidence when you work with clarity and purpose you automatically and you stay consistent. Exactly every day you get to you get the confidence I'm a big fan of James Claire I think one reason or another it comes up so getting one person better every day that's another mantra we live try to l live by every day. So Beth thank you very much for your you know authentic and clear answers to all my you know uh different and maybe difficult questions as well. So where can uh people find you if they want to connect with you?

Beth Hope 45:02

Thank you. Well obviously my website which is and hope so a nd hopehop e dot co.uk and then on LinkedIn I'm Beth Hope IcF P C C and on Instagram and hope life coaching.

Rana 45:15

Amazing and we will put all these links into the show notes as well. Thank you very much for your time and I love talking to you.

Beth Hope 45:22

Thank you so much.

Rana 45:23

It's been an absolute pleasure that's it for this episode of the website growth show. If you find it helpful please consider subscribing and if you're wondering how your website is doing please visit wpminds.com and request a free website audit. My team will review your website and share the insights what's working and what can be improved to help with your business growth. Until next time keep growing