Web Design Business with Josh Hall

302 - Personal Welcome Videos - Send Them to Grow Your Web Design Biz

• Josh Hall

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Josh shares his strategies for sending personalized welcome videos for both web design students and to clients as a web designer and how game-changing they’ll be for your web design business as well.

In This Episode

00:02 - Web Design Business Growth With Videos
07:57 - Using Personal Welcome Videos
13:36 - The Power of Welcome Videos


Get all links, resources and show notes at:

https://joshhall.co/302



Big thanks to the sponsors for our upcoming Web Designer Pro CON 2025 event! We couldn't make such a top-notch event for my community without their support 🙏

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Termageddon (for auto-updating privacy po

Josh:

Welcome to the Web Design Business Podcast with your host.

John:

Josh Hall, helping you build a web design business that gives you freedom and a lifestyle you love.

Josh:

Hey friends, welcome into episode 302. Just be with you in this one. This section is just going to be a shorty solo episode and I wanted to spend a little bit of time with you here to talk about personal videos. And I actually had a different topic in mind for this episode, but I wanted to talk about this because I think it's really important when it comes to ending the year and planting seeds for a really strong Q1, which we're going to be gearing up for here soon for 24.

Josh:

So, personal videos if you are not sending personal videos to clients, particularly personal welcome videos, listen up, because I would only do them, as the title says, if you want to grow your business. It's that important, it's that powerful and it is, I think, the best way to differentiate yourself from every other web designer out there because no one does this which is to send a personalized video. Now I, as a course creator, have learned the power of this because I've been doing it once a week on average for over three years now. I've been sending personal welcome videos to every one of my new students who joins a course and a new member to my community, web Designer Pro, and continually. I am blown away by how many people say that that completely rocked their world, like they're baffled by the fact that I took a minute out of my day to send them a personal video and I batch these. I will often do them. Usually on Fridays is when I do them, but you could do them whenever. But for me, as a course creator, I've just found personal welcome videos to be so impactful for creating a lifetime students of mine and it just leaves such a lasting impact. So for you, as a Web Designer, I want to write off the bat, say, send personal videos starting today or this week, and I want to give you some thoughts on how and when to send personal videos. Now for this episode. I don't have a bullet list in front of me, I don't have any notes, I just wing in this. I just want to share with you some thoughts on this because I had posted on my Instagram recently just a little reel on my recommendation for sending personal videos and how impactful they are, and it got a lot of good feedback. I actually got a lot of comments and DMs and engagement on that. That showed me not only some of my students who have taken what I've learned with doing personal videos and have started doing that, but just to see how powerful they are, because some of my students commented on that video and said that they joined a course maybe three years ago and it still sticks with them that I did that.

Josh:

So you can have that same effect for your web design clients Again, it just is the best way to stand out from other web designers. It's the best way to start a lifetime like a relationship with a lifetime client. And remember, first impressions are huge and there's kind of two levels of first impressions that I've found. One level of first impression is when it's a cold audience and somebody is getting to know you, or as a cold customer, like they don't quite know you yet. They're either referred to you and you have to kind of warm up that relationship. The next first impression is after they pay you, which is usually not the best first impression, which is why I spend so much time in the onboarding process in my business course on teaching you the ways that you can effectively onboard and make it an amazing experience for your client, because when somebody pays you, that is the best time to really leave that lasting impression. So there's kind of the first impression before they pay you and then there's kind of a lasting impression after they pay you.

Josh:

I recommend sending personal videos, potentially for both as a web designer, both during a proposal process to warm them up to pay you, and then certainly, if anything, when somebody signs off on a contract for you and pays for your proposal, send them a welcome video. That is not automated and that is not something that's canned. Next year I got an email from somebody I know as a web designer and it said personal video for you. And I thought, oh my gosh, someone's taking my advice and sending me a personal video. Well, it was a personalized video, but it was not to me, it was to everybody. And I don't wanna disparage that approach, because that's fine, you could totally do that, that's cool too. But if you really wanna do it right and do it well, make it actually personalized.

Josh:

And I bring up me doing this with students, because a lot of students who are new in my world or members of my community Web Designer Pro do not expect me to send a personal video.

Josh:

Or if they hear me say I'm gonna send a personal video, they probably think and I know that they think often that it's like a message, like a canned automated thing, but I do this every week and it has been revolutionary for my business, which is why I recommend you do it too. And actually, before I give you some tips on how and when to do this, I wanna share a little clip here from one of my members, a new member of Web Designer Pro, john, who was actually a student of mine. He purchased a course years ago and he said that that personal video has left a lifetime impact on him, like a lasting impact. So I just wanted to share this clip from John because he recently said this. When he joined Pro, I sent him a personal video and he responded with this back. So here's what John has to say, just to kind of prove my point.

John:

And I just wanna say and this has probably been two years into making I just wanna say thank you for providing me with these welcome videos. I wanted to say that two years ago, when I got my first one from you, it completely shocked me and, quite frankly, it hooked me for life. So I really do appreciate these videos and I'm glad I get an opportunity to return one to you.

Josh:

So, again, just like John said, it really can make a lasting impact and, what I've found, it can make lifetime clients, because no one else sends personal videos.

Josh:

Ask yourself when's the last time you purchase something, particularly if it's a course or a service or a program, and the owner or the person actually sent you a like, thanks for purchasing, congratulations, welcome. That is not automated. It will go so far for you and if you only have a couple of clients, even more so is your time to do this. Because before you get to scale and, honestly, most web designers, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to send personal videos if not once a week, once every couple of weeks or once a month to new clients, because as web designers, you're not gonna be getting that many new clients day to day, week to week, so there's really no reason why you shouldn't be doing this at least once every couple of weeks. So personal videos, again, you can do it. On the proposal process, for sure, and what I recommend in my business course is that during the proposal, you send it over but you don't leave the proposal all to your client to review without giving them some guidance. You actually guide them through the proposal. So the thing with that, though, is it's different than a personal video, because it's not really personal. It's a proposal video. So the umbrella term personal video, really could encompass a lot of things, but there is a difference here. As I'm talking, I'm realizing between a proposal video and a personal welcome video. So I'm really talking about the personal welcome video, because a lot of the proposal videos, you may not even be on camera. That would just be a screen share of the proposal, walking them through the deliverables, the goals, and then really giving them a chance to explain or you a chance to explain the value before they sign off. But then, when they pay, you hit them with a personal welcome video. Now you could customize this however you want.

Josh:

If you have yet to join one of my courses or my community Web Designer Pro, when you do, what you'll find is like, let's say, you join Web Designer Pro. Here's what to expect from me. Generally, I try to get to those again once a week With Pro, I often will send those the day after or a couple days after if they're on weekdays, just because I try to kind of strike while the iron is hot. Now, if somebody joins on a Friday and I've already sent videos. I'll usually DM them and say hey, just wanted to say welcome in. I'm gonna be, you know, weekend time I'll be off, but on Monday I'll circle back around with a personal video. So with Pro I actually do them more often, but with courses I generally do it once a week and it will go something like this if you join Pro, let's say your name is Bob. Okay, so Bob joins Pro. I'll say, hey, bob, just wanted to say welcome in to Web Designer Pro. So great to have you here. I'm really, really excited to be a part of your Web Design journey and to learn more about you and your business. There's a ton of resources here in Pro between the courses and the trainings and the community. So what I would love to know is kind of where you're at in your Web Design journey and that'll give me a good idea to give you some insight and recommendations on what courses to go through first, and I'll be happy to give you kind of a custom path that works best for you to get the most out of your investment as quickly as possible here in Pro. Any questions, let me know. Otherwise, have fun, dive in, and I'll usually finish off with something like that for Bob.

Josh:

Now, as a course creator, I don't really know a lot of the people who join initially, so that's my chance to get to know somebody For you as a Web Designer. And what I did later on in my career is I found out that in most cases I would know a little bit about the business because I've already sent a proposal. But there's still things I'm not quite sure on or maybe I don't have a deeper relationship on, and that is the real power of the personal welcome video. Is you could say, all right, I just like let's say okay, let's say Bob is a client of yours because he just paid you so you could send a video. And I did this often when a client would sign on after they paid and I would say, hey, bob, welcome in, so excited to be your Web Designer, so excited to help you with building this website and then help be your Web guy moving forward. In this case, I would say we have a good process and plan in place for the website, so I'll be following up with some resources to help get started. But I just wanted to personally say welcome in, super excited. If there's anything that we have not covered at this point or there's anything that we don't cover here.

Josh:

Moving forward in the getting started process, let me know Again. I am your partner in growing your online business, or your business online, and I wanna make sure if you have any questions, you let me know. Really, however, you wanna customize this, but that's just a quick example, as a Web Designer, of what you can say to make this the personal welcome video. The personal welcome video it's different than the proposal video, and the other point I would say I would send a personal video that is not automated is a like moving forward style video. This is when the client is done and you send them off, and this is the perfect chance to upsell website care and maintenance, if you haven't already locked them in for that. It's a perfect time to upsell strategy, ongoing SEO services, whatever services you're doing in the growth category to help your clients grow. That's the third time I would send a personal video, so there's really three personal videos.

Josh:

I would send the proposal process, the welcome video and the moving forward, like the post project video, and you can 100% automate a post project video. I actually have a moving forward page that I teach in my business course which you can actually see if you go to joshintransitstudios slash, moving, dash forward. That is an automated page that I have with recommendations on what I recommend clients do with their new website and it has a video on me there. But it's not personal, it's just a canned style video. So this is why I say, additionally, when somebody is done with the project and they paid you the second invoice or paid in full or in a subscription plan, potentially if their renewal is up, I would send a personal video just to say, hey, it's been amazing serving you through this, the website's live, blah, blah, blah.

Josh:

Any questions? Let me know. Very much like the welcome video, but it's just geared towards moving forward. So just to let you know, we have some additional services that we can approach right now or we could do when you're ready. Whatever you want to say, just make it very personal welcoming or not welcoming, but engaging, retaining. That's the strategy for that one. To say, a personal video in the case of a project being done is the chance to keep them, to retain them and to let them know. This is not a goodbye, this is a okay. We're done with phase one. Now what can we do? Moving forward? How can I serve you best. Moving forward, I want you to be getting more clients on retainers in recurring services. I want you to really think about this personal approach, because I'm telling you right now, unless you're listening to this podcast and you're a student of mine, most web designers are not doing this. So it's easiest way to stand out, even if you're a brand new web designer or if you're feeling the imposter syndrome. You be the personal communicator for your clients and just watch what it'll do for your business. But again, harp on the welcome video. That's the big one here. I want you the next project you land to get a welcome video sent out to your clients, and I promise you it's going to make a world of difference for your clients.

Josh:

Now, heading towards wrapping this episode up, there's another area. I guess I should tell you how to practically do this too. So let me share how to do this, and then I'm going to share a bit of a hidden gym. That's really timely right now with personal videos. So how to do this and what to use.

Josh:

I use Loom. Loom is what I've been using for all of my quick videos. There's some other tools too, though. So a lot of video tools out. There are more for capturing video like testimonials. But I actually had a hand in helping do branding and the initial website for a company called Magnify, which is actually a tool that I use for collecting video testimonials. Now you can actually use Magnify now because it is a full video suite. Actually we're going to be talking to Doug, the owner, next month on the podcast, but you could absolutely use Magnify for sending videos. If you'd prefer to try that out and I do have an affiliate link with them If you want to check it out you can go to joshallcocom that is MAG in FI to try that out. But again, I'm using Loom for my personal videos, primarily just because I've been doing it for so many years and I have a nice little categorized system and just kind of what I'm comfortable with. But those are some tools you could use for sending personal videos to just make it easy and to make it categorize.

Josh:

And what I would say is, again, we kind of talked about when to do it. That's kind of what to use. As far as how to do it, again I would keep it simple. I would not ramble on for five, 10, 15 minutes. My welcome videos for new students are usually between a minute and a minute and 30 seconds, sometimes under a minute. Just because I don't want to overwhelm them, I just want to personally get a chance to say welcome, you paid me, congratulations, thank you. I'm going to be a part of your journey.

Josh:

Enthusiasm goes a long way and remember, when clients sign up for something they just paid you, they are hoping and praying that their investment gets them a return and you can really set them at ease after that point by sending a personal video. And I mean, I've had so many students say I was really leery about investing in Pro or a course, but as soon and actually who said it? He said it just recently, I think it was on my Instagram post that as soon as I sent them a personal video, they realized they were in the right place because I had sent that and they were like, oh, it literally put them at ease. So again, I cannot recommend enough that you do that. And actually let me look that up real quick, because I think it's on Instagram that I shared that and somebody said, as soon as you sent that, it put me at ease. Yeah, here it is. So, sandra, shout out to Sandra I know Sandra's probably listening to this On Instagram. You can find this If you go to my Instagram joshallco. Instagram will take you there. I have a video. It's a real. I'm wearing a Red Ohio State shirt if you're looking for it for that video.

Josh:

But Sandra said, josh, I will never forget the impression the welcome video you sent me after joining your community left upon me. I was so uncertain, she says, of the experience or what the experience in the community would be like, and to have your personalized welcome solidify that I was in the right place and still is the right place, with all the best people, showcase what the rest of the group would be like and have proven for several years. When I she said when I had joined, I was on the cusp of a career change and your personal video was a welcome into the vibe of the rest of the community. That would extend and meant so much to me at just the right time. So, sandra, thank you so much for sharing that and putting that as a comment on the real, and that just goes to show you the power of a personal video.

Josh:

Now, when Sandra joined my community, my thought process was probably oh all, right, new member Sandra. Okay, let's learn more about Sandra. Let's check out her website very cool. So I sent a video that was probably around a minute that just said hey, sandra, welcome into pro. I'll be excited to be a part of your journey. Just what I said earlier and to me, I try to remember how impactful these are. It's always a good reminder for me and it will be for you too, because it can be draining to do these. Sometimes it can be time intensive and sure there's times where I'm like, oh, I don't feel like doing like eight welcome videos this week, but what an amazing challenge to have I have to remind myself constantly. That is amazing Because I had some slow points this year and I learned I will never, ever take for granted the opportunity to send welcome videos to new students and new members, Because when times are slow, you would give anything to send a welcome video. So, anyway, I said that to say it was. It was probably like I didn't really think much of it for me, but for Sandra it has left a lasting impact, and Sandra is actually a founding member of Web Designer Pro. So that was literally three years ago. November 2020 is when I sent that video to her. So just a testament to the personal welcome video and how powerful they are.

Josh:

So do it, friends. Do it for your clients. The next few clients you get, send them a personal welcome video after they've purchased. That is outside of your onboarding, outside of your getting started stuff. It's not a proposal video, it's not a project moving forward video. It is a welcome. So glad to be a part of your journey. I'm excited to be your Web Designer for a long time here and make it enthusiastic, make it real and watch what it'll see. Well, watch what it'll do for your business. I think you'll see it'll really immediately make an impact and it will be the start of creating lifetime clients.

Josh:

So personal welcome videos only send them. If you wanna grow your biz, let me know how it goes. Leave me a comment at joshallco 302 to let me know how your personal videos go. Oh, and then I almost forgot I recommend that you also send one at Christmas time here for the new year, because there's no better way to say thank you to your current roster of clients. You could send a letter too. I recommend that something I would do, either one or you could do both. You could do a personal video and actually send a written letter and actually my newsletter that's coming out on Sunday. If you're not subscribed yet, go to joshallco.

Josh:

I'm gonna be sharing about how to retain your A clients, your best clients, and one of the best ways to do that is by sending an annual letter, like an actual written letter, which no one else does either, and you could totally back that up with a personal video as well. But if anything, you could do one or the other, but in any case, send a video into the year, begin to get the new year, thanking them for working with you this year and that you're excited about 2024, and just light some enthusiasm for them, especially if they're clients that have been with you and maybe they haven't heard from you in a long time. Amazing opportunity and chance to plan a seed. And if they don't pay you immediately, some people might. Some people might be like oh, my gosh, yeah, thanks for sending this.

Josh:

I wanted to jump on something, and a lot of clients have a marketing budget. They wanna get out the door by the end of the year, so you may maybe a revenue boost for you, but in most cases it is a primer for January, for the new year to really start strong. So personal videos my gosh, they are amazing. Personal videos will just completely rock your web design business world in the best way. Proposal videos, welcome videos, go live videos, moving forward videos if we could call them annual Thank you videos. All of the above are personal videos and they will grow your business like wildfire, friends. So let me know how it goes. Joshallco slash 302,. Leave me a comment and let me know how you're sending personal videos and how they help. And again, in the next newsletter, my weekly newsletter, I'm gonna be sharing how to retain your A clients. So make sure to sign up for that at joshallco slash weekly and if you're already a subscriber to my email list, I'll see you Sunday. All right, friends, cheers.