Kristen Doyle 0:00
Hey, there. Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you are building your business on borrowed land? You know, where you’re working so hard to grow your audience on social media or drive sales on a marketplace platform, but deep down, you can’t shake that sense that you don’t really own every piece of your business.
Kristen Doyle 0:24
Well, news flash, there is a way to take back ownership of your business and your customers, a way to create an audience that no algorithm can take away from you and a platform that grows with you for the long haul. It’s your website, my friend. Shocking I know, coming from the web designer, but anyway, today we are going to talk about why your website should be the center of your online business strategy, not just an afterthought.
Kristen Doyle 0:53
And then I’ll share a step by step process for how to use your website to take back that ownership of your business and your audience, because your website is hands down, the best way to set yourself up for sustainable long term growth in your business. So if you have been pouring all your energy into rented platforms and ignoring your own website, this episode is your wake up call to start investing in the one piece of online real estate that you actually own.
Kristen Doyle 1:28
Are you a digital product or course creator, selling on platforms like teachers pay teachers, Etsy or your own website? Ready to grow your business, but not into the kind of constant hustle that leads straight to burnout? Then you’re in the right place.
Kristen Doyle 1:43
Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I’m Kristen Doyle, and I’m here to give you no fluff, tools and strategies that move the needle for your business without burning you out in the process. Things like SEO, no stress marketing, email list building, automation, and so much more. Let’s get started y’all.
Kristen Doyle 2:06
Before we dive in to the step by step, let’s talk about the problem with building your entire business on rented property. This might include marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon or TPT or social media sites or really any platform that you don’t fully own and control. The danger is that you’re at the mercy of algorithm changes and policy updates or even account shutdowns. Your reach and your revenue can disappear overnight, sometimes at no fault of your own when you rely completely on a platform that’s not yours.
Kristen Doyle 2:43
We have all seen that happen. A Facebook algorithm update suddenly cut to your post reach by half, or a TPT change affects your product listing visibility or your search rank. Just last month, I had a client who had created all of their content on YouTube only to have their account shut down over a total misunderstanding. All of that work just down the drain.
Kristen Doyle 3:09
Plus, when you focus only on those other platforms, your audience isn’t really yours. You have pretty limited ability to communicate with them outside of that platform. Those 20,000 Instagram followers that you can’t actually email directly, those Etsy or TPT customers. You’ve practically no information on them and no way to contact them outside of the platform. So that is why having your own website is absolutely critical. And I don’t use that word very often. I actually don’t even really like that word. But when it comes to long term sustainable growth for your business, you have got to have your own little piece of the internet.
Kristen Doyle 3:55
When you have your own website, you have complete ownership and control. No one can take it away from you, the rules don’t change unless you change them. Now I know there are tons of website platforms out there, from Squarespace to Shopify to WordPress to Kajabi. They all have their pros and cons. Personally, I recommend WordPress for most content creators who sell digital products because it gives you the most flexibility and the most control.
Kristen Doyle 4:22
Some of the other platforms still have in their Terms of Use, that they can shut your website down, and that is just not something I’m comfortable with as I’m building my own business, and I don’t really think you should be comfortable with it, either. But the most important thing is that you have a website of your own, regardless of which platform you choose.
Kristen Doyle 4:42
Your website gives you a place to build your email list. That email list is your one and only direct line of communication to your audience that no one can take away. And this is huge for your business. When you have someone’s email you can reach them directly anytime, without paying for ads or hoping an algorithm shows your content in my own business.
Kristen Doyle 5:03
Moving from selling only on TPT to having my own site and store and really building my email list was a total game changer, because it gave me that way to reach my customers and to build real relationships. That way, when I launch new products or when I want to run a flash sale or anything like that. I don’t have to start from scratch. I already have a direct line to people who already know and trust me.
Kristen Doyle 5:28
Your website also gives you a platform to publish your free content and establish your authority and expertise in your niche. It really helps position you as that go to expert, so that when it’s time to sell, people already know, like and trust you.
Kristen Doyle 5:42
Now let’s get into the how tos. We’re going to talk about exactly how you can use your website as the foundation of your online business. And I am going to walk you through a three step process that starts with attracting the right people to your website, then converting them into email subscribers, and finally retargeting them so that you can actually make money in your business.
Kristen Doyle 6:04
First, you need to create content that attracts your ideal customers, not just random blogging, but strategic content that addresses your ideal customers, specific questions and their pain points, that shows off your expertise and your unique approach to the problem that you solve, and that ranks well in search engines so people can actually find it.
Kristen Doyle 6:30
Here’s where I would start. Identify maybe three to five ish core topics that are directly related to your products or your services. That part of it is important, because if you’re blogging or creating podcast episodes, whatever it is about things that aren’t directly related to what you sell, then you’re going to build an audience of people who aren’t necessarily interested in what you sell.
Kristen Doyle 6:54
So if you sell digital planners, then those topics might include things like time management, productivity, goal setting. If you have a wide variety of products in your business, like a lot of teacher sellers do, then you might need more of those core topics. Once you figure out some core topics, then do some keyword research to find those specific search terms that people are actually using.
Kristen Doyle 7:17
You can use tools like Ubersuggest or KW finder or even Google’s own search suggestions, can help you a little bit with this. Look for keywords with decent search volume but lower competition scores, and you’ll find those on Uber Suggest or KW finder. Once you find your keywords, then you need to create great content around them, and that content can be in the form of blog posts, podcast episodes, video trainings, anything that you like to create, that your audience likes to consume.
Kristen Doyle 7:46
Your goal is to become the most thorough resource on the entire internet for that specific topic, and you’ll do it through creating lots of content. I’m just going to call them posts. But like I said, it could be episodes of a podcast or video training, whatever you like to create. You’ll do that through creating lots of posts around different aspects of that topic.
Kristen Doyle 8:08
So if your keyword is meal planning for beginners, then you’ll want posts on grocery lists and meal prep friendly recipes and containers and other supplies, and then you’ll wrap them all up into the ultimate guide that covers everything a beginner would need to know.
Kristen Doyle 8:24
As you’re creating your content, make sure that you’re optimizing it for SEO, because while it’s great to send out links to your content to people on those marketplaces, to send it out through your email, you want your content to get discovered in search by people who didn’t already know about you.
Kristen Doyle 8:42
So what that looks like is including your keyword in your title, in your headings, throughout your content, making sure your page loads quickly, it works great on mobile and that you are including images that have the keywords in your alt text. You also want to make sure you’re including internal links, those are links to related content on your own website, and if you can get other websites, good, reputable websites, to link over to your content, because that helps build your site’s authority with search engines like Google and Bing and whoever else.
Kristen Doyle 9:15
Now, once you have people coming to your website, the next step is to get them onto your email list. Keep in mind, your email list is the only audience that you truly own. So here’s your action plan for that. Create targeted lead magnets that directly solve specific problems for your ideal customer, instead of having one generic freebie for your entire site or a new freebie on every single blog post. Get strategic with it. Create a few three to five is probably more than enough. Smaller, more specific lead magnets that target your biggest audience groups or their biggest pain points.
Kristen Doyle 9:57
And then once you’ve created these, there are four places that you need to put your opt in forms on your website. The first one, and you can kind of pick and choose one of these two, the first one is either in your footer at the bottom of your site or in an announcement bar above your header. The reason this is important is because either of those two places will give you site wide visibility, so they will be visible on every single page of your website, no matter where a visitor lands.
Kristen Doyle 10:23
You’ll also want to include specific opt ins within the blog content that is related to them. So maybe you end up with three to five opt ins that are similar to those three to five topics that you came up with, and you put the one that is related to each blog post based on the topic that it’s about.
Kristen Doyle 10:45
Don’t just drop these in at the very end. In fact, I really don’t recommend those plugins that will pop a an opt in right at the end of every page. They usually don’t look that great. They don’t necessarily fit with the flow of your pages, and if you drop them at the very end, people may not even pay attention to them. So put these within the content. You’ll just want to grab the embed code for your form and put it right in the middle of your blog post, wherever it makes sense.
Kristen Doyle 11:12
The third place that I would recommend you put your opt ins is as an exit intent pop up. Now I know, I know pop ups are annoying, but they work. And exit intents aren’t so bad, because they don’t actually show up until the visitor goes to leave your page when they move their mouse out of your window, like they’re gonna hit the back button or something like that, that is when the exit intent pop up shows up. So it really doesn’t get in the way of people browsing, but it can definitely grab them before they leave. For your exit intent pop up, I would recommend picking your best converting opt in since you’ll only have one of those.
Kristen Doyle 11:52
And then the last place is every single one of your opt ins should really have a dedicated landing page that you can direct traffic to. When it comes to creating those opt in forms, make sure that they are irresistible. You’ll want to use benefits focus language, not just features. So you’re talking about what they’ll get, but you’re talking more about what they’ll get out of it, the benefit for them from the thing you’re going to send.
Kristen Doyle 12:20
If you at all can do this, make sure you include an image of your lead magnet anywhere that that works out. You probably won’t do that in the announcement bar at the very top, but basically everywhere else, you should have an image of your lead magnet so that people can see visually what they’re gonna get. Keep those form fields minimal, if at all possible, just ask for their first name and their email address. The last thing you want to do is ask people for so much information that they’re turned off of opting in.
Kristen Doyle 12:48
I saw an email opt in for a freebie not too long ago that asked for my phone number, and you had better bet I hit that back button so fast I was not about to give a stranger on the internet my phone number just so I can get a free PDF from them. Absolutely not. So keep those form fields as minimal as you can.
Kristen Doyle 13:09
If you want extra information from people, so that you can tag them based on their interests, or something like that, you can send that out in surveys within those first couple of emails that you send to those new subscribers instead of putting it on the opt in form.
Kristen Doyle 13:23
And another great idea for your opt in forms is to include a little teeny snippet of social proof. And when I say social proof this time, I am not talking about long testimonials or anything like that. This is for a freebie, but if you can say something like, join 5000 plus subscribers who got this result or downloaded this freebie, or whatever it is, that just helps people know that they’re not alone, and other people are using this.
Kristen Doyle 13:50
You want to make sure that you deliver that freebie to them right after they subscribe. You’ll set that up as an automation in your email platform. And follow up on it with some valuable content that really builds trust, whether you create a special welcome sequence, which I would absolutely recommend that you do, or you just drop them into your regular weekly emails where you’re sending that good, valuable, educational content. I’ll drop a link in the show notes to another episode if you need more details on creating a welcome sequence.
Kristen Doyle 14:25
Once you create those opt in forms and you get them on your website, don’t just walk away from it at that point and let it run on autopilot. Make sure every so often that you’re tracking your conversion rates so you know what’s working. Go back into your email marketing platform and check to see how the different forms are doing. If you’re getting a lot of traffic to a certain opt in but no subscribers from it, then you want to maybe experiment with different language on that opt in form, different placement on your website. Or you might need to try swapping it out for a totally different lead magnet until you figure out what works for your audience.
Kristen Doyle 15:01
Now the last piece of this strategy is using your website and your email list for what’s called retargeting. This is just showing ads to people who already know you and to people like them. These are, hands down, the best audiences to send product ads to.
Kristen Doyle 15:18
What you’ll do is take your email subscriber list and upload it to your ad platform like Facebook or Pinterest. You can also use the people who got tagged as visiting your website by your pixel and with those two sets of information, you can create two different types of audiences.
Kristen Doyle 15:34
The first is a warm audience. That is an audience of the actual people who have interacted with your content in the past, or they’ve purchased something, or they are on your email list. But you can also create look alike audiences, and those are audiences that your platform, like Facebook, will create, of people who are similar to the ones that are in that warm audience. The beauty of using warm and look alike audiences for your ads is that they typically have lower ad costs and higher conversion rates compared to cold traffic that you get based on just interest that you put into the ad platform.
Kristen Doyle 16:12
And if you’re not ready to run ads right now, you can still take advantage of retargeting those email subscribers with special offers in their inbox based on what they were interested in. When you prioritize your website and your email list, you own and control your platform so you don’t have to worry about getting banned or algorithm changes. You can build your email list, which we already said, is that one place that you own your audience and can reach out to them.
Kristen Doyle 16:43
It also positions you as that go to expert in your space. It gives you a way to get free traffic from search engines, and you can add multiple income streams, like your own products, affiliate offers, ads, sponsorships, all sorts of things. Your website becomes that central hub that you can send all your traffic to, no matter where you are reaching out to them.
Kristen Doyle 17:08
So what is your first step? Start by auditing your current website, assuming that you have one. Is it set up to attract the right visitors? Do you have SEO optimized content that is highly relevant to your products or your services? Does it have an irresistible email opt in, or two or three, strategically positioned throughout the site? And then, are you leveraging that audience that you’re building with some retargeting?
Kristen Doyle 17:38
This week, I want you to pick just one area to focus on first, whether that is creating one piece of great content, setting up one strategic lead magnet, or installing that pixel so you can get ready to do some retargeting. Don’t try to do it all at once, just take your one next step for now.
Kristen Doyle 17:58
If you found this episode helpful, take a screenshot while you’re listening and share it on Instagram. Tag me @kristendoyle.co so I’ll see it and can share it with my audience too. And don’t forget to hit follow on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode of the show. Talk to you next time!
