You're listening to the gold digger podcast episode number twenty seven today diving in ensuring five common mistakes at Yaller making on your website and of course I talk about how to fix it. It is time to make your website shine so that those dream clients know that you are the perfect fit from the moment they land on your homepage, you're. Listening to the gold digger podcast with Jenna Cutter, the life works upside business, podcast procreative girl bosses are you,

train from the experts have to dig in do the work and tackle your goals along the way. Here's your health photographer educator artist and makin she's lover agenda cultures. This episode of the gold digger pod guess is sponsored by honey book. Honey book is the management software that are used to stay, organise, manage invoices, get paid an give. Every client and elevated unforgettable experience. Honey book is offering twenty percent off exclusively for gold. Digger listeners just go to honey book dot com, slash gold digger to get started get your life back today. Hey gold diggers! Welcome to today's episode today, I'm so excited to talk about five common mistakes that people are making on their websites and how to make sure you're not make them or

Few are how to fix them. So, as somebody who has led thousands of different creative entrepreneurs through different online education in court says, I have offered a lot of private, consulting we're all review my students and work so their websites, and over the last few weeks I've been doing a ton of these website reviews and I was realizing that people were making a lot of the same mistakes and so the idea to record this. Disorders born because I felt like I was saying the same thing over and over again and I felt like I was seeing the same,

in little mishaps that were being missed on our websites in order to be able to reach our clients more clearly, more efficiently and more effectively and just giving them an experience. That is something that they might be yearning for, that you can't necessarily deliver visa mediums like social media entered today. I want a walk you through five commonly seeks out. A lot of us are making on our website and the solutions to them, and I also want to talk to you about the process there. I just went through and I regret that my website with Jen OHMS dead, and so when I first started, I had a shoestring budget. I had no idea how to create a website or what that would look like and to be entirely candid. When I started five years ago, I don't even have a website, I simply had a blog. That was all I had as I could afford to be honest, and while I only had a blog really undressed stirred the concept of branding and what that was going to look like, and so I was

smart enough to who hire somebody who is in design school and they created a logo and a brand for me with different colours and funds and topography? And so I had this website for five year, or so it was a blog in that we made a very simple word price website it's none of my business while over the years. But what I realise is that, instead of going a different direction, I was actually more so focused on going with the flow. I wanted to be Landon, and do what other photographers were doing, because I was not yet ready or confident enough to actually attracting repel Mozart. All about that in today's episode

so when I finally made the decision are right, it is time for an entire overhaul. I want to start from scratch. I want to scrap everything I hired and arms said, and we went through this entire process of what a new website look like and what we wanted it to feel like and how we were actually serious about attracting and repelling the right people in and getting those who put. That might not be the right that for me or my brand out and on their way, to find somebody who is, and so when I was going through all of these different websites of my students and leaving them these reviews and do

these are our videos for them walking through my process of going through their site. I notice that there were these common mistakes that were being made and, unlike what in the hell, how did we all get the so wrong and so without further do less dive in to the content of today's episode and make sure that if you're making these mistakes were given you a solution so that you can get off this episode, make these changes implement them in your business today, so that you can see results immediately. So the first mistake that I was realizing was coming in the form of how we were sharing ourselves so as business owners, it is far too easy to hide behind our products or services we have bought into the lie that we're not interesting enough or compelling enough or beautiful whenever perfect enough or whatever, that enough nests and lack of looks like in your visit.

And so one of the things that I notice on so many people's website is that we weren't creating connection. So what is thy connection to look like, while, if you dont currently have a beautiful bio photo of yourself, where you are looking at the camera and smiling as a means of an introduction to who you are then that needs to change. So one of the biggest mistakes I was seeing is that people would either not included by your photo or they would have this like emo, looking off into the distance type of photo where you can't see their eyes, you don't necessarily know exactly what they look like, while it might be a really cool photo, it's nothing that is going to make. You feel, action and connection needs to be one of the most important factors of your website. So the first thing that I noticed beyond just having a buyer photo. Was that our actual about me or Bio pages coming off so dry there

for either being written in third person, whether it be like China, Kutcher, attended the universe, do of Wisconsin Stevens Point and double majored in business, administration and communication. Nobody cares, I mean. Maybe your mom carers cause bless your mom his heart. She cares about everything you do, but how are you creating a connection with somebody that says like hey? I, like you chances are. If I like you, I'm going to like what you're offering and so Joy Bio page need,

to create connection and needs to show people who you are so they can start putting your words in their mind with your face and putting that face to the name and all of that and create that? Oh there she is, that is Jenna. That is why I am listening to that whose images I'm seeing that is who is teaching me these things, and you need to make sure that your about me section is inviting engaging that it creates connection beyond just a product or service you offer now. I created this about me training and, basically in it a kind of talks about how you need to make sure that your bio page, it leaves people wanting more, gives them something memorable that they can cling to its ideal, apart from every other person in your industry,

that it tells them something that is going to connect them to you as a human being and not just as a business owner, so that if you were sit down over coffee, you'd have something to talk about beyond the product or service you're. Offering now are about me page is the number one page people go to after your homepage, so once he landed on their website People are going to click over there, and I know I do this as well, because I'm I will who is this, I'm listening to whose work Emma looking at. Why do I like them? Do I like them, and so your focus on your website needs to being in having a beautiful, engaging connection, driving image paired with very thoughtful and re didn't well copy that tells people hey, I'm Jenna, I'm a small town response and girl with big city dreams, most days

You can find me in my office in my yoke of hands with puppies on my lap and cold coffee next me, because whoever gets around to drinking at while it's warm very they're, giving you many different options to decide. What do I like? How do I know you know where I live. I live in Wisconsin. You know that I dogs. You know that I like coffee, and so there is a very big strategy behind what your bios action should, including you need to make sure that it's really thoughtful now in general I went inserted designing my new site. I wanted to make sure that faced with showing up in different ways, so that people were continually building that connection with me that there are starting to recognise who I am and not just looking at my products or services, We made sure that there is a bio photo on the first page of my website and then that the about page had a few different photos so that they started to recognize me and then, if you went to my blog, you would see that same bio photo so that year creating this memorable experience were suddenly you're, not just somebody who's offerings,

then you become more like a friend the number. It's mistake that I was seeing in so many people's website was now. Having a clear branding message. So if this sounds like something you might be falling prey to, let's have a conversation when you think about what your brand is. Does it communicates? that clearly on every single page of your website, so what I was fine is very mixed messaging from multiple. What, goes to a million different funds to colleagues that Bert necessarily making sense within the color story or the context that they were in your grand needs to inspire emotion: ok, through a lot of times. When you hear the word brand, we think of a couple different things we think of what a logo looks. I we think of funds in colors, but we forget to think about how does your brand make people feel

and the biggest thing about a brand is that in these to inspire something with it in the person who is looking at it and that's where the whole attract and repel principle comes from. So you want people who are your ideal client to log on and see this brand in a way that their like heck has signed me up. You are the perfect fit for me or you want people to log on who might not necessarily fall into that ideal client category to say: oh, I don't think she's a rightful. Let's move on to the next option repelling, sounds negative. Doesn't like. We ve told ourselves that you want to please everyone. We want to be in a teller. We want to make everyone happy. Yet repelling is very powerful in its own right, because it's making more room for the attack,

action. I would rather spend time speaking to people who are the right foot, then trying to communicate in debate and explain why I am the rightful people who just aren't gonna, get it right here. Like a lot of times the entrepreneurs become on the defence, because we wanted Defend what we do or what will create or who we are, and we spend so much time defending ourselves to people who, just simply don't care or won't get it that we forget to speak directly to the people who are ready and excited and anxious to sign up. So what does your brand communicates? What is it telling me from the overall picture? So this includes the image is your using the funds you're using the logo. You have the design of your site, how it is leading me through your sight, all of it things, and there is just so much mixed messaging going on firms website to website that it needed to be something to be addressed so,

the biggest things when it comes to branding is that you don't need to go out in higher the perfect designer invest thousands of dollars in it. You just need you have a very clear direction with where you're going. So you need to pick one or two types that you're using so fonts. You need to pick one or two colors that are going to become recognizable. For your brand. You need to pick a logo that is going to show up in different places of your business in your logo needs to translate from different mediums, whether that's a profile photo or at the top of your website, or on a business card or on a client gift or if its printed somewhere. If you were brand, is it something that is very clear and that is delivered well

I can create this confusion that can lead to consumer doubt and consumer. Doubt is a road that you just don't wanna go down, because when I was cooking on to certain websites for my students I was realizing like oh gosh. Oh there are two logos here now, which one is the right one. Did you just go through a ring? Brian is one when you started out wine when he's when you're working now is this direction you're going and it creates, is really big confusion that leads to us doubting like either right fit for us. They know what they're doing? Are they confusion, what their offering? So when you are creating your website, you want to just create a very clear distinction of this is within brand. This is without brand, and you want your brain to inspire some sort of emotion, so don't just get caught up in things like your logo or your branding words. You want to make sure that that is being communicated to anyone who visits your site so that they start

the recognise you're different branding aspects, even if their outside of context, the next thing is is that I was seeing portfolios that were not making sense. So when it came down to creating my new portfolio from a new website, we did a lot of work. Curetting and curing is as catchword in the industry at we hear it all the time. So what does that mean concessions. I would like to feature my portfolio. I picked three weddings out of a hundred and twenty some that I've shot, and I said these are the three that are most aligned with my deal. Clients they didn't have to look the same. They do not have to be Garden Party, weddings or anything like that, but these are the three that I enjoy the most. These are the three that will resonate with my deal bride, the mouse- and these are the three that shit

joy. The most these are the three that will resonate with my deal bride, the most- and these are the three that show my range in style, of photography, the best internet, I see it when we carried our portfolios. We feel such emotional attachment to the work that we ve done, because as creative our work is an extension of us of our soul of our being, and so we have a really hard time disconnecting that, in order to work out what our portfolio needs to look like in order to attract the new clients- and so instead of focusing on these new clients are potential clients. We focus on the past clients at we, ve already love down in served well, and we feel this attachment were like what I have to show for it from their they're. Gonna kill left out. But here's the thing your portfolio is not for your clients, it's for you and it's a tool.

All that you are going to use in order to attract these new clients into your lives? So what does your portfolio look like? Is it all over the place? Are you showing too many types of work is it's all different types of precepts and editing, indifferent, colors in different visions? Are you curated in a way those going to speak to your dream, ideal client today we forget that as our business crows and changes in evolves so desire, ideal client, and so you need to be doing one servers on your portfolio every few minutes. You need to do that when you have new things at night fit better into that. You need to look at it with a very thoughtful eye and say: is this communicating the right thing You need a curate, it's so specifically that if anyone to pull single image out of your website. You be proud to have your name attached to it so

What I was seeing is that people had such an emotional attachment of their clients, which is a beautiful thing that they weren't able to look at their portfolio with a very distinct eye and say this is going to attract my next ideal client. Instead, they were still focusing on serving their past clients, which is a beautiful thing, but it doesn't stand a place when it comes to your portfolio. So my question for you is this: is your current portfolio on brand is speaking directly to the clients that you want to book you next and if I were to pull any single aspect of that portfolio out and say you created this? Would you be proud of that and if you can't answer yes to all of those in it's time to go back in and not let that sit on your to do list for too long, because your whole goal of social media is not to say.

Does your online portfolio? It is to be a call to action to get them to go one step further, which should be your website, and if they're going to look at your portfolio, there is going to be as beautifully curated as you're worried about creating that Instagram feed chances are. The answer is no, and so, when I went to and made my portfolio, I picked three weddings. I picked twenty images from each, which is maybe two per cent of what I shot, and I wanted to tell a story in a very thoughtful and skilful way, so that brides that were coming to my website could look and imagine themselves in those images crazy right did you ever think of your portfolio that way, so another mistake that people were making number three is that they were looking at creators in their field is and in seeking inspiration elsewhere outside of your feel, that would maybe help you speak more clear too. That ideal client that you're trying to reach so

oh something that I learned, especially when I went to many different photography websites, as we were all doing. The same thing right we were all being vanilla, because we were too afraid to stand out in the sea of photographers. But what we failed. Understand. Is that when we do that, we are literally becoming a tiny fish in a giant pond finger over the process, your clients, Goethe, you when they are trying to decide. If you are the right that for them they might have ten tabs open with other creatives in the same industry as you and all of their website open what happened.

If your site looks the exact same as the target for a busy or whatever area your industry is, if you look the exact same as everyone else, what are they? Gonna do they're going to price shop? You scary right. We hate talking about price, we hate it so much, but if the only way that you're standing out is your price, you are just begging to be price shot, and so what I was seeing Is that all of these photographers their websites, like the exact same as the next one, and I'm starting to forget, whose side am I looking at and what do they offer and where are they located Instead, I would you cycle what is our price point? It make sense, and so, when we

create? In my new website, we very specifically made the decision that we were going to look outside of the tiger feed industry. I was finally ready to say I am going against the grain. I dont want to look at any other photographers websites. I want my sight to feel entirely unique and personable, and I want it to be an experience for my clients, one that there into enjoy, and that is going to be exemplary of what they can expect. If they sign on the dotted line and say I choose you, and so, instead of looking at what the top photographers were doing, I started looking in different places. I went to painters and I started pinning all different kinds of its duration. I didn't care if it was hearing bone, tiled floor or a really chunky sweater. I didn't care if it was some crazy hand drawn fund or a color within a flower I wanted,

to start to see what was I to IRAN to what sort of colours and textures and wording in

different things were inspiring me and instead of looking at the rest of the industry and seeing how does your menu look or how are they designing their portfolios? I wanted to just go deep within inside here at these things that I love chances are. My clients are probably gonna love them too, and so, if you are getting stuck with your website- and you are consistently looking with anger industry, my challenge for you today is to start looking outside of it start, seeing what working and other industries start making your website try to appeal to other people in your industry. I know as a photographer. I see this all the time we right are about me sections four other photographers, we talk about things are only other photographers, would understand, or now like different awards or accolades or features. Instead of keeping the ideal client front and present in our minds, we start to think well what

right here say or what would they think about that, sir? What, when they like to see if they clicked here now are appears in our industries? There not seen the bills popular doesn't pay the bills honey. You need to make sure that every aspect, every facet every button, every page of your website- is speaking to her ideal clients and that's where you just have to let go of the fear of judgment from others in your industry and focus on those clients when you put them at the front of every single decision. Make it so much clearer and easier to say. Yes, this serves the purpose of my website, or no. This doesn't actually fit here. So stop looking at other creed is in your field, stop going with the flow and making yourself be a tiny fish in a giant pond, because when you're doing that, you're only setting yourself up to get price shocks and trust me eyes. That is not a funny way to run your business,

So the next thing that I was seeing- and this was on almost every single website that I looked like- was having over complicated contact forms or not having enough places where people could reach out and kind tat you. So when we set up my new website, one of them because I think that I talk to you about was that I really wanted to create a website that was constantly inviting people to get in touch I didn't want to do just beyond one elusive contact page. I wanted every step to get people closer, to feeling, encouraged and invited to reach out to me so When I was clicking through different contact forms almost soon and websites, I was seeing that people had about twenty fields that were required to be sold in before somebody could even say: hi an inmate courses,

I teach about how we need to minimize the risk of losing a client. So it is that look like when you get off of this progress up a suit. I want free to sit down I want you to write down every single step. It would take for a total stranger to first hear about your name or your business aim all the way through to the process of what it would take to sign a contract in gaining a pause it to work with you or by your product or whenever that looks like for your business. So from never hearing of you all the way to the final sale or the final commitment saying? Yes, I choose you: what is every single step that they would need to go to in order to make that happen? So for me, maybe they had gone to Instagram and they would find me uninstall ground than they would click on to my website link then from there they could click the contact page. Then from there they thought the contact form, which I would respond to.

And then we would start the conversation and hopefully get them booked within three emails. Okay, so a lot of times. We have this way over complicated idea that we want to take these go on amazing really make sure that the right fit before they even reach out, but Wouldn't it be so much easier to decide if they were the right that once you are able to speak with them, whether that is getting on the phone with a hammer meeting up with them for coffee or simply emailing them back, and so what I was finding is that people would bury their contact forms or they would have all of these fields, so it be like first name last name date but the how did you hear about is what are you invasion? What are your color is going to be for your wedding and we're over complicating this they may not even know that. Let's say I got engaged yesterday and I wanted to get in touch with my dream photographer and then there

ask me all these questions before I could even say hello and I didn't know the answers to them. I would feel like I just needed to sign off in that they weren't the right thing for me, because I didn't have the answers. Or or I would tell myself I'll get back to them when I do have those answers, but we could have just lost them right. So How can we minimize the risk of losing someone? How can we over simplify having then get in touch with us so that we are in control of what are in our communication and what their being served, the email or the phone looks like from their our biggest school of our website should be that we want people to be able to freely and invited Lee, reach out to us, and so, if we're only having a place to contact us on one place or if our contact form isn't working and we don't have our website or are immense address listed, how are people going to reach us

We tell ourselves where they could find me an interim imposed. A commoner civilly could have to my facebook regions and a message, but again we could have just lost them, and so, when you have a contact form on your website, I want you to collect the most important information which had just be their name, their email a generalised message, they're gonna, tell you all the details and if they don't awesome, you can send them a great. You know back and ask to clarify those details that you need in order to send out the right information so I would love for you to minimize the risk, simplify your contact form and make sure that people are being invited to get in touch with you on multiple pages on your

website, so even on Europe by Yogi Age, you could say like awesome. Do you love me? Let's get in touch put a link to your contact form, whatever that looks like and so on our website. We have so many different ways that you can get in touch with me and we want to just open invitation to that. People feel comfortable enough to reach out and we can start the conversation. We can start the experience and we can be in control of what that looks. Like your big goal should be that people feel comfortable and excited enough to reach out to you, don't make that job any harder than it has to be So the next big obstacle that we are seeing on different websites was that people were burying their email, opt in option. So you

that I believe in growing your email. Is it so important? We talk about it all in episode, number twelve. So if you are currently doing Adobe number wine, a big issue, but number two is that people were burying this place where people could sign it for their newsletter. In their website, so it would either be buried on his side bar at the foot of their website, and people would miss it. Who's gonna say, for that newsletter, if your bearing at the bottom of your site, if you are growing unless you just like your contact form, you want to provide a space for people to opt in. So how are you sharing the things that might be interesting to them? How are you encouraging them to sign up for your email west? Are you having pop ups on your site? Don't worry? Yes, it could be a knowing, but it also could capture we are, do you have a place where they can sign up for your freebies out you're offering do you have,

but I'll header that says hey here, sign up here for you free guide to exercising you dont want to bury this. You want it to be very prominent on your site because growing your email, it should be huge priority and your website is the best place to do this. So don't feel apologia. For it? Don't just think what I'll just housing here and I'm sure people that are interested will find it. Don't you assume that make it a prominent piece of your business and get away that your serving your audience with things that they need or want or like so the last piece of mistake, I was seeing in that you might actually be making in your business as well, is that there was a lack of direction on the websites. So I did, it necessarily know where to click next or how do now again through the website, and I finding a ton of dead ends on pages, so, for instance, I would look at somebody's port

Oh yeah, oh and I'd be done with a portfolio and then I'd be like will now why there is no link to contact them. There is no navigation. That said awesome. You made it through here's. What to do? tax, and so when John and I were working on my website, we were making sure that Every single area of this site led to something. Next, we wanted to make true, there wasn't a dead end that would just leave people hanging that they would click out of my sight and go on to the next thing we wanted it to be, experience where, based on what who are interested in. There will always be an opportunity to sign up for something next or to click. To a new page and so you want to make sure that you have direction for you page and you just very explicitly tell people awesome, you made it through this. The portfolio. Would you like to go to my blog to see more or grey eyes,

you bet you saw my weddings. Are you interested in seeing men gateway, photos or awesome? You made it through this next voting this, because you want to continue that invitation and you want to get nor perspective client used to saying yes to you and so what I was doing nothing is that there would be really complicated navigation and I wasn't even sure like well. How do I scroll through this gallery? Do I scrawl? Do I click? Is it a slideshow? Does it just automatically play, and so There is a lack of direction into you just want to tell people exactly what you want them to do. It sounds silly right. But when we are building our websites and were more so close to the design, we often forget that the things that are very obvious to eyes may not be obvious to other people. So I have this thing called the mom test and I teach this in.

Of my courses demand. Does he doesn't necessarily need to be your mom? It could be your spouse or your partner. It could be a best friend or your sibling, the bees somebody walking down the street of their willing, but what I want for you to do is I want for you to watch somebody navigate your website, so I want freedom, just pull up Demi website and then watch how they click through it. What pages they go to if they get stuck in place. Is if there are links that aren't quite working, if they aren't sure how to use certain feature on your website, and you want to make. Do I always joke that it needs to be my mom, because when I watch my mom use the internet, it's a little different, then of our generation do? But if she its hung up on Then chances are my clients could be getting hung up on something or something might not be clear enough where it makes sense to the average user.

And so it so interesting. The rule during the mom tests is that you can't interrupter. You can't tell them what to do. You just have to watch them, navigate through things and is always the best way for me to refine the design or simplify things we get so got up in making it so interesting or having all the balls and whistles out. We forget that some most people don't even understand or see the value in the bows and whistles they just want to figure out in land on where they want to land. So we all know the statistics mean is like eight seconds. He bore make a decision. If they're going to stick on your website or not so, are you making it simple for them to find what they're looking for. Are you making it easy for somebody to get in touch with you and are you giving them direction so that they know how you want them to get the experience? So, if you go to my website, there are many different things.

Catch your eye or your attention, and I won t go through that. It's going to lead you to the next part of its almost like a funnel we start very broad, and then we may this scope, so we start to refine. Who is as for what are they looking for? How can we give them? The two those are the resources or the information that they need in order to make a decision, and so you, need to make sure that you are very thoughtful when it comes to your website in designing a place that provides direction that doesn't have dead ends in that continues. The experience that is going to be exemplary, if that person should hire you as somebody in their lives, so there you have it. Those are the five biggest mistakes I see so not, having solid about me or Bio pages, not having clear branding messaging, whether that through logos or funds or colors not, having curated portfolios? Looking too deeply

others in our industry and not deep enough into what will speak to our ideal clients bearing in our email, opt in auctions and not having clear direction for the people who are visiting our websites, so those are the five things that I notice as I was going through and doing her views for my students and what an interesting and I learning experience. It was for me to just see the key hang ups that we often fall prey to it. Sometimes it's consciously and names we don't even realize it's happening, but what your website needs to be is a place for people to land, where you start that experience for them right off the bat you wanted to be simple. You want them to have the invitation to get in touch with you. You want to provide information for them,

make a decision, and you want to serve them in some sort of way so that whatever they landed on your page that they were looking for, they can find it so easily, and your website allows you to speak directly. Try deal class ants, so I always make sure that every decision you make when it comes to your design or your breeding or the direction of your site. Your asking yourself is this speaking to my GEO client, not to my peers, not to my mom not to anyone else. Is this going to touch the ideal client and show them the kind of work that I want to continue? doing? Can they envision themselves as a client of my work and my showing my greatest gives off and am creating a connection that will leave excited and eager and ready to sign up to. I have some homework for you. I love for you to perform the on ask a trusted friend too, Oh, do your website. Without you talk

whether you have to buy duct tape over your mouth or not, do not give them any direction and then start to make and implement changes. A lot of times are websites are abandoned in our business, but if we just sit down and put a few hours of work into it, the change can totally impact your bottom line in your business. In such a positive way, so don't said that at the bottom of the two do, let's move it up to the top, make it a priority and get going so that your work I'd say is something that is helping generate profits in your business and helping you serve the audience that you are seeking to serve in a new way. I hope this episode was so how, for four, you until next say, keep on digging those goals. My friends, I will talk to you super soon, thanks for listening to gold, digger dive into show notes for this episode and all past episodes at W W w dot gold, Digger podcast Doc on things

Listening and you'll see you next time you gold digging dream chaser, you.