Leveling Up?
Questions Coaches Should Ask BEFORE Investing in a New Website!
As you know, investing in your business is a BIG deal, and when leveling up from your start-up site to a more robust platform, it’s important to ask yourself more pointed questions that you probably didn’t think to ask when you first got started.
The learning curve between then and now should have given you some great insight to work with, but we’re here to help you really dial into some very important questions you may not even be thinking about. The goal is to help you make the BEST possible choice for your business right now, but more importantly – where it’s heading!
In this blog we’re going to go over some things that every business owner should consider before investing in a new website or sales platform, but first I’ll be discussing a few things to ensure you’re even at a place to uplevel.
Commitment
The biggest profit barrier I see is lack of commitment. In recent years the industry has been flooded with the idea that all you really need is a one amazing sales funnel and you could skyrocket your business. While sales funnels really do help, they won’t do much if there are gaps in your business.
Looking at highly successful coaches you’ll notice they don’t just have a sales funnel or a few, they have committed themselves to a robust content rich website and blog, proper SEO, business partnerships, affiliates, and many other strategies that put in motion a natural and continuous sales journey for their visitors. Each facet of their online presence is strategic, and there is an unwavering commitment to do things the right way vs trying to outsmart the system.
If your profits aren’t climbing it could be that you either don’t know what these strategies are, you’re only doing them here and there, or you’re trying to avoid them all together. Regardless of the reason, the first step is to commit to the strategies that work best for your business and build a routine to ensure each strategy is being harnessed to its full potential. If you’re already doing this or want to but are limited by your current setup, you’re ready for an uplevel!
Smart Investments & Cutting Costs.
It’s crucial to cut your expenses where you can without sacrificing your sales journeys or brand. For instance, if you’re using a super cheap website like Wix or Weebly that doesn’t support your products, services, or sales journeys this can actually cost you clients. While the cost of a low-end website may seem reasonable, if your brand, sales journey, or usability of the site isn’t up to snuff you could be looking at thousands upon thousands of dollars in lost profit each month.
Have you ever gone to a cheap website and liked the content but hated how hard it was to use the site, so you left? Or maybe the site looked so cheap you just didn’t trust the person? If so, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s important to use systems that support your vision and future goals! The more professional your site looks, the more you can command top dollar! In a nutshell, it’s important to thoughtfully invest in the areas that can actually make a difference in your web presence, while also cutting cost in areas that won’t hurt your brand or customer experience!
One of the best ways to cut costs is by combining your needs. For instance, if you have a website, and a separate sales funnel software like Clickfunnels or Infusionsoft your costs are going to be substantially higher. I suggest seeking out solutions that can give you the best of both worlds! As some of you may or may not know, our Empire Sites come with built in lead and sales funnels, along with a membership platform, eCommerce store, and affiliate tracking. We believe this is a smart investment because it combines your needs into an all-in-one platform, and can easily save you upwards of $1-$4k a year and hundreds of hours! If you are ready to ditch the quick fix and dial in once and for all, you’re ready for an uplevel!
Cutting business costs is JUST as important as making a profit! I challenge you to write out a list of all your business expenses tonight and create an action plan to eliminate, adjust, or combine what you can. You never know, you may find money you can put back into your business right away!
We believe your website should not only attract clients but play an active role in delivering sustainable profits without restriction! With that said, here’s what we believe are the critical questions you should be asking before you uplevel your website.
1) Is it customizable?
Most websites builders such as Wix, Weebly and Squarespace limit your growth potential, these cookie cutter builders are over-simplified and limit your options for integrating tools and widgets, turning simple things like booking clients or taking payments online more complicated than it needs to be, or worse, making it hard to create membership programs/courses! This article in Forbes “Why You Should Invest In A Custom Website” talks about how cookie cutter websites can actually end up costing you more due to the lack of customization! No doubt a serious business owner will outgrow simplified builders. So… the real question you should be asking is, what kind of platform offers the most robust custom options to ensure my business is functioning at its highest level?
The unequivocal answer is WordPress. Millions of business use WordPress because they offer thousands of plugins & widgets which creates unlimited growth potential. It’s also the #1 website tool. So before deciding, be sure you are thinking LONG TERM growth and not just what’s simple and inexpensive, the tradeoff isn’t worth it. WordPress will serve your goals without restriction!
2) Can you create & sell evergreen programs with ease?
The key to running a lucrative business is utilizing your time efficiently. While it’s great to have a 1:1 coaching program, at some point you’ll be stretched as far as you can go – this is where evergreen programs can help you serve more people with less of your personal time. For instance, a membership program gives you the unique ability to serve high-value training videos to the many, on autopilot. This means you can help more people but now your time is freed up to create more programs, or just enjoy the fruits of your labor. So, before you jump into buying your next website, ask yourself, does this platform support evergreen sales?
3) Can your website make you more money?
One huge element of going from surviving your business to thriving in profits is your ability to tap into resources that make it easy for others to promote you. If you have a solid, unwavering program, product or service, you should absolutely be offering an affiliate program. An affiliate program allows you to gain extensive exposure that you may not have otherwise been able to achieve on your own. This is critical – you are only one person, so you’ll need help anywhere you can get it! In addition, paying others to promote you is far more effective than JUST tossing money at paid advertising, word of mouth rules the world and if you are willing to pay someone to spread the word about your program to their email list and audience, your close rate will shoot through the roof! Ask yourself, does my website support my affiliation efforts?
4) Will it help you elevate business costs?
What’s the point of hard-earned cash if you’re just going to dump it into things you don’t actually need. There’s a huge conscientious that sales and opt-in funnels are a must, and we agree, but what we don’t agree with is the software being sold to unwitting customers when it can be achieved in another, more beneficial way! Keeping content on your own site improves SEO and ensures that no matter what happens to that software company, your content is safe! I’m sure you’ve heard of Click Funnels, Infusionsoft, Ontraport etc, there’s lot of them out there to choose from with costs that range from $97 all the way up to $500+ a month! The worst part is the more successful you become, the more they charge you! In our opinion this hefty price creates a huge burden on small to mid-sized business and typically present technical challenges that force them to hire marketing professionals. Before you know it, you’re in debt! It’s no wonder small businesses fail. The outgoing cost vs generated sales should allow you to keep a healthy portion of your profits, plain and simple! With that said it’s important to ask yourself, how can I achieve the same goal at a reasonable price!
Overall your website should be an extension of you, a powerhouse of intelligent sales tools that allows you to achieve your business goals without the drama and frustration of tying multiple systems together.
Are you ready for an uplevel?
If so check out our Empire Sites today!
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