What Inspired This Episode?

If you run your own business, or oversee the website for one, you know how critical they are to your business. When developed and designed correctly, your website has the potential to be the salesperson that keeps on selling - even when you turn out the lights and head home for the day - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

But time and time again, we run into businesses and clients who want to design the website for themselves - this is a critical mistake.

In this episode, Liz and I are not so much answering a question as we are staging an intervention. For all of the entrepreneurs, business owners and marketers out there who may be toying with the idea of a website redesign project, we get it. Your business and your website are your baby - as they should be.

But the fact remains that your website isn’t for you.

So, What Did We Talk About?

• If you shouldn’t design your website for you, who should you design it for?
• What are audience personas, and how dimensional should they be?
• What informs Jessie-Lee’s design choices during website projects
• How much a company’s sales process should figure into a website project
• Liz’s interviewing process for creating website copy - and why she loves salespeople
• Our advice for businesses vetting agencies/designers

 

Here’s What We Had to Say:

Jessie-Lee:

“It’s kind of like when you go to write a big research paper. You have to do the research, you have to do the outlines, before you can jump in and write the paper.”

“When we say ‘design,’ we don’t just mean colors and fonts. It has a lot to do with the user experience.”

“Seventy percent of the buyer’s journey happens before they even contact you. That’s incredible.”

“You have to test your designer a little bit. You need to put your designer in a situation where their options are to either need to push back and tell you that you’re making the wrong decision, or they’re going to cave. And if they completely cave, that’s a huge red flag.”

Liz:

“If you are not positioning your brand visually or through the copy on your website in a way that resonates with the audience you are trying to attract, what’s the point?”

“When you feel like you’re being sold to, you feel like you’re not being listened to, so you automatically do not trust anything that’s being said to you.”

“I’m the person in bed at 12:30 in the morning, reading LinkedIn.”

“If you’re a marketer, look to salespeople, because they instinctively understand how to talk to the people you’re trying to reach. Especially in the context of a website project.”

Here Are the Resources We Discussed:

• Traction by Gino Wickman (Again!)
• Audience Persona Worksheet
• “Do You Know Where Your Buyer Personas Are?” by Liz
• “How to Get Sales Enablement Right for Your Company” by Rich

 

Get in Touch and Spread the Creator's Block Love! 

What did you think of our first episode? Is there another topic or question you want us to take on? Or do you just want to say hi? Reach out to us on Twitter at @CreatorsBlockHQ or using the hashtag #creatorsblockparty. You can also say hi to me at@liztypes or Jessie-Lee at @jhyphenl.

And don’t forget - whether you love us or hate us - we would really appreciate you reviewing our podcast on iTunes! 

…until next week!