Links talked about:E-Myth Revisited bookDallas area map of web designersWix super bowl ad teasersGive a man a fish, and he will eat for a day….teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Teach a dude (or dudette) how to use the internet to make money...and they’ll eat and create awesome stuff every day of their life.Welcome to the Squarespace Guru show. I’m Greg and I love talking about web design and digital marketing and how Squarespace fits into that. It is Friday January the 23rd 2015, and I have a great show lined up for you today...and in fact I am recording 3 shows for the next two weeks because baby Sargent will be coming any day now. One of my new years resolutions is to publish a podcast episode every week on time...and I’ve already slipped up...here it is Friday, and my goal is to publish an episode each Wednesday. I’m working on it...getting better...so just in case baby Sargent comes and we’re having so much fun changing diapers and making baby burritos...I am recording all three parts today and will have the next two episodes in the slot ready to roll. So today is part 1 of a 3 part series originally planned for late February to coincide with my Squarespace As A Business course launch...but I decided to go ahead and run this now. I realize that half my audience doesn’t build websites for others...but don’t worry...there’s lots of stuff in these three shows that you can take and implement into your efforts. At the very least, it may give you some insights into that freelancer that you’ll probably hire at some point in the future.We’ll get into that in a minute...so we’ve got just over a week to wait for the super bowl. I’m totally pumped...don’t really care too much for either the patriots or the seahawks...but I really hope tom brady and his cheating crew get their tails stomped. I bring this up because squarespace will be back at the big game this year. Purchasing a 30 second ad spot running in the 2nd half, squarespace is also joined by godaddy which is a given almost and wix, which you likely know is a direct competitor of Squarespace. While squarespace hasn’t released any ad teasers, wix has...and it’s pretty funny actually, I hope squarespace has something good up their sleeve. I’ll have a link to wixs previews in the show notes. Last years super bowl ad for squarespace was great. I loved how they made fun of all the things I hate about the internet. duck faces, memes, tacky call to action buttons… I can’t wait to see what they've got cooked up. The last few marketing videos squarespace has released have been phenomenal. The freestyle climbing video had buzzed around the internet for weeks after the version 7 platform release.They seem to be moving on from the “better web” mantra and into a “start here go anywhere” concept. So we’ll see what happens.Google and Squarespace got a little cozier this past week...with Squarespace announcing some tighter integration with the Google domains platform. You can now transfer in domains outside of Google such as domains purchased through godaddy, hover and other registrars. After transferring them in, it’s ridiculously easy to link them to your squarespace account. I’m extremely tempted to move all my domains from Godaddy...but I’m just not sure if I’m willing to give up that phone support. Google domains does have phone support, but I don’t have any experience with it just yet...not sure if it’s someone in the philippines that I’m going to struggle talking to...but I know with GoDaddy their phone support is in Tempe arizona and I lived just down the street a little when I worked for University of Phoenix back in the day. It’s on my to-do list to thoroughly get in there and check it out, and I’ll of course record some videos and report back to you likely in 4 weeks once the baby comes and were all settled in.Before we jump into the main segment here, I want to throw out some numbers for you to think about…and establish some definitions to help us stay on the same page.The web design industry is a 20 billion dollar industry, and is growing.half of small businesses don’t even have a websiteThere are nearly 30-40 million small businesses... in the US at least.And here’s the crazy part...no one web design/development firm has more than a .01% marketshare. This means there is plenty of work to go around! And there’s never been a better time to be a web designer than right now. If you love to build websites, and enjoy creating something that lives online for thousands of people to look at every day...then there is a massive opportunity for you to make a great living being a web designer.So before we go any further, let’s define what a web designer is...obviously we already know that a web designer is someone who designs websites...but the term is also applied in a blanket way to refer to anyone that contributes to getting a website live on the internet. Technically there is a difference between say a programmer, a developer, a copywriter and a designer...but a lot of times all four of these jobs are simply referred to as a web designer.Within the last couple of years, the web design industry has been shifting and this title of web designer really needs to be defined.Traditionally, to get a website online there were a lot of working parts, with several individuals being involved in a project. If a client commissioned a web design firm, there would be 4-10 people touching the project...but if a freelancer was commissioned for a project, that individual would likely work on the project alone...or at most collaborate with 1-2 others…For ease of progressing this conversation along here, let’s just establish the concept that traditionally you would have obviously the client on one side, and the web design firms project manager on the other side. Under the project manager there would be a designer that would take the thoughts and wishes of the client into consideration and design a website using photoshop or fireworks or some design software. Then that design would be handed off to a developer that would be responsible for creating the code that would ultimately be uploaded to a server that would host the site. This developer may be able to program all the required languages to support the site, like html, css, javascript, php, jquery...but maybe there would be several specialised programmers...one for html and css, one for javascript..and so on. Here’s where I’m going with this...ultimately about 70% of the project budget would go to the developer...about 5% to the designer and the remaining 25% to the project manager and firm. So in this scenario, the developer or coder was the most valuable player and commanded the most compensation….more on that in a minute.It was no small thing to get a website online back in the day...like a year and half ago...there were multiple meetings with the client and project manager discussing strategies, conversions, psychology, search engines, business goals, advertising campaigns and a host of other considerations generating weeks if not months of work to get a website online. It’s not suprising at all actually to me that only half of small businesses have a website. Because It used to be a massive undertaking...now things are changing. Because of Squarespace and other do it yourself website tools...designers are starting to realize they don’t need the developer as much...and they don’t need the project manager...and they don’t need the big web firm. They can take the concepts and expertise they already possess and work with clients directly. Cut out the developer, cut out the project manager, cut out the other overhead costs of a big firm...and the designer can create a great website for a fraction of the cost. This doesn’t mean the developer isn’t valuable any more...instead of the developer working for an individual web firm...theyre now working for Squarespace...or wix...or weebly...or webydo...or webflow...or whatever do it yourself platform that pops up and offers free lunch a bike rack, and video games at work.In many cases, the designer breaking off and going it independent is working out great. This is the story of my web design career...I taught myself just enough programming skills to get by without the need of a developer...and I taught myself enough business skills and combined this with what I learned in college and launched a career independent of a big firm. But I made lots of mistakes...mistakes that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make had I worked for a larger firm. Because there would be others taking care of these things for me. But since I was going it alone, I had to provide customer service, I had to process account receivables, answer phone calls, process intake documents, run meetings, manage the accounting aspects, and after all those things were done...with the little time I had left...then I could design websites.The downside to tools like Squarespace entering the market, is you get designers who, without any professional, managerial or executive experience, launch a business, start taking peoples money, and begin to deliver junk products to clients. Sometimes things progress nicely...but more often than not, this new breed of designers using platforms like squarespace as the cornerstone of their buisness, end up doing clients a major disservice. It’s one thing to be able to make a good website….it’s a totally different thing to make a business out of it. Really only about half of a modern designers time is spent making a website...maybe less. The other half is spent managing, supporting and building the business. This is where most people fall flat. And this is one of the primary motivations for me to create the Squarespace Guru offering. My first initiative was to help those making websites for their own business...those who have no intention of making websites for others...just their own business. My second initiative is to help those designers create a business around building websites on Squarespace for profit. And there’s no way I can cover everything on a podcast...there’s too much that i can’t show you just using my voice. But there’s a lot that I can. And so the what and the why I’m going to cover in this three part series. The how, is what makes up my Squarespace As a business course coming out in February. I don’t intend for this show or the next two to be a massive promo for that course, and I’m in no way trying to sell you on the course...if you aren’t interesting in the course you are still going to learn a ton just from these next few shows.So if you can’t tell...I’m super excited to jump in and start talking about this stuff.Now there are some that argue that services like Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Webydo will obsolete the web designer...but I disagree. There will always be room for the web designer. Why? Two reasons...one is that the vast majority of business owners dont want to take the time to build their own website and would prefer to just commission a professional to take care of it. The second reason is based on statistics. Only 2-5% of people using do-it-yourself website builders actually get a website live on the internet. That’s crazy right? The other 95-98% give up and either hire a professional or just abandon the idea altogether.So while some feel threatened by platforms like Squarespace, I actually love that offerings like this exist..not only does it enable designers to build wealth for themselves...but it forces small business owners who think it’s easy to create a website realize that there’s more than meets the eye than just swapping out a few images and riding off into the sunset. Massive amounts of business owners are realizing that it’s a valuable skill to know how to create a website...how to capture an emotion...how to tell a story...how to lead a visitor into a conversion...how to generate leads and sales and turn a website into a money machine. And because of this realization, they're willing to increase the amount of money they are willing to budget for a professional web designer.Now that’s the good news...here’s the bad news. In terms of supply and demand concept...the demand (people needing websites) is through the roof...but the supply (web designers) is also through the roof. The problem is that every day web designers are closing their virtual doors while other designers are just starting out. The result is clients have way too many options...and no way to judge which option is better than the other. Take the Squarespace Specialists page for example...it takes literally 30 seconds to fill out the application to be a Squarespace specialist, and all you need is a screenshot of three websites to represent your portfolio...and viola you are listed as a specialist..without any verification or certification on the part of Squarespace to see if you really are an expert.And here’s the thing, sure someone might be able to create a great looking website...but that doesn’t mean that person also knows how to run and manage a business, how to provide good customer services, how to educate the client on web strategy...and how to stay in business.So when a small business owner goes to the Squarespace specialists page, looks down that massive list...it’s way too hard to make an educated decision on which firm or freelancer is a good choice. And I’m not knocking the specialists page, it’s like that with any directory really...it’s like that even with a google search too. Google the term web designer, and then type in the name of the city you live in and see how many results there are. How many web designers pop up? 5? 10? 150,000? I just did a search for the dallas texas area, and I’ve got a link to that so you can see the visualization...but there are hundreds of tiny little red dots spread out all over the map...Supply and demand...its a pretty universal concept in life...not just business. The crazy thing about web design...is there’s very little outward way to judge whether or not a designer is going to take care of the client. In other markets there are endless outward verifications to a businesses legitimacy. Say you go to an attorneys office...and it’s in a shared work space in an old run-down office building… how much value or trust are you going to assign that attorney vs the one in luxurious high rise building? Now I know that’s not a perfect comparison...but you get the idea. Other than looking at a web designers portfolio...there’s really no way to judge how the experience will be. Unless you do something right. And nearly all web designers out there do this thing wrong...and that is differentiating your services from all the other options out there.So in this part, let’s talk about some things you can do to differentiate your services. Next week, in part 2, we’ll talk about what to charge for your services and how to have that conversation with a potential client. And finally in part 3, we’ll talk about the web design project process, and how to avoid problems and how to ensure each project is a major success.If you want to do something easy...do you have to think about it first? Nah, you just jump in and do it right?! If something is difficult you have to mentally discern all the steps that need to take place leading to the completion of that task. Sometimes, when it’s hard to see the end...it’s better to start with the end in mind and work your way backward. So let’s do that with how to differentiate yourself from all the other web designers out there. Because ultimately that’s the struggle. No matter how expertly you are in Squarespace, if you don’t have a website to build for a client...it doesn’t really matter does it. And if you don’t have clients...then it doesn’t really matter how awesome your customer service skills are either. So really it all boils down to attracting the business..which in turn means making it easy for clients to differentiate your services from all the other options out there.So I have a few tips for you on how to do this. And this isnt’ an exhaustive list...just a few things I’ve found that are extremely powerful and effective.Blog a lot. Nooooo I’m a web designer not a writer! Let me let you in on a little secret...everybody is a publisher now days. So it’s time to freshen up those high school and college writing skills...and start writing blog posts. The good thing is you're not being forced to write about earnest hemingway and the hidden meanings of shakespeare...you’ll be talking about stuff you like.talk about each project and the challenges of how the client needed this or that…and how you overcame the projectstalk about your processes and how you approach design and presenting information. show early mockups of projects.show the before and afterconsider even making a video walkthrough of each new site you deliver, talking about the various elements and steps involved.show the print designs that you provided to match the website. Think business cards here.Do case studies on various design elementsEducate clients about digital marketing trends and what they can do to put their business in the spotlight using social mediaEducate clients on the current state of search engine optimization efforts. And there are lots of other things you can talk about in blog posts. Since it’s earlier in the year, make a publishing calendar. Think about topics and plan it out. The more the better...but only publish high quality posts...don’t get lazy here.Do lots of video. it’s easier than ever to create great videos. Use your smartphone to take videos:talking about your design processtalking about you and your journey. why you are a web designer. what helped your realize why you wanted to be a web designer. why you enjoy the challenge of bringing clients ideas to life.have video responses to frequently asked questionsshow video screen captures of you experimenting with button designs, page layouts, color combostell stories about stuff...after all you will be asked to tell the story of a business.Have detailed bios for each person involved in the projecthave large images, not stuffy portraits...but real life images showing your workspace, you, your computer and a crisp clean desk. Use the new cover pages as a big impressive way to show who you are.Be very easy to contacthave a phone number on every page of your website...in the footer is a great place. If you don’t want to list your personal cell phone number, get a google voice number, or use a service called ringcentral. also show your office address with the phone number. That will not only produce a certain amount of trust, but will also boost your local seo. Just don’t use a p.o. box...that just looks scammy and won’t help your seo at all. Find the closest virtual office provider like Regus or even better a local property management firm that has virtual offices and get a mailing address. You don’t even have to sign up for an office...almost always those virtual offices have just a mail package for like $50 a month.have a contact form or even post your email address. The days of spam bots crawling the web looking for emails to send spam messages to are done. Email spam filtering have wiped that practice out. So don’t be afraid to post your email address.All these things will make it very easy for potential clients to feel like they know you, and have confidence and can trust you...and of course help you stand out from the crowd. Go to google right now...or if you are driving, exercising maybe not...but if you are at your desk or have your phone right next to you, google web designer and then your city name right now. go ahead...I’ll wait for you to get your phone. If you are listening to this on your phone don’t worry it won’t stop the podcast playback. If you live in say los angeles, then type out web designer, los angeles. If you are in a small town then type in web designer comma and then your town and state abbreviation. And look at the top 4 or 5 results. Go to their websites...anything stand out? Anything make you want to slap the year 2004? Are they doing anything that we talked about in this episode? No? Great, you have a massive advantage now.I have a homework assignment for you between now and after part 3 comes out in a few weeks. I want you to make a video of yourself talking about why you want to be a web designer...what is it about building websites that you love? Try your best to be authentic. Only 2-5 minutes...doesn’t have to be long. If you have a good camera, great use it. If you only have a smartphone...that’s ok, use it. Put it up on Youtube or Vimeo or Wistia, and tweet the link out and tag me at the end of the tweet. Don’t tag me at the beginning of the tweet, say something else first, then paste in the link to the video, then tag me.You can post it up and tag me anytime between today and valentines day...and I’ll choose 2 videos that I think are the most authentic and the most action inducing and if your video is one of those two, I’ll give you access to my upcoming Squarespace As A Business course for free. Alright? How does that sound? Jazzed yet? Cool. No rush, be thinking about what you might want to say...make a few versions...and tag me in the tweet. If you’re not on twitter...create an account you're missing out.Alright that wraps up this episode of the Squarespace Guru show! Thanks so much for listening, I hope you enjoyed the show today and have some great nuggets to think about and implement in your efforts to become a Squarespace Guru too. I’ll see you next week, and chances are Baby Sargent will be here by then!
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