Website Help! Conquering Your Fears
Need website help? Our SPR Online Villagers will run when they see me coming with this article because I sound like a broken record. I’m always stressing the importance of having a revenue-generating website.
Why? Because I’m looking out for your coin, Sis. Helping you launch your website is a GREAT way to do this.
I see the fear, the hesitation, the feeling of being overwhelmed when a sistahpreneur who doesn’t have a website hears my soapbox speech on this. She’s thinking:
- “I’m not a techie. I don’t know where to start.”
- “I can’t afford it.”
- “When? I don’t have time.”
- “My business isn’t ready yet.”
- “I don’t know how to buy it, set it up, or run it.”
Resonate? Then this blog post is for you, Sis.
Let me talk to you a little about getting your mind ready for the profit and the work that comes with launching and running a revenue-generating site. There are lots of solutions to the bootstrapping, non-techie solopreneur who wants a website.
But there’s more to it than WordPress and Upwork and SEO. Here are some tips for you if the whole idea is scary or if you have other barriers standing in the way of you building and managing your own website:
It will take a long-term commitment.
If you need to go at your own pace and take your time planning for your website, great. The internet isn’t going anywhere. Digital marketing is an investment in time and money that you arguably won’t be able to avoid for long. UPS recently released a survey that said that customers reported buying more online than they do in stores. Eventually, most businesses will face the reality of e-commerce and digital marketing strategy being a critical success factor. Get your mind right, Sis. Commit to learning how to be a digital marketing beast, even if it takes you some time to get there. You got this!
You must be willing to learn.
The reality is that technology norms, tools, and processes evolve quickly. So being a lifelong learner is critical to your business success. It means you’re constantly seeking new knowledge, building new skills, and stepping outside of your comfort zone. Commit to being a lifelong learner so you can stay competitive.
You have to ask questions.
Real talk. If there was ever a time to buy into the statement, “there is no such thing as a dumb question”, now’s your time. Talk to your web designers, freelancers, and vendors and ask a ton of questions. Ask them to explain the way their systems work and help you navigate their platforms.
Invest in training and coaching.
When I launched my first site, a coach walked me through WordPress step by step for 3 full days so I could learn to make key revisions to my site and monitor traffic data. It was scary and refreshing and invigorating all at once. I was in the dark on WordPress. Then she came along and I saw the light and realized I could manage my site like a boss. Now I can play around on the back end of my site, and make changes that I had no clue how to make before. Hear me. I’m no expert, but I can add blog posts, and change images, colors, and text. I now add links and buttons and even plug-ins. This has done wonders for my ability to change products, services, and messaging rapidly! Training programs like our Goal Digger Retreat help you get up and running in weeks.
You have to play with the back end of your site often.
Practice makes perfect, right? Right. There’s no getting around it. You need to work on your website regularly to get better at it and to get more comfortable with it. I promise you, it won’t take long before you are feeling at home and not like a salesperson on the other side of the door of your own web home.
You can get website help.
As a business owner, I have a web designer that I can call on, an editor, and a graphic designer and they all are experts at what they do. They do their jobs way better than I could. When I get stuck, I call them. When I’ve gone as far as I can go, they are there. When I need to save time and put it elsewhere in the business, I have an affordable outsourced team.
A lot. Listen to podcasts. Read articles and books, and listen to podcasts. When I’m cleaning my kitchen or driving in my car, I have podcasts on so I can learn more about website management and digital marketing. There’s a podcast for everything.
Join groups.
Find online and in-person networks to help you on your journey. There are plenty. Often Facebook Groups and Meetups are full of people whose website help can bring tools, resources, and support your way.
Get organized.
Keep your learning materials organized. Have routines for when you can read and listen to podcasts. Set up your website files organized in orderly folders. Keep your account information – passwords and logins — in one place. Check out my Website Planning Checklist. Make it easy for yourself to get in your website management groove. If you have to spend 10 minutes looking at your web hosting log-in, that’s like looking for your sneakers for 10 minutes every morning before you go to the gym. Total de-motivator.
If building and managing a website feels foreign, scary, and like you’re bungee jumping, start small and get the website help you need alongside a coach. Check out the Sistahpreneurs Project Teams. We have a Launching Your Business Website project team coming up in May.
You’re a digital diva – a website warrior – an SEO superwoman. Just dig deep and put in some time learning the ropes. You got this, Sis. We ain’t never scared.
Makisha Boothe is a business coach and founder of Sistahpreneurs. She leads 6-week project teams to help women launch their websites.