Website development is the heart of online marketing, and website development will be more profitable and less painful when you complete these steps first. Web design is important but not the first step: Read this before you call the web designer! http://mycopy.info/webpost

1. Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D.
What To Do
Before You
Create Your
Next Website
7 Steps to Make Sure Your Website
(And Your Business) Will Be Profitable

2. I've been working on websites for over a decade. My superpower is helping you
figure out why you're unique so you can create a compelling message and stand
out from the competition.
Your website should communicate your business and product with a story that
keeps visitors reading, gets them engaged and makes them say "yes" to your offer.
My role is to help you identify your best story and turn it into a high-converting
website, as smoothly and simply as possibly.
Unlike many copywriters, I know HTML/CSS - the building blocks of websites - and
Photoshop, the primary web design tool. So when I manage your website project,
you'll have an advocate who can negotiate wth designers and developers in their
own language. That means you'll access to awesome services that fly below the
radar. You get greater ROI for your project and, of course, the best deal possible.
I live in Philadelphia with 2 cats and a dog, all mutts rescued from shelters. I work
with animal rescue, work out a lot at the gym, dabble in comedy performance, and
study ceramic sculpture.
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D.
Copywriter and Online Marketing Strategist for Solo-Preneurs and
Independent Professionals Who Are Serious About Growing Their
Business Online

3. Quite a while back, I had a consultation with Teresa, a delightful new coach who
wanted to do some marketing. She’d finished coach training. She joined a high-end
mentoring program. Now she wanted a website.
Teresa wasn’t sure who her target market would be. She had picked up a few
clients.
What stood out was something Teresa mentioned almost as an after-thought. “I
invited a group of women to come to my house for a presentation. We had
refreshments and we all had a good time. A couple of them might become clients.”
Now you have to understand that web development is just about my favorite thing
to do as a copywriter. (I also like writing sales letters for a high-quality service, but
that’s another topic.) So I was itching to get my hands on Teresa’s website, which
existed as a very rough draft.
But because we dug into Teresa’s business model during the consultation, the truth
was pretty obvious. Teresa wasn’t ready for a website.
In fact, her own highly-paid high-end mentor was probably advising her, “Before
you get a website, go out and talk to prospects. Make sure you’ve got a market.”
The really tough mentors would say, “Sign at least 3 to 10 paid clients before you
build your website.” (If you want to save about $10K on mentoring programs, skip
the preliminaries and go out and do this.)
I understood exactly where Teresa was coming from. A website feels like a security
blanket. If someone asks, “What do you do?” you send them to your website. If you
want to post on social media and even buy ads, you send them to your website.
Unfortunately, you can build a beautiful website for a non-existent market. When I
Website Marketing: What To
Do Before You Build Your
Next Website

4. first started on the Internet, I had just published a book on relocation. So it seemed
natural to build a website on moving and become a relocation coach.
I soon discovered that people who move do need lots of help and could benefit
hugely from working with me. … but they wouldn’t. As one industry expert pointed
out, “The last thing people want during a move is more phone calls.” When I
expanded my site to deal with careers, and specifically focused on midlife career
change, my business grew dramatically.
Amazingly, none of the coaches I consulted encouraged me to do some research. It
never occurred to me to work with a copywriter, who would have asked pointed
questions about what the market wanted and what benefits would be delivered.
So what could Teresa do instead?
(1) Interview 6 to 10 people who resemble your ideal clients.
If you’ve been in business awhile but are considering a new niche, you can
interview some of your current and past ideal clients. Find out their top priorities,
how they choose resources, and what they’re using now. (My clients get a
complete list of questions to start.)
After you’ve completed the interviews, you’ll know if you’ve got a market that
resonates with your offer. You’ll know if they’re willing and able to buy and how to
reach this market effectively. Hopefully you recorded their exact words and
phrases. For instance, if they’re laid-off from a job, do they talk about “getting back
on the horse” or “back in the saddle again?”
(2) Make sure your target market is large enough to be profitable.
If you have no competitors, there’s usually a reason.You may be ahead of the curve
and dominate a market by coming early, but you may also have stumbled on a
market that can’t or won’t buy. Experienced marketers prefer to enter a crowded
market with a unique angle, rather than an empty market with no competition.
(3) Based on those results, set up a simple landing page to collect leads,offering a
lead magnet that’s 3 to 5 pages. When clients consult with me, we often focus
choosing the topic and sketching out ideas for the lead magnet.
You now have the foundation for a small but powerful presence. You can test
response to your topic for a very low investment.

5. (4) Don’t wait till you get a website to “figure out how to explain what you offer.”
Be able to explain your services in a sentence or two – the infamous elevator
speech. Consider creating a story speech instead of an elevator speech. Test your
explanation at networking events and prospects you encounter.
“I work with women who are newly divorced and seeking to build a new social life.
Based on my own forgettable experiences after my divorce, I’ve developed a 5-
step plan to build confidence and meet new people without using dating services
or singles groups.”
“I work with executives who have been laid off from senior level corporate
positions. I partner with them to move to a new job or their own business,
leveraging their experience to move quickly to get back in the saddle.”
(5) If you’re a coach, writer or consultant, offer to work with a small number of
clients for a deeply-discounted fee. You might make this offer after a webinar or
live talk, or with people you meet at a networking session. If you can’t find people
to pay even a smaller fee, then you need to modify your offer, find a new market,
or revise your description to focus on the benefits you offer.
(6) Send out a prospect letterto anyone who might have contacts with your ideal
clients. This letter shares the news of your new service, spells out the type of
referrals you’re seeking and briefly explains the benefits. You can get a template
for this letter when you buy either Quick Start Guide To Marketing Yourself As A
Coach or Becoming A Copywriter.
(7) Once you’ve established that there IS a market for your offer, and you’ve
demonstrated that people WILL pay you, it’s time to set up a website. You can DIY
or hire resources. Click here to discover the services I offer for web development.
And …
One of the most important pages on your website is your About Page. Your first
step to a compelling, high converting About Page? Tell your story! Learn more here.

6. Next Steps
I'd love to help you create a powerhouse website that
helps you get more clients, sell more products and
establish your brand.
Our first step is to review your company and see how
your website can help you reach your own business
goals.
My consultations are focused on developing a purposeful
plan of action so you gain maximum benefit from your
marketing ... and maybe have some fun along the way.
BOOK A CONSULTATION