If you’ve been meaning to revamp your website for a while—but haven’t gotten very far—you aren’t alone. Ready to finally check it off the list? Actionable steps are the way forward. In this talk, we'll go over how to approach a website like you would a client project and the 12 steps necessary to get it done.

1. ACTIONABLE
STEPS FOR
WRITERS
12
Websited
G E T Y O U R
DONE

2. 22
Jill Anderson
I design and develop websites for creative professionals.

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Who you are
What you do
Why it matters

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1 PICK YOUR NICHE

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Choosing a niche is hard—
but totally worth it.
Stop worrying about excluding somebody. You
will include a lot more people because you’ll
know who they are and where to find them.

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Vertical & Horizontal Niches
In a vertical niche, you focus on a
particular type of client.
In a horizontal niche, you focus on
providing a particular kind of service.

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Need help picking a niche?
The Niche Notebook by Tomas Fransson
lists 300+ niches actually picked by
real life creative professionals.

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2 DEFINE YOUR
SERVICES

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Do work you love and sell it to
ideal clients who need it.
What do you enjoy doing?
What are you best at?
What do your clients need most?

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3 DETERMINE YOUR
COMPETITORS

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Competitors can be...
People potential clients are
considering along with you.
People who come up in the same
Google searches as you.
People in your personal network who
provide similar services to you.

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4 LIST YOUR PAGES

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The 5 pages you need:
Home
About
Services
Work
Contact

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5 DON’T GET HUNG UP

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It’s perfectly fine to save a blog and
newsletter for Phase 2 of your website.
You’re either ready to commit now, or you aren’t.

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If you’re ready to commit to
a blog and newsletter...
Write 2 or 3 posts so your blog will have
some content when you launch your site.
Prepare an image and categories/tags for each post.
Commit to 1 new blog post, with at
least 300 words, once a month.
Aim to send out a newsletter once a month.

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6 CHOOSE YOUR
CALL TO ACTION

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What do you want people to do?
Call you?
Fill out a form?
Sign up for your newsletter?
Buy something?

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Primary vs. Secondary Calls to Action
People aren’t always ready for
your services right now.
Provide a way to stay on their radar.

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7 WRITE ALL OF
THE CONTENT

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Content First!
Open up a new Google Doc, Word document,
or your favorite word processor.
Add the title of each page at the top of
a new page, and add your content.
Don’t worry about design yet.

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Home
Explain who you are, what you
do, and why it matters.
About
Tell your personal story in a way
ideal clients can relate to.

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Services
Describe your services in a way that
shows what really gets delivered.
Work
Show challenges and solutions.
Contact
Tell them how to contact you.

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8 GET PHOTOS TAKEN

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Get over yourself.
Photograph where you work.
Don’t use stock photos.
Pay attention to quality.
Hire a photographer.

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9 PREPARE YOUR
PORTFOLIO

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Select projects for your portfolio.
Categorize projects.
Write a description for each project, or better
yet, consider the case study approach by stating
the client’s challenge and your solution.

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10 TAKE INSPIRATION
& DESIGN

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What other brands inspire you?
Revisit your competitors.
Hire a web designer.

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11 CODE

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Content Management Systems
WordPress
Squarespace

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12 LAUNCH
YOUR SITE

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Test your website across all modern browsers.
Make sure you have a 404 page.
301 redirect any old website URLs to the new URLs.
Review best practices for SEO.
Keep it updated.

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A few writer websites for inspiration:
http://karinbeuerlein.com
http://rblaircopy.com
http://connectwithcopy.com
http://brynmooth.com

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Want to chat more?
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slideshare.net/jilllynnanderson1/get-your-website-done-writers
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JillLynnDesign.com/freegift
Schedule a free 30-minute chat
JillLynnDesign.com/say-hello
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