So you’re ready to step up your game and get your idea out into the world. Congrats! Creating a gorgeous website has never been cheaper, faster or easier than it is right now.

But, before you can build your site you need to choose a platform. Let’s go through your options.

OPTION ONE: FREE WEBSITE PLATFORM

A free website platform is a site that allows you to build your site for free. An example of a free website platform is Blogger.com.

You can set up your site very easily, and without having to invest a single penny.

There are a few other popular platforms that let you create your site for free, including:

• Tumblr.com

• Wix.com

• Medium.com

• Wordpress.com

• Wordpress.org (free to use, but you need to pay for web hosting)

The good news is that most of the free platforms are designed for people who aren’t overly tech savvy. But keep in mind, some platforms are easier to use than others. Why not spend 30 minutes creating a free account and playing around with the different options I’ve listed out here. You’ll soon get a feel for which platform you might like to go ahead with.

As these options are free, there are of course going to be a few downsides to consider. Depending on the stage of your business and your website needs these might not be deal-breakers.

The first downside of using a free website platform is that you don’t have full control or ownership of your website. That means your ability to customise your site can be limited. So if you want to make your site look really custom or branded, then a free platform probably won’t be the best for you.

The next potential downside is monetisation.

The way that Wix.com and Wordpress.com generate a profit is by leveraging your website traffic and placing ads on your site. It’s worth bearing this mind if you choose to build your site with a free website builder as this can affect how your business is perceived to your potential customers. The way you monetise could also be affected so so make sure you consider this when choosing your website platform.

OPTION TWO: PAID WEBSITE PLATFORM

Again, there are lots of options for paid platforms to choose from. To help you make your decision I’m going to only talk about the three most popular platforms.

Wordpress.org

Wordpress.org - not be confused with Wordpress.com, which is a different website platform with different features - is the most popular platform for professional bloggers and online businesses.

The reason people love it is because unlike other platforms, Wordpress.org has lots of “plugins” that help you create and customise whatever you like. It also has thousands of designs in the form of “themes” so you’re bound to find something you love.

The downside of the Wordpress.org platform, and something that I hear from clients all the time, is that there is definitely a learning curve if you’re not super tech-savvy. Getting set up and maintaining your website can take a lot of playing around and learning how to use the platform. It’s your responsibility to update software like your theme and plugins and figure out hosting for your site.

I’d recommend installing a WYSIWYG editor if you’re going down the Wordpress.org route. This makes it much easier to edit your website. I like using WPBakery which is an intuitive drag and drop builder that you plugin to your site.

Squarespace.com

Squarespace.com has become really popular in recent times and they’re doing a ton of marketing to get the word out about their platform. One of the key features that it offers is “website builder technology” which is a tool that makes it genuinely easy to build a website from scratch with just a few clicks of a button. You simply “drag and drop” elements to where you want them on the page.

You can add text, images, logos, videos etc. by simply dragging them where you’d like them. In my opinion, Squarespace is the best “drag and drop” website builder out there. Customising the look and feel of your site is a breeze by using the built-in Style Editor.

Squarespace provides hosting and makes it easy to set up your business email address too. They’ve also recently rolled out an email marketing service that syncs up to your site. If you’re a non-tech-savvy person this option will probably suit you best.

I’m a big fan and my website is built on Squarespace.

The only downside is that once you’ve learned how to add content and pages, you may feel your site is a little lacklustre or looks too much like your original template. At this point, it might be worth enlisting the help of a web designer to give your site a nice professional polish.

Shopify.com

Shopify.com is a popular eCommerce platform. Online sellers use the platform to manage every aspect of their business — from products to orders to customers, selling online and in retail stores.

If you’re looking to start selling online and are offering more than six products then I would highly recommend Shopify.com.

Shopify makes it easy to customise your storefront and there are hundreds of themes you can try.

It’s highly scalable so as your business grows Shopify can accommodate that growth. It can even operate as a till system if you’re planning to sell in a physical store in the future.

If you want to know more check out my Shopify Mentor course where I teach you the exact steps I use with my clients to build a professional, high-converting e-commerce website.

In summary, no matter which platform you go with you can always transfer your content over to another platform later on if you decide you want to change. The most important thing is that you get started. Get ready to crush any lingering limiting beliefs and let go of whatever is holding you back. You got this!

And, if you really don’t know where to start and would rather focus on doing what you’re best at, why not outsource your website development!

Drop me a line and I’ll make sure you have a website you love, up and running, in no time!

Are you looking to add an icon to a Squarespace button, inside the button border?

I have a handy solution for you in today’s post!

I did this recently for a client of mine that was launching an app. They wanted the little App store icons as buttons to click to download the app.

Here’s how the buttons turned out:

It’s pretty easy to do this by using icons from the FontAwesome library. So first, you need to add the library to your content.

Step 1:

Open your Squarespace backend and navigate to Code Injection. You’ll find this by clicking Settings > Advanced > Code Injection

(If you’re on a Personal plan unfortunately you won’t be able to do this!)

In the space called Header, copy and paste the following:

<link href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.2.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

Once you’ve done this it’s time to create your button.

Step 2:

Decide where you want to place your button and add a Button Block.

Copy this HTML into the Button Block’s Text field. This example will give you a long rectangular button with the Android icon. You can see the huge range of icons on the FontAwesome site.

<span style="margin-right:40px;margin-left:40px; margin-top:-10px;margin-bottom:-15px;color: black;" 
class="fa fa-android fa-3x"></span>

• Switch up the icon:

I’d recommend visiting FontAwesome’s gallery and doing a quick search for the icon you want. Once you’ve found it, copy the icon’s name into the above line. A word of warning, you might have to play around a bit! The website said the name of icon I used in the example was “fas fa-android” but that didn’t work for me so I tried ‘fa fa-android’ which did the trick.

• Change the size of the icon:

You’ll notice there’s a “fa-3x” in this code. This means the icon will be 3 times bigger than its original size. You can adjust this depending on the size you want. Sub in the below to change the size.

fa-xs
fa-sm
fa-lg
fa-2x
fa-3x
fa-5x
fa-7x
fa-10x

• Change the size of the button:

You can play around with your button size by adjusting the margins. For example if you want a smaller button simple use:

<span style="margin-right:8px;color: black;" class="fa fa-android fa-3x"></span> 

• Add text to your button:

If you’d like some text to sit beside the icon simply add it at the end of the code:

<span style="margin-right:8px;color: black;" class="fa fa-android fa-3x"></span>Download

• Change the icon colour:

Changing the colour of your icon is easy. All you need to do is swap out the word ‘black’ for your chosen colour!

Hope that was helpful. Can’t wait to see your kickass custom buttons!

Here’s the thing, your website should be your best unpaid sales person in the world for your business. Your website can and should be building trust with your audience and bringing in revenue to your business 24/7 and it’s not that hard to do this.

Whether you’ve got a website or you’re getting started, these tips are for you. It’s so important to make sure you’ve covered all of the below to make sure you website does its job to connect and convert.

Here’s 5 essential things to check off so your website sells

1. Get crystal clear on your offering

Make it easy for people to understand your offering. Don’t use complicated phrases or industry jargon. Attention spans are hella short these days. It should be obvious what you do within 5 seconds of visiting your site. If people have to spend time figuring out exactly what you do, chances are they’ll leave your website asap. And you’ll lose a potential client. This is can have trickle down effect on your overall ranking on Google. To go deeper, I’d recommend ‘Don’t Make Me Think’ - an awesome book that explains best practices for UX and web usability.

2. Focus on how it benefits your clients

Everybody’s favourite topic is themselves. Use this to your advantage to turn your website into a conversion machine! The best thing you can do is communicate your offering by telling your ideal client how it will help her. If you haven’t figured out exactly who this is yet, now is a great opportunity to hone in on this!

Spend some time understanding what’s important to your ideal client and tap into that. List tangible benefits and don’t be afraid to use emotions selling techniques. Say for example you’re a VA. Your ideal client is looking for assistance as she’s snowed under with work. You can speak to how you can help by freeing up more time for her to spend with her family.

3. Decide on your aesthetic vibe

The number one tip to make sure your website looks professional and polished? Consistency! Ever landed on a site that make your head hurt? Yeah, me too. When your potential client lands on your site for the first time, she has to try to make sense of everything. The whole point of good web design is to create an experience that is enjoyable to your visitors. Having a consistent design helps her  find the information she needs to make a decision.

Here’s a few essential pointers:

• Choose max 2-3 fonts to use throughout

• Pick colours that compliment each other

• Use images with a similar colour or subject matter

When I work with clients I ask them to make a Pinterest board of images, colours and fonts that they like. I pull all this info together and create a brand guide and moodboard.

4. Pick a primary goal

This can be a little tricky. You probably have lots of things you want to achieve with your website. But for the sake of focus and direction, I want you to choose one to focus on.  This helps visitors understand exactly what you do.

Let’s pause for a sec. Think about what success means to you and your business. Are you really focused on growing your email list? Do you want to grow your social media following? Are you tracking the number of inbound inquiries you get for your services?

Write down all the goals of your website and then highlight your primary goal.

Based on your primary goal, I want you to consider what the primary call-to-action will be.

A call-to-action (also known as a CTA) is an instruction to your website visitors that provokes an immediate response. They’re often buttons that link to other pages on your website where a final action can take place. “Buy now” “Learn more” “Call today” “Work with me”

5. Organise your content

You might be a little overwhelmed by this one. Maybe you have lots of content and are half-thinking to copy and paste it all on to your homepage. Please don’t as this really won’t help your visitors. First, let’s get really clear on the relevant information. When in doubt, think Apple! This company is famous for non-wordy, effective sales copy. Another helpful tip is try what I call the ‘Ask Grandma’ test. Imagine you are explaining your services to your grandmother. You might end up rewriting some of your content to make sure she understands you. That’s a good thing! Remember, if your customer is confused, you’ve lost them. I’m a fan of using Hemmingway App to make sure my content is as clear as possible.

The next step is to determine what pages you want to include on your website. Outline the purpose and call-to-action of each page. You may realise you can get rid of a few pages by going through this process. For example, let’s say you plan to have a contact us page with your contact details. You also plan to have a directions page with a map. These can easily be merged into one page.

Above all, keep the layout of your site logical and in line with normal website standards. This is the best way to ensure your clients can easily find the information they are looking for.

Once you’ve got these steps sorted, I’m confident you’re going to soon have lots of new clients start streaming in through your beautiful website!

Not sure which website builder to choose? Check out my blog post where I walk through the pros and cons of the most popular free and paid options including Squarespace and Shopify.