Most of us rush into the actual building of the site. We dive right into pages without really looking at the big picture. Are you?
It is so worth it to pause and ask ourselves some questions. Take a piece of paper and answer the questions below.
I always ask my clients the following questions. If they are not able to answer, they are not ready to launch a successful online presence: 5 Big Things To Know Before Website Building.
Table of Contents
#1 - Define your WHY
The online business journey is more like a marathon than a sprint. Is it usually a lonely path in uncharted territories for most business owners. It is a good idea to define your WHY in starting an online business.
Your why is what you will go back to when you are in periods of doubt. When your launch did not bring the numbers you expected. When you are not sure if you made the right decision.
Your why is what is at the core of your decision to become a business owner and enter the world of online business.
This is an excellent resource to help you: Find Your Why by Simon Sinek
My WHY is my love for freedom. I want to be independent and not having to work for someone. I want the freedom to have a business without earning ceiling. I want flexibility in my time and in the way I am doing business. I also want to have the space to develop my ideas and present them to the world.
Now it’s your turn: What is YOUR why? Write your answers down in your journal and review often.
#2 - Gain Clarity
Clarity = Power. You need to be extremely clear on how you want to build your online business. If you want to create any result you need to know exactly what you want. You need to be clear on your own vision. What do you want from your business? What lifestyle you want and what outcome you want? Writing it down in your journal is also important as you can refer back to it to keep you on track. Be super specific. The more specific you are, the more able to are to envision it and take the necessary actions to bring your idea or concept to reality.
#3 - Know Who You Are
As much as a professional website is a window to your business, it is also a window to who you are and what you stand for. With the choices of words, colors, imagery your website speaks to the world in a specific way. This becomes part of your branding.
If you were looking for a clean definition of personal branding, then here’s one from Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future” and owner of PersonalBrandingBlog.com:
“A personal brand is what you stand for and what makes you special. [It’s] composed of values, a mission, and a positioning statement that depict what you do and who your audience is. [It] is an indicator for how valuable you are to employers and customers at every stage of your career.”
Be also very clear on your skills and abilities and how you will promote them within your professional website. If you are not sure, ask your friends and family to help you. Know what makes you unique and how you want to leverage it.
#4 - Know your Ideal Customer
Your ideal customer is the person you are solving a problem for. A person who will be your wildest fan and who you want to work with. You need to intimately know your ideal customer in order to be able to speak to him/her in terms that they will understand.
Take some time to define this person. You may have met that person in real life. Go spend time together. Find out what their issues are and how they see the world. Learn where they spend their time and how they invest their money. Know what lifestyle they have and what would make their life easier.
It is crucial to create a very specific description of your ideal customer and know how they think in order to appeal to them.
Once you know your ideal customer on an intimate level, you will want to infuse what you know about them into your brand, your message and your offerings.
Defining your ideal customer and their habits and focusing on their needs is what is called a niche.
#5 - Build the right online business
What kind of online business do you envision? What business model do you want to have?
It is true that when we first start in the online world this question is hard to answer. The more you are clear on this, the better it will be to make a decision regarding tools and services to build or uplevel your professional website. Now keep in mind that your business will evolve and probably change.
The beauty of having an online business is that it is quick and easy to alter it.
Here are questions to push you to think about your online business model:
Do you want to sell evergreen programs?
Do you want to launch several programs a year?
Do you want to build a membership site?
Do you want to provide information?
Do you want to sell services?
And of course you may want to build all the above!
Having a clear idea about what type of online business you want to create will give you the opportunity to plan and strategize your professional website from the beginning.
And when you are ready, we can help: Check out the Done For You Websites, Done For You Opt-in Pages and Sales Pages pre-designed for you so you can focus on what you do best. NO CODING REQUIRED!
