Ready to build your first website? Hold up! Before you dive headfirst into choosing between Wix, WordPress, or Kajabi, we’re here to flip the script on how you should actually approach website building.
In this episode, we're serving up some observations about why most entrepreneurs are doing this backwards.
What You'll Learn:
💀 Why starting with "where" to build is setting you up for expensive do-overs
💀 The reverse engineering approach that actually works (and saves you money)
💀 How to craft homepage copy that stops the scroll and converts visitors
💀 Why some successful online entrepreneurs don't even have traditional websites
💀 The domain name truth that might surprise you
💀 How to avoid the "confused mind syndrome" that kills conversions
Real Talk Moments:
‼️ Gail's confession about her first website disaster
‼️ Candice's client who built a six-figure business with zero traditional website
‼️ Why "if you want cheap, you pay twice" rings painfully true
This episode is packed with practical wisdom, a few reality checks, and the kind of honest advice that cuts through all the online business noise. Because sometimes the best way forward is to pause, think strategically, and then build something that actually works.
Ready to get strategic about your website? Links to work with Gail and Candice are on our podcast website.
Ready to build your first website? Hold up! Before you dive headfirst into choosing between Wix, WordPress, or Kajabi, we’re here to flip the script on how you should actually approach website building.
In this episode, we're serving up some observations about why most entrepreneurs are doing this backwards.
What You'll Learn:
💀 Why starting with "where" to build is setting you up for expensive do-overs
💀 The reverse engineering approach that actually works (and saves you money)
💀 How to craft homepage copy that stops the scroll and converts visitors
💀 Why some successful online entrepreneurs don't even have traditional websites
💀 The domain name truth that might surprise you
💀 How to avoid the "confused mind syndrome" that kills conversions
Real Talk Moments:
‼️ Gail's confession about her first website disaster
‼️ Candice's client who built a six-figure business with zero traditional website
‼️ Why "if you want cheap, you pay twice" rings painfully true
This episode is packed with practical wisdom, a few reality checks, and the kind of honest advice that cuts through all the online business noise. Because sometimes the best way forward is to pause, think strategically, and then build something that actually works.
Ready to get strategic about your website? Links to work with Gail and Candice are on our podcast website.
Want to know when a new episode is out?
Get "New Episode" Updates
No sales sequences, no pitches, just an email letting you know that something new is ready for you!
Read Episode Transcript
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [00:00.3] Welcome to the Grit Reapers, the NoBS podcast for online entrepreneurs.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [00:04.8] I'm Gail.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [00:05.6] And I'm Candice. And we're here to cut through the crap and give you the real truth about what it really takes to be successful online.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [00:12.8] Let's get down to business.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [00:16.1] Hello all of our beautiful listeners. Welcome back to another episode of the Grit Reapers. With your hosts Candice and Gail. Today we are talking about how to build a website. And we feel like this is actually a two part answer.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [00:38.3] Most people begin with the where am I going to build my website? Right. So looking at their options, people have maybe heard of like wix, which is like a drag and drop, kind of website builder, things like Squarespace, WordPress, you can even build landing pages and websites on Mailerlite.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [01:03.9] So there are a whole lot of options, including Gail and Eyes Love Kajabi. But that would be like the really practical aspect of how to build a website. Well, you need somewhere to build it on and that seems to be the primary approach.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [01:26.9] When people start looking into how to build a website, they start off with where am I going to build it? And we feel like what we would like to offer you is actually to reverse engineer the process.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [01:43.8] So the second part to that question, how to build a website, is we would suggest literally just holding off on deciding where you're going to do it and rather start with an exercise like envisioning what would your homepage, look like, what is going to go on that homepage?
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [02:09.4] And the reason when we were chatting about this topic is because we feel like once you're clear on what it is that you actually want to put on your homepage, that can often determine the where you're going to build it.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [02:27.3] Yeah. Do you agree? Absolutely. Cands. Because so often, you know, you'll see in the Facebook groups or whatever, you'll see people saying, I need to migrate my website from WordPress or Wix or whatever to Kajabi, because I'm doing courses and stuff and it's difficult to host the courses and I want it all in one.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [02:52.9] So what it's a really good idea is not only sort of of deciding what is going to go on your homepage, what you kind of the services you're going to be offering, but to think bigger picture in terms of your whole business, like, like what platform or what.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [03:10.3] Yeah, website is going to be the best for your entire business with the kind of services that you are going to want to offer. And so for sure, I think it's a really good thing to take a step back before just diving in.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [03:28.2] I remember when I first started, I just dove in, I looked at other people's websites. I was like, homepage, work with me page, contact page, about me page. And yeah, I didn't really give it much thought and had to redo it.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [03:45.6] So I think that's really good advice.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [03:49.2] And I also, I think something that I've certainly seen evolve in, in the presentation of websites. It's like, you know, the old school way was you would come to somebody's home page and there would be like an image of them, and it would immediately contain information about the owner, the, the person's website.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [04:14.0] Yeah.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [04:14.5] Hey, I'm Candice. I have a degree in this, this, you know, and that has certainly evolved in, in terms of things, thinking through that from the beginning. When somebody lands on your website homepage, what are the words?
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [04:29.8] Like literally the copy that is going to go on your homepage that can immediately retain that web visitor so that you don't have those high bounce rates from your website. You know, and and in fact, you know, work that I do with people and if we're looking at like a website revamp or they want to just start like a brand new website, I won't even start the build until we have done some deep, deep kind of like mining around messaging and the ideal person and what offers they have and what, what kind of funnels they think.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [05:07.8] Like, what's the plan? Basically that's what I'm trying to understand. Like what's the plan here before we build.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [05:15.7] Yeah.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [05:16.0] And I suppose that's what we're saying here is that. Yes. And, and I really understand it. It's like very often we, we often start with practicalities. Right. Because it's, it's stuff that we feel tick.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [05:27.8] Yes.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [05:28.3] Okay, so. And you feel so productive and oh my God, I'm starting my wigs. I get it. Like we all do stuff like that, but it's not a criticism, it's. We just want to help you bypass kind of like some errors or obstacles.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [05:44.7] Yes. And having to redo, redo it again. For sure.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [05:49.0] Correct. And so what we saying is before you decide on the where, just take time to think through the what, like what are you going to put on the website? And if you want to put, for example, oh, hey, you know, I've, I've got some recorded content you could watch.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [06:07.0] Okay. Then I'm going to need a platform that can host videos. Right. And so then do your due diligence, go and look at all the platforms, read reviews, read people's reviews.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [06:22.5] You know, like, it's great with this, but not so great with this. Or I mean, I had someone call me this morning saying I should have listened to you at the beginning of the year, but you know, if you, if you want cheap, you pay twice. That's what she basically said to me.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [06:38.4] They hired a charlatan, he's like taken their money, he's holding their videos hostage. And because he's built online, like an online course on a platform that is not designed to host video content.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [06:54.7] And so the web homepage is not loading quickly enough such that they encountering all kinds of problems. So yes, do your due diligence, look at whether or not the idea of a platform like WordPress or Squarespace, they might require what, what we call like plugins, you know, because it's not designed, it's not the primary goal of that platform to allow you to host online courses and memberships and stuff like that.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [07:23.7] You know, if, you know from the get go, you wanting to build some kind of like digital product suite, then you would, I would suggest leaning more towards platforms that are actually designed to do that. You know.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [07:37.5] And sorry, one of the things that I also think is that, you know, when you are first starting out and your business, your business is going to evolve, there is just, there's just no two ways about it. And I feel like sometimes the more simple you kind of, build initially, the faster you can actually move.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [08:02.6] You know, people think that a website is the most important part of their business, but actually it's not. You know, a lot of people in the online space actually don't even have a full website. They have like funnels, they have, they have hybrids, so landing pages.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [08:20.7] You know that people can take specific actions on, rather than like a full website. So don't get caught up in the fact that you need, you think you need a full website before you can, you know, do this or monetize this. You know, you could just have a one pager that literally as you said, is very, user or the person who's visiting visitor friendly.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [08:48.2] It must, it must, people must be able to identify themselves in your website copy and be like, oh yes, that's me. You know, I, that I have that problem. Or if I've been searching for a specific solution and I come across your website like, yes, that sounds good.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [09:08.3] Like that's my problem. Yes, she understands. Yes, I can see that she's been through it kind of thing. And so you can just have a, you know, a, a simpler website. As I said, I just went in the whole hog and had to redo it all.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [09:25.1] So, you don't, you don't need to have everything ready in order to Be building your online business.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [09:34.1] Yeah, I in fact had a client exactly like you're describing. She had no website. No website. She did her in. All her business was done through funnels. So it would be like she would be talking about something and then she would send people to a landing page with information about that particular offer.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [09:51.4] Offer no website.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [09:52.9] There was no homepage and a work with me and see courses. It was like none of that, you know. And she was incredibly successful. So there isn't like a prescriptive one way to do this. If, if you looking at the logistics around how to build a website on wix, how to build a website on Kajabi, you know these platforms have got all tutorials and they will show you the practicalities around how to build the website.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [10:27.6] We are approaching this topic in almost like a three kind of like a zoomed out way. Like how you build a website is actually not to start with building the website. It's to start by thinking about what do you want to put on that website. And that's often the work that I think we get a bit like oh I, I don't know or I'm not sure.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [10:50.4] And so we feel stuck and, and so I feel like that's why I know certainly when I feel like that I my go to is something practical because then it makes me feel better like okay, well I know that one thing you also mentioned in our chat on this topic before we, we started recording was just around the practicalities of domains.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [11:13.8] Do you want to maybe mention something around that too?
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [11:17.3] Okay, so as we were saying, so you have the practical part of building the actual website on whatever platform whether you Choose Wix or WordPress or Kajabi or whatever. And then you have to kind of anchor it so that people can find it.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [11:36.5] And so you would have to purchase a domain name. So like Cands I think you are your social funnel.com and three stars.com so whatever, whether it's your name gailstar.com I would have loved that. But somebody else owns gailstar.com or you know, whatever, domain and you can go to something like godaddy or namecheap or.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [12:02.2] I mean there's a whole lot of domains you can literally just put in like buy a domain and it will come up and then it will also give you all your options dot com.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [12:14.3] So you know, within your niche it would be very good to have a domain that yeah, that, that is understandable for your niche. People also will put Keywords, even SEO into your domain.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [12:36.6] So I've just purchased a domain because I'm busy doing a launch. You know, a lot of what I teach is around launching and I've got a new AI platform and I've just bought the name, let's launch it I.o.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [12:52.3] because I.o. is kind of known in the tech field. And let's launch it is, it is exactly what it says it is. So you can either go with like a personal brand or you can go with something that is related to what, what it is that you're building.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [13:11.1] And the domain place will tell you whether it's available. Obviously if somebody else has bought it, it's not available and then from there you'd buy it and then you would go again through the practicalities with Kajabi or wix or Word space, of linking it.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [13:28.7] So you would link it and then if somebody was looking for you, they could type in your domain name and then your website will come up.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [13:36.4] Yeah, exactly. And I mean again in the same breath it's great to have a domain name, but I've actually seen in terms of the Kajabi world, I've actually seen some pretty big hitters in the Kajabi world that when I look at their URL, it's actually not a custom domain, it's still the like.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [13:57.6] So, you know, I think again, I think what this speaks to for me is like if you, if you are speaking to people who have, who have a problem and you've got the solution, they don't care what your domain name is.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [14:10.7] Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [14:12.0] It is sometimes what you have.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [14:14.1] Yeah, sometimes we complicate everything too much and it can be pretty simple. So.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [14:19.4] Absolutely. Okay, so just to get back to if you are going to take this on board, before starting with the where, think about the what I think for me, what I would give serious consideration to is like who is the person you are trying to help or reach and what is the thing they want to solve.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [14:48.1] Okay. And I know that sounds so simple. Business owners will put what they think the solution should be rather than what the person they're trying to reach things you know the problem is and what they are looking for.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [15:07.4] So it's like a subtle but very profoundly impactful messaging position when you trying to think about it in that way. So thinking about who are you trying to reach, what do they think the problem is? What are the ways in which you can help them with this thing and how are you going to communicate that on a homepage that's where I would start, you know, and then maybe considering, like on that homepage, what do you want the person to do?
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [15:41.4] So like, if they get there and they're like, this is me, what must they do? Is there a little checklist they can grab from you? Because you want to get people on your email list, Is it a direct, get hold of me, let's see how we can work together.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [15:58.3] Like, what do you actually want the person to do? So for me, it would be audience offer, funnel. That's it. You know, start there. Start.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [16:10.9] What do you. Yeah, no, for sure. And you know what? The other thing that comes, comes to my mind again and again and again is a confused mind does not make decisions.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [16:27.6] So I have seen homepages where There are like 10 different options of things to do. You know, download this, book an appointment here, join this wait list. And again, I would just like to say, in the online world, less is more.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [16:46.5] If you have one signature offer, you know, or one way of working, I would just say put that on. You might, you might go for at the most two. You know, maybe there is a, freebie or something that they can also download.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [17:05.1] Because remember, you don't have to have every single offer that you've ever created on your website because people will just be too confused. They'll be like, well, do I do this or do I.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [17:21.7] Would this be better for me? Or maybe I should do the one on one, you know, and then they just don't do anything because they just like, I don't know. So, yeah, keep it simple and keep it like one maximum of two actions on your page and the right person will come along.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [17:41.0] And then when they, when they speak to you or when they reach out to you or when you connect or whatever, then that is the time then to, you know, get to know them. Then see if some of your other offers would be better. You know, then the relationship starts and then you go from there.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [17:58.5] Yeah, lovely. Okay, guys, if you like this approach and you like. I would love help before deciding which platform to get on to. Gail and I, although I don't know about your capacity at the moment, Gail, you are going into a launch, but this is kind of what we help people with, is just thinking through.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [18:21.0] It's like the strategy before action, you know?
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [18:24.3] Yes.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [18:25.0] Before you do, you'll find links to both our websites, ways to get hold of us on our podcast website. This is what we do. And you are welcome to get hold of either one of us.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [18:40.2] Set up a time we can meet and we can take you through it.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [18:44.3] Lovely. Cool.
SPEAKER 1 - Candice: [18:45.8] All right. All right, guys. Thanks for listening. We will catch you all next week.
SPEAKER 2 - Gail: [18:50.8] See you next week. Bye.
