The Side-Hustle Dad

Ep19
===

Website As Business Card
---

​[00:00:00]

Bryan Steele: Hi, and welcome back to another episode of The Side Hustle Dad. I'm glad you're joining me today. In recent episodes, we've been talking about sales processes, marketing, those various things. But today, we're gonna get really specific on a key marketing piece of your business. It's your digital business card.

Now, this isn't like the dot cards or something like that. This is your website. Now, you have likely a Google Business listing, maybe even made a Facebook business page, which is fine. But for all businesses, we need our own website. We need our own piece of digital real estate where [00:01:00] people can come learn about us, see what we offer, understand who we help better, so that they're more confident in their buying choices. So today, we're gonna cover the key aspects of a website.

Avoid Perfectionism Trap
---

Bryan Steele: Before I do that, I wanna make sure we focus on one thing.

Make sure we don't get stuck in perfectionism. I think that's very, very common when starting to deal with things like logo and company name and website. We can start to zero in on this because we feel like we need to make it perfect, and it's just the distraction from us doing the other more important things in our business.

So I wanna make sure that we avoid that in the process, and we'll talk a little bit more at the end. But we all have to build one. It's got to be made, and so I want to make sure your website is as effective as possible in helping you get new business and grow.

Hook In Five Seconds
---

Bryan Steele: So, [00:02:00] the first thing we have to know is we've got to hook our audience.

Social media has done many things to our attention span, mainly bad, but now it's a very much grab my attention immediately or I'm gone. I'm going somewhere else. I'm scrolling to the next thing. I'm swiping past to the next thing. And so we are conditioned to look and evaluate instantaneously what is going on.

So when somebody finds your website, maybe they did a Google search and you popped up. Maybe they saw a social media post and found a link to your website on your profile. You've got five seconds to capture their attention and make them stay. Maybe even less than that, honestly. You've got to, in bold, big text, say what it is that you provide value for, how you [00:03:00] help, who it is you're for.

And if you do not capture that immediately, they're leaving, they're going somewhere else. So this is a part where we cannot be ambiguous. Clarity is kindness. Focus is kindness. And you need to, right up front, as clearly as possible, state the value you provide through your services, through your product, and how it is you help them If you miss out on this part, they're just going somewhere else.

So think about what that hook is. It doesn't need to be some poetic masterpiece. We're not looking for long form. But what is it that's going to get somebody's attention to say, "That's interesting. I could use help with that," or, "I wanna learn more"? Make that hook clear and obvious.

Portfolio Proof Examples
---

Bryan Steele: Once somebody knows what value you provide in the most clear and compelling fashion, now we've earned their attention span [00:04:00] to go to the next step, which is your portfolio and your social proof.

Now, this is a couple of different pieces here, but if our first job was to clearly say who it is, the value we provide, what we do in the most simple terms and compelling terms, our job now is to provide the evidence that we can deliver on that value. So the first piece of that is the portfolio. A portfolio is your internal presentation of your work.

So in my case, I did music production, so that would include songs that I had made in a playlist. Uh, if you're a photographer, that would be photos you've taken of different events. If you're a landscaper, before and after photos when somebody works with you, what it looks like. If you're a consultant, might get a little harder, but this is when we start looking at things like case studies.

And again, this is evidence. So [00:05:00] when you came into company XYZ consulting on this project, here were the deliverables, here was the measurable impact we made through this process. Here's how we delivered for our clients. The portfolio is the internal piece. It's you showing what you've done. It's the direct outcome of your work.

It allows people to see it and evaluate it, because in some cases, things are very taste-based. If you're a web designer, you might have a different style than somebody else. So the portfolio demonstrates your capabilities, how you approach things, what it sounds like or looks like to work with you And it's something that you generate.

It's demonstration of your work. That's the portfolio piece.

Reviews And Testimonials
---

Bryan Steele: The social proof piece is what other people are saying about you. So in this case, it would be grabbing reviews that you've collected on your Google business page.

Five stars, would recommend, want to work with them again, so happy with how this turned out. [00:06:00] It is the external validation that somebody else is giving you that you know what you're doing and can provide the value which you demonstrated up top at the very beginning when somebody landed on your website.

For more detailed work, we might go testimonials, right? So when we are just starting out, we're not likely to have a whole bunch of reviews, but we may have a few clients who are really happy having worked with us. So in this case, we want to collect something that's a little more in-depth than just the review on Google business.

It's, it's more than just the sentence and five stars. It's A deeper dive into how you helped them and the impact it's had on them. You might capture this through an email just asking them some questions. You might even do an interview of them. You just get your phone out when you worked with them and hold it up to them and ask them some questions and get video feedback, and you can post clips of that video on your website as [00:07:00] a testimonial.

So those are really kind of the two pieces of social proof. You've got your really short reviews, what people are saying, five stars. You've got more in-depth pieces of testimonials. That's the social proof. So that is the evidence.

Landing Page Layout
---

Bryan Steele: And these pieces land-- are, are part of your landing page, your main page where somebody lands.

It needs to be light. It needs to be easy to scan and scroll through and see the content that's there. Big, bold text, things broken up so you can quickly go through it. Maybe it's got a little bit about your process. But we want that landing page to be easily scrollable, easily consumable, and cover those main benefits.

So the value you provide, the evidence that you can back up your claims from your portfolio, from social proof, what people are saying about you. That's the main landing page for your website.

Extra Pages For Detail
---

Bryan Steele: Now, assuming that landing page has done its work, there [00:08:00] are two things they might do from there. The first is they may want additional detail, and this is where having additional pages or menu options is really important.

So this could be an About page where you talk about your experience and background that you're bringing to this business. You will likely have a Services page where you explain your process and the things that you go through and how you work with your clients and what that whole thing looks like. You might have a Contact Us where you've got another page where people can have more contact information.

You may have more dedicated, detailed case studies that you go through on separate pages to give more detail than what you had on your main landing page. But it allows somebody who's interested in getting more detail to find that. Maybe you have a f- FAQ page, frequently asked questions, where somebody says, you know, you're [00:09:00] always getting asked the same things in your calls, so you can start making an FAQ.

How long does it take to work with you? You know, what can I expect in this process? How much does it cost to work with you? So you can start asking those different questions of yourself and kind of preempt them. So when somebody's doing research, you've got the answers right there for them. And this is that additional detail for the, the person who's working to make a decision on whether they're gonna buy from you.

One Clear Call To Action
---

Bryan Steele: If they're not interested in going into that in-depth piece or maybe they've already done some of that, the last piece of your website, which it should live everywhere, is your call to action. It should be obvious to everyone visiting your website exactly what the next step is.

This might be schedule a call, ask for a quote, buy now, apply to [00:10:00] join, but it is one call to action. Don't have different things spread out. Sign up for the email newsletter, book a call, apply to join, request a quote. Like, you don't want a million different things because you confuse people on what the process is.

Decide what your process is and give them that one next step. For me, it's s- booking a call or requesting a quote. What is that one step you want them to take? Because then it's obvious, this is what I do. Once I've been on the website, maybe the landing page is enough. They go, "Yeah, this looks pretty cool.

I'm interested in learning more." Boom, click the call to action. Or they came to your landing page, said, "This looks interesting. Let me dig into more details. Okay, now that I've learned a little more about this person, I want to schedule that meeting." All right, those are also very good steps that you would want to take.

And you want this call to action [00:11:00] to live everywhere. So it's a button at the top of your website in that above-the-fold menu settings. The call to action is there. It's right next to your main hook on your landing page. Maybe it's two or three times as you scroll through the social proof. And as you go through the different pages, you want your call to action there.

When they're on your services, that call to action should be there. On the About Me page, call to action should be right there. Always the same, always consistent, so that at every given moment, they always know what that next step is. That is the step they take. It's always that one thing. There's zero confusion, and they're more likely to follow that step once they, they have finished with your website.

That's what you wanna maximize, is them taking that next step so that you can work with them.

AI Search And AEO
---

Bryan Steele: Now, here's what's interesting about the way things are changing currently. With AI out there, [00:12:00] people are less likely to do a Google search. They're more likely to ask an AI engine.

So all of this content on your website is something that can be crawled. In the past, that was called SEO, or search engine optimization. That was somebody asking a question of Google and Google posting your website as a potential place to learn more. Which is still a thing lots of people do. Not everybody is asking AI, but now there's this new piece which is answer engine optimization.

So what is important to consider is what are the people asking that might be your clients? So I really love long form content of some sort on your website. When people are diving into those details, those FAQ pages where you're answering questions for potential clients is incredibly valuable. Not because somebody comes to your website and always goes through them, but [00:13:00] because Google and the AI engines are indexing that information.

And when somebody asks them that question, your information gets surfaced and you are the source of that information. So now you're more likely to be given an option as like, "Hey, who's, who's somebody I-- that knows about this in my town?" Well, now that AI engine, if they asked, you know, ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini or whatever it might be, you're more likely to be surfaced because that AI engine was able to scan all of the text and learn more about it.

The reason why that long form content becomes so important these days is because AI is looking for sentences, conversation, what they call conversational context, like the way we really talk. Google in the past has just been looking for keywords. When somebody asks for XYZ or [00:14:00] starts using these words, your website needs to have those words.

Whether or not it's in a sentence or structured, it's looking for those words and then seeing if it's a, a good website for that information. AEO is more interested in you being able to answer the question and having additional details. So I really think, you know, as people dig into the details, as you build out this website, those frequently asked questions, blog content, video transcripts, different things that explain how you help and why things work a certain way for those clients.

What are those people asking? That information on your website is gold because it's more likely to refer you in those cases, because lots of times people aren't necessarily directly searching for your business. They're asking a question, "Who can help me with this?" And so you want those search engines, those AI engines to recommend you, and they're gonna [00:15:00] recommend you because your website has this really good content.

It's not gonna recommend you off of a Facebook page. Yeah. Maybe it'll recommend you off of a Google Business listing, but I really strongly recommend having this additional content on a website because it's, it's gonna provide more value and give you more bang for your buck. Now We've gone through these key components,

The landing page which has the compelling hook which captures someone's attention in just a few seconds. We've got the social proof content. We've got the portfolio content in there. That's the evidence that you can provide the value you're promising.

We've got the additional pages which have the details, the extra content, the people who wanna learn more about you to become convinced that, hey, you're somebody they can trust. And then finally, that call to action that's all over your website so that at [00:16:00] any given moment, everyone knows the next step that they need to take.

Tools To Build Fast
---

Bryan Steele: Now that we've kinda got that framework laid out, we now need to build it, which sounds intimidating, but there's some very simple tools out there. There's entire companies who base their entire business on helping you make a website. So there's your drag-and-drop editors. These are your Squarespace or your Wix.

They have really nice templates that are attractive, so you can go and pick a template and then start putting in this content we've talked about. Just update it with that information, create the additional pages, publish it, you're off and running. You can also, if you've got a specific product, maybe you build something in Shopify where it's easy to order and buy.

It's kinda got all that backend already built to make it easy to purchase something from you directly The [00:17:00] other piece, we talked about AI really being able to find your website, but AI is really good at building websites. You could probably take this transcript of this podcast, go to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whatever, say, "Hey, I need to build a website.

Here's information about my business. Here are my reviews and testimonials, and here's a transcript which lays out a framework that I wanna use for my podcast. Please build this for me." ~There's some cus-- specific tools like Lovable, which can build websites for you that are AI-based, but a little more unique.~

~There's other AI ones that I haven't even touched, and ~I'm guessing that over the next few months, I mean, if this episode, you're listening to it a month or two later, there may be other tools that can do AI website builds. The goal is just find something that you can interact with, that you can go back and forth.

The level of cus- customization may be different, like how easy it is to go in and modify something with those different AI tools may be, may be different. So that's something to pay attention to if you wanna update it [00:18:00] later. But there are lots of tools out there that make it easy to build a website. So that's what I'm asking you to do.

Take this framework, think about what your main hooks are, what is the evidence you're gonna put in there, the portfolio, the social proof. After you've got that kinda figured out, what are the detailed pieces you need to put in, FAQs, blogs, about me. What is that, that you're gonna generate, and then what is your action you want somebody to take?

It's just a handful of things that you have to spend some time thinking about, and now you have everything you need to go build a website.

Publish Then Iterate
---

Bryan Steele: Now, the easy thing is, as I was mentioning earlier, to get really stuck on this, thinking it needs to be perfect. It does not. Get the first version done. Take a couple of hours on a weekend, on an evening, say, "This is gonna be when I do my website build."

Fill out that framework and then go to whatever builder you wanna [00:19:00] try and just start putting it together. Just give yourself a couple of hours, give yourself a deadline, so you don't get stuck and say, "At this point, I'm gonna put everything I can in it based on this framework, and then I'm gonna hit publish, and it's gonna go live, and I'm gonna start using it.

It's gonna be on my domain for my dot com, and we go from there."

Do not think the first version of this has to be perfect. When I originally built my first website, it was not perfect. I continued to iterate. I changed the heading on it a couple of different times. I updated the portfolio in different pieces. I added some additional social proof later that I put in once I had it from my Google Business listings.

This is something that evolves, so don't feel like the first version is the final version. Just tweak and update as you go. As, as you get more [00:20:00] accustomed to what somebody's asking questions on, maybe you add more to your FAQ. This is an iterative process, but at the end of the day, this digital business card is going to bring people to you.

It's going to attract your clients and your customers. Just today, I had a phone call with somebody who did a Google search, found my website, looked through it, said, "This looks good." I had the one step, which was get a quote, and they scheduled a meeting with me. Like, they followed the process, and I didn't have to do anything.

So once you've got it out there, it's something that's doing that initial introduction for you twenty-four/seven, all the time, allowing you to focus on your business and then just pointing people to it, allowing them to go learn more on their own and then reach out to you when they want to work with you.

Two Hour Website Challenge
---

Bryan Steele: So that's my step for you from this episode. That is your action. Go through this framework. [00:21:00] Decide what that content is that needs to be on your website, what it is you'll build out, and then take a couple hours, just two hours. That is your deadline for the first version of this website.

Holiday Break And Wrap Up
---

Bryan Steele: Now, next week is actually July 3rd, so it's the 4th of July next weekend.

We're gonna take that week off. Use that time, spend time with your family, enjoy that time, don't stress about it, and take that extra week and use it on this website. So maybe you spend one hour just thinking about the content and another hour building. You've got two weeks, so that is my encouragement to you.

If you don't already have a website, build it, and if you've already got one, maybe go through this framework and see how it needs to be updated. But I wanna encourage you to do that step, improve it, and then just let it do its work and just grow from there. Again, it doesn't need to be the final version.

Get something out there and get started. Get that ball rolling. I know you're capable of [00:22:00] it. Excited to be with you today, and I will see you again in two weeks, and then we'll, we will be back on our regular cadence every week. So have a great holiday, and I will talk to you real soon.

​ [00:23:00]