Episode Transcription

31: You Need to Outsource Your Website

Okay, today I'm talking about something that might ruffle a few feathers, and that is your website, and As you all know, I am a big believer that you should have a website. Now, I know that a lot of tutoring businesses can start up without a website, and that's fantastic. That's really great. But if you are trying to build something that is more than just a side hustle, something that's more than just five to ten students, then you need to have a website.

A website shows who you are. It shows the services that you offer. It also is a place or an opportunity or an avenue for your families to connect with you, to figure out your phone number or your email. It's a way for them to book in for calls. And if you don't have that website out there, how can you possibly expect for new families to get in touch with you?

Right. But a website also helps to establish you in the industry as the expert and as the professional. It shows your background, it shows your experience, it's an opportunity for you to share the testimonials and the results that you have created through working with families and students already. But what I want to talk to you today about, however, is why you need to outsource.

The design of your website. Now that's the bit that's quite controversial. Yes, you can totally jump right in and create a website for yourself. However, hear me out. If you've listened to me before, if you followed along, you will know that I talk about working in your zones of genius, right? So if you think about the things that you do in your day to day life around your business, there are going to be some things that you are really good at.

And then some things that you're really not great at. Now, the trap that a lot of us fall into is that we think, well, I need to save money. I'm starting up my business. I want to do everything I can to save money. So I'm going to do all of the things. However. Do you have a designer or a developer degree or qualification or any experience at all?

Probably not, but yet we try and do that. Do you have any sort of accounting or bookkeeping experience or qualifications at all? Probably not, but yet we start from scratch without any support in trying to do that. Do you have any business degree or qualification or experience or anything like that?

Probably not yet. We think that we can jump right in and start running a business without having any support or skills or knowledge behind us. What about marketing? Have you got any idea what makes effective marketing? Have you done anything? And this is not to be rude, but anything beyond what you've taught your students in the classroom in regards to marketing, especially in this.

These days where so much is online and things are forever changing, probably not yet, you expect that you can jump in and have a business that's growing on the back of potentially good marketing. So. All of those things. I mean, there are so many things, but when we start up our businesses, we think that we have to do it all to save money.

This is such a common mistake that I see. And our website often falls into this because we go out and we see that other people have done it. We see that there's so many opportunities to do drag and drop templates and things like that, which by the way are amazing, but. I see so many ladies spending so much time creating these websites, and I'm going to be brutally honest right now, they are not amazing.

So, your website has to be your shop front. If you don't come to your own website and absolutely love the heck out of it, that's a problem. You need... To come to your website and it needs to be professional. It needs to be clear. It needs to have the right copy, the right wording there so that people can see exactly who you are, what you do, how you can help, how they can get in touch with you, the services that you provide, all of that needs to be on there. 

It needs to be more than just one page. It can't just be everything. Thrown in there for that reader or that parent, usually a busy mom, to have to try and scroll through and decipher. It has to have consistent branding, not just your colors, but your fonts as well. You don't want to be using multiple different types of fonts just because you think it looks pretty.

It has to be aligned with the branding that you've created at the very beginning, has to be consistent. You want your website to stand out amongst others, because for so many parents, families, they're going to come to your website and they're going to go to somebody else's website as well. And if yours doesn't stand out as professional, If yours doesn't stand out as, Oh, this person knows what they're doing. 

Oh, this service looks really fantastic. Or, Oh, look at, look at what they do here. If your website doesn't do that, what do you think that person is going to think? What are they going to do? There's a good chance they're probably going to go to the other website that looks more professional, that looks more established, that says exactly what they do and how they can help in a really clear manner and give them a call. 

Now, yes, there are always exceptions to the rules, and there are some businesses with rubbish to slightly rubbish websites who do continue to grow. This is usually because of word of mouth referrals, and in the tutoring industry, word of mouth referrals are going to be one of the main ways that you get your students. 

The next best way for most family, sorry, for most tutoring businesses is through Google searches and Google searches will take those parents to your website. And this is why I'm banging on about this today, because I don't want that first impression that they have of you to be rubbish. I want that first impression that they have of you to be, wow, we need this.

You know, that is your opportunity to capture these parents, like 100 percent capture them. They're already out there looking for you. They already know they need you. They've actually come to you as lead. You haven't even had to do anything to get them. They've come to you as a warm lead, interested in the services that you have to offer, seeing if you're a good fit, your website now needs to show that you are the perfect fit and just the words on the paper or on the screen are not going to be enough to do this. The overall feel, the overall look, the way it's put together and presented is a big part of that. Unfortunately, as humans, we do judge. By what things look like. So as a parent, if I go to a website and something doesn't look professional, if something doesn't look properly established, it puts doubt in my mind without me even realizing it, without me even thinking, Oh, this website looks dodgy before my brain even gets a chance to think that I've already.

Subconsciously thought, um, not really sure about this one. I haven't even had a moment to think, oh, that picture's really dark, or, oh, I don't like the look of what they do here. My subconscious has already taken over. Now, right or wrong, that's not what we're here to discuss today, okay? We are here to discuss Your website and why I encourage you to outsource it.

Now doing full, doing a full circle and going back to what I said at the beginning, often the reason that people outsource this is because they think they have to do everything themselves because they're trying to save money. Every single time in my business and every single business that I've created, I've always outsourced this section of my business. 

I have tried. I have tried to make my own website. And if I'm being honest, actually part of my current website, I've made myself, but that's only after years of trial and learning, I guess. But the very first website I had, it was a no brainer. There was no way I was going to try and learn coding to create a website.

So I outsourced that and it was amazing. It was beyond anything that I could possibly have created because it was done by somebody who this is their zone of genius, they bring. Extra to this, um, service that I can't, my brain just doesn't go to that level because that's not what I do. Sure. I can be creative. 

Sure. I can learn how to do things. But that's not my zone of genius. So by outsourcing that to a developer or designer, he was able to create something way more than I could possibly have imagined. And people would comment on it. The uniqueness of my website, people would comment on that. They would remember my website.

My branding was so consistent and bold. It stood out. That's what you want. Then down the track, when I wanted to refresh my website and change some things, again, I could have just jumped in and at this stage, WordPress is, was WordPress has sort of become more popular and it was easier to build your websites and move things around.

So Wix and WordPress are two of the most popular platforms, but again, after sitting down and trying to have a bit of a go at it myself, I knew. This is not my thing. This right now is going to take me days, weeks, potentially months to actually do. And it's not going to be amazing. Yep. It'll be good. It will be good. 

But it's not going to be amazing. And this first point of contact for my families, I need to be amazing. It has to be amazing. So again, I outsourced the refresh update of that website and that's happened every single time that I've gone to create a website. So like I said, the one that I have now, yes, some of those pages I created because I needed to get something up and running quickly, but I've had somebody else. 

You know, who has that designer eye come in and touch things up for me and improve things and, you know, create, um, create the rest of my website out, pull it out. So. I really, really want to stress the importance of a professional website. It is the shop front of your business. It is the first place people will come to learn more about you.

And if it's no good, if it's rubbish, if you've just, you know, if, if it looks like it was done by a high school student, no offense, some of them do. That's not okay. That's not taking your business seriously. So take some time. Go and get some quotes. Okay. Now I'm not going to tell you today where, who to go to.

I'm not giving referrals. That's not what this is about, but always get three quotes. So wherever you decide to go, get three different quotes. So you know what the top is, what the bottom is, what the middle is, where you're aiming for. I will say that you can probably get a really good website. Anywhere from 1, 500 to 10, 000. 

You do not need to spend 10, 000 on a really good website. Okay? Um, bring it way back down. Way, way, way, way, way back down, but get your three quotes. And on a side note, at the time of recording this, 1, 500 to 2, 500 is probably the average of where most of the ladies I'm working with are. That that's about average of what they're spending. 

There are. Alternative ways that you can get a website cheaper again, be careful. So don't engage, um, people who, uh, creating websites in bulk online through the domain that you purchase your website through, if that makes sense. So for example, I'm trying to be very careful not to use names here, but if you purchase your website through a certain domain.

They are not necessarily the best person to create your website. And that is just going on in the experience of the ladies that I've worked with. It hasn't been fantastic. Reach out to actual designers, whether it's locally, whether it's online. You don't need somebody in your local area to create that website for you.

If you're in Queensland, you might find someone in New South Wales, or you might find somebody a street away from you. Go out and do some research instead of investing the time into creating something that's going to be average, spend the time now finding some websites that you like, scroll to the very, very bottom of those pages. 

See who the designers are or the developers are of those websites and get in touch with them. Do that a handful of times until you get somebody that you like with a price that you can afford and make sure you also ask for a timeframe. You might find the right person, the right price, but they can't do it for another six months and you need it done yesterday.

Okay. So make sure you ask that question as well. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a professional, amazing looking website for your business. If you are serious about the growth of this, the longevity, the scalability you need to invest in this. And I would encourage you to do that instead of trying to do it yourself.