Websites & The Content That You Add With Georgia Kaye

Andy Splichal  0:02  

Welcome to the Make Each Click Count podcast. This is your host, Andy Splichal. And today I'm being joined by a special guest to discuss Websites and the Importance of what Goes on Your Website or the Copywriting. This guest is a web designer, a content strategist and co host of the per the contract podcast. Big welcome for Georgia Kaye. Hi, Georgia.

Georgia Kaye  1:15  

Hi, Andy. Thanks for having me. I'm excited.

Andy Splichal  1:18  

Yeah, we're excited to have you. Now before we dive into today's topic, which is the content of your website, Let's first hear a little of your backstory and and what led to you to becoming a bonafide content strategist.

Georgia Kaye  1:32  

Bonafide content strategist. I love that I'm gonna steal that.

Andy Splichal  1:36  

Gonna put that on the business card.

Georgia Kaye  1:38  

Yes, I am. I am. I'll have to give you royalties. But so my background is in content strategists as content strategy, excuse me. And I actually started back in college, I was a communication major, I went to St. Louis University and still live in St. Louis today. And I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. Because communication is really, really broad. So you can get into event planning and PR and marketing. And there's just a ton of different avenues. So I did about four or five internships, actually, while I was in college, trying to figure out what on earth I wanted to do. And the recurring theme, and all of them ended up being content strategy, because it's really relevant to any industry. If you have a business and you're trying to get sales and customers and all of that good stuff, you've got to have good, solid content. And you've got to figure out, how do I speak to those people. And so through all of my corporate gigs, and then even going full time last year, in my own business as a web designer, content strategy has always been there. And it's always been the root of my business. And truly, I think every business for every client that I work with.

Andy Splichal  2:45  

Okay, great. Well, many of our listeners we had spoken about that are but are involved in E-commerce stores. So as a content strategist, what are some some tips you can give to those running e commerce websites?

Georgia Kaye  2:59  

Yeah, so I would say having good content, obviously, is really important. And it goes further than just having a good product, because you can have the best product in the world. But if you're not having solid photos of it, or videos, that you're not explaining what it is, you're not, you know, having good search keywords on there. So people can find it on your website, people aren't going to buy it simply put, they're not going to buy things that A. they don't know exist. And B. they don't know what it is or why they need it. So having those communication key points, super, super important. And then with an e-commerce website to user experience, that's huge. I think we've all had one of those things where we go to a website, we want to purchase something, and the checkout doesn't work, or it's just really clunky, or the payment processing seems a little wacky. And so I'd say a good user experience is something you should definitely be paying attention to. And I think a lot of people just throw up a website, and they put products on it. And they're like, the people will come and they will purchase it. It'll be great. And that's not always the case. There's a lot more that goes into it. But those two specific areas, hugely important, in my opinion. 

Andy Splichal  4:06  

Yeah, no, great point. Another thing I can think is that a lot of E-commerce websites aren't selling their own stuff, but if they're selling somebody else's stuff, yeah, just use the manufacturer's description, the manufacturers content. What is the danger you see with with doing that?

Georgia Kaye  4:26  

I mean, the biggest thing right there, I can think of a few with drop shipping. Specifically, when you get into that type of arena, you're not setting yourself apart. If there's a product you're offering and somebody else is selling it as well, maybe of the same manufacturer and you're using the exact same description. Literally what it's going to come down to for a customer or potential customer is trust and likeability. If they're looking at your website and all of your other content and everything is the same. It's going to kind of come down to a popularity contest between you and the other vendor. Maybe the user experience between the two how they even And, you know, got attracted to your website or your product in the first place. So having a really distinct description, having very specific photos that you actually paid for a brand shoot, or you took yourself, those are all ways that you can make your product stand apart, even if it happens to be the same thing. You're offering it someone else that it's from the same vendor. I mean, I think that's just business in general, people offer the same services, you have competitors. And it's really about how can I stand out in this field, and make my product seen and heard and the most popular, the most likable and the most purchased.

Andy Splichal  5:34  

Well, I would think also that by putting in your unique content, it would greatly enhance your SEO and your ability. 

Georgia Kaye  5:40  

Yes, yes. Because if all things are the same, you have the same exact description, it's going to come down to SEO be really important. And I think a lot of people get confused and think that SEO is strictly keywords or strictly metadata on your website. But there's actually a lot of other things that impacted and your visibility and your brand presence is super important, too. So if you've maybe been featured a few places or you know, maybe you've done a podcast like this, and your name is listed somewhere else, those, you know, create backlinks and though Google loves stuff like this, so outside of just the description, there's a couple other areas that really impact SEO that you've got to be aware of.

Andy Splichal  6:19  

You know, speaking of SEO, how often do you think fresh content or updating your content is is relative, especially for for E-commerce stores?

Georgia Kaye  6:29  

Yeah, I mean, with Google, it's super important, because that's kind of how they're monitoring your website in a way without going too deep in the details here. If you have a website that has been up for maybe a few months, and you're not updating any of the content, you're not refreshing the sitemap, you're not putting out any new data, Google looks down on that they're going to start ranking other similar websites higher because they're like, Oh, these people are putting out new content. It's it's similar to social media, honestly, in a way where you know what the Instagram algorithm for instance, if you're not pushing out new content daily, they're going to start favoring other accounts over yours, your stuff is going to be seen by less people, and you just kind of start falling away from the attention that you're wanting your brand to get.

Andy Splichal  7:14  

Great. Now, besides a content strategist, you're also a web designer, which is great, because most most web designers are you know more into just kind of making things look great, but don't really consider the content. Now, how do you see being a web designer and content strategy for you blending together?

Georgia Kaye  7:37  

Yeah, I love this question. So thank you for asking, because I think there definitely is sort of something within the web design industry where people are either a web designer, or they're a web developer. And that's kind of where it ends, they maybe don't have a solid understanding of SEO, they don't understand, you know, target audience research and content strategy and copywriting. And those are elements that are vital to a website. So since my background is in content strategy, I knew all of that, before I ever even touched a line of code or designed a website, I'm actually completely self taught for web design. Until last year, I was actually able to take some custom coding classes, which is really cool. But those two skill sets really complement each other, the worst thing you can do is, you know, go to a web designer, and you have this awesome new business, for instance, because I work with a lot of newer entrepreneurs. And you don't really know who your audience is quite yet, like you know, who you'd like to sell to, and you know, what your competitors are doing. But maybe you don't really know the best way of positioning that you're not sure what social media platforms you should be on? Do I need an email marketing strategy? You know, where are my people hanging out at? And how can I get them to notice my brand new brand. As a web designer, I can not only give you the tools to look aesthetically pleasing and show up with the right functionality on your website, but because of my content strategy background, I can also say hey, here's the tone of voice we should be using, here's where your people are hanging out. Here's sort of the integrations we should be implementing on the behind the scenes with email marketing on any type of social media marketing. So having that skill set I personally think not only helps me stand out in my own industry, which is kind of relevant to what we're talking here. But it also is really helpful to my clients because if you're investing money, the key word there is investing you want a website that's going to give you a return you don't want to just invest 1000s of dollars and then you don't get anything out of it you just have a really pretty website but it's not doing anything it's what's on the inside that counts, too. It's beauty and the brains.

Andy Splichal  9:39  

Now when you are doing a website for, well, I guess we should get into before that what because you said you had founded your company about a year ago what what services are you offering to?

Georgia Kaye  9:51  

Yeah, so I was side hustling for quite a quite a while I was doing pretty much anything content marketing related because while I loved my jobs at the time, I was slightly bored and slightly stir crazy where I just had an itch to work on other things I was passionate about. So about a year ago, it really sort of hit home. And I was at a point where I was working, you know, 80 hour weeks because I was working full time coming home side hustling, and it really wasn't great for work life balance. And I decided to quit and go full time because I had enough contracts lined up that I was like, You know what, like, I can do this. It's sustainable. Two weeks later, COVID hit? 

Andy Splichal  10:30  

Oh, no. 

Georgia Kaye  10:31  

Yeah, exactly. That was not something that I was expecting. And I totally panicked a little bit, but it actually worked out really well. So silver lining in the middle of all of that horrible illness that's still going on is that even though there's a global pandemic, people have been building new businesses left and right, because they have this newfound time possibly, or maybe their current job, they were at very unfortunately didn't work out and and now they've decided to pursue something they're passionate about. And that might be a new business venture. So for me, it was awesome, where I started being able to really work with a lot of newer entrepreneurs. And it's just been a really fun time. But it's a learning experience. I mean, the services I offered, when I first started out, I was pretty much doing anything content marketing. And really quickly, within a month, I was like, I need to be very selective about the services I'm offering so that I can scale down and have an awesome process, because that's what I really want to do. So currently, I offer two main services. The first is website design. So I've primarily build within WordPress in the showup platforms that I work with entrepreneurs, specifically, I've been working with a lot more luxury brands, specifically luxury real estate agencies, because they need IDX integration, which is very custom, lots of custom coding in there as well. And then I also offer a secondary service. It's called Designer Day. And it was born out of COVID. Because a lot of new people were building businesses, they needed a website, but they didn't have the need for a full scale website. So basically, if somebody hires me for a full day, they get a strategy call ahead of time. And on their designer day, I build out their entire website. It's usually a one pager site. But it's been awesome. I had a client the other day, we built a yacht charter of all things. He got a direct booking that same week from his site and already made back about three times what he invested in it. So it's been really, really cool. Seeing that in the middle of a global pandemic, people are making money from that type of an investment.

Andy Splichal  12:28  

That's great. Now, you said WordPress is where you're mainly building it on?

Georgia Kaye  12:33  

WordPress and Show It. Show It's a little bit of a newer platform. And it's very similar to Adobe Creative Cloud on the back end in terms of editing.

Andy Splichal  12:42  

So for ecommerce stores have you done any design for that? And if so, what do you connect for the e-commerce piece?

Georgia Kaye  12:51  

Yeah, so there's a couple of different options with E-commerce and it really comes down to the type of products are they going to be virtual products? Is it going to be like a master class that you're watching? Is it a physical project or product that's being shipped to you, all of those factors are going to influence what I recommend to a client. So case in point, I'm working on an E-commerce site right now, it's for an event planner based out of Texas. And she has virtual products, I can't release too much info now because she's actually going through the trademark process. But she is going to be releasing a product related to DIY party planning. So this was all virtual, we actually worked on the E commerce products together did a ton of research about the types of things people were interested in what her target market would buy. And we ended up going with an integration called Shopify. And we went with the lite version. So there's a couple different tiers, but we built her website on show it and then she has to pay I believe it's like nine bucks a month for this integration for Shopify, where she just loads her products in, somebody buys it all the payment processing is there, all of her products are there, she can handle stock and inventory if she decides to move into any physical products. So thinking long term about the type of products, shipping SKU numbers, if there's a warehouse involved, there's a lot of factors that go into E-commerce. And it's important to know that ahead of time so that you're not possibly inhibiting someone's growth down the line if they want to expand or scale.

Andy Splichal  14:19  

Well, that's interesting. I didn't I mean, Shopify is probably right now, I would say the most popular e-commerce platform, but I didn't know that you could design a website outside of Shopify, and then use the Shopify integration.

Georgia Kaye  14:36  

I don't know if it's super well known because they don't really advertise Shopify lite on their website. But yeah, there's an option where you basically put a buy button on your website. So her websites in show it and then we made individual custom product pages, and then we just put in an embed code and it links to the Shopify checkout directly in her site and it's more affordable than a full website and also, Shopify is awesome. You can build beautiful websites and it but building in other platforms as I do you get a little bit more custom functionality with it. And I think it's a better experience for clients personally from from what I've done.

Andy Splichal  15:14  

Well, you know, I was just going to ask you what the advantage was when you just hit on all those?

Georgia Kaye  15:18  

Yeah, it is a little, it's a little aesthetic. And it's awesome. Branding wise, it just makes the editing experience, too, for clients a little bit easier. Because I, as I said, I work with entrepreneurs, and they really care about managing their brand, they want to be hands on for the most part. So I always offer training, and I want to make sure that they can go on their website, if they have a new product, they can, you know, upload it into Shopify, and very easily connect it to their website and keep making that money. Because ultimately, at the end of the day, that's what's pretty important for their website is that it's converting, so we want to make that process pretty seamless for them.

Andy Splichal  15:52  

You know, what I have found is, finding somebody like you, who does it all, hands on, and can work with clients individually and really cares about their work, really, a lot of times is a huge advantage over working with a large agency. But but difficult to find, right? I mean, how does somebody making a website or interested in a website, find somebody like you what, what advice would you give to somebody who would, is wanting to do a new website or something on? You know, of course, they can contact you, and we'll get into your contact information, but finding somebody that is not a junior employee at a large agency, but rather somebody like you how how, you know, what kind of tips can you offer on that?

Georgia Kaye  16:43  

Yeah, that's a really good question. Actually, I don't think anyone's ever asked me that. So that's awesome. But one of the perks of working with a an individual freelance, well, solopreneur, like myself, is exactly what you said, that's that custom VIP treatment where you're working with someone one on one, and you're not dealing with a large agency. So typically, costs are going to be a little bit cheaper, I don't have as much overhead and also that custom attention, you're getting super, super important. And I'm not forcing you into a maintenance plan. I think that's the biggest things with some agencies, I've seen where they're really, really big on recurring income, which makes sense, but they're kind of trying to force people into a maintenance plan sometimes where they've custom coded the site, and you're not able to update it on your own, and you have to go back to them. Unfortunately, I have worked with several entrepreneurs who worked with an agency and it just became really time consuming. It wasn't making sense for their business to constantly have to go back every time they needed to update copy on their website. I mean, it's just insane. So I there's definitely benefits to it. But in terms of finding someone who does that someone like me who's offering these services, social media is probably going to be your best friend. I know tons of designers such as myself who are awesome, we tend to hang out on Instagram and Pinterest and Facebook and Tik Tok is the new best thing as well. But I will say if you're having trouble finding a designer, referrals are huge as well go find some websites you really like head down to the footer and see what's in these site credit, a lot of designers will leave their little symbol down there just for that backlink SEO data. So if you see when you really like head down there, click on it and see if it was an agency or more of a solopreneur. And then actually take the time to do a free consultation. I personally don't believe in charging for consultations for a website project, because you've got to make sure that person you're working with is a good fit, you got to get to know their personality, how do they communicate? How do they talk? What types of questions are they asking you? And how do they actually explain complex information, I found that a lot of entrepreneurs don't necessarily know the difference between maybe a website and how that's different from email marketing and how all of those things are integrated. And I've had several people who didn't know copywriting is usually an additional service. So finding someone who will explain that to you in a way that makes you feel empowered and not dumb, because I hate that is super important as well. But yeah, referrals looking down in the footer credit, credit, and then hanging out on social media and kind of seeing, you know, #webdesigner, #ecommerce website, that type of stuff is going to help you find who you're looking for.

Andy Splichal  19:17  

Those are some great tips. You know, what determines if someone who's got you know, let's say a website that was done 10 - 15 years ago? What, how would they decide if they need to just refresh their content? Or if perhaps they need to think about creating a whole new website.

Georgia Kaye  19:40  

Number one thing to look at is how the business is doing. You can have the world's ugliest website and if you are making bank and you're attracting your ideal clients, that's what matters. And I know that may be an unpopular opinion with some designers who look at a site and they're like, this was built in 2003 it is ugly, it needs an update. But if that site owner and that business owner is making money and they're seeing and you know, increasing their profits every single month, and they're bringing in clients who are raving, that's actually what matters, you've got to look at the numbers. And I think that's what a lot of people tend to forget, when they look at websites, they just base it on that aesthetic appeal. So if you're looking to do a refresh, look at the numbers first and determine, Okay, if I'm going to invest XYZ into this, When will I see a return on that investment? And is it worth it? Another big thing too, with refreshing a website is if your business has changed recently, maybe you are working with a different type of clientele, you've been offering new services and products, and maybe you've even rebranded anything like that is usually an indication that it's time to refresh your website, because it's no longer representing your business. I mean, I literally just did this within my own company where I'm in the process of refreshing my website, because I'm coming out with some e-commerce as well, and just different services. And so it was just time to do that, because it wasn't an accurate reflection of my business anymore.

Andy Splichal  21:04  

You know, those were some very refreshing views from a web designer. 

Georgia Kaye  21:08  

Yeah. 

Andy Splichal  21:10  

That would be applicable together, but

Georgia Kaye  21:13  

Oh, no, completely.

Andy Splichal  21:15  

So when a potential client does come to you, how, what's your procedure? What? How do you,

Georgia Kaye  21:21  

It really kind of depends on where they're coming from, because I do try to be active on several different social media platforms to kind of be there so that as we talked about earlier, if someone is looking for me, they can hopefully find me very easily. So I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok, I'm on Facebook, I'm on all of them. And so depending on where somebody first reaches out, I do try to have a conversation within that platform for a little bit to get to know them. But I do try to also funnel them to my website to the contact form. So if I'm having a conversation with somebody in the Instagram, DMS, they're asking questions about a website. I'm not going to immediately pitch them because I don't know if they're even looking for that. Maybe they're just looking for a piece of advice or they're just curious about what I do, and I don't want to be, you know, real salesy right away, I've slid into people's DMS asking questions, and I don't like being sold to I don't think anyone does. So first things first, I keep it kind of casual wall. So being really educational and informative. And then if they're expressing interests, then I'll share what my services are. And I typically share either my contact form on my website, or if I've already gotten all the pre qualification information I need, I send them a direct link to my calendar, I use something called Calendly and allows them to book directly on my calendar. And then we can set up a video call and chat. I say pre qualifier, because it's super important. My process is very video call heavy, because I'm working one on one with them. So I can right away tell if that may be an issue. I can tell if they're able to keep the deadlines, I can tell how they communicate all of that good stuff that I need to know, within my own process. Because just like every web designer isn't a good fit for someone, not every client is a good fit for a web designer.

Andy Splichal  23:02  

Sure, yeah. No, that makes sense. Now, if somebody listening out there would like to connect with you to learn more about some of your services. How can they reach it without searching for you on on social media?

Georgia Kaye  23:14  

Yeah, I mean, going directly to my website is going to be your best bet. It's GeorgiaGKaye.com had to put my middle initial in there, because my mom actually has the exact same name as me. So thank you, mom. And Instagram is probably the second best place to find me. If you're already on Instagram, I am very, very active. I'm always sharing content on there. So sliding into the DMS asking questions is another probably the second best way to get a hold of me.

Andy Splichal  23:41  

Great. Now if somebody is on the fence, saying, you know, I need to I know I need to update content or, or I know that I need to do a new website, but they're just so busy. What advice would you give them?

Georgia Kaye  23:55  

Well, if you're very busy in business, this is something I've experienced myself every once in a while. That's why you look to somebody else for their expertise. So as a web designer, I have a very in depth process that I go through. But a big part of that process is making sure that the business owner is not overwhelmed. So before as soon as the contract is signed, I started the discovery phase and they get a little worksheet, they usually have about three weeks to fill it out. And it's just asking a ton of information about their brand. It's custom to whatever their businesses, so if it's ecommerce, those, there's going to be quite a few extra questions on there. And then we have a website kickoff week where we get on a call, we talk through everything in the questionnaire. From that point forward. All they're doing is reviewing items. I may follow up with some questions. We have a video call as needed. Otherwise, it's email communication or within my project management software. So there's a little bit of initial work in terms of filling out just information about your business and chatting about it with me but after that the process is really there so that you're not worrying about it because if you want had to DIY your website you would have. But if you're reaching out to a professional because you don't have time and because you want to scale up without slowing down your business and making a lot of other things have to be put on hold. Working with a professional is definitely the way to go.

Andy Splichal  25:14  

Okay, great. Well it's been fantastic. You've shared a lot of helpful information. Is there anything I forgot to ask you'd like to add before we go today?

Georgia Kaye  25:24  

I don't think so. I think they actually covered quite a bit. And you this was fun.

Andy Splichal  25:28  

Well, great. Well, thank you for joining us. That is it for today. Remember, if you liked this episode, please go to Apple podcasts and leave an honest review. And if you are looking for more information regarding updating your content, you can read out reach out to Georgia through how she just mentioned I will put a link to her website in the show notes. And in addition, for those of you out there using Google Shopping, I'm excited to announce I just released information on a brand new Google Shopping ads challenge. So if you're looking to improve your Google Shopping in the quickest time possible in 2021, visit www.makeeachclickcount.com forward slash /challenge to sign up. In the meantime, remember to stay safe keep healthy and happy marketing and I will talk to you in the next episode.