Tips & Talk 12 – All Website Platforms are NOT Created Equal
“What website platform should I use to create my website?”
If this is your question, I suggest you ask a different one because all website platforms are not the same. In this episode I break down the three platform categories to help you narrow in on which one is right for you based on the results you’re after.
Yes – I know your goal on a website is to get sales. But here too, there are different types of sales to go after – doesn’t make sense? Listen in – it will!
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Transcript
Hi there.
Speaker:I see that you made it over to the new tips
Speaker:and talk portion of the podcast.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade,
Speaker:small business.
Speaker:All websites are not created equal.
Speaker:If you're at a point where you're looking at starting your
Speaker:website or revising your website,
Speaker:then this session is going to be for you.
Speaker:A website is not a website is not a website.
Speaker:They don't all equally each other.
Speaker:In my Facebook group,
Speaker:gift biz breeze on Thursdays,
Speaker:we do a Q and a session.
Speaker:And the hot topic lately has been website reviews.
Speaker:So people will submit their website and I go through and
Speaker:review them and talk them through,
Speaker:give ideas for adjustments.
Speaker:And we get community reaction to if you're interested in joining
Speaker:our group and you're a gift or baker craft or maker.
Speaker:So you're a handmade product creator.
Speaker:Join us in gift biz breeze.
Speaker:This has been where this whole question comes up and the
Speaker:question is always,
Speaker:I want to start my website.
Speaker:What platform do I use?
Speaker:And I'm going to suggest to you that that's not the
Speaker:right first question,
Speaker:because every single website is not created equal.
Speaker:I'm going to go through now the three different categories of
Speaker:websites for you to then narrow in and consider what you
Speaker:should be starting with.
Speaker:Now, having said that you could also have multiple websites because
Speaker:different websites attract different audiences are there for different purposes and
Speaker:accomplish different things.
Speaker:Also different websites require different levels of work,
Speaker:different levels of experience and expertise,
Speaker:getting them started,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So this is why that question of what platform should I
Speaker:go on?
Speaker:All websites aren't created equal.
Speaker:So you need to first think of what is the purpose
Speaker:for your website?
Speaker:What are you trying to accomplish?
Speaker:And then take it from there.
Speaker:Let me start with the basic question,
Speaker:which is,
Speaker:do you need to have a website at all?
Speaker:I've heard a lot of people talking lately that maybe you
Speaker:don't even need a website,
Speaker:just so on.
Speaker:Social, just sell through Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker:which can be fine.
Speaker:And it's going to lead to my first category,
Speaker:but that's not a long-term solution.
Speaker:Social media changes pretty much every day.
Speaker:And what if your account were to get shut down?
Speaker:Okay. The three categories of websites,
Speaker:the first one would be,
Speaker:this is going to kind of sound a little bit different
Speaker:from what I was just talking about,
Speaker:but a Facebook shop on a Facebook business page.
Speaker:Now, again,
Speaker:this isn't your do all end all.
Speaker:If you're just starting your business,
Speaker:you're making hand beaded jewelry,
Speaker:and you want to get product validation,
Speaker:you to see if there's interest in your product.
Speaker:You want to get a feel for if this whole business
Speaker:thing is something that you'd want to be doing in the
Speaker:first place.
Speaker:Then Facebook shops could be a good starting point for you.
Speaker:The reason that I say that is it doesn't cost really
Speaker:anything to set up.
Speaker:You're not paying into the system unless you actually sell a
Speaker:product, which is different from all the other platforms.
Speaker:It's a start to finish system.
Speaker:If you're interested in knowing more about this,
Speaker:I have a mini course it's called set up and sell
Speaker:in Facebook shops.
Speaker:But virtually with Facebook shops,
Speaker:you upload your product.
Speaker:They can provide shipping labels for you.
Speaker:You can sell your product right on Facebook and then have
Speaker:a link right in your post that goes directly to your
Speaker:product, where they can buy and check out.
Speaker:It's just very streamlined.
Speaker:So it's perfect.
Speaker:You also don't have to have your business registered.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:if you're just starting out,
Speaker:everything is done for you.
Speaker:The second one,
Speaker:the category I'm calling,
Speaker:selling platform websites by that,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:platforms that are already established.
Speaker:You're going to know some of these platforms like at sea,
Speaker:Amazon handmade eBay sites that have some type of a turnkey
Speaker:system in place.
Speaker:I'm sure a lot of you already have an Etsy site,
Speaker:which is great.
Speaker:There's nothing wrong with Etsy at all.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:it's also another good place to start.
Speaker:As you're establishing,
Speaker:it's a step up from having a Facebook shop.
Speaker:When you sign up with Etsy,
Speaker:however, there are certain rules and costs that you have to
Speaker:follow when you have an Etsy shop.
Speaker:The other thing with what I'm calling the selling platform websites
Speaker:is that when people are looking for your product,
Speaker:they're searching product specific.
Speaker:They're not coming in.
Speaker:And just looking for you as a business,
Speaker:they're going and looking for lemon,
Speaker:scented candles or glass beaded jewelry.
Speaker:The search is more by keyword and product.
Speaker:Not by you as a business,
Speaker:you would treat selling on Etsy different than you would treat
Speaker:selling on Amazon,
Speaker:handmade different than you'd be treating,
Speaker:selling on eBay.
Speaker:So even here within this sales platform,
Speaker:websites, the way you would approach each is different on Etsy.
Speaker:You're being very keyword specific,
Speaker:driving into a product and thinking about what a customer's going
Speaker:to be searching for when they go on that website.
Speaker:And when they're looking for the product,
Speaker:then they get to your store and they might see everything
Speaker:else that's being offered.
Speaker:So product titles,
Speaker:keywords, product descriptions are key because that's how your going to
Speaker:be found based on someone going into Etsy and searching the
Speaker:other thing with Etsy.
Speaker:And you'll hear this with some of the other websites too,
Speaker:is you don't get customer information.
Speaker:So you're not able to your email list.
Speaker:You don't really have direct contact with that customer.
Speaker:Yes, they can send you a message,
Speaker:but you're not having the linkage in terms of email lists.
Speaker:Now there are other ways around that kind of,
Speaker:but it's something to consider again,
Speaker:when you're looking at your website and what your main purpose
Speaker:is of putting up a website,
Speaker:moving on to Amazon,
Speaker:made Amazon handmade is a total.
Speaker:What I'm gonna call commodity play.
Speaker:People are going in search for product,
Speaker:and they're going to buy.
Speaker:There is a disconnect between the product and a relationship that
Speaker:you can create with a customer on Amazon.
Speaker:If you're wanting to go in and just sell your products,
Speaker:perfect place to be,
Speaker:you want to sell a hundred vanilla candles on Amazon.
Speaker:Then you can go on place your product,
Speaker:put the descriptions,
Speaker:sell your candles.
Speaker:You don't get customer information on Amazon handmade either.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:I'm not trying to suggest that these aren't good platforms for
Speaker:you to be on.
Speaker:It's just that you treat these platforms different and you recognize
Speaker:that these platforms all serve different purposes.
Speaker:eBay. If you have one of a kind items that you're
Speaker:going to sell one and done,
Speaker:eBay could be one location that you would be on and
Speaker:you might be on multiples,
Speaker:right? You might be on eBay and you might be on
Speaker:Etsy and you might I'd be on Facebook shops,
Speaker:all different places,
Speaker:bringing revenue into your business.
Speaker:What to recognize with the category of selling platform websites is
Speaker:that you have less control over anything that happens.
Speaker:I know some people have been frustrated with Etsy,
Speaker:raising their prices on product postings or other types of things
Speaker:though, the limits and the requirements for shipping or what you're
Speaker:able to post Amazon handmade in particular has certain things that
Speaker:you're allowed to put on and sell.
Speaker:And you aren't allowed to put on and sell.
Speaker:So you have to go with the requirements and whatever restrictions
Speaker:each of these platforms have and when they change yeah,
Speaker:to be okay with those changes because you're buying into their
Speaker:platforms. The thing that is really great about the selling platform
Speaker:websites is the audience is already there.
Speaker:Your real goal on these sites is within your product titles,
Speaker:your product descriptions,
Speaker:any keywords that you're using and the high quality images that
Speaker:you're posting,
Speaker:that you're going to attract people to you.
Speaker:The other good thing is they provide tutorials on how to
Speaker:set up and then also best practices for the platform.
Speaker:Running ads,
Speaker:looking at your numbers,
Speaker:all types of things.
Speaker:The third platform that I want to talk about is your
Speaker:own website.
Speaker:And this is the premier.
Speaker:This is where you want to get to it's your golden
Speaker:nugget. No matter what your end goal is to have a
Speaker:website that you own by that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you control all the content.
Speaker:You control,
Speaker:how it looks.
Speaker:You control any extensions that you put in.
Speaker:You can add blogs to it.
Speaker:You virtually it's almost free reign.
Speaker:There are different platforms out there that you can use to
Speaker:build a website.
Speaker:So gone are the days where you've had to hire out
Speaker:and have someone custom design a whole website.
Speaker:Now we have template type theme driven platforms that make this
Speaker:so much easier.
Speaker:Think Shopify,
Speaker:Wix, Squarespace.
Speaker:There are a whole lot of them out there creating a
Speaker:website, for example,
Speaker:on Shopify,
Speaker:which is my preferred platform is different than having a shop
Speaker:on Etsy on Etsy,
Speaker:your putting your real estate on someone else's platform,
Speaker:even though it's your company name in your products.
Speaker:But when you go to a platform like Shopify,
Speaker:this is your own website and consider this your home base
Speaker:for your business.
Speaker:So this is where you direct everybody.
Speaker:When you're doing anything and talking and directing anybody online,
Speaker:you have them come to your headquarters,
Speaker:which is your website.
Speaker:You have control over the content and the creative you can
Speaker:put in opt-ins.
Speaker:You can collect email addresses so you can continue communication with
Speaker:people who have come onto your website.
Speaker:You also have tracking analytics,
Speaker:which gives you a lot of information of things that you
Speaker:can adjust.
Speaker:So you can get to the ultimate goal of your website,
Speaker:which of course is the sale.
Speaker:Think of having your website on a platform like Shopify versus
Speaker:having your website on Etsy,
Speaker:as a difference between owning your home or renting an apartment,
Speaker:should the website describe what you're selling or more of one
Speaker:brand that goes to which platform you're on.
Speaker:And then also what your intent is.
Speaker:Let's do an example.
Speaker:I think this would be really good.
Speaker:Let's say you sell candles.
Speaker:So your website might have all versions of candles that you
Speaker:sell in different sizes,
Speaker:different sense.
Speaker:You may have a blog that talks about the best way
Speaker:to burn a candle,
Speaker:to get the most time out of it,
Speaker:to get the longest scent duration,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever that is.
Speaker:It might be health benefits of a candle or what to
Speaker:look at.
Speaker:So blog article establishing you as a professional in that industry,
Speaker:that would be on your own site.
Speaker:You might also have an opt-in,
Speaker:so you can collect addresses.
Speaker:Maybe it's a discount for a first-time customer.
Speaker:Maybe it's some type of a freebie having to do with
Speaker:how to store candles.
Speaker:Something like that side note,
Speaker:I am a candle lover.
Speaker:And if you went into my basement,
Speaker:you would see a full floor to ceiling,
Speaker:several racks with all my candles,
Speaker:because seasonally,
Speaker:I bring them in and out all the time up and
Speaker:down. Cause sometimes I haven't down a whole candle yet.
Speaker:And so I want to save it because it's pumpkin spice
Speaker:and it's may.
Speaker:So I don't want to use that yet.
Speaker:I'm going to use that again in October.
Speaker:Anyway, that was kind of a side rant.
Speaker:So your site,
Speaker:like the end result,
Speaker:the golden nugget,
Speaker:your headquarters would be your own site on a platform like
Speaker:Shopify. And then you'd put everything there.
Speaker:Okay? Cause that's your home base at your headquarters.
Speaker:But then when you go over to Etsy,
Speaker:maybe you find on Etsy.
Speaker:Well, I'm only going to sell a few cents in a
Speaker:few sizes because on Etsy,
Speaker:you also have to pay for every single listing that you
Speaker:put up.
Speaker:So maybe you decide of the 30 candles that you have
Speaker:on your website.
Speaker:You only have 10 candles in your Etsy shop with the
Speaker:variations and the color of the sense and all of that.
Speaker:Okay. But then maybe on Amazon,
Speaker:there's one specific scent.
Speaker:That is the one that you can sell all the time.
Speaker:It's your best seller.
Speaker:Let's call it vanilla.
Speaker:So you always have them in stock.
Speaker:You've always got them poured.
Speaker:They're ready to go.
Speaker:You have a good stock of them,
Speaker:right? So that could be a good product for Amazon because
Speaker:you're going to sell more of them.
Speaker:And that's a commodity sale.
Speaker:They buy it,
Speaker:you send it,
Speaker:you get the revenue,
Speaker:very little interaction with the customer.
Speaker:And then finally the other one,
Speaker:we're going backwards.
Speaker:Now here on Facebook shops,
Speaker:you have a community of people who call you on Facebook.
Speaker:They're now over on your Facebook page.
Speaker:Some of these folks may be family and friends.
Speaker:They might be people in your community and you do live
Speaker:shows and you talk about,
Speaker:oh, I just finished making all these candles here.
Speaker:They are.
Speaker:I'm selling them the right in my shop here,
Speaker:if you want,
Speaker:and you can go grab one right now to see how
Speaker:that's very different than what you're doing on at sea versus
Speaker:what you're doing on your website.
Speaker:Let's wrap this conversation up with a little summary.
Speaker:When you're thinking about a website,
Speaker:don't just say,
Speaker:oh, what platform should I be on?
Speaker:I want you to consider the fact that there are three
Speaker:different levels of platforms.
Speaker:The first being a very starter platform like Facebook shops,
Speaker:easy to get on no investment.
Speaker:You can get a feel for the platform.
Speaker:You can sell through products,
Speaker:a beautiful place to start.
Speaker:If you haven't even decided really,
Speaker:if you want to be in business yet,
Speaker:the second level are these what I'm calling,
Speaker:selling platform websites.
Speaker:So this is Etsy,
Speaker:Amazon handmade.
Speaker:E-bay all of them are great in their own,
Speaker:right? Just understand that you don't have full access to your
Speaker:customers through these platforms.
Speaker:And then the third platform of course,
Speaker:is your very own.
Speaker:I like using Shopify.
Speaker:You have full control and free reign.
Speaker:So when you're thinking of starting a website,
Speaker:the first question is going to be,
Speaker:what level do you want to enter in on level one,
Speaker:two or three.
Speaker:And then from there,
Speaker:when you're on social media,
Speaker:when you're out at networking events,
Speaker:and you're telling people where to find you online,
Speaker:you want to direct them to the place where your product
Speaker:can be purchased.
Speaker:If you want to have further conversation about this,
Speaker:go join me in gift biz breeze.
Speaker:As I said,
Speaker:we do website reviews every Thursday in our Q and A's
Speaker:right now,
Speaker:we're doing website reviews.
Speaker:We take other business Q and A's too.
Speaker:But right now we're doing website reviews and we can talk
Speaker:through, you know,
Speaker:which websites attract certain audiences.
Speaker:You're looking for.
Speaker:What are the strategies for different websites and what are the
Speaker:results that you can expect based on the strategies that you
Speaker:employ on these different websites?
Speaker:Remember a website is not a website is not a website.
Speaker:All websites are not created equal.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I may get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:session. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
Speaker:of yours,
Speaker:share your handmade products with us,
Speaker:Want them,