Web Designs Your Way

Transcript

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Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns in the greater Topsail area of North Carolina.

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Coming up, are you looking to build a brand new website from scratch for your business?

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Do you want to give, maybe, your current website a fresh makeover or undergo a complete redesign?

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Do you think that a professional, well-designed website is out of your budget?

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Well, think again.

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We have Evelyn Wheeler from Web Designs your Way joining us today and she's going to share how you can get an affordable, handcrafted WordPress website and take advantage of their flexible payment plans.

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Stay tuned for insights on web design and more on today's episode of Topsail Insider.

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Come on out to Surf City Line for the best made-from-scratch beach and bowls on Topsail Island.

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Whether you're a local or visiting from out of town, celebrating a special occasion or just soaking up the sun with family and friends, it's always a great time at Surf City Line and friends, it's always a great time at Surf City Line.

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Welcome to Topsail Insider.

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My name is Krista and I am your host.

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Today.

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We are talking to Evelyn Wheeler, owner of Web Designs your Way out of Holly Ridge, north Carolina and beyond.

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Welcome, evelyn, and thank you so much for joining me.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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I think this is going to be great.

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I say beyond because what you do you can do anywhere, right, correct?

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Around the world.

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We have customers in the Bahamas.

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yes, oh, that's great, I want to be one of your customers in the Bahamas.

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We're going to talk about what you do and why you do it.

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So, Evelyn, please tell us what Web Designs your Way does and the main services that you offer.

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Just a broad overview.

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So we do web design, website maintenance, redesigns, what we refer to as makeovers, security maintenance, social media for our clients.

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We don't take outside clients.

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Share with us how you got into web design in the first place and what made you want to turn that into a business.

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Very funny story here.

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My dad had called and asked my husband to make some updates to his website because my husband's very technical and we had just moved to Colorado when that happened and the job that took us there did not work out.

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So we got off the phone call.

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We kind of looked at each other and we're like, why not?

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What do we have to lose?

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So we literally started the business from a phone call from my dad.

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Oh wow, and I got some really cheap shirts made up and started just knocking on doors.

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This was on a whim.

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Yeah, it was not anything planned out.

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We went to Facebook and said we're starting a web design business.

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What are the top names you would use?

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We narrowed it down.

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That's how we even came up with our name for our company Web Designs your Way.

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So you had that name from the very beginning as well, the very beginning, and it was voted on for all of our friends on Facebook.

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We didn't pick it.

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That's so cool.

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Yeah, so you said your husband was very technical.

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Yes, what about you?

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Where did you fall into this?

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I fell into it, having to ask him every question.

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I am a people person and a salesperson per se.

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Yeah, I get that about you.

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So that aspect of it I just was handed down for my dad because he had his own businesses and everything all my life that I can remember, so it was just very much run with it.

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How did you decide on WordPress?

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Or was that what your husband was already?

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familiar with.

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So we did not start WordPress until about nine years ago.

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June will be 14 years for us that we've been in business.

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We started with HTML only because of the security concerns that he had with WordPress.

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Then we started turning over or passing up so many jobs because, oh, I want a WordPress, oh, I want a WordPress.

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It finally urged him to look back into it and he found a lot of ways to lock down the site and secure it.

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Tell me why people outside of the design world were specifically requesting WordPress.

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It's an easy platform to go in and manipulate themselves if they want to.

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So once you build it, they wanted to have access to make the updates themselves.

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And WordPress is such a big platform that it gives you much more functionality, in our opinion, than some of these just drag and drop options that the DIY places do.

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Yeah, you mentioned Colorado, but I saw Arizona on your website, so have you moved around a lot.

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Unfortunately.

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Yes, where are you from, where were you born and raised.

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I was born in Kansas, moved to California when I was six.

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What part of California?

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Ventura County, thousand Oaks.

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That's where I'm from.

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Really I'm from.

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I'm from.

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I grew up here in North Carolina.

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I moved out to LA but I met my husband in Thousand Oaks in Ventura.

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County, that is so funny.

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So after Thousand Oaks.

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So from Thousand Oaks, everything.

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It was just getting so expensive.

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We had had our daughter when she turned four.

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I didn't want her going through some of the things I went through as an athlete in high school Wasn't the girly girl, I wasn't the Barbie.

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So it was like, okay, where can we go?

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And my dad was like, well, arizona's nice.

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He originally wanted to go back to Kansas, but that's too far because Chad had his whole family in California as well, in California.

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And we're like, well, arizona's close enough.

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Yeah, well, arizona is close enough.

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So we went and we were able to buy a house and advance our life because the cost of living was so much better in Arizona at the time.

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I getcha, that's exactly why we moved out.

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We couldn't afford homes in California, not Ventura County certainly, Right yeah.

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So we packed up and went to Arizona and we were there for a long time until the recession hit.

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Then, that's when we moved to Colorado Because, same thing, cost of living was starting to go up.

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My husband at the time we didn't have our business was working a job that they just kept cutting his pay.

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Okay, and our whole purpose for moving to Arizona was so that I could raise our daughter and not have to work, and so that started getting harder and harder.

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Gotcha raise our daughter and not have to work, and so that started getting harder and harder.

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So he just started joking around and I put out there looking for places to live or something on Facebook and one of our friends was, like just come visit, you'll love Colorado.

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And then once she said it, I had about 15 friends from high school that were out there.

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So we're like sounds like this is where we're going.

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And so my husband just jokingly started putting out resumes and got an interview and we flew out.

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They hired him on the spot.

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We found a rental.

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Again, it was one of those.

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Well, I guess this is where we're supposed to be, it's meant to happen, yeah.

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So ended up two and a half three months into it the job didn't work out and then that's how our business started.

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Okay, so got going.

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I mean, I'd see now open signs, I'd turn around or pull into the parking lot and go talk to them.

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And I got my first job by doing that, so we just started building our business.

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The first year that we were there, we won the best of for our little town.

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That's great.

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Yeah, it was very exciting.

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I was surprised, but it was.

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Customer service is everything to us, so it was one of those things that I think that's what got us that award Very good.

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So then my parents' health just started declining, so in 2013, we moved back to Arizona to help them out.

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And then, 2019 lost my dad.

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21 lost my mom.

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And then we're like why are we in Arizona?

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Yeah, you mentioned that.

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I'm sorry to hear that they were back to back right and yeah that's a lot.

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My dad was ready, but my mom I wasn't anticipating it and it just you know she gave up, but she had been with my dad forever.

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So you hear that too often.

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You lose your soulmate and then you're like lost.

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So, yeah.

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So we just kind of looked at each other and then we're like well, most of my relatives are still in Kansas, so we moved to Kansas.

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That didn't last but eight months why may I ask, and how's your daughter at this point, by the way?

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She went off to college, got her chemical engineering degree, yeah, and then went I'm either going to be, my career is either going to be here in California or Boston.

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So I'm going to Boston, okay, here in California or Boston.

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So I'm going to Boston, okay.

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She had had her apartment set up with friends out in Boston and took off, and now she's off and running on her own life, and she's off and running totally on her own.

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It sounds like she's doing really well.

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Yep, so you're in Kansas and what took you from Kansas to Topsail Is that where you moved next was greater Topsail area.

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Yes, and then specifically, y'all chose Holly Ridge.

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That's where our office is.

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Oh, okay, our house is in Hampstead.

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The same friend that took us to Colorado, that reached out, is the one that we came to visit and stayed at their parents' beach house right on the beach.

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I am a beach person, I love dolphins.

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We went out for a walk one day and there's dolphins and my husband just looked at me and he goes.

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This is where we're moving, isn't?

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it and I said most likely.

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And again, we were in touch with a realtor.

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We looked at houses, we made an offer on a house and here we are.

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What year was that?

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Last year.

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We've been here.

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Oh, that's right, you were just getting here when I started this podcast about a year ago.

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Yeah, it was the end of March is when we moved here last year, are you?

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Happy here, love it, absolutely love it.

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I mean the price of the house and 10 minutes from the beach yeah, can't beat it.

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So I did notice that Arizona number on your website, but you're catering to people around the globe if you wanted to.

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Yeah, we kept the Arizona number.

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We got rid of our Kansas number but the Arizona number, that's where we built the majority of our business.

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We've been in business almost 14 years now, so we didn't want to get rid of that for all those customers that had that.

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And it is.

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We can work from anywhere.

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Like I said, we have, I think, three customers in the Bahamas.

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We've got customers in just about every state.

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That's amazing, that's awesome.

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Yeah, it's all about building the relationships that I've done that just get referrals.

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And Evelyn, you are really good at relationship building and I know that because I see you a lot at the Chamber of Commerce events and meetings and you've solidified your presence here really fast.

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If you talk about a course of a year for a business, you're here and you're very present and you're at all the events and it's really nice to see what has been the most challenging part of being here in this area.

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Well, I appreciate your kind words, because I don't always feel that way.

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But the hardest thing, I think, is making friends.

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Agreed.

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Just because it's a lot of people that have come here from different places.

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I think everybody's attitudes a little bit changed during the COVID lockdown periods to where we didn't have to socialize and for me, not socializing was horrible.

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But now everybody seems a little more not as giving with their time and or sharing information, and I am like I'll tell you my life story if you ask.

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Pretty much it's just one of those things that and that's one of the biggest reasons I joined the chamber and became an ambassador was because like-minded small businesses all in there helping one another, yeah, and you have a lot in common.

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Yeah, all right.

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Moving on to the services that you offer your clients, let's just dive into the web design as a whole.

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You design brand new websites for businesses that have decided to have a stronger presence online, beyond just a business page on the social media platforms, which is where I started and then eventually decided like I think there's a benefit to having your own web page.

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Can you talk to me about why having a professionally built website is crucial for businesses in today's world?

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Social media is a great avenue for a lot of people to use, but what, especially here in this area?

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Yeah, I may know what pages to go on to to look or ask questions, but we're a big tourist city come summertime and those people don't know those pages.

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They're still going to rely on the web and not only tourists, but how many people we have moving here.

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So, having a website that can be found by Google, following Google's guidelines that change constantly, and having that online presence, not only with your website and your social media, but there's business directories, things like that that help you be found, and that's all stuff that we guide you with.

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How you build the website depends on the platform that you're using and what functionality that you have.

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So if you're labeling your pictures that you're putting on your website JPEG 1, 2, 3, that's not good Guilty.

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You need to.

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Well, the thing is, is your website needs to be found and read by Google's bots?

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Okay.

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Google's bots don't care what JPEG 1, 2, 3 is Right, they care about what is that picture titled?

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So you could name a wave top cell, wave 2024 or something like that.

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You want to be descriptive of what your picture is so that the bots can read that Interesting.

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Okay, and that helps you, because when somebody does a Google search you want to think about what those words are, that they're searching for your business and make sure it's in your content and that scenario right there about the naming your photos or naming your files is not going to work in social media, right?

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It has to be on your website, or does it?

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Well, the pictures should be named, no matter where you put them.

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But the social media more goes along the lines of the silly hashtags.

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Yeah, yeah.

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On your website.

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You mentioned your website being mobile-friendly and responsive.

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What does it mean for a website to be mobile-friendly and responsive and how does that impact user experience?

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And also does it impact Google rankings?

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Google?

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put that rule into place several years ago that if your website wasn't mobile friendly, you were going to start moving down in the rankings.

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So what the responsive means is that it should be programmed on the back end.

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The responsive means is that it should be programmed on the back end and most themes nowadays are built this way anyways but it responds to whatever screen size it's being viewed on.

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So there's no more pinching and scrunching and trying to read something with the small HTML websites how they were built.

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Google has started, from my knowledge, moving those websites that haven't moved into this age down in the rankings.

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Now, if somebody knows the business name and they're going there, just like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, they don't have to do any SEO or anything.

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Because we know their name, we know who to go search for.

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But if you don't have a strong presence and following Google's guidelines, it's not going to help your business grow and be found.

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You also emphasized, and this is whether you're building a business's brand new website or you're revamping their website.

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You mentioned calls to action, or CTAs.

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Can you explain what a CTA is for people who may not know and why they're important for website functionality and the user engagement as well?

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It's ease of use for the end user.

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So let's say, you're going through and you've got five services to choose from and you have a button under each one that says learn more.

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That button is what's called the CTA call to action.

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Call to action.

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So, if they push on that button or click on that button, it should, if the website's built right, take you to that portion of the website that has the information about that service or product, and that's the ease of use for all of us.

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In the day and age of we don't have time to do anything and Google looks for those and by sending them to other places on your website, they're staying on your website longer, which helps you, because Google wants long viewings and if somebody is going from page to page and stuff, that makes Google happy.

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Okay gotcha.

00:17:31.255 --> 00:17:37.112
What if a person comes to you and you're building a brand new website and they're like I don't know what my call to actions should be?

00:17:37.112 --> 00:17:38.563
Do you guide them?

00:17:38.563 --> 00:17:43.142
Or how do you consult and guide them about what they need on their website when they don't know?

00:17:43.483 --> 00:17:44.988
It's a fun game to do.

00:17:44.988 --> 00:17:45.631
Actually.

00:17:45.631 --> 00:17:48.869
I enjoy it because we love educating people.

00:17:48.869 --> 00:17:57.785
On our website we list multiple themes that are on there and that people we have them go look at them and say tell us ones you like, tell us ones you don't like.

00:17:57.785 --> 00:18:01.049
These are the WordPress premium themes.

00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:03.704
And what premium means is.

00:18:03.704 --> 00:18:16.413
We have purchased them, so it's a theme that can be used hundreds of times, but even though it's a theme that's there, our websites we always try to make look different than the theme.

00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:19.169
We semi-custom it to make it their own.

00:18:19.169 --> 00:18:31.847
But they may say from this website I like this color of the called actions, or I like the rounded pictures instead of the square pictures, and we just guide them through and ask questions.

00:18:31.847 --> 00:18:33.832
That makes them think about it.

00:18:34.181 --> 00:18:46.203
And we ask them to provide us three websites of their competitors oh, that's a good idea and three websites that they like it doesn't even need to be in their industry Okay, like it doesn't even need to be in their industry.

00:18:46.203 --> 00:18:58.605
And then that way, when we do a screen share with them, going over their questionnaire with my designer, and then everything comes together for him, his design wheel starts going and you can see it we just develop it from those conversations I've had.

00:18:58.786 --> 00:19:05.152
And then when we do the screen share with them, what about branding, especially if they're coming to you with a brand new business?

00:19:05.152 --> 00:19:13.527
They may not have a logo, but you're going to help them with branding, so there's got to be a color scheme throughout all of the pages.

00:19:13.527 --> 00:19:14.690
Right, correct?

00:19:14.690 --> 00:19:16.474
So what about if they need a logo?

00:19:16.474 --> 00:19:17.679
Do you also do that?

00:19:18.520 --> 00:19:24.354
We can do very basic logos, but we have somebody that we've partnered with for years.

00:19:24.354 --> 00:19:37.275
We have several different partners that we like to be a one-stop shop for, so if it's something they need whether it's a logo, content writing, seo, things like that we have people that we partner with that we can refer them out to.

00:19:37.275 --> 00:19:49.289
We vet anybody that we work with before we use them ourselves, before ever referring them out to make sure that they have the same ethics and standards that we do and do quality work.

00:19:49.550 --> 00:20:02.971
Okay, when they pick a theme that appeals to them most, then you're going to take those logo colors or whatever their branding, their fonts maybe, and incorporate that into the theme Correct.

00:20:03.251 --> 00:20:07.299
The questionnaire that we send out before we do the screen share ask them for color schemes.

00:20:07.299 --> 00:20:10.631
It sends them to a place to look at color schemes together.

00:20:10.631 --> 00:20:13.489
It sends them to Google Safe Fonts.

00:20:13.489 --> 00:20:24.621
What that means is if there's, like Mac and PCs and everything, some of them do not have all the fonts that are out there, and what happens most of the time?

00:20:24.621 --> 00:20:42.991
If it's not a Google Safe font and the computer does not have that font on their computer, what will happen is it most likely will resort back to Arial or one of the standard fonts, and then it throws everything out of alignment and your website could be totally funky looking at it.

00:20:48.940 --> 00:20:59.032
Okay, when you said that you work with them for their social media accounts too, I'm assuming you're going to take that same brand the colors and the fonts and all that, and now you're going to manage it in their social media accounts for them, or help them with their social media accounts.

00:20:59.032 --> 00:21:01.729
How are you working with your clients in social media?

00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:05.910
So I have several clients that we do all of their social media for them.

00:21:05.910 --> 00:21:10.582
I'm also part of Kiwanis and I do the Kiwanis social media.

00:21:10.582 --> 00:21:21.602
Okay, the only reason I don't do it for somebody that's not our client is I feel social media is a very personalized thing to put out there and if I don't know the person, I can't do it properly.

00:21:21.602 --> 00:21:26.854
So that's why, working through somebody building a website, I really get to know them.

00:21:26.854 --> 00:21:29.387
So that's where I know their personality.

00:21:29.387 --> 00:21:31.267
I know what I can and can't put on there.

00:21:31.601 --> 00:21:41.366
And everything's always very professional, obviously, but some you can be a little more jokingly about with posts and others it is purely business.

00:21:41.366 --> 00:21:44.721
Yes, I mean I've got a church that I do.

00:21:44.721 --> 00:21:57.727
It's learning the personalities and knowing the person, the business and how they function to be able to do social media right in my opinion that makes sense is that built into the monthly maintenance fees that you have on your website?

00:21:58.087 --> 00:22:02.769
it's a separate fee that, if they want it or not, we we offer our security maintenance.

00:22:02.769 --> 00:22:09.441
We offer security maintenance plus one hour security maintenance plus two hours social media blogging.

00:22:09.441 --> 00:22:12.509
We've customized our pricing based on what they want.

00:22:12.509 --> 00:22:15.041
It's not like All a part, kind of Correct.

00:22:15.041 --> 00:22:26.846
Yeah, everybody's needs are different, so we have suggested pricing on our website, but that doesn't mean that it's always what we end up with, which we're going to talk about your pricing because I find it.

00:22:26.946 --> 00:22:27.710
I think it's wonderful.

00:22:27.710 --> 00:22:39.513
So, just to wrap up the web design part of this what is important for folks to consider when they are choosing a web designer to build their business website and what sets you apart?

00:22:39.513 --> 00:22:43.109
What are you offering to your clients that they can't get elsewhere?

00:22:43.130 --> 00:22:43.991
what sets you apart?

00:22:43.991 --> 00:22:46.660
What are you offering to your clients that they can't get elsewhere?

00:22:46.660 --> 00:22:57.912
Making sure your personality doesn't clash, I think, from the get-go, is very important in choosing a designer, because if the designer's not listening to you on what you want, you're not going to get the end product that you were looking for in my opinion.

00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:00.125
What kind of questions do they ask you?

00:23:00.125 --> 00:23:07.648
Do they base their suggestions on what to have on your website based on what you're telling them or what they feel you need?

00:23:07.648 --> 00:23:14.201
There's a big difference, because some people don't need a shopping cart, but somebody might be pushing for that With us.

00:23:14.201 --> 00:23:16.470
It's a very detailed first call.

00:23:17.259 --> 00:23:36.269
I always try to do a call rather than just going back and forth with emails because you don't learn anything and there's so many things that can be misunderstood Not that I can't in a conversation as well, but I try to get as much information from them, make any suggestions, listen to what they have to say and then go from there with a proposal for them.

00:23:36.269 --> 00:23:44.231
It's important to us the customer service and being responsive to them, outlaying what our process is.

00:23:44.231 --> 00:23:50.828
It's all about education, making sure the client is involved and providing the client what they want Wonderful.

00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:55.111
We'll talk about the website redesign service that you offer.

00:23:55.111 --> 00:24:10.284
You work with businesses that already have a solid website that's up and running it's been working for them for years but maybe just needs to be more current or updated with the new technology or the widgets or the modern look and feels, perhaps.

00:24:10.284 --> 00:24:22.969
What are some of the common signs that you see that indicate that it's time for a business to consider a redesign, and how do these issues affect the performance and the user experience of a website?

00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:29.762
Obviously, the big one was when mobile responsive came out.

00:24:29.782 --> 00:24:31.105
That was a big one that everybody pretty much had to redo.

00:24:31.125 --> 00:24:44.210
Nowadays, if the vision of the company has changed or they've decided they don't like their logo or they don't like their colors, sometimes you can go in and just manipulate what they have, but sometimes it's better to start fresh.

00:24:44.210 --> 00:24:51.493
What we've just unfortunately had to approach with a couple of our clients was everything is theme-based with WordPress.

00:24:51.493 --> 00:25:03.560
A couple of those themes were no longer supported by the developer, so that meant no security updates were going to be done to that theme, so we needed to get them out of that theme into a new one.

00:25:03.560 --> 00:25:08.372
So with that came, okay, we need to pick a theme.

00:25:08.372 --> 00:25:27.653
If you like what your website already looks like, we can rebuild it looking exactly the same, but just get you into a theme that we know is still supported, and so we gave them a huge discount, because nobody, we don't plan on that, but the shelf life, the general shelf life to a website is three to five years.

00:25:27.653 --> 00:25:30.142
That means styles have changed.

00:25:30.142 --> 00:25:34.784
You have to be particular with your fonts and that's why we always send them the Google Safe fonts.

00:25:35.204 --> 00:25:44.469
But, you may even come back and have kind of like a squirrely, almost a script type that we're going to say you don't want to use that because once you go to mobile that's hard to read.

00:25:44.469 --> 00:25:50.005
So that's where our knowledge comes in and providing you that information when we do our screen share.

00:25:50.005 --> 00:25:50.606
Okay.

00:25:50.926 --> 00:25:53.703
You've talked about security a lot and I know nothing about this.

00:25:53.703 --> 00:26:00.525
Explain why it's needed and what it is, and how fast it changes and what it's guarding us against.

00:26:00.945 --> 00:26:07.529
So security for the website, your WordPress website and many of them out there are just like your phone and your computer.

00:26:07.529 --> 00:26:12.804
Updates happen because most of the time it's woohoo, there's a new feature.

00:26:12.804 --> 00:26:13.487
This is great.

00:26:13.487 --> 00:26:25.327
Sometimes there's been a breach somewhere in that plugin or widget, anything even within a theme, so then what happens is the developer has to go and block that door that was opened.

00:26:25.327 --> 00:26:27.306
Then comes the update.

00:26:27.306 --> 00:26:31.650
Okay, so it doesn't mean your website has been hacked or breached.

00:26:31.650 --> 00:26:36.827
It means somebody with that plugin something's happened to their website and now you're vulnerable.

00:26:36.907 --> 00:26:52.487
And now you're vulnerable and what happens, too, is just if you're on a server with thousands of people, other websites you leaving yours vulnerable can penetrate other websites that are on there Interesting it can impact the server that they're on.

00:26:52.487 --> 00:27:00.391
So anybody that is doing the security maintenance with us we go in and touch your website once a week make sure there's no updates.

00:27:00.911 --> 00:27:02.132
If there's updates, we do them.

00:27:02.132 --> 00:27:08.855
If there's ever a problem that you come across and we're doing your security maintenance, you just notify us and we say we get it done.

00:27:08.855 --> 00:27:12.336
We don't charge you to fix something that occurred because of an update.

00:27:12.336 --> 00:27:13.557
That's not your problem.

00:27:13.557 --> 00:27:25.943
We also offer complimentary hosting if you're on our security maintenance and then that way we only have clients on our hosting and not we have a dedicated server type of deal.

00:27:25.983 --> 00:27:32.147
So if you build their website, they're not forced to have you host, correct, they can host it elsewhere, but that is something that you offer.

00:27:32.147 --> 00:27:32.469
Correct.

00:27:32.469 --> 00:27:38.545
Majority of the cases do they choose to stay with you for hosting the majority of it, it's more of the security maintenance.

00:27:38.605 --> 00:27:45.255
We just offer the hosting as a added benefit, something else that they don't have to pay for if they're doing the security maintenance.

00:27:45.255 --> 00:27:52.990
But yes, the security maintenance is very affordable, from what I've been told, and it gives you the security and the peace of mind.

00:27:52.990 --> 00:28:02.101
We have had people that have said, no, we're going to do it on our own and we do a video for them on how to do it, and they come back, okay, and have us do it.

00:28:02.622 --> 00:28:20.564
It's something that is a time consumption and, as a solopreneur, especially trying to remember to run your business, have a life, all of that, and then remember, oh gosh, I need to deal with my website.

00:28:21.065 --> 00:28:21.846
So that's what we're here for.

00:28:21.846 --> 00:28:22.267
Very good, okay.

00:28:22.267 --> 00:28:22.827
And what about content?

00:28:22.827 --> 00:28:29.410
Sometimes it's very hard for people to write their own content, and how do you help the person who's like I don't write copy for a living, I don't know how to do that.

00:28:29.410 --> 00:28:30.311
Here's what I do.

00:28:30.311 --> 00:28:31.443
Can you make it sound great?

00:28:31.443 --> 00:28:32.888
Yeah, do you do that for them?

00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.865
So we do have somebody that we've partnered with that does content writing.

00:28:36.865 --> 00:28:37.986
Yes, absolutely.

00:28:38.807 --> 00:28:43.593
And how long does it typically take to complete a redesign of a website?

00:28:44.614 --> 00:28:45.976
That's a very loaded question.

00:28:50.380 --> 00:28:50.980
I know, maybe we should.

00:28:50.980 --> 00:28:53.287
How long let's say that you're let's start with, you're building a website from scratch for a business.

00:28:53.287 --> 00:28:54.108
What's the typical turnaround?

00:28:54.108 --> 00:28:55.873
Is that still too tricky of a question?

00:28:56.180 --> 00:28:57.261
Well, I can explain it.

00:28:57.261 --> 00:29:00.788
So we always say in our agreement six, eight weeks.

00:29:00.788 --> 00:29:04.474
Now that is very, very dependent on the client.

00:29:04.474 --> 00:29:11.894
And if somebody comes to us, they have their pictures, they have their logo, they have their colors, they have all their content.

00:29:11.894 --> 00:29:15.440
We've finished a website in two weeks, wow, okay.

00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:23.567
Because there's not a lot of back and forth, but they've got to get us the content and they've got to get us the pictures and they, I don't want to say, weren't prepared.

00:29:23.567 --> 00:29:25.567
They're prepared in their mind to get it done.

00:29:26.099 --> 00:29:30.932
But we really have come across a lot of people that don't understand the process of building a website.

00:29:31.251 --> 00:29:34.670
Yeah, they don't know that they have to gather all that Exactly.

00:29:34.670 --> 00:29:40.386
And then they're trying to run a full-time business Exactly and give you the content that you need to run your full-time business.

00:29:40.386 --> 00:29:42.951
I can imagine that gets a little hairy sometimes.

00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.960
That's why we have partnered with these other companies, so that we can try to just ease that pain for them.

00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:57.385
Yes, it costs a little bit more, but when you have great content, google's going to like you Okay.

00:29:57.787 --> 00:29:58.288
The pictures.

00:29:58.288 --> 00:30:03.663
A lot of people don't have photos that they've taken and they don't necessarily.

00:30:03.663 --> 00:30:05.490
It's not a product, it's more of a service.

00:30:05.490 --> 00:30:07.667
How can you help the people who don't have photos?

00:30:07.940 --> 00:30:10.528
We have a couple of websites that we can send people to.

00:30:10.528 --> 00:30:17.493
One of them we have a premium license with so that they can look through those premium pictures versus just the regular.

00:30:17.493 --> 00:30:19.788
Those are options that we have to give them.

00:30:19.788 --> 00:30:30.373
Most of our companies are the small business, and budget is everything, so I would love to find a photographer that does like stock photography.

00:30:30.373 --> 00:30:39.047
Yeah, or something of that sort.

00:30:45.373 --> 00:30:52.506
So we're always trying to something that every business owner needs to know and that is pricing and affordability.

00:30:52.506 --> 00:30:58.741
I love how clearly that you lay out your pricing and your payment plans.

00:30:58.741 --> 00:31:04.301
Just the fact that you offer payment plans is a big deal and you put that out so clearly on your website.

00:31:04.301 --> 00:31:19.958
You offer a calculator built into the website right there so you can kind of envision what you have in your mind for your website and plug it in and come up with a ballpark figure of what it might be Businesses and their personalized needs for a website.

00:31:19.958 --> 00:31:30.034
They're never the same, so can you explain the flexible pricing solution that you've developed that keeps costs down for your clients Absolutely?

00:31:30.696 --> 00:31:38.661
So somebody starting out may not be able to afford the whole package of what we would recommend for what Google's guidelines are.

00:31:38.661 --> 00:31:41.287
So let's say you offer five services.

00:31:41.287 --> 00:31:45.862
Google would like for you to have a page for each one of those services.

00:31:45.862 --> 00:31:49.109
Each page becomes an additional dollar value.

00:31:49.109 --> 00:31:58.326
So what we always recommend is that's where we do our discovery call and figure out okay, what's the best thing, what kind of budget do you have here?

00:31:58.326 --> 00:32:04.910
The payment plans are actually interest-free as well, so we're not charging interest on that.

00:32:04.910 --> 00:32:07.489
We're not here to make money off of charging you interest.

00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:08.704
It's not what we're about.

00:32:09.019 --> 00:32:21.049
But if somebody is just like, okay, I only have this amount and I know that their five services or whatever is not going to correlate with the pricing Right, we always would recommend you make one service page.

00:32:21.049 --> 00:32:33.893
On that service page you put in order your most used or needed service and then, as your business grows, you build out the page and take that service and make it its own page.

00:32:33.893 --> 00:32:37.229
So we try to customize it as much as possible.

00:32:37.229 --> 00:32:42.932
The calculator it's a great thing because some people can go look at that if they want.

00:32:42.932 --> 00:32:46.445
It's a great thing because some people can go look at that if they want.

00:32:46.465 --> 00:32:52.246
But at the same time I always love doing a phone call with somebody, whether they use us or not, to educate them on this is why you need to do this.

00:32:52.246 --> 00:32:54.053
You don't need to do this.

00:32:54.053 --> 00:32:56.402
You need to get your Google business listing.

00:32:56.402 --> 00:32:59.991
There's all kinds of things that we guide them with and we try to structure.

00:32:59.991 --> 00:33:24.470
That's why we have a basic pricing up there, but everybody's needs are different and that's where that send them a proposal.

00:33:24.470 --> 00:33:29.251
If they get back and say I can't do that, that's when we revisit.

00:33:29.251 --> 00:33:31.553
We could do this, we could do that.

00:33:31.553 --> 00:33:33.953
What do you think about this type of thing?

00:33:33.953 --> 00:33:45.704
Interest-free payment plans came in during COVID because we had so many people that had gotten laid off from jobs or whatnot.

00:33:45.704 --> 00:33:46.728
That are like you know what?

00:33:46.728 --> 00:33:49.542
I'm going to run with my passion and see if I can make this a business.

00:33:49.542 --> 00:33:58.571
We still have probably 95% of those people that started their own business that were able to do these interest-free payment plans and their business is still going.

00:33:58.791 --> 00:33:59.393
I love that.

00:33:59.393 --> 00:34:05.246
So that's how that whole thing got started, and because it is just my husband and I, we're able to do it.

00:34:05.246 --> 00:34:11.387
We're not ever going to be millionaires with our pricing, but we know we're helping other businesses out there and that's what's important.

00:34:11.387 --> 00:34:11.909
That's great.

00:34:12.210 --> 00:34:13.121
I love that so much.

00:34:13.121 --> 00:34:17.409
Can you walk us through your pricing structure, big picture?

00:34:17.409 --> 00:34:20.364
You can do that here, or people can go to your website.

00:34:20.364 --> 00:34:21.987
It's laid out perfectly there.

00:34:21.987 --> 00:34:24.152
Oh, thank you, but just that basic price.

00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:28.327
So the first initial, we have a design fee that's $650.

00:34:28.327 --> 00:34:32.405
And what that is is it's setting up the skeleton and the homepage.

00:34:32.405 --> 00:34:40.367
So the skeleton meaning basically how many pages we're anticipating doing, and then each additional page is $249.

00:34:40.367 --> 00:34:59.224
So with that price comes us designing it for you, us putting the content in us, putting the pictures, putting everything together for you in there, making it look good, making it function, putting all the backend information that needs to be in there for Google for your site to be successful.

00:34:59.224 --> 00:35:01.327
So it's a pretty inclusive price.

00:35:01.327 --> 00:35:06.106
We will include in that putting in your social media basic contact form.

00:35:06.106 --> 00:35:10.023
You don't have to pay for more for a contact form with us, Okay.

00:35:10.043 --> 00:35:11.387
You mean the social media links?

00:35:11.387 --> 00:35:13.123

Web Designs Your Way

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