Manufacturing eCommerce Success – with Charlene Brown

Damon Pistulka  00:17

Nothing like internet problems are there Kurt

Curt Anderson  00:24

Damon Are you there?

Damon Pistulka  00:25

Are you there? Can you hear me hello hear me no Damon

Curt Anderson  00:29

Damon Can you see me

Damon Pistulka  00:31

yeah I see you now Kurt I saw I hear me

Curt Anderson  00:36

no oh can I

Damon Pistulka  00:37

what really My Goodness Everyone how many shows have curtain I’d done here and today the Internet the Internet nearly wrecked us yeah nearly wreck this

Curt Anderson  00:51

man I’m pulling my hair out today Damon

Damon Pistulka  00:54

yeah tech looks like it was but And Charlene was gracious enough to stick around with us so so the the the the one or two listeners that are here right now after we were 10 plus minutes late I hope you have fun listening because we’re gonna have fun today because Charlene is awesome let’s take it away Kurt

Curt Anderson  01:14

that so I let’s you know what we’re in a good happy place it’s Friday sun is shining Damon. Serenity now right peaceful happy you’re getting a puppy tomorrow so guys Welcome to Manufacturing ecommerce success we’re our goal is for you to stop being the best kept secret. So with that being said Damon did you know we have Charlene brown Charlene Brown is on the show

Damon Pistulka  01:42

to really today

Curt Anderson  01:44

shockingly mean so anyway guys we want to introduce we want to welcome the one and only Charlene V brown Charlene How are you today?

Charlene Brown  01:53

Hello. Hello. I am excited to be here today. I had a good day. I didn’t think I was gonna make it this morning but I just focused on a lot of energy so I am here

Curt Anderson  02:06

are always full of energy. So again, thank you for your patience guys. We’re apologizing and we’re showing is going to be come this is just part one. Yeah. So for those of you that are here, you’re just gonna you’re just going to get a little sliver of the power of Charlene Brown. And so here we go. John’s here John, our loyal our loyal JonBenet no fear. I don’t you know. So Charlene. You are a brand misfit, my goodness gracious. Woo, can you explain to everyone we’re going to dig deep into Brooklyn custom designs. But before we go there, can you please explain what is a brand misfit?

Charlene Brown  02:42

Yes, so a brand misfit, I really came together with the name at the end of last year, I had my fellow brand expert just walk through with me everything that was going on in my head because I never felt like a typical web developer or even a brand strategist, I just always felt like there was something else that I was doing. So she said, You know what, you’re a misfit. And I’m like, You’re right. I never really follow rules. So what I do is I really help my clients understand what type of technology that they should be investing in. And I always believe your website is a foundation of your, of your marketing of just where people can get to know you, everything should be coming back to you. And what’s the better way to do that, than have a website that are represented, you talked on your behalf, it’s your 24 hour brand ambassador, you don’t have to pay too much for it. But it’ll do everything for you if you just understand what you want, and then tell it what to do. So that’s just how I came to be with that with that name. But I started this in 2000. I’ve been doing web development and design for a long time. And WordPress, I believe launched in 2003. I started using it in 2004. So that’s just been my thing. And I love the power that WordPress has it’s it’s just it’s just so amazing. And they listen to the community. I mean, you know, you have the back and forth with text. But at the end of the day, they actually are listening, they see what’s going on and they allow the community to chime in and give some some feedback and even create stuff for the community. So I love it.

Curt Anderson  04:24

Oh, that’s phenomenal. You know, I’m gonna butcher the cliche of like, you know, it takes like the time years whatever to earn somebody’s trust but you can lose somebody’s trust in a split second. Yeah. And it’s just to kind of reverse that when it comes to your website, you know, making that great first impression. And so guys, you know, so for the folks that are with us today and again is we’re gonna have Charlene back but you want to make that a great first impression and talk about making a great first impression with your website. Charlene if you go to Brooklyn, custom designs man, you have an amazing, incredible website so you don’t talk the talk. You walk the walk and you have all sorts I love you have like a call to action button about like, you know, the what is it the rescue come to the rescue, right? Yes.

Charlene Brown  05:08

The SOS, we asked the website rescues where were the struggle sites, yes for their struggle sites because I always thought that people have a website, but it’s not doing anything. Or it’s pretty, but it’s not functional. So I always said, You know what you’re struggling and so is your website. So let me help you out.

Curt Anderson  05:27

Exactly. And it’s so critical and what I absolutely love. So I want to dig into your background a little bit, and then we’re gonna take a deep dive into your business. Okay, so you have a lengthy, lengthy corporate career, if I understand that correctly, is that so at Reuters, talk about like how you have this amazing and incredible corporate career. And then I want to lead us right up until when you kicked off and started your entrepreneurial journey. So let’s hear about let’s dig into Charlene who is Charlene Brown.

Charlene Brown  05:53

Yeah, so I started with, Oh, my God, I started with my corporation, when they were known as Research Institute of America, Ria, for a lot of the I would say the financial people would know them more, because that’s where my development started, where we create content and put that online, so I was always a part of their online world, where we had content for our subscribers, and they would be lawyers, accountant, and all the all the the flurry of information that you see going on in the government, when they are waiting up late at night, so or we good, we’re waiting for the information. And once they start passing those laws, our editors who are also attorneys, and they they’re deep into the law, they start to dive into their specialties, and they start to break down explanations of what the law is. So then we give those easy explanations to our customers. So I was always a part of that world of making sure something was available online for customers. So when I started my own business, it was really weird because I started later, and around 2014, but I was doing tech and development in 2000. Because I wanted to do like a, a website music review site for myself. Yeah, so I did that. And I learned that way. And by the time I started to launch my business in 2014, I noticed that there were so many women in my neighborhood around me that, you know, they were amazing, but nobody knew who they were. So I said, You know what, I know how to do websites, why don’t I just help them get that up and running. And that’s where really how I started to dive into that I started to take a lot of that information that I’ve been learning in corporate like how to work with people how to do things with different teams, and how to get information and products out there on time, I started to take that in and use that for my business. And I even went back to school thanks to my my corporate world. And it was just an amazing thing to have to have a company that you have the time and the flexibility to still dig deep and help others outside of the workspace.

Curt Anderson  08:10

That’s phenomenal. So again, man, little goofy technical today, day today. So Damon, so guys, Damon is off getting a new puppy. So he’s traveling today. So we’re having some tech issues. We’re going to have Charlene brown back. But if you’re joining us, thank you maybe even jump in the chat box if you’re still with us. Because like in Charlene even if nobody’s here, you and I are just gonna have a great conversation. Yeah. I would I absolutely love so, you know, a major corporation using to solopreneurs. I mean, like you could those can be two more opposite worlds, correct? Yes, gentlemen, like what’s for those of us, you know, entrepreneurs that, you know, maybe haven’t had a taste of corporate share a little bit like how your superpowers, you know, all the experience, your passion, everything that’s come from you through this experience at a big corporate, how has that helped you become a better solopreneur? A, I know, I mess was asked two questions at once. But I’m going to anyway, how has that helped you become a better entrepreneur? And how does that help you with your clients and help them to be better entrepreneurs, with all those corporate experience that you had?

Charlene Brown  09:14

Oh, that’s a great question. Because I think what it really allows me to do is learn how to work with different personalities. Yeah, because especially if you’re a solopreneur, that’s what you’re doing. You’re dealing with different clients, possible partners who have just, they just work differently. And it’s not always a bad thing. It’s just a way for you to either open up and learn how to work that way or learn how to vocalize in a productive manner that this is not going to work. And and it’s not this is not to say that you’re rigid, but just to say, This is why it wouldn’t work for me or this process or this project because ABC a lot of times people say Nope, I don’t want to do it, but they don’t really break down why or why allow it to be not a personal thing, but a business sense. And I think that’s where I started to really learn that, especially when I went back to school, I was learning, like how to run a company or how to manage a company. And I started seeing like I would, I would start looking at company emails differently because I Oh, okay, I can see why they stay in this. I don’t like it. But I can see why this is coming through. And then when I started to have to make some difficult decisions with my clients, I can see why or how everything kind of formulated and why things are happening. So I would say the the two worlds mesh together well, because the corporate taught me how to run a business, how to manage myself and others who work under me or with me, and definitely how to approach different minds and different mindsets and how to work with clients who, if they needed a little push, or if maybe we needed to break apart. This is how you do it, but still keep that respect among each other. And I think that that that made it better for me and the long haul. Oh, that’s

Curt Anderson  11:02

phenomenal. And I absolutely love how you know, guys, you firstly want to connect with Charlene Brown, check out her website. We have Gary wood is here today, Gary, thank you. And Gary says, hey, that’s third. That was three questions. In bigger has to run. So again, Dan, we’re gonna have Charlene back. So val is here at Niner fracks. Val, send my heart and my love to you, of course. So what I love about that is I want to you know, if you follow Charlene, you do and we’re gonna dig into this a minute. And again, when we have you back, maybe we’ll take a deeper dive. But you’re, you’re a leader you’re spearheading, like you just said helping other entrepreneurs, other women entrepreneurs in your community. So you’re on LinkedIn lives, your podcasting, in really leading the charge from a tech, you know, women in tech, you know, you’re nice advocate for that correct? What, what has inspired you or like with this corporate in this corporate experience that you have? Do you feel that’s helped you become a better leader to help these other solopreneurs or other entrepreneurs?

Charlene Brown  12:01

Definitely, because it allows you to really step back and get out of an emotional space and come from how can this embed are both of us? And it’s not just it’s all about me? Or it’s all about you, but how can we both benefit? So even if you’re helping others? How does that really at the end of the day allow you to grow? And that’s where it becomes how do you work on projects? Or how do you just do anything? And take a learning experience from it, even if it’s a failed experience, but you’re learning from it, you’re not just saying, Oh, this didn’t work out? And you know, you just move on? But what could I have done better? Or what is it that made it fail? And what can we avoid later, or things like that. So I think that’s where the corporate world really works out, because you also have a space to fail. And it’s not just all on you. So if if a project doesn’t work out, it’s a team that can kind of balance that that out, and everybody can come and brainstorm. And you learn better that way as well.

Curt Anderson  13:04

That is awesome. So again, Custom Brooklyn custom designs, you have a bunch of fun taglines, either on your LinkedIn profile file or on your website. And what I love is that you preach profits, profits, profits, profits, not that we want to sound like you know, hardcore capitalist P IDs, right? We don’t. But however, like if we’re not sustainable, and as solopreneurs like we’re trying to make a living for ourselves, provide for our families. So what I love is like you your magic and silver, silver bullet your superpowers, making that, you know, taking a vision from an entrepreneur, bringing it to life with your website, like you said, your website is your brand ambassador, what I would absolutely love about you struggling is that you’re focusing on the bottom line for your clients. We’re a lot of people are like artistic, not necessarily the starving artists, but maybe they’re not a business minded business experience that you have. So I love that you bring that leadership and expertise. So talk a little bit about transforming clicks to profits. That’s, that’s the name of your podcast.

Charlene Brown  14:01

I have that correct? Yes, it is. And it’s really about understanding what’s the best way that people have been able to make money online and make it sustainable. And yes, the website is your your bread and butter foundation in marketing. But you have to understand just because you built something like that doesn’t mean you just leave it set it and forget it like a cooker. Right? You have to still put into it. You still have to nurture it. The same thing. Like if you can put all your energy in social media, then why aren’t you doing half of that for your website, where if you just set it up, you have everything going you have the funnels, you have your email list building because you’re sending people there. So if you’re making that part of your just the way you you breathe and the way you operate, then it becomes a part of your everyday operations. So that’s where the transform clicks to profit podcast comes in where I talk about to more people about that, so it’s not just my experiences, but experiences from my clients and just others because sometimes others say, Yeah, I don’t send anyone to my website. So I want to dig into that. Like, why? Why have a website you send nobody to? And then why? Why depend on outside forces like social media that can shut down at any time or your account gets taken away from you, for whatever reason, now, you’ve lost all of that hard work that you’ve done, because you didn’t build the backend. That’s phenomenal.

Curt Anderson  15:30

So what I want to do today is I want to dig into you know, I want to go I want to take a dive into like the why, okay, when we have you come back, I want to go into I would love to go into like, a little bit more of an instructional how does that how does Okay, so let’s talk about the why. Okay, and I in another thing that I love that you preach? Like the DI wires out there seems like that that’s who you seem to, you know, at what point in time, do you find that the DI wire kind of like, throws in the towel, cries uncle, whatever term cliche that we want to say, in there, like, I need, I need help, I need to come I need Charleen to come to the rescue. What stage do you encourage that DIY er to say, hey, you know what? One, two, you’re at a point you need some professional help here. Do I mean, do you have a sign that you see with your clients typically? Or does that mean yes.

Charlene Brown  16:15

A lot of times, it’s that they it’s just not their passion, their it’s not, it’s not for them, their their heart is somewhere else. So they don’t want to sit down and even learn. Even if I give them a tutorial, if I walk through it, they just don’t want to know it. They don’t, they don’t, it’s not what they care about. So that’s when I say you just need to invest in someone who will do it for you. And another another sign for me is when the functionality is not there, because a lot of times we have all those drag and drop sites, those are great. But then you you know that you need a different level of functionality. So Squarespace is awesome. But if you know you need something to automate an in a different way that the platform of Squarespace will not allow you to because they limit you in a certain way, then you know, you need a coder. So you need to invest in that. And I never, I never tried to encourage di wires to do all of that on their own because you’re running a business. So if you can’t be your IT department and run the operation, so it’s really about letting go and knowing what’s your strength, what is it that you really need to do. And if you’re going to be the head of the company, look at all these other businesses that have scaled, they had to at one point, step aside and bring in other people. So it’s good to know what you’re what should be done, but you don’t have to be the one to do it all the time.

Curt Anderson  17:38

Right. I love that. So all right, you are a WordPress guru, the queen of WordPress to my understanding, do I?

Charlene Brown  17:45

So I’ll take that. On that

Curt Anderson  17:49

right the queen of WordPress, why WordPress Charlene, what is so amazing about WordPress, in your opinion,

Charlene Brown  17:56

I love it. Because I want to feel like I have more control over what I put on my site. I want to have control over who promotes on my site, what type of code I can use on my site. And I don’t want to feel like I’m being nickeled and dimed for every single thing, every functionality that I add. So WordPress is a place that wordpress.org out, I’ll even specify wordpress.org is a place where you can download for free, you just have to pay for your hosting, and of course, your domain name. But you run the gambit, you get to do what you feel like to what your imagination is and of course, what your budget would allow. And then you can bring people in and you have more of a back end, open access to do what you want. And and I think it’s really that is the coding. I’ve been kicked off of forums, because they didn’t like my opinion. And I was like, You know what, I’m going to start my own website. And I’ve been I’ve been stronghold in the point where I’ve been limited on what I could do. I remember when I first started, I was trying to do videos on my own site. And they were like, oh, wait a minute, this is too much. And I was like, Well, what am I supposed and this was before YouTube, and I’m like, What am I supposed to do? So So WordPress allowed that to say, You know what, if I want more power, I have the option to go to my hosting company and get more power and still do what I want to do. It’s really a limit of what you can do, what your what you can think about and of course who you can bring on to be a part of your team and help you out.

Curt Anderson  19:30

Oh, that’s fantastic. And our dear friend John bug lino from UB Tessa says, Charlene LinkedIn events are so much fun so Charlene, you love coming at you from John tests up. So let’s let’s take a little bit further on WordPress. So say we seem to manufacturers I don’t sing because nobody would want to listen to that. But our proof is to manufacturers. So manufacturers you know, in the past, you know, frequently website wasn’t a top priority if you Well, although their brand ambassador was a little bit neglected, or just an afterthought, because they were traditionally tradeshow, sales reps, that type of thing. So for a manufacturer knocks on your door and says, Hey, Charlene, I hear and understand that you are the queen of WordPress, I want to get started. Walk us through a little bit like so. And this is total foreign to them. Right, let’s like this is a very raw manufacturer, they know their widgets inside and out. But marketing website is just not their thing to walk. So if we’re speaking to that manufacturer, right now walk them through that early stage process on how you would bring them in as a client. And what how would you save their day? How’s that?

Charlene Brown  20:41

Yes? Well, the first thing is, what’s the purpose of you even being online? Why do you want to be found online? Why do you want to have a space online? Why do you want to be known? And once you understand what’s your purpose, and what do you want to be known for, then let’s start creating keywords around that. So we can create content around that. So from your your homepage to your about page, you want to make sure that you’re incorporating these words, that you will when people start to look you up, they can find you first, especially if you creating your own vocabulary, right, if you create your own terms, then of course, you’re going to dominate that space, but you want to make sure you’re creating around that. So even when you start to amplify your voice on social media, all of that’s going to be bringing people back to you. And I would definitely say whatever it is that you want to be known for, start to use your website to showcase that expertise, start to create that. And I know a lot of people get nervous when they hear the word blog or vlog, what that’s the easiest way to constantly create content on your own terms, and do it the way you want to and test it out too. So you’re not worrying about algorithms, you’re not worrying about any of that. But you get to do it on your own platform. And then whatever doesn’t work, you can remove it, you can delete it, and you just keep creating. And then if you’re not great at writing, bring someone in, it doesn’t even take the take that long once you understand what you want, that other person can come in and help speak with you and on your behalf.

Curt Anderson  22:13

That’s phenomenal. And so So again, let’s I want to take and I want to run with this conversation right here. So we’re we’ve manufacture in front of us, man, they’re like Charlene You had me at hello, I’m totally digging this, you know, but I’m still I’m little bit. So I’m following the process. I’m so like how and I you do a great job of like clearing the clutter, minimizing the struggle, maybe even eliminating the struggle and preventing that confusion. So let’s say we get past that point of like you start the website for that client, that manufacturer or whoever you’re working with, talk about, like, what are some next steps? Okay, if I put up a brand new website, it’s awesome. It’s amazing. I’m still the best kept secret you talk blogs, blogs, let’s go a little bit further. Like what are some stuff that I can do to stop you the best kept secret in in prevent confusion, and like how this whole online marketing thing works?

Charlene Brown  23:02

Yeah, well, the easiest and quickest way is of course, creating video. So if you know that your site is up, you just you just created a new resource of maybe the top tips or the top things that people can do when they read it when they’re getting ready to work with you how can they prep themselves, then you start spreading the word and saying, Hey, guys, I created this great new resource, you can find it on my website, head on over there. And then you give them little tidbits about it. So you know, tell your tips, but give them the give them the topic of the tip. And then maybe like one route, one way they can implement the tip and say, Hey, to find out more, I have more details, go head on over to my site, but you’re always driving traffic back to you. And then the more you’re, you’re almost like a little tour that you’re going out, you’re constantly it’s a it’s almost like an education thing at that point. So when you’re educating the community about it, then they start to look that up, they start to research it. And especially we all know we love a consumer who is an educated consumer. So if you can start to educate them, and give them those informant that those resources, and then allow you to be that resource. So maybe there’s some a place that you you trust in your manufacturing, you can create a list of resources, and then put those on your website as well. So now you’re linking to well known other places, and then you’re bringing that all back to you. So they see that too, because especially if they are doing what they should do when it comes to SEO, and they’re paying attention to other places that are linking back to them. They’re gonna say, oh, wait a minute, we got a new link, who is this and then they’re gonna start to be curious about that, too. So you want to make sure that what you’re putting out in the world, you can reflect back on your website, and it allows you to be that trusted resource.

Curt Anderson  24:51

Awesome, man. That was. Let’s take a little moment of silence. That was phenomenal. I’ll give you a little little golf clap there. So alright, Charlie, let’s go here, okay, you mentioned before, like, say Squarespace. I know, there’s like, you know, other like plug and play type programs. Okay, so let’s say manufacturer out there, and they’re using one of these, we won’t mention names I already mentioned one that we will never need. But see, they’re on a platform and you’re like, man, you know, they really should be on WordPress. Okay. And again, like I manufacture, it’s a little bit intimidating to me, I don’t quite get it, I don’t quite understand it. Walk that person through. If when you want to switch them from ABC platform, CMS, whatever that they’re on. And you want to pull them into WordPress, talk about how I won’t use the word easy, but how do you put their mind at ease that, hey, I’m going to take you off this platform, I’m going to put you on WordPress, we’ve taught we’ve been talking about the benefits, but walk through the that process, so they understand it.

Charlene Brown  25:50

Yeah, so I definitely let them know that look, if even if you’re not tech savvy, and you’re not comfortable, I’m here to be a resource I can I can help with the return the retainer, and take care of it for you. So you at least you you know, the tech part is covered by me. However, to get you on there, what I do is have my I have my sandbox site. So you can see what would it look like? How can it be, and then I get you comfortable understanding what WordPress is. So of course, you have your training videos with me, we have time that we walk through it, I show you the back end, so you’re not nervous. And especially if all you want to do is update the the words like the text of the site, I’ll show you exactly where to go. So you’re not figuring like, oh, wait a minute, am I messing up the layout? No, you will not mess up the layout. But I’ll show you how to just focus on the words and the photos. Because sometimes people want to update their own pictures. I’m like, Okay, no problem, this is what you would do. So it’s really about understanding the tools that you have, because that’s what your website is, it’s a tool. So it’s really understanding. So just like as we all love to run out and get those new iPhones or those Samsung, and we sit down and we’re like, Okay, I’m going to learn it today, I’m going to take this weekend, I’m going to learn. And I think that’s what what you should also do for a tool that’s going to help your business, make a name for itself. And that’s what that’s what your site is going to do for you.

Curt Anderson  27:14

That’s fantastic. And so I was talking with a manufacturer about a few weeks ago now and they were in Indianapolis and again, you know, widget expert, you know, they they know their product better than anybody else. This gentleman was a veteran, God bless them and has an amazing, incredible company. Website, not a priority. I said, hey, you need I gave this gentleman your name. And what’s great about this process here is like he can focus on being a widget expert, he can focus on his business, not take the eye, his eye off the ball, in bring in a trusted guide a trusted resource like you. It gives a person you know, man or woman manufacturer peace of mind knowing that I have an expert on my side like Charlene who just has my back and can take take charge of this. Let’s go here. Charlene. So when you increase that engagement with that manufacturer, what are some of the requirements that you need to really help like, hey, we want to crush it, we want to just be make you Rockstar, Mister missus manufacturer? What are some of the requirements that you need to really help you be successful for that manufacturer?

Charlene Brown  28:18

Yes, I Well, the first thing is always I need content. So I need them to either tell me that they can create it, or I can get a team member to help them with that. And they are ready to do that they are ready to do that work. Because I think that’s where it is. A lot of times you feel like oh, I can just hand over my logins and you will take care of everything. Yeah, no, no, no, no, this is a website is always a done with you process and the terms of we need to still understand from your standpoint, what is your business? And then how do you want it to represent you. So part of that is getting to know you getting to know what your services are? And you should you should be clear on the terms the copy, like what are what are the descriptions you want to create? What type of call to action do you want? Do you want them to sign up for an email list? Do you want them to go to a certain sale. And if you know that in your business, every quarter, you’re changing. Some companies they change every week, there’s a there’s a new product every week. So you need someone who can be on top of that. And for that, that I would need you to send that in at least 24 to 48 hours before you want it to go live. Because as we all know, if tech can happen, we want to at least get it ready and then test it and then send it out. But you never want it to be a rush job or last minute thing because websites don’t operate that way. If you wanted a a cart, someone to go to the sales cart, and it doesn’t work for whatever reason. Now you have a third party involved you’d have stripe or or Paypal or whatever other company that you might be using that going to be involved. So you want to make sure that all of those, those players are in place. So I would definitely need you to not only know your logins, but know your business, know the products that you have. And then know your customers. If you know your customers are great, when it comes to responding to emails, or they’re, they’re always signing up to your email list, then let’s put that at the forefront. If you know that they might need to know more about your services, they make sure that you have the key services that you want to promote at the forefront. So you should always know what is it that you definitely need to have happen. So of course, you need to know your goals in your business. What are the business goals you have? What’s the if you have it, and of course, we have the goal for the quarter for the year. And then what are your quarterly goals, because a lot of times, that’s what really drives what your website will be doing and promoting. And then you need to have your marketing down. Because when you when your website is up, now drive the traffic, have your promotions ready to be on social media, if you’re going to do anything for a major sale, have that coordinated, don’t do the sale first, and then try to get the website together because then you’re going to look crazy, because when people are trying to go there, either the link isn’t there, the page is not up, or it’s not finished, or the price wasn’t changed. So you’re gonna have a lot of people who are not, they might even say anything to you, they just won’t come back. And they and you start to lose that trust and that momentum. So always have a plan. And I always I stress I stressed strategy, have your website’s strategy ready. And it’s always going to be a part of your marketing strategy. So once you start to do your marketing, once you know all of that, then how do you want to drive people to the site? And how do you want to keep them there? And a lot of times video audio that keeps people on your website?

Damon Pistulka  31:52

Yeah, then, you know, you said you said a couple things of it was a while ago, because people that until you build a website, you don’t realize how hard the content pieces as the business owner, and I just wanted to ask you is that one of the one of the biggest challenges you really see as you’re building websites is because as a business person, you they just don’t understand, when you put in the graphics, the text, the video, whatever else you’re going to try to incorporate in your website, putting all that contact together is a huge job. But it’s a huge job that they honestly have to do a lot of.

Charlene Brown  32:28

Exactly. And even and I asked them early, I said, you know, I don’t do copy. I don’t write copy out because and I think that’s a misconception because you have a lot of web developers or designers that say, Oh, I’ll do the copy for you. However, I find copy to be very important, because it becomes a sales copy becomes that engagement copy. And if you don’t know how to write properly, for that purpose, you’re gonna miss the mark. So yes, I can write copy. But I don’t do it for a reason, I want to make sure that if you’re going to have a professional to bring copy for you, then let’s get that professional who will sit down, take the time to dissect. And then they’ll be able to write it out in a way that’s persuasive. Without you saying bye, bye bye, but they’re helping you tell that story, and then helping you make that sale. So it’s it’s a very intricate plan on form. And the same thing with your graphics, I think a lot of that becomes part of the brand, the overall brand, if you don’t know what your brand is, is it’s way beyond just pictures and colors. You have to know what’s the feel, what’s the motion. So I started to tell people to think of your website as an experience, what’s the experience you want people to have when they come to your website, and then you’re you’re going to kill it. And regardless, even when you’re doing updates and changes, you’re always going to kill it because the focus will always be the user experience.

Curt Anderson  33:56

That is so that’s phenomenal. And again so you know, anybody out there listening as you are determining, say if you’re out there looking for a new web designer web firm or maybe you’re going to do it internally you know let’s just recap a few things here Charlene focused on profits profits, you know, turning those clicks into profits and just you know, kudos to so being so profit focused and you know, success focus for your clients you’ve talked about you know, goals that goal setting how critical that is going through this process and again so guys when if you’re picking that new firm to work with or you know, new website, rehab, whatever you know, and man I’m telling you Charlene is an extra absolute expert. I love some of the taglines you know the struggle site and curing these struggles rescue my site. I just I love these little catchphrases that you have but what I want to dig into and I know in so we’re gonna have Charlene back guy, so if you’re just you know, I know we need to wrap up here in a minute. But this you’re just getting a sliver of wait for part two, man. This is gonna be so good. But surely, so somebody lands on. You mentioned call to action. Okay. I want to just I like to, we’ll close out in a minute here. But I’d like to just talk a little bit about if somebody is like, hey, what I’m not sure exactly what you meant by call to action in website language, what does call to action mean? In again, we’re speaking manufacturers, so like, what would be a typical call to action that they would be interested in?

Charlene Brown  35:23

Yeah, so what we normally see especially in I would say, from a DIY or standpoint, you will always see by now, those little buttons or the little sections that say, download today or buy, buy now or purchase, make your purchase here, things like that. Those are your call to actions. So you want to tell people what to do. And a lot of times we miss understand that because someone’s on the website doesn’t mean they know what the journey we thought, what we what the journey we had in mind for them would be, so instead of having them veer off, or band or leave, because that’s, that’s called bounce for tech, right? You don’t want them to leave early. So what you want to do is start telling them, as soon as they get on their site, which is the at the very top, tell them what to do. Tell them, hey, you can book a call with us, you need something, you need a delivery, whatever, to schedule something with us schedule a call, go to our calendar and have a button there that will take them directly, you don’t want to have a button that takes them to another page. And then they got to go to another page. And then and then they finally get to your calendar, because not everybody has a tolerance to click. And it’s usually up to four clicks, four to five clicks is there is most people’s limit. And then they just leave, they don’t want to know anymore. So if you have them coming in hot, then give them something to do immediately. And if it’s book a call, if it’s by your latest service, your latest product, make that the first thing they do. And then of course, once you start to go down, it’s great to even have a video next to it. Because a lot of times we don’t want to we don’t want to read, we may be in no no hurry, we don’t want to read so if you can talk to us and get to get to the point quickly. And let us know Hey, this is what it is. This is what my site is or this is what the offer is that even makes it even better. And then you’re like yes, I’m here and then they’re going so the call to action is really tell them what to do the same way in an email, don’t send a long email and then you’re not telling them what to do. So and emails are different too. They have their purposes. So if you have a sales email, immediately give them the thing to set to buy and and be done with it.

Curt Anderson  37:43

I’m going to pull up a comment here how’s this your buddy John McLean. Oh says use an action to get your CTA get start download secure, you know an action could be request for quote, call us now. You know, again, like I have that sense of urgency on your website to engage. Charlene, I’ve got Damon, you have a comment. You’re gonna jump you’re gonna say something

Damon Pistulka  38:03

interesting. You said something about a video with a call to action. I think that’s a cool idea. And we have you back I want to talk about some of these details. Because you mentioned sandbox to people I haven’t. I mean, man, that is like the the if you don’t if you’re a web developer does not have a sandbox. You’re just like doing it live that is such a horrible practice. It just kills you. But this this video and the call to action that is super cool. Because you know, you think about a little box beside that, where they click and go, Hey, this if you want to do this blah, blah blah, like a 15 second video would be awesome.

Charlene Brown  38:36

Yeah. So some videos have it inside the video. Yeah. And interactive video.

Damon Pistulka  38:41

Yeah. Yeah. So cool. So cool.

Curt Anderson  38:44

So all right. So Charlene. First off our deepest apologies. Yeah, a little tech issue. You know, we’re sending you tons of love and Virtual hugs. Thank you.

Charlene Brown  38:54

Yes, I totally understand.

Curt Anderson  38:57

She does all sorts of LinkedIn lead through, she felt he felt our pain. So thank you. You’re such a gracious guest here. We appreciate it. So we had this was so much fun. So, Charlie, this is what we’re gonna do. So you and I, we’re gonna be talking between now and you know what? How about you come back and hang out with us on April Fool’s Day. So how about April Fool’s Day, so maybe

Charlene Brown  39:18

yes, I’m here for you. And I

Curt Anderson  39:20

will connect we’re gonna have you back for part two. And what we want to do so we talked a lot about the why, and a little bit about the early process. Okay. What I’d like to do is we would really love to kind of pick that genius brain of yours. And like dig deeper into the how we want to go into some you talked about strategies. You talked about goals, you talked about profits, as Damon just recap you throughout all sorts of incredible idea. We are just scratching the surface of what we want to dig into. So let’s close out in this traveling. Okay, first off, thank you. Thank you. God bless you. We appreciate you. Your parting thoughts, any words of wisdom, any sound advice for our folks out there that are getting Started with their website or anything that you want to share as we close out.

Charlene Brown  40:03

Yes. plan, plan plan and the cheap comes out expensive. No.

Damon Pistulka  40:11

Comes out expensive. Boom, right there. It Oh no, don’t write it down. If you

Charlene Brown  40:20

know there’s something you need and if you cannot invest in it now, it’s best to start planning for it so you can make sales or do whatever it is that you need to do and invest in it later. And a lot of times, people misunderstand doing a quick and dirty process to oh, let me just let me just opt into the cheap and just stay there. No, no, a lot of times the cheap is just to get you started and wait and hold you over until you can invest in what you really need.

Curt Anderson  40:52

Get sure I was talking to my wife Charlene. And I’m sorry, we’re gonna we’re gonna we’re gonna close a program. Could you please repeat that?

Charlene Brown  41:03

Yes, the cheap comes out expensive.

Curt Anderson  41:07

The cheap. I’m 53 I’ve never heard that. Never. Never comes out. Expensive, man. You know what, Damon that’s that’s my new T shirt. Right? I’m the king of stepping over the dollar sign you know? Like I need. I need Charlene in my life to pay myself here. Oh my goodness. But I moment of silence John de Nino here. All right, everybody. Moment of silence. Here it is.

Damon Pistulka  41:39

Yes, savor it. Yeah. This bask in that glory.

Curt Anderson  41:44

Oh my god. That is the best lines of the year on this program. Man. That was so good. Okay, we’re gonna find out we’re coming to the bottom of our Charlene again. We are so sorry. Thank you. Thank you for being such a gracious guest. Thank you for being such a great advocate on on multiple levels. You are spearheading and inspiring women in entrepreneurship. Women in Tech, you’re just leading the charge in so many aspects. I am so honored and thrilled that we connected Daymond i We have so much more to talk about. Yeah, we’ll have you back in a few weeks. So thank you for taking the time to join us today. We can’t wait to continue this. So guys, this was part one. We’re coming back for part two. So thank you guys go out have an amazing incredible phenomenal weekend. Damon what’s going on in your life tomorrow?

Damon Pistulka  42:32

Picking up a puppy Kurt?

Curt Anderson  42:34

It can puppy brother. Nice, awesome. So new addition to the Pistulka clan. So yeah, hey to you and Renee, we wish you a good weekend as you bring home this new bundle of joy. Can’t wait to hear those stories. So guys have a great weekend. Sure Charlene. Hang on one second. We’re gonna close out the broadcast and you guys go out have a phenomenal weekend. We’ll talk to you soon.