Transcripts
1. Introduction and Welcome!: Imagine this before you ever had that first
meeting with someone, let's say for an interview
or for a client pitch, or perhaps just to
have a coffee meeting. I guarantee you the other person have already Gucci
on the Internet, google stalking
method to call it. But how are you
represented online? Or you actually the first result that show up
underneath her name. Now this is the
reason why having a personal brand website and so important in this
year and beyond. Because ultimately
you can control the narratives and what's
told about your story and also how you won't be
represented to everyone else online before they even had a chance to
meet you in person. In this course,
I'm going to break down the various ways
that you can use your website to build a powerful personal brand
for yourself online. And also the different
pages that you need to make sure you're telling your story
in the right way. And I will also
provide suggestions on different website
builders and how you can connect everything together, the different moving pieces of having your website
live on the internet. I will also share with you all the mistakes
that I made along the way every since I made my first ever website
back in 2014. Hi there. I'm Lori way. I build my personal brand into a business over the last decade. I want to share some
of my best tips and tricks on how you
can leverage the same to build your
personal brand using your first
personal website. Come onto the course, I look
forward to helping you along your journey of building
your personal brand website. You can create a powerful
future-proof career and business cc in the course.
2. Class Project Create Your Own Website: In this class project, I recommend using
the multiple page layout dimension in this course, Let's say you are about pages, your contact me page, maybe even a product
and services page, if that's what you do
currently in your business. Or maybe it's a
career page where he talked about your
current portfolios. Let's say what you've done for clients so far at this point. But whatever it is, use the multiple page
layout to create a page and a website
that tells your story and able to tell your narratives online to find out more about different pages I
talked about make sure to watch all the
lessons in this course. And I look forward to
seeing what you can create.
3. Your First Impression Matters Online: Before we dive into the
nitty-gritty of how to actually create the
website in the first place. I wanted to just talk
about a few things. The why having a personal
branding website is so powerful, especially this year and beyond. Number one, is that first
impression really matters, especially when it comes
to virtually online. How do you want
to be represented and what's your narrative? Now before you have
any first meetings, Let's say interviewee or
perhaps a client pitch meeting, or maybe even just a
coffee meeting in person. I guarantee that the other side have already Googled
you on the Internet. And that's not a
bad thing at all because at the end of the day, we all want to be prepared before our very first
meeting with someone. Now imagine the first result that come across
underneath your name, let's say on Google is
actually your website. How powerful is that
you're able to control the narrative around
your brand on how you want to be
represented virtually to someone before they
even haven't met you yet. I think that itself
is one of the reasons why I created a
website back in 2014, even though the first
version of my website really wasn't very something
that I'm proud about. But the same time, It's a place where I got started and actually
learn from it over time. But ultimately, I want
to make sure that I control and narratives on how I wanted to be represented as a person and my
reputation behind why do, in terms of my freelancing and consulting business as well. Also compared to the old
days when you would have, let's say a business card where your handout at potential
networking meetings. Now you can make sure that
you are represented in the right way on your
online business card, which is basically your website. But actually you can go into so much more depth because
someone can just find you, let's say by searching your
name and then knowing a lot more about you before they even had
that first meeting.
4. Make it Easy to Get In Touch With You: Number two is that you only help someone get
in touch with you. What I mean by that is imagine
a scenario where let's say an old contact of yours or an industry contact
or the old client, once a refer your services
and products to someone else. Now if they're doing
this by word of mouth, What's the easiest way to
actually recommend you? Essentially, they'll
point to your website. Let's say in this case,
just go to Laurie Wine.com and you find out more about Laurie
doesn't washy does, and also how to get
in touch with her. So that itself is a really great reason to have a website, to actually have someone
to be able to refer you. All of your current
referrals can just pass on your
existing website, which has all the
information and how to get in touch with you, like say, your contact form,
your email addresses, and also your multiple
social media platforms. She's GB on them as well. And it just makes
it really easy. And that way you'll be able to see a lot of more new leads by referral and word of mouth coming through that way as well. But especially if you set your
website up the right way, you'll be able to see a lot
more leads and inquiries coming through on your
website organically anyway, just because other
individuals are finding you about your services
and products online. And the internet is actually
a very powerful thing, is that when you
do put out there, you will actually find
that there are others. Will find you through
different venues, through different keywords in different channels
to ultimately come across your brands and also come across to your services
and products as well.
5. Help Your Content Get Discovered Online: Number three is
that your website actually makes you
a better writer, a content creator,
and the communicator. Now this is your
corner of the Internet where anyone can
finds you and help you amplify your messages and your missions and also
your passions still, my husband assignment,
for example, is a personal development
coach and also an author. He actually wrote a blog
post about how the phi, people around you in your
circle can really create, make, or break your
success in life. Now this article actually
got picked up by law, different press
and also found on Google's top five results
underneath those keywords. Now, when that did happen, the article just blew up. What happens on
the back of that? Lots of different leads
and interesting contacts, news outlets who got
in touch with him just because of what he put
out there on his blog posts. The moral of the story
here is that you never know who's reading
a line and you'd be surprised them on
the opportunities that will bring you if you're actually using this as an outlet for your creativity, for your passions and
for your mission. Now in my scenario, I'm not as strong
writer by any means, but I'm working on that one. So we're always a
forever students right? Now, what I've done
is actually I enjoy making videos like
this one, for example. And I can actually embed my videos onto my website
and also leveraging the benefit of
having my blog being listed as when the search
engine results on my website. So there's some SEO search
engine optimization benefit on the back of that as well. But in the meantime, I
want to mention that even if you're not a
writer, it's okay. You can actually use
your existing content. Other formats, Let's
say a podcast, which is an audio or
an a YouTube video, and embed them into your website as a
separate blog posts. And using the keywords
that you used for your YouTube
video, for example. And that way to pick up the additional search traffic that's coming through other
search engines as well.
6. Sell Your Products and Services: Now number four is that you can actually leverage
your website to grow your personal
brand business model and also products behind it. By having a website, you can actually then offer create offers on
the back of that for several different
levels of access for your audience to
have you with them. So obviously you're
only one person, and at the end of the
day you can only split your time in so many
different ways. And having this
personal branding model can really help to
amplify your messages. At the same time, is that
by having a website, you can actually
leverage it to sell your products behind
your personal brand. I think that's also
another really powerful reason of having a one-stop place where everyone can find
your free content, your pay content, and everything else
that you have to offer.
7. Own Your Audience. Not On Social Media: The number five, the
last but not least, is that social media, unfortunately is not forever. But your website is actually,
if you're this day, some people actually
very happy to just use social media to keep in touch with their audiences
and with others. However, in the
very unlikely event that let's say social
media platforms are down. Let's say Instagram is down, which happens very
frequently by the way, is that you want to
make sure you have another place online
where others can connect with you and then you can
continue that method of communication without relying
on a social media platform. So think of it this way, is that your website
is your asset to stay connected with your audiences online no matter what happens. And I'll get to the
email newsletters later. But I wanted to just mention
that your website is a great place to
attract those audiences who come across your
website and then ultimately become a subscriber
to your email list, who will then hear
more from you on an intimate level in their
inboxes going forward. And that's another
great way to make sure that you only your audiences, rather than actually having a social media ownership of it, which can mean that it can go
any day when it goes down. And that means that you can't access that audience anymore.
8. What You Need Create Your Website and Make it Live on the Internet: Okay, so let me now break down, how do you actually create
your website? The house? Number one is that you want to make sure to find a domain name. Ideally, I believe the best way to do this is through
your personal name. So in my case is
Laurie Wine.com. And luckily I was able to
buy this quite a few years ago when it's all columns were
still available back then. Now it doesn't mean that
you had to go for the.com. However, I do
believe that if you can not be the best
place to start, if not, there's also
a dot code which I believe is also very
useful, or.net. And all of those
work really well. The key thing is that you
want to make it as easy as possible for someone to find
your name and your website. Therefore, there's no
hyphens or dashes required. Actually think those
would make things harder for someone to find you. And if in doubt, you can always go for
your business brands, which can be something
that you're working under. So not everyone uses their personal name as
their personal brand. If you have a
business brand name, you can use that as
a.com or.co or dotnet, et cetera as well. Generally, just remember
that if someone was to type your domain name inside the URL with that actually make it easy for them to
type it out and finds you. Or alternatively just
Google your name, for example, or your
business brand name. Number two. This is where I
really believe you can learn from my mistakes, is that make sure you find a hosting company
that's really reliable. I personally have
suffered a lot by going for the wrong hosting
company in the beginning. And my website was actually
down all the time. And that's one of
the reasons why when you switch
hosting companies, make sure you find
the right one for the long-term because when
you do switch them as well, It's also another headache and it takes forever to switch. And you have some downtime
between the switching, which makes it again, very unaccessible of content for your audiences who
might be looking for them. Now if you're going to ask for my choice and my preferences, then I think dream hosts and also bluehost are
both really good. And I'll link them all
in the comments below. And once you've done
that, just make sure to link up your domain name and your hosting company to
make sure now your website, it actually is live and
actually on the Internet. It's very exciting. Number three is that
you want to give you a website, a nice design. I recommend looking for
Squarespace, WIX, or WordPress. These are my three top choices. Now if you're new
to the building websites space and you're new to the technical side,
period, like myself, when I first got started, I recommend start
using Squarespace or Wix because they're both
drag-and-drop website builders. That makes it
really easy to have your website live
within the day. Now if you've been
more tightly cold, perhaps you know a
little bit about coding, let's say HTML or CSS, that I think WordPress, the self hosted WordPress
website is really good for that because it just offers you more option for versatility, for customization
and personalization. So again, it's depending
on how much you're looking for in terms of
the customization side. But I found that I've
got more tiny coal and more confident in
building my own websites, I started using the
self-hosted Wordpress words. Also done is I've taken
the beginners course in CSS and HTML. I recommend that highly
because trust me, if I can do this and I'm definitely not very
technical alcohol, you can definitely do this. Css and HTML sounds a little bit complicated
for what they are, but really they're just very simple coding languages to help you make your website
even more personalized, the way that you
want to you as well.
9. Claim and Purchase Your Domain Name: Hi guys. This is a very quick lesson
here about domain names. And I recommend if
you're going to buy your own to use a website
like named Chief.com. I use these guys for
a very long time. I think they're fantastic, but their customer
service and also their overall dashboard,
it's very clean. And especially when
we're looking to link up your domain name with
your own website builder. It just makes your
life so much easier. If you want to check it out. The link is in the description
of the course below. And over here, if you want
to search for a domain name, whether or not it's
available to centrally typing into this box
here and search for it. And they will tell you all
the different options of the domain name endings,
let's say.com.com or.net. And what's currently
available and what's not.
10. Website Builders and Hosting Choices - Which One is Best for You?: Hi guys. In this lesson, I want to
talk more in depth about the different type of website builders that you
can choose from. Back in my day when
I first started, I definitely didn't have all these amazing options
which I wish I had. Now, however, now
is a great time where you have all the
tools at your fingertips. It just so mad about choosing one that feels right for you. I'll show you the
options and you can make a decision from there. So starting off with here we
have the Bluehost option. The reason why I
list out Bluehost, but not wordpress.org directly is because WordPress.org
is actually a self-hosted option
and you need to find a hosting company
that can do that for you. I think Bluehost is
a fantastic option here for WordPress. The reason for that is they
made it so easy for you. From the get-go. On this page, on the
right-hand side, you see how they have
the option of doing a website builder with WordPress straightaway
from the start. You can go ahead
and start building by clicking that button there. Lead you to a page where it has different subscriptions that you can choose from for
your pricing plan. Now, I personally
think just starting off with a two
pound 18 per month, which is probably in dollars, depending on where
you are, the moments, It'll show those individual
countries specific prices. But for something like this very basic plant is
enough to get started. As you go on to
grow your business, you can always
eventually switch to a more pro plant or
even the online store. It's done in life. But you
can have looked through the different
features and what's included to see
what's right for you. Let's say currently you're
selling online products. That may be the pro option
is a much better one for you because it includes
things like, for example, accepting online payments
and WooCommerce, also unlimited online
store products and ten plus pricing and
packaging templates as well. Now, to go ahead
to the next step, you can just choose
your pricing plans. So let's say I go for
this basic option here. And what's gonna happen
is that Bluehost is now asking you for two options. One is that you can create a new domain by buying
it directly from Bluehost and having a host of here and also linked to
your WordPress website. Or the other option is to use a domain that you own already. So typing domain name here and Bluehost will then take you step-by-step through
the process. I'll setting up your domain with your new WordPress website. Let's say you chose
when the options here, they want to show you
the next step which essentially choosing a design or theme that as far as you on creating that
personal website. So lots of different ways
that you can choose from, let's say can go
flip flop category or portfolio category, or maybe just look at all
the different designs available and see
what's right for you. Here I want to show
you what the inside of your WordPress will look
like when you first log in. Now this will be your dashboard of your WordPress website. And actually on the
left-hand side, you can go ahead and
start creating pages, for example, on your website, let's say the about me page, or maybe things like
the products and services page or
contact me page. These are the places where
you can create the pages on your website to start
showcasing your stories. And also how people can
actually get in touch with you not to create new
pieces of content, let's say a blog posts. You can go to the post section. Over here. You can start creating
your new blog posts right away and get it
live on the internet. So overall, I suggest
having a play around with this
dashboard here to get yourself familiar
with how you can manage your WordPress
website going forward. And if you ever want to change the layout of your website, you can go to the
appearance section and choose a different theme
for your website there. But I always recommend
back of your website first before you
make any changes. In case I, you can't go back
to your old version and then you're left with having to fix your new version as well. Now moving onto Squarespace
as the next option, I think Squarespace has some fantastic modern designs
that you can choose from. As you can see the layout here. For personal website, I think something like the
Pizarro, he looks great. Or maybe things like for
really simple minimalist one, Bergen looks fantastic
here as well. I also like for
podcasts or YouTuber, the papilloma looks
fantastic here, or Collette looks
good here as well. For someone who's, let's say a nutritionist or
a personal chef. And again, you can
see how they use different layouts and
different designs here for different purposes. It doesn't mean that
they're all set in terms of what they do, but you can actually tweak
them to make it right for you. And I've seen many versions
of Squarespace websites in a very creative way of using
different templates here, at the end of the day is
about being creative with how you want to
design your narrative online and choose one that feels right to your
aesthetics as well. Now the good thing both
Squarespace is that they offer a domain name for free in the first year of
Asana to their plan. That means that you can claim a domain names straight
within Squarespace. Link it to your website
on the design there. However, if you also have
existing domain name as well, I'll link to a tutorial how you can follow it step-by-step. Setting your
existing domain name with a Squarespace design. All these tutorials you can find within the description
of the course. And you can then take
a step-by-step process depending on which website
builder you're choosing from, and to follow the
step-by-step from there to get your
domain name setup. Now looking at Wix as
the other option, again, width of really updated the overall layout and
design of their templates. And I think some of
these look fantastic considered for that you
can literally click, drag and drop to
get them created. Things like landing pages, actually shopping
stores, options as well. So here they have a marketing
agency, one, for example, here is a creative CV where
you can create just as a page on the Internet to
showcase all your products, your portfolios, and also how
they contact you as well. I wanted to mention goes is
another great contender here, goes as a great
option because again, it offers them fantastic
layouts and designs. And also the other great
thing about this is that they're created with
the creators in mind. That means that you can
link up to things like Patreon and you
can also have paid members and your website and knowing exactly what
kind of content these pain members
resonating with and then creating more relevant
content for them as well. Have looked through
ghosts and see what you think they're about
the different designs. And again, as with
all the other ones, I will link for each, every single website builder on how to link up your
domain name with that website builders
specifically on the step-by-step tutorial in the description of this course. And depending on which website
builder you choose from, you can then go with
each specific tutorial to get your website life.
11. The "About Me" Page: Okay, so now let's say you
have your hosting board, you have your domain ball, you link the two things up, and now you have your website
live on the Internet. You'll also have your Wix, Squarespace or WordPress, etc, being installed on this site. And you now have a specific template that's ready to go. What did you know? Well, now I need to think
about how do you actually make sure the right content
goes on the website. You have the right narrative and representation of your brand when someone first
come across it. Number one is, I really believe in having these pages
on your website. You're about pages,
your e-mail newsletter, sign-up page if you have one, your services and products page, if you have offerings as well. Lastly, but not least is
your contact me form. Very important here. Now, all the pages
on your website, I believe that the About
page or about me page, whichever one you
want to call it on your website is probably
one of the most important and frequently visited pages in all personal brands websites. The reason for that is
because ultimately, personal brands are all
about your personal stories. And people believe
in reading about the stories behind you to
get to know you better. And what better pages to create than the
about me page where you can tell all your stories
and then very unique way, uh, why you became
who he became now and y's are doing what you're doing and your passions
and your mission.
12. The Blog/Content Page: Now one thing I also want to mention is that you
definitely want to have a block section on your website if you
haven't already. I like I mentioned earlier
is that it's much better to have regular content going
out to your audiences. There are two reasons for this. One for that is you actually now have all
the answers we can then counseling to you
into what you have to share behind your missions, your products, your services, what you do, et cetera,
showcasing your expertise. But the other good thing about this is that you're also letting your website being refreshed
and updated all the time, which actually has a little SEO. Search engine optimization
is a mouthful. I know, which can help
you to actually get more visibility over time
on your website as well. And also ranking higher against those other
ones in your industry. It may not be actually updating
their websites regularly. Like I said earlier,
that it could either be a written format
and the blog posts. And if you're not a writer, which by the way,
I'm not as well. You can actually just embed
your content, which is, let's say your podcast or
your videos onto that page. And just make sure
that you're using the right keywords in
your block titles and also the text within the blog as well to describe what
you have on the video. I think that itself is really
useful because when you have multimedia
on your webpages, especially your blog, that
will actually help you be picked up even further
by search engines.
13. Newsletter Sign Up Page: And the third page I mentioned
was the newsletter page. You got. She'd be the website
header on your website. So you've go to my website,
you see that I have a Laurie Wine.com sign up area
on the very header, top two for someone to actually subscribe,
It's my newsletters. And having that is so
powerful because over 80% of your website visitors actually don't stay
around forever. They might never come back. When you want to do
is actually collect them in a specific
audience if they want to subscribe to opt-in for more information
and useful content, then you can actually send
all your regular content via your e-mail list to get a more of an intimate
relationship with your audience and ultimately building that loyal fan base.
14. Product and Services Page: And if you're a
service provider or perhaps the cell
product on e-commerce, definitely recommend
having a page where you link up your various products, either as your services or
perhaps your offers, your, your packages, or it could be all your e-commerce
products behind your brand. So several YouTubers,
I do this really well. They actually had merchandise on their personal brand websites where you can actually
buy the mugs, the T-shirts, etc,
behind their brands. And I think that's a
great way to do it. Or if you have an
e-commerce brand and ready as a business owner, you can also link up
to those as well.
15. Connect with Your Social Media Accounts: Last but not least, of course, because your website is a
great place for someone to get in touch with you and
connect with you further. Make sure they link up all your other social
media platforms as well on the website. So they can actually
finds you on other platforms that
they're using as well.
16. Next Steps and Thank You!: I hope you found
the course helpful in putting your thinking hat on the importance of having a personal brand website
in today and beyond. That could be whether you're
currently looking to build your career or perhaps grow
your freelance business, or maybe you have services and products you want
to offer to people. Remember that people love
following other people. Your personal stories and your journey will resonate
with others online. By sharing your content regularly with others
in your space, you'll be able to build a
community of people who love your mission and
also what you do. And this is how you build new
opportunities for yourself. It can be a new job offers. It could be speaking
opportunities, or perhaps more product sales, more clients, more partnerships
and collaborations. Ultimately, I communist
see what you can create. If you have any questions, you can always reach out
to me via direct messages on Instagram at IM Lori way. Or alternatively, you can
always reach out to me by e-mail at Laurie
Laurie Wine.com. I look forward to
hearing from you. In the meantime,
have a great day and see you in the next course.
Laurie Wang, YouTuber and Creator
