Embrace Visibility! Create A Website You’re Proud to Share

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Have you ever created a website for your business and thought, “oh my gosh, now I actually have to show it to the world?”

We sometimes spend months putting this thing together and when it’s time to release it into the wild, a sudden fear creeps in. You feel so exposed and vulnerable!

Well, today we are joined by Ezekiel Rochet, who helps solopreneurs get websites up and running that they are proud to share. We invited him on to discuss:

1. Common pitfalls solopreneurs often encounter when developing their websites
2. Effective strategies for solopreneurs to convert website visitors into leads
3. Tips and tricks for people who are limited on time, budget and resources
4. What to look for if you want to outsource the creation of a website and potential red flags

Plus so much more, so be sure to tune in!

Oh, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a five-star review :)

Connect with Ezekiel Rochat

• Connect on LinkedIn
• Visit https://www.rocship.com/solo

Going solo in business doesn't mean you're alone! Join our thriving Facebook community group exclusively designed for solopreneurs!  Connect with like-minded individuals who understand the unique challenges and triumphs of running a business single-handedly. Gain valuable insights, discover proven strategies, and unlock the power of networking as you engage in lively discussions and receive expert advice. We hope to see you there!

Full Episode Transcript

Carly Ries (00:00):

Have you ever created a website for your business and thought, "Oh my gosh, now I actually have to show this to the world." We sometimes spend months putting this thing together, and when it's time to release it into the wild, a sudden fear creeps in. You feel so exposed and vulnerable. Today we're joined by Ezekiel Rochat, who helps solopreneurs get websites up and running that they're proud to share. We invited him on to discuss common pitfalls solopreneurs often encounter when developing their websites. Effective strategies for solopreneurs to convert website visitors into leads, tips and tricks for people who are limited on time, budget, and resources and what to look for if you want to outsource the creation of a website and potential red flags when doing so. Plus, so much more. So be sure to tune in. You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship.

(01:02):

My name is Carly Ries and my cohost Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy but awesome journey as a company of one. We take pride in being part of Lifestarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you. So, if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around, or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone.

(01:46):

Okay, so before we jump into this episode, I just have to share this new free offer we have called the SoloSuite Starter. Being a solopreneur is awesome, but it's not easy. It's hard to get noticed, and most business advice is for bigger companies and you're all alone until now. Lifestarr SoloSuite gives you free education, community and tools to build a thriving one person business. If you're lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even if you're just lonely running a company of one, be sure to take out SoloSuite Starter at Lifestarr.com and click on "Products and Pricing" at the top menu. It's the first one in the dropdown. Again, it's totally free, so check it out at Lifestarr.com, click on Products and Pricing, and it's the first one in the menu. Hope to see you there.

(02:36):

Ezekiel, we are so happy you are here. It has been quite a minute since you and I have chatted.

Ezekiel Rochat (02:43):

Absolutely. Carly, I was so excited that you agreed to this and allowed me to come on and I'm excited to be talking with you.

Carly Ries (02:50):

Well, so fun fact for our listeners. Both of you were actually previous clients of mine. Joe, that's how we ended up working together. Ezekiel, you were a client of mine. I have never actually met either of you, Which is what I love about the world of marketing. I love that about the world of solopreneurship. It is such a small world. Joe, we've always said 50 million people are solopreneurs or freelancers these days. I feel like I run around in the same circles and everybody just kind of ties back to each other. So for me, it's a very thrilling podcast. I get to hang out with you two, but Ezekiel, since the last time we spoke, you have launched a successful company where you helped consultants, coaches, creators, get a website out that they're proud to share. I think this is so relatable. I think back to when I jumped ship in 2016. I'm a marketer. I have the background information on what goes on a website, but when I created my own, I would tweak little things here and there because it first, for some reason, I felt so vulnerable getting it out to the world because it was all on me. And that's with a marketing background. Many people out there don't have that marketing background, and I feel like you can really speak to these people who are kind of like, "okay, cool, I just jumped ship. I'm starting my own business, but oh my gosh, where do I start?" So if you are okay with it, you are kind of going to be our guide today walking us through these steps.

Ezekiel Rochat (04:24):

Yes, absolutely. Let's do it.

Carly Ries (04:26):

I guess a lot of people like to start with the positive and say, this is what I should do, but I kind of want to start with the pitfalls you see solopreneurs make because if you could figure out what you shouldn't do, it'll help you figure out what you should. So for people starting out as their one person business, when they're developing their websites, what do you see people do wrong and how can they avoid these challenges?

Ezekiel Rochat (04:52):

So the first one that comes to mind is kind of silly, but just not doing anything at all. Creating a website is pretty overwhelming to some folks. And what I see is even though today with how the technology is and how easy it is to get a website up and going, it's still pretty overwhelming and it can be a daunting task. That's one pitfall I see is folks who have a business, they're serving their clients, maybe they are just primarily on LinkedIn or something like that, but they're just not putting a website out there. Another one that comes to mind is just expecting too much from their website. Putting it out in the world, kind of a build it and they will come mentality, but then not really spending any time on any type of traffic generation activities.

(05:46):

Just launching it and being like, "all right, where are my customers at?" Another one, I call it the me monster. You create your website and you're like, Hey, this is my website. I should be talking about me. But the reality is your clients don't really care about you. What they care about is getting their problems solved and how you can make their life better. It's really about them, but it's easy when you're creating your website just to get really kind of that silo thinking to where you think, okay, I got to tell them why they should work with me, all the good things about me. What ends up happening is it's just a boring read. I'm sure we'll dive in more about how you can do the opposite of that. Then the last pitfall I see is just making their website too big. Making it tens of pages and it just ends up becoming fluff. You might experience this. Sometimes you hop on a website and you just start scrolling and it kind of glazes over your eyes. That's what I find with a lot of websites too. They end up just putting a lot of content on there, but it's not really saying anything.

Carly Ries (06:53):

I want you to bookmark that point because I have a follow up question right now, but I do know a lot of people do that they think it's fit for SEO. Keep that in the back of your mind. I want to touch on that later, but I can totally see how people can easily fall into these traps. Let's kind of guide them on what they should include in their website. What are the must have elements that you see for solopreneurs?

Joe Rando (07:17):

Can I just ask a fun question before we dig into that stuff? What portion of solopreneur, one person business websites, that you help people with, that they've already built have the H1 in the hero text be their name.

Ezekiel Rochat (07:35):

Oh my word. Yeah. A lot of times, to be honest, Joe, I ran across sites that don't even have an H1 set. I ran into this site the other day where it was just an image that was basically acting as their H1 tag. I was like, oh man, let's change this. Consequently, that company was saying, "man, we're not showing up even when you search our company name in Google, our website isn't showing up?" That's one change you could definitely make.

Joe Rando (08:05):

That H1 text is what tells Google what this site is. What's it about? So you put in an image, Google can't read the image, maybe someday, but Google can't read the image and so Google goes, "yeah, that's nothing."

Ezekiel Rochat (08:20):

Exactly.

Carly Ries (08:21):

I feel like we're getting ahead of ourselves. H1, all texts, what the heck are these things? Ezekiel, why don't you run through this. We can get that technical or we can keep it high level. You run the show, I want to hear what you have to say and we'll throw in some clarifying questions.

Ezekiel Rochat (08:37):

For sure. I want to just dive into the homepage a little bit. I think for most folks, especially folks who fall into the solopreneur, freelancer, consultant arena, that the homepage is what you need to focus on. That's going to be your critical page. Speaking of what I said about sites becoming too much fluff, a lot of the times it's because they start creating too many pages. Let's just focus in on that homepage right now. What I like to always start with is the first section on your homepage, it should answer the critical 4. Critical 4 is who you are, what you do, who you serve, and the best next step to work with you. When you're thinking about that main headline in the homepage section, this needs to be super clear. A lot of times folks can try to get really clever with it, but it ends up just confusing folks more than actually clarifying what you do.

(09:31):

If you hop on a site and you're confused by the first section, you're just going to jump off until you find something that makes you say, "oh yeah, this is what I'm looking for." So just make sure you're really ultra clear with that first headline. We do this for these types of folks. That's a really good formula to use. We help these types of folks get this outcome. I love that formula. Just use that and you'll be above 90% of websites that are out there right now. The subtext under that headline, you could just use that to clarify a little bit more. Speak into maybe a little bit more on the services that you do so that when someone's reading it, they're like, "ah, yep, I need that." That's my dream for websites. You create these moments where the visitor that's reading them says, "ah, yes, this person gets me. Yeah, they have what I need." Then the last bit of the Critical 4 is the best next step to work with you. For that, I would just say have a really big obvious button that says, "do this next, book a consultation call, download this form," whatever it might be. Make sure that next step is clear.

Carly Ries (10:44):

Just in case people are confused, earlier we said that there was messaging that should be targeted at your audience, and then we were just saying, "we do this." What's the dance? What's the fine line between saying what you do, but also not talking about yourself and really speaking to your customer?

Ezekiel Rochat (11:00):

Yeah, that's great. So when you have a problem and you go to a site to get it solved, say you need accounting for your business, you're looking for an accountant to solve that problem. The Critical 4, what that helps do is it gets past that initial door of confusion where you're saying, "Hey, is this company what I need? Or are they doing something else?" Because it's the first section on the site, we need to get past that. Like I said, that initial door where they're saying, "Hey, is this even what I want?" That's why on the Critical 4, you need to be really clear on what you do, who you serve, and the best next step to work with you so you can kind of get past that. That's where I say most of the rest of the site is then targeted towards the problems that your clients are facing and how they can win.

Joe Rando (11:49):

That section is almost like a filter, basically maybe nine out of 10 people that get to your site might move on because they should, but that one person that should stay stays. Is that right?

Ezekiel Rochat (12:02):

Exactly. And it seems like a lot of folks there, they want to get really clever with that section. What I find is then, that will force even the one person who might need your services to hop off too, because they end up thinking, I don't even know what this means. So yeah, just being ultra clear on that.

Joe Rando (12:20):

I love the change lives. "We change lives through cost accounting."

Carly Ries (12:34):

So you have those four. hen where should people focus? I know you're talking about the homepage. Is there more to the homepage or is that when you start focusing on other areas of the site?

Ezekiel Rochat (12:43):

Yeah, for sure. So we've gone past the Critical 4. Who you are, what you do, who you serve, the best next step to work with you. Now this is when we start connecting with your ideal client. I call this the problems and pain points section. I learned this was from Donald Miller, his book, StoryBrand. I feel like it kind of brought this idea to the public, but this problem and pain pinpoint section, it's key to connecting with your ideal client. What this does is it creates moments for the client to read it and say, "man, yeah, this person, they get exactly what I'm going through." You all probably have clients who come to you and say, Hey, I'm dealing with this problem, or you've just kind of picked it up through osmosis. They're like, oh wow, they're running into this, et cetera.

(13:31):

Leave that out in that section, talk about those problems that are related to your service that your ideal client continue to have. That way when folks are on your site, they read that. They can feel comforted that you actually understand what they're going through. This can be a sentence structure, this could be bullet points of problems that they might be dealing with, but just get those problems up there so that they can see that you understand. What we do from there is we paint the picture, Hey, this is where you are now. Let's talk about where you want to go. Then the second section after that problem section, I call it "what life looks like on the other side" section. You want to paint what life is going to look like for them after they work with you.

(14:23):

So if you're dealing with all of these problems, okay, now what is life going to look like after they work with you and all your problems are solved? What's the antithesis of those problems that they're dealing with? That's where you paint those out. After that, we want to show them, it's possible. You can promise someone the world, but unless it's actually possible, it doesn't really mean that much. So let's give them some social proof, let's show them maybe some testimonials, some past work that you've done, anything to say like, "Hey, this is doable for you." This isn't just some far off promise. Real people have experienced what I'm telling you. To follow up on that, give folks a plan to success. Show them like, Hey, this isn't that difficult. We can take you from here to there first. Reach out to us, then we'll get to work. We'll craft a plan that's for you to reach your goals, and then you can focus on what matters most. It sounds so silly laying out those three step plans, but when you read them, it does feel like a weight's lifted. You're like, "oh, okay. all I have to do is reach out to them", making it really simple for your client to reach out to you.

Joe Rando (15:40):

For me, I find that when I see that kind of thing, I'm going, "they know that". I'm worried that they don't know it, in which case, what am I getting myself into here? Some people just want you to basically come in and they want to collect an hourly fee from you. It's nice to feel like there's a process that's got a beginning, a middle, and some kind of an end. So yeah, I love that idea of laying out the process because it makes me feel like I know what I'm getting into. It doesn't sound dumb at all to me.

Ezekiel Rochat (16:14):

That's so good, Joe. I totally agree with that. I would say with that, kind of a part two, would be if you're going to have an offer, just make it really clear, a lot of folks, they might have one or two main offers that they provide. I'm not saying you have to show your pricing on your website. I think there are a lot of benefits to it, but if you do have consistent offers, go ahead and make those really clear for folks. I'm not a huge fan of customizing an offer for every single engagement that you have. And it helps folks out to have an understanding of, oh, this is what you provide here, this is who it's for, this is what I can expect. It's just a really nice kind of clarifying section.

Carly Ries (17:00):

And just to clarify that point, there are a lot of platforms that allow you to do smart content. HubSpot is one of those where you can do smart content depending on the visitor, but you should still stick with that one call to action, that one CTA for the person that's visiting. Don't mix it all up, but it's okay to do smart content, which is a whole other episode I feel like, you just have to be consistent with the specific audience you're going after.

Ezekiel Rochat (17:27):

Yeah, Carly, that's a great point. If you can get to the point where you decide and commit, "I'm going to target this audience with this offer", Alex Hermozi, he talks about "until you reach a million dollars in revenue, you should have one audience, one offer, and one channel for marketing." Then you can totally reach it with those three points. That's a hard thing to accept. It took me two years of doing this solopreneur thing to finally commit to an audience and commit to an offer. But I would highly recommend doing that. It makes it wait simpler to craft great landing page, a great homepage when that's all in place. Last two little bits on the homepage, two last sections that I really think you should incorporate. The about the client section. It's really easy to want to put a big about me section on your page, and I would say that's good, but just maybe change it slightly.

(18:28):

Obviously people want to know who they're working with, they want to have that connection made. Have a picture of yourself and have a little blurb about who you are. But I would say within that, bring it back to the client. Say things like, "Hey, I've been working in this industry for X years. I found that this type of client struggled with this issue, and I thought that was awful, and I wanted to help that client with that. Then I started creating outcome." Sorry, that was kind of a messy formula. Basically the idea is, talk about yourself some, but then again, go back to speaking to the problems that your clients are running into the transformation that you want to see occur in their life. Then finally, in that about section, let's say call to action, and that leads us to the last section that I think every website should have, which is a call to action section.

Joe Rando (19:23):

I love that, by the way. I've never heard anybody put it that way before using the About Me section to talk about them in a way or what you do for them. That's a great idea.

Carly Ries (19:34):

I feel like it's like a visual hug. I got you.

Ezekiel Rochat (19:41):

It makes a big difference. I mean, if you're reading it about me section, then they instantly are talking about you. Who is it that said that the most favorite word in the English language is your name? I forget who said that.

Joe Rando (19:55):

Might've been Dale Carnegie.

Ezekiel Rochat (19:57):

Dale Carnegie. That sounds right. So using that about section to again, just end up talking about the client can be pretty powerful.

Carly Ries (20:06):

Well, then you said the CTA section. I know we went over that really quick, but that's so important. So go ahead and elaborate.

Ezekiel Rochat (20:14):

I would say for this, there are some design things that you can do to make this stand out, but if there's going to be a section on your page that does stand out, I would make it this one. Make this section be the one that's colored and big and bold and bright. Simple call to action, "Hey, interested to get started?Book a call now." You've just gone on this long story of taking them, showing them what you do, explaining that you understand the problems they have, showing them what life could look like on the other side of working with you, giving them all this proof, the plan to get there. And now it's up to them. It's like, okay, do you want to make a step? I would say have a primary call to action, and I'm sure we'll get into this later, but then if you want to, you could also have a secondary call to action, something like a lead generator download. A free 20 minute consultation call, something like that. You can do a more foot in the door offer, sign up for my newsletter, something like that.

Carly Ries (21:16):

And just to clarify, the calls to action are good ways to just get people into your system. It's a good way to collect emails. The way to get contact information so that your website is actually working for you and not just a pretty website. To piggyback off of that, again, I have a marketing background, but when I was creating my personal site, which no longer exists, I was so focused on the visual. What is the fine line between making it so pretty, but just making it more user-friendly. How should people approach that?

Ezekiel Rochat (21:51):

I would say start with simple and clear. I don't think we should approach our websites with the plan of winning any design awards. If the end goal is to get folks in your system, if the end goal is to generate leads, then you would just want that site to be radically clear for your ideal client. Start with that initial structure, get that all in place, and make sure it makes a lot of sense, and make sure that you can understand it. Have a friend read your site. Maybe someone who doesn't know what you do. At the coffee shop, they're like, "Hey, could you take 20 seconds to read this? What do you think this person does?" Make sure that your site is ultra clear before you start adding in any fun design elements. Once it's clear, then come in, add some color, add some pop, maybe add some graphics in the background. But what I would say is probably less is more with this most of the times, unless you are in a highly creative field where you're trying to show off your design capabilities specifically for that. I would say air on the side of simple.

Carly Ries (22:58):

I like that. So keeping it simple, you were saying that having a gazillion pages isn't necessary. In your mind, what are the key other pages for a website? Maybe they have more like a blog or something, and maybe they don't, but waht are those areas?

Ezekiel Rochat (23:15):

I think there are three key pages that most websites should have. I think it's the homepage, obviously it's the most visited page. Google's usually going to push that to be the top ranked page of a site, especially for branded searches. Then the about page, it is also one of the most visited pages. And again, I would say we talked about the blurb, making it about the client. What you can do with that about page is make it all about the client again, and kind of go more into depth on that. Maybe on the company side and how they're serving the client, and then maybe go more in depth on the founder story and more specific to you. But again, tie it back to that client.

(24:02):

The last page is just a dedicated landing page, a dedicated contact page. Those are the main three. There are a few other supplemental pages that I think most solopreneurs will probably end up wanting to have. Service pages, that you can go in more depth with your offers and they become kind of their own individual landing pages. Then what you said, Carly, a blog collection and a blog post template page. That way you can share insights, people can learn more about you without even having to sign up for a newsletter. It just gives one more step to be kind of clarifying your authority.

Carly Ries (24:45):

What are your thoughts on this? Because a lot of people do blog for SEO purposes so I'm going to circle back to that original question. This is the marketer in me, so I might use some jargon terms, but that's just to kind of prove a point for my question. When you said a contact us page, I immediately went to, well, if they're local, they should include a map and an address. Then for the homepage, we were talking about H1s and all texts and everything. A lot of what I just said is super foreign to our audience. They're like, why are you speaking Chinese right now? I don't understand what they're saying. How in your opinion, and Joe and I go back and forth on this, how important is SEO for a solopreneur? Maybe they don't need millions of clients, maybe they just need three or four to keep their business going. And if it is important, do they really need to focus on the technical stuff or should they just focus on having a place to drive people when they meet them?

Ezekiel Rochat (25:41):

So good. I would love to talk about lead generation and how the website comes into play after this topic. I think it goes along so well with this. This might be a little bit of a hot take, but I think for a lot of solopreneurs, freelancers, early stage business folks, SEO can be a bit of a distraction. When I think about marketing tactics, it's really rare that I think, oh, what would start generating leads for you really quickly and help put food on the table? SEO. It's really rare for me to think that. You have these massive companies who are pouring millions of dollars into SEO. Look at HubSpot, you type a single marketing term, you're going to see HubSpot show up in the first five links. You're trying to compete against HubSpot and you think you'll just start generating leads. Unlikely. I'm happy to go into more about what I think about it, but I'm curious what you guys think.

Carly Ries (26:46):

I was just saying that you are speaking our language, and it's been really hard for me to come full circle with this because I've had clients that are Fortune 500 companies. I've had clients where the more customers, the better so SEO is huge. As a trained marketer, SEO is obviously just ingrained in my brain, but the more and more Joe and I have worked with solopreneurs, I mean we work with them day in and day out, the more it's like, no. For our business, we target people that want a business that supports their lifestyle. They don't need to be billionaires. They want to be able to take their kids to school while also supporting a life. So from that sense, sometimes they only need four or five clients. If that's the case, SEO blogging, all of that isn't necessarily their number one priority. So we totally agree with you, but the trained marketer in me is like SEO.

Joe Rando (27:43):

I have a question though. I completely agree with you that SEO is just such a big guy, big company game now. It's really hard unless you do something really weird, really nichey. We always joke about being a ferret portrait artist. If you did that, you would come up number one on Google when somebody searched for it. But for most businesses, you're not going to be able to do that. But the exception I wonder is if you're a local business. If you are working in a certain market and targeting a circuit market, I think it still might make sense to try to do SEO.

Ezekiel Rochat (28:19):

I agree with you, Joe. The way I like to think about SEO, and I don't claim to be an SEO expert, but the way I like to think about it is in four main pillars. I think technical SEO, that's all the stuff on the actual website. Do we have it all set up so that Google can read the site and understand the content that we have on there? I think technical SEO is one pillar. I think content itself is a pillar. That's where you are creating your blog articles, having your case studies, all that content that Google can read and then produce it for the different keyword searches. Backlinks is another pillar. I still think it's such a huge part of Google's ranking algorithm say, Hey, these sites are promoting this site, so it must have some authority there. Then the last pillar, Joe, to your point, I think is reviews. I used to call this pillar local SEO, but whenever I would say local SEO, all I really meant is that getting Google business listing reviews, getting reviews on Yelp or getting the different directories, having your business show up on there. That's the way I think about SEO. Yeah, you're absolutely right. My background was actually in home service businesses and in that industry, reviews are everything. And local SEO in that sense is everything.

Carly Ries (29:41):

I'm just going to backtrack a little bit because I said I might use some jargon. SEO might be jargon for some people. What we're trying to say is search engine optimization. Basically, there are some techniques you can use that will promote your site higher end search engine results pages like Google. We're just talking about some techniques. This is a whole other conversation for a whole other day. We could have 10 episodes just dedicated to SEO, on local SEO, but it is something that sometimes gets factored in to websites, which is why we wanted to bring it up. Ezekiel, you were saying you want to talk about lead gen, which I think is much more important for solopreneurs to be focusing on because your website shouldn't just be a resume, it should be working for you. What can people do to have their website work for them?

Ezekiel Rochat (30:25):

Absolutely. When I started building out websites, it was really easy to have that mentality of, the website, that's the lead generator. That's the thing that if I publish this and I'm not getting leads, then it must be a bad website. But that's not true at all. You can build a beautiful home, but if no one ever sees it, no one's going to buy it. You've got to get that home exposed. So what I always say is there's a three step plan to getting leads on your website. There are sub items within each of these three steps. The first would be, get clear on that critical 4 I told you about who you are, what you do, who you serve, the best next step to work with you. Speak to the problems and pain points of your ideal client, show them what life will look like on the other side, and then just be super clear on the offers.

(31:20):

Be super clear on your actual service that you're providing for them. That's step one. Get those things in place. That is just key. Step two is start investing in a traffic generation channel daily. In my opinion, if you're a solopreneur or a freelancer, consultant, you should be investing at least one or two hours a day. I invest two hours a day into this. Some folks even say invest half your time into lead generating activities. So what is a lead generation channel? Things like LinkedIn X or Twitter. If you have the budget for it, things like digital ads, Google ads, search ads, something like that. Another great option for solopreneurs is working with other people's audiences. So making those connections. Do affiliate programs, be a guest on a podcast or get on someone else's newsletter as a guest. Try to use your authority and your expertise to the advantage of reaching other audiences that are targeting that same ideal client that you are.

(32:34):

I would also say that SEO is a traffic generation channel. That's where it can kind of get a little confusing because some folks look at SEO as this sole magic bullet that you can use on your website, whereas it's really a traffic generation channel you have to invest in if you want to see success from that. The last step of that three-step plan I said to getting leads from your website would just be make sure that your primary call to action and your secondary call to action are obvious and clear and easy to take the next step on. It really does come down to that critical second step of investing in that traffic generation channel.

Carly Ries (33:13):

And don't get this far in the journey and not respond to people. If you are getting leads on your website, let's make a point to respond to them. People that finally get the leads and then they just never interact with them. It's like, come on, man. It's frighteningly true. It's freaky how many times that happens. I'm trying to jump back to my 2016 self when I first went off on my own. And it's like that is a lot to do. We're talking about building a website, we're talking about designing a website, we're talking about lead generation, this whole list. But for people that do want to take it on themselves and do it all by themselves, do you have any tips to streamline the process? I know that Ezekiel, we were talking before about, for me, I like Canva because I'm not a designer, but it makes me feel like I'm a designer. Are there any other tools or tips you'd recommend for people that want to do it by themselves to help out with the process?

Ezekiel Rochat (34:13):

Absolutely. It's such an awesome time to be a solopreneur because for most of the things that you have to do, if you have the willpower to go and watch a few YouTube videos on how to do something, you can probably figure it out. I would recommend Squarespace is super DIY, friendly. They have some great templates. You can just either get one of the free templates or the low cost templates that they have available, and you could probably build your site in three hours. If you just committed to a Saturday morning, say, okay, I'm going to build this site, watch a couple of YouTube tutorials on it, hop in there, grab a template and just build the site. But, I would say before you hop in there and build it, just either use a pen and paper or something and sketch out some of those sections that we talked about.

(35:05):

Okay, what am I going to say at that first section? How am I going to show folks that this is exactly what I do and this is who I do it for and what are the problems I want to talk about? Kind of sketch out some of those sections before you actually get into the tool. That will make the whole process feel way less overwhelming. I think back to when I was writing papers in school, staring at a blank cursor or a blinking cursor on a blank page, that is just about the most overwhelming thing, and in my opinion, could make a bearded man wearing a flannel cry. But if you're going to create some constraints and have some ideas of like, okay, this is what I'm writing about in this section, this is what I'm writing, it makes it way less overwhelming. So yeah, Squarespace, Framer, Carrd. These are some great tools that are DIY friendly. I love Webflow so I'll always promote Webflow. They have some great DIY templates as well you might check out.

Carly Ries (36:01):

We will include all of these links in the show notes, but let's say a person's listening to us right now and they're like, oh, Ezekiel, that's cute that you think I have three hours on a Saturday because I'm a solopreneur and already spread way too thin. I'm not doing this myself. Somebody else has to do it. So if they want to outsource this, well, obviously they should work with you because this is what you do. But if they were to go look for somebody else, what things should they look for and what are some red flags on this? How do people even go about finding people to help them build the website if they wanted to outsource?

Ezekiel Rochat (36:38):

As I started diving into the web design world more, my background was just generalist marketing for about five years, and then I hyper-focused into web design. Something I realized about it that was new to me is that folks really separate the web design process into different buckets. What I've come to understand is there are three main buckets when you're talking about web design. There's strategy and copy, there's design, and there is development. The first thing I would say if you're going to outsource it, just recognize that. If you talk to someone and you say, "Hey, I want you to build me a website". In their minds they might be thinking, you're only talking about one of those buckets. In reality, you need all three to actually have a completed website. If you go to somewhere and say, "Hey, I need to purchase a web design."

(37:28):

They might only think, oh, they need me to design pages out in an Adobe product or Figma or something like that. But then they'll go and get those pages developed. So I would just say, just keep that in mind that you have those three main buckets in web design and you really need all three. Make sure that whoever you're talking to, you have all those three considered and who's doing what within those three. A lot of times they'll say the copy is on you. Sometimes you'll have folks who can provide some copy recommendations, but from what I can tell, most of the times the copy is on you. A couple of red flags to watch out for. Do they have past work that you like? This is pretty obvious, but if you hop on a phone call with them, do you enjoy talking with them? You're about to spend a good amount of time going back and forth with this person. I would say the last red flag to really look out for is are they making promises that are just unreasonable? Do they say things that are just, "oh, after we get you this website, you'll have endless leads." Like, ah, watch out for that. That's probably not totally accurate,

Carly Ries (38:41):

The guarantees. That is super helpful. It's so funny. We try to keep these episodes between 30, 45 minutes, but man, I feel like this content we could go on for days and days and days. To prevent us from doing that, cut us off. Ezekiel, you help people find success through their websites. We ask all of our guests this, what is your favorite quote about success?

(39:11):

Thankfully you provided me some heads up that you were going to be asking this. I don't have the greatest memory, but one of the unlocks that I had last year was I read, if you couldn't tell I'm a big fan of Alex Hermozii, and something he says that really helped me in regards to success is, If you have a goal in mind, if you have something that you're trying to attain that seems daunting or overwhelming, just make a little bulleted list and write down all the things that you would have to do for it to be unreasonable for you to not succeed. And once I do that, I'm like, oh, well, if I absolutely have to get some leads by the end of the months, I could DM a hundred people. I could post content every day. I could ask other agencies in the area if they have more work that I could help out with. Once I start writing all those things down, I'm lik, "oh, I could totally hit this goal." And it just makes it feel a lot less overwhelming. So that's not technically a quote, but it was a pretty big unlock for me when it comes to success in general.

(40:25):

I think that is super helpful. Where can people find you if they want to learn more about you want to work with you or just want to see what you're up to?

Ezekiel Rochat (40:35):

I'm on LinkedIn, Ezekiel Rochat. I doubt there's anyone else named that on this planet at this point. Then my website is rocship.com. And if you go to /solo just for this podcast, I am creating a website template that your listeners can download for free and hopefully put them more on their way to getting that website that they're proud to share.

Carly Ries (41:04):

I love that. Thank you so much. So listeners, be sure to check that out. Well played Ezekiel. Selfishly, it has just been so great catching up with you. This has been so informative. I just know it'll help a bunch of people out there. If you have any questions based on this content, feel free to reach out to Ezekiel on the site that you mentioned or on LinkedIn. We're also happy to respond to questions at carly@lifestarr.com and joe@lifestarr.com. But otherwise, listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, we love those five star reviews, we love those comments, we love your feedback, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, leave those reviews, and we will see you next week on another episode of Solopreneur.