I’m thrilled to share my conversation with Paul Jarvis, digital strategist, best-selling author and web designer. Paul is someone I’ve admired for a long time. I think of him as a digital strategist as well as a web designer. In this interview, Paul talks about what you need to have in a web site that will help you make money and build your list.
I’ve made a short list of the key points for you to read.
- Your homepage needs to have focus. You need a headline — a clear sentence that is bigger than anything else to draw people in to want to know more about you and the services you offer. See Danielle LaPorte’s here.
- There always needs to be an action you want people to take. If you get people to read to the bottom of the page, you need to lead people to your mailing list. Put an opt in on the bottom of each page to get people on your list. Check out Paul’s opt in here and on each page of his site.
- Paul read a statistic that said 26% of people’s day is spent in email or looking at their inbox. So having a mailing list and a way to capture email addresses is key. This is why you want to have an “opt in” — so that you give people something valuable they want in exchange for their email address. Check out my digital manifesto opt in here at the top of my home page to see what I give away. You want it up front at the top of your home page and then at the bottom of each page of your site. Check out my Opt in at the bottom of each page here.
- You make money with your mailing list. Mailing lists drive your business. Building your list is the most important thing you can do to build your business so that it supports you. Build your list!
- Getting your content out there is key – writing a blog or doing audios or videos. Share your material with us.
- You want to make sure that you or your web person creates a “responsive” web site – a web site that responds from a mobile phone or iPad.
- Paul recommends that if you’re starting out, check out free or low-cost WordPress themes such as woothemes.com or authenticthemes.com – these themes are between $20 to $100 and they look professional.
- Paul uses Gumroad.com to help him sell his digital books and products. Gumroad sends people your product, deducts a small transactional fee and sends the money to you. Paul says that you don’t have to pay a monthly fee. You pay per use.
- Paul uses MailChimp.com for his mailing list system. I highly recommend this email program as well because it’s free up to 2,000 names. Paul says you can track your list behaviors with MailChimp and also use it for affiliate marketing.
- The most misused part of a website is after the blog. If people read to the end of your blog post, you have them. Paul recommends that you have an option at the end of the blog that says,”If you want to read more articles like this one, sign up here.”
I hope you enjoyed this interview and Paul’s insights as much as I did.
Check out Paul’s digital products:
Paul’s website is here: Paul Jarvis