A lot of entrepreneurs are beyond frustrated because it feels like no matter what they do — no matter how much time, money and energy they invest in sales and marketing and website optimization and all the rest — they just can’t seem to move the needle in their business.

And that’s not all…

The market is overcrowded, overloaded and overflowing with low-quality products and audiences are increasingly frustrated and burned out.

They can’t tell the difference between entrepreneurs who are offering real, deep value and those who don’t have a clue what they’re doing… so they’re not clicking on that “buy” button like they used to.

But all is not lost… in fact, I think this new era equals tremendous opportunity!

Because we’re now in what I like to call The Age of Real… 

The age of truth, honesty and integrity…

The age of what I like to call radical self-expression.

And I’m passionate about this because I know it’s the only reliable way to build a successful business in today’s wildly unpredictable marketplace.

Which is why in this guide, I’ll be taking you deep into the unlimited power of radical self-expression…

Because if you don’t take the time to discover and tap into your own radical self-expression, you’re going to find yourself lost, left behind…

And out of business.

So now that you know the why and some of the how behind the art of radical self-expression, let’s take things up a notch (or 10!)…

Let’s talk about using radical self-expression in social media to build a strong community of raving fans and followers…

People who’ll love you, connect with you and buy from you just because you’re YOU  

We’re Not Gary Vee BUT…

Most people have a pretty uncomplicated relationship with social media.

They either love it or hate it and there’s no in-between.

I’ve been kind of allergic to social media pretty much from Day One (you can find out more about my out-of-the-ordinary relationship with it in this video).

And I’m the first to admit that I’m nothing like Gary Vaynerchuk who never gets tired of showing up raw and unedited on YouTube, Instagram… or TikTok for that matter!

So I know a lot of entrepreneurs are a lot more like me and a lot less like Gary Vee.

They don’t enjoy revealing gritty behind-the-scenes stuff in their business and they’re not comfortable ripping off their masks — those carefully crafted personas we all take on — when people are watching.

And that’s because most of us want the world to see the best version of who we are and not the mistakes and the mess-ups.

But here’s the thing…

Entrepreneurs who are unafraid to share both the good days and the crappy ones, those who are brave enough to practice radical self-expression and show up fully as themselves…

Those are the ones who are kicking some serious bu$$ when it comes to sales, sign-ups and subscribers!

So here’s what you need to know…

Love it or hate it, social media isn’t going away anytime soon and the truth is you can’t afford to ignore it and you can’t afford to be anyone other than YOU when you’re posting and sharing… 

Not if you’re planning to stay in business for more than a year or two!

Here’s an “Indecent” Proposal… 

If you know me, you know I don’t do things halfway.

And one of my favorite personal mantras and also one of our company values at Live Your Message is…

All in like a Bad-Ass Boss  

So what this means is we go ALL in and we hold nothing back. We say what we mean and mean what we say and we’re not into blaming, shaming or judging.

We believe in taking ownership and responsibility of every situation and we know that if something’s going to change, it’s down to us to make it happen… and so we make it happen.

We step up and do what it takes, even when it’s hard — especially when it’s hard — and at the end of the day, we’re all in, like a bad-ass boss because that’s just the kind of people we are!

So in the spirit of All in Like a Bad-Ass Boss, here’s my “indecent proposal” to you and everyone in the Live Your Message Community…

Let’s commit. Let’s go all in. Let’s take off our masks and practice radical self-expression on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or whatever your favorite platform happens to be.

So I know some people might be wondering if I’ve lost my mind and maybe that’s you!

Maybe you’re thinking, “Marisa… are you crazy? There’s NO WAY I’m practicing radical self-expression on social media. That’s like putting out a “welcome” sign so the haters and the critics can take their best shot!”

But here’s the thing…

Being YOU on a major social platform is one of the best things you can do for your business right now.

I’d even say it’s the only real way to tap into the unlimited power of Facebook and Instagram and all the rest.

Radical self-expression on social media can lead you to aligned opportunities and partnerships and explosive growth in your subscriber list and your audience.

Plus, being you on social will attract all the right clients and customers who’ll genuinely love you and everything you put out there… flaws and all

So if that’s something you think is worth your time, energy and effort, if you know you have it in you to push past your comfort zone and get real with yourself and your audience…

I’ve got 3 empowering practices I want you to try.

They’re designed to help you build strong, foundational skills to express who you are as you are on social media. 

Each one will move you closer and closer to the place where you can be boldly and bravely unscripted, unrehearsed and unabashedly YOU…

A place where radical self-expression becomes second nature.

Practice #1: Drop Sasha Fierce

Did you know Beyoncé was a super shy kid when she was growing up?

I know that’s hard to believe, especially if you’ve watched her perform live. She’s out there larger than life, wowing the crowd… soaking up all the admiration and attention.

So how the heck does a shy kid take the stage — and the world — by storm?

In an interview early in her singing career, Beyoncé revealed that when she was onstage, she wasn’t Beyoncé…

She was Sasha Fierce.

Sasha was Beyoncé’s alter ego — her avatar — the part of her that was bold, brazen and ultra-confident.

The part of her that didn’t know how to be shy or awkward and could perform in front of millions without missing a beat.

Beyoncé stepped into her Sasha Fierce avatar every time she needed to get on stage or do an interview or anything else…

Until the day she realized she didn’t need Sasha anymore because shy Beyoncé could do everything Sasha did.

And that’s exactly what I want for you.

I want you to create an alter ego — an avatar, a persona — that can breeze through the social media stuff that feels awkward or scary or nerve-wracking to you right now.

Maybe that’s getting in front of the camera for a quick TikTok or sharing a behind-the-scenes look at your life on Instagram…

Basically, all the things that you resist doing.

Give your avatar a name and a personality. Give them traits and skills — courage, confidence, authority, authenticity, charisma — anything and everything you think you need to practice radical self-expression.

Imagine transforming into this powerful character whenever you hit record or press publish.

Keep going until you know you don’t need your avatar to get real on social media and you can finally do what Beyoncé did…
Drop Sasha Fierce

Practice #2: Look Through Empowered Eyes

This one might feel a little uncomfortable initially, but I want you to try it because the results are beyond worth it. 

Think back to your childhood — maybe when you were in grade school or middle school – and recall the most humiliating thing that happened to you.

Then I want you to replay the whole thing — scene by scene — in your mind. See the incident like you’re watching it play out on a movie screen and here’s the most important part…

Look at it from the perspective of whatever age you happen to be right now.

In other words, I want you to “watch” a humiliating childhood incident through the eyes of your adult self.

And when you do that, you’ll feel something magical start to happen…

The pain, the emotion, the “sharp” uncomfortable feelings that you experienced start to lose their edge and you’ll realize that it wasn’t really as bad as you thought it was when you were a kid.

So I want you to do this when you feel like you’re freaking out because you need to record or share something on Facebook or Instagram.

I want you to look at the entire experience through the eyes of your adult self.

Because a lot of the time, when we’re faced with something scary or challenging, we unconsciously revert to a much younger age than we are now and we think, “Oh my gosh, something bad is going to happen to me!”

But the truth is nothing bad is going to happen if your Livestream kinda bombs or no one “hearts” your post!

The truth is you’ll be just fine and you’ll definitely live another day and have a second, third, fourth or 10th chance to get better at being yourself on social media… 

And you’ll understand this and feel this on a deep level when you can view it all through the eyes of the empowered adult that you are today…

And not through the eyes of the frightened child you once were.

Practice #3: Become a Cyber Stalker 

Just to be clear…

This isn’t about cyberstalking someone in a creepy way!

I’m talking about paying close attention to the rawest, most authentic leader you know and admire so you can learn from them. 

I want you to watch their videos for a few minutes every day, follow them on Facebook and Instagram or TikTok, and if you get the chance, attend a live event where they’re speaking or presenting.

Make sure you choose someone who’s real and authentic… someone who’s practicing radical self-expression.

Ideally, this should be a leader who regularly goes way beyond what you feel is comfortable expression on social media.

The idea is to watch them, follow them and connect with them.

I want you to feel inspired by their energy and their authenticity to the point where it ignites your motivation, and you can go out there and start to be as fearless and as real as they are — in your own way.

Nothing’s Burning Down or Blowing Up

Radical self-expression on social media isn’t for the faint of heart and it’s definitely NOT easy.

So allow yourself time and space to experiment and push the edges of your comfort zone a little more every day.

And when you start to notice your audience becoming more engaged and more responsive to who you truly are…

When your subscriber list and sales numbers begin to go way up…

And you see that nothing’s burning down or blowing up and you’re absolutely safe…

You’ll feel stronger, more confident and more grounded in yourself and who you are.

In time, you’ll get to the place where being yourself and being totally real on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube or whatever it happens to be is as easy and natural to you as breathing and that’s when social media stops being a burden… 

And transforms into this empowering space where you get to show up, be yourself, serve others from the heart and create a successful, profitable business you love 

Before you go…

Which one of these 3 practices are you planning on doing first? Share in the comments… I’d love to know!

Chapter Three: A Case Study in Amassing Loyal Fans & Followers on Social Media. How These 3 do it (and How You Can Too)

I’ve worked with thousands of students and clients in personal branding and marketing for over 11 years now and here’s what I know for sure…

Your gifts and skills or what you actually DO, make up about 20% of why people choose to buy from you.

The other 80%? It’s about who you are and how you show up in the world.

The problem is so many entrepreneurs miss this point. 

They spend most of their time – if not ALL their time – getting unbelievably good at what they do but almost no time understanding their energy and expressing who they are…

And this is what radical self-expression is all about.

The good news is success leaves clues and just like if you want to be a successful novelist or artist or filmmaker, you’d want to study, absorb and analyze the greatest books, artwork and movies of all time…

So if you want to be a rockstar entrepreneur, you need to study — or cyberstalk — online personalities who’ve achieved the kind of success you’re looking for

So in this final section of how to practice radical self-expression, we’re going to take a look at 3 people who are killing it on social media…

I’m talking about Rachel Pedersen, Gary Vee and Trae Crowder.

We’ll break down some of the key elements that fuel these powerhouse personalities: their message, their social media platforms, their overall energy and how they show up for millions of fans and followers.

The first (and most important) thing you need to understand is that their incredible popularity has almost nothing to do with what they do and everything to do with who they are

The Truth About Rachel Pedersen, Gary Vee and Trae Crowder

So, let’s start with Rachel Pedersen.

Rachel’s mission is to help busy people with big dreams build thriving businesses without sacrificing their family, friends or sanity.

And with her message, she takes a no-holds-barred approach to starting and growing a business… not sugarcoating the high valleys and the low, low peaks of entrepreneurship.

So Rachel has amassed solid followings on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. But her big channel is TikTok, where she currently has over 1.1 million followers. 

So what’s her secret? Why does her audience absolutely love her?

Well, Rachel isn’t afraid to be REAL and she isn’t afraid to share exactly what’s in her mind and in her heart.

She radiates strong and authentic energy every time she’s on camera.

Plus, she consistently shares actionable tips and advice that her audience can implement immediately (remember, it’s NOT about you… it’s about your audience). 

And she never fails to be open and vulnerable no matter what’s going on in her personal life or business.

Next up, we have one of the most popular — if not the most popular online personalities — Gary Vaynerchuk.

Gary Vee has been blowing up on social media since the day social media became a thing.

He has an incredibly strong presence on YouTube (over 4 million subscribers), Instagram (10 million followers) and Facebook (5.8 million followers).

His latest social media conquest? TikTok!

He was one of the first marketers to promote the enormous potential and relevance of TikTok for marketers, brands and businesses. And his account has already attracted nearly 15 million followers.

So here’s what’s behind his explosive popularity year after year after year…

Gary Vee is a master at being Gary Vee no matter what (this is radical self-expression at its best!)

His take-no-prisoners attitude, plus his unparalleled skill at triggering real emotion in his viewers and readers, make him a formidable — and unforgettable — force of nature on social media.

Gary’s overall message is about being bold in your life choices and doing what’s right for you, and his energy is passionate, powerful and oh-so-direct… it’s almost confrontational!

Check out this clip to see what I mean:

And finally, we have Trae Crowder. 

Trae is a comedian and author known as “The Liberal Redneck.”

His unique, take-no-prisoners point of view combined with his “redneck” accent (that’s how he refers to it… so don’t come at me!) has generated a significant presence on Facebook (1.2 million followers), YouTube (423K subscribers), TikTok (601K followers) and Twitter (327K followers).

Trae is a perfect example of sharing YOUR message even if it alienates a large group of people.

But that’s a good thing! Because those people aren’t his audience — and by practicing radical self-expression every day — Trae has attracted a loyal and engaged following of his ideal audience who absolutely LOVE his message (and buy tickets to his shows).

As I like to say, you have to repel in order to attract and Trae is a shining example of this!

So don’t compromise yourself and your message on social media by trying to attract everyone.

Check out this video where Trae gives his take on empathy (which is a valuable watch no matter what side of the political aisle you land)…

Becoming Absolutely Irresistible By Being Fully YOU 

So what do Rachel Pedersen, Gary Vee and Trae Crowder have in common? What makes them stand out and continue to be irresistible to millions of people?  

They’re crystal clear on who they are and they’re fearless in the way they show up for their audience. 

They’re authentic, unique and they don’t hold back. 

They’re much-loved multi-millionaires because they understand their message and their energy on a deep level and they practice radical self-expression without compromise, every single time they speak, write and share.

 Just to be clear…

Your message is basically the words you use to capture the heart of your business, your brand, your products and services.

And your energy is that deeper essence of who you are. It’s what people feel when you walk into a room… even when you don’t say a word! 

Radical self-expression is about understanding your message and your energy so you can be fully YOU at all times and it’s about being responsible for how you come across, the impression you make and the experience you create for others. 

And when you get to the place of uncompromising radical self-expression — like Rachel Pedersen, Gary Vee and Trae Crowder — you’ll be unafraid to communicate as who you truly are whether you’re speaking onstage, on camera or sharing a blog post or email.

Turn Your BIG Entrepreneur Dreams Into a Reality

Thanks for reading my ultimate guide to practicing radical self-expression! I hope it gave you just the inspiration you need to start to put what I shared into place today. 

How would you describe your energy? What are 3 words you’d use to describe your essence and how you show up in the world?

I’ll go first… my 3 words are authentic, challenging and truthful

Don’t be shy! Go ahead and share your words below. I personally read and reply to every, single comment.

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post The Ultimate Guide to Radical Self-Expression: How to Harness the Power of YOU to Build a Thriving Business in a Wildly Unpredictable Marketplace appeared first on Live Your Message.

So what makes a great startup website?

Well, the best startup websites grab the user’s attention by thinking about the needs of their target market. 

What experience do you want visitors to have? 

What information do they need before they buy your products or services?

How can they easily find that information? 

What specific actions do you want website users to take? 

Keep these important things in mind to be sure that you’re designing the right website for your company.

Let’s dive in!

20 Startup Website Examples to Inspire Your Own

1. Limepay

Limepay is an online payment processing company for merchants. They streamline the payment process so your customers have a smooth checkout when purchasing items from your website.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

This website is a delight with its bright, cheerful color palette. 

Bold text in their headlines and striking visual elements illustrate exactly how Limepay helps your customers have a better checkout experience. 

Social proof from Limepay users and case studies back up their claims.

And they have a demo of the checkout process so you can see the user experience.

2. Donut

Donut is an IOS app that has an alternative way to invest your money. 

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Donut has a clean design that is consistent across all the site’s pages. 

With easy-to-read text, minimal menu options and a clear call-to-action, visitors know exactly how to get started. 

Because Donut deals in digital currency, there is a help center with extensive documentation where potential customers can get all their questions answered. 

They also have a messenger app on the help center page for additional questions that might come up.

3. Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one platform for online marketing. Their tools help you with SEO, competitor research, content marketing, social media marketing and advertising.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Semrush has a lot of resources. There are so many it could overwhelm the user, so they smartly keep the header navigation limited. More tools are in the website’s footer.

Logos from well-known brands like Tesla, Walmart and Amazon offer social proof while bullet points, white space and large fonts make for easy reading. 

Semrush makes it super easy for potential users to test out their service by using the header to offer free searches.

4. Storemaven

Storemaven helps mobile marketers increase their app store conversions with A/B testing for iOS and Google Play.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

The site has sleek peachy orange and silver-toned colors that are right in line with a tech brand. The site keeps the cohesive feel across all pages.

Storemaven has its social proof displayed right under the hero image so it’s immediately visible to every visitor.

To educate their customers they have case studies and a blog. There is also an ASO (App Store Optimization) Academy for users who want a deep dive into learning what works for app store conversions.

5. Stripe

Stripe offers online payment processing for internet businesses. They help everyone from startup businesses to small business owners to established companies like Shopify and Slack.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Stripe has a lot of products. To keep the options from being overwhelming, they use drop-down menus in the header. That keeps the navigation from being too cluttered.

A big, bold font grabs your attention for the headline. Several smaller, but equally legible and bold fonts divide the subsections, making it easy to scroll down the page and grab information as you scan. 

Stripe uses images to show all the data available on the backend of the tool and the clean user interface your customers will experience.

6. WPX Hosting

WPX Hosting is a managed hosting platform for WordPress websites. 

What’s Great About This Startup Website

WPX Hosting is an outstanding example of fun website design.

It has whimsical graphics with bold colors. But it’s not overwhelming because they carefully use their color choices. 

Social responsibility is important to WPX Hosting and they use that as a selling point on the front page. 

Their About page has a clear story about how the company came to be. They do a skillful job hitting all the pain points of their target audience and explaining how their customers can avoid those frustrations.

7. RightMessage

RightMessage sells website personalization software that helps businesses segment their visitors for an individualized experience.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

The design esthetic they chose is minimal and muted. The colors are very soft and the images are simple, while still conveying a clear message about RightMessage’s offer.

They have a compelling headline and hard-to-resist call-to-action. As you continue to scroll the front page, clearly segmented sections show readers understand where new information begins.

And they have a unique value proposition on their About page. 

They explain why they aren’t just another startup business. 

They won’t take on venture capital. They won’t compete on features. And they won’t compete on pricing.

But their investors are comfortable with RightMessage’s decision to focus on creating the best possible customer experience.

8. Leadpages

Leadpages offers business owners an easy way to build high-converting, fast-loading landing pages, websites and more.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

The Leadpages site has a bold headline and clear call-to-action right at the top of the home page. 

If you need more information before you start a free trial, an animated visual illustrates how easy the Leadpages builder is to use. With the clean page design, that animation really stands out.

The copy repeatedly highlights the benefits of using Leadpages— it’s code-free, mobile-responsive and conversion-optimized, saving the user time and frustration. The reader will see these benefits highlighted over and over again across all the pages on the website.

9. Flying Piñata

Flying Pinata is a pinata delivery company. All pinatas are delivered by drone.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Not only is Flying Pinata fun to say, but the website has a playful feel.

Eye-catching graphics deliver a simple message. Download the app, make your order, watch for the drone to deliver your pinata.

There’s very little text, a simple design and only one page to the website. There’s nothing for the user to do except click the call to action button to download the app.

The simplicity of this design is a great concept for the right business.

10. Cameo

Cameo gives you personalized videos from your favorite celebrities — athletes, musicians and more.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Cameo has a fantastic header image and headline. As soon as you land on the site, you know exactly what they offer.

It would be easy for this site to look cluttered and busy. There are a lot of images.

But the all-black background and good spacing keep the focus on the celebrity image. There are no other distractions.

Because there are so many celebrities in so many categories, Cameo offers a lot of filtering options that make it easier to find the perfect celebrity for your video.

11. Ghost

Ghost is a content management system for independent creators and writers.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Ghost has a minimal home page that focuses on the cover image.

It’s a large visual of the user dashboard. You can see exactly what you’d be working with if you signed up for their service.

They include a couple of testimonials from users on the front page and a bright red call to action button that pops.

Visuals on other pages help potential users see the different businesses, large and small, who are using Ghost.

12. Ethos

Ethos is a life insurance company that offers instant quotes.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

They open with a clear headline that offers reassurance right away. “Life insurance made easy.” They’re speaking to the potential customer, telling them it doesn’t have to be difficult to get life insurance.

Then they make smart use of their images. They tug on the heartstrings with images of children. Why? The emotional appeal of protecting those you leave behind.

They use lots of customer testimonials and ratings from BBB, Google Business and Trust Pilot as social proof. A FAQ section helps overcome objections and reach potential customers explaining life insurance, why it’s necessary and how it’s valuable.

Each section has a clear call-to-action button, so they’re always asking the reader to take the next step.

13. Brooklinen

Brooklinen is a bedding company. They claim they are the internet’s favorite sheets. 

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Their site has clean designs with muted colors and a linen shaded background that is representative of bed sheets. 

Being an e-commerce business, they showcase their best-selling products right near the top of the home page. 

As you scroll down, they have different calls to action. You can take the quiz, find out more about Brooklinen, see what social causes they support, or start shopping. 

They highlight their warranty right on the front page and user-generated content provides social proof.

14. Squarespace

Squarespace is a platform for building and hosting websites.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Squarespace has a crisp, modern design. They use a lot of animations to show readers the wide variety of websites that can be created with Squarespace. 

Like the previous examples, Squarespace keeps the navigation menu at the top of the page very simple. More links and information are available in the footer to reduce distraction.

While they don’t devote much space to social proof, they do have some testimonials from users.

15. Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes make the bold claim that they are the “most popular WordPress theme in the world.”  

What’s Great About This Startup Website

To go with that bold claim, they use a lot of vivid colors that pop against the white background. 

Animations, images and videos show you all the options that come with the Divi theme. And they use long sales pages to showcase every benefit of their products.

An exit-intent popup reminds you to try their product risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

16. Better

Better is a family of companies that help clients achieve homeownership. Better services include home loans, real estate services, homeowners insurance and title insurance.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

The first thing you notice about Better’s website design is the great use of white space and color.

They only use three colors across the entire site. White background, black text, green accents. It keeps the design very clean.

Another smart thing they’ve done is design each page with a single purpose.

There’s one page for purchase rates and one page for refinance rates. One page for title insurance, one page for homeowner’s insurance. This makes it easy for the user to find the information they need.

17. Evernote

Evernote is a note-taking and organization app. The app helps you capture your thoughts quickly while keeping them organized and easy to reference.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

The site has a very clean design. It’s a white background with black text so the green call-to-action buttons stand out. And the simple design makes it easy for the reader to focus on the benefits of using Evernote.

They use images to show the reader how things look on both the desktop and mobile versions of Evernote. The images also illustrate all the features and benefits of Evernote.

Like many of the other examples, the header navigation options are clean and simple with the bulk of their links in the footer.

18. Attentive

Attentive offers personalized mobile messaging for innovative brands. 

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Attentive has a twist on the idea of social proof. Not only do they highlight the big businesses they’ve worked with, but they also talk about their investors, citing them as “the world’s leading venture firms” who “fuel our growth” so Attentive can create better experiences for their clients.

Large, bold fonts make the headlines and calls-to-action easy to read.

19. Loom

Loom is a video messaging service that makes communication easier by allowing you to record your computer screen so viewers can see what you see. 

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Loom has a split header image. There’s a compelling headline on the left and an illustrative video on the right to show how their product works.

Great copywriting explains how Loom is a benefit. “Send quick videos when…you don’t have time to type a wall of text.” 

Animated graphics show how Loom works. For readers who want more in-depth teaching on Loom, they have case studies based on different businesses. 

There’s a static call-to-action button at the top of each page so potential customers always know where and how to get started.

20. Drift

Drift is sales and marketing software for b2b businesses.

What’s Great About This Startup Website

Right at the top of the home page, Drift asks you for your email address so they can show you how Drift would work on your website.

The sales copy repeatedly hits the themes of faster revenue.

They say more than 50,000 businesses use Drift and a scrolling bar across the middle of the page offers social proof.

The site background is stark white and they use bold, black font. The black and white color scheme sets off the electric green call-to-action buttons.

Are You Ready To Create Your Startup Website?

There are a few key elements that run through these startup website examples.

A large font that is easy to read. 

Simple layouts. 

Minimal colors. 

Images and graphics that tell a story.

Social proof.

And simple, conversational copy. 

You don’t need lots of money or a web developer to build your website. You can use the startup website examples you see here for inspiration.

Is there a website example that wows you?

Share it with me in the comments.

*Ready to really put your website to work for you?*

In my free Masterclass, The 3 Tweaks to Turn Your Website into a Lean, Mean, Money Making Machine, I teach you how to turn your website into your own virtual ATM (yes, really)!

Inside, you’ll discover:

• How a single but easily fixable home page mistake could be why your website isn’t bringing in new leads & sales
• How to tap into “micro-commitments” to 2X or 3X your opt-in rates
• A simple tweak that keeps up to 50% of 1st-time visitors from leaving before they take the action you want them to take
• And 5 pro-design dos and don’ts that position you as an authority and allow you to charge what you’re worth.

Just click here to grab your spot >>> The 3 Tweaks to Turn Your Website into a Lean, Mean, Money Making Machine.

The post Looking to Build Your Own Startup Website? 20 of the Best Startup Websites (Examples to Wow & Inspire) appeared first on Live Your Message.

Well-chosen, high-quality stock images help to package your brand as the polished powerhouse it is, making your content shine.

Whereas stock images that aren’t so well-chosen — either because they don’t do a good job representing your brand or are just poor quality — do the absolute opposite.

But if you’ve ever needed a visual element to go with your blog post, presentation or other marketing materials, you know how hard it can be to find the perfect image.

Because while stock photos ARE everywhere, finding ones that are both affordable and usable can be challenging and time-consuming.

That’s why I’ve put together this roundup of 18 amazing stock photo sites where you can find free and premium stock images for your business.

So… let’s dive in!

13 Great Sites for Finding Free Stock Images

1. Gratisography

Photo on Gratisography

Gratisography’s unique selling point is the quirkiness of their photos.

Gratisography offers free stock images that are full of creativity and life, making it the go-to site for photos that pop.

Whether you’re looking for off the wall images or business-related pictures with an edge, the photos from Gratisography will make your website stand out. 

To find your perfect image on Gratisography, you can use the search bar or browse one of their category options. There are no filtering features available, but that’s not a problem as the selection of photos is limited.

The Gratisography license grants you the use of the photos for personal and commercial projects. 

2. Pexels

Photo by Fauxels on Pexels

Pexels offers an extensive collection of images that fit a wide variety of niches.

While independent photographers submit all the photographs on Pexels, the Pexels team vets every image to ensure you find only high-quality pictures on the site.

Pexels has a robust tagging feature that makes searching the vast library of high-quality photos painless. You can then filter by photo orientation, size or color.

Or if you prefer, you can find inspiration in the curated collections put together by other Pexels users.

Pexels’ license allows you to use and change the photos in any way you need for your business. 

3. Pixabay

Photo by Paul Stachowiak on Pixabay

Pixabay is another great option for your free stock photography needs.

Content editors curate the photo submissions to be sure they meet technical and quality requirements so you find only high-quality images on the site.

They offer a wide variety of photographs covering everything from flowers to food. You can also find photos depicting travel, nature, business, emotions, science, technology and more.

Pixabay makes finding the perfect photo super easy. Use the search bar to find photos that fit a category. 

Then filter those photos by size, color, category and orientation.

You can download the photos in a variety of sizes to get the best version for your needs.

The Pixabay license grants you the free use of their images for commercial and noncommercial uses.

4. Unsplash

Photo by Raychan on Unsplash

Unsplash has a collection of more than 2 million high resolution photos with over 211,000 photographers who contribute to the site. The Unsplash staff handpicks and curates every photo to ensure each photo meets their standards and is of the highest quality.

Unsplash has multiple search options.

You can use a keyword and the search bar to find photos, and then narrow your search results by orientation or color. 

You can also search for images in one of their pre-selected categories. That method does not give you the option to filter the results.

All Unsplash photos are free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes. 

5. Burst

Photo by Matthew Henry on Burst

Burst is a Shopify resource created around businesses and niches that are trending in the Shopify community. Some photos are taken by Shopify photographers and others are contributed by outside photographers. All photos submitted must meet strict quality controls.

To find photos on Burst you can use the search bar or explore the categories set up by Shopify. Either way, there is no filtering option so you’ll need to scroll the results to find suitable photos.

All the Burst photographs are available in high and low resolution and are free for commercial use. 

6. StockSnap.io

Photo by Mike Moloney on StockSnap

StockSnap is another source for free stock images. Their goal is to provide a selection of what they call “sharp, arresting, visual images.” Each day they add hundreds of new photos from a variety of photographers so you’ll find something new each time you visit.

You can search for images by categories they’ve curated or you can enter your own search terms in the search bar. But once you find the photos on your desired topic, there is no way to filter them by size, orientation or color. 

All StockSnap images are available under the Creative Commons CC0 license. That allows you to use the photos in any commercial and personal projects.

7. Kaboompics

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Kaboompics

A single photographer is responsible for all the images you see on Kaboompics.

Many factors make Kaboompics stand out as an optimal site for free photography. 

There’s a good mix of light and bright photography, as well as photos that fit a dark and dramatic aesthetic.

Finding photos on Kaboompics is easy. Enter a keyword in the search bar and then filter the results by orientation and color. 

You also have the option to sort results by featured photos, newest, most downloaded and least downloaded.

One valuable feature is the option to find all the photos from one particular photo shoot. 

For example, if you find a photo that almost works, but isn’t quite right, you can look at the other photos in that collection to see if one of them might be a better fit.

Kaboompics has few outdoor pictures so if you are looking for travel or outdoor scenery, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

The Kaboompics’ license gives you free use of the photos for commercial or noncommercial use.

8. Life of Pix

Photo by Rawpixel on Life of Pix

Life of Pix offers high-resolution photos from multiple photographers. New photos are added weekly. 

The photography style leans towards artistic and dramatic with most of the photos being of nature and cityscapes.

You can enter a keyword into the search box or browse Life of Pix’s predetermined categories. Then you can filter photos by category, color and orientation. 

The Life of Pix license states the photos are part of the public domain and are free for commercial and personal use.

9. New Old Stock

Photo courtesy of Powerhouse Museum on New Old Stock

New Old Stock is a very niche take on free photography. 

The photos are all vintage photos pulled from public archives, making it a great option for a brand that embraces a vintage look and feel.

New Old Stock is not an easy site to use. The only way to find a photo is by typing a term in the search box, and there’s no way to filter the results.

It’ll require a lot of patience to find what you want, but if you’re not too specific, it’s a great way to add a vintage touch to your material.

New Old Photos states the photos are licensed for free use, but it is a curated collection pulled from other sites. To be certain the photo you choose falls under the Creative Commons zero license, you’ll want to follow the link to the photo’s original source and check the licensing terms there.

10. Picjumbo

Photo by Viktor Hanacek on Picjumbo

Picjumbo is a site with free, high-resolution photos and backgrounds. One photographer takes all the pictures.

To find photos on Picjumbo, you can use the search bar. There is no option to filter the results.

Another way to find photos is by clicking on his drop-down menu of categories. There are 20 categories to choose from, including food, fashion, nature and objects.

Many of his photos include a label that says, “More like this.” Clicking the label redirects you to his premium photo packages.

The license for the free images allows for commercial and noncommercial use.

11. Reshot

Photo by BBONUSP on Reshot

Reshot gets their photos from a community of photographers around the world.

Reshot’s photos have a moody, urban vibe and there are few business images available. 

You can search the photos on the site by entering a keyword in the search bar. The only filtering option once you have your results is by photo orientation. 

It’s difficult to find, but if you scroll to the bottom of the home page, you’ll find categories you can browse for inspiration. You can sort those by photo orientation. 

All Reshot photos are free for use in commercial and noncommercial projects. 

12. Stockvault

Photo by Katarzyna Kozlowska on Stockvault

Stockvault photos come from photographers all over the world, but they moderate the selections for high-quality photographs.

The photos are similar to what you might find on any stock image site, but Stockvault offers robust options for finding the perfect photo for your project.

You can search by entering a keyword in the search bar. You can’t filter the results, but you can sort them by size, date added, most liked, most viewed or most downloaded. 

Another search option is to use the drop-down menu under Photos in the menu bar. 

Categories are another way to find photos for your project. Stockvault has 11 category options like people, transportation or nature.

You can also find inspiration by searching collections curated by other users.

Pay close attention to the usage rights of the photos you choose, as each photographer chooses how to license their images on the site. 

You can download some photos for commercial use, but some are only for non-commercial use and others are in the public domain. 

You can find the details of Stockvault’s licensing on their Terms of Use page.

13. Morguefile

Photo by the success on Morguefile

Morguefile is a community based site for free stock photos.

Morguefile photos have the same look as many other stock photography sites. Photos lean heavily towards outdoor images. For example, if you search by the keyword “business” almost all the results are exterior shots of office buildings. 

To find photos on Morguefile, your only option is to use the search bar. You can’t filter your results, though you can sort by popular, recent, most downloaded and last downloaded.

Morguefile’s licensing agreement says that all photos are free to use for commercial and non-commercial projects, but if you don’t alter the image in some way, you must credit the photographer.

5 Best Sites for Buying Premium Stock Images

1. iStock by Getty Images

iStock offers royalty-free images for purchase.

They have a wide variety of high-quality images to choose from. If you need photos with people, there’s a diverse offering of ages, sizes, ethnicities and physical capabilities.

When searching for photos to use in your project, you can use the search bar or search via the curated, trending or popular content categories.

When you have your search results, you can filter those by photo orientation, number, age and ethnicity of people in the photos, colors in the photos and size of the photos.

iStock offers flexible pricing options with an Essentials and Signature collection. All the images have royalty-free licensing.

2. Shutterstock

Shutterstock has royalty-free images, videos and more for your content needs. 

The imagery is beautiful and high-resolution, though nothing that stands out from the other paid stock photography sites.

Searching for your photos is easy. You can search with a keyword in the search bar, find images via curated collections or by browsing one of the 29 categories. 

You can filter your results for easier selection by photo orientation, color, photos with or without people, ethnicity, age, gender and image size. You can also exclude photos by keyword.

Shutterstock offers subscription pricing options or you can purchase photos on demand as you need them. 

They also offer two licensing options: standard and enhanced.

3. Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock photos are high-resolution and royalty-free images that are high-quality and beautiful, but nothing that stands out from other paid stock photography sites.

You find photos by using the search bar and entering a keyword. Adobe Stock has the most robust filtering system of premium stock photo sites.

Once you have your results, you can filter them by price, undiscovered photos (photos that have not yet been downloaded), photo orientation, color, depth, people, usage rights, size and negative space (empty space where you could add text). 

Purchasing options at Adobe Stock are available through a monthly subscription plan or by purchasing credit packs.

Adobe Stock offers three licensing options: standard, enhanced and extended.

4. Stockphoto.com

Stockphoto offers beautiful stock photography images that look similar to the photos on every stock photography site.

You can find photos by using the search bar and a keyword. 

Once you have found a group of images, you can filter by photo orientation, gender, age, ethnicity and the number of people you want to appear in your photo. Unfortunately, there is no option to find photos with no people beyond scrolling and looking.

If you need some inspiration, you can find photos by browsing the curated collections like Rehabilitation Photos or Tenacity Photos.

What makes Stockphoto stand out from other paid stock photo sites is their extensive documentation that answers every question you might have about downloading and using stock photography. 

Stockphoto offers both subscription and credit plans, as well as multiple licensing options.

5. Depositphotos

Depositphotos is another stock photography site where you can purchase royalty-free images for business use.

The images are high quality, but as with all the other sites, there’s nothing about the photos that make them stand out from other paid sites.

To find images at Depositphotos, you enter a search term in the search bar. You can then filter the results by camera angle, photo orientation, number of people, photo colors, location and season. You can also filter out photos by using the exclude tag in the filtering system.

In addition, you can find images through curated collections or the Trending Now section.

Depositphotos offer a monthly or yearly subscription plan or you can purchase photos on demand. 

There are standard and extended licensing options available with Depositphotos.

Final Thoughts On Stock Images

Finding the best stock images for your business projects can be a challenge.

You want amazing photography that enhances your projects, but doesn’t cost a fortune.

And you want to find your imagery in the least amount of time so you can move on to other things.

With this list of the 18 amazing stock image sites, you’re on your way to finding beautiful images that show off your content.

Tell me, is there a site I should have included? Where do you go for stock images that rock your content?

One more thing…

Now that you’re armed and ready to download great photos, make sure your website is impressing your customers and getting you sales. Sign up for my FREE masterclass on the 3 Tweaks to Turn Your Website into a Lean, Mean, Money Making Machine and learn how to keep 18-50% of first-time visitors on your website longer!

The post 18 Amazing Sites for Finding Stock Images (Free & Premium) appeared first on Live Your Message.

But before we bury ourselves in this eCommerce treasure trove, it’s important to know what separates the bland and boring from the sharp and snazzy when it comes to a small business website…

In truth, there are lots of little things that make an excellent site. (And, of course, there are the big ones too!)

But when you boil it all down, the bread-and-butter behind a wonderful and woo-worthy website is:

Connection and clarity.

Connection, because your site’s combo of images, colors, and copy needs to vibe with your visitors.

And clarity, because visitors need to know what your business offers and why they should stick around.

So, are you ready to explore 30 enchanting examples of small business websites that nailed it?

Let’s dive in!

1. htmlBurger

htmlBurger is a web design firm with a long track record. A custom WordPress theme? An eCommerce website from scratch? They eat that stuff for breakfast.  

What htmlBurger Does Really Well

Instantly, htmlBurger smacks you in the face with a dynamic hero shot along with clever, benefit-driven copy and clear calls to action. 

From there, everything on the website is friendly, easy-to-digest, and visually engaging. It’s everything you’d expect from a top-shelf web dev.

2. Studio Neat

Studio Neat designs and sells gadgets and apps that solve simple, everyday problems. 

What I Like About Studio Neat

Studio Neat is a great example of a gadget-based small business website that puts its products in the spotlight. 

Crisp imagery, short-and-sweet product demo videos and to-the-point copy make this website feel like a precision-made machine.

3. Picto Watches

If minimalist watches are your jam, then make way for Picto, a popular watch brand from Denmark.

What’s Cool About Picto Watches

The website — like the watches — uses a bold, minimalist design. The thick black outline around featured images, the navigation bar, and CTA buttons add some contrast and oomph to keep it eye-catching and easy to navigate. 

Also, the minimal copy ensures visitors focus on the watches above all else.

4. Ballsy

Ballsy is an all-natural men’s bath and body eCommerce store with a cheeky personality.

How Ballsy Stacks Up

Ballsy is jam-packed with funny, pun-infused copy that’s edgy but still clean

And to top it all off, the professional photography and custom vector graphics add a level of refinement that get this website into our top site picks..

5. Puffin Packaging

Puffin Packaging makes temperature insulated packaging from sheep’s wool. It’s a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to polystyrene that also keeps food cool for up to 24 hours.

What I like About the Puffin Packaging Website

The blue and white colors are easy on the eyes, and a grid layout keeps things orderly and simple to read. The friendly copy snippets explain the product in simple terms while still making the benefits clear… and making this a design winner. 

6. Magic Spoon

Magic Spoon is a high protein, low carb, grain-free, and keto-friendly cereal. 

Here’s What Makes Magic Spoon’s Site  Special

This website is whimsical — filled with interactive content designed to bring out your inner child. 

With a color palette that feels like the inside of a genie’s lamp and copy that embraces the brand’s playful nature, this is a website you won’t forget.

7. Blue Agave Restaurant

Blue Agave is a Mexican-themed restaurant with a fun personality (and a website to match).

What’s Interesting About Blue Agave Restaurant

The Blue Agave website is all about capturing the aesthetic and feeling of the restaurant experience. 

The site features mouth-watering photos of its dishes and on-brand imagery adds a bit of oomph without overpowering the site’s most important information — the menu, hours, location, and delivery options.

8. Milk Jar

Milk Jar is a Canadian craft candle business specializing in wooden wick candles and diffusers.

Here’s Why I’m a Fan of Milk Jar’s Site

Milk Jar does the simple things right: it’s romantic and polished.

Clean, consistent product photography helps legitimize the business, and behind-the-scenes imagery shows visitors that every candle is genuinely handcrafted.  

9. The Sweet Soaperie

The Sweet Soaperie is a local indie business that serves up bakery-themed bath bombs, lotions, and soaps.

How The Sweet Soaperie Stands Out

Browsing through this website is like strolling through Wonka’s factory. 

Featured products and slider menus show candy-coated goodness with every click and the branding is on point. 

The company’s integrated Instagram gallery is where the real magic happens… revealing the vibrant color kabooms hidden in every bath bomb.

10. Jellypepper

Jellypepper is an award-winning digital agency focusing on branding, web development, and app design for businesses big and small.

Here’s The Deal With Jellypepper

Jellypepper’s site design aims to clearly show what they can do for clients. 

A clear value proposition, eye-catching images, testimonials, big deal client logos and a fast-paced showreel are all stitched into a lean website design. 

11. Drip

Drip is a marketing automation tool designed for eCommerce businesses. It integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and most major platforms.

What I Like About Drip

The heavy use of magenta on buttons and graphics catches your eye instantly. And the hover animation in the navigation menu adds a surprising color pop. 

12. Traackr

Traackr is an old school influencer marketing platform, providing tools agencies and brands need for managing successful influencer campaigns.

What Makes Traackr Pop

A contrasting color palette sets the backdrop for concise, benefit-driven copy and staggered, tasteful screenshots demonstrate the bells and whistles of the platform. 

I also like that Traackr shares data from real-world case studies… because what better way to prove the platform works than by showing real results?  

13. Super Team Deluxe

Super Team Deluxe sells pins, patches, prints, and stickers inspired by pop culture.

Here’s the Secret Sauce of Super Team Deluxe

Products are presented on a massive grid layout so you don’t miss a thing. The hilarious copy embodies the wackiness of the brand.

And hover animations over buttons and product previews help crank up the style and personality.

14. Harry’s Razors

Harry’s is a men’s razor brand that produces simple, high-quality razors and accessories. 

Harry’s: A Simple Approach That Works

Muted, neutral colors add to the website’s masculine feel, and no-BS copy and simple visuals make everything feel uncomplicated, much like the products themselves.

And the video-style hero shot gives visitors a brief but engaging demonstration of Harry’s products on actual faces.

15. Our Place

Our Place is a B2C cookware company that uses ethical labor and sustainable materials in its products.

How Our Place Gets You in The Feels

You’ll open the Our Place website to find an inviting hero shot, heavy-hitting social proof, and a nesting-doll-style image of their flagship product, the Always Pan. 

Every piece of copy on the site is emotionally evocative, promoting a home-cooked meal as a hub for human connection.

16. Vessi

Vessi makes the world’s first waterproof, sand proof, and snow-and-slush-proof sneakers. 

What Makes Vessi so Cool

Vessi wastes no time in grabbing their visitors’ attention with dynamic action shots of their shoes. 

The down-to-earth copy and fun, subtle animations convey the company’s worry-free marketing vibe — kind of like jumping in digital puddles.

Also, check out the site copy’s teal color scheme…

Did it make you think of water too? 

Clever, right? 

17. RemoteHQ

RemoteHQ is a browser-based virtual workspace tool for better remote collaboration.  

What’s Interesting About Remote HQ

Product screenshots with short, helpful explanations (and directional arrows) get you up to speed with product features quickly. 

18. Built by Buffalo

Built by Buffalo is a small web design and development agency based in the UK that’s gained a reputation for building easy-to-use and attractive websites.

How Built by Buffalo is Breaking Barriers

The buffalo icon in the main menu is memorable, and the honeycomb-patterned tiles with client logos create a memorable design feature.

On project pages, they feature past client work using full-page screenshots — showing potential new clients what they’re capable of building. 

19. Moment Skis

According to their website, Moment Skis is the biggest little ski company in the world, manufacturing top-rated skis with mind-blowing artwork.

Why Moment Skis Has the Coolest Little Ski Website in the World

The artwork is the showstopper… and Moment Skis wears it proudly.

Quality images of their products are splashed across their homepage, with zoomed-in versions featured on product pages. 

And the copy? 

It’s fun, loaded with humor and definitely crafted for its audience. 

20. Ridge Wallet

Ridge Wallet sells slim, minimalist wallets made from aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber — for a ruggedly stylish look.

The Ride Wallet Playbook in 38 Words

Ridge Wallet exudes confidence with a sleek and modern look, using lots of black and white. 

The copy speaks to an audience that appreciates high-quality and functional minimalist products, and the on-brand Instagram gallery enhances the overall experience. 

21. Nutshell

Nutshell is an all-in-one growth software platform, complete with CRM, sales automation, and email marketing features.

Nutshell… in a Nutshell

The friendly tone and cartoonish images give a punch of positivity, and the demo video on the homepage leaves you wanting more.

The tweet-format testimonials reveal a raw and unfiltered look at what customers are saying.

And the posts on their blog are surprisingly helpful (and written for SEO).

22. BluBox

BluBox is an Australian company that makes fashionable glasses to mitigate the damage blue light (from our digital devices) causes on our eyes.

How BlueBox Thinks Outside the Box

The large images on the homepage are seductive and create interest and intrigue. 

The guides, reviews, and blog posts (featuring info about light and eye health, etc.) show website visitors that BluBox is the real deal.

23. Incomee

Incomee is an all-in-one accounting tool marketed toward freelancers. It comes battle-ready with some pretty useful features like an easy-to-use dashboard and built-in CRM.

Why Incomee Gets a Big Thumbs-Up

Incomee nails clarity with easy-to-read, benefit-led headlines and short, feature-rich copy.  

The entire website feels polished and the engaging screenshots give potential customers a sneak peek inside the platform.

24. Caliper

Caliper produces dissolvable, THC-free CBD powder that can be added to both cold and hot foods and beverages.

What’s Cool About the Caliper Website

The Caliper website uses a pharmaceutical-like design to legitimize the brand and build trust with skeptical consumers — because there’s a lot of information (and misinformation) out there about CBD.

As a result, every image and piece of copy is clean, professional, and informative. 

25. Valesca

Valesca creates men’s handcrafted Italian leather shoes and accessories like wallets, belts, and bags. Their collections are high quality, and their website is just as refined.

Why Valesca is Next-Level

Valesca’s website uses a full-width design with gorgeous Italian backdrops. 

Complete with animations, dynamic content, custom menu icons, and a soothing color scheme, this website screams classy.

26. Kraftful

Kraftful is a B2B company that builds apps for communicating with smart home devices, like security cameras, thermostats, and lightbulbs, to name a few. 

What’s so Crafty About Kraftful Anyway?

If easy-to-digest was the goal of this website, Kraftful passes with flying colors. 

A minimalist approach gets their message across quickly and concisely without all the techno-speak.

And the controlled use of color is just enough to keep things interesting. 

27. Piboco

Piboco is a kids’ digital library app with a collection of interactive books from around the world. With hand-drawn illustrations, sound effects, and music, Picobo provides a complete storytelling experience.

A Picture Book Site That Tells a Story

Subtle animations add whimsy to the website without taking the focus away from other elements. And the fun, vibrant cover art scattered across site pages entices visitors to click, look, and listen — it’s a website made for next-level storytelling. 

28. Covered Bridge

Covered Bridge is a small business that makes artisan-style kettle chips and flavored popcorn (this site had me at artisan-style kettle chips).

How Covered Bridge Nails it

Background images keep with Covered Bridge’s rustic feel… with weathered wood and sun-soaked fields weaving the company’s farming roots into its website design. 

Every product is tastefully displayed on their homepage, and there’s also a clever hover/on-click animation that adds an unexpected surprise.  

29. Geologie

Geologie is a men’s skincare company selling lotions, creams, and acne treatment products.

Why Geologie is More Than a Cool Name

Geologie believes men should take better care of their skin.

Through strategically placed images and customer testimonials, they create value to nudge users toward buying. 

And to seal the deal, they offer a personalized skincare tool that curates products based on individual needs — it’s how this site delivers a great combo of function and design.

30. Kitchen

Kitchen is a client-contractor project communication tool made for freelance creatives such as web designers, copywriters, and digital marketers.

What’s Makes Kitchen Sizzle

The landing page features the company’s unique value proposition before leading visitors through a series of screenshots and clear platform descriptions and benefits. 

But despite the magnitude of Kitchen’s content, the responsive web design ensures nothing feels clunky, even on a mobile device.

Now it’s Your Turn…Time to Build Your Woo-Worthy Small Business Website!

These 30 small business website examples cut through the noise and deliver the design goods.

That’s 30 pieces of inspiration.

30 proven frameworks.

And 30 incredible website cheat sheets to help you craft your own digital brand identity.

I can’t wait to see where your woo-worthy website will take you… and your business!

Ready to create a website for your business that represents who you are for the right of stage of business you’re in? In my free 60-minute Masterclass, The 3 Tweaks to Turn Your Website into a Lean, Mean, Money Making Machine, I teach super-simple fixes you can make immediately on your website to inspire confidence and authority — and most importantly — that’ll bring in more leads & get you 2 – 3X current opt-in rates… and increase online sales.

Grab your spot now!

The post 30 Small Business Website Examples (Our Favorites of 2024!) appeared first on Live Your Message.

Maybe even a little scared?

It’s understandable.

Heck, many people had never even heard of Zoom before the pandemic hit. Now it’s everywhere and everyone is expected to have immediately mastered it.

The good news is Zoom.us offers video tutorials that’ll teach you the ins and outs of personal meeting IDs, screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms and the all important “mute” button.

The bad news?

It isn’t the technical aspects of Zoom that scare you…

It’s things like actually being ON camera, knowing how to look and sound good and how to be seen as your real self — the things that “helpful” how-to articles don’t really bother to cover.

That’s why I’ve put together this guide for you.

I’m going to break down exactly how to feel confident on video, the non-verbal cues you need to master, where to look so it’s not awkward (and so you don’t zone out) and more.

It’s time to kiss those fears goodbye.

Ready? Let’s jump right in.

Let There Be Light!

Lighting is an area most people get wrong on video, which is a shame because it’s ridiculously easy to get right.

And it doesn’t require expensive equipment either – most likely, you already own everything you need.
Have a couple of lamps? An overhead light you can turn on? Great! You’re ready to put together a 3-point lighting setup.

Here’s what you do:

1. While facing your camera, place a lamp (or two) to your front left;
2. Place one or two lamps to your front right;
3. Turn on an overhead light (or another lamp) so you have light behind you.
   That’s it. And yes, it’s really this simple.

Need proof? Here are a few old video stills of me trying to work with the existing lighting at an Airbnb so I could go live!

Here’s what it looks like when there’s lighting behind, but not in front:

Looks like I’m one of those silhouettes in witness protection, doesn’t it? There are so many shadows, you can barely see me.

Here’s what it looks like if there are lights in front of me, but none behind me:

This is better. You can see me okay, but the background is so dark, it’s distracting.

Now let’s see how it looks when I have a 3-point lighting setup – there’s a lamp in front of me and to the left, a lamp in front of me and to the right, and overhead lighting behind me:

Crisp and clear, right?

You need enough light that people can see your face and features, but not so much that you’re a white blur to everyone. So, experiment with your setup. Move the lamps a little closer (or a little farther away). Add an extra lamp or two (or take one or two away). Tweak and refine until you get things just right.

But honestly?

Using any 3-point lighting setup will separate you from the crowd. So grab a couple of lamps and get started!

Have a “Good Enough For Now” Camera & Microphone (Upgrade Later)

For most people, the webcam built into your laptop or monitor is more than sufficient for Zoom. So too, is the built-in microphone on your headphones or earbuds.

So don’t feel like you need to go out and buy expensive equipment.

Now, if your business is one where looking and sounding great on Zoom is a must, or if your current setup makes it look and sound like you’re underwater, by all means, invest in a quality camera and microphone.

A dynamic USB microphone from Audio-Technica can be snagged for around $100. Condenser microphones from Blue Yeti can be found for under $150. Both options give you quality sound at relatively low prices.

For video, 1080p webcams are available for under $30 – if you’re willing to roll the dice on an unknown brand. If you’d prefer a known brand like Logitech or Aukey, you’ll pay a little more, but not much.

If you can afford better equipment, go for it.

But you don’t need top-of-the-line specs to get started on Zoom.

You just need “good enough for now.”

Get Your Zoom Framing Right

I hate to break it to you, but…

Even the priciest, highest-quality camera in the world won’t make for a very pleasing viewing experience if you’re not pointing the darn thing in the right direction.

Here are a few steps:

Don’t have too much space above your head in the frame. No one wants to see your overhead lights and ceiling fans while watching you on Zoom, so make sure you cut the frame close to the top of your head.

Zoom the camera in on your face. This is especially important if you’re sitting down, so it doesn’t look like you’re slouching.

Place the camera straight on or slightly above you. If the camera is low and angled up at you, viewers will be looking up your nose. No one wants that. You. Them. No one.

And speaking of things no one wants to see…

Make Sure Your Background (& Clothes) Aren’t Distracting

Even with the camera focused on your face, you need to make sure your background and outfit don’t distract your viewers.

Your best bets? Well, for your background, it’s hard to go wrong with a plain wall; however, a beautiful backdrop where there’s depth works great too. Something as simple as a tastefully-decorated bookcase can offer interest and depth (without being too busy).

For your attire, try to go for a fairly single color (patterns can be distracting). Stay away from dressing in all black because it can make you disappear. At the same time, stay away from bright white because it’s too bright for video.

Neutral colors, jewel tones, and earth tones all look good on camera – stick with those and you’ll be fine.

Finally, make sure you separate your outfit from your background – don’t wear the same color. Blue wall, blue shirt and you’ll look like a floating head while on video, which is very distracting.

Before

After

Master the Non-Verbal Cues

If you really want to connect with others while on video (and who doesn’t when you’re at an event, in a large group, or on Zoom happy hour), you need to pay attention to your posture and body language.

What you say matters, of course, but not nearly as much as these non-verbal cues.

Get these right and you’ll be perceived as friendly and trustworthy. Get them wrong and you’ll come across as shy, uncomfortable and possibly even sketchy!

So here’s what you need to know:

Put Your Hands in a Resting Position

If you’re constantly fidgeting and gesticulating while on video, it can be distracting – and even annoying – to viewers. Having the camera zoomed in on your face will help with this, but it’s still a good idea (especially if you prefer to stand up while on video) to have a game plan for your hands.

Here’s an easy tip from my documentary filmmaking days…

Put your hands in a resting position.

Hold the index finger of one hand with the thumb and index finger of your other hand. Here’s what it looks like:

Then simply place your hands over your belly.

When you need to move your hands to make a point or emphasize something, do so. But then come back to this resting position.

Easy, right?

Show Off Those Baby Blues (Or Browns. Or Greens. Or…)

You know the expression “eyes are the window into the soul?” There’s something to it.

People want to see your eyes when you’re on video. It makes you seem more honest, vulnerable and relatable.

So unless there’s a good reason to be wearing them (like you’re staring into the sun or your name is Jack Nicholson), take off your sunglasses and hat when you’re in a Zoom meeting.

And speaking of eyes…

Don’t Stare at the Camera

Want to make viewers uncomfortable?

Easy.

Just stare directly into the camera without blinking.

People may want to see your eyes when you’re video conferencing, but they don’t want those eyes to pierce a hole through the camera lens and haunt their dreams at night.

So does that mean you look down? Up? Off to the right or left? Not at all. It simply means you should look through the camera lens.

Imagine you’re having a conversation with someone standing several feet behind your camera.
Look at this person. Speak to them.

This is such an easy thing to do, but it makes a big difference.

Get Over Your Zoom Camera Shyness

This is the scariest aspect of Zoom for many of you, which is why I saved it for last.

Many people are uncomfortable with being on camera. Video phobia is real, and it sucks.

But you can overcome it.

How? By taking action.

Practice speaking on video. Go to the personal meeting room in your Zoom account (if you don’t have one, it’s free to sign up), click the “Start” button, launch a new meeting, and start talking.

Why? So you can break through your fear and awkwardness – the more you talk on video, the more comfortable you’ll start to feel in front of the camera.

This exercise works even if you’re the only person on the call, but if you want to supercharge it, invite a friend to join. Have them “interview” you by asking random questions.

Each time you do this exercise, you demystify the act of staring into a webcam.

Keep doing it and, before you know it, being on video will be second nature to you.

Zoom Isn’t So Scary

There’s no reason to be intimidated by Zoom. Not anymore.

Knowledge is power, and you’re powerful now. With what you’ve learned in this guide, you have all the info you need to be a confident and capable video conferencing pro! This is your window into the world right now… so show your best self!

Before your next Zoom meeting, implement at least one of the tips I shared with you.

Then implement another. And then another.

And if you want more Zoom goodness, this video is a great companion piece! I let you in on an exclusive Zoom call led by myself and my personal photographer (& Zoom guru), Richard Luu.

Good luck!

Before you go…

And if you want support to turn your business dreams into reality — remember you can’t build a successful business alone…

Check out my yearlong business accelerator — Momentum. 

Usually, when it comes to the support you need to take your business to the next level, you’re forced to choose between: Private Coaching, A Small Group Mastermind Or Live Events & Workshops…

And — while each one of these things is awesome… they’re NOT enough to guarantee the business results you’re after…

Because…

With Private Coaching… you’re missing the perspective that comes from community…

With Small Group Masterminds… you’re lacking the depth and accountability of having that private coach…

And with Live Events & Workshops, you get pumped, but then the excitement fades and you fall back into procrastination and overwhelm…

That’s why I’ve created ONE cohesive program that gives you ALL 3. I like to call it a best of ALL worlds program! 

You get Private Concierge Coaching, Small Group Masterminds and Live Trainings and Quarterly Events. 

Yes, ALL 3 in one value-packed program! 

If your ears are perked up and you’re excited to learn more about how me and my team can support you in realizing your biggest business goals this year… click here to schedule a no-pressure Call with a Program Specialist. 

So, schedule that call and I hope to see you inside Momentum!

Now, go out there and Live Your Message!

The post A Field Guide to Looking & Sounding Great On Zoom appeared first on Live Your Message.

Can you remember exactly where you were the last time you heard something that changed your life forever?

For me, it was sitting in an audience listening to best-selling author and founder of Dream University, Marcia Weider.

She walked on stage and proceeded to give a tour de force performance full of the energy that only a very small woman can have ;)…

And then she came out with a completely unforgettable gem that changed me completely:

“In business, you have to toughen your skin and soften your heart.”

I took that in and have been allowing it to guide me in my business ever since.

Courage like this is powerful enough to transform those who witness it.

It’s also strong enough to change the world.

But there’s also a downside…

When you open your heart and speak your message, it will threaten those who aren’t yet ready to hear it.

The moment you begin to truly express your heart in your business, you’ll start to get negative comments, angry social media mentions and judgmental emails…

It’s all too easy to get sucked down a “rabbit hole” of emotions – or worse yet, get stopped in your tracks.

So the real lesson (for you and for them) is in how you choose to respond:

• Do you feel hurt and start to second guess whether you should be sharing yourself like this?

• Do you get angry and lash out, defending your views against attack?

• Do you apologize for your transgression (assuming you made one) and ask the person to give you a second chance?

If none of those seem like productive options, there is another choice.

An Email Template to Use When Dealing With Difficult People

I believe there’s a way to respectfully acknowledge someone’s perspective without defending, attacking or apologizing for who you are.

So I wanted to share the exact email template my support team wrote to respond to these kind of notes, so you can be prepared for the inevitable ripples your message will create in the world.

It still makes me blush a little to read this… :).

Hi FirstName,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

We definitely think it’s important to follow teachers whose beliefs are in alignment with our own, so we remain in integrity as individuals and as a community.

Marisa is known as someone who shares, teaches, guides and inspires through bold self-expression and vulnerable storytelling.

From time to time, we come in contact with someone in the community who doesn’t resonate with some of the honest self-expression shared. This is to be expected in life.

We respect their choice to not resonate with the message shared, just as much as we hope in return they respect that Marisa will remain Marisa… living a life of full self-expression without filtering who she is to please others.

And when those complaints do come in, for every one received, we receive at least 50 thank you’s from people who are inspired by Marisa’s bold, honest and caring self-expression and grateful to her for changing their lives.

If Marisa, or any of us for that matter, were to filter who we are for others, we would no longer be in integrity and our brilliance and calling in the world would be muted.

Marisa built this community on the foundation that each of us has a gift and message to share.

If she were to change who she is to please others she wouldn’t be true to her calling and higher purpose and that would be a great loss to many who look up to her and are inspired by the great work she does.

While Marisa’s style is bold and full of self-expression, she is never hurtful, malicious or disrespectful. She lives to inspire, guide and challenge others to step outside their comfort zone to be the best they can be, so each of us can be part of the positive ripple effect of change.

She has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever known. I know that if what she says were to offend someone’s sensibilities, she would want them to first get curious about what’s really triggering them. Then remain in integrity with themselves, whether that’s taking ownership of the trigger or choosing a teacher and community that’s in alignment with their values. We follow the belief, “Don’t stay where you are tolerated, go where are you celebrated!”

So if Marisa being her amazing self isn’t someone you resonate with, then we humbly and graciously suggest that you might find more joy in someone else’s community.

If we don’t gel, we wish you well.

Shared with kindness and the warmest of wishes, (Team member)

Phew. How did that feel?

There’s a lot going on, so let’s break down each part of the template:

1) Mention the person by name

It’s good etiquette.

2) Thank the person

Yes, I realize the last thing you want to do is thank the person for bringing negativity into your space. But thank them anyway. Thank them for taking the time to write to you.

3) Let them know their viewpoint is shared…

In the template, we say:

“From time to time, we come in contact with someone in the community who doesn’t resonate with some of the honest self-expression shared. This is to be expected in life. We respect their choice to not resonate with the message shared (…)”

This lets the person know we’re not defensive and we do, in fact, receive feedback like theirs from time to time.

4) … but show them they’re in the minority

Though their viewpoint is shared by some, it isn’t shared by most. Tell them so.

In our template, we let them know that for every complaint we receive, we receive 50+ thank yous.

5) Stand up for yourself (respectfully)

Our template then spends the next several paragraphs explaining why we receive so many thank you messages.

Bragging? Not at all. It’s simply explaining what we do well, and why we have such a thriving community.

6) End it with class

“If we don’t gel, we wish you well.”

That says it all, doesn’t it?

Wrapping Things Up

I hope this helps.

Feel free to take this template, modify it and use it or share your own in the comments.

After all, we’ve all got the kind of courage it takes to be vulnerable in the face of judgment, criticism and even despair. The trick is being prepared before you get stopped or spun, because what you have to share with us is too important.

Now go out there and Live Your Message!

But before you go…

Ready to build the business of your dreams? It’s all about taking consistent action on the RIGHT things. And in my FREE Workshop, I’ll share the secrets to unlocking the science of consistent action.

During our time together, you’ll discover the overwhelm-free way to finally start building your business one tiny step at a time… PLUS learn the 5 proven ways to hack your brain to beat resistance and smash your goals (backed by science!). So, choose your date and time!

The post How to Deal With Haters & Complainers [+ Free Email Template] appeared first on Live Your Message.

You need a membership site. That’s what every one of your peers tells you. Coaches, consultants, authors, healers and speakers all make extra money with a membership site.

But what kind of membership site should you use?

Your research into membership site platforms just got you lost in the weeds.

So many platforms and even more options, it’s maddening.

How are you ever going to make sense of it all? You’re not even sure you need all the bells and whistles. Because what you want is an easy way to deliver the course you’re creating.

Now, what if you had a simple way to narrow the field to just a couple of platforms?

Then look no further, because that’s what you’ll find in this article.

You’ll find everything you need to know about membership sites and membership site platforms and how to pick the one that’ll work best for you. 

But let’s start with the basics.

Are you clear on the difference between a membership site and a membership site platform? Let me clarify, just in case you aren’t.

Membership Site Platforms 101

What Is a Membership Site?

When you boil it down to the bare essentials, a membership site is a site where you can create an account. That account gives you access to products or groups of people you can’t get without that account. Sometimes membership sites are free, but most often, you pay for the pleasure.

What Are Membership Site Platforms?

A platform simply is a site where you can build your membership site.

To build it, you receive two things:

1. You get an administrative area. Here you customize how the platform runs your site, so it looks and behaves how you want it to. It’s also where you do administrative tasks. Such as adding members, keeping up with what they’re doing, moderating conversations, etc.
2. You get the features to deliver and sell your products.

More specifically, you get:

• An editor to add pages with your content (or link to it) and a course builder to construct the learning sequence for your customers.
• Gated content, so you can control who has access.
• Payment services to receive payments from your customers. Some platforms process payments themselves. But most allow you to use a payment/credit card processor like Stripe or PayPal.
• Member groups, so you can create smaller communities and enroll students in course cohorts.
• Reporting and statistics, to keep your finger on the pulse of your business and your students and members.

You’ll often hear these membership site platforms referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS) or a cloud-hosted solution.

What Does a Free Membership Site Get You?

Well, free membership sites are a powerful marketing tool for selling physical products.

Say you’re selling skincare products or craft beers.

Then you probably already provide valuable content on your site to help you market and sell your products.

A free membership site lets you create content only actual customers — people who already bought from you — can access. It’ll make them feel they belong to an exclusive club. Offer some extra perks, like special member-only deals, and they have yet another reason to join.

Doing so gives you a direct channel to people who already know you, like you and trust you. Who’ll happily buy from you again without much sales effort on your part.

Does that Work for Content Creators Too?

As a content creator you want people to buy your products, right? So, a free membership site may not seem to make sense. But a free membership allows you to grow a fan base and get the advantages mentioned in the previous section. The value for the customers of your paid products would be in getting the inside scoop so to speak, and maybe some exclusive content — like your thoughts on trending topics or a journal.

Want to know a secret?

Allowing comments on your content means you can spy on what your customers are saying. Ethically. You’ll gain invaluable insights into what’s keeping them up at night. On a blog, the comments often are random and unrelated. In a membership site, people will feel more connected and you’ll often see really revealing discussions.

Why is that invaluable? Because it’ll allow you to create content and products that your customers already crave and can’t wait to buy from you.

What Can You Do With a Membership Site Platform?

The sky’s the limit.

Membership site platforms are very versatile solutions. You can use them to:

• offer online courses
• offer free or paid access to content, for example a library of articles
• offer subscriptions to content, giving access to content delivered from the date of subscription, or to all previous installments as well
• offer subscriptions to physical products, for example coffee, skin products or fresh produce boxes, that you deliver to your members’ doorstep 
• organize a community around a good cause, sports club, hobby, location, neighborhood, skilled work, etc.

What’s a Membership Site vs. Subscription Site?

Technically they’re the same.

A notable difference is that you generally pay a monthly or yearly fee to subscribe to a subscription site, while joining a membership site can be free or paid, and the latter can mean you pay a one-time or a recurring fee.

However, the words you use to describe your site and how you charge your members, create expectations.

When you talk about subscriptions or charge a recurring fee, your subscribers will expect you to deliver something regularly. Whether that’s new content, community events like webinars or new products.

Which Do I Need to Deliver Online Courses?

With courses:

• you only charge once (or you offer a payment plan with a fixed number of payments, usually between 3 and 12),
• and you don’t have the obligation of producing new and upgraded content on an ongoing basis, because online courses have a clear beginning and end.

So the natural choice is to use a membership site to deliver your course.

How Does a Membership Site Help Your Business?

Having a membership site (or program) has many advantages for your business. 

• A subscription or paid membership program provides you with consistent, predictable income.
• You need some credibility to draw in members when you start — they need to believe you have value to offer — but as your membership grows, so does your authority.
• A free membership program allows you to stay connected and build relationships with your customers. You can offer them value beyond their purchase and foster customer loyalty.
• With a free membership site you have a pre-qualified audience for your marketing messages and for upselling. It’s better than a mailing list because members already know, like and trust you. Making them a tribe of loyal fans likely to buy anything from you and shout about it to their friends.
• Membership sites are automated and automatable by nature. They scale easily and pose few limits to growth.
• A paid membership raises the value of your content, even that of your free content. Simply because, as Ramit Sethi learned, people value what they pay for.
• Kicking off a paid membership site starts a virtuous cycle. Getting paid for your content gives you more time to produce even more valuable content. For example, when you have more time, you can do more research or go more in-depth with your content. You’ll sell more, giving you more money to create even more valuable content. Oh, and creating more valuable content also increases your authority.
• When you allow comments and allow your members to interact with each other, you get to be a fly on the wall. You’ll learn a lot about them. What keeps them up at night, what they aspire to, what problems they encounter. You can use that to inform new products and improvements to existing products. And this means you’ll be creating what your members are already craving.
• Members are happy customers willing to spread the word for and about you.
• Having paying members means you’ll have to keep your material up-to-date and produce new content regularly. Yes, you can see that as a drawback. But actually, it’s an advantage as it keeps you from resting on your laurels, which would allow competitors to pass you. What’s more, adding and improving your content on an ongoing basis increases your membership value. And that’ll increase your authority too!

What Are the Drawbacks of a Membership Site?

A membership site isn’t all a bed of roses.

• Charging recurring fees, means keeping your content fresh and regularly adding new content requires work. Sometimes a lot.
• When you offer social features or allow user-generated content, you face both the light and dark side of human nature. You’ll have to moderate both the social interactions and the content contributed by your members. That can quickly become more than you can manage alone.
• The idea that you can generate passive income with a paid content and courses is not 100% correct. Yes, you can automate most of your work, but customers, students or members, don’t get engaged by themselves.

You’ll have to work at it to engage them.

Because, as a teacher, you want your students to succeed, don’t you?

But the sad fact is that only about 3% of people investing in a course complete it. The trick is to engage them and help them succeed, but without the right features to help you (more about that in just a bit!), that can take a lot of work.

It’s similar when you run a membership site to give and get the benefits of a community.

Whether you offer subscription content or courses with a clear beginning and end, you’ll face churn — losing members — every month. The average subscription site loses 5-10% of its subscribers every year. The average course site can expect member churn rates twice as high. Somewhat less if you teach more than one course and students get the results they came for.

In any case, you’ll continually have to attract new members or students to keep your revenue stream steady.

Is an Online Course or Membership Site Better for Your Business Right Now?

I hate to say it, but it depends on the stage of your business.

In what I call the Blue Sky Stage, it doesn’t make much sense to invest in either. You want (and need) to connect with prospects and customers directly to figure out what value you can offer in a specific niche, so I recommend starting with 1:1 coaching, consulting or services to test your ideas, fine-tune your processes and bring your first dollars in the door. If you do want to do an online course, I would limit it to a small group, and I would avoid subscription memberships completely. 

Once you’re at the Call Me Stage (from $30K up), you’ll want to start leveraging your time with online courses and group programs. Investing in a membership site platform to create your first online course makes sense now.

When you first start offering virtual group training or group coaching programs, you can deliver your programs using video conferencing. But you don’t necessarily need a course platform to do this, unless you want to turn your program into a pre-recorded course. There are plenty of good tools out there such as Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts to name a few.

The same applies if you want to offer your students a sense of community by allowing them to “talk amongst themselves.” If it’s not available in the platform you use to deliver your course content, you can always use Facebook or LinkedIn Groups.

So there are ways to create simple programs without a membership site, but a membership site is essential when you want to scale your offers to more people. Whether you use a membership site to deliver an online course, a subscription program or a community.

What Should a Membership Site Include?

If you want to build community directly into your program, it’s essential to consider why people join communities. And that comes down to belonging, being part of a group of like-minded people and a sense of community.

Exclusivity is a big part of the appeal, even for membership sites with millions of users. Exclusivity is not necessarily about being in a small group. It’s often about having access to otherwise unavailable stuff or people.

So you’ll want to include at least a couple of the following:

• Exclusive quality content.
• Exclusive access to you.
• Social features, such as commenting and group discussions.
• Exclusive deals, live or virtual events, online challenges, etc.
• User-generated content. From users sharing experiences up to full-fledged training programs.

Exclusive content is a crucial part of most membership sites, so let’s see what kind of content you can offer.

What Content to Offer in a Membership Site?

Almost anything you want:

• Opinion pieces.
• Documentary pieces, for example, research and science-based articles.
• Whitepapers and thought leadership pieces.
• Comparisons and reviews.
• Book summaries.
• Interviews.
• Drawings and other images.
• Curated lists.
• Recipes, meal plans or crafting instructions. 
• Courses and tutorials.
• Cheat-sheets and mind-maps to aid learning.
• Templates, workbooks and action plans.
• Q&As (Questions and Answers) and AMAs (Ask Me Anything).
• Coaching and Mentoring or Training.

You can deliver your content in many ways:

• Written articles.
• Books, e-books and audiobooks.
• Videos and screencasts.
• Podcasts.
• Webinars.

For user-generated content and community building, you can:

• Allow members to comment on your and each other’s content.
• Add forums for discussions unrelated to specific content.
• Add Quora-like Q&A (Questions and Answers) sections where your members can ask and answer questions and vote on them.

5 Examples of Successful Membership Sites in Very Different Niches

International Living

Everything about living abroad and tons of user-contributed content by ex-pat members.

Blue Apron

Combines fresh produce delivery with recipes.

Freelance Writers Den

Teaches members how to make a living writing, plus group coaching and a job board.

Thrive Themes

Provides access to all their products—plugins and themes for WordPress.

Kyle Weiger Handstand Training

Teaches students how to do handstands. Yes. Really. That’s all he does in his course, and he’s making a 6 figure income!

How Do You Create a Membership Site or Deliver Online Courses?

You have three options to create a membership site that you can use for subscription content, build a community or deliver courses.

They vary in what they provide for you and what you have to do yourself.

By the way, many people use the word platform when talking about a plugin for content management or an eCommerce system. But the thing is, they’re not the same as you’ll see below.

Build-It-Yourself Custom Development

A custom-built site will be unique and fully-customized to what you want.

However appealing that sounds, you’d spend over 80% of your money and effort just to build the basics that every membership site needs — a waste. Dozens of membership site platforms will get you the basics for a fraction of the time, energy and money.

Unless you have a genuinely new and unique approach for delivering courses or memberships online, I’d advise you to avoid this option.

Done-for-You Platforms

A done-for-you membership site platform takes away all the headaches of a custom-built site.

All you have to do is customize it, so it looks like it’s part of your unique brand and functions the way you want it to work for your members or students.

The drawback is that customization options can be limited.

Assemble It Yourself With a CMS and Plugins

You’ll find a middle ground when you assemble a site using a collection of software packages.

You start with a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or an eCommerce platform like WooCommerce. And then add a plugin to get the features that’ll turn it into a membership or online course site. (A plugin is a bit of software that adds features to the system you “plug” them into.)

And you’ll add other plugins for everything else you need — for example, your email list, analytics, marketing funnels, etc.

Assembling a site like this requires technical savvy or hiring someone who has it. But you do get the advantage of pretty high flexibility and customization.

How to Choose the Membership Site Platform that’s Right for You

Granted, doing your research to pick a membership site platform or a plugin is time-consuming.

But you want to take that time because it’s a hassle to change once you’re up and running. And who wants to pick a solution with everything but the kitchen sink, only to discover that you need that kitchen sink.

That’s also why you want to do things in the right order. It’s not fun if a vendor’s enthusiasm for their product sweeps you off your feet, and you end up without that kitchen sink.

Below are ten steps for you to follow when choosing your membership site.

It may look daunting, because we wanted to make sure you had a comprehensive list. But you don’t need to get hung up on details or cross every t and dot every i. The crucial thing is to do the steps in order.

10 Steps to Pick the Membership Site Platform that’s Best for You

1. Decide what you want your site to do. Broad strokes will do fine. Use the section below on features to guide you, but don’t fall prey to the fear of missing out. Distinguish between elements you must have (need) and ones that are nice to have (want). It’ll make everything easier.
2. Decide your budget. What you can comfortably afford to pay monthly or yearly for the membership tool. And, if you’re not very technical, what you can pay to get help with installing plugins and integrating various services. This way, you’ll make a better-informed decision about using a platform or a plugin.
3. Work through available platforms and plugins and check each against what you need. Throw out every solution that doesn’t meet your must-haves.
4. If you have more than three candidates, narrow the field to three. Use both what you’d like — your nice-to-haves, and their prices versus your budget.
5. Take each of those three candidates for a spin.
6. Try out the features you need and some of the features you want.
7. Imagine what it would be like to use them every day. Will they make life easy for you? Annoy you? Take more time that you want?
8. Ask the vendor for help to accomplish something. Doesn’t matter what or if you’ve already done it. The point is to test how responsive, helpful and effective their support is.
9. Throw out candidates that don’t pass your muster.

10 Trust your gut and make your choice. But be aware that your gut only has a chance of getting it right after working through all the previous steps and trying out each candidate.

What Membership Site Features Do You Need in a Platform?

Membership sites have and need many features. Below you’ll find a categorized list to help you think about what you need and would like. While the list is comprehensive, it’s by no means exhaustive.

Still, bear in mind that many features fall in the nice-to-have category when you’re just starting out. You can do without them, or you can find other ways to do what they offer. For example, if a platform doesn’t send emails for you, that’s fine if it can integrate with an email service provider.

A platform that doesn’t try to be everything to everybody is an excellent choice if it can integrate with other tools. It gives you the freedom to pick the best in class solutions for every aspect of your business. Much better than settling for mediocrity in all-in-one platforms that spread themselves thin trying to do everything.

Basics

• Good user experience and user-friendliness.
• A well-designed administration section where you can control every aspect of your site and manage your members’ accounts.
• Well-designed templates for you to customize. For example, for registration and login forms, content pages and social features such as commenting, forums, etc.
• Fully mobile-responsive since over 50% of traffic now comes from cell phones.
• Multiple administrators, so you can have an assistant.
• SSL to encrypt all traffic to and from your site so that people can feel safe typing in private information.
• Customization options
  • Branding your site: use your logo, fonts and color scheme on all pages.
  • Branding email messages the platform sends on your behalf.
  • Easy customization and branding. You want to simply flick switches, pick colors, upload images, etc.
  • The ability to edit raw HTML and CSS code is essential when standard customization isn’t quite enough.

Membership Management

• Account management: registration, login, forgot password, profile page, account preferences, notification preferences, canceling.
• A way to create an account for a group of people so that each individual can sign up under the main account and don’t have to pay individually. Some platforms call these umbrella accounts. They allow you to offer group discounts, for example, for a team or an entire company.
• Different membership levels, for example, free, basic, advanced and premium.
• Account administration emails: welcome, up for renewal, canceled, credit card expiring.
• Custom email sequences, for example, for onboarding new members.
• Searchable member directory, both for you and for your members to find and connect with people they already know. For privacy, members should be able to exclude themselves from search results.
• Multiple sales pages, aka landing pages, to target different audiences. These are the pages you’d link to from ads or email campaigns. People often do this with an outside tool, rather than within the platform.
• Analytics
  • New members and cancellations. Churn rate: the annual percentage rate at which members cancel. And growth rate: the annual percentage rate at which membership numbers increase.
  • Revenue.
  • Lifetime member value.
• Customization options
  • Registration and login forms.
  • Pages: general welcome, welcome per membership level, ‘protected content’ page, member profile.
  • Including and excluding fields on member profiles.
  • Adding your own custom fields to member profiles.
  • Customizing (changing text of) email messages.
  • Personalization: using member’s account information in email messages.

Content Delivery

• Content pages.
• Content navigation: organizing your content pages in sections or modules.
• Protected content: designating content to be available for specific member levels.
• All-at-once content for when you want to make all your current content available to new members.
• Scheduled or dripped content for when you want to make content available every couple of days.
• Add new content quickly.
• A variety of triggers to start new/different content drip feeds, such as when someone has read or watched specific content.
• Embedded media players for multimedia content.
• Media bookmarks so students can continue where they left off, or return to specific parts for review.
• Content packages that you can sell without membership or as an addition to membership. For example, to offer content otherwise only available to higher membership levels. You can then provide more value to members at lower membership levels without requiring them to buy a full upgrade.
• Multiple sales (landing) pages for content packages.
• Protected downloadable files. You don’t want the URL of your downloads to leak out and enable people to get their hands on your protected content without signing up.
• Ability to use content delivery networks (CDNs). CDNs are great to ensure quick delivery to every one of your members, regardless of where they are in the world.
• Analytics
  • Engagement rate: how actively your members are using your content.
  • Traffic numbers per page or file. Preferably integrated with analytics tools such as Google Analytics.

Course Creation and Management

All features of content delivery, plus:

• A way to ‘just do courses’ without having to have different membership levels.
• Course builder for modules, lessons and topics.
• Unlocking content based on progress.
• Homework assignments and assessments
  • Multiple types of quizzes.
  • Upload files for manual assessment (or provide a link to an online document).
  • Certificates of completion (automatically generated).
• Student results
  • Automatically add a tag to a student for achievements and reaching milestones. So you can then use the tags to filter members by where they are in a course or by what courses they’ve completed.
  • Features to improve student results and engagement through gamification — see separate section below.
• Licensing courses for use by teams, related to umbrella accounts.
• Having multiple instructors.
• Statistics
  • Completion and drop-out rate.
  • Time students take to complete a course.
  • Quiz statistics: correct answer percentages, first-time pass rate and retakes.
• Customization options
  • Personalize content pages of modules, lessons and topics.
  • Brand your certificates: use your logo, fonts and color scheme.
  • Personalize your certificates with the course and the student’s name, of course. But for example, also with an individual license or certificate number.
  • Personalize all emails, notifications and in-site messages.

Improve Student Results and Engagement through Gamification

If you’re offering courses, you want to give your students their best shot at getting the results they came for. That takes engaging them from when they start through to completing your course.

Game developers have had years of experience developing methods to keep players playing. And you can use their knowledge and expertise with gamification features:

• Points and progress tracking.
• Leaderboards and contests.
• Celebrating achievements and reaching milestones by email, text messages, in-site notifications, badges and points.
• Recognizing social behavior and helpfulness, for example, with badges on their profile avatar.
• Login tracking
  • to reach out when someone’s been absent for some time (or never logged in)
  • to welcome them back
  • to applaud them for hard work

Community (Optional)

If you’re using a membership site to deliver an online course, you may not need community functionality. Like many online course creators, you can use a Facebook or LinkedIn group for this, which helps you meet your students where they’re already hanging out.

• Public (within your membership site) discussions.
• Private messages between members.
• Creating and joining groups for discussions on specific topics.
• Joining a peer group for a course.
• Liking and sharing content.
• Commenting on content.
• Liking and not liking comments so members can show they agree or don’t agree with the comment. Similar to the thumbs up on Facebook (or other emojis).
• Liking and not liking forum messages. Again, like the thumbs up on Facebook.
• Flagging messages and comments for moderator attention.
• Moderator features (that’s a whole other article).
• Ability to appoint members as moderators.
• Recognizing member moderators with a badge on their profile avatar or an icon after their name.

Payments and Selling (Optional)

You may already have a shopping cart solution. For example, from Stripe, Shopify, 1ShoppingCart, Infusionsoft or Ontraport. In that case, you don’t need your membership site platform to take payments as well, but you do want it to integrate with your current shopping cart.

• Recurring payments and one-off payments for packages and courses.
• Discounts and coupons.
• Trial periods automatically continuing with a paid subscription — requires a credit card up-front.
• “No credit card needed” trial periods — requires the ability to ‘revert’ to free level after trial expires.
• Email notifications to customers about their payment.
• Cart abandonment automation. Sending a reminder to someone that they have items in a shopping cart but didn’t finish the checkout process, helps increase sales.
• Easily add upsells to products, so the checkout process automatically offers them to someone buying your main product. 
• Built-in affiliate tracking and easy affiliate payments or at least a report to make it easy for you to pay your affiliates.
• Protection against, or at least notification of potential account sharing. Note that this doesn’t need to be malice. Someone could have been hacked.
• Integrations
  • Multiple payment options for customers: Credit card, PayPal, direct transfer.
  • Multiple payment/credit card processors to choose from for administrators.
• Customization options
  • Personalize all emails, notifications and in-site messages.

Business Freedom and Customization Potential

• Integrations
  • Email service provider
  • Payment processors or shopping cart solution
  • Website traffic analytics
  • Advertising platforms so you can analyze your ad performance against your traffic and sign-ups.
• Ability to export all your data (content and member accounts with their personal information and course results)
• Ability to use your own domain name. 

Top 10 Membership Site Platforms and Plugins

Here’s our top 10 to help you find platforms and plugins to evaluate.

1. Kajabi

Kajabi is at the top of most reviewer’s lists. They’ve been in business for 10 years and have consistently been improving their platform all that time. They help you build, deliver, market and sell courses, gated content, subscriptions and membership sites. However, their customization and user engagement options are limited. 

2. Thinkific

Thinkific is also a well-rounded and established membership site platform. It’s focused on helping course creators succeed with building, delivering, marketing and selling courses. They include progress tracking with automated progress and reminder emails. It’s a good step in the direction of helping your students succeed.

If you care about gender equality, it will please you to know that Thinkific’s leadership team is split 50-50.

3. Xperiencify

Launched in January 2020, Xperiencify is the answer to frustration with the 97% failure rate most online courses have. It’s well-known that up to 97% of students who sign up for online courses fail to complete them and get the promised results. Xperiencify has unique student engagement and gamification features that you won’t find anywhere else. They claim this will help you improve your student success by 10-30x, which leads to more sales, more repeat buyers and more referrals. 

4. MemberPress (WP plugin)

Memberpress is a WordPress plugin. So you’ll need your own site installed with WordPress to use this tool. Memberpress allows you to gate access to everything that a standard WordPress site offers. It’ll protect your pages, posts and digital files. And it includes the often forgotten category, tags and feeds pages.

5. AccessAlly (WP plugin)

AccessAlly is a WordPress plugin allowing you to gate access to everything on your WordPress site. It has specific features to create video courses and integrates with popular video hosts, like YouTube and Vimeo. Your students can enjoy the speed of their massive delivery networks. Apart from Xperiencify, AccessAlly is the only other solution to use gamification to improve student engagement and results.

6. Teachable

Teachable is a teaching platform that also has specific features to offer coaching sessions from within the platform. It sets you up for easy scaling with its support for adding and paying authors, team members and contributors. And you get to choose what each of them can and can’t do on your site.

7. Wild Apricot (Platform and Plugin)

Wild Apricot has a single-minded focus on members and memberships. With Wild Apricot, people don’t register to become a member. They apply! You can use its website builder for your site and gated content, or use its widgets. If you have a WordPress site, you can use its WP plugin to show member-only content to members only.

8. Podia

Podia presents itself more as a store than a membership site platform. And maybe that’s a more accurate way to think about it because you don’t need a membership site to sell courses, webinars or downloads. Podia allows you to gauge interest with pre-launches and start selling your course before completing it by setting a start date in the future.

9. Memberful

Memberful combines the best of two worlds. Running WordPress for your content and using Memberful for your membership management. It does have a WordPress plugin to integrate Memberful’s membership features into your existing site or blog. But it doesn’t cramp its (and your) style by using WordPress’s admin interface.

10. Simplero

Simplero focuses on coaches, giving them what they need without the bells and whistles of marketing software they don’t need. At the same time, it’s an all-in-one solution, cutting out the need for other software applications and the hassle of integrations. Its focus on coaches means that you can build online courses and individual or group coaching programs. And of course, information products and online content like all membership site platforms do.

Feature Comparison

Let Membership Site Platforms Rock Your Business

Kudos to you for making it down here.

I bet you’re feeling overwhelmed with the information. And that’s understandable. It is a lot to take in.

But remember how you were stuck in the weeds, drowning in all the marketing speak, not knowing what to pay attention to?

There’s no need for that anymore.

You now have everything you need to choose with confidence.

You have our categorized list of features to decide what you need in your membership site (and what you don’t need).

You have our top 10 contenders for the membership site platform of your choice.

You have the exact steps to take to pick the membership site platform that’ll work best for you and your business.

And you also have a comparison of our Top 5 to lighten your load even further.

So I’d like to encourage you to make a conscious choice because, well, just imagine how it’ll feel to get your site up and running knowing you did what you could to pick the best solution for you.

And, if you’re creating courses, just imagine how it’ll feel to see your students succeed using the platform of your choice.

In that respect, be sure to check out Xperiencify and AccessAlly when you do your research.

Their gamification strategies are a tremendous asset. They automatically do what you’ll otherwise have to do yourself to help your students get the results they signed up for. Xperiencify is excellent if you don’t want to be limited by WordPress, which is often slow and has significant security breaches, and want the most cutting-edge gamification functionality available anywhere. AccessAlly is perfect if you’re going to integrate with an existing WordPress site.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Marisa Murgatroyd & Murray Gray (the Founders of Live Your Message) are also the Founders of Xperiencify.

Now go on, take that first step. Get clear on what’s right for you and the features that’ll help you do it.

But before you go, one of the best ways to create the impact you want while generating the income you desire is through an online courseI Which is why I wanted to let you know about my FREE LIVE Mega-Workshop: Your Online Course Advantage: 3 Secrets to Make Sure Your First (Or Next) Course Sells Now… and Into the Future! I’m hosting it LIVE for 3 straight days – Oct 12, 13 & 14! So YOU get to choose the day that works best for you! Save your seat and commit to showing up live!

But before you go… if you’re a course creator, or anyone who sells information, knowledge, expertise or transformation, you’re going to want to keep reading…

⁣Because I’m putting on a LIVE Mega-Workshop for 3 straight days – Oct 12th, 13th & 14th (so you get to choose the day that works best for you)! 

Grab your seat HERE.

It’s called Your Online Course Advantage: 3 Secrets to Make Sure Your First (Or Next) Course Sells Now… and Into the Future!

I’m going to reveal the 3 KEY things you MUST understand to make sure your first or next course will sell NOW… and into the future… regardless of what happens with AI.

This is a totally FREE but HIGHLY time-sensitive opportunity… 

I’m only going to be running this Workshop LIVE a total of 3 times — NO replays!

Miss it now and you’ll need to wait until next year (and the content will have changed by then)…

So this is literally your ONLY chance to learn these secrets. 

Grab your seat for this LIVE Workshop right here.

The post Top 10 Membership Site Platforms + How to Pick the Best 4U! appeared first on Live Your Message.

He has 3.47 million subscribers and gets more daily views than Gary V and Brendon Burchard combined… without spending money on ads. 

In other words, he’s a master at using YouTube to build audiences organically. And organic audience growth is the holy grail of personal branding.

So you better believe I listened… and I’m completely changing how I do YouTube.

In fact, it’s inspired me to double down on YouTube since I feel like I’ve finally found (and understand) the social media channel that works for me. (Read my post on how to find the ideal social media channel for you)

As I always tell my students,

“You don’t need to be everywhere. You simply need to be somewhere all the time.” – Marisa Murgatroyd

So you’re going to start seeing a lot more of me on YouTube. And I’m following in some pretty big footsteps. Entrepreneurs like Marie Forleo, Gary V and Tai Lopez all built their careers and their audiences on YouTube.

So if you suspect that YouTube might be the right channel for you to put yourself out there, read on. Because today I’m going to give you the dish on everything Evan told me, so you can get in on the action and leverage the world’s second largest search engine to grow your audience…

Tip #1: Grab ‘Em from the Get Go

Right out of the gate, Evan wowed me with this brilliant insight:

“Marisa, think of the start of your video like it’s an advertisement for everything after that.” – Evan Carmichael

You’ve probably watched some of those ads on YouTube where the first 5 seconds kind of “sells” the rest of the ad. 

Basically, the advertiser tries to make things as captivating and interesting as possible so you don’t click the “skip ad” button.

This works for all kinds of ads and it also works for videos.

So when it comes to your YouTube videos, your only objective in those first few seconds is to get your viewers to watch the rest.

This is incredibly important because most people lose their audience at hello.

And it means you need to think about the “opening scene” of your YouTube videos like it’s a commercial for everything that’s coming next.

So the first thing out of your mouth matters. Say something surprising. Voice a powerful opinion. Don’t welcome people to your video or you’ll lose them instantly.

You can also do something unexpected. Evan loved that I started one of my videos wearing a “cheese hat” (check it out here) because it got people’s attention, it got them curious and it inspired them to stick around.

When I did my Facebook Live Challenge a few years back, I came up with a list of fun, quirky, attention-grabbing ways to start each of my videos and you can get the full list in this post. I like to call this the Art of the Start!

Tip #2: Forget Fancy

Confession time…

I’ve been sharing videos on YouTube and doing video blogs on my website for years now but I’ve been caught up with getting the production and the set and everything else just right.

And more often than not, I get so distracted with props, and scenes and all the other fancy stuff, that I haven’t always been as consistent and committed, as I could have been.

I was only filming once a month and that went down to zero during the pandemic when I didn’t have access to my video team or my hair and make-up artist… so my channel went radio silent.  

Evan reminded me that audiences on YouTube are not tuning in to watch a highly produced video but to get ideas, teachings and stories. 

After that conversation, I sat at my desk, switched on my camera and recorded my first “in the moment video.” And I posted it as an experiment with no music and no editing.

And guess what?

People loved my raw, in-the-moment video just as much — or maybe even more — than my highly produced videos.

And it’s because I’m speaking from the heart and I’m sharing high value content that helps them get to their goals. Not because I have perfect lighting and perfect hair.

Speaking of perfect hair…

Tip #3: Get Real, Get Messy

Nobody gets out of bed in the morning with perfect hair and makeup. Nobody looks and sounds amazing all-the-damn-time.

We all have great hair days and disaster hair days.

We all have “sunshine and rainbow” days and days when we feel like we’re in the middle of a thunderstorm… minus the umbrella.

That’s life, that’s what’s real and that’s what people can relate to.

And it’s my next, big takeaway from Evan…

Focus on being super relatable, real and as authentic as possible, as much as possible.

So I’m not saying you have to film your videos 5 seconds after you’ve rolled out of bed but it’s important that you show up as yourself and find the courage to let people see the real you…

Sometimes this means giving them a sneak peek or a behind-the-scenes look at your messy desk and your messy hair and that’s what they want.

I’ll never forget what Evan said to me…

“Marisa, your best qualities are your authenticity and your groundedness. You’re not like a lot of other thought leaders… you’re accessible. So play to your strengths by just being you.” – Evan Carmichael

That helped me let go of the hair and make-up artist, let go of getting dressed up, and just make videos… 

On good hair days and bad ones

Here’s a comment I got on my very first attempt…

Enjoyed seeing your unmade for camera face. Beautiful face and soul Marisa. Been a fan since I heard you for the first time and your intelligence. Interesting (as usual with you, ma’am!). Many thanks!

Tip #4: Consistency Over Perfection

When it comes to videos, a lot of people get stuck on the “how long does it need to be?” question.

Evan recommends doing long-form videos especially if you want to establish yourself as a go-to expert or thought leader.

YouTube likes long videos — at least 10-20 minutes and you can even go a lot longer because people are on YouTube to watch and learn. It’s not like Instagram or TikTok where they’re swiping for the fast dopamine hit. Evan has 1-3 hour videos that do really well.

He also suggests sharing new videos at least 1 to 3 times each week.

I’ve found that a lot of people don’t get on camera as often as they should because they’re waiting for the “right time and the right place.”

But don’t sacrifice consistency for perfection.

As Evan says the frequency and quality of ideas that you present on your video are far more important than how things look on camera.

So if you happen to get a brilliant insight out of the blue and you’re out with friends on a Friday night, don’t wait until Monday, 10am when you have “create new video” scheduled on your calendar.

Just find a quiet corner, whip out that phone and hit record.

High-production is great but only if it doesn’t get in the way of consistency. You’ll have much more success in growing your audience on YouTube if you’re posting 1-3 videos a week than waiting to make the perfect video.  

Tip #5: Impactful + Emotion-Driven

My last couple of takeaways from Evan cover some of the more technical aspects of creating searchable, shareable videos on YouTube.

So two of the most important pieces you need to focus on are your video title and thumbnail.

Let’s break this down, starting with titles.

Creating titles that match what people want is a simple, effective way to gain a ton of views, comments and subscribers for your videos.

First thing to do is to think about the keywords you want to own. Then search for other popular YouTube videos with those keywords and create your video title based on the most successful videos you find.

For instance, if I want to own “course creation” as a keyword, I need to go look at some of the most highly viewed course creation videos on YouTube, before coming up with a title that’s similar.

So rather than guessing with your titles or trying to “get creative,” use angles that are already proven to get a LOT of views! As they say, “success leaves clues.”

Next we have thumbnails…

So this is basically an image and it includes the title of your video and it’s what people see before they hit play.

And when it comes to video thumbnails, there’s an unbreakable rule you need to live by: optimize for mobile first.

Most people access YouTube on-the-go and on their devices and if you don’t grab their attention with a simple, impactful, emotion-driven thumbnail, you’ll lose them for good. 

So go with a few key words in a large bold font that’s easy to read for your thumbnail title and choose a close-up screenshot of you from your video that triggers interest and curiosity so people want to know more.

Make everything big, bold and bright. Use eye-catching colors for your text. Zoom in heavily on your images. Because these thumbnails are really small when you’re on your phone. 

Something else to keep in mind… no black and white images or text allowed!

As Evan puts it, you wouldn’t pick a black and white cereal box from a shelf full of colourful, attractive options and the same applies to your video thumbnails.

It Isn’t Rocket Science

When I viewed some of my videos through Evan’s eyes, it was clear that I’ve been putting a distance between myself and my audience with high production and fancy effects.

I’ve also been putting hurdles between coming up with ideas and actually making the videos because I was focused on creating perfectly-produced masterpieces.

And while I’ve always known that people come to me for what’s in my head and what’s in my heart, I didn’t hold on to that truth, when I was creating my videos. 

So here’s what I’ve learned…

Creating kicka$$ YouTube videos that grow your audience and attract lifelong subscribers and customers isn’t rocket science but it does take conscious effort and intention.

And you don’t have to be a YouTube expert to create shareable, searchable videos that get a ton of views and comments but you do need to do your research and consciously create high-value, long-form content your audience wants.

You grow your audience when you use YouTube as the search engine it is — where new people go to discover you through intentional searches.

And of course, you need to find the courage to show up as who you truly are and put yourself out there so people get the chance to know the real you and connect with you in a way that leaves them wanting more.

And before you go…

What are some of the topics you’d like me to teach or train on video? 

Share your requests, ideas and burning desires in the comments… I’d love to know!

In case you missed my latest videos, check them out here on our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe

There are some real value-packed gems!

The post How to Build an Audience on YouTube Without Spending Money on Ads or Fancy Production appeared first on Live Your Message.

It was set in post-World War II Tinseltown, where actresses, directors and screenwriters will do just about anything to get noticed and get ahead.

It took place at the precise moment in Hollywood history when the super melodramatic old-school, silent-movie acting style gave way to a more natural, organic style that appeals to modern moviegoers.

And the same thing is happening in digital marketing — 75 years later.

 Is Your Marketing Going the Way of the Dodo?

We’re at the point where melodramatic, in-your-face marketing tactics just aren’t working anymore as online audiences get more and more sophisticated… and mistrust is at an all-time high. 

And the way I see it entrepreneurs like you and me have 2 choices:

Choice #1: We can risk annoying the heck out of everyone and stubbornly stick to old marketing methods that are going the way of the Dodo or…

Choice #2: We can embrace a brand, new way of marketing our products, programs and services and remain relevant, congruent and in deep service to our audience.

This new way of marketing has to do with creating experiences and it’s where you’re directly engaging your clients and customers so they’re taking action and they get to experience winning with you even before they buy a thing. 

These principles will also help you to build that all-important “know, like and trust” factor into your marketing so prospects are not just in their heads but in their hearts…

And they want to connect with you and buy from you not just because it makes sense but because it feels good.

Ready to dig in? Let’s get started!

Online Marketing Principle #1: Don’t Be Boring

I didn’t put this at the top of the list by accident.

Boring makes people’s eyes glaze over. Boring makes them click on that back button and it triggers the “keep scrolling” part of their brain.

Boring gets you ignored.

And no matter how much time, money, effort and energy you put into creating your marketing, it simply won’t give you the results you’re looking for if you’re boring.

So what’s the most effective way to avoid having your marketing campaigns become a snooze fest?

Write, speak, share and sell from the heart.

Understand your personal values and the core themes of your life and communicate these through stories and personal experiences to build the “know, like and trust” factor with your audience.

If you don’t do this, you’ll end up sounding like everyone else and people WILL mentally “opt out” of watching, listening or reading anything you put out there.

Just to be clear…

This isn’t permission to say or do something crazy or shocking just to grab attention (that’s a cheap trick and it never works for long).

The idea here is to be wholly & authentically you — or as I like to say, “It’s time to turn up the dial on your level of self-expression.”  That’s the only real way to stand out in an ever-growing crowd of online entrepreneurs and businesses.

It makes sense when you think about it…

Even if there are thousands — or millions — of people out there doing the same thing you do…

Even if there are millions of health coaches, or copywriters or energy healers who do what you do…

There’s only one person in the whole world who can do it the way you do and that’s because there’s only who can be who you are and that’s YOU. (If you’d love an in depth antidote to boring, check out this post.)

Online Marketing Principle #2 Don’t Make People Wrong

“It’s not your fault.”

You’ve probably seen that line on sales pages, emails and all kinds of marketing..

And while I happen to think that “it’s not your fault” has become an unforgivable cliché, the idea behind it is true.

It’s not your fault is about making sure that you’re not blaming your audience — your clients and customers — in your marketing messages.

It’s about making sure you’re not making people wrong for their mistakes or missteps in their journey toward the outcome they’re looking for.

When your marketing messages give off a “you should know better” vibe or anything that says people can’t get what they want because they don’t have what it takes…

You’re running the risk of coming across as super judgmental, “holier-than-thou” and just all ‘round annoying!

As you can imagine, this is going to put people off you and your business, and you’re never going to get a second chance to make it right.

So get it straight from the get-go…

Accept people’s reality wherever they happen to be in their journey — it’s the whole reason they’re coming to you for solutions in the first place — and create marketing messages that don’t contain even the slightest trace of blame. 

Online Marketing Principle #3: Choose Clear, Simple Words

Avoid superfluous words in your marketing messages… and yes, “superfluous” is a superfluous word

I could just as easily have written:

You don’t want to include any unnecessary words in your marketing messages.

See how much clearer and simpler that is?

Here’s the thing…

When you choose complex, over-the-top language, it’s like you’re making your audience drink a freezing-cold glass of water on a ultra hot day — it’s a massive shock to the system which means it makes your message that much harder to process. 

Basically, you’re creating friction that activates the brain and causes it to get in the way of simply and easily digesting your message.

Plus, making room for confusion to enter the picture and let me tell you right now… confusion kills interest in seconds.

No one likes to sit through a speech, video or marketing content that makes them feel like they need a dictionary to understand what’s going on.

It’s why I like to tell my students that they need to avoid “10 dollar words” especially when a “10 cent word” will get the job done.

When you use long, unusual words or complex technical jargon, you’re getting people into their heads, and what you want to do is draw them into their hearts (see Marketing Principle #1).

Short, simple, conversational words trigger feelings. Longer, more complex words trigger thoughts.

As I said, people connect, relate and buy based on emotion… not logic.

Once you’ve written or created a marketing message ask yourself:

Is there any way I can simplify this?

Is this connecting to the head or to the heart?

(Want to dive in further to crafting a message that moves your audience into action? Read my post with 6 pro tips for writing copy that sells)

Online Marketing Principle #4 Don’t Be a Copy of Someone Else

Marketing is about standing out. It’s about being seen and heard.

And if you want to stand out and be seen and heard, you need to march to the beat of your own drum…

There are no two ways about it.

So one of the biggest mistakes I see a lot of entrepreneurs make — especially when they’re first starting out — is they mirror what someone else is doing in their marketing.

And this often happens because these newbie entrepreneurs get inspired and motivated by someone they admire or look up to — someone they think has their act together and they want to be just like this or that 7-figure expert.

But here’s the thing…

When you try to sound like someone else, you’re basically hiding your own unique voice, your values and what you stand for…

All the things that naturally help you stand out from the crowd. The things that make you, well, you.

Plus, if you’re inspired to follow in someone else’s “marketing” footsteps then chances are a whole lot of other people are doing the same thing..

And as more and more people try to copy a handful of trailblazers or market leaders, everyone starts sounding like everyone else and you’ll drown in what I like to call the “Sea of Sameness.”

You’ll end up sinking straight to the bottom where no one will find you or know that you exist.

Sad but true.

So whatever you do, don’t copy someone else’s marketing.

Your first step to being an original is to reflect on your personal communication style.

Are you super grounded and down to earth? Maybe you’re a little bit playful?

Take time to think about it and when you know your style, do yourself and the world a favor and commit to being who YOU are in your marketing.

Online Marketing Principle #5: Speak to One Person

Ever heard someone talk about their email subscribers as “Their List?”

While that’s technically correct (your subscribers are part of your email list), it’s an incredibly impersonal way to refer to human beings who have taken the time and trouble to subscribe to your list so they can hear what you have to say.

When you turn people into a collective number, when you disconnect from them, you’re digging yourself into a “marketing pit” that you’ll never get out of.

That disconnect will seep into your language and your audience will sense that you’re not speaking from the heart. 

For instance, when you send out emails with phrases like “all of you” or “everyone reading this,” you’re showing people that you’re not seeing them as individuals with real life, with real problems and real emotions.

Instead, you’re thinking about them as this nameless, faceless mass or worse… a cold, hard number.

So this Principle is about constantly sweeping through your marketing messages and making sure they’re personal to your audience and to you.

A powerful way to make things personal is to share stories, experiences and photos from your life. Let people in. Let them get to know the real you… share a peek into your world. 

Yes, it can be scary to open up and let them look behind the scenes at the mistakes, the regrets, and the bad hair days, but there’s no better way to be relatable and to be fully loved and accepted for who you truly are.

And when you have the courage to be personal and connect from the heart, you’ll be rewarded with fans for life and customers who buy from you again and again.

Online Marketing Principle #6: Don’t Overthink It

Ever seen someone struggle with “Launch Freeze Syndrome?”

Chances are you have.

Launch Freeze Syndrome is how I describe a common “condition” that afflicts a lot of entrepreneurs.

It’s when they overthink everything and believe they have to figure out every last detail in their marketing content and campaign before launching a funnel, product, service, program or whatever it happens to be.

Here’s the thing…

If you wait to figure out all the details, if you wait to get everything just right before you launch, you’ll wait forever.

The truth is everything changes so quickly online that before you get every detail ironed out, the market could have shifted, the audience could change their minds, there might be a new “must try” marketing method out there…

And so you go back to the drawing board to update and tweak and make changes in your content and messaging again and again.

It’s a vicious cycle that will never end and it will hold you back from launching anything.

In other words, you’ll freeze.

Founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman said…

“If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

While I don’t recommend that you launch something you’re not proud of, know that if you let yourself overthink it, if you let yourself wait for “everything to be absolutely perfect”…

You won’t launch at all.

But… you can help take the guesswork out of your launch when you create the right product at the right time for the right audience. Get my guide here.

Online Marketing Principle #7: Don’t Get Stuck on Repeat

Want to know the fastest way to deplete your energy and drain every last drop of enthusiasm you have for your business?

Do the same thing again and again, month after month, year after year.

I’ve seen way too many 7 and even 8-figure entrepreneurs struggle with this one and it comes from that feeling of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But here’s the thing…

When you stay stuck on the same sales and marketing content, the same messages, you end up boring the cr$p out of your audience and yourself…

And as I’ve said, being boring is like going bungee jumping off a 100-foot cliff… minus the bungee cord (see Principle #1).

So don’t be afraid to try something new, switch things up and go for a different approach in your marketing.

If you love writing, try getting in front of a camera. Challenge yourself to share a Livestream or Instagram Story at least a couple of times a week.

If you’ve always offered live programs, design a self-paced product and offer it to your audience.

Nobody wants to listen to a broken record so whatever you do, don’t ever let yourself get stuck on repeat.

Online Marketing Principle #8: Share What You Believe

As more and more entrepreneurs enter the online space a lot of people are worried that there’s too much competition for them to succeed. 

And they’re worried they’ll lose the battle for one the true currency at play…

Attention.

So what do you do when you’re a business coach or web designer trying to grab attention among countless other experts in your space?

Talk about the thing that sets you apart… talk about what you believe in and what you stand for.

Don’t just share what you do. Share why you do what you do.

What gets you up in the morning? What gets you motivated to coach clients day after day? What inspires you to create awesome designs or copy for your clients?

Talk about the thing that fuels you, drives you, the thing that keeps you going, and keeps you wanting to serve at the highest level.

It’s essentially why you’re in business and it has to do with how you want to make a difference. And in order to do this, you must create a Brand Voice Statement. 

So Principle #8 is basically this…

If you want to stand out, talk about what you stand for.

It’s a powerful, effective way to get all the right people to sit up, take notice and become your lifelong fans and clients.
Because — as the old adage goes, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

Online Marketing Principle #9: Don’t Create Marketing that Sounds Like Marketing

Tips and Tricks to Get That Click

How to Go Viral and Break the Internet!

Little-Known Tactics to Launch Your Program 

I’m not gonna lie… those are some pretty catchy headlines but you know what else?

It’s also marketing that sounds like marketing.

While it’s important that you understand the rules of effective copywriting and the principles of influence (Robert Cialdini’s book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is a must-read on the topic)…

It’s also important to understand that as audiences become more sophisticated, it’s not enough to create marketing that works, you need to inspire and motivate your audience.

You need to get them to care.

This means you need to get real and get personal (see Principle #5) and it often means switching out of “tips and tricks” mode.

It means writing and speaking like a real person and not someone who’s implementing “marketing speak” that could have come from anyone with a template.

This is often called “Conversational Copy.”

Online Marketing Principle #10: Choose Clear over Clever

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

When it comes to marketing, clear and concise will outsell clever any day of the week….

In other words, if you had to choose between clever wordplay and clear language, choose clear language.

Every. Single. Time.

We had a student whose expertise was around helping clients heal from breakups.

She had a great idea for her marketing message and it was about closing your “ex-files”

That was one of her key marketing messages and it was a play on the TV show “X-Files,”

Yes, it was fun and clever, but did it pass the “clear” test?

Nope.

What we did was rework her message so it was crystal clear that she was helping women “receive love no matter how many heartbreaks they’d experienced.”

Was that clever? Not so much.

Was it clear? Hell, yeah!

The takeaway here is that when it comes to your marketing, you want to use words that people can instantly understand right out of the gate rather than clever wordplay or confusing language that might go over their heads.

These 10 Principles come from years of both working on my own business and helping my clients take their businesses to 6 and 7 figures!

It’s the result of thousands of hours of teaching, coaching and creating marketing messages that have brought in millions of dollars and made a real difference in people’s lives.

And having said that, there’s one more thing I’ve learned and it’s something I want you to keep in mind…

All rules (and principles!) are meant to be broken.

Think of that as Bonus Principle #11

Here’s my recommendation…

Take what you see here and use it as a guideline, not an “unbreakable rules list”.

When you restrict yourself to too many rules and regulations you’re holding yourself back from being innovative and courageous in your business.

You’re holding yourself back from being YOU.

Thanks for reading! Let me know in a comment the marketing principle that MOST resonated with you.

But before you go…

Ready to really grow your business and your impact? Then, join me for the ONLY business-building event where you’ll leave with a shorter to-do list than when you arrived! 

I’ll be sharing exactly how to hone in on what to say, do and sell next in order to grow your business — with proven strategies that I’ve spent over a decade testing.

In fact, this is the 12th annual Live Your Message LIVE, and many students come back year after year — because the strategies keep working! 

We’ll spend 3 days together virtually, working on your business and YOUR unique growth blueprint. Grab your seat here. 

You’ll ALSO receive your very own copy of my valuable Message to Money Pathway — your unique, highly customized template that will guide you by the hand to your 6 or 7-figure business (regardless of where you’re starting from).

You’ll Zoom in “overwhelmed” and Zoom out with an exact roadmap for what to say, do and sell next to grow your business in 2024. Here’s the link again to grab your ticket.

 See you virtually March 1-3, 2024  

The post 10 Online Marketing Principles: How To Influence Today’s Sophisticated Audiences and Grow a Profitable Business in Any Climate appeared first on Live Your Message.

You might have heard internet marketers and business coaches say that again and again but just because you hear something more than once, doesn’t make it true.

So, I’m here to tell you that the most important moment in a customer relationship is NOT the moment they buy, but the moment right after they buy. 

Why? Because it’s the moment of truth. It’s the moment of delivery.

It’s the moment when your customer decides if you kept your promises or broke them. 

And you can make this magical moment happen when you understand exactly how to craft a powerful onboarding sequence.

The Make It or Break It Moment…

An onboarding sequence basically includes the messages, actions, videos and anything else that you share with your customers immediately after they purchase your product, program or service.

And when you do it right, your onboarding sequence can build momentum and motivate your new customers into action from Moment 1 of Day 1… and have them keep taking action all the way to the finish line.

Unfortunately, that rarely happens!

So let me tell you what typically takes place when a customer buys an online course, program or training…

She hits the buy button and feels the thrilling sense of excitement and possibility. She’s enthusiastic and optimistic when she thinks about how things are going to get SO much better and she can’t wait to dig in.

Then, in the space of a day or two — sometimes a couple of hours or even minutes — that “sunshine and rainbows” feeling starts to wear off.

She realizes she’s just invested a ton of money but she’s either not sure what to do next or the next step feels boring or overwhelming…

Procrastination enters the picture and fear, doubt and uncertainty creep in.

She starts thinking, “Crap! Did I just throw money down the toilet? Is this actually going to work?”

I call this the Downward Death Spiral.

It kicks in after that first hit of adrenaline — that thrill we get — when we buy a new course or program and it takes root when we feel like we’re not making progress… and we’re not winning.

The worst part is that most online courses don’t give people a clear focus or direction and it’s not clear how the videos and exercises in the program will get them the results they’re looking for.

And so most people stick around and work through a few worksheets but sooner or later overwhelm, confusion and frustration take over. 

This causes them to check out mentally and emotionally and eventually they quit… and who can blame them?

If it feels like you’re never going to get to where you want to go, why bother trying? 

BUT it’s not all gloom and doom.

There is a smart, effective way around all of this…

You can protect your customers and clients from the Downward Death Spiral with something I like to call Experience Escalation.

Creating an Onboarding Experience, They Won’t Forget

So you want the moment after your customer buys to be memorable in all the right ways. 

You want them to feel valued, celebrated and most importantly…

You want to get them hooked on taking action so they’ll stick with your program to see the results they’re looking for.

So, with new students who come into our bestselling, signature program — the Experience Product Masterclass or EPM — we create an awesome “moment after they buy” experience that:

1. Values, celebrates and honors their decision to purchase the program 
2. Introduces them to how it’s going to work
3. Sets them up for a quick win that leads to the next win and the next
4. Which starts to create Experience Escalation or the unstoppable momentum that will propel them through the program and across the finish line 

We do all of this with a series of powerful touchpoints in video format — a Celebration Video, a Welcome Video and a Quick Win Video.

This works like gangbusters for our students and we have an unbelievable track record to prove it: 
>> Over 5,000 students have come through EPM in just 6 years
>> 97.7% engage in the program
>> The average student completes 79% of the program
>> 37% of our students smash the Graduation or Mission Accomplished button (and submit their success story)
>> Leading to 2,034 honest & unedited testimonials from students who are beyond thrilled with their EPM experience

And if you want to compare this to the industry average —  97% of people who buy online programs don’t even complete them! — you’ll see that this stuff works?

Learning By Example

Okay so let’s get into what our onboarding sequence looks like for a brand new EPM student.

When someone registers on our sales page, they’re immediately taken to a Celebration Video — it’s the first thing they see after they purchase the program.

Next up in our onboarding sequence is the Welcome Video, which is fairly comprehensive and runs for just under 6 minutes. 

I created it to show students how EPM is going to work and what they need to do next. 

New students get to watch the Welcome Video right there on the confirmation page, immediately after they purchase. 

This means they don’t have to go to their email to watch (let’s face it the inbox is where we lose ourselves in a tsunami of distractions!) or log on to the EPM membership site to gain access to the video.

We want our new students to have zero barriers to entry for EPM, we want them consuming content and more importantly —  taking action — right away, within minutes of signing up.

So when you watch the Welcome Video, you’ll see that it’s about celebrating their purchase and giving them a clear picture of what to expect over the next 12 weeks, in the program.

I also embed all of the key principles of the EPM Experience Escalation formula in the video.

You might have noticed we have a big gray, arrow encouraging students to take the immediate next step, which is to watch their first micro-training.

This is the Quick Win video and it’s the 3rd video in our onboarding sequence. The reason this training is special is because:

>> I get them to take action within minutes of registering (without having to go to their email inbox or log-on to the EPM membership site)

>> It’s super duper easy and anyone can do it   I create templates for setting their minimum, target and stretch goals so they can quickly complete the training and get their first win

>> It reinforces their mission in EPM and creates a powerful future self vision (of money in their pocket )

Together these 3 videos form a series of touchpoints that takes our students into higher and higher states of excitement and commitment to complete our program. 

Make Them Feel Good About Choosing You and Your Offer

So there are basically 2 things people are immediately looking for when they buy an online program:

#1 Validation that they made the right choice 

OR

#2 A reason to opt-out so they can give up on their new, scary commitment and return to the way things were — before they signed up

So with EPM, we put all of our energy and focus into crafting an onboarding sequence that gives people that 100% validation.

We honor our new students with a Celebration Video, dissolve overwhelm and uncertainty by showing them the ropes with a Welcome Video…

And then we motivate them to take immediate action and collect their first win with a Quick Win video.

This gets our students feeling confident about the whole training process in EPM because we’ve set them up for success from the get go. 

And a BIG reason why we have one of the highest completion rates of any online program, anywhere is because this Experience Escalation happens from Moment 1 of Day 1 during the onboarding sequence AND continues throughout the program — to the very end.

Our students are 10x more likely to stick with us and get their money’s worth by achieving their goals and getting the results that motivated them to join in the first place. 

So when you’re crafting your own powerhouse onboarding sequence, focus on creating an “after they buy” experience that gets them into action from Moment 1 of Day 1. 

Think about how you can introduce them to how things are going to work and don’t forget to celebrate them from the very beginning so they’ll feel good about choosing you and your offer.

Thanks for reading!

Now your turn…

What’s a “moment after purchase” experience you’d like to create for your customers? Something that will have them feeling confident and happy that they made the right choice buying your product or program?

Don’t be shy… share in the comments below, I’d love to know  

And if you’re ready to create an online course or program that generates the impact and income you desire — I’ve got a FREE Course Creation Masterclass called How to Use Your Knowledge, Skills or Passions to Create a High-Impact Online Course. 

During our time together, you’ll discover:

• How over 6,278 have been able to create a life on their own terms thanks to an online course or program
• Some of the unexpected topics people are using right now to sell online courses
• How to test your course idea using the same progress my students use to generate income before they even launch their course!

So go ahead and choose your day and time and I’ll see you there! 

The post Moment 1 of Day 1: How to Craft a Powerful Onboarding Sequence that Turns New Customers Into Repeat Buyers appeared first on Live Your Message.