Episode 76

full
Published on:

11th May 2023

The Power of Web Design for Podcast Editors: Tips from Danielle Meadows-Stinnett

If you're feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by the lack of traffic and engagement on your website, despite spending countless hours on design and content, then you are not alone!

In this episode, we dive into the world of website design for podcast editors. From forms to personal branding, our guest offers valuable insights to attract the right clients. But with so many options, how do you know what's best for your business?

Tune in to find out, but be warned... we're not going to force-feed you a cookie-cutter answer.

When we come about looking at these websites, there's not like a generic. You have to have A, B and C. It really can be more conformed to who you are and the brand values that you want to bring through your business. - Danielle Meadows Stinnett

She Podcasts Live

Visit shepodcasts.com to check out She Podcasts Live, the largest gathering of women and non-binary audio creators, storytellers, podcasters and more happening from June 19 to 22, 2023 at the MGM National Harbor in Washington, DC.

As You Listen, You'll...

  • Recognize how impactful website design can be in engaging your podcast listeners and growing your audience.
  • Consider including a starting price point or a range of prices on your services page to give potential clients an idea of what to expect.
  • Explore different website creation platforms and tools to find the perfect solution for your podcast.
  • Realize the value of a strong brand image and maintaining consistency in your podcast's presence.
  • Incorporate personal touches such as embedded playlists and photos to showcase your personality and attract like-minded clients.
  • Use forms to directly trim down the potential client pool and make the vetting process easier.
  • Direct potential clients to specific pages or resources on your website to better inform them about your services and process.

Links And Resources

  • Sucuri SiteCheck - The SiteCheck scanner remotely checks any URL for security threats, malware, defacements, out-of-date CMS, blacklisting, and other important security issues. It visits a website like an everyday user would to verify the source code for malicious behavior or security anomalies.
  • Squarespace - Squarespace makes starting a beautifully-designed website easy. Choose from our library of website templates to find a starting point, then secure a custom domain that fits your brand or idea
  • Virusdie - One-clickwebsite security. Solve security problems on your website yourself - with just one click. Automatically clean and protect your websites from malware and vulnerabilities in seconds with the world's most powerful and easy-to-use all-in-one website security tool.
  • Wordfence - Wordfence is a global team of WordPress security analysts, threat researchers, software engineers, and support staff. We are the leaders in our field, and we focus exclusively on securing WordPress websites, and on WordPress security research.
  • WordPress.org - Built by an open source community with decades of experience, its passionate contributors are committed to keeping WordPress as stable and secure as possible. One platform, millions of possibilities. Global creative agencies, local businesses, and even your neighbor's personal blog are already using WordPress.
  • Kajabi - Kajabi empowers you to create all kinds of content to showcase what you know best, including online courses, coaching programs, podcasts, memberships, and more. Start free trial. Grow. Leverage Kajabi's full suite of marketing tools and templates to create new content, campaigns, and funnels in minutes.

About Danielle Meadows-Stinnett

Danielle Meadows-Stinnett is the owner of Octane Design Studios, a Lexington, Kentucky-based branding and identity firm. Danielle is a podcast enthusiast, wife, and mother of three, has diverse passions including Italian cuisine, chai tea, cosplay, Star Trek Picard, and live MMA.

She joins us to share expert tips on website design specific to podcast editors. Her insights can help you create a website that reflects your brand values and connects you with ideal clients.

Connect with Danielle

Personal vs Business Branding

The decision between a personal or business brand can influence the design and content of a podcast editor's website. A personal brand typically showcases the individual's expertise and personality attributes, while a business brand focuses on the company's mission, values, and target market. Neither approach is inherently better, but considering the specific goals and context of the editor can help determine the appropriate direction.

Danielle Meadows-Stinnett shared that website tone, personality, and design should reflect the editor or the company, depending on the preferences of the content creator. To build trust with website visitors, she suggests adding personal touches or humor that allows them to connect with the person or company providing the service.

Should Prices Be Listed on Services Page?

A key consideration for podcast editors when designing their website is whether to display prices for services offered. By listing prices, podcast editors can provide transparency and set expectations upfront, which can be helpful for potential clients when they are comparing services. Displaying prices may deter potential clients, even if the editor is willing to discuss alternate service options or negotiate pricing.

It is also important to consider that every project has its unique requirements and a one-size-fits-all pricing approach may not accurately represent the value provided. Danielle emphasized the importance of transparent communication with clients regarding pricing.

One idea is to show a base price on the website and let visitors ask for a personalized quote based on their project needs. This lets potential clients know the estimated costs and enables discussion of service scope and price.

Multipage Sites vs. Single Page Scroll

In selecting a website layout, podcast editors might consider a more traditional multipage site or a single-page scrolling site. Each format has its advantages and disadvantages, and the choice will depend on the specific needs and content organization preferences of the editor.

Multipage sites offer more organization and depth, allowing visitors to explore selectively, while single-page sites simplify navigation and create a linear user journey. During the discussion, your Yetis and Danielle agreed that multipage sites with organized categories and topics are preferable (for them), as they offer a less monotonous and tedious user experience compared to single-page scrolling sites.

Furthermore, multiple pages can also aid in search engine optimization and discoverability.

Platforms for Building Websites

Various website-building platforms cater to different skill levels, budgets, and design preferences. Some popular options include WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and Kajabi. When choosing a platform, podcast editors should consider their familiarity, the support available, and any limitations of the platform with respect to their specific needs.

Danielle expressed her preference for WordPress and Squarespace, as they offer a good balance between ease of use and flexibility. Although Wix and Weebly are also suitable for some users, they may not provide the same level of customization and functionality as their recommended platforms.

Stinnett further mentioned that Kajabi is a viable choice for those who can afford it, but it comes with a steeper learning curve. Ultimately, the choice of platform should accommodate the podcast editor, and in some cases, the preferences of their clients.

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Our Editor

This episode of the Podcast Editors Mastermind was edited by Alejandro Ramirez. You can find him on LinkedIn if you're interested in talking with him about editing your show.

Be a Guest

If you're a podcast editor, we'd love to see if you'd be a fit for a future episode. Fill out this form to let us know you're interested, and we'll contact you to see if it's a good fit.

Your Yetis Are

About the Podcast Editors Mastermind

The Podcast Editors Mastermind is for professional podcast editors who want to grow their business and get more clients. We’re creating a community of like-minded professionals that are passionate about the art and science of editing podcasts.

Our goal is to help you build your business by providing tools, resources, and support so you can focus on what matters most—your craft. This isn’t just another group where everyone talks about how great they are at podcast editing; we show our work!

Follow or subscribe and take the Podcast Editors Mastermind with you today!




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Transcript
Daniel:

So how much is that?

Danielle:

So.

Jennifer:

Welcome to the podcast Ed Mastermind Show. The podcast

Jennifer:

by podcast under orders for podcast editors. And real quick,

Jennifer:

I'm Jennifer Longworth with Berman Marrow Podcasting and I

Jennifer:

am proud sponsor of she podcast live and in person gathering the

Jennifer:

largest in fact women and nonbinary audio creators,

Jennifer:

storytellers, podcasters and more. And it's happening this

Jennifer:

June 19th through 22nd at the MGM National Harbor in

Jennifer:

Washington, DC. So if you're someone who's passionate about

Jennifer:

podcasting, if you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed by all

Jennifer:

the different choices, is that what you have to learn from whom

Jennifer:

and where and whatever? What are you going to do next? Come to

Jennifer:

she podcast live she podcasts live dot com. Check it out.

Jennifer:

Hopefully your engine and below me you'll find.

Bryan:

Bryan and Springer. And to my side is Daniel Abendroth.

Jennifer:

And not joining us this evening is Carrie Caulfield.

Jennifer:

Eric you'll find her at Carrie Dot Land and we have a special

Jennifer:

guest today, Daniel J. Danielle is from Kentucky like me. So

Jennifer:

that is why she's there. Well, not the only reason she's here,

Jennifer:

but that makes your extra cool.

Jennifer:

She's the owner of Arcane design Studios, a 13 year old branding

Jennifer:

and identity firm based in the heart of the bluegrass here in

Jennifer:

Lexington. She's a podcaster, wife, mom of three lover of

Jennifer:

rustic Italian cuisine, Chai cosplay, Star Trek Picard and

Jennifer:

live in May. And she is celebrating Star Wars May the

Jennifer:

fourth day with all of us. Welcome, Danielle.

Bryan:

I feel like we need to stop here and just kind of honor

Bryan:

the fact that she loves Picard. Like, we could just take the

Bryan:

show and move on with that.

Danielle:

Oh, right.

Danielle:

Giant Trekkie fan from Mars. And I absolutely love the fact that

Danielle:

even when we get to chat about the technical side of things, I

Danielle:

can always find a way to pull in a level Star Wars or Star Trek.

Danielle:

So you're welcome.

Jennifer:

Great. And Daniel's our special guest today because

Jennifer:

she reached out to us after having listened to our website

Jennifer:

episodes saying she was talking back at the podcast and she was

Jennifer:

listening and we want to know what she was saying to us as

Jennifer:

podcasting is kind of one way, typically, but we want to hear

Jennifer:

what you were, what you were telling us.

Danielle:

Oh man, the episode was great. Like, can I just say,

Danielle:

in fact, like the conversation, the lingo, the camaraderie, like

Danielle:

all of that is just so bubbly and it's infectious.

Daniel:

Yeah, you can sing our praises all day.

Bryan:

Long, if that was what you were saying. This is going

Bryan:

to be great.

Daniel:

What else do you like about it?

Danielle:

I was leaning leaning that into the next part, which

Danielle:

was we could use some help in the website area. Yeah. And I

Danielle:

definitely I don't have all the answers. I love the fact that

Danielle:

you all leave from that place, which is we don't have all the

Danielle:

answers, but this is what has been working and I love that I

Danielle:

can kind of help if anyone needs that. As far as direction for

Danielle:

what you want to best reflect the services and the people that

Danielle:

you want to see.

Jennifer:

So I'm going to jump to the sugar prices, be on your

Jennifer:

services page. Question I'm just going to just go right after

Jennifer:

that one because I still struggle on with it.

Danielle:

As an editor. I do not I do not love them. And that's a

Danielle:

big one because the world tells us that we should have some sort

Danielle:

of base, right or base comparison. So I can do a

Danielle:

starting point figure depending on what type of particular

Danielle:

service I want to to aim for. So I love that. But the other part

Danielle:

of that is, Oh, right, yeah. Going right for the through the

Danielle:

jugular. I really like the fact, too, that when we talk about

Danielle:

listing our services, I push out those features, the cool parts

Danielle:

of working with yourself, whatever that is. I know for

Danielle:

Jennifer it's going to be a bourbon tasting party is going

Danielle:

to be maybe bourbon listening party, maybe even like something

Danielle:

in Around the Love. Jennifer is like my go to person for all

Danielle:

things podcasting. So I love the fact that for Jennifer, that

Danielle:

could be a very specific thing. But what works for Jennifer

Danielle:

isn't going to work for Daniel, right? Maybe a little bit

Danielle:

different. Maybe a stylistically, a little bit different. So when

Danielle:

we come about looking at these websites, there's not like a

Danielle:

generic. You have to have A, B and Z. It really can be more

Danielle:

conform to who you are and the brand values that you want to

Danielle:

bring through your business.

Bryan:

I'm listening to this and I'm thinking, you know, I just

Bryan:

spent several hours last week finding an excellent plug in so

Bryan:

I could put my prices back on my website. And they don't look

Bryan:

like cockapoo poop.

Danielle:

And what are you comfy with? Like, Dude, what are you

Danielle:

comfortable with?

Bryan:

I was comfortable without them, but I was told, hey, like,

Bryan:

let's do it, and that the research supported that. So I

Bryan:

did it. It's been, what, two weeks? It's too early to tell,

Bryan:

right?

Danielle:

Yeah. I give you a good 30, 60 days, maybe a full

Danielle:

90 days to kind of see if that would really give you a quicker

Danielle:

turnaround, maybe in communication with with clients

Danielle:

because they see your prices first or they are able to at

Danielle:

least access an ideal scale of what those prices could be. I

Danielle:

love starting points. Prices starting at x $9, I think.

Danielle:

Daniel were you saying that before on I think that was you.

Daniel:

I well, I don't remember. I know we talked we looked at a

Daniel:

couple of statistic. Jessica is just like a starting ad or

Daniel:

whatever. And I think that's kind of like where I landed as

Daniel:

far as like a good starting point or like a good middle

Daniel:

ground that we don't have to, like, lay everything out. But

Daniel:

you can get a, you know, the starting point price to kind of

Daniel:

weed out the people who like definitely can't afford your

Daniel:

rates.

Bryan:

And to be fair, my starting point, prices are

Bryan:

definitely not the absolute bottom. I'm trying to get you in

Bryan:

so I can sell you up later. Like this is what it would. This is

Bryan:

what it would cost you. But we can talk about scope, right?

Bryan:

Because if you publish once a week versus once a month, that's

Bryan:

a different price.

Danielle:

Absolutely. I love that you say that, because I

Danielle:

think that's a really big part of building out what you want

Danielle:

people to see on your website. Is it do I want them to focus on

Danielle:

the numbers? Yes. To an extent, to a certain extent, yes. I do

Danielle:

want them to think about that. But the focus on weeding out,

Danielle:

finding your people, finding your people is so important to

Danielle:

me. It's more important than the actual money they are paying me.

Danielle:

I would rather have the value of a good client who may be in the

Danielle:

mid range of what I would normally charge or in the range

Danielle:

of services that we offer versus a really, really poor client who

Danielle:

pays me a ton of money to do what I need to do. Because at

Danielle:

the end of the day we can only take on so much. We're human,

Danielle:

even though a lot of times as editors, we're forced to kind of

Danielle:

be little miniature robots,

Danielle:

if you will. I think it's very interesting that, yes, we're

Danielle:

going to talk in and out about that like as editor, sometimes

Danielle:

we're seen as robots and we're just robotically going through

Danielle:

life. And it doesn't matter how much it is because we can do it

Danielle:

right and it's in our bandwidth. So that's something to think

Danielle:

about when you talk about listing prices.

Jennifer:

So what else needs to be on our Web site? I mean, what

Jennifer:

else were you telling us we were doing wrong? I guess the

Jennifer:

question I really want to know that you were listening to,

Jennifer:

you're talking back and I really want you to talk to us like in

Jennifer:

person about this or, you know, as in person. Yeah.

Danielle:

Only just enjoy the level of transparency. And this

Danielle:

is something that I do see on podcast, but not enough. Like

Danielle:

you guys are really kind of putting yourselves out there

Danielle:

with, Yeah, I'm comfortable with that. Or No, I'm not comfortable

Danielle:

with that at all. And you know, it was a heck no. I don't know

Danielle:

what writing this podcast is. So I was like, Can you sure? Like

Danielle:

there's a no fly zone for each of you on your own level. But I

Danielle:

also feel like that's also curated based upon the

Danielle:

experience you want to give your customers. So in hindsight, you

Danielle:

want your your website to be a reflection of the people and the

Danielle:

things you are trying to attract, right? Well, a bit of an

Danielle:

attraction game, if you will. So very similar to kind of I'm sure

Danielle:

there's certain questions and I think you mentioned that before

Danielle:

on the original episode. Was there certain things that we

Danielle:

have to ask so that we know what we're getting into? And I think

Danielle:

that's a legit thing you have to know upfront. So that's that

Danielle:

little tango dance that we talk about a little bit in terms of

Danielle:

marketing, but in the sales part of it, there's also a little bit

Danielle:

of a dance in trying to discover the things that you need to know

Danielle:

upfront versus the things that may come out in the wash later

Danielle:

on as the relationship continues. So those are also things to kind

Danielle:

of figure out how you want that to be represented on your site.

Danielle:

Maybe that's an effort to get talked about having an RFQ on

Danielle:

your site, whether or not that's a good idea or whether that's a

Danielle:

bad idea. But most people are having that on their website. So

Danielle:

a lot of those questions that they're thinking about are

Danielle:

already answered in black and white. On your on your page.

Danielle:

There's some other cool aspects that I feel like is kind of

Danielle:

trending right now for websites.

Bryan:

Tell us more.

Jennifer:

Yes, we need to know.

Danielle:

Obviously, you got to please your playlist, things

Danielle:

like that that you want to share. I am loving every piece of

Danielle:

embedded playlists like, but that's like a huge thing that's

Danielle:

not popular outside of podcasting, believe it or not.

Danielle:

So I'm really enjoying that. People are doing that more, but

Danielle:

it's not necessarily staples of work. It's like my afternoon

Danielle:

tunes, my morning wakeup call, like playlists that you would

Danielle:

normally see like on Spotify somewhere. Like you're trying to

Danielle:

draw a little bit more personality onto the website and

Danielle:

people are doing that through through to their music, through

Danielle:

audio samples. And I think that's really cool. So maybe

Danielle:

think about that as like a fun thing, maybe not for the website,

Danielle:

maybe it's for your newsletter, but that is something to kind of

Danielle:

think about in terms of website. The other part that I really

Danielle:

loved about the episode and I was kind of like stomping my

Danielle:

foot about was whether or not to I know. How personal do you want

Danielle:

to be? Are you putting your face up there to put your business

Danielle:

logo up there? What are the I guess the 411 was the behind the

Danielle:

scenes answer on whether or how close you want to be in

Danielle:

proximity to putting your personal face versus a business

Danielle:

logo out there. And I think that completely varies between who

Danielle:

you are, what you do. If you're a podcast editor, that's a

Danielle:

little bit more meticulous. Maybe you're focusing primarily

Danielle:

in a certain niche. I love that Daniel focuses specifically on

Danielle:

coaches. I love the fact that you were able to kind of find

Danielle:

your niche there. However, for a lot of other people, maybe it's

Danielle:

a free for all right. I added podcasts from comics to music to

Danielle:

the news. And so it's really important for me to be open. But

Danielle:

for some people, maybe meeting down is the better is the better

Danielle:

option. So when I think about that, as far in terms of a

Danielle:

website, I want to have all the things that are very popular or

Danielle:

either somewhat trending in those specific specific niches.

Danielle:

So that's really important too. For me, I'm a retro gamer, I'm a

Danielle:

comic lover, so you're going to see me and cosplay pictures.

Danielle:

You're going to see me in fun stuff in and around that

Danielle:

community because that's who I am and I want to attract more

Danielle:

people like that.

Bryan:

I've got a couple of questions I.

Daniel:

Know I didn't have. Well, I do have just one question for

Daniel:

Brian. What is the name of that plug in? You found.

Bryan:

It. I'll have to look it up and send it to you. I don't

Bryan:

remember. It was again theme forest or Code Canyon or

Bryan:

something like that, but I'll, I'll find it. It was, I think 20

Bryan:

bucks or something. It wasn't much but it's not terrible. I

Bryan:

thought it looked pretty good. So one of the things that I

Bryan:

wonder and I think this goes back to all of the branding

Bryan:

questions that you probably ask all of your clients. And so I'm

Bryan:

not trying to get free consulting out of you.

Danielle:

But it's Star Wars Day.

Bryan:

This is where things get weird for me. So maybe not

Bryan:

everybody knows this. I met my wife through an online dating

Bryan:

service and part of how that happened was filling out forms

Bryan:

and providing information. And then, you know, there was, in my

Bryan:

case, a thousand failed matches before I found the one that

Bryan:

stuck. Right. And so there it was, super grueling on my side.

Bryan:

But that's that's neither here nor there. Part of what the

Bryan:

value of that was there was that they had those questions that

Bryan:

help you understand what you're looking for. If it's a good

Bryan:

personality match, that kind of stuff. How do we approach that

Bryan:

from a business standpoint? So these are the things that I need

Bryan:

to communicate, knowing that there's no form out there that

Bryan:

says, Hey, we're going to match you to the perfect client.

Danielle:

Yes. Oh, I love this cool tidbit. I also met my

Danielle:

husband on Facebook, so I relate to that, like figuring out what

Danielle:

what worked. Kind of like the switchboard, right?

Bryan:

And so I tell people it was like trying to buy groceries

Bryan:

at the grocery store by looking at the label and going, This

Bryan:

one's got enough niacin or whatever it is, and then you

Bryan:

flip it around and go, But actually this one doesn't make

Bryan:

me feel good, so we'll keep moving.

Danielle:

Okay, so we talk about forms. For me, I love forms

Danielle:

because that is a great way to kind of directly slim or trim

Danielle:

the fat, right? I think in a lot of ways you have to think about

Danielle:

if you want to use a form to do that, how does that appear? How

Danielle:

does that approach? Is it accessible? Is it easy?

Danielle:

Accessibility is a huge key and a huge turnoff point for a lot

Danielle:

of people who are not clumsy or savvy, servicing and looking at

Danielle:

multiple sites all the time when they're trying to find a podcast

Danielle:

editor. A lot of times they're going to Jennifer out there

Danielle:

going with people they know, they trust someone. They've had

Danielle:

a joke with a drink with something along those lines. So

Danielle:

in terms of like cold, just looking at podcast editors, a

Danielle:

Google search somewhere and they have a form that they want to

Danielle:

find more information out about you, I think it is important to

Danielle:

kind of pull out certain things, but not everything. So I don't

Danielle:

need to know. They're meeting annual median income for the

Danielle:

year. I may ask something kind of fun and flirtatious, like

Danielle:

what is your favorite color? Who is your favorite superhero if it

Danielle:

goes with your with who you are? Right? But I do think that forms

Danielle:

do help. Kind of trim the fat. Really? Yeah. I definitely have

Danielle:

had people when.

Bryan:

I expect you to tell me to just forget about it.

Danielle:

I definitely think it's a great way to weed stuff

Danielle:

out, but there's certain times and places I feel like that can

Danielle:

happen. Websites is one asking anyone for any service. If

Danielle:

you're going to apply for a job, they're going to ask you the

Danielle:

same question. So I do feel like this in alignment with what you

Danielle:

are trying to do, which would be asking someone, Hey, I need to

Danielle:

know a little bit more information before we either hop

Danielle:

on a call or maybe discover more about the type of podcast

Danielle:

services that you need. So knowing ahead of time for me,

Danielle:

when I'm doing any type of consultation like that, it's,

Danielle:

Hey, what do you need? Is it podcast episode? Right? Tell me

Danielle:

more about what's the name of your podcast? What is maybe

Danielle:

something you want to do with your podcast that you're

Danielle:

currently not doing? Also asking them a funny question Who's your

Danielle:

favorite superhero and why? Sometimes that's not a required

Danielle:

answer. It's got to leave a base, but it's one of those things

Danielle:

that I do. I do want to know more information about who I'm

Danielle:

working with before they even get to my face.

Bryan:

Thanks, Steve has a question.

Daniel:

What would the negative consequences be for having a

Daniel:

schedule a call button rather than a list of prices or having

Daniel:

the podcast or fill out form?

Danielle:

So based on experience and a little bit of factoid

Danielle:

knowledge here, schedule a call is a lot of times for a consumer

Danielle:

to kind of format A I don't know if I want to talk to this person

Danielle:

just as much as we do it on our side, but happens on the

Danielle:

opposite side too. So even though when they're seeking like

Danielle:

services for podcasting in any way, shape or form, sometimes it

Danielle:

can be alluring to schedule a call. They don't want to make

Danielle:

that level of commitment yet, but they are okay with looking

Danielle:

at your prices and kind of knowing just the base

Danielle:

information. I'm definitely more of an introvert, believe it or

Danielle:

not. I know I'm all over the internet, but very much more of

Danielle:

an introverted person and I struggle sometimes, you know,

Danielle:

even with. So I want to take this call today. Do I really

Danielle:

want to be believed today? Even though we set our own boundaries

Danielle:

and scope of of realm for that. But the negative consequence, I

Danielle:

think, in some areas is too much pressure for the person to

Danielle:

actually act on the schedule or call.

Jennifer:

Patrick said. I'd rather die than schedule a call

Jennifer:

with anyone.

Danielle:

I love that. That's definitely me a little bit.

Danielle:

Sometimes I definitely struggle with that, Steve says.

Jennifer:

Then you are my ideal client.

Bryan:

Since Patrick's an editor of course not.

Daniel:

But once I write the follow up to that, so I have

Daniel:

essentially like a schedule a call type thing. It's a built in

Daniel:

form. You go and you pick your date and time and there's like a

Daniel:

short questionnaire, but it's just like your name, email

Daniel:

address, whether you want avoid a phone call or a video call.

Daniel:

And then like, How did you hear about me? And my idea was to

Daniel:

keep it as simple as possible and not like overwhelm them and

Daniel:

give them excuse to not fill out the form. It's like having too

Daniel:

many questions. And the idea that I'm toying with now is like

Daniel:

keeping that. And then like a follow up email being like,

Daniel:

Thank you, Thanks so much for sharing a call. Just more

Daniel:

information. The most out of call. Like, here's a list of

Daniel:

questions that I have for you. Is that like asking too much or

Daniel:

like what? I guess what are your thoughts on that?

Danielle:

I really think that really depends on the client and

Danielle:

I feel like too, it depends on the gamut of what you're wanting

Danielle:

to bring people in. If these people are already comfortable

Danielle:

doing this particular questionnaire a little bit in

Danielle:

between, then that's where you would want to go. But if you

Danielle:

also feel like you're maybe putting yourself too much, put

Danielle:

in too much on the client ahead of time, then that also is a

Danielle:

little bit more adding to them to like, okay, if I have to do

Danielle:

all of this just to talk to you, maybe I don't want to, you know,

Danielle:

do that. So you do have to kind of mind what's on brand for you

Danielle:

if you're already showcasing to coaches that you're a likeable

Danielle:

person that you are, that you do your job well, you're already

Danielle:

showcasing all the features and bonuses without actually giving

Danielle:

them that sort of thing, then I think that is something we can

Danielle:

continue to do, just in my opinion, when I have people ask

Danielle:

me a ton of questions in a questionnaire, I actually I love

Danielle:

questions, by the way, to say, yes, let's talk about it. But I

Danielle:

love being able to answer questions. But if you're the

Danielle:

person, sometimes it's not that. No, let me put it in the email

Danielle:

instead. Like I don't want to literally have that 1 to 1 is

Danielle:

okay to put a little bit of a soft boundary between you and

Danielle:

the client before that point. And I talk a lot in terms of

Danielle:

boundaries, just because families are healthy, but

Danielle:

they're not necessarily meant to keep people out. It's just meant

Danielle:

to let the right people in. And so I really emphasize that even

Danielle:

for podcast viewers on their website, you want to allow the

Danielle:

right people in and kind of just wish the people that you really

Danielle:

don't necessarily want to do business with.

Daniel:

Yeah, So the people who don't want to schedule a call,

Daniel:

Steve Stuart, has made it abundantly clear he's not the

Daniel:

editor for you.

Danielle:

Check that box.

Daniel:

Yet.

Daniel:

So Steve, reply For what it's worth, I haven't lost much time

Daniel:

to people scheduling a call who weren't worth a chat. However, I

Daniel:

can close more sales if I get someone on a call, then through

Daniel:

email or any kind of online activity.

Danielle:

Yeah, I relate to that because it depends on how salesy

Danielle:

you are. Like if you're the person that can close that deal

Danielle:

by just talking to them, you hear their voice, then bam! SLAM

Danielle:

That's it. Yes, that's that's the trick. But for people who

Danielle:

are not in that particular area, you know, I'm a person about the

Danielle:

boundary, so I don't force things if it's meant to be. It's

Danielle:

meant to be. What's for you is for you. And I'm a real big

Danielle:

advocate behind that.

Bryan:

So one of the things that I've struggled with a bit in

Bryan:

terms of how to approach this is the number of steps to getting

Bryan:

somebody on the call versus the size of the first hurdle. So to

Bryan:

your point, schedule a call for some people is absolutely a

Bryan:

speed bump. However, I have concern also that if the first

Bryan:

call to action is shoot me an email, then I'm inserting extra

Bryan:

steps before we get there. And so I'm not sure how that

Bryan:

interplay works in terms of what's the right, because

Bryan:

there's an element of momentum and hand-holding that happens.

Bryan:

If you say, Shoot me an email and your first response is cool,

Bryan:

let's set up a time, here's a link or something like that. But

Bryan:

I'm not sure, like where's the decision point between creating

Bryan:

momentum with an easy first step versus just it's a one step

Bryan:

process is options.

Danielle:

That's really what it is. I can I can be like very,

Danielle:

very upfront about that. It's a matter of what you're

Danielle:

comfortable in letting in, but it's also a matter of what's

Danielle:

accessible, like what is accessible, what's accessibility

Danielle:

for you. And I think it varies or the type of podcast that you

Danielle:

are. And I think that's what makes people want to either seek

Danielle:

you out for that particular service and go through all the

Danielle:

things or yeah, I mean.

Bryan:

So for me, you may not know this, but I work a full

Bryan:

time job and I'm a professional editor, so if they want to talk

Bryan:

to me between eight and five, wow, there's a good chance we're

Bryan:

not going to talk about this. I can pre schedule it during a

Bryan:

lunch break a couple of days out because I have other meetings

Bryan:

and believe it or not, the company I work for kind of

Bryan:

expects me to show up and do a job, as you heard. But they have

Bryan:

this expectation, right. And so I have to monitor that.

Danielle:

Exactly. Exactly. There's a huge part of podcast

Danielle:

editing for me that is such a natural state, right? A natural

Danielle:

state of being. And there are after five out for five, it's

Danielle:

the galaxy that's not ours, but far, far away, right? Star Wars.

Danielle:

So I'm trying to think out loud, like in terms of wanting to put

Danielle:

the right things on your website. It really is a reflection of

Danielle:

your processes, the way that you do business and your personality

Danielle:

in some areas. Now, if you're a business business like a

Danielle:

corporation, you're you want to be a little bit more harder tone.

Danielle:

I do agree that maybe there's less of that. Your personal

Danielle:

personality and more of your business persona or your brand

Danielle:

value across that. And I see a lot of that in your website.

Danielle:

Brian More of a professional like brand brand. This is who we

Danielle:

are kind of feel, even though it's very much a tag team. Your

Danielle:

wife's right.

Bryan:

Actually, it's Daniel whose wife works with him. My

Bryan:

wife doesn't.

Danielle:

Oh. Any other way. Yeah.

Danielle:

Okay. So that's that's really what I was getting at was like,

Danielle:

you know, there's a there's a place in a tone that you can

Danielle:

carry. You choose whether that's more of a personality or

Danielle:

personal brand or if that's more of a business businesslike,

Danielle:

corporate sort of feel. And I think there's different

Danielle:

approaches to both.

Jennifer:

Yeah, because obviously mine's a more

Jennifer:

personality brand driven and I'm revamping the website thanks to

Jennifer:

this conversation and.

Bryan:

Get ready to do it again.

Jennifer:

I know. Well, they haven't started yet and I don't

Jennifer:

do my own. Someone else does it for me. And I sent them a mockup

Jennifer:

of what I wanted and it involves Bourbon barrel stables. I'd be

Jennifer:

more on target with, you know, being bourbon barrel podcasting.

Jennifer:

There was no essence of bourbon or bourbon barrels on my website

Jennifer:

before. And I'm like, you know, we need to change this.

Danielle:

Bring back would be.

Jennifer:

To.

Danielle:

Me.

Daniel:

Yeah and to Patrick's comment Yeah in my gorgeous room

Daniel:

overlooking the sea that isn't actually just a wall with a

Daniel:

green cover on it. So I do want to add in the kind of a thought

Daniel:

that I had about ways like people can contact you. It's I

Daniel:

think if your website is doing its job and attracting the right

Daniel:

people, they and as long as your website is accessible enough

Daniel:

they'll find out a find a way to get in touch with you. So I

Daniel:

think the most common thing is people scheduling a call with me

Daniel:

or video chat, but also like I do have contact form and I have

Daniel:

like throughout my website like semi message, that kind of thing,

Daniel:

and have plenty of people over the years sent me an email when

Daniel:

they have like a question or they want some information. So

Daniel:

for somebody like me who would rather like chat back and forth

Daniel:

on email before I commit to like talking to somebody, like my

Daniel:

website allows for their people, send me a message, you know, we

Daniel:

can chat that way. And for others that want to hop on a

Daniel:

call right away, it's easy enough of that too.

Danielle:

Yeah. And this is very much a McDonald's situation.

Jennifer:

So it's not the Burger King.

Daniel:

But Burger King.

Bryan:

Oh, yeah. Whoops. I worked at McDonald's when that

Bryan:

was coming out and it was a thing We started having to make

Bryan:

everybody's sandwiches. Just the way they wanted them was a mess.

Danielle:

The customization out there, but definitely thinking

Danielle:

in terms of a little bit of a buffet, you can't cater to

Danielle:

everybody. So if you're if you're really into the realm of,

Danielle:

you know, all things Italian, then stick to the cuisine. I

Danielle:

think it's really important that once you find what works for you

Danielle:

to keep, keep at it. I think that's what helps build more

Danielle:

people, more interest into one to visit your site. And I love

Danielle:

the fact that Jennifer actually podcast last year you did The

Danielle:

Coasters with the Q Are you all right?

Jennifer:

That's me.

Danielle:

So I absolutely love that because that is a it's a

Danielle:

personal item that you can give to someone that also is a direct

Danielle:

contact to knowing more information about what you do

Danielle:

and how you do it. So to be kind of stole that idea, Don't don't

Danielle:

use it.

Jennifer:

You're not the only one who's stolen that idea.

Jennifer:

People ask me where I get my coasters all the time and I know

Jennifer:

my affiliate code.

Danielle:

I love it, but yeah, we do. Gamertag.

Jennifer:

Yeah.

Danielle:

So I think that it's it's really cool to be able to

Danielle:

find someone that actually is really connected to you in a way

Danielle:

that makes them want to know more about you. And I think the

Danielle:

website is the place to do that. Of course, social media is going

Danielle:

to be around forever and ever, and with new things like AI and

Danielle:

things along those lines, we're finding more tools and

Danielle:

accessibility ways for us to connect with each other. But I

Danielle:

still think the website is still be a central place that you own

Danielle:

to actually connect with other people. So I just want to keep

Danielle:

that in people's minds as well as we can lean on other things

Danielle:

to to, you know, entertain and bring people in through social

Danielle:

media.

Jennifer:

So with my website, people, their idea, I told them

Jennifer:

on the front of like, I don't know about this, put my prices

Jennifer:

on. It was right after our pricing conversation. I'm like,

Jennifer:

oh they want my prices on. And and her idea was to do a contact

Jennifer:

me for a custom quote and take them to a form. So there is a

Jennifer:

schedule, a call button on there, and then there will be like a

Jennifer:

custom quote button somewhere because I change my prices every

Jennifer:

day, depending on who I talked to. What have you said that you

Jennifer:

hold yourself against me by putting them out there. And then

Jennifer:

today I'm like, Oh, is this much? And then I went and looked up

Jennifer:

and I'm like, No crap. I just cheated myself out of 50 bucks

Jennifer:

again and again. I said the wrong number.

Daniel:

I had a echo.

Danielle:

What I tell a lot of people who work at any type of

Danielle:

technical business is in regards to pricing, always is. You need

Danielle:

to have more than one option in more than one way to display it.

Danielle:

So when you look at like, I don't know, I'm trying to think

Danielle:

engineers websites, when you're looking at other technical print

Danielle:

shops. I worked in a print shop for almost a decade and I

Danielle:

learned some amazing things in and around printing, mass

Danielle:

printing, any type of printing. And what I learned is that they

Danielle:

don't list their prices always upfront. They always have a

Danielle:

customization form or click this button to customize things along

Danielle:

those lines. So that's a great alternative to not necessarily

Danielle:

listing your prices up front. Again, starting at a starting

Danielle:

point would be great so that people can wrap their minds

Danielle:

around that. But having that custom quote where people can

Danielle:

actually put down their customized thoughts and then you

Danielle:

can reply with them with your own customization.

Jennifer:

Okay, you're getting some questions. Yeah. So we'll

Jennifer:

go.

Danielle:

Patrick Okay.

Jennifer:

First thoughts on maintaining your own site versus

Jennifer:

someone else doing it. He says, I love my professionally

Jennifer:

designed site, but I don't have as much control over it now. And

Jennifer:

since I'm the one who brought up the I can't design a site to

Jennifer:

save my life and when I get control over, I ruin it. So

Jennifer:

that's why I have someone else do mine. Thank you. But what do

Jennifer:

you think, Dana?

Danielle:

Because I design.

Jennifer:

Stuff. I know I'm.

Daniel:

Not biased at all.

Danielle:

I know writers like me. So, yeah, everything I've made

Danielle:

before for myself, for my network, it's been by my hands

Danielle:

or at least gone through my desk. So I do encourage people, if

Danielle:

you're not comfortable with web design, find someone who is If

Danielle:

you are not. It's the same thing with podcast editing, right?

Danielle:

People come to us because they're not comfortable editing

Danielle:

their podcast anymore. As editors. We we do that. We take

Danielle:

that leverage off their backs and kind of take it on, right?

Danielle:

They become a little PED once I really encourage people to do

Danielle:

what's in their life right For me, I am very gifted at creating

Danielle:

websites and podcast editing and graphic design, and I'm very

Danielle:

comfortable with going from Star Wars one day and completely

Danielle:

Picard the next. I'm okay with all of these things, but this is

Danielle:

within my own realm, within my own lane of what I'm comfortable

Danielle:

doing. However, that might not be comfortable for everyone else.

Danielle:

So really, I would lean on if you are comfortable to learn,

Danielle:

then give this a good Maybe if you're not in a wheelhouse of

Danielle:

already trying to learn something new. If one or new

Danielle:

things are really hard for you, don't trust someone else who

Danielle:

does it way. Who is already doing that really well.

Daniel:

Yeah. So like my personal story is I struggled

Daniel:

first, like wanted to get a website because like, I know I

Daniel:

design websites and I, I'm very familiar with WordPress, like, I

Daniel:

know I can do it myself, but I'm not so proficient at it that I

Daniel:

can just like knock it out without any issues. It's after

Daniel:

like several months of me struggling, trying to like,

Daniel:

create my website. I finally just like, hire somebody to do

Daniel:

it for me. But then, like, I know enough to, like, maintain

Daniel:

it on my own. Even my response to Patrick as far as like having

Daniel:

somebody maintain it or doing it yourself So personally, I don't

Daniel:

do a whole lot with my website, so there's not much to maintain.

Daniel:

And I use WordPress. So like outside of updating plugins or

Daniel:

whatnot, there's not a whole lot of maintenance there. I do. So I

Daniel:

guess I'm curious about like, what do you mean by maintaining

Daniel:

it and what kind of control do you wish you have that you don't

Daniel:

have right now?

Bryan:

Yeah, So I think maybe while we're waiting for Patrick

Bryan:

to answer that, we want to move on to Andrea's question.

Daniel:

Yeah, Yeah.

Bryan:

Andrea asks whether you have any thoughts on multi-page

Bryan:

sites with a menu versus a single page scroll with

Bryan:

bookmarks to jump?

Danielle:

This for me is actually a brainbuster that I

Danielle:

feel like a lot of people struggle with, but it's really

Danielle:

not that difficult. I love the fact that this question is

Danielle:

brought up because a lot of people struggle with this. They

Danielle:

think that by having a singular page, it kind of helps with the

Danielle:

workload. But I will say Endless Scroll was something in 2023 we

Danielle:

are very tired of and people are going back to a little bit more

Danielle:

of the brochure website, which is rather have 3 to 5 pages to

Danielle:

look at that I can look at in 1 to 2 scrolls versus having an

Danielle:

infinite page where I am infinitely scrolling forever and

Danielle:

ever and ever. So I really encourage people for SEO

Danielle:

purposes. It actually is good to have more pages that emphasize

Danielle:

you then one page that emphasizes you. It's kind of one

Danielle:

of those things where you don't know whether or not the domino

Danielle:

effect can happen. You can't start the domino effect if you

Danielle:

only have one page. So it's really an interesting concept

Danielle:

when people ask that because I want to encourage them to branch

Danielle:

out a little bit by having at least 3 to 3 pages. But for the

Danielle:

purpose of whether or not they have an endless role or multiple

Danielle:

pages, I say go for the multiple pages. And can we keep the the

Danielle:

second menu too, like a minimum of like 2 to 3 pages underneath

Danielle:

that.

Daniel:

I'm totally like, I guess I'm part of the majority.

Daniel:

It's like I cannot stand single page websites. It annoys me to

Daniel:

no end.

Danielle:

Yeah, and this is kind of where I had to grow up quite

Danielle:

a bit because I was the minimalistic person. Like,

Danielle:

here's my cover page, here's the basis of what I do. This is why

Danielle:

I'm good at it now, believe me. And it was all like a singular

Danielle:

page. I've had to branch out a lot. And actually this is where

Danielle:

my my blog really kind of took shape and form. So now that I'm

Danielle:

able to have a website that actually showcases the main

Danielle:

nuggets about what I do, they can have a deeper dive and go

Danielle:

into like more category topics like products like top shows

Danielle:

that I care about or even ways to help them manage podcast

Danielle:

editing and how we can help them models, all those type of things.

Danielle:

So the more that you're putting out, there's the gravy concept,

Danielle:

right? The more we produce, the easier it will be for people to

Danielle:

find and allocate and know more about us. And it's very it's a

Danielle:

very true moment, to be really honest. We talk about that even

Danielle:

in terms for social media, for podcasting. People say, you know,

Danielle:

stick to one or two good meetings. You're really good at

Danielle:

that. You really want people to connect with and then branch off.

Danielle:

And I'm saying from my car awful lot today, it's really just

Danielle:

focus on all the areas as much as you possibly can get in a

Danielle:

good system of doing it and then start really busting out the

Danielle:

level of content that you want to put out in specific channels

Danielle:

versus versus before.

Jennifer:

All right, back to Patrick. He has come back about

Jennifer:

his his website. The editor is way different and there are

Jennifer:

things and instructions. I have not to touch certain parts of it.

Jennifer:

I'm one of his first clients was an aunt who's not hands off. So

Jennifer:

it's been an adjustment for both of us. Rules about image sizes,

Jennifer:

etc. So that's where the the issue is.

Daniel:

Yeah, it's a tough balance there between wanting to

Daniel:

have a website that you love versus one that you can actually

Daniel:

adjust as you need to.

Danielle:

Maybe you can get like a part time thing where you like

Danielle:

you.

Daniel:

Go not.

Danielle:

Have like window like only between eight and to be

Danielle:

retouch this website but it was a Friday and then all you do is

Danielle:

your hands off and.

Daniel:

On like a clone website that you can make sure it works

Daniel:

before you roll it out.

Jennifer:

He says Blogging is where I started, so I struggled

Jennifer:

to get my site to look less like a blog. That's why I had it.

Jennifer:

Redesign. Yeah, that's a different look. Totally.

Danielle:

Yeah. I'm just curious. This is me just asking. I know

Danielle:

you guys mentioned like Divvy. You guys mentioned like the

Danielle:

editors that you're using in some areas. Is anyone like, how

Danielle:

do you guys feel about elements or I use that a lot for

Danielle:

clientele.

Bryan:

So on a personal level, I've never used it, but it's

Bryan:

just another framework, right? My opinion, this is as long as

Bryan:

it's a framework that I can understand, I don't mind having

Bryan:

somebody else designed it or something like that. I have one

Bryan:

website that I work on that's not podcast related, that I just

Bryan:

do some updates. It's built in a on a different platform and it's

Bryan:

very designer focused, right? So it's very much on the visual is

Bryan:

very heavy, all of that stuff. I hate it, but it's because I

Bryan:

can't make it do what I want to do because it wasn't designed to

Bryan:

work that way. And so that's that's where the challenge comes

Bryan:

for me. So for me, the answer would be absolutely. If you want

Bryan:

to have a professional designer say, go for it, just make sure

Bryan:

that they use something that you're comfortable with. In

Bryan:

terms of the hand-off. Now, if they're going to continue

Bryan:

maintaining your site like Jennifer's is, well then that's

Bryan:

a different story. Use whatever they're comfortable with as long

Bryan:

as you don't mind being locked in. Right.

Jennifer:

And we have another question. Yeah, Yeah.

Bryan:

This one's great about this.

Jennifer:

Yeah. The quality of a web designer can be very

Jennifer:

different. What would be good questions to ask a web designer

Jennifer:

to ensure quality, functionality, etc.? Detail.

Danielle:

Oh, the go find. I love it. Okay, so first off, I

Danielle:

definitely want to know how long they've been doing it. And this

Danielle:

is a learned practice someone who's really good in their first

Danielle:

year hasn't hit a professional road speed bump yet, but they

Danielle:

have been able to do a lot of coding, right? So coding

Danielle:

experience is good, but we also want to make sure that the

Danielle:

business side of how they conduct business and do business

Danielle:

is also legit. So look for someone who has a little bit of

Danielle:

deeper experience, who've been in the game for a little while

Danielle:

to look for one trick ponies I despise. And I don't want

Danielle:

someone who's going to be able to just work in Joomla. I don't

Danielle:

want someone who's just going to work in WordPress unless I

Danielle:

specifically need the WordPress. I want someone who's a little

Danielle:

bit more advanced, someone who is flexible. Maybe they work

Danielle:

between two or three platforms. I personally work between three

Danielle:

main platforms. None of them include Wix. I want to make sure

Danielle:

like is I want to get yeah, deep down, you know. Yeah. But I want

Danielle:

to make sure that it that it works right like it has to

Danielle:

function. And then I also want to have a, someone who has a

Danielle:

good portfolio, someone who actually can show the work

Danielle:

that's actually out there in the world that you can go and visit.

Danielle:

A lot of people, build a lot of tests and dummy sites, and I

Danielle:

think that's great. I have plenty to spare in the 13 years

Danielle:

that I've been doing it. But I think in a lot of ways that when

Danielle:

you have something that is actually credible, that you can

Danielle:

go and tinker on someone else's site and see if that's in

Danielle:

comparison to some of the features or aspects that you

Danielle:

want on your site that becomes real. So those are the main

Danielle:

things that I feel like you should look out for. I always

Danielle:

love personality with a smile I love dark humor, so if anyone

Danielle:

uses that, that's always cute as one for me. But it doesn't have

Danielle:

to be that way. Find someone who really kind of initiates or

Danielle:

sparks you is usually when that connection happens, you're more

Danielle:

likely to have more of an actual relationship through this

Danielle:

experience versus a cold exchange of just getting it done.

Danielle:

I think I haven't watched some of this yet. Only listen. So

Danielle:

this is cool that I. So you think that.

Daniel:

It'd be different if Kerry was here because she

Daniel:

really has a couple.

Bryan:

So one of the things I love that you shared about that

Bryan:

was your perspective on what we should ask about. Because in my

Bryan:

mind, if you're wondering what are your prospective clients

Bryan:

wondering as they're looking for a prospective editor, it might

Bryan:

be things along those lines. Are you a one trick pony? Do you

Bryan:

have work that you can stand behind? Can you demonstrate that

Bryan:

you've been doing this long enough that you actually know

Bryan:

how to fix problems instead of just dealing with the perfectly

Bryan:

recorded stuff that you did in audio school? Like those are all

Bryan:

key questions.

Daniel:

And I love the personality aspect. Finding

Daniel:

somebody you click with because like the person who designed my

Daniel:

website, like he was okay, but it was hard to communicate. And

Daniel:

so trying to and especially if somebody you can't stand talking

Daniel:

to or don't have like a good relationship with, it makes it

Daniel:

more difficult to explain and ask for the changes and like

Daniel:

what you want in your website. So having somebody be a little

Daniel:

more friendly with, it's easier to kind of like work through

Daniel:

that process.

Danielle:

We can all be Klingons and they can't. Great wrong side.

Jennifer:

So we have another question.

Daniel:

Oh, actually, before we get to that, I do want to

Daniel:

another thing that popped my head when you were talking, as

Daniel:

you said, you like you work with a couple of platforms, so people

Daniel:

maybe want to do it themselves. What are like your

Daniel:

recommendation for platforms to work with and which ones to

Daniel:

avoid?

Danielle:

Sure I do love working with WordPress, I do love

Danielle:

Squarespace. I do love even to job. I mean, those are some

Danielle:

really top leagues that I feel like I'm I'm very advanced in.

Danielle:

That takes a little bit of learning especially good job if

Danielle:

that's like your something that you see and you see that price

Danielle:

tag and you're like, I don't know if I should invest on that

Danielle:

level. We're looking at dropping three GS real fast, but I think

Danielle:

it's really admirable for people who are willing to take that

Danielle:

leap and say, Yes, I trust someone who's very skilled in

Danielle:

this area too, to do this work on my behalf. So I definitely

Danielle:

love WordPress, I love Squarespace. I have definitely

Danielle:

done several things hand coded by hand. HTML five. Get out of

Danielle:

here. I know high five. I've gone all the way to the early

Danielle:

parts of of designing all the way to more intricate parts. So

Danielle:

I do like WordPress base. Those are my top two two job would be

Danielle:

a third option if you're if your pocket book is a fourth.

Daniel:

Have a bittersweet relationship with Javi Chappy.

Jennifer:

Obviously I mean, people who are just listening

Jennifer:

can't see your face. But when she said hijabi, you had a

Jennifer:

visual reaction down.

Daniel:

Side tangent I like I've been working with WordPress

Daniel:

since like when I still were primarily a blogging framework.

Daniel:

My biggest gripe with Hijabi is there's no like clear formatting

Daniel:

button. So whenever I copy paste like a word doc or something and

Daniel:

you go look at the HTML, you have like all this unnecessary

Daniel:

code and make things look weird. So alternative is to like a

Daniel:

paste without formatting. And now you get to go in and like

Daniel:

fix everything and put all the links back in. It's just like

Daniel:

it's one simple function would completely change my perception

Daniel:

of them.

Danielle:

I completely agree with that. It's a fair

Danielle:

assessment. I've had some clients that try to do it by

Danielle:

hand and say, okay, you know, I'm going to rebel against this

Danielle:

decade plus years of your experience and kind of wiggle it

Danielle:

out of my own 45 minutes. And they usually come back usually

Danielle:

within a week or two and say their tails on their shirt tails.

Danielle:

Tuckered in there? Yeah, right. I shouldn't have tried this on

Danielle:

my own. Can you help me? And I get that. And then you've got

Danielle:

the people who actually are trying to learn something new.

Danielle:

And because they have not experienced something else

Danielle:

before, this is their new and this is they kind of

Danielle:

precondition. Right. Are reconditioned in some areas. And

Danielle:

I think that can also be a learning experience, too. But I

Danielle:

completely agree. If you're old school, you've been doing it

Danielle:

since the very beginning, and we're going back to The Matrix

Danielle:

almost. And I just feel like this would be a difficult

Danielle:

challenge for you. So it really depends on your learning curve

Danielle:

there. But I do tell people all the time, if you're looking for

Danielle:

just quick, visual friendly platforms, WordPress obviously

Danielle:

is a definite go to. And so Squarespace.

Bryan:

Yeah, of those two, I think that Squarespace is

Bryan:

probably the one that's a little bit more newbie friendly. I

Bryan:

definitely, at least my experience has been that

Bryan:

WordPress is way more powerful and extensible, but I really

Bryan:

don't care that much for Squarespace. So I never found

Bryan:

out the limits of what it can do either.

Danielle:

Oh man. I mean, like the SEO compatibility alone with

Danielle:

Squarespace, I think that was one of the cooler features when

Danielle:

Squarespace. Squarespace first came out, that was like their

Danielle:

big push was don't worry about the SEO as much, we've got your

Danielle:

back and haven't actually got to work a little bit with the Inner

Danielle:

Circle Committee with Squarespace specifically, if you

Danielle:

don't know about the inner circle, it's like the people who

Danielle:

designed, you know, hundreds or even thousands of sites using

Danielle:

the Squarespace platform, you can get kind of insider

Danielle:

knowledge. You can get free releases, things along those

Danielle:

lines. Check that out. It's called Inner Circle. And I

Danielle:

absolutely love that Squarespace went ahead straight from the bat

Danielle:

and said, hey, we don't want you to worry about the SEO as much.

Danielle:

We'll start taking care of some of that for you. And they did.

Danielle:

They delivered on that promise. The problem was, was that when

Danielle:

they started upgrading a lot of their older platforms and these

Danielle:

newer platform websites, it kind of became a little bit more

Danielle:

begrudgingly. So so yeah, we're going to give you more SEO, but

Danielle:

only this much. And then if you want more, you'll have to pay to

Danielle:

play. And so that got frowned upon, right? So I think they did

Danielle:

lose a little bit of their early audience in the beginnings of

Danielle:

Squarespace when they made that transition. But now for people

Danielle:

who are just looking for quick, easy, I just want to type in a

Danielle:

couple of answers to some of these questions. That is a

Danielle:

definite go to for people are looking to just get started,

Danielle:

either building their own podcast website or even creating

Danielle:

a services page for the services they do in and around.

Daniel:

Yeah, I do think with Brian that Squarespace is a lot

Daniel:

easier to use. And another thing, it's impossible to break your

Daniel:

website with Squarespace compared to WordPress. WordPress

Daniel:

is really easy. Install one wrong plug in or you

Daniel:

accidentally try to make an edit and end up deleting a client's

Daniel:

entire website like don't.

Danielle:

Now this is the beauty of working with hosting

Danielle:

providers who can provide up to the minute 24 hours I'm in

Danielle:

service. I'm grateful for for people who are not GoDaddy fans.

Danielle:

I'm a GoDaddy fan, have been using it for years. We're

Danielle:

partners with them. We love the ability that we can in one click,

Danielle:

Restore something that happened 5 minutes ago, 5 hours ago, five

Danielle:

days ago, within one click, all within less than 10 minutes of

Danielle:

us logging in. I do like that accessibility feature. Other

Danielle:

sites, other places have done that as well, but I just

Danielle:

personally love having that accessibility through GoDaddy.

Danielle:

We've been using them for eight years almost, and.

Bryan:

I wanted to hit this one because it it is worth noting

Bryan:

that with WordPress there can be a lot of hack attacks. So just

Bryan:

be careful. In fact, one of the sites that I manage, it's not

Bryan:

actually my site, but I manage it is dealing with that right

Bryan:

now. There's been an uptick in hack attacks. I use some

Bryan:

security protocols that I have in place and so I'm like

Bryan:

literally on this call, I'm still blocking IP because it's

Bryan:

bouncing from the Netherlands to China to whatever, Right. That

Bryan:

stuff is happening. But yeah, What are your thoughts, Danielle,

Bryan:

in terms of what tools we might use to protect ourselves from

Bryan:

attacks?

Danielle:

Absolutely. I use security stand. I have I love

Danielle:

being able to use a very whatever. How do you even

Danielle:

pronounce all the way? I ask the NSA customer service, I might

Danielle:

pronounce it. Is it security scan or security scan? Like I

Danielle:

don't I don't know how the letters come together anyway. I

Danielle:

absolutely love using them. I use them for malware purposes

Danielle:

all the time. There's also oh gosh, there's another one.

Bryan:

I use word fence. I'm not sure if that's what you're

Bryan:

thinking of.

Danielle:

That's one I've heard of as well. I personally do not

Danielle:

use it, but yes, I've heard of plenty of other people who are

Danielle:

developing WordPress websites. Use that as a base for malware

Danielle:

protection if you think of hacking things along those lines.

Danielle:

So I encourage people do their homework. There is some innate

Danielle:

things that naturally come, some from the hosting provider in

Danielle:

regards to making sure you have scans on your website on a daily

Danielle:

basis. So that's also something to think about depending on

Danielle:

where you are, whether you're with Bluehost or GoDaddy or I

Danielle:

think this is what we were talking about before and I don't

Danielle:

even know, is it the virus die? Various die? Yep. So this is one

Danielle:

that I personally use and I definitely can guarantee that

Danielle:

this is top tier. So I absolutely love to that. Even

Danielle:

when we talk about malware protection that people are aware

Danielle:

of it because a lot of people still build their websites

Danielle:

thinking that my hosting has it. But really hacking is just going

Danielle:

to continue to elevate over time. So this is something that you

Danielle:

should be very aware of and taking the proper steps to

Danielle:

protect your website.

Jennifer:

Facebook user has a good karma. If you have your own

Jennifer:

domain for your website, it's always good practice to email

Jennifer:

like hello at your domain instead of gmail hotmail outlook

Jennifer:

so you can market your domain instead of Gmail and more

Jennifer:

professional, you would need your email hosting though. Blah

Jennifer:

blah blah. Yeah, but. But my mind breaks sometimes and Carri

Jennifer:

broke her email once too. So I mean is a challenge.

Danielle:

I love my business. Business Gmail, I've never

Danielle:

stopped ever using it, so it works out great for me. That's

Danielle:

linked directly to my domain. I have to worry about, you know,

Danielle:

not informative, know I'm a team of team of six women across five

Danielle:

countries. So it's really important for me to to make sure

Danielle:

that everyone has singular working emails. Domains are

Danielle:

working together adversely in the universe. So I think it's

Danielle:

really for me, this is a no brainer. Like, I love being able

Danielle:

to have that type of security. Gmail has not failed me. Sorry.

Danielle:

Okay.

Bryan:

So one of the things I'm wondering as we think about

Bryan:

websites, right, because we've talked about maybe some design

Bryan:

elements and some of that stuff, but I think there are some of us,

Bryan:

me included, who are wondering, like, is my website really

Bryan:

working for me or against me? If you were going to go take a look

Bryan:

at somebody who's website, what are maybe a couple of things

Bryan:

that you would have them look at and maybe try to self-diagnose

Bryan:

some things before you start taking the next step?

Danielle:

How fast does your page load? That's usually the

Danielle:

number one indicator.

Bryan:

And what's it? Is it like less than a second? Less than

Bryan:

half a second? What? What's your target?

Danielle:

I would say anything under 2 seconds. I mean, that's

Danielle:

really, to be honest, two and a half.

Bryan:

Okay.

Danielle:

I hate to say even three, because sometimes even

Danielle:

the third just kind of bogged down from there. I really tell

Danielle:

people if it takes too long for you to to say, huh, that's doing

Danielle:

too long. Like it's it's taking too long to load. So page speed

Danielle:

is usually my definite go to as an indicator if something is not

Danielle:

working well on your website. The second one would probably be

Danielle:

if your WordPress was your plug ins, taking a look at plug ins

Danielle:

would be the second area that I would look at on the back end

Danielle:

just to see if that's something that's all. Everything's

Danielle:

compatible. It's working for you. You wouldn't believe how many

Danielle:

times, even though we say like automated data, sometimes it

Danielle:

doesn't necessarily auto update or something happens in between

Danielle:

the last update in the current update to where it drops and

Danielle:

then you're just stuck and doesn't refresh at all. And if

Danielle:

you go monthly refreshing your website, that could be a

Danielle:

potential 30 days of something else affecting your site,

Danielle:

preventing people from wanting to interact with you. Right. So

Danielle:

we want to try remove as many website roadblocks as possible.

Danielle:

So that would be another area to go to. Another one would be

Danielle:

heavy for you. So if you've got heavy files on your site now,

Danielle:

for a lot of people, they're like, okay, you know what's

Danielle:

heavy? Obviously, if it's taking forever to load the one graphic

Danielle:

that's at the top of your page, your your hero graphic or

Danielle:

whatever that may be, we need to rethink about resizing that or

Danielle:

stripping it down a little bit in file size so that you can

Danielle:

actually have it load up as fast as you want it to. Again, you

Danielle:

have that three second rule for people to make that first

Danielle:

impression of you. That's it. 3 seconds. That's really it. The

Danielle:

first 3 seconds, I can tell whether or not I want to keep

Danielle:

scrolling or I'm going to lift up my thumb and scroll to

Danielle:

another page. I'm going to take tock instead of going to you.

Danielle:

You know, that's really all you got that's the that's my main

Danielle:

things that I would look at primarily.

Bryan:

Thanks.

Danielle:

Yeah.

Bryan:

I mean, I feel like I've talked too much, so I'm trying

Bryan:

to be quiet so everybody else can have a chance.

Daniel:

So having a good foundation knowledge, I

Daniel:

understand from what back design communication is important. Do

Daniel:

you have any resources for that?

Danielle:

I'm saying website. Yes. Me I do all of these things

Danielle:

I teach and all these things. I actually have a yearly

Danielle:

educational brand intensive that we hosted at the last three

Danielle:

months of the year called Q One Essentials, where I actually

Danielle:

teach live class in a group setting very similar to this,

Danielle:

and we talk everything from resources for your website to

Danielle:

domain protection to basics of WordPress.

Daniel:

Awesome. And where can they reach out if they want to

Daniel:

talk to you?

Danielle:

Lex Octane dot com. That is my jam. Instagram is my

Danielle:

number two jam, so you can actually hit me up there if you

Danielle:

ever want to chat one on one. But yes, those are the two main

Danielle:

places that I would love for people to get us.

Daniel:

And quick. Now apparently hashtag podcasting is

Daniel:

trending on Twitter.

Bryan:

So Instagram's your jam, but I don't see it linked up on

Bryan:

your website. I was going to go click through so I could grab

Bryan:

your link.

Danielle:

So it's at the bottom. Okay, I'm working. So to be

Danielle:

really honest, our website actually tweets.

Bryan:

Is perfect timing.

Danielle:

Is being redesigned right now. So it comes out at

Danielle:

the end of this month so we can look out for that. It will

Danielle:

include a playlist of Tower songs by the ladies of T

Danielle:

Montaigne. So it will be, I'm sure, full of it.

Daniel:

All right, final question. You said you're a

Daniel:

retro gamer. Give us one gaming recommendation and we'll do

Daniel:

project.

Danielle:

Oh,

Danielle:

don't rush into the dead zone.

Daniel:

Okay.

Danielle:

Now, if this is is something coming from Mario,

Danielle:

years of Mario, years of the Sonic, the Hedgehog, years of

Danielle:

Tetris. Don't go into the dead zone. You don't have to go in

Danielle:

there. I know sometimes it's very if you want to go in there

Danielle:

and you want to hurry up and just get it in, maybe get the

Danielle:

goodie or the extra or the bonus or whatever, you don't have to

Danielle:

do it. You can just bypass that. You get to the end. But I do

Danielle:

tell people all the time life is more like Tetris and less like

Danielle:

Mario. So that's my quote for this.

Daniel:

Okay, put that on a t shirt.

Jennifer:

I think you don't you.

Danielle:

Know, but I do have like Prince and all the things.

Danielle:

So, yeah, I'm I'm sitting here with Sonic tonight. So we're

Danielle:

we're making it real. We're going to happen.

Daniel:

All right. So, Danielle, give us a number between one

Daniel:

through five. Normally Brian does that, but he's given me the

Daniel:

privilege of doing the podcast question tonight.

Danielle:

Who? Okay, I'm going pick three.

Daniel:

Okay, perfect. If you could send a message in to the I

Daniel:

think we've done this before, but if you could send a message

Daniel:

to the entire world, what would you say? And 30 seconds.

Danielle:

Oh, shoot, let's not my 30 seconds, Michael. Same

Danielle:

thing. Life was more like Tetris and less like Mario.

Daniel:

They love it.

Jennifer:

Don't bother Blue. Yeah.

Daniel:

My.

Daniel:

I would say whatever is bothering you is probably not as

Daniel:

important or won't seem as important in a few years. So

Daniel:

focus on the good and live your best life.

Bryan:

I think mine would require a megaphone, but it

Bryan:

would be stop being mean to each other. Oh I'm a parent too, so

Bryan:

I'm saying that a lot.

Jennifer:

Otherwise mine is. If you can't be good, be funny.

Daniel:

Okay. And if you have an answer to the question, feel

Daniel:

free to leave it on our website. You just go to podcast. Editor's

Daniel:

message My dot com Find the episode number 76 and leave a

Daniel:

comment on that blog post. Patrick says Mine is Be Good

Daniel:

Children, which is good because he's a teacher. So I'm sure

Daniel:

that's probably something he says on a daily basis. And Kyle

Daniel:

says, Be kind, which I think, yeah, we need more of.

Bryan:

Yes. Steve says, Thank you, Danielle in the voice of

Bryan:

Yoda much I have learned today. That's great.

Jennifer:

You didn't do it in The Voice.

Bryan:

I can't do Yoda's voice. I can barely do Bryan's voice.

Daniel:

Danielle, can you do the Yoda voice for us?

Danielle:

Oh. Oh, man, I know you're going to ask that

Danielle:

question.

Daniel:

Okay, that's fair. That's fair. Yeah. But you want

Daniel:

to be a guest on the show. Just do exactly what Danielle did. Go

Daniel:

to podcast editor. That's mine dot com. Be a guest spot the

Daniel:

form. It sends us a message and we'll be in touch. And this is

Daniel:

where the yard expert like Danielle is and have incredible

Daniel:

incredible insights and information that you want to

Daniel:

share to the community at large or if you are struggling with

Daniel:

something in your own podcast editing business and you want

Daniel:

the advice of your colleagues, it's all the same. Fill out the

Daniel:

form and we would love to have you on.

Jennifer:

I'm Jennifer Longworth with Barber and Barrow

Jennifer:

Podcasting. You can find me at Bourbon barrel Podcasting dot

Jennifer:

com new website coming soon.

Bryan:

I'm Brandon Springer you can find me at top tier audio

Bryan:

dot com and next to me is.

Daniel:

Daniel Abendroth in a five year rap media audio.

Jennifer:

In our special guest.

Danielle:

Oh I'm Daniel with Octane science and you can find

Danielle:

me at look blockchain dot com.

Jennifer:

And not appearing tonight is Kari copy Eric at

Jennifer:

Kari dot land. Thank you all for joining us and we will see it in

Jennifer:

about two weeks at 905 Eastern time.

Daniel:

Pay.

Daniel:

So how much is that?

Daniel:

So

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About the Podcast

Podcast Editors Mastermind
The Good, The Bad, and The Yeti
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About your hosts

Jennifer Longworth

Profile picture for Jennifer Longworth
Bourbon Barrel Podcasting was founded in 2019 when Jennifer Longworth, with 14 years of audio editing experience, decided to get serious about editing podcasts for Central Kentuckians. Jennifer edits podcasts for established podcasters and helps new podcasters get started with the basics.

Carrie Caulfield Arick

Profile picture for Carrie Caulfield Arick
Carrie Caulfield Arick is a nerd for sound, stories, and listening. She’s learned from and worked with the industry’s best producers in her role as writer, editor and sound designer. Carrie is a co-founder of the femxle podcast post-production community, Just Busters and co-host of Podcast Editors Mastermind. Oh, and she likes cats… a lot.

Daniel Abendroth

Profile picture for Daniel Abendroth
Hi, I’m Daniel and my podcast editing services will make your podcasts sound smooth and professional, while saving you time and money.

Bryan Entzminger

Profile picture for Bryan Entzminger
Bryan Entzminger is the owner of Top Tier Audio, a podcast production company. He's the host of Hiring a Podcast Editor and cohost of the Podcast Gauntlet and the Podcast Editors Mastermind. He's also the founder of the Hindy Users (Unofficial) group for Hindenburg users on Facebook. He loves sharing the lessons he’s learned from his struggles and others he's met along the way so that you can have a podcast that you’re proud of without letting podcast production take over your life.