Matt Levenhagen of Unified Web Design works with businesses to translate their visions into code. He's been working on the web for 20 years and his business just passed its five-year mark.

https://www.thebuilders.fm/
https://www.unifiedwebdesign.com/
https://twitter.com/mattlevenhagen

This episode focuses on why custom WordPress websites allow you to scale your business, how maintenance allows you to make "quick changes," and ends with five quick takes you'll want to hear.

"Once you have that website, especially on WordPress, the beautiful thing is that it can grow with your business." Matt Levenhagen

Did you miss my last appearance on his podcast (July 2022)? Watch it on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbmexJxfu6E

Listen to more episodes of the Launch With Words Podcast on your favorite podcast player or on the landing page for the podcast, hosted on Castos.

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

Sherry Holub of JV Media Design is "Your trusted partner for worry-free custom websites + design." She is the Creative Director at JVM Design with over 25 years of experience designing custom WordPress sites. When she's not helping support nonprofit and LGBTQIA+ businesses, she's taste-testing cupcakes and fostering cats.

https://jvmediadesign.com/

This episode focuses on why it's important to hire a professional, how custom sites help small businesses, and what you should look out for in security and marketing scams out there.

"You may be the expert in your business, but you're not the expert in everything." Sherry Holub

(Did you miss our first conversation? Watch it on YouTube.)

https://www.youtube.com/live/-RyoY1QTGbc?si=0OBv2nxwTCAMMWVS

Listen to more episodes of the Launch With Words Podcast on your favorite podcast player or on the landing page for the podcast, hosted on Castos.

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

It's 2023 and the Launch With Words Podcast is back. If you haven't listened to episodes before, feel free to start at Season 1. I don't put my episodes behind a paywall.

This season is going to be all about WebDevs. I'll be interviewing people who build websites to help you, the small business owner, understand the process and participation that goes into website launches.

WebDevs: I just released the Launch With Words SEO Mini-Pack and that is available here.

https://bit.ly/LWWSEO

September 2023 will include an eCommerce Mini-Pack. And I'll also be taking requests for topics.

Do you just post like a robot, schedule everything, and never respond? When's the last time you took a look at your target audience? Who are they -- really? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by writer and developer Hashim Warren for an insightful conversation on the importance of humanity in marketing.

"So the way that I've grown is understanding that not all of their business has to transact through the website. So I used to oversell the website as a part of the sales process now I'd say your website is your recommendation tool -- even when you have great word of mouth. That person who's receiving that referral is going to look you up online. You want your story to be the first thing there." Hashim Warren

Follow Hashim on Twitter

https://twitter.com/hashim_warren

Justice Year Newsletter

https://justiceyear.com/

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/launch-with-words/

http://bit.ly/LWWPremium

Do you just post like a robot, schedule everything, and never respond? When's the last time you took a look at your target audience? Who are they -- really? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by writer and social media manager, Carol Stephen, for an insightful conversation on the importance of empathy in our marketing.

"I think empathy is more important than ever. And if somebody's bullying somebody else, for example, that doesn't go over. You know? People are quick to jump in and help that person. I think that's become more evident over the last couple of years" Carol Stephen

Follow Carol on Twitter

https://twitter.com/carol_stephen

Carol Stephen's Blog

https://yoursocialmediaworks.com/blog

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/launch-with-words/

00:22.64
Bridget Willard
Hey hey! Welcome to another episode of Launch With Words. This is season 2, episode 8 with my very good friend Carol Stephen. Carol, how are you doing today?

00:33.77
Carol Stephen
But I'm doing great today. It's a wonderful day. We just had a big rainstorm and we're in the middle of a drought. So we're very happy. Oh yeah, everybody just loves going outside after the rain.

00:41.50
Bridget Willard
Yeah, that's good and I love the way it smells after the rain. It's just, it just feels, it smells so fresh and clean and it's just wonderful. Gets all the pollen out of the air.

00:59.35
Bridget Willard
So, when it comes to like you're small. I mean I know like you have roots in technical writing and you've worked with a lot of startups in the Silicon Valley area of the Bay Area of California but you also work with small businesses. So a lot of times you're doing the writing but I imagine sometimes people are like where do I even start? I mean what is your advice to small businesses who know they need to be blogging like we've said it enough like how do they even start.

01:32.74
Carol Stephen
Oh my gosh. Well I think the number 1 thing is they have to find their audience. So they need to know who their audience is. Like who is that person in the middle of their target? And I think for some people, that's probably changed since they started their business and they might not have revisited who their audience is. So if it's been two or three years I'd really recommend that people revisit figuring out who their target audience is. Now you don't necessarily have to pay somebody to help you do this but you you know you could find somebody who's just outside your business and someone who'll be honest with you to give you some advice.

02:14.35
Bridget Willard
Yeah, that's really important. Rhonda with Fat Dog Creatives and I are doing a presentation at our small business chamber in a couple weeks. And we're like your website has to talk to your customer. It's not about you and then we both said that to each other and then we both went and looked up our own websites really quick.

02:35.25
Carol Stephen
Ah, well, that's right because I was thinking about my own business and it's changed so much. So I mean this is something that I'm telling myself as much as I'm telling the person listening to this that um that person that you were targeting is not the same person. And that that goes for everybody. So a refresh is good even if it is the same audience is it's a good reminder to do this exercise to figure out who that person is so.

03:03.60

Is blogging bad or a waste of time? Do home remodelers and design-builders have to blog? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by SEO Writer, Tess Wittler, for an insightful conversation on why small businesses should care about publishing regularly on their websites.

"Your website is your Number 1 piece of digital real estate." Tess Wittler

Follow Tess on Twitter

https://twitter.com/TessWittler

Tess Wittler's Website

https://tesswittler.com/

Are you ready for the Done For You Newsletter?

https://bit.ly/DoneForYouTess

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/launch-with-words/

00:19.11
Bridget Willard
Hey, hey! Thanks for joining me again on another episode this time with my longtime friend Tess Whitler. She is a remodeler and custom home builder marketing solutions person. She is that Marketing Department that you want. She has a Done For You Newsletter Program. She is amazing. She is smart. Tess, welcome to the show. So I know that you have been writing in the service industry for contractors for

00:40.92
Tess Wittler
Oh it's great to be here. Bridget thank you.

00:52.41
Bridget Willard
a very long time enough to have a MBA if if we were just handing them out. How do we get people who are small business owners, how do we get plumbers and yoga teachers and manicurists to care about having a blog on their website?

01:12.79
Tess Wittler
Wow so you know that's kind of like the million-dollar question but it really boils down to a couple of things, right? So it. It boils down to um Google likes fresh websites and fresh content. So what better way to do that than to have a blog? But more importantly than that, I think that 1 thing that a lot of small businesses sometimes forget is as we're feeding that Google Monster, you know, common, everyday customers -- they check you out before they ever pick up the phone to call you. You know they go to your Facebook page and they go to your Instagram and they go to your Google My Business or Google Business Profile as it's called now. And they definitely go to your website to learn more about you to see if.

01:54.94
Bridget Willard
Hm.
Bridget Willard

02:07.76
Tess Wittler
number 1 you offer the services that they're looking for and number 2 if you are the right solution. So I think even more important than, than SEO which is definitely my geek zone and I love that space. But I think even more importantly than that, it's just to be able to be there to help your potential customers understand what you do and get to know you better.

02:28.41
Bridget Willard
Oh for sure. I mean yeah, if Marcy told me to go to Alamo City Plumbing because my bidet is leaking, Ah, I'm gonna go look and see if they even talk about bidets. I'm gonna look and see if they have reviews I'm gonna check out their, you know, Facebook Page. Are they still even in business? Do they have Instagram? What is going on with this place? And I think that most people have overly obsessed on what's being found ah on a Google Search Engine Result or the SERPs. Um as opposed to "plumber near me."

02:49.93
Tess Wittler
Yep.

03:06.77
Bridget Willard
Ah, "manicurist near me." I mean how many of us are doing those searches?

03:10.77
Tess Wittler
All the time every single day.

03:14.10
Bridget Willard
Yeah, because I...

How do you start writing if you keep staring at a blank page? Are you in your own way? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by marketer and coach Jen McFarland for an insightful conversation on why small businesses should put their audience first with their website content.

"You just have to get started." Jen McFarland

Follow Jen on Twitter

https://twitter.com/jensmcfarland

Jen's Blog Post on ClickFunnels

https://womenconquerbiz.com/clickfunnels-review-2022/

Take an Ephipahy Course and Stop Decision Fatigue

https://epiphanycourses.com/

00:19.23
Bridget Willard
Hey hey thanks for joining me on this latest episode. I'm here with the Jen Mcfarland. Welcome! I am doing fabulous.

00:26.61
Jen McFarland
Hey hey how are you doing, Bridget? How you doing listeners?

00:33.64
Bridget Willard
And so we're we're talking to our small business owners. You and I have worked with a lot of clients and what's like so something that you kind of wish I feel like you wish they had an epiphany about?

00:49.16
Jen McFarland
Ah I feel like all of us as consultants give our clients small epiphanies every single day and that's one of the reasons why I started a new business called Epiphany Courses -- because it's our job as consultants to do that. But then there are people who can't afford us as. Consultants. So Why not give them little epiphanies? And that's my new business called EpiphanyCourses. They are courses based on business decisions, so in in an hour or less, you can make some exceptional business decisions on things that often confuse a lot of people. Like I am a total tech Nerd. We've just spent the last.

01:25.62
Bridget Willard
Um.

01:26.80
Jen McFarland
What hour talking about all of our tech nerdiness? And so a lot of things that I am passionate about people get really confused about. And so that's kind of my focus whether it's on my podcast or my website or now with courses is to just help people untangle the techie bits that seem to really keep them from taking action on things.

01:47.95
Bridget Willard
Yeah, um, with the Launch With Words starter pack the whole point of it is that it gets imported as a blog draft and so they know how to use the Draft Folder in WordPress. So just write. You know? A lot of people wanted it to be complicated, like a course, I'm like no -- small business owners don't have time for this crap. They just need to get in there write a blog post.

02:11.56
Jen McFarland
Yeah, and well what I love about what it is that you've done is it's like you're giving them drafts and you're giving them prompts. Like so many people hate the blank page and I'm one of them. And I've actually sometimes hired people just to help me keep the blank page from staring back at me. And when I see somebody else start it then I'm like oh okay now I got this. Now I can do this because I love to write; I hate the blank page. And that's what is so powerful about Launch With Words, I think, in the people that I work with they're like: I don't even know how to get started. So now I can be like well actually here's the thing.

02:45.69
Bridget Willard
Yeah, the blank page is a...

How much does SEO matter to a small business? How complicated is coming up with blogging topics? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by writer Kitty Webb for an insightful conversation on why small businesses should put their audience first with their website content.

"Always think about your customer first." Kitty Webb

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/launch-with-words/

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02:23.25
Bridget Willard
Hey hey it's season 2 episode 5 with Kitty Webb Webb -- one of my favorite people on the planet: SEO, writer, dancer. All the things.

02:34.62
Kitty Webb
All the things.

02:39.90
Bridget Willard
So We're talking to small business owners, Kitty Webb, and like to me everything I know about you makes SEO so easy like it's not really that hard. Like what are some of your like top-of-mind tips to small business owners who are writing their own content?

02:58.29
Kitty Webb
Well first of all, you're not writing for Google you're writing for people. Google is a tool that is trying to connect actual human beings with the information that they want to find and it gets better and better at that as time goes on so you see a lot of these trends in SEO. And everybody's talking about things like keyword density and neural networks and now they're like looking at different keyword categories and you look at Wikipedia and then you look at the subcategories in the Wikipedia category to make sure that you have your internal linking. None of that is necessary because all of that has to do with Google trying to find ways to connect actual human beings with the answers that they want. And it gets better and better and if that's what you're focused on then you really don't have to worry about all those complexities of SEO. Um, honestly, that really only comes into play when you're in the corporate SEO category and it's hyper-competitive and you're competing against Walmart or Petco or something like that, you know, which I've done. And that's a different ball game. But if you are you know a roofing company a contractor, a dentist. Um Google's not going to put you up against dentistry.com. I assume that's a...