If you run a WordPress based business for a while, eventually you look back with hindsight and wonder what you would have done different. What’s interesting is the things you think you should have done better, smarter etc. when you started ARE things you should be doing now.
Anyway, this list right here is EXACTLY how I’d start my WordPress business if I was starting tomorrow.
1. Charge higher fees and more often
The single biggest issue that WordPress businesses have, is that they charge WAY too little for a website. Because a theme only costs a few bucks and you’re setting up a few plugins, you might feel guilty about charging more.
First, here’s the truth. Your customers aren’t buying a theme and a few plugins. They’re also not really paying for a website. What customers want is more customers or more sales or more traffic. Whatever their goal is, a website is supposed to help with that.
Now, I charge anywhere from £6500 up to £30 000 ($50 000) for a website. That might sound a lot, but I spent a lot of time looking for customers that could a) afford that and b) understood that they’d be getting a return on their investment.
Secondly, you should be charging monthly or quartlery to maintain, update and keep a website secure and safe. EVERY investment in the WORLD has monthly fees. Rent, MOT’s and servicing for cars, housing insurance etc. Businesses that charge recurring fees in exchange for maintenence and work become profitable faster.
If you want to read more on how to charge recurring fees, check out this post on WP Elevation. Or, if you want to see how I charged my first £3500 for a website take a read here.
2. Focus on one product for one customer at a time
When we’re starting out, we want to grab every opportunity we can. While that is absolutely commendable and in the spirit of ‘entreprenuership’, it sometimes isn’t as productive as it might seem.
Often when we’re starting out or WordPress business, we want to offer the widest range of services available becuase we believe that it casts the widest net. However in my experience, I’ve found that not being specific has lead me to sell and work on social media, SEO, design and development. All things that might be related, but are togh to manage by yourself.
If I had to go back, I’d pick one product (maybe lead capture for WordPress websites?) and find ONE customer who needs that. I’d spend every day looking for that one customer who needs more leads through their WordPress website.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t cross and up-sell, quite the opposite. I’m saying that by focusing on getting one person to buy one managable product, you’re more likely to find profitable work.
3. Advertise locally, online, and offer a Light Bulb Moment
I must have attended 10 networking events a month when I started. I was told that was how I’d get work and meet people. And to be fair, I’ve met some of my closest and strongest friends through these networks. It’s also important to hang out with other business owners and get involved with the local business community.
Having said that, for the reasons I mentioned in point 2, you can’t select who you’re getting in front of at events. So it’s harder to be specific and narrow down who to approach.
Similarly, with print advertising (of which I must have spent hndreds over the years and yeilded no return), you have no control over who sees it and no way to measure the effectivness of the advert.
On the other hand, I now spend $10/£7 a week on paid social advertising and my list of leads grows every day.
If I had to start my WordPress business again, I’d set aside an advertising budget for each week. I’d target exactly who I want to get in front of and put a lead magnet or light bulb momnet in front of them. It’s more cost effective, I can be super precise with my targeting and I do it now and it works.
4. Communicate every day and on every activity
This is a simple one. If I was starting my WordPress business again, I’d send out a tweet, email, post or comment on something that I’ve done today. Not everything all the time, not for every audience. But for example, on Mondays I’d post my to-do list on my Facebook page.
On Tuesday I’d find a community of people online, who could be customers, and post comments on their problem pages.
Wednesday would be tweeting out my current blog posts (on that note, I’d also write way more). Thursday would be an email to my current list of leads and on Friday I’d email customers telling them what I’ve done this week for them.
These activities take 2 mins each and get you in the habit of finding and creating content.
5. Document every process and use it
Something that has seperated me from my competition fast and early on, was having a process for everything. From sending an email, writing a blog post to consultation sessions. Everything has a set step by step process. Nothing too crazy, it’s just a set of bullet points.
Whenever I do anything new, I wrote down what I did at each stage. As I did it again and again I added more detail and edited it. Eventually, I’d record with screen capture software what I did. Eventually I built a process that I could hand over to other people and pay them to get the same results.
6. Stop buying new sh*t
This is the MOST common thing I see people doing wrong is buying more software and products for their business and expecting things to just fall out of the sky. I had a habbit of buying themes, plugins, templates, courses, software and subscription services and expecting the investment to pay itself off.
If I had to start my WordPress business again, I’d buy ONE theme and 5 plugins that I know I’d need (OptinMonster, Gravity forms, Beaver builder/Visual composer, backup buddy and Yeost SEO).
Since I’ve got bigger and busier, I’ve relied more and more on a handful of apps and items that WORK and I can use rather than a menagerie of products.
Takeaway
So, if I was starting again, what would I do? Be more specific with what I do, buy less sh*t and find more targeted people. The interesting thing is that we often think that we can’t start again without starting fresh. We’ll change the name and domain of the business and think that makes it better. You can make these changes today and your business will be better for it.
What do you think? Have I missed the mark? Would any of these things make your list or would you do something different? Let me know in the comments below.
Remember, if you want my $100 000 marketing funnel plan, with every email and when you send it, for free, you can sign up below.
