How To Make your Website WORK for YOU with CJ Gilbert

Kathi: Hi everyone. As I mentioned, I'm here with CJ Gilbert, my friend and compadre. We've known each other for, what, 20 years or so. But I wanted you all to meet CJ because he's an excellent marketer, and he got his basis with website design. So welcome, CJ. I'm so glad you're here.

CJ: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's my pleasure.

Kathi: Yeah, absolutely. So tell everybody out there who's never met you a little bit about your background and why you're here doing what you're doing today.

CJ: Absolutely. Well, I was born and raised in Southern California, and it's not a surprise to those that have met me that I've been a computer geek all my life. I was tinkering with computers at a very early age. And right around the time that I was in high school, the year was 1995 and the internet was born. So it was a very natural thing for me to start tinkering with websites, and I started working with a local computer company and helping businesses with their websites. That was a cursory introduction. I tried a few other things in my college and career days. I ended up in banking for a couple months. I ended up in insurance for several years and got into the sales field. And then I got tired of the constant sales pressure. Hit your numbers every month. Sell, sell, sell. So I was able to move sideways into an inspection role, until one day I had an accident. I fell through a staircase, and that's how I fell out of the insurance industry. During that process, there's a lot of chiropractic and physical therapy. I had hurt my back and my knee, and they're like, "Well, you can't hike all over San Diego inspecting houses anymore. What else do you know how to do?" And I mentioned website design, and they said, "Well, that's something we can get behind." They paid for me to go back to school and get a certificate, and I opened up my own business in 2006.

Kathi: That's amazing. Who paid for you to go back to school?

CJ: The insurance agency. It was part of the workers' comp program. They wanted to do something to pay me off, to get going on something else.

Kathi: Yeah. And you've been going wild ever since. I mean, what you do is just amazing work. So I know you do a lot of website design, but you've also expanded, and I've been to your networking events, which are fantastic. You run a great event. Talk to me a little bit about the main challenge right now that you're helping your clients solve.

CJ: Absolutely. Something that I hear a lot is people say to me, "CJ, we're in this age where there's all this social media and there's all these apps and different programs. Do I really even need a website anymore?" And to those people, I have to say yes. In fact, I would say it's more important than ever. Something I want everyone to realize is your website, your own website, is the only thing you can fully own and control on the internet. And I'll say it again to make sure you don't miss it. Your website is the only thing you can fully own and control online. And there's truth in what they're telling you, because all these other platforms want you to come to their website and build up their platform and open up a page and a profile on their website. So there's some truth there. If you have potential customers there, you do want to have a presence on their website and on their platform. But you've got to remember, at the end of the day, you can't own that page. You can't control that page. And we've all heard horror stories of people who invested a lot of their time, energy and money into creating a page or a group or a profile on a platform, and for one reason or another, they lost access to it and it was all gone. So that's something I want to help business owners avoid, by using their own website as their hub, their foundation for everything else they do online.

Your website is the only thing you can fully own and control online.

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Kathi: I'm in full agreement with that. I love to own my own assets. In fact, all my downloads now are not even on a third party. They're on the back end of my website. So is my membership site. Everything's on my website, my host. I'm in full agreement with that. And the thing is, when they take you down, and I've heard all the stories that you've heard, there's no phone number, right? There's no one for you to call, and you don't even know why. It's just a pseudo-random hit to your business. So now there's also a discussion about a landing page versus a website and all that good golly stuff. What do you have to say about that? Where to start?

CJ: Absolutely. I always begin the conversation by encouraging someone to think of what their goals are. What are their goals behind what they're doing, whether it's a landing page or a website or any kind of marketing effort? And right up next to that, you're going to find the next question, which is: who is your target market? We've discovered that by completely analyzing who is your target market, who are your people, who is it that you want to reach, and then what do they need and what can you help them get, that really gives you all the answers for what you need in a website. And I use the word website, and that can mean so many different things, because it can mean multiple pages with a lot of information, but it also could just be a one-page landing page. That would be perfectly acceptable. So I always encourage people to consider what are their goals, who are their people, and then build something that serves their people. And start small. You can start with one thing and then add another and then add another. It's the beautiful thing about websites. It's not like a book or a flyer or a brochure, where once you've printed 5,000 copies, you're locked into it forever, right? Websites are alive. You can add or change them every day, every week, every month. So let it just grow naturally over time to support you and your business.

Websites are alive. You can add or change them every day, every week, every month.

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Kathi: I think that's really sage advice. And for people who have a really old website and don't know what to do with it, I have a client right now where it's like, let's go back to the basics again. Who's your client base? What are you trying to do with this? Maybe let's do one page. Let's send that one page and see what happens, right?

CJ: Absolutely.

Kathi: Yeah. So say someone's going to do the one page or just start out. What are the basic elements or components of a web page that you would start out with?

CJ: Absolutely. I encourage people to think of their website as a tool for their business to help them with three specific areas, and it's what I call your search, your sales and your service. What that really is, is to give someone a touchstone, something they can hold on to as they're thinking about what their website can do for them. So the search is basically whatever you put on your website becomes bait for people to find you online. Depending on how they're searching, they could be searching for you by name, they could be searching for you by business name, or they could be searching for a general category of service or product that you do. So you want to make sure when you talk about your services and products, you do so in a very natural way. You're automatically going to use the right keywords. You don't have to try to trick any search engines. You don't have to try to repeat language that you wouldn't use normally. Just talk in a normal, natural way, the way you'd explain to a friend about everything that you do. Include details, and you'll automatically be covering that search piece of the puzzle.

CJ: And then the next thing I would probably encourage someone to spend the most time on is their sales. When I ask people what their goals are for their website, usually sales is right up at the top, if not the very top, of what they think. They think of their website as a sales tool, and that's excellent. Something that I would add to that is to encourage them to think of their website not just as one sales tool, but actually as a tool to help them among the several steps that are part of the process. Because as I've worked with people who teach sales and I've learned more about sales, I've learned that typically there are multiple steps in that customer's sales journey. They're not necessarily ready to hit the buy button or pick up the phone to buy your thing the very first second they learn about you. There are usually a couple steps in that process. So you want to consider what those steps are, and then think, how can I use my website to help that customer through every one of those steps? Just as an example, the first time they hit your website, they may not know who you are or what you're doing. So that's where an intro video, a real quick intro explanation video about who you are and what you're doing, can help, and tell them, if you want to learn more about me, go here to the about page. If you want to learn more about what we do, click here on the services page. And typically, people are going to hit a website and start looking for something that interests them. So then they're on the about page. Now they're able to learn a little bit more about you. And see, as they're going through your website, they're actually developing a familiar feeling for you, and that's where the magic of the sales happens. Because we used to think that people made a buying decision based off of logic and facts and reason, and now we know that's not true at all. People make a buying decision entirely on how they feel about something or someone, and then they justify it with the facts. So I say let's do both on your website. Give them all the facts, all the figures, but also let them get to know you and develop that familiar feeling for you, because that's what they're going to rely on when they're ready to make that buying decision.

People make a buying decision entirely on how they feel about something or someone, and then they justify it with the facts.

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Kathi: I love that. Search, sales, and what was the third?

CJ: The third one is service, as in your customer service.

Kathi: Okay. Love it. So talk a little bit about the service. They find you, they love you, they're interested. They maybe haven't quite made a sale, but they want to know, are you going to support me with this? Is this where service comes in?

CJ: It does. Yes, it does. This is something that's probably overlooked pretty frequently. People don't recognize that they can use their website as an agent for customer service. And what I really mean by that is, again, we're thinking of your goals, we're thinking of your target market, and we're thinking of what those people need. I talk to different kinds of businesses in different kinds of industries, so this may or may not apply to your specific business, Mr. or Mrs. Listener. But consider the fact that your customer is probably picking up the phone and calling you or your receptionist and probably asking the same questions over and over again. What time do you close? Do you take credit cards? Where are you located? Let's call this person your receptionist, or it's probably you, if you're a solo business person like I have been. You're the one answering the phone and all those questions. Make a note of what those questions are. Ask your receptionist, what is it that people are asking every day, day in and day out, when they call us? And then you can make sure that information is on your website. I might encourage you to have a frequently asked questions page, because that's a beautiful place to just automatically answer questions that people are going to be asking you. And here's a bonus tip. Often when people are researching your business, they don't really know enough about your business or your industry to even know what questions they should be asking. So you can do them a favor by including those questions as well. Not only the questions they are asking, but what questions should they be asking to learn more about you and your industry? Put those on the page too. They're going to feel like you've just done them a great service. You've just educated them on what they need to be looking for. And again, that goes a long way to developing that familiar feeling for working with you and your brand, because you're there to help them. You're there to serve them, and that's all part of the customer service.

Not only the questions they are asking, but what questions should they be asking to learn more about you and your industry? Put those on the page too.

Kathi: Wow, you just gave me an aha moment. So I have an FAQ and an SAQ. Is it on my website? No. Why is it not on my website, CJ? So I've got some work to do on that.

CJ: Good.

Kathi: You take the time to develop all this stuff and you use it for other things. Why is it not on your main website?

CJ: Yeah. Exactly. Right.

Kathi: So talk to me about one of your client transformations. Give me your favorite aha moment, or what you did to propel a client into a bigger business model.

CJ: Absolutely. One of my favorite clients is a restaurant. When I met them, they were a restaurant in a little strip mall around the corner from my house. When I walked into their business, they didn't have a website, or they were having trouble with it, and so they hired me to build their website. I modeled their web page off of the same kind of design that they were using in their physical menus in the place. And then really quickly, they transitioned away from owning that physical restaurant into doing just catering. It was part of their background. They had done a lot of catering, and they were doing this restaurant at the same time, and they decided to shift back to do the catering business completely. So we rebranded the website, changed up the colors a little bit as they wanted to advance their brand. And then they did something amazing. They started using their website as their sales brochure. They would send it not only to every customer that they would talk to, but they would have it displayed on the big screen in their conference room. So when you came in to their office to plan your wedding, to plan your corporate event, they pulled up their website. They had all the menus there with the prices listed, and they used their website as their live brochure with the customer. Oh, do you like barbecue? Do you want to talk about what kind of food you want? Is it a holiday event? Is it a themed event? They had German and Irish menus, so all these different things. So they used their website actively as a tool in their office to work through it with their customers. And don't you know that makes their customers feel more familiar with using the website. So when that bride goes home, she comes right back to the website. She can go through it and find which menus, which price points are going to make her dream come true.

Kathi: That's pretty amazing. I love that. A website as a sales brochure. Literally.

CJ: Yes.

Kathi: And good for them for getting out of the brick-and-mortar restaurant business. I'm sure they have much more freedom now as caterers.

CJ: Absolutely. For sure.

Kathi: So, speaking of freedom, talk to me a little bit about your own path. You had the accident, you launched your business. How did that go, and what happened? As you began to grow your business, did you have any obstacles?

CJ: Oh, great question. Of course. Of course. And something really interesting happened, because as I opened my own business and started talking to other business owners, and I started asking them what their goals were for their website and who their target market was, I got a lot of blank stares back at me. They didn't recognize that they could ask these questions, goals and target market, about their website. And I was reading about how do I run my business? How do I do a business? And I discovered something interesting, and that is that a lot of other business owners are in the same boat that I was. That is to say, they had a particular skill. They had a particular knowledge area. They knew how to bake cupcakes. They knew how to fix cars. So they open a business to bake cupcakes and fix cars. And real quickly, they discover what they're doing is so much more outside the realm of I know how to bake cupcakes, I know how to fix cars. Now you're running a business. Now you have to think about marketing and email and website and all this other stuff that they probably didn't go to school for. I didn't go to school for business, right? So I know the stuff I know, but I don't know all this other business stuff, and now I have to learn all the business stuff along the way. So while I was learning that, I was helping my clients do the same thing. And I had to answer the questions for myself. Well, what should a website do for a customer? How does it help them? How can they use it in their business? And that's when I came up with all this material. That's where I wrote it all down, and I wrote a book called The Five Golden Keys to Sharpen Your Website. And that's really what launched not just my web design business, but really the educational side of my business and the speaking side of my business, and what prompted me to launch a YouTube channel and a podcast, because people knew they needed a website, but they really didn't know what to do with it. I felt like I was getting a lot of great information from business leaders and entrepreneurs that have come before me, reading a lot of great books, like The E-Myth from Michael Gerber, and studying sales masters. Now I wanted to pay it forward by teaching what I learned to others, and teaching them how to use their website as a tool for their business.

Kathi: And you're an excellent teacher. I just have to say, everything you do is from the heart, and you can tell that it's completely genuine. You're a giver of really good information, so I love your teaching style. And I love the fact that you implement. We teach what we most need to learn, and I say that all the time as an organizer. I'm not completely organized. I'm learning how to get organized, because it's important to me.

CJ: Yes.

Kathi: So that is what it is.

CJ: Absolutely.

Kathi: So yeah, I think that's great. What's the most memorable part of your career that you've had so far? Because you published a book, you've launched a podcast. What strikes you as something that really vividly happened to you over the course of this, since, what, 1999, right?

CJ: Yeah. In web design since '95, with my own business since 2006. One of the most amazing things I think that I've come into in the business world is the idea of business networking. That's where you and I met, Kathi. That's where I've met so many other amazing folks, not only in San Diego, but around the world: these cooperative communities that are around the idea of business networking. If you've never heard of that before, what that means is it's a group of business owners that come together with the intention to learn about each other's business, so they can support each other and be on the lookout for referrals for each other's business. And one of the things that we say in the groups that Kathi and I attend is to not look to sell to the room, but to sell through the room. Recognize that all the people there are not necessarily going to become your next customer. I don't want to sell to Kathi. I mean, I do want to help Kathi, but the idea is that if Kathi and I become friends and we're networking partners, she's a person of influence. So chances are people are coming to her and asking her who she knows that can help them with these different aspects of their business. And if she's met me along the way, chances are she's going to make that connection. She's going to make that referral, and now I'm able to help her customers as well. So I think that's one of the biggest benefits and the biggest things that stood out to me: that cooperative spirit that comes from business networking.

One of the things that we say in the groups that Kathi and I attend is to not look to sell to the room, but to sell through the room.

Kathi: Absolutely. I will agree with that. And if any of you listening have never been in a networking environment for your business, please find one. Please join, attend. And again, I love the advice, CJ. We're not selling to the people in the room. We're showing the people in the room what we offer so that they can sell our services, which exponentiates, right? It gives you more reach than what you would have had with just your little self showing up to the networking group.

CJ: Yeah. Absolutely.

Kathi: And I have to say, if you don't have a proper landing page or a proper website and people want to refer you, they're probably not going to, because they're scared that maybe they're referring somebody who might not quite be professional.

CJ: Sure.

Kathi: We all know we need a website, but what I find is that oftentimes, over the years, our websites are not really doing the buyer's journey. They're just adding on and adding on. It's like building a house with all the mini room renovations, and then it doesn't make any sense at all. So I think you're really good at providing clarity to people: let's streamline, simplify and break it down to what you really need on your website, what you really need on your landing page. I think that's fantastic. So if you had to look back at yourself, being the geek from way back, what would you tell your 18-year-old self? What kind of advice would you give him?

CJ: That's a great question. I think I would encourage myself to just keep going, because it's really easy to want to give up, or to feel like you're not making any progress, or you're not seeing the results that you want to see. And I think one of the greatest things I've done throughout my career is just keep going. Just meet that next person, have that next conversation, find that next place where I could add value or service. And I think that's done more to keep me moving forward and keep me growing than anything else. Just keep going.

Kathi: Persistence. And we all go through these peaks and valleys. I mean, that's the whole reason I have this podcast, to say we all have been there. But you do have to keep going and persevering, and know that what you're doing is making a difference, because everyone in business is making a difference for other people. Realizing that helps you when you get into that little slump of whatever it is for your business. So that's fantastic. Now, I know you have a valuable free resource that people can download, and I encourage everybody to download this. So let's talk about that, CJ.

CJ: Absolutely. Well, I'll let you know a couple things to check out. First of all, my main website is jungle-studios.com. That's my business name, Jungle Studios. Again, jungle-studios.com. And I have a resource page on that. I call it my library of resources, and I'll make sure to give that to Kathi so she can get that in the show notes or wherever else would be appropriate. On that page, I have a whole bunch of resources that you could jump into right away. And the first thing on that page is what I call my free video workshop. This is really where I'm teaching those five keys I talked about earlier. I've already given you just a couple of them. We talked about the goals and the target market, the search, the sales and the service. But I have more information on each one of those categories, and it's really the perfect thing to go through to make sure that your website, your goals and your target market are all aligned together. Even if you and I never work together personally, I still encourage you to go through this course. It's something that you can go through a bite a day. You could take 10 minutes a day and go through it over a week, or you could schedule an hour and a half on a Saturday and go through it all together. There are some exercises, there are some questions, and I think it's going to bring you a lot of clarity on what your website can do for you and your customer. And then just start working on it one piece at a time. The great thing about these categories, search, sales, service, is you can pick which one you need the most help with, and then you can work on that one this week, and then next week go to the next one, and next week go to the next one, and then review how you're doing and which one you want to work on again. And that's how we just improve.

Kathi: Yeah, that's a huge gift, and I think we all need that refresher. We all need to step back, because we're in the muck of our stuff. Step back, go through the course, and you'll get these aha moments, like the SAQs and the FAQs. It's like, why do I have… Right. So you go through the course and you're going to see what elements are potentially missing in your website. It's super valuable. That's really generous, CJ. I so appreciate you providing that to everybody.

CJ: My pleasure. And the direct link to that, by the way, is mywebsitesafari.com. Mywebsitesafari.com.

Kathi: All right. I love that. We will put that in the show notes. It'll be down below, wherever you are listening or watching this podcast. You can find the link there. Make absolutely sure to do that audit for your website. And if you've never built one, you have to have it. If you have built one, though, you need the audit. You're going to have a lot of clarity on the things that you are missing on your website. Super duper important. Okay. So as we wind down, is there anything that we should have talked about that you want to bring up, or teach, or mention about your business or about your services or about networking?

CJ: Oh, we've really covered a whole gamut of things. I guess I would leave you with a couple steps to take. Check out the video workshop. Certainly, it's going to give you those foundational keys we're talking about. And then come on over to my YouTube channel called Ask a Web Geek. There are all kinds of topics there. For example, I've got several videos that talk about using Google My Business to make sure that your website and your business location are correctly listed on Google. I have several videos on that. I also have a video on a domain name scam. If you own a domain name, you're probably getting these letters that show up in the mail, and they look like they're for your domain name renewal, but they are not. They're a scam. It's an advertisement, but business owners are busy. They're moving fast. They don't know it's an advertisement, and that's why I call it a scam. And I talk about things like that on my YouTube channel. So please check that out, and then let me know what other questions you have. I'd love to tackle any topics that come to your mind.

Kathi: Yeah. And I know that if any of you go on to Ask a Web Geek on YouTube, you will get some answers. If CJ hasn't covered it, he will be responsive, and he will answer you and give you that gold of what he's known for years and years and years. So dig into that for sure.

CJ: That's wonderful. I'm glad you brought up the YouTube channel. That's fantastic.

Kathi: So everyone out there, make sure to take some action after you hear this. Make sure to download and do an audit of what you have going on on the web. Make sure that you're not missing any of those really key elements. Especially if you're not making the money you need to make, you need to go ahead and do that audit and see what fell through the cracks. What did I not put on my website that people really want to know? So I really appreciate your time, CJ. This has been huge. I love speaking with you. Everybody, jump in, get to know CJ a little bit more, and he will definitely help you in any way that he can. He's there for you, because that is his kind spirit. So thanks, CJ. I really appreciate your time.

CJ: Thank you, Kathi. My pleasure.

Kathi: Okay, gang. Until next week, go ahead, download, take some action, and I'll see you again in a week. Tune in to Organized and Energized! The Podcast. If you like this, please give me a yes. Please give me a thumbs up. Please give me a comment. Let me know that you're out there and you're listening. I would very much appreciate that. It would help me. It would help CJ. It would help all my other guests. So go ahead and spread the love. And until next week, I'll see you then.