In this video, I talk about the old website and why it needed to change.
We’ve included the transcript in case you prefer to read
Website Upgrade: Why is Switched to WordPress
“Hey, guys! It’s Matt from Cilderman Solutions. This is kind of really new to me, screencasting like this. And so,…I wanted to start…you have to start somewhere, right?So, I’m gonna be taking down the old website and put up a new one and I wanted to talk a little bit about the old website: why things were changing and just a little bit about my process, and what I realized could be improved and that sort of thing.
So, it all basically started because I had the opportunity to create a Blogging Kit with The Futur and, you may know The Futur, you may know Chris Do (I’ll cover that in another video) but basically… it’s a big opportunity; The Blogging Kit should be launching relatively soon and I wanted to redo my website because of that.
Actually, I hadn’t really been updating the blog and site very much, not only because I was very busy with clients but also just because I’m on Weebly right now and it’s just really hard to work with…It’s very frustrating and so in the end, I kind of said, “You know what? It’s definitely time to get a new site.” So…what we’re looking at is the old Weebly website and I wanted to just talk through some of what we see here…and what’s changing what was good and what was bad.
So, yeah, these website builders like Weebly (and I’ve used them all: Weebly, Wix, Squarespace) supposedly make creation easier for you but I don’t know about that. They do have fewer options but you’re trying to fit everything into a template and that in itself can make it harder… and plus, maybe you go in with the expectation that creating your website is gonna be really easy and it’s not always easy…, right?
So, I did move to WordPress and…yeah, there are some challenging things but I just love the features as compared to, you know, where I am now with Weebly.
Anyway, let me talk a little bit about this site and what is changing and then later, I’ll have a video for you…In a couple days I’m going to be launching the new site and I’ll talk about all the bells and whistles and I’m really excited about that and put a lot of work into it.
So, I think as I began to look at this site, it’s basically two and a half years old and a lot has changed since I first put it up…and it also doesn’t represent me anymore. I also feel like it just doesn’t look professional enough and it doesn’t send the right message, and I also am offering different services to my clients, now. Based on just how much the business has grown and the different connections that I’ve made and the different clients that I’ve worked with.
Rebranding and Reworking our Tagline
So, we didn’t do a complete rebrand. You know, the tagline you can see over here is, “We are your marketing solution!’… and marketing is not really a good word because if you’re a “mom and pop shop”, they may not even know what marketing means…or maybe you’re in the marketing business and you know what it means but “marketing” means so many things that it means nothing, right, because that’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization), copywriting, advertising, social, SEM ( Search Engine Optimization), content marketing, inbound marketing, you name it.
Marketing is just too broad a term and so we changed our tagline to, “Helping Your Customers Find You!” and I’m pretty excited about that; it plays well with… One of our favorite things to do as a company is focus on local search and search engine optimization, so it’s perfect for that and it just covers a lot of the other services we offer, too. So what did I like about this site? Well, I still think, as much as, maybe, this animated video could look more professional, I still really do believe that the small business owner is a superhero and they are trying to do too many things and we can take things off their plate, so they don’t have to stress out and worry as much.
That being said, our type of client has shifted. When I first started out, I was trying to convince some of these small business owners to let me help them market themselves because they were too busy. Now the type of client that I’m dealing with knows that they need marketing help and so… it is it’s nice because it’s a higher paying client and I don’t have to convince them of the power of social media or the power of X, Y, and Z; there’s not as much educating on that front. It’s just much better now. So my, target audience has shifted, my target client has shifted and the animated video is kind of cute but I’ve moved on.
You’ll see on the new site; I still really really believe in the power of social proof and testimonials and so that’s a big focus on the new site and this blog was still my best performing blog post ( Free Bing Ads). For instance, if you check, we’re ranking on the first page, this post is ranking on the first page for a number of keywords related to getting free Bing ads coupons… and I should be creating more content; I’m usually too busy managing the business or creating content for clients but…this is one of our best performing blog posts.
A Shift in our Ideal Client
By far, one of the reasons it was also time to change is because our focus has shifted. Yes, we still do social media…but it’s almost like a loss leader for us; it’s a grind and everyone thinks that their, you know, college intern can do it well and so, you know, we’re moving toward higher margin, higher skill…direction; towards SEO; towards copywriting; and web design and down here, it says “content creation for content marketing”.
That’s a very generic term; it’s very general. There was…oh we could do videos; we could do many different things for clients and I think, while I have a lot of strategic partnerships and a lot of people and business partners that we could do many different types of video: animated or explainer, etc…
Speaking of video: That’s one of the things I’m most excited about on my new website is that I worked with Beard and Bowler Productions and they created just an amazing video for my homepage and so… You’ll get to see that soon. It’s pretty awesome!
Anyway, instead of such a broad topic like “Content Creation”, I wanted to hone in more on the copywriting aspect and…it’s certainly obvious that writing is an important part of the content creation process; it goes behind, many different types of content that you create.
So, when you can finally see the new website, you’ll notice that it is a refining of my message; it’s a refining of the services that I offer based on the new clients that I am going after. And so, yes, some things are staying the same right: some of the same services, images. and that sort of thing…But it’s just going to have drastically improved functionality; the message is much cleaner.
Let’s take a look at something like the search engine optimization page. There’s a lot of writing and it’s not too bad as far as making use of small paragraphs, but I really did a better job on the new site of… I was able to step back and look at it with fresh eyes and empathy for my ideal client and say, “Okay, What best speaks to them (my ideal client)? What is the best way that I can reach them?”
I’m excited for you guys to see that new text and the new design when it launches. I think it’s a significant improvement! So, anyway, thanks for tuning in, guys…
Yeah, I guess once I got it (Screencasting), it wasn’t too bad but it’s still a little unusual for me to be talking to my computer screen but hopefully we’ll do some more and so on.
Ok. I’ll see you guys around. If you want to subscribe or you want to reach out to me, just visit the website and send me an email. All right, thanks, guys, take care!”
