Dos & Don'ts of Building Your Website

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist Podcast. We're gonna be talking about something I know that you despise in your own business. And here's the tea, we're gonna be talking about websites.

We're gonna be talking about building your own website. And I'm gonna be teaching you some of the dos and don'ts of building your website to make it an easy and efficient process for yourself. Here's the tea, there are services out there that will build a website for you, right? Like, there's people and companies out there that will build a website for you, even ones that are specific to the beauty industry.

But there's also really easy DIY website builder hosts out there that you can take advantage of to create an excellent website for yourself. So we're gonna be talking about the pros and cons of that upfront, and then we're gonna be talking about how to actually build your website in a really easy way, okay? And giving you some tips and tricks on how to do so, and also dos and don'ts, and all the good things. So if you're ready to get into it, let's motherfucking go.

What's the tea, friend? My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty. Whether it be growing your clientele, making more money, or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair. So if you're ready to get into it, welcome to the Modern Hairstylist Podcast.

Hi, Kaylin. Um, uh, Kaylin, have you had experience building your own website? Yes, I've built multiple websites, actually. Same.

I've built, uh, too many websites. Way too many. What was your experience? So I actually really enjoyed it, but that was actually something that I was really interested in in high school, so I'm a little bit of a unicorn in that I know not everyone feels that way.

But even though I enjoyed it a lot, it did take me a tremendous amount of time. But, uh, again, I'm also a perfectionist, but, yeah. You are. Yeah, it's, yeah.

You are a perfectionist. You are a perfectionist, but that's why everything that you do looks so beautiful and amazing. Oh, thank you so much. I have...

I'm not a perfectionist. I throw shit together as fast as I possibly can, and I've also had plenty of experience in building websites. And I will tell you, honey, it is, like, something that is painful in the beginning, but gets easier and easier and easier and easier the more that you do it. And I find that all too often people open up a new software of any kind and immediately get super overwhelmed because they're telling themselves stories in their own head, like, "I'm not techy.

I can't do this. I'm not advanced enough." Or they don't allow themselves to go through those feelings of uncomfortability and allow themselves to explore and play and have fun with this new software that they have, right? And, also, on top of all that, they don't have mentorship, guidance, um, somebody who can walk them through the process, s- like, some sort of step-by-step roadmap that can hold their hand along the way.

And so no wonder we're opening up these website builders and we're getting immediately overwhelmed, and we're like, "Fuck this, I'm gonna pay somebody else to do it." Here's the tea, if this is truly, like, number one, you don't have the time, number two, you have a plethora of money to spend, and number three, you're just completely overwhelmed, and you've actually tried, you've actually given this a really good shot, right? Then I guess I'm cool with you paying somebody else to do your website, like, I guess. I guess.

Here's the problem with it. Number one, you're going to have to pay a shit ton of money upfront, and you are going to probably most likely have to pay the person who is hosting this website for you for continuous maintenance and continuous upkeep on top of all of the other fees that you're spending to actually host the website, purchase the domain, et cetera, et cetera, right? So, like, if you... Normally, this is what happens.

Normally, you sign a contract with somebody to build your website for you, and they will, and they build it in their own website builder software, right? And so the moment that you stop paying them on a monthly basis, they'll revoke your, your website. It's not like you can just, like, cancel that monthly payment and just, like, keep your website and move forward. It's that you will lose your website, period, moving forward, right?

And, you know, this differs with a lot of different website building services and companies and people, so, you know, don't take my word for it. Do your own research. But that is the majority of the time what happens. I just talked to somebody who does this yesterday, and this is what his, his model was, right?

Number two, you don't have the leverage, the capability of being able to very easily hop on there and change things out when you need to, right? Let's say that you decide to change your niche. Let's say that, that you decide to change your service menu. Yeah, you could go ahead and reach out to your website builder, the person who created it for you, and they could change things up for you, but how long are you gonna have to wait for that?

How are you gonna, uh... How much do you have to worry that they're gonna do the right thing or not? How many revisions are they gonna have to do to get it done for you, right? Sometimes, I know for me, sometimes I'm making decisions as I go .

Sometimes I'm, like, building things out, and I'm like, "Wait, hold up. I wanna change what's actually included in this package," because I'm seeing it come to life, right? Instead of just, like, being on a planned piece of paper. And so I want you to be empowered to be able to take complete ownership of all the capabilities of what we are able to do as business owners because of software and technology nowadays to create the vision that you need to create for yourself in a very efficient and quick way.

So that's why I'm a big fan of teaching people how to leverage software and technology of all kinds in their own business, and I am kind of, I'm kind of for people building their own websites. I'm not necessarily, like, gung-ho, like, "You have to build your own website," but I think that the pros outweigh the cons. I truly do. As long as you have all of the mentorship, resources, and the strength to work through some of the uncomfortability that comes with it, right?

So today, we're gonna be talking about the dos and don'ts of building your own website to make it easy and also to make sure that it's optimized and what it needs to be for you to be successful in doing so, okay?So, I'm gonna start off with which website builder host do you actually choose from, right? 'Cause there are so many options out there. Um, I know that historically, like, WordPress is, like, a really popular one that people have heard about.

There's Wix, Squarespace, and then one that a lot of people haven't heard about is Showit. Now, here's what I wanna say. Actually, this clip that I'm recording right now is not, uh, recorded at the same time that the rest of this episode is recorded, and the reason why is because my opinion on this changes all of the time. So, what I'm gonna do here is just share with you, at this time of recording this, which is in, uh, late 2023, what my opinions and experiences have been with each of these website builders.

So, WordPress, starting off with WordPress. WordPress is really difficult, super advanced, and there's a lot of different things that you can do with it, but I would never, ever, ever recommend it to a hairstylist. Ever. Um, it's just way too much, too hard for you to update, too hard for you to build, too hard for you to learn.

Then, next up is Showit. So, I personally, in my own experience, and also to keep in mind, in the specific type of business that I have, in which I'm creating landing pages all of the time, new website things all the time, I find Showit to be the fastest, the easiest, and the most intuitive, like, drag-and-drop platform. It's really, like, no frills. Like, there's no extra bullshit with Showit.

It is very just, like, straightforward, and it's like, you put an element there and you drag it to where you want it to go, and then it's there. And it's super customizable. Like, you can put things where you just wanna put them, and it's- and that's it. It's just a very simple website builder.

I think it's- has a definitely a little bit of a learning curve as far as the, uh, user interface goes, but for me, it's been the platform that I can get things done the fastest with, okay? So, that's my experience with Showit, personally. I don't see a lot of hairstylists using this, and I just don't know if that's because they're not aware that it exists or what, or there's not a lot of support specifically for hairstylists with educational programs for this platform. But I think, maybe, it would be worth somebody trying a free trial of this to see if maybe they would enjoy it or play around with it and see how you feel about it.

It's personally my favorite out of all of the ones that I'm gonna be sharing, for my specific circumstances. Then, next up, we have Squarespace. Here's the thing. I think that Squarespace is a kind of like...

What Squarespace does a good job of is putting up the bumpers for the bowling alley, right? Like, or whatever they're called, right? They're called bumpers, right? Like, like, putting up the- the kid-friendly bumpers, where it's like, it doesn't really allow you to customize much because it doesn't want you to play outside of the box or play outside of the lines.

So, that way, I think that their intention is to make it so it's easier for you to create something that's more visually appealing, and it also makes it so the conversion over to the mobile is a little bit more intuitive as well. Because something that you have to consider with- when you're building your website with a website host is, like, when you build it out on the desktop version, you also then have to go and open up the mobile version, and then you have to kind of, like, organize the mobile version to actually look, um, appealing as well. Like, it's not just the desktop that you have to build out. You also have to build out the mobile.

And I think, as far as that goes, I think that Squarespace kind of does the best as far as the conversion goes to make it as easy and done for you as possible. However, what the downside of this is, is that it's really difficult for you to just click and drag something and put it to where the hell you want it to go. Like, you- you have to color within their lines, and it just- it slows me down, personally. It, like, really makes it difficult to just, like, get something done and put something up there.

However, I will say, it's a very visually appealing website host. Um, and they do have a little bit more advanced features. I would say that Showit is also extremely visually appealing as well. But Squarespace, it's, like, easiest to make something look visually appealing, and I think that's because they kind of force you to play, um, and color within their lines.

There are ways for you to kind of break those rules and customize it, but you have to kinda go out of your way to make that happen, and I don't really love that. So, I've found that using Squarespace... It's where I do the slowest work on. It's- it's- it's- if I'm building out a page on Squarespace, or a website on Squarespace, I know it's gonna take me a lot longer than if it were going to be on the other platforms.

But I know it's gonna be really simple and beautiful, and a- and, like, a pretty website, basically. Then, we have Wix. So, Wix, um, is actually what I built my first, uh, salon website on. I also, fun fact, have been playing around with Wix since I was, like, 12.

Um, and I- I- I genuinely, like... It's something where it's like, it's been around for a really long time, and I think that it is pretty user friendly, as far as the experience goes. What I do think the downsides of it are, I think that it doesn't work if you have, like, an older computer or poor internet access, because it's so laggy. Like, it can get super laggy, um, and be really difficult to work with because it's just so robust and advanced.

Like, there's so many different customizations and so many features that it has. So, I think that that can end up, like, being a- a roadblock for somebody if they don't have, like, a new-ish or, like, newer, or, like, fast-loading computer and/or internet access, so that's one thing to take in consideration. I do like how customizable it is. Like, you can just click and drag and drop and put things where you want to.

It's, overall, it's like my second favorite behind Showit, and it's probably the number one that I would actually recommend as a general recommendation to anybody who is building a website for the first time. Like, this is probably gonna be my personal recommendation, um, to somebody who just straight-up wanted my opinion and wanted to be told what to do. I think Wix is really where you should probably start out, and I think that you'll have- you're most likely to have the most success with it and get things done in a speedy way with Wix. One thing that I don't like about Wix, though, I think it's really difficult to make things look visually appealing.

I think that you have to try really hard to make things look pretty.... where, like, with Squarespace and Showit, for example, it's very easy to make things look very beautiful. So, I think that that's something to just keep in mind. But I always do have the philosophy of I care way more about usability, I care way more about you having efficiency and pro- proficiency in your business and in your work balance, and in your user's interface, so the way that your clients are interacting with your website.

I would so much rather you have something that's simple and built out and, like, easy to use and easy to read, versus something that's, like, insanely visually appealing, right? So, I don't think that visual appeal should necessarily be, like, your number one priority when choosing a website host, but I do think that it's something that we should take in consideration, especially when we are such a visual industry, right? So, that's kinda my overview and current opinion of all of the website hosts. If I were going to have a-a-a stylist come out to me and ask me, like, "I don't have a website.

I've never used a website host builder. Which one should I choose?" I'd probably recommend Wix right off the bat. Um, however, I think that Showit is definitely maybe possibly worth a try.

And then Squarespace would kinda be like, if you're already familiar with Squarespace, if you feel like you want something that really, like, holds you, um, uh, into, like, a tight box in which you can get things done in a way where it's kind of, like, foolproof, then maybe Squarespace may be the way to go. And then WordPress, I would never recommend to literally anybody. So, that is my review of all of the website host builders, but at the end of the day, my friend, you have to choose what is the best one for you, okay? You have to test them out and you have to decide what your priorities are.

Assess your current level of understanding with tech or skill with tech, or creating visually appealing elements, right? And then maybe try these free trials. I think that they all have free trials. Definitely try out the free trials and don't give up on day one.

You know, you gotta try a little bit to really see if you vibe with a platform or not, and then go from there. That's just my personal opinion, everything that I just said, and I have other people who will state different opinions and op-op-opposing opinions and actually say, "I think Wix is easier. I think it l- it can make things look prettier with Wix," such as the person who I'm sitting across the room with digitally right now. So, I'll let her speak on this.

So, I'm not opposed to Squarespace by any means. Uh, I've just been using Wix for years now, so it's, like, what I'm comfortable with. So, what I did when I first started building my website, was I did exactly what you recommended, was I went to both website builders and I looked at some different, like, uh, the, like, random templates that they give you, like, previews of, and I checked how much I could customize with Squarespace, and then I checked how much I could customize with Wix, and I just wasn't as impressed with how much I could customize with Squarespace. Granted, this was years ago, so please just...

This isn't exactly necessarily the truth today, but this is how it was at the time. So, I, I went with Wix because I was able to customize things more and I knew that I was gonna be able to 'cause I had done some coding in high school, so I was, like, relatively familiar with the, like, generic general stuff. Again, I'm a little bit of a unicorn here with that, but I really do like Wix. Um, I like them both, honestly.

Like, they both have really nice pros and cons. So, they had an update recently where they actually changed the pages on your website when you're editing so that they are in columns now. So, you have, like, different pages that you can scroll through and, like, you can move stuff back and forth. It's kind of similar to, like, if you build on, like, a Canva website.

It's a very similar concept. As opposed to before, it was all just like, well, you better just, like, select the entire screen and move it around if you wanna go that way. So, that's been a really nice update in my opinion. If website builders were just like how Canva is- True.

how much easier would our lives be? That would be amazing. And this brings me to my next point, which is do not , do not use Canva to build out your effing website, okay? And what I'm talking about specifically is, I know it's super great and e-easy and pretty to take Canva pictures and graphics and then just put them on your website.

Here are the massive problems with this. Number one, accessibility. If somebody's using some sort of screen reader on your website, then their screen reader most likely is not gonna be able to actually read a picture, right? They are gonna be able to read the HTML, the actual, like, words that are put in, on that website, right?

So, if you wanna make an accessible business... By the way, there are laws that actually revolve this in certain states, um, and that you can get sued for it. Like, literally that's happening right now, actually, to a couple stylists and salons. So, there are laws in place that, uh, that are A- that make sure that websites are ADA approved and they are accessible, so that's number one.

Number two, y- every single word, every single statement, every single sentence that you put on your website is helpful for your SEO, so for your search engine optimization. And so if you wanna be organically found, if you want your website to be organically found when somebody's doing a Google sh-search in your local area for a new hairstylist, then if you put everything into a Canva graphic, then those words in that Canva graphic are not gonna count towards your SEO in your listing. Number three, what can end up happening is, is Canva graphics can be in really high quality or could they be, they could be very extremely detailed, and then you could create more lag and l- and longer loading times for your content on your page, and a laggier experience for the user. So, what ends up happening is if somebody goes on there and they're having a very laggy experience and it's very slow for them for loading, they're gonna bounce.

That's, that raises our bounce rate, right? And so we wanna make sure that we keep people on our websites for as long as possible, and it is 100% proven that if it takes a long time for a website to load, somebody is much more likely to get off of the website very quickly. I mean, think about your own user experience. Like, if you went onto a website and you had to wait more than five seconds for something to load, eh, five seconds doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're actually in it and experiencing it, it's a lot and you wanna dip, and it makes you even more likely to leave.

In a sp- in a time and space when attention spans are so low, we wanna be doing every single possible thing that we can to optimize that person's experience to make it so that they stay longer, right? And even little things such as laggy- a laggy website and things loading and taking a long time can be a big difference. And it could be the difference between somebody actually becoming a client with you or not. So, don't use Canva graphics.

I know it could be... I know why you do it. I know why it's done. I totally get it.

A fucking website builder is difficult. I said it. I wish that building a website was as easy as Canva is, but what we wanna do is, is we wanna learn these website builders, lean into mentorship and resources that can teach you how to do so, and get comfortable with using their tools because that will organically boost your credibility, your legality, protect yourself, et cetera, et cetera. So, I do have a question for you.

Um, what are your feelings, or if you wanna, like, make the separation between using Canva graphics or Canva websites, 'cause Canva does have technically a website builder now, so I'm curious if you have an opinion on that as well. I'm just gonna completely, um, without going into too much explanation because we just don't have too much time, don't use Canva's website builder. Like, period. Like, the only ti- the only thing you should be using Canva's website builder for, possibly, even this I don't really love, it's kinda clunky, um, is there, is for a Linktree.

So, if you wanna do, like, a link in bio Linktree situation, um, I think Canva c- is, uh, Canva websites are an okay solution. But for your actual freaking website, don't use a Canva website. Like, period. Like, that's my tea on that.

Like, and, and if you want further explanation, reach out to me in the DMs and I'll spill the tea. Thanks for asking that. I appreciate it. Anytime.

Okay. So, next thing. What people should be choosing in a subscription plan. Fucking the bare minimum.

Having a website up. That's it. Dead-ass. Having a website up.

You should not be paying for their email marketing, you should not be paying for advanced analytics, you should not be paying for email. You shouldn't be paying for anything, okay? You should only be paying to have the website. You should not be using these clunky-ass websites, website hosts' extra add-ons.

It goes to that same philosophy for your booking system. Do not use, do not use a software that wasn't meant for a function to carry out that function. Do not pay any extra money to carry out that function. Um, and that goes also into, don't use your website's contact form.

What you should be doing is, you should have some sort of email marketing software or something like that where you can embed your own subscription form so that way somebody can get onto your email list in your proper email marketing service provider software. Um, that is what you should be doing. Instead of getting people's emails and first names and last names and then having to manage that in your own website host builder. And also, people shouldn't be contacting you through your website.

They should be contacting you through your damn form. Everybody should have one way that they book their appointments. Like, period. Like, it'll make your life so much less chaotic.

You will not lose new potential client requests because you won't be all over the place with how you're communicating with your clients. You should have everybody go through your new guest application, and your existing clients should already have your contact and know how to reach out to you in a different way. So, don't use your website's contact form, and also don't use it to gain email addresses. What you wanna be doing is embedding your email marketing software's forms onto your website and then linking your forms for your consultations onto your website instead.

Next thing is domains. Sure, buy your domain through your website if you don't already own a domain. There's noth- there's no really harm in it, and let's say that you decide to go to a different website host and you need to transfer over the domain. Yes, it's a little complicated, but it is possible.

I personally purchased my domain through GoDaddy; um, I think that you can get the cheapest domains there, the most creative ones, and it's more of a general host, um, where I can very easily apply it to different web hosts if I need to. Like I said, I've switched three times, so... So, uh, so, being able to move my domain name to different areas based upon the fact that I have it hosted in a general, in a general space makes it a little bit easier to move domains around if you need to. Um, when, when Wix owns your domain, for example, you have to, like, make sure that you put in a request to actually disconnect your domain and then move it over to your domain host, and then you have to do the DNS settings to, like, change it over and it's a whole thing.

So, sure, if you are really confident that you're gonna stay with your website host builder and you wanna keep things easy, buy it through your website host. If you have a feeling you might be moving around or maybe you wanna try a different website and you haven't purchased your domain yet, then maybe purchase your domain through something like GoDaddy and then look up tutorials on how to connect your GoDaddy domain to your website host, such as Wix or Squarespace. That's a super hot tip. I did not know that, so thanks.

I learned something new today. I do have a question for you about domains, though. So, learning that new thing about GoDaddy, that's super interesting, but, like, I'm also curious when somebody does own their domain, like, do you have a recommendation of, like, how long they should have their subscription for their domain for? 'Cause like, they give you, like, five years options and it's like, oh, it's only $500 if you purchase it for 10 years.

I'm, of course, I'm embellishing, but like, I never know what the right option is for shit like that. This is a really good question, one that I don't think that you should necessarily overthink because normally domains are pretty cheap just in general, like... But I would say that no more than two years. I've seen it multiple times where people wanna change their entire brand, their entire name, li- all the time, and then they say, like, "Oh, but I, like, locked into this, like, five-year plan," right?

Um, I would say no more than two. I think one year is safe, and n- I just... What I would not do is I would not waste money by paying monthly if that's an option. If you can pay annually, like once, once a year and save some money, I absolutely would do that because, you know, a year is pretty safe, right?

Um, but no more than two years as far as a domain pl- a domain plan goes, 'cause you don't even know, like, you have no idea. Like, things change so fast, you change fast, your goals, your vision, your dreams, all that. So, that's a really good question, Caitlin. Does that answer it well?

Yeah, it does, and I mean, I'm mostly speaking from experience because, like, I, when I first built my website, eh, for my Behind the Chair business, like, I purchased, like, I think it was, like, a three or a five-year-Plan. And so it's literally just this year, uh, expiring, and I haven't been behind the chair in almost a year. So it's definitely something to think about. Like circumstances change and like you said too, like your brand changes, so.

Totally. And bonus tip. If you can get a domain name that is like Your City Salon even if it's not the name of your, your, your own salon or your brand or your name, whatever it may be. If you can get a domain name that's like Salt Lake City Hair Salon, yes.

Very much yes. Because it will increase the shit out of your SEO. Because if somebody Googles that, guess what's coming up first, honey? You know?

So that's a little bonus tip when you are deciding what your domain name's actually gonna be. If you can find something that a, an, a local ideal client would search in the search bar and you can make that your domain name, totally make it your domain name. You will have a massive leg up on all the other salons in your area, period. Okay, my friend.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Modern Hairstyles podcast, then I would really appreciate if you left a five-star testimonial wherever you're listening to this. A cute little blurb about your experience listening to the Modern Hairstyles podcast, it allows us to reach more beauty professionals just like you who are looking to revolutionize this industry and I know damn well that you want to do that with me. So go ahead, leave that review. I really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance. We'll see you in the next one. Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2023 Hunter Donia LLC.