The Secret to a High-Impact Website (with Lindy Nowak)

Angela Frank: 00:00:00

Welcome to the growth pod.

Today on the podcast we have Lindy Nowak, who spent over 15 years as a creative director in New York City working for Multiple brands including L'Oreal, Bon Appetit, Entertainment Weekly and Women's Health magazines.

Today she is the founder and CEO of Up in a Day, a turnkey website product that helps CPAs, mortgage brokers, restaurant owners, therapists and tech startups get a great website up and running quickly, on budget and with very little effort from them. Lyndee, welcome to the podcast.

Lindy Nowak: 00:00:32

Thank you so much for having me. I am very excited to be here.

Angela Frank: 00:00:36

I am very excited for our chat today. You're going to be sharing the secret to a high impact website and I cannot wait.

But before we get started, can you share a little bit about why it's important to have a strong online presence?

Lindy Nowak: 00:00:48

Sure. Well, in today's economy, in today's world, it is so important to have a really strong online presence. We're all online.

We're on our mobile phones day to day, we're on our social media, we're on our desktops at work.

And when we want to buy something, whether it's a service or a product, we're going to go to our social media platforms to check things out or we're going to ask around to our network, hey, who do you know? What do you know? Where should I go? And that place is usually the website.

So it's really important that your online presence, your website and your marketing channels are all cohesive and your website is professional and up to date.

Angela Frank: 00:01:29

I love that. Something that I talk about is the concept of a marketing ecosystem, which you were kind of alluding to.

Everything works together, but it ends up directing to your website. And so I love how you share the importance of having that strong online presence and your website.

You are somebody who looks at websites all day long. What are some of the common mistakes that you see business owners making with their websites?

Lindy Nowak: 00:01:54

Great question. The first mistake I always see is that there's a, for new business owners, there's a lag time. So procrastination. I see that all the time.

So what happens?

Well, a lot of us as business owners, myself included, we tend to feel like getting a website up and running can take a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of effort. And sometimes it does, but it doesn't have to always be that way.

So we'll procrastinate in, we'll do it, we'll set it aside and then all of a sudden it gets to Be too late. And we're scrambling at the last minute to find an agency, a freelancer, someone who knows somebody to build the website.

And a lot of times when that happens, either you end up spending too much money, you choose the wrong agency that doesn't understand your industry, or worst of all, you end up spending, spending all the time and your hard earned money trying to design it yourself, or maybe even your friend's cousin to design it. So that's the, that's the biggest mistake.

I see a lot of small companies or small businesses and business in general, actually even entrepreneurs, solo entrepreneurs. For businesses that are more seasoned. The biggest struggle I see with them is pretty similar. It's when their website goes outdated.

So if their products or their services have changed, their business has evolved, which we all know happens quickly almost every quarter, the website stays stagnant. And that can really be detrimental to your business from a conversion standpoint and a revenue standpoint down the road.

Angela Frank: 00:03:36

Yeah, that is so important, this concept of keeping your website updated as your business changes and evolves. So how do you help somebody through that if they are feeling that their website is stagnant and they want to go ahead and refresh it?

Do you plan a face approach, what is your thought process and the strategy behind updating a website?

Lindy Nowak: 00:03:58

Typically when people come to us questioning whether what they need and if they need an update or additional pages to their website, et cetera, what I tend to do is to have a short consultation with them first and kind of guide them to what they need.

Because it's really important that when you are revamping your website that you're setting it up for longevity and you're really thinking about where your business is going in the near and far future.

So if you're sitting there with an old website and you're not sure where to go, it's a good idea to speak to a professional that does look at websites every single day and to get feedback on what are the possibilities.

I do speak to a lot of small business owners and oftentimes lately I've been saying to them, ask away because you're not responsible to be the expert, the marketing expert, the website expert. So you technically really don't know what you don't know.

So it's good to get feedback not just from a professional, but maybe from your friends and family as well, in order to kind of wrap your head around, you know, what is the next phase in the website and how can my website really function for my business and bring my business to the next Level.

Angela Frank: 00:05:19

Amazing.

So if we are listening to what you're saying and feeling like our websites need a little bit of an update, what are some of the key elements of a high impact website that we should do a little check and see? You know, do we have this in place or do we need to make a plan to implement this?

Lindy Nowak: 00:05:39

Yeah, that's a great question. A few things. So just kind of 30,000ft speed. So your website should be optimized like the images, the site speed in general should be really fast.

Believe it or not, people will bounce if your website takes it has like a slow loading time. And before I even get there, we have to remember that when people go to websites they're going to skim your website. They're going so fast.

You know, we're on our social media channels all the time on our phones, so we're so used to scrolling, looking for those keywords and those key phrases that make us stop, that answer our question and kind of solve the pain points that we're kind of seeking out those solutions. So that's why the site speed is really essential. Additionally, messaging is super key. So making sure you have a really clear value proposition.

When you're aware website visitors get to your website for the first time, it should immediately convey what your business offers and why it's valuable to your target audience. And it should answer your website visitors question, you know, why should I choose this business, this product and this service?

And then of course throughout your website, just ensuring that the messaging speaks directly to your ideal audience. User friendly design, navigation. So that's user experience.

So making it really easy for a website visitor to come out, come on and find exactly what they're looking for quickly and easily. I would say responsive design. We talk about this a lot. So mobile friendly websites, huge.

Typically over 80% of website users are on their mobile phones normally because they're getting to your website from their, from your marketing channels. So that's very important. And then finally I would say social proof.

If your business, if this is relevant to your business, for example, maybe it's a service based business. Having social proof around your website is really important as well.

Angela Frank: 00:07:47

I think that's so important, everything you just said, but also bringing it back to the fact that most people are visiting your website from their phone.

And this is a, this is something that really takes a retraining of your brain to remember when you're designing on a big screen and thinking about oh, this is not what the majority of people are going to be seeing. My website. So making sure. That it's scannable, easily navigable on mobile, I think is so key. But everything that you named, very important.

That sounds like a lot though, to implement in a website. And your company up in a Day creates websites in a single day.

So how are you able to incorporate all of these key elements to a high impact website and still get websites up in a day?

Lindy Nowak: 00:08:36

I know, it sounds good to be true, doesn't it? Yeah, well, the answer is. So we've been in web development, marketing and sales for over 10 years.

So, you know, just to kind of backtrack a little bit, we're constantly researching and executing best practices to build websites for basically the coming years.

So we try to stay very much ahead of the trends and how people actually surf the web, if you will, how websites are used, and then of course, design, implementation and user experience.

So with that being said, when I created up in a Day, I created proprietary processes and systems which allow us to build the websites quickly while attaining a really deep understanding of our clients, businesses and their business goals. So within the company, within our systems and processes, we understand specific niches. So when you were introducing me at the beginning.

Thank you for the lovely introduction. We do have specific niches that we work with.

So when we decide on like these, these markets that we are marketing to to help build their websites, we ensure that we understand this market and their ideal really well. And so that's what allows us to, I mean, it's one factor in many that allows us to design so quickly.

And then of course, just the platform that we work on is really easy, we took for us to use, of course. So we know it really well. We work in Squarespace and we are Squarespace partners.

And so just allowing us to basically start with a blank canvas and then just take it from there. But truly it's really having great designers and a deep understanding of our businesses and what their need, what their needs are.

And then of course just understanding how in today's like modern, like, you know, web society, everyone gets on a website and like, what are they looking for? So it's a little, it's a lot of, a lot of psychology and design kind of intermixed, which is really interesting.

That's really just systems and processes in place.

Angela Frank: 00:10:55

Yeah, it definitely sounds like you guys are an expert in the niches that you create the websites for.

And also there's a heavy focus also in the strategy, making sure that you're looking ahead to the coming year and seeing what's going to be relevant in web design to making sure. That you're able to create competitive websites for your clients. So we talked a little bit about the different ways that websites can be made.

You mentioned having a friend or family member do it. Obviously up in a day. Your company creates websites and there's all of these options in between.

So from your perspective, what are the pros and cons of having a professional website made versus going that more DIY friend and family route?

Lindy Nowak: 00:11:35

Oh, that's a great question. And you know, I get asked that every week by someone.

What I see when people design their own websites is that as business owners, they get stuck in their own way. I've been there. We're trying to design our own website six years ago. It's hard to step out of your day to day.

It's hard to step out of the box of your company. You have so many things going on like you have millions of marbles up in the air.

You have staff, you have projections, you have finances, you have payroll, you have so many things happening at once. And so your job is not to typically sit down and also try to convey your messaging to your ideal audience.

It's important that you work with somebody to help you with that kind of brand story and bringing it to life online.

So yes, while it's okay, of course, to design your own website, typically what I see is that down the road, sooner rather than later, you're going to have to redesign it. We work with people all the time who come to us having designed their own websites, ultimately frustrated.

The main reason why they're frustrated is because they had spent so much time and energy one, trying to use the platform, figure out what it is, how to use it, two, trying to figure out what to say and then three, trying to be a graphic designer. And so all those three things, plus being a marketer and then on top of it once you launch your website.

How do I now I have this website, how do I market it? So I hear that a lot and that's a lot of opportunity costs, loss and actually working on the business and getting sales in the door.

So that's the biggest thing I like to help people with and just kind of put a little, you know, something in the back of their head just to think about if, if it's in consideration, the investment in a website should be part of your marketing budget. So if you are on a tight budget, especially if it's a new business, then maybe it's a good idea to start with a landing page.

Angela, you and I talked about this before we went on air. Like start with just something simple. Hey, a beautiful landing page. Super simple. Maybe it has.

You can scroll down a little bit to find out more information, but it's at least something that's professional. And then when you are ready, you can go back to the agency and have them build out from that landing page.

And I feel like that's a really good cost effective approach. And then you're developing a relationship with your agency and you can work with them and trust them on an ongoing basis.

Angela Frank: 00:14:24

Yeah, I love that. I'm a big fan of that landing page method just because I find that people really overthink their website.

And so by doing the landing page, it creates a canvas that you can then build upon over time. You don't need all these millions and billions of pages when you're first getting started. Like just, just go in a stepwise approach.

But I wanted to go back to what you said about the pain of going that DIY route. I am somebody who am is on their third version of their website this year because I'm in marketing. I kind of know graphic design a little bit.

I'm like, I can make my own website. So I made my own website and it sucked because like you said, there's so many marvels in the air.

How are you going to make sure that you're effectively designing, writing, copy, marketing? It's. It can't be done. Then I went the friend and family route and that one was a little bit better, but still not where I wanted it.

And then finally now I decided to bite the bullet and go the professional route. And this version of my website I like a lot more and I feel like it represents the brand and.

Well, I haven't had the time to write all the copy for it yet. It's. It's there for me and that's all I have to focus on, is the messaging component.

And so while it may seem like you're doing a good thing going the DIY or the friend and family route, you're saving money in the long run. It's a lot more painful. Speaking from experience.

Lindy Nowak: 00:15:50

Yes. Painful is the right word up in a day. We like to say that we take the headache out of getting your website up because we work with many DIYers, so.

But that's a success story for you, which is fantastic.

So you found somebody that you can trust and now you can just focus on the messaging and go back to the business of running your business, which is fantastic.

Angela Frank: 00:16:17

Yep, for sure. Well, Lindy, I really enjoyed our conversation today and you are just an absolute expert in the web space. Space.

And I want to know what's next for you.

Lindy Nowak: 00:16:30

Oh, great question. Well, we are currently launching new services in tandem with our web services.

We find that a lot of our clients need a little bit more than just the web presence. You know, like I said earlier, you have a great website up and now you need to market it. So lots of fun marketing services coming soon.

We just launched a LinkedIn optimization service for business, business owners and their company profiles as well. So that's been great for us. And yeah, more to come. So stay tuned.

Angela Frank: 00:17:07

Well, that's very exciting.

If we're hearing what you're saying and we're interested in keeping up with you online or we'd like to learn more about the marketing services that are soon to come. Where's the best place for us to check in with you?

Lindy Nowak: 00:17:20

Sure. The best place is on our website. It's Upina Day. Co. I'm also very active on LinkedIn and I give a lot of webinars as well.

So you can always find me there. Lindy Nowak and yeah, thank you.

Angela Frank: 00:17:34

Of course, all of those links that you mentioned will be listed in the show notes. So if you are listening on your commute, it's right there for you when you get to wherever you're headed.

But Lynde, thank you so much for joining us today.

Lindy Nowak: 00:17:46

Thank you for having me. It's been a lot of fun.

Angela Frank: 00:17:48

If you enjoyed this episode of the Growth Pod, please leave us a review. It helps us reach more entrepreneurs just like you. Thank you so much for listening and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.