Welcome to another week of the Boss Responses podcast . Our special guest co-host this week is Eagranie Yuh , who is joining us all the way from Tasmania , Australia . Igrani is a white paper specialist and podcast consultant and she's really good at what she does .
She's also been running her own business for quite a while , so she has some great insights to offer all of us . Our question for today is one of those that I see discussed pretty frequently in social forums for freelancers . When you're starting a business or when you're setting out on your freelancing journey , is it necessary to have a website right away ?
There are a lot of different opinions on this topic . Let's go ahead and see what Igrani has to say . If you're a freelancer , business owner or anyone who deals with clients , you're in the right place . I'm your host , Treasa Edmond .
I've been dealing with clients and running my business for nearly two decades and in that time I've dealt with my share of doubt , imposter syndrome and not knowing what to say when a client asked a question I wasn't ready for , and not knowing what to say when a client asked a question I wasn't ready for .
I created this podcast to empower you with the boss responses you need to grow your business . Each week , my guest co-host and I will bring you five episodes packed with practical insights . Monday through Thursday , we answer your questions , and Fridays we dive deep to explore how our co-hosts embrace their role as the boss of their business .
Welcome to Boss Responses . Eagranie , thank you so much for being with us this week . Thanks for having me , teresa . All right , so let's go ahead and jump right in . What is the question we're answering today ?
All right . So our reader question for today is do I need a website ? I'm just starting my business and I'll be reaching out to my potential clients directly and using social media to promote my business . It seems like it might be an unnecessary expense to me .
Ooh , this is a yes and no question . I wanted a website shortly after I started out . I did not have one when I started out . The short answer is do you have to have one ? Absolutely not . I know people who have gone 20 years without one .
If you want to attract higher level clients , it definitely helps , because they want to go and see who you are and what you do and how professional your stuff looks . But it can be so basic . It can be like three pages you know who you are , the services you offer , and if you offer a price list , or at least starting prices , then something like that .
I know a lot of writers , especially who also have a blog , that talk about topics that are interesting to their target audience , and then that SEO helps bring them in as well . So yes and no . Did you have one when you started ?
out . I had just a landing page when I started , probably for the first year or so , and it was literally . It was just my headshot , it was my contact information , it was a headline of what I did . That was it for the first year I do now have . It's not even really a proper website , but it's . It's a more fully fledged website .
And I would just say one thing , just speaking to the unnecessary expense if it is like web hosting and all of that can definitely add up , especially if you're just getting started . I love Carrd c-a-r-r-d and it is $20 a year us wow . And that's hosting . That's the cms . It's super , super basic , but it's a whizzy wig . It's really easy to use .
If you want a fancy website , it's not for you . But if you're like me and you get really distracted by stuff , there's only so much you can do in it . And it's $20 a year all included and you get actually 20 websites within it .
So if you wanted in the future to do like a landing page for something , or if you wanted to play around with I don't know , you've got a side gig or something like that , but literally it's super cost effective . That's nice , literally it's super cost effective . That's nice , yeah , and it can be a really nice way to get out of your own way .
If a website seems daunting , I think card makes it just a little lower risk in many ways . So that might be something to consider if the cost of hosting or the financial aspect is really the big barrier .
So quick question on that one Do you get to choose your domain name ? Can it be your business name , if that's available , yeah , so you need to pay .
There's a free option where you have the . It's a card domain , similar if you went to wordpresscom . But if you pay the $20 , I think it's called the pro level and you have your domain , which obviously you would have to pay for separately , but that's affordable . Then you can map your website to the custom domain .
So it's a really affordable option for someone who's just starting out .
That's amazing . I had not heard of that one . That is one thing that I would recommend .
If you do have a website , make sure it has your business name or some derivative of it that's easy to get to as your domain name and , if possible , get an email that's directly linked to that , because it looks super professional to have an email that is like you know , teresa , at admineditingcom or whatever that is .
So make sure that your email is professional , no matter what , and you don't want at gmailcom as your business email because no one's going to take you seriously . I discovered for the longest time I thought no one really went to my website because it was low viewership , but then clients started mentioning it on our discovery calls .
So I went to your website and I saw this Can we talk about that ? I didn't even know that was a service you offered . So I started getting more business on my calls because people had checked out my website and I never had a ghostwriting client for a book who did not go and look at my website . So it depends on what you do , what your business is .
If your business is visual , if it is design work or photography , you absolutely need a website . That's not even a question . If it's writing , then start off without it and see when you do need it . But it will help in the long run and it will help if you deal with higher dollar clients .
Absolutely , and I think it does differentiate you as well , again , depending on which field you're in . But if I'm looking at a potential freelancer and one has a website and one doesn't , I'm not saying I'm going to choose automatically the one who does , but the one who does looks a lot more legit .
They look like they take their business more seriously , but the one who does looks a lot more legit they look like they take their business more seriously whether or not that is true .
Yes , perception matters . Unfortunately , you cannot get by on skill alone . Perception actually does matter and that's why client management is so important , because you set that tone of mutual respect and admiration . And I know what I do , you do what you do , we both do it wonderfully from that very first conversation .
And sometimes that very first conversation is them looking at your website . So it does matter . Look at it . If you can do it for $20 a year , that's a no brainer . At least do that . But in the end you may want a bigger website . You may want to branch out and do an agency format , which , yes , you need a website .
You might want to branch out and offer a course or a newsletter and with all of those things , a website helps with gathering leads and all of that stuff . So it's a good question Do you have to have one starting out ? Absolutely not , should you ? Maybe , if you can do it for $20 a year ? Yes , yeah , absolutely Awesome .
Thank you , and come back tomorrow for our second day with Igrani Yu .