Dmitriy Kozlov

So You Want to Build or Redesign Your Influencer Site? Here’s the Most Important Criteria to Consider

January 8, 2019 by Dmitriy Kozlov

If you want an influencer site that’s not just beautifully designed but also gets results, how exactly it is conceptualized, designed, developed, executed and maintained is the most important thing that will determine its success.

Nobel Prize Physicist Neils Bohr said that:

“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”

Well, after designing and developing dozens of beautifully designed influencer sites that get real results, we are proud to say that have done many mistakes and experienced almost every possible situation a team could encounter.

That’s why we regard ourselves as experts when it comes to building influencer sites.

Over time, we’ve created an optimal process specifically built to address/prevent problems from happening in the first place.

And we just keep on refining it.

If you’re considering having your Influencer site built, do not get it done until you’ve read our proven 4-step process (Step 5 is a bonus). This will help ensure you don’t end up making mistakes that could cost you enormous amounts of time, money and sanity!

Mike Dillard is just one of the many influencers who benefitted from our team's expertise.

Our Proven Process

Step 1: Influencer Intensive

First, we do the Essence Extraction process. We do this via a concise intake form, where we ask you questions that will help us most to understand who you are, your message and your mission, who you serve, and what exactly you need in order to effectively accomplish your goals.

Next comes the Creative Clarity Call. Together, we’ll co-create the brilliant online marketing strategy that will direct your authority site’s information architecture and brand design.

Then your designated Project Manager will then reach out to you. They are there to tell you what we’re doing, what we need from you, and what comes next.

We then provide expert photo guidance to ensure you provide us with photography that will convey the right image and elicit the desired emotional response from your prospects. Then you arrange your Professional Photography shoot (or you can let us arrange it). If you take the Influex VIP Package, we’ll arrange everything ourselves — you just turn up on the day of your shoot and be your attractive, irresistible self! 😉

Then, if you take the Influex Expression package, Master your Messaging comes next. This is where our resident Story Coach, Patrick Combs, will guide you through the process of crafting your compelling origin story as well as telling it with grace, power and impact. As for your web copy, we’ll write it for you so you wouldn’t even have to think about that bit!

Let Master Storyteller and Coach Patrick Combs guide you

If you take the Influex Essential package, we’ll provide you a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to write your own web copy. Don’t worry, after you go through that process, we’ll hop on our Guidance Call. Here, we’ll provide you with specific actionables on how to improve your web copy for maximum results. This is not just a general guidance either – we’ll look at the copy you have for every web page.

Once we have web copy to work with, the design phase can begin!

Step 2: Essence Expression
Using the assets you provide (videos, testimonials, freebies for your leads, etc), we’ll create each page of your site based on what comes out of Step 1 (we call this your Vision Blueprint).

Step 2 is where the feedback loop happens. Here, we engage in an ongoing Creative Collaboration – we come up with designs for each page (starting with the homepage) and we keep the feedback loop going until we arrive at the finalized design.

We’ll do this for your homepage first. Once we nail down the homepage design, it becomes much easier to conceptualize and design the internal pages.

We’ll do the same thing so you can have design assets to use for the Social Media platforms you actively use.

As soon as we finalize the design for each page, we develop that page right away and put it on a test site.

A test site is not accessible to the public, but it will allow you to see and interact with your site as we finish each page. That way, we’ll be able to see the kinks and rough edges that still need polishing, plus you will see exactly how each page will be after launch (no surprises!)

Step 3: Expert Execution

The hallmark of a well-developed site is when nothing frustrating happens and everything works as it should.

This step is where we ensure:

Your site is secure.
Your site looks good on all devices and browsers.
All forms, links, and plugins work properly.
Ensure your site is set up for SEO success.
All videos, images and media are embedded, optimized and loading properly.
Information about your site and your site visitors’ behavior are being gathered properly (which you can analyze later and use as the basis for important business and marketing decisions).
And much much more.

Delivering all that is not as simple as it sounds, though. Nor is it easy.

It requires experience, expertise, a proven process, and a meticulous team who will execute every detail and every step, big or small.

Our Quality Control (QC) process alone is a comprehensive 58-point Checklist (many of which have sub-checklists and nested if-then instructions!).

Our team of developers (vision engineers, we call ‘em) goes through your site with a fine-toothed comb and execute their own systems of problem identification and implementing the necessary fixes BEFORE anything happens. This is how we ensure no preventable issues happen in the first place.

Once you’re happy with how every page looks and functions, we launch your site!

Step 4: Launch Party!
By “launching your site”, we don’t just mean making it LIVE.

That’s what most agencies do, but we like to overdeliver. 😉

We’ll celebrate your launch and shout about it on all our Social Media channels as well as feature your site on our Influex blog.

But we don’t stop there.

We’ll also drive ad traffic to that blog post AND drive traffic to your newly minted authority site! (We suggest you also promote your new site extensively – a site launch is a good excuse to release campaigns about you and your mission)

As part of this, we ask you to fill out your Experience Enhancer form. Your feedback helps us ensure we improve our processes (and the customer experience) even more.

We then “hand over the keys to the Kingdom” to you.

But again, we won’t just stop there.

We’ll also provide a comprehensive, step-by-step, easy to follow video tutorials showing you exactly how to edit your site’s content and pages using the built-in drag-and-drop functionality (no coding needed!). You can give this to your assistant or VA to learn.

If you're ready to get your Influencer Site, you can apply here now.

After we launch your site, you might need some help maintaining it as well as help in designing/developing more materials for your brand’s online marketing needs.

Don’t worry, we have you covered!

(Optional) Step 5: Get 40 hours of Design Block and Get our Data-Driven Design Service for Free

After your influencer site is done, you might need ongoing help as you keep releasing new content, offers, and online campaigns.

You have the option to then buy a Design Block of 40 hours, which you can use for any design or development work you need for the same brand we have designed. You’ll have access to the same creative team who built your influencer site.

You can buy this Design Block and just buy it again once you have used all the hours up.

But if you buy Design Block monthly, you will get our Data-Driven Design service for free. With Data-Driven Design, you’ll receive monthly design enhancements and optimization based on your business goals.

If you avail of Design Block monthly, we'll provide Data-driven design service for free.

Here’s why Data-Driven Design matters:

As beautiful and as well-built your authority site is, you’ll never really know how effective it truly is until you launch it and see how your actual website visitors interact with the information and pages.

Are they scrolling down and reading?

Which specific sections are getting attention and why?

Which content is getting read and which links are getting clicked? Equally important, which ones are being ignored?

Since your site is the main mechanism that ties all your other marketing efforts together, you simply can’t afford not to know these metrics.

We’ll discuss Data-Driven Design with you nearer to the date of your site launch, but for now, just be assured that you’ll be able to rely on our support infrastructures once your Influencer site is done.

It's All About Results!

In the end, what you really want as an Influencer is to:

Get more qualified leads.
Repel tire kickers and receive inquiries from your IDEAL clients (those who are looking not for the cheapest but for the BEST, and they want to pay top dollar for it).
Get paid what you’re truly worth (isn’t it about time you command higher fees?)
Have more speaking engagements (how much is ONE speaking gig worth to you?)
Make more sales without doubling the time you spend selling or having to hard sell.
Gain more engaged, rabid followers who consume your content and share them religiously.
Make a much greater impact …

Then you need to start becoming Omnipresent.

And a key to this strategy is building your very own Influencer site, just like the most successful online entrepreneurs do.

But there are many problems inherent to this undertaking. It’s not as simple or as straightforward and not many people know how to do this effectively.

The Influex proven process is exactly how we address and prevent those problems from coming up in the first place. This is the difference that makes the difference. This is what will determine if your influencer site will help you accomplish your goals or if it’s just going to be a mere brochure site that doesn’t help your bottom line.

Influex custom personal brand sites start at just 3 payments of $7,000.

If you're ready to take your business to the next level, Get your influencer site by applying here now.

How to Command Higher Fees with Less Effort and while Working for Fewer Hours

December 18, 2018 by Dmitriy Kozlov

How do the top influencers, the most respected online marketers, and the most successful entrepreneurs market themselves and their businesses so that they get maximum results and get paid more while spending less effort and working for fewer hours?

We’ve been working with the best of them for many years and here’s what we know they do: They LEVERAGE all possible resources and AUTOMATE their marketing processes.

If you’re an influencer who wants to play a much bigger game but you’re not fully doing this yet, then keep reading because in this blog post we’ll show you ideas that you can implement so that you, too, can attract high-caliber clients who would happily pay you what you’re truly worth… without necessarily spending more time or effort.

Do What’s Already Working

Now the good news is there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You just gotta do what’s already proven to work and customize it to your situation.

So what works?

One way is to become Omnipresent. That is, you want to be found, seen, heard, watched and read — on any device and platform — anywhere, anytime.

You also want to make sure you attract and work with only your ideal clients: people who want to work with the best there is and willing to pay top dollar for it. This is key to being able to transition from being underpaid and burning out to 10X'ing your income while working for fewer hours.

Moreover, you want to implement an effective way to pre-sell your brand/business to your ideal clients/customers.

That is, you need to strategize your marketing/messaging so that by the time prospects send you an inquiry, they’re almost or already been “sold” and talking to you over the phone/video call is just a mere formality at that point.

One way you can do this is by publishing content in a prolific manner. Not just any content, but the type that adds so much value to your ideal clients. Remember to publish them in several formats and channels: blog articles, Social Media, video, emails, etc.

Here’s the problem though: you can’t fully implement the above tactics without an influencer site.

What’s an influencer site?

Make no mistake: this is not just a mere “website”.

This is the mechanism that will allow you to build repeatable, predictable systems to consistently attract your ideal clients & customers, qualified leads and high-quality bookings/ inquiries to produce profitable results — without working more hours.

For your influencer site to bring real tangible results, it must make you “look the part” (it’s harder to attract premium clients if your site makes you look like you can’t even afford a decent designer).

But looking the part is just one aspect of it. More importantly, an effective influencer site is one that gets results.

Mike Koenigs is just of the many top influencers who trust the Influex team

A real influencer site is one that meets these standards:

Beautifully designed and truly expresses your essence.
Builds trust and credibility.
Attracts and pre-sells your business to your ideal clients.
Generates targeted leads for your business – even while you sleep.
Positions you as a thought leader and an authority in your field.
Allows you to optimize and automate your marketing efforts.
Presents your offers and services persuasively.

But Here's the Rub…

Problem is, creating an influencer site is NOT easy.

In fact, not many can do it (the way it’s ought to be done).

Many web design agencies who had been around for a while don’t/can’t do it properly (even though they think they do).

It’s not easy because there are so many moving parts you need to get right, each of which requires specialized skill sets and a certain depth of experience.

Here are the Top 7 Problems You’ll Encounter When Getting Your Influencer Site Done:

Problem #1: Extracting your essence from you is not easy.
Your Influencer site must convey your brand and your essence powerfully.

The trouble is that extracting your essence, your story, and your brand from inside of you is a tricky process to navigate. Sometimes certain concepts and ideas are not even 100% clear to you yet — so how can you begin to even convey that to another person, or to a much larger audience?

This is why Essence Extraction and Creative Clarity Call, the first two steps of our proven process, involves us diving deep into your world and taking the time to understand who you are, your message and your mission, who you serve, and what exactly is needed to fulfill your goals.

This is important because only by understanding your goals can we map out an effective process that will help you get there.

Many of our Influex clients who initially lacked clarity in these areas benefitted from our Essence Extraction process by helping them solidify their own unique value proposition and how to best position themselves.

Problem #2: There is no clear-cut and definite best way to expressing your essence online.
Getting your story out of you is one thing, but crafting it in a way so that it commands attention AND and telling it masterfully so that it sticks in the hearts and minds of listeners long after they click away is no easy feat.

This is why we provide expert direction and guidance on what’s best for your site’s copy and photography, as well as help you get your story structure + storytelling RIGHT, through a coaching session with master storyteller Patrick Combs.

Check out what Doren Aldana has to say about his Influencer site.

Problem #3: Building a site that has both beauty and brains requires an experienced team with multi-faceted talents.

A brilliant online Marketing Strategy is the real power behind an effective, persuasive, well-designed authority site that gets results. Without this, your site will merely be a lackluster “brochure”: making your ideal clients go “meh” and click away.

Sadly, many web development agencies have no clue how to guide you on this. So all they can give you is a pretty but impotent (and super expensive) website —at best!

This is why we have included a strategy session in our process to make sure that more than anything, what we’ll build is something that will add to your bottomline!

Problem #4: Getting your webcopy right is HARD.

(This part is so hard, even those who write copy for a living struggle to write copy for their own authority site!)

Your influencer site’s copy needs to be pithy but persuasive, compelling but not cheesy.

But most importantly, your copy must drive readers to your desired action.

It has to be intellectually stimulating and emotionally gripping (but without making you sound like Douchy MacDoucherson or coming across as manipulative).

Fail to do this and you’ll set off alarm bells and red flags in your readers’ minds. Trip on that wire and you’ll have a very slim chance clambering out of that hole.

So what do you write on what page? Not many influencers even know where to begin, or how.

To solve this, we have several iterative steps in our process specifically designed to coach you and guide you not just on how to write your copy, but also how to Master your Messaging. (You can also let us write your webcopy)

Problem #5: Designers who Understand Sales, Marketing and Conversion-based designs are as Rare as Black Unicorns.

You’ll probably have more luck finding the remains of a long lost ancient sunken mythical city than finding web designers who understand conversion-based designs (and who will do it at an affordable price).

We exaggerate, but it’s not too far from the truth 😉

This is why we are continually investing in our designers’ training and professional development.

One iterative step in our process is a feedback loop where we come up with designs and work with you to keep improving on those designs.

Allen Brouwer is a sought-after speaker and business strategist who’s helped tens of thousands of people turn on the hustle and turn off the bullshit.

Problem #6: Website developers who can execute the needed technical infrastructure to support your business & marketing strategy and goals are extremely rare.

The really exceptional web developers know how to anticipate business problems and are experienced and knowledgeable about the smart implementation of technical solutions.

On top of that, they can actually speak with you or answer your questions without discombobulating your brain. This rare breed of developers is almost impossible to find, in our experience.

This is why we have built systems and standard operating procedures (on top of a comprehensive training program) for our developers to execute. We also have a rigorous Quality Control process that involves a comprehensive 58-point Checklist. This ensures that no detail, however tiny, has been overlooked when it comes to the functionality and execution of your site.

Problem #7: And even if you manage to address all 6 problems above, who exactly will coordinate all of the moving parts?
Even if you manage to find a brilliant person for each of the specialized roles mentioned above, who will get everyone – the designer, the developer, the copywriter, the marketing strategist – moving in the right direction to ensure you all produce an outcome that makes good business sense?

It can’t be you, simply because that’s not the highest and best use of your time. You have a business to run, clients to see, and important contributions to make.

This is why we assign a designated Project Manager to handle every Influex project. They ensure all the project deliverables are met within the planned timeline. They hold your hand all throughout the entire project and guide you on what’s needed so you always know what’s coming next, and your focus is never taken away from growing your business.

Addressing all of the above problems is how and why Influex was born: to establish the top standard for beautiful, authoritative Influencer brand sites that brings real business results.

So if you want:

More qualified leads
To repel tire kickers and receive enquiries from your IDEAL clients (those who are looking not for the cheapest but for the BEST, and they want to pay top dollar for it)
To get paid what you’re truly worth (isn’t it about time you command higher fees?)
More speaking engagements (how much is ONE speaking gig worth to you?)
To make more sales without doubling the time you spend selling or having to hardsell
To gain more engaged, rabid followers who consume your content and share them religiously
To make a much greater impact …

Then start building your very own Influencer site, just like the top most successful online entrepreneurs do!

Ready to have your very own Influencer site?

When it comes to building or redesigning your Influencer site, here’s the most important criteria to consider. (Click to learn more about our unique process that solves all of the above problems.)

The 6-Figure Earner’s Guide to Branding with Dmitriy Kozlov

December 4, 2018 by Dmitriy Kozlov

Living a life centered on your true purpose…

Doing meaningful work that constantly challenges you to give your deepest gifts…

All while living out your purest passion and doing it all with an authentic self-expression…

Those are the call to arms of Jules Schroeder.

The 6-Figure Earner's Guide to Branding with Jules Schroeder and our very own Dmitriy Kozlov

Jules created Unconventional Life, a top-ranked podcast for entrepreneurs that features the stories of millennials living from a new paradigm.

Jules has been ranked by Inc. Magazine as #1 of the “Top 27 Female Entrepreneurs Changing the World in 2017” and one of the “Top 40 Millennials To Follow in 2018″. She’s a musician and visionary on a mission to inspire people to create an intentional and rich life, a life by their own design.

Unconventional Life has reached millions of people from over 75 different countries and has become a global community of like-minded entrepreneurs, influencers, creatives, and thought leaders. Jules herself has always been multi-passionate as an avid crossfitter, yoga teacher, musician and singer, writer, traveler and overall life enthusiast.

We’re thrilled to announce that recently, Jules interviewed our very own resident visionary at Influex, Dima Kozlov.

Check out her video podcast here as she and Dima explore the do’s and don’ts of personal branding.

Of course, helping her to expand her reach and to get more and more people to hear her message was a mission we were too glad to accept! When the opportunity to support Jules’ mission and work with her to re-strategize her new Influencer brand site came up, we jumped right in!

Check out Jules Schroeder's Influex site

Check out Jules’ awesome new Influex site here: https://www.julesschroeder.com/

4 Trust-building Strategies You Can Learn from Joe Polish’s Personal Brand Site

November 6, 2018 by Dmitriy Kozlov

If you want to create a brand that will remain relevant for the long-term (and one that converts site visitors into loyal raving fans), there's one strategy you need to build into every message, every content, and into every marketing effort you make: building trust.

But how do you do this effectively?

Enter Joe Polish…

Joe Polish is one of the most sought after marketers alive today. An exceptional “connector”, he leverages his networking prowess through his highly renowned Genius Network, and GeniusX masterminds with household guests like Peter Diamandis, Tony Robbins, Sir Richard Branson, Steve Forbes, and John Mackay coming in to share their wisdom with the groups.

Before we started working together, Joe already had a functional personal brand site. But Joe wanted us to rethink his site. He wanted one that would invite people to come into his world — and then strongly inspire them to take purposeful, meaningful action towards living a grander, more abundant, more fulfilling life.

Here we share the key principles we used to guide our redesign strategy for Joe…

1) Get Clear on Who You Want to Attract

First, we made sure we had a clear, super detailed profile of Joe's target audience. We discussed this in great depth during our onboarding process (we call this part of our unique, proven process the “Influencer Intensive”).

Joe wanted to attract givers, not takers. He wanted to appeal to real entrepreneurs, not those who say they want to build businesses, but don’t take consistent action.

Joe wanted them to feel motivated and inspired when they land on his site, but he also wanted them to feel disturbed by their own inaction and to feel they will be missing out on great opportunities if they don't subscribe and actively learn from Joe's knowledge.

We also made sure we understood why he thought his old site was no longer effective. Here's a shot of his old homepage:

Joe Polish hired the Influex team to rethink his influencer site.

Now compare his homepage to what we came up with… (click on the image to experience his site yourself)

Joe Polish's personal brand site after we re-strategized the design and its effectiveness.

2) Keep It Real

In order to build trust, we designed Joe's site so that it doesn't look “salesy”.

“What?!” I hear other designers say.

“You mean no over the top flashing red arrows or big glaring headlines with multiple exclamation points? (Double gasp!)”

I know, right? What a travesty. 😉

Jokes aside, Joe himself even said he “didn't want to look too polished” (hrhrhr got the joke? An endearingly punny man, Joe is.)

He cared more about being real, being authentic.

That's why we used doodle-ish fonts and hand-drawn graphics for his brand. That way, it exuded his relaxed, friendly, fun, light-hearted attitude.

Doodle-ish typography reflected Joe's light-hearted and authentic warmth, while effective, customer-centric copy drew in the right type of prospects.

One thing Joe is famous for is his proven framework on how to build ELF businesses – (Easy, Lucrative, Fun) vs. HALF ones (Hard, Annoying, Lame, Frustrating).

So when visitors see the site, Joe wanted them to feel more “woooooh!” (excitement, curiosity to dig deeper) and less aaahh (angst, frustrations).

So we (in collaboration with Joe's team) created the site so that it invites people into a world that shows them they can become better and overcome their problems, as well as connect with themselves and with others.

We wanted visitors to experience the possibility of a solution to their marketing problem.
Joe wanted people to feel motivated and inspired, but also disturbed by their own inaction (you know that “sh*@t – I really need to change now or else” kind of feeling? Yep.)

So how can you do this effectively?

3) Share Your Struggles When You Tell Your Story… But Don't Make it Exclusively About You.

Joe's About Page is a fine example of how to hook people into your world when you tell your story.

Joe's About Page tells his story in a way that earns trust but also educates and inspires people to take action.

Here are just some of the reasons that made Joe's About Page effective:

It revealed Joe's struggles as a person and as an entrepreneur.
He shared his aspirations as well as his flaws.
He displayed the right balance of vulnerability as he described the obstacles he encountered as he fought his way to achieve his goals.
He prevented his About Page from becoming a narcissistic yawn-fest by telling his story by giving clues as to how others too could figure out the same struggles that he had wrestled with. He featured real people he had helped and the results they gained by applying Joe's teachings.
The page mentioned his other offshoot projects and passion-based businesses that continue to fulfill his sense of Purpose.

4) Let Others Build You Up

While it may work well to persuade people when you talk about your own accomplishments, it works much better when you let others do the talking for you.

And let's face it – it makes you sound less of a douche, too 😉

So if you want to win over your prospects' trust, include a page in your personal brand site that builds your social proof. Showcase your clients' case studies and/or testimonials.

A video of Sir Richard Branson talking about what thinks of Joe Polish is an effective Social Proof.

We made sure to feature well-known people in a wide range of industries. It's a very clever way of conveying that Joe's marketing know-how do not just work in the carpet cleaning industry – without us actually saying the words. Whenever you can, employ that subtlety in your messaging. It works better to persuade your readers: because they arrive at the conclusion themselves, they have more buy-in.

Singer-songwriter Paula Abdul talks about Joe Polish

Of course, the fact that Joe is known to multi-million dollar bestselling authors and world-renowned speakers makes out job way easier…

Joe Polish has worked with authors, speakers, entrepreneurs from a wide range of backgrounds.

When featuring video testimonials, be mindful of the fact that some people would prefer to just read the text on the page and not play the video.

To anticipate this tendency, we included the snippets of the most important (i.e., trust-inducing) part of the testimonial on the page. That way, the goal of the page is likely to be met regardless of the readers' behavior patterns.

Influential bestselling author and angel investor Tim Ferriss talks about Joe Polish

Does Your Personal Brand Site Need a Makeover?

Are you an influencer who wants to create an omnipresent brand online?

If you feel your personal brand site is not built to boost your credibility and perceived authority, schedule a strategy call with us. We'll identify the ways we can help you create an online presence that builds your authority, gets you more inquiries, and attracts more of your ideal clients.

You might also want to download our free Photography and Storytelling Guides here.

And if there's nothing else that you take away from this featured post, let it be this (we found this inspiring quote inside the Genius Network HQ):

“Be willing to destroy anything in your life that isn’t excellent”
~ Joe Polish

6 Tips for an Effective Personal Brand Site Makeover

October 23, 2018 by Dmitriy Kozlov

Are you an expert, consultant or entrepreneur who is unhappy with your current personal brand site? If so, here is one Influencer website makeover story that you could learn from.

Sachit Gupta is an entrepreneur dedicated to showing podcasters, authors and experts how to grow their audience and make a living from their art. Through his proven processes and mentorship, Sachit takes entrepreneurs to the next level by unlocking hidden profit centers in their businesses.

Like you, Sachit already had a business website but he knew it needed an overhaul. He needed it to be more effective in terms of generating leads, establishing his credibility, and selling his services and programs.

But for a long time, it remained the way it was. Sachit said:

Building a personal brand site is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but never really got around to doing, because:

I wasn’t sure what to put on there. I didn’t know how to construct the foundation of a really good personal brand site.

If you’ve ever done a website project, you know that managing developers, designers, writing copy and managing the entire process is really frustrating and complicated.

I do client work so I never really have the time to manage the whole process.

So his personal brand site didn't get done for a long time. Fortunately, Sachit stumbled upon Influex.

But at first, he was very skeptical…

When I first saw the offer from Influex, I thought it was too good to be true because they offered to handle everything: design, development, giving you instructions on what copy they need, even helping you on how to get photographs… It was like this one-stop-shop thing. I thought it was a crazy offer.

So I thought maybe this offer is by some new company who didn’t know what they’re doing.

But when I went to their site and saw their portfolio… holy crap! They work with the best like Mike Dillard, Frank Kern, Yanik Silver…so they knew what they were talking about.

It was a crazy offer so it was a no brainer to jump into it.

Here are a few things showing what we did for Sachit’s site and how you too could apply the same principles to your personal brand site makeover.

#1: Create a Stunning Homepage that Conveys What You Do and Who You Serve—Within 5 Seconds

Why 5 seconds? Because research shows that most users will click away if they don't establish your site's relevance within that time.

Remember that when prospects land on your homepage, the main questions in their minds are: “what's in this for ME? Why should I pay attention to this? How can this person solve MY problems?”

So when you get your homepage designed, the first thing you must establish is relevance. Fail to do this and you'll be looking at high bounce rates (bounce rate is the percentage of site visitors who click away from the site after viewing only one page).

SachitGupta.co Homepage – After the Redesign.

A well-designed homepage helps build trust and credibility right from the get-go. Just like the way you dress, the way your site looks speaks volumes about you, and this is one subconscious (but powerful) way how your prospects judge whether you're worth their attention or not.

Sachit Gupta's Homepage – BEFORE the redesign

Sachit's old homepage had decent copy, but the design looked plain. It used an image that looked generic – one that gave off a stock photography vibe to it. The design also failed to strongly reinforce what was being conveyed by the copy.

Another important thing is to spare users from having to think more than they have to. A common crime amateur designers/web developers do is to complicate stuff. In effect, the page gets muddled with superfluous elements and the core message gets lost or buried.

We humans are cognitive misers, so make your homepage simple and easy to understand. Aim for clarity more rather than trying to look cool or sounding clever or worse, pretending to be someone you're not.

#2: Use Well-crafted Stories to Bond with Your Audience on a Deeper Level

Our brains are hardwired to process stories. Just like our instinct for languages, we have an innate drive to hear stories and tell stories. When you have a story to tell, people of all ages are prone to engage and listen.

Want to get your prospects to understand how you can help them without making them feel sold to? Tell them the stories of your best clients.

The best stories are usually about people who want something (a goal) or they have problems that they feel they're ill-equipped to deal with. At its most basic form, a story's main ingredients are: character(s) + obstacle(s) + resolution + transformation.

The way Sachit's clients were listed on the old website didn't really convey how accomplished they were.

When you tell your clients' stories, a common mistake is to try to make yourself the hero of the story. But if you want to create a deeper impact in your prospects' minds, make them or your clients the heroes of the stories instead. Then position yourself as the guide who steps in to help them deal with their problems, show them the way and help them get what they want.

Making your clients and prospects the heroes in your story doesn't necessarily mean you don't talk about yourself at all. In fact, many people value knowing things about you that are outside of what you do professionally.

Case in point: Sachit's site gave very little information about him…

Sachit's old site gave very little information about him and only covered his professional aspect. There was nothing about him as a person.

If you want to create an opportunity to bond with your audience on an emotional level, share some things about your personal life as well. This invites your audience to identify with you in a way that goes deeper than just the professional level.

Influex built an About Page for Sachit that shares his journey, personal struggles, and what led to his current path with a balanced mix of vulnerability and authenticity.

#3: Use Powerful Calls to Action

You know what site visitors want from you when they click through and visit your site?

They want you to take them somewhere. Are you creating a worthy experience?

Don't expect people to think for themselves. Guide them.

Know your prospects well enough that you're able to anticipate what information they need and at what stage in the process they'll be looking for what information.

So lead your site visitors from one stage to the next in their journey with you. Then, tell them what to do and what's next after that.

Make every call to action clear and compelling.

Lead your readers' thought processes. Tell them what to do next and use powerful, compelling calls to action that stand out.

#4: Grow your List and Generate Leads!

People will rarely buy from you or hire you within the first interaction with your brand/site.

That is why it's essential you capture their contact details so you can keep the conversation going and build the relationship over time. You can do this by emailing them useful information and follow up messages.

Your email list can be one of your most powerful business assets, so one of your website's top 3 goals should be to build a list of high-quality, highly-qualified prospects.

Most people will not buy right away. They need time to get to know you first. Getting their emails lets you send communications that add value to them.

#5: Make Your Offers Clear

After explaining what you do and who you do it for, don’t shy away from selling!

Here you'll see how Sachit's old site described the value he could offer, but it didn't clarify what the prospects could invest in to make their desired transformation happen. (There wasn't even a call to action right where he explained what he could do for prospects.)

Don't leave your readers guessing. Make your offers clear. Show them what they can get, what options are available to them, how they'll get it, how you'll deliver the value they want and when, and what their investment is going to be.

Make your offers clear. Show your prospects a clear path to take when they are ready to get the results they want.

#6: Follow a Proven Process

The whole point of redesigning your personal brand site is to transform it from a mere brochure to an effective marketing tool that sets you apart from the competition, helps you build trust and authority with your tribe, and generates targeted leads for your business.

Influex has a proven, tested process for making all that happen.

As Sachit shared:

I didn’t know what pages to put on there, and I didn’t know what information needed to be on each page. But by working with Influex and by going through their processes, those became clear.

So if you work with Influex, don’t skip any of the processes because you’ll just end up hurting yourself.

Sachit adds:

What I really loved about my experience working with Influex was the team took control of the entire process.

I remember from the moment I made the payment, they laid out exactly:

“Here’s what you need to do, here’s what we need from you, here’s how everything’s gonna work…”

If you hire someone and they have a process and they tell you exactly what’s gonna happen, it just makes you feel you’re in good hands. And that was how I felt from start to finish.

Redesigning a site is a creative process. Due to its nature, it can be messy, unpredictable, and, given the conflicting preferences and tastes of those involved, the process could even be confusing at times.

They really care about their work. I could tell that from the very start.

A great example is when we were working on my 404 Page or my Contact Page. I expected them to do one or two designs and I just pick one. But no, we ended up doing many revisions – for a page that most people wouldn’t even really think about!

For the Home Page, About Page and all the important pages, we went through multiple rounds of revisions and they were always happy to do it as long as I was clear about what I wanted.

That just showed that they cared and wanted to create something beautiful and that’s exactly what they did and delivered on what they promised.

Here’s what Sachit has to say about his experience after he decided to get his site redesigned:

https://youtu.be/HNWCuJkR4Fg

Redesigning your personal brand site could be a long and stressful process. But it doesn't have to be so if you have an experienced and competent team working with you. We'll let Sachit have the final word:

If you’re someone who’s looking to build your personal brand site, you have two choices:

One is you try and do it yourself.

In which case, you’ll need to figure out what exactly goes where.

Then you need to find a designer. Then you need to find a developer. You’ll need someone to write the copy and then you’ll probably need a Project Manager to manage everything and everyone.

And you do all that while running your own business!

That’s just too stressful!

So either you do that or just work with Influex and they handle everything from start to finish and in the end they deliver a good product and that’s what matters.

So yes, I highly recommend you work with them!

If you want to see more of the personal brand sites that we have created for other influencers, check out our portfolio.

And if you're ready to have your personal brand site redesigned by our team, simply fill out the application form here. You will be asked to book your Alignment Assessment call with Dmitriy to see if we are a good fit.

4 Keys To an Effective Home Page

October 9, 2018 by Dmitriy Kozlov

Sterling Griffin helps service providers serve more and get paid more while working from anywhere in the world. If you're a coach or expert who has ever struggled marketing yourself, Sterling can guide you to a thriving 6-figure business just as he had done for many others.

Before Sterling worked with us to build his Influencer Site, this was his situation, in his own words:

“Over my first year in business, it was a wonder I survived with such a janky website. Because in the industry we’re in today (especially if you’re a coach, consultant or service provider, there is so much competition right now around what you do. There are dozens of thousands of people that are offering the same service. So how do you stand out? That was the question that was in my mind when I came to Dmitriy.”

Sterling Griffin's site, BEFORE Influex.

To solve Sterling's problem, the Influex team created a brand site that makes Sterling's brand stand out, exude credibility and be known as an authority.

Apart from the stunning design, these are just some of the key things that make Sterling's Home Page so effective:

An attention-grabbing, impossible-to-resist offer right above the fold that generates targeted, high-quality leads for his business.
It passes “the grunt test”. What is the grunt test? Basically, if a caveman were to look at your website, could they “grunt” exactly what you do just by looking at the homepage? Sterling's new home page conveys who he is serving, what value he can offer them, and how he delivers it – all in the span of 5 seconds.
Even the section where he was supposedly talking about himself was crafted from the perspective of the reader's interests, issues, and concerns.
The copy builds rapport with the reader effectively and establishes credibility and trust without overwhelming the reader with superfluous messaging.

SterlingGriffin.com Influex Homepage.

Here's what Sterling has to say about his experience with Influex:

“When I came to Dmitriy, I asked for a site that looks good and functional – one that would give me [better] conversions and create results for my bottom line.

Not only were the entire team a joy to work with, they made it EASY. I just told them what I wanted and it got DONE. I had total peace of mind throughout the entire process.

After my site was done, I was thrilled that people coming to my site were now seeing me as an expert and my brand as a distinct, different, more powerful and unique within my industry.

It also produces results for my bottom line. I get more email and chatbot opt-ins way more since we did my new site.

So if you’re thinking, “who’s the person I need to work with to up-level my personal brand so that I can set myself apart in the marketplace?” I don’t know any better than the Influex team!

Your brand deserves a major upgrade and these people will not only do a great job but they’ll also do it at an amazing price!”

You can view Sterling's site at SterlingGriffin.com

And if you are now ready to have an influencer site that expresses your essence, generates leads 24/7, builds trust, boosts your authority, and makes you truly stand out…

Join Sterling Griffin, Frank Kern, Mike Dillard, JJ Virgin, Yanik Silver and many other leading online influencers now and get your own Influex site. You can find out more here.