Websites that wow: Elevating your online brand – because first impressions matter

Charley Burtwistle (00:05):

What is up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of “The Building Code.” I am your co-host, Charley Burtwistle.

Courtney Mattern (00:11):

And I’m Courtney Mattern.

Charley Burtwistle (00:12):

Courtney Mattern, how are you doing today?

Courtney Mattern (00:14):

Good. I’m back.

Charley Burtwistle (00:15):

We’re back.

Courtney Mattern (00:16):

Well, I don’t know actually because we record so many episodes out of order, so I don’t know if it’s the first time people are seeing me or the second time.

Charley Burtwistle (00:24):

Well, for me it’s the second time I saw you in back-to-back. No, we had a day in between. The second time this week. This is my favorite spot to be in the entire Buildertrend office, and getting to come in here twice in a week is awesome.

Courtney Mattern (00:35):

Yeah, we’re going to get to hang out so much more now.

Charley Burtwistle (00:37):

I know. Are you excited?

Courtney Mattern (00:38):

I’m so excited. Just you got to help me look good.

Charley Burtwistle (00:41):

Oh yeah. Well, likewise. We can build off each other for sure. Courtney, who do we have today?

Courtney Mattern (00:47):

Today we have Katlyn Slocum. She’s creative director at Katlyn SlocumDesign. I am super thrilled to be in my comfort zone with this episode because it’s all about website design, web marketing, and why websites can be such a valuable tool for builders. You’ll hear it when we get into the episode, but man, I have a bone to pick with builders.

Charley Burtwistle (01:07):

Well, I’m excited to hear that. I also feel like I’m going to be very, very laid back in this episode and just let you do your thing, Courtney, because this is your world.

Courtney Mattern (01:15):

It is. Let’s go.

Charley Burtwistle (01:15):

Let’s do it. Hey, Katlyn. Welcome to “The Building Code.” Really appreciate you making the time to join us today. We are super excited to have you. How’s it going today?

Katlyn Slocum (01:24):

Very good. Thank you so much for having me on.

Charley Burtwistle (01:26):

Yeah, we’re excited. I was talking to Courtney about this before, but we always get quick little bios and kind of overview of who the guest is and the questions and the topic, the episode. This is a topic that is really, really interesting to me, and you seem like a very, very interesting person from the bio as well, too.

Katlyn Slocum (01:41):

Oh, thanks.

Charley Burtwistle (01:42):

But for the listeners that didn’t get the quick one pager on Katlyn, could you give a quick kind of background of who you are, where you came from, and how you kind of decided to start your own web design company?

Katlyn Slocum (01:54):

Like you guys said, my name’s Katlyn Slocum. I was living in Washington state, but my family and I just moved cross country. We’re in the Cincinnati, Ohio area now. I started my web design business about six years ago. I’ve always focused my web design projects really on the trades and contractors because that’s just what I grew up with in my family. All the men in my family owned their own businesses in that space. My stepdad was a roofer. My dad owned his own HVAC company. My grandpa owned an auto repair shop. My husband today doesn’t own his own business, but he is an electrician. So, it was just like my comfort zone working with those types of people and knowing the ins and outs of what they go through. So, I’ve always served that audience.

(02:39):

I didn’t go to school for web design. Actually, I was a music major for the longest time. But as I started going through school longer and longer, just not really able to make up my mind what I wanted to do, I got a general business degree, started working for a start up there in Washington, started having kids. When the startup company went out of business, and I was laid off, I was kind of scrambling to find some other work. And this is pre-pandemic, so there wasn’t as many remote positions available. I was pregnant with my second at the time, and I wanted some flexibility with work, being able to work from home.

(03:16):

A friend of mine had his own consulting company in the wastewater industry, super random, and he needed some help on his website and his social media. He kind of paid me hourly to just do some stuff for him, and I realized I actually really liked doing the creative side of things, the web design side. So, I just kind of fully threw myself into that field, took several courses, really self-taught myself, and it’s somehow grown to where it is today where I primarily serve custom home builders with website design. And in the last couple of years really started to niche further into website strategy specifically. So, it’s a little bit of background.

Courtney Mattern (03:59):

I love that story. You said yes to that one project. You needed to take on some extra side work and look where it led you.

Katlyn Slocum (04:07):

Yeah, exactly. I never was the person that was like, “Yeah, I’m going to start my own business.” I didn’t think I was entrepreneurial at all. I figured I’d work in the corporate world for several years, but it’s been such a blessing. I just really committed myself to it, and it’s grown, and it gives me the freedom to work from home. I have three kids now. Yeah, it’s been amazing.

Charley Burtwistle (04:29):

Love that. I love the background. I actually think it’s really similar. A lot of times guests that we’ve had on here in the construction space, very similar, where they’re like, “I can do this remodel myself,” or “I can build a new home myself,” and then next thing you know, fast-forward five years, and they have their own business going. So, I’m sure that’ll resonate with a lot of people’s backgrounds as well, too.

(04:50):

As you had aligned on, “Okay, I like web design, I like doing this,” was there a specific reason you went after the business of home builders? You said you specialize in that now. Was it something that just kind of happened organically as well?

Katlyn Slocum (05:04):

That also happened kind of organically because like I said, when I first started, I was working with plumbers and concrete companies and electricians, and just that general contractor space I guess. It was very random how the home builder thing happened, because there’s nobody in my family or nobody I know who builds homes, and that’s their profession. But I was on Brad Leavitt’s podcast with AFT Construction, and after just chatting with him, we got off the podcast recording and he was like, “Oh, a lot of what you’re saying really resonates with me. I’ve been needing to redo my website. Let’s have a conversation. Can you send me a proposal?” And long story short, he ended up hiring me to do his website.

(05:50):

What was really cool about that for me from a design aspect is it’s so much more fun and beautiful, I guess, to work with somebody who’s putting out these beautiful custom homes, in Brad’s case, very luxury high end, than putting pictures of toilets and pipes and stuff on websites. So, just something about that I was like, “Wow, this brings joy to me because I’m still in that construction space where I like to be, but I get some of that aesthetic with the work that I do.” So, that happened very randomly, and I just kind of then threw myself and further niched into builders. So, yeah, that was very random.

Courtney Mattern (06:34):

We know Brad really well. He’s been on the podcast. We work with him a lot here at Buildertrend. Leave it to Brad to be the perfect example of a builder who hears good advice and realizes, “Oh, maybe I should do something about my website.”

Katlyn Slocum (06:48):

Very decisive, yeah.

Courtney Mattern (06:50):

So, what are some of the goals that builders have when they set out to work with you on their website? Is it that they have no website at all? Or it’s just been kind of an online brochure, and they want to take it up a notch?

Katlyn Slocum (07:02):

It’s kind of a mix. I would say I work with probably 50/50. 50% of the people I work with have no website presence at all, and they know they need to be forward-thinking. There’s a market they’re missing just by not being online. Because there are still a lot of builders that it’s very much word of mouth and referral based, which is amazing. But there’s that reality or that realization, too, that while even if people refer me, they’re still wanting to see some sort of online presence and know I’m legit, see my work and that kind of thing.

(07:31):

The other 50% do have websites that are either just outdated or they’re not performing how they want. It’s my job to dig into these goals with them because a lot of times any business kind of approaches a website project like, “Oh yeah, I want my website to be prettier,” or whatever. They’re very focused on the visuals. My job is to draw out how can the website better serve you? And I think a lot of people don’t realize that it can be a more powerful asset and sales tool in your business. And so, that’s where I dive deeper with them on their overall business goals.

(08:08):

Common goals that I hear when I’m on these calls with builders is either, they want to reach into a more luxury market. Maybe they’re doing homes at one price point, and they want to be doing them at a higher price point. Maybe they’re doing both custom homes and renovations, maybe out of necessity, or maybe they’re only getting renovations; they want to be doing more custom homes. So, just changing the type of work that they do. Increasing the amount of inquiries they get through their website, a lot of them just have kind of websites are just sitting there. They’re not hearing anything back from it. And so, they might be sending traffic there, but they’re not getting any return on that. So, there’s a variety of different pain points that I uncover on these calls with the builders, but it usually comes down to increasing revenue, or attracting higher end projects, or just making their website more efficient and actually producing the results that they want from it.

Charley Burtwistle (09:09):

That’s super interesting to me. And I think, I don’t want to say obvious, but the one that I kind of knew you were going to say is getting more leads, more business. But one that I hadn’t thought about was actually pivoting your messaging to what sort of clients you want to go after. If you want to go upstream or downstream or more realign your kind of target client that you’ll work with, what is that process? How do you go about doing that? I’m not even going to try to give examples. You mentioned trying to go up, more custom homes. Or maybe they want to switch to the remodeling space or something like that. So, often the biggest lead gen in the construction industry is just word of mouth, so someone does a project that refers someone that’s doing a similar type of project. So, being more intentional about what sort of projects you want to do is something that we talk about a ton on here. I’d be really interested in how really dialing in your website strategy like you alluded to can help you accomplish that.

Katlyn Slocum (09:59):

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of that falls into, I would say, two categories. Let’s say you’re a builder who wants to be attracting a higher end client. First, and I don’t know if this has been talked about in the podcast before. I’m not a brand strategist by any means, but there is a lot to be said about building your brand, knowing who your ideal client is. Give them a name. How old are they? Do they have families? Where do they shop? What do they do? Where do they live? What are their hobbies? Knowing that about the type of people you want to work with helps you build your visual brand and your messaging for that person, and then it’s a way that’s going to resonate really well with them.

(10:42):

So, attracting that higher end client from a visual standpoint, and I will speak from my own experience, when my husband and I moved to Ohio, we were like, “Do we want to build? Or are we just going to buy a home, we’ll build later?” We’re still relatively young and building our family. So, I just started going to some home builder websites in the area, and certain ones that I would land on, just from the visuals, everything from the photos of their homes to their font styles to just how the website was laid out, I was like, “They’re out of our budget.” I just knew it. I am not that high end client, I knew it going on there. I kind of pre-qualified myself and left and wasn’t going to waste their time, because I already knew we couldn’t afford them.

(11:29):

Another way to do it, which I highly recommend, if you’re going to approach a website project, please invest as much in the messaging and the copywriting on your site as you do on the design. Because a quote I use all the time is, “Design is what primes people to buy, but copy,” like the written copy on the site, “is what actually does the selling.” And it’s not to sound salesy, but what I really like is the StoryBrand framework. If anybody doesn’t know, “Building a StoryBrand” is a book written by Donald Miller, and it is a marketing messaging framework that’s used by major companies across the world. But it tells your marketing messaging through your customer story. It’s less like, “We’re the best builder in Nashville,” or things like that. It’s more like you’re hitting on the touch points and the feelings and the fears and those types of things that your potential clients are thinking, so you’re directly relating to them. And so, the copy on your website is also a big factor in how to attract the type of people that you’re wanting to attract as well.

Courtney Mattern (12:44):

Katlyn has just won over the hearts of my entire team. So, here at Buildertrend, I lead our brand team and our web marketing team. I mean, you hit it, the nail on the head with everything you said with starting at the beginning of the episode, you mentioned your website’s more than just a pretty picture. It’s more than just visuals. You’re exuding trust. Like you mentioned, people are going to check out your website and they’re going to know if you’re legit, based on the photos you use. Based on the copy, is it misspelled? The fonts you use, are they sketch? So, you’re really hitting on that nerve of building a brand that can be trusted and knowing that you’re legit to work with, which I think is a big uphill battle for a lot of contractors.

Katlyn Slocum (13:33):

Definitely. And also, if you think about it, you’re putting your finest work forward with your client projects. If you’re not putting that same effort and energy into how you appear and come across, a lot of times that website is that first impression. It might be your Instagram feed, too. But what you put out there is a direct reflection of yourself. And subconsciously, when we land on a site that looks thrown together, that just doesn’t look professional, we automatically make assumptions about that business. It’d be like if I show up to an interview in ripped jeans and a coffee-stained tee-shirt. It’s not who I am, but that’s the impression that you give off. And so, what’s to say if somebody lands on your website, it’s not reflecting the quality and the meticulousness and the craftsmanship of the work that you do, people are going to subconsciously feel that that is the work you put out as well on their project.

Courtney Mattern (14:32):

And you mentioned, if they land on your website, so it’s like rewind. What happens when they don’t land on your website? Because poorly built websites can be really hard to find. Charley mentioned word of mouth is still really big in the industry. Say someone hears your company name, they go to search you online, they can’t find you. How horrible, all the missed opportunities from someone just not being able to find your website. What are some ways that people can make sure either on the back end, the front end, how they can drive traffic to their website? Say they’ve invested some time in having an online presence. How do they get people there?

Katlyn Slocum (15:07):

I love talking about this because a lot of times people do just think, “Oh, I have a website.”

Courtney Mattern (15:11):

“I posted it. I’m done.”

Katlyn Slocum (15:12):

“People will find me now.” Yeah, here it is. And you might put out some posts on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn. You’re going to get some traffic because people are clicking on your URL, your direct link. But that doesn’t mean if somebody is doing a Google search for builders in the area and things like that that you’re going to show up at all. And so, there are lots of different. Your website is more of a sales tool than it is a marketing tool. It is part of the marketing tool belt. But marketing is what drives people to your website and gets you that traffic, and sales is where we’re actually going to make the conversion and get people to reach out for that first consultation call.

(15:49):

There’s lots of ways you can do marketing – referrals, job signage, physical ads, things like that, your social media, paid ads, whether that’s on Google or Facebook or Instagram. And then of course organic search engine optimization. So, if somebody’s typing in custom home builders near me or luxury builders in Cincinnati, Ohio, that your company is showing up on the first page, hopefully at the top of the first page. And that takes some dedicated time and work and effort to get that there, but can have also the greatest return on investment, too, because you’re showing up where those direct searches are happening. So, there’s lots of different ways that you can drive traffic to your website.

(16:32):

And then from a design standpoint, you just want to make sure that when you’re approaching a web design project, that whoever you’re working with has at least some basic knowledge about optimizing your site for search engines. You want to make sure we get all these beautiful project images and videos and drone footage from our media teams, but you have to make sure those images, you’re not using the maximum file size. It’s going to slow down your website. It’s going to hurt your rankings. And then just making sure that the core structure of the website, the headings and the optimization on site is done right, so that you’re not going to hinder any of your external marketing efforts.

Charley Burtwistle (17:20):

That makes a ton of sense. And again, this stuff is just so fascinating to me. I’d love to Freaky Friday swap with Courtney someday and just live in her world.

Courtney Mattern (17:20):

If you do my job for me?

Charley Burtwistle (17:31):

Yeah, if I could have your brain as well too. Because this is just an area I don’t have a whole lot of expertise. So, where my brain continues to go, and this isn’t in a pessimistic way, it’s just helping connect the dots to other people like me out there is the “So what?” of all this. And so, do you have specific goals or metrics that you’re looking at to say, “I am getting better,” or “I am helping this company,” whether it be just bottom line from the company or maybe you look at conversion rates and engagement in the website itself? What are some measurables that you use to show the value of the continued iteration and improvement into the websites?

Katlyn Slocum (18:06):

Yeah, definitely. It really depends on what my client’s goals are. Some of them, their conversion rates are doing great, and they might have a different type of goal. Maybe it’s just attracting a different type of client. They’re getting plenty of leads. Their website’s actually performing well. But then it’s like a visual and a messaging change to just get a different type of client. But for most of the people I work with, it really is getting more leads and inquiries through their website. So, I do look at both traffic and conversion rates.

(18:38):

Now, industry standard, and this really depends on your marketplace. Obviously, we know the economy and how things are in the home building world is going to fluctuate. But 2% to 5% is a good metric to look at when it comes to your conversion rate. So, if 100 people land on your site, you want two to five inquiries a month. That’s what we’re looking at. I’m making sure my math’s right. So, for example, I had a pool builder in Seattle, a really reputable company, been around for 40 years. They just had a really outdated website. They were still getting leads from it, but not to the capacity that they could be. With all the traffic they were getting, their conversion rate was under 2%. I think it was like 1.8%. So, they’re close, but they wanted to update their brand, really come across as the luxury pool builder that they were after launch. Their conversion rates, and this is a little wild, but their conversion rates from that update went from 1.8% to 14.8%. So, instead of two inquiries per month through the website, they’re getting 14.

(19:49):

Now, with service-based businesses like builders, obviously, you’re not an e-commerce shop where a conversion is a sale. It’s almost like a two-part conversion; your website conversion, which gets the inquiry into your inbox, and then you have your own sales process, and your sales conversion rate. So, let’s say this pool builder, out of every 10 leads they land three projects. Well, in the first scenario where they’re only getting maybe two leads a month, they have to go several months of getting leads to land a project through the website. Where with the new conversion rate, they have 14 leads. They’re going to land three of those projects. So, in just one month you put a number on what that looks like revenue wise, and even if it’s not a massive shift, that’s 2.8 to 14.8. It’s crazy shift. Even if you go from 1% to 2% conversion rate, you have just doubled your opportunities for a sale. And so, the numbers seem small, but the revenue impact can be monumental and literally game changing. So, that’s why I really try to hammer in know your numbers, know your numbers.

(21:06):

Now, if you have a site that’s converting really well but you’re still not getting a lot of inquiries, then your problem is probably with traffic and with your marketing efforts. So, you might have a website that’s performing really well and capitalizing on the traffic you’re getting, but you just need more traffic to come through to get a higher amount of inquiry.

(21:24):

So, knowing what your traffic is, knowing what your conversion rates are, that will help you see kind of where the weak points are in your online presence so you’re not wasting money. If somebody got on a call with me, and I can look at their numbers and say, “You don’t need a redesign. Your website’s doing fine. You need to maybe look at SEO or a social media plan or whatever that might be, like marketing.”

Courtney Mattern (21:50):

Or maybe even messaging, like you said with the Seattle pool builder. Is it Seattle?

Katlyn Slocum (21:55):

Yeah.

Courtney Mattern (21:57):

They improve their conversion rate, but also, they had this goal of wanting to get more luxury customers, being more high-end. So, it’s almost like the problem can be twofold. If their conversion rate is low and they’re not messaging to the kind of customer they want, then their odds of getting deals that are more lucrative are even slimmer. So, there’s also that twofold of if you’re going to set out, and you’re going to improve your website, also be really bold about who you are and what type of customer you’re for. We do this here at Buildertrend with our messaging. You come to our site, and if you’re one of those builders who’s maybe just built their first house, we might not be for you. And you get that from our website messaging. We do that on purpose because we don’t want you to waste your time.

Katlyn Slocum (22:44):

Yep. And that’s okay.

Courtney Mattern (22:46):

… It’s like a luxury builder taking a call with a client who really just wants a re-bath option.

Katlyn Slocum (22:52):

Right.

Charley Burtwistle (22:54):

Sorry, go ahead.

Katlyn Slocum (22:56):

Oh no, I was just going to say, that’s part of your niching down. I think a lot of people are scared. Even in the web design world, there’s web designers for coaches, there’s web designers for, well, me, a builder. There are web designers for photographers. People get scared of niching down and only being for certain people. But when you do that, you’re able to align your messaging, your visual aesthetic, your brand even more so towards the people you want to attract, which makes the sale easier. Because people come to your site, they’re like, “Oh, they’re for me. I know 100% they’re for me.”

(23:30):

It also saves you a ton of time and energy chasing around leads that aren’t serious, that are not in your price point. So, productivity goes up, efficiency goes up, revenue. You’re not doing one-off jobs like a random bathroom remodel when you want to be more focused on full home renovations. So, it can be scary to just be like, “We only do this,” but it really makes your whole marketing plan more efficient and your business more efficient, because you’re really just putting your energy into the things that are profitable and a good use of your time.

Charley Burtwistle (24:12):

Just to double down on something you both have said already, you had mentioned kind of the two-phase kind of sales funnel there where you get the original lead and then you actually have to close the lead as well, too. Aligning that messaging with, and something you brought up at the very start of this interview, your messaging and your brand on the website with who you actually are as a company is going to prevent whiplash from this is what I thought I was getting into versus this what I actually got. So, I’d have to imagine getting two leads to 14 leads is great, but I’d have to imagine the conversion rate post that also is going to improve because this is a consistent seamless client experience as well. And then post the close of the deal and the actual client experience through the job and who you are as a company, is it going to continue to be there, too? So, it’s really just a classic synergy one plus one equals three. Everything is going to improve by aligning the brand at the very top.

Katlyn Slocum (24:59):

Yeah. They’re going into that meeting knowing aside from the process that is building homes or going through a renovation, which is an extensive process, there’s a lot involved to it, they’re going in knowing most of what they need to know about who you are, what you do. And so, it’s a time saver. They know what they’re getting into, what to expect, who you are. It, again, builds trust and alleviates some of that initial fear, anxiety. Your website is forming that initial connection and that initial start to the relationship, which really helps then when you’re in person and doing your sales cycle.

Courtney Mattern (25:38):

I tell you what, I have bone to pick though with builders because every year we work with the Association of Professional Builders. They do a survey of residential builders and what’s the state of the industry, what are they concerned about, what are they expecting to do revenue wise. And the past few years that we’ve worked with them, and I spot it because I’m the marketing gal, but I look at the results, and I see time and time again, high percentage of builders, 80%, they’re really worried about not just getting leads, but getting the right leads. But then when they are asked the question, “What are you investing in your marketing?” 10% expect to increase their investment in marketing. And like you said, marketing is just one part of the problem.

(26:17):

But then you get the question of, “How many of you have a website?” And it’s like half. And to me, it seems so obvious. Right here, you know, Katlyn, the solution is kind of in their face. Websites can seem so 2000, early 2000s, I don’t know, kind of old school tool. But what is your pitch, then, knowing that builders out there like you optimizing their website, it could be a solution to a big problem they have. What is your elevator pitch to them to make an investment in their website? I get it. I get that they’re busy. They’ve got a million other priorities. And maybe it can be the last for a business to make this investment if they’re worried about getting cash flow positive or managing their debt. But what would your pitch be to make this investment in their website?

Katlyn Slocum (27:15):

You, number one, have to think about just where things are going as far as consumer behavior. We are much more digital. People are doing the research. If they’re going to be investing hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars with you, research is such a big part of it. And they’re not going to get everything that they need from your Instagram or your Facebook. So, number one is you have to have somewhere where you can answer their questions, where you can show them who you are and why you’re different than your million other competitors in your marketplace.

(27:48):

Also, your website is, at least it should be looked at as an asset. It is something that you own in your business. Now, if you don’t own your website, if you have a marketing company that is holding you hostage with monthly fees, and if you stop paying them your website goes away, your website is not an asset. It is more a liability. You’re renting it from them. Your website should be an asset. Instagram, Facebook, social media in general, at any moment, those algorithms can change, or …

Courtney Mattern (28:18):

Or they go away.

Katlyn Slocum (28:20):

… they could down or whatever. Yeah, they could completely go away, be irrelevant anymore. Your website is something you actually own and that you have some more control over for sure. So, that’s super important to consider, just that it is actually something that you should own and that you have full control over. Oh, I had another thing I was going to say, and I just lost it.

Courtney Mattern (28:44):

It’s because you have a million great things to say.

Katlyn Slocum (28:48):

Yeah, seriously. Those are kind of the main ones. And just again, you do have a ton of things on your plate, especially if you’re somebody who’s still on job sites every day, boots on the ground, you don’t necessarily have your team built out. You have to know when to outsource, and obviously, you have to find somebody you trust. But you don’t have to do everything on your own. If you do have the capital and you do have the money to invest to be forward-thinking of, “Hey, my pipeline’s filled for the next two years, but then what after that?” There’s no guarantee that that’s going to keep going. So, getting ahead of it now, getting that website up, getting that search engine like that SEO going, so you can rise in the ranks and get in front of more people who are going to be searching for you, do that now when you’re busy, and you’re booked out two years. Don’t wait until it’s like, “Oh, shoot.”

Courtney Mattern (29:39):

Until you’re panicking.

Katlyn Slocum (29:40):

“I haven’t been referred anybody, and now I have no projects coming up.” These are the things that you should be proactive about now when you do have some stuff in your pipeline coming up.

Charley Burtwistle (29:54):

I love that. I know we’re getting close to time here, but I have two questions I kind of want to end on here, and I think they kind of go hand-in-hand. The first is, what’s a good kind of checklist or questions to ask yourself for builders listening to this of, is my website helping me hit my business goals or not? Is it something they just kind of know inherently? I would guess probably yes. If you’re even asking yourself that question, you know it’s probably not where you need it to be. And then part two of that question is, if I’m someone listening to this, and I’ve been honest with myself and realized, “Yeah, I need to spend more time,” what are some good resources to kind of get started? Obviously, we’ll link your website in our show notes here. People can reach out to you. But maybe if I’m not really quite ready to make that commitment yet and go out and hire someone, I’m like, “What can I do, just first steps to start improving this?”

Katlyn Slocum (30:41):

I would say first and foremost, just take some time, and I know a lot of builders do this already in their executive planning sessions, but take some time to actually think about what goals do I have for my business? And then, what do I need in place to meet those goals? So, maybe you want to get six to eight homes a year instead of four to six. Okay, then you need more leads. You need to have more conversations. What do you need to do to get more leads and get more conversations? A lot of times it’s like, marketing, my website. So, first, write down what your goals are.

(31:17):

And then when it comes to the website, a few questions you can ask yourself is, do I know how much traffic I’m getting? How many people are looking at my website each month? Or, if the people who are looking at my website, are they actual prospects? Or are these coming from other states that I don’t even serve? Because that’s a waste. So, then you can see what traffic sources are productive and legit, and others like, this is not. Something’s disconnected here. How many inquiries are you getting each month through your website? An easy way to calculate your conversion rate is take how many leads you get from your website in a month and divide it by the amount of people who have visited your site. So, maybe you had 500 people visit your site and one lead. That’s your conversion rate, one divided by 500. So, find out what your numbers are. And then if we’re sitting at a half a percent or 1%, then you can see there’s a gap that needs to be met there. You want to get that up and get more inquiries in your inbox.

(32:15):

Also be thinking about, with builders, it’s a long sales cycle. And like with any product or service, there’s a lot of touch points that have to happen before people decide to work with you. They’re looking at your Instagram. They’re looking at your Facebook. They’re looking at your website. Then they’re going to go do it again before they actually decide to work with you. I think on average it’s like eight or more touch points. For a builder, it’s probably higher because it is such a high investment.

(32:43):

So, be thinking about what things that you can do to connect and build relationships with those leads that are warming up to you, whether that’s adding a free download or something free on your website to put yourself in front of that person. Say, “Hey, here’s something of value that I’m giving away for free.” It puts you at the top of their minds. Email them. Utilize email marketing to warm up those leads, so when they’re ready, they’ve seen some emails come into their inbox. They know who you are. They’re still looking you up. So, you’re priming more of those warm leads into a potential sale one day. So, be thinking about those things that you can do to help with your engagement and getting people to that next level when they’re ready. So, those are some things I would look at initially. Traffic, conversions, looking at your numbers and be thinking about ways that you can warm up some of the prospects out there.

(33:36):

And then, sorry, what was your part two question? Oh, resources. So, yeah, so a couple resources that I have, if you’re really into data, and you’re techie, and you like that kind of stuff, analytics, hotjar.com is a user behavior tool, and they do have a free version that you can install on your website. So, install that on your website. It’ll gather data over the days and the weeks, and it’ll show you real-time user behaviors. It shows you what device they’re viewing your website on. If they’re clicking on anything and links are broken, it shows you what pages they look at. It shows you where they’re frustrated or having a hard time understanding things. You literally see their mouse movement. You see where they’re clicking around. So, that can give some good insights to see if anything is not working on your website. So, the free version of hotjar would be a great place to start if you’re very into data and analytics.

(34:33):

I also have a free checklist on my website called the “10 Things Every Home Builder Needs on Their Website” that gives some practical applicable things that you can do to just see better results from your website. That is available for free.

(34:53):

And, also, I guess I can mention this now. I also, at a lower investment, kind of a DIY option that I put together specifically for home builders is my Sanctuary Homes Template. So, it’s a Squarespace website template where I’ve taken my experience and my knowledge in website strategy and implemented the best strategies onto that template. And then it’s got a very luxury feel from the images, the fonts, things like that. So, you can get this template, input your branding, your messaging, and launch it in a week and just have a good starting point. For somebody who doesn’t have a website right now or they have one they threw up and it’s just not doing anything, that’s a really good place to start to at least see some better results. It’s a DIY option for those on a budget.

(35:43):

So, a couple free tools, the template, that’s where I’d start. There’s lots of good stuff out there, but hopefully that’s helpful.

Courtney Mattern (35:51):

What’s one thing you wish builders would stop doing with their websites? You’ve seen a lot, so what’s the one thing you just wish they would stop doing?

Katlyn Slocum (36:02):

Oh, man. One thing that I see a lot is I was just going to say is disorganization or inorganization. They either have a very loaded menu. So, when you go to a website, you have your navigation menu. And a lot of times there’s a lot of links up there. It’s like financing, and then it’s all our services, and it’s our FAQs, and they have a testimonials page and a blog. There’s like 20 links up there. I call them Cheesecake Factory menus. Because it’s like you’ve gone to the Cheesecake Factory, it’s like a 50-page menu, and it’s very overwhelming. It’s very overwhelming for users to be like, “Okay, I landed on your site. Now I have no idea where to go because it’s option overload.” And so, simplifying. Again, this goes back to your goals. Your goal is to get more inquiries.

(36:54):

What are the main things people need to see on your site to get them to actually reach out? Usually that’s only a couple pages. They’re going to look at your portfolio. They’re probably going to look at your about page to learn a little bit about you. And that’s really it. And then maybe a process page that walks them through. That’ll go over some frequently asked questions, a little bit about what it’s like to work with you. So, that’s your primary service page.

(37:17):

Outside of that, everything else should not be up there. There shouldn’t be a bunch of links to it on your home page. You really want to only show what is most essential for them to make a buying decision or a decision to reach out and simplify your whole website for that. Everything else can go in your footer. People know that more links for any website is always in the footer. Focus on the primary goals and that main header navigation, and then for the links throughout your site, guiding them to the contact page. Everything else can go in the bonus like junk drawer, which is your footer, where they can find other links if they’re interested. But you don’t want to put those stumbling blocks or those barriers in their way of just getting to contact you. And sometimes I can’t even find the contact button on a builder site, which is a big no-no. That’s a huge hindrance because people are not going to take the time to search and find it.

Courtney Mattern (38:07):

That’s probably a good start doing then. One thing you wish builders would start doing is have a contact us button on top of the site.

Katlyn Slocum (38:15):

First and foremost, yeah.

Courtney Mattern (38:16):

So, yes, builders, hear Katlyn’s plea. No more Cheese Factory menus. And while we’re at it, my plea, if you’re really worried about getting qualified leads, don’t overlook your website.

Katlyn Slocum (38:31):

Right. And your messaging. Yes.

Charley Burtwistle (38:33):

Love it. Katlyn, thank you so for your time today. As you were kind of giving your outro there, I was scrolling through your website, and there’s a ton of free resources on there, a time to schedule, time to chat with you directly as well, too. I also saw the little section that says, “You may have heard me on,” so excited to get “The Building Code” up on there as well, too.

Katlyn Slocum (38:53):

Yeah, 100%.

Charley Burtwistle (38:54):

No, this was an awesome interview. Really, really appreciate the time. Very, very insightful. I can tell why you’re as successful as you are because you’re truly passionate about what you do. It was an absolute joy talking to you today.

Katlyn Slocum (39:07):

I am. Thank you so much, you guys. I appreciate it.

Charley Burtwistle (39:07):

Thank you.

Courtney Mattern (39:09):

Thank you.

Charley Burtwistle (39:10):

Well, we just heard from Katlyn Slocumat Katlyn SlocumDesign. Super, super fascinating episode. I was just pumping her up there at the end, but I meant every word of it. This stuff just fascinates me. I love hearing about website design, SEO marketing, all this really, really interesting stuff in the kind of vertical of construction. It’s kind of like my two passions colliding there. Katlyn was awesome to have on as guest. But this is much more your world than my world, so I will leave the ultimate review to you. What did you think?

Courtney Mattern (39:42):

Well, one, I should have known. Katlyn knows our friend Brad at AFT Construction. I feel like Brad knows everyone, so I should have known as soon as she said, “Brad,” I was like, “This is going to be a good interview if she’s worked with Brad as well.” I think my review is, it’s a 10 out of 10. Listen to Katlyn. Take her advice, review your website. It is the front door of your business. You wouldn’t open an office space and just hope people show up. You would do things to drive people into that office space, into that store. And you would take care of it. You would make sure that it’s optimized and working. And of course, she’s after my whole team’s heart because it’s not just about beautiful images. In fact, beautiful images can slow your website down. It’s also about the story you’re telling with your brand.

(40:29):

I think her message also being proactive, taking a proactive approach to your website and your marketing. So, many people wait until they’re panicking, until they’re not getting the leads or the customers they want. And then they say, “Oh no, I’ve got to do something.” But by then, I mean, too little too late. You should do this while it can be a fun project where you can put creative effort into it. And, it’ll help set you apart if you’re doing it proactively.

Charley Burtwistle (40:56):

Yeah. I love what she said at the end there on kind of the right time to do this and how you should know when it’s time to do it. You should really start with just, what are your goals for the next year? And, obviously, we’ve been pitching this entire interview and episode as growing more, getting more business. But maybe you like where everything’s at. If your goals are maintain status quo, then yeah, maybe this investment isn’t for you. I just know that there’s a majority of our listeners out there that are constantly trying to get better, get more efficient, get better leads, make more money, do more deals. But aligning this with your goals is going to easily be able to tie that ROI back to you, and ensure that you are ready for the influx of leads. There are multiple other things that you have to do to handle those leads, improve your sales process, improve the number of crews you have, the number of efficiencies that you have. It’s not any good if you’re getting more top of the funnel leads if you can’t actually do the jobs to get paid for doing the jobs.

(41:47):

So, it’s part of a much larger strategy, but a very, very important piece of it that when you think about the holistic customer journey, this is the very, very first touch point in a lot of things in the very, very top of the funnel and the very, very first step you should take ensuring everything downstream flows seamlessly, and you have consistent messaging, and you’re just dialed in from the very, very start. So, setting that up with your goal setting exercise that you’re performing to me just made a ton of sense to ensure that you’re really being intentional about why you’re doing this and the improvements that you’re going to see.

Courtney Mattern (42:16):

I don’t want to hear from any of the builders who are like, “I have enough projects lined up for the next two years.” But are they the projects that are going to get you to the next level for your business? Be serious in asking yourself that. I know that there’s more work to go around than there is time to get it done.

Charley Burtwistle (42:32):

Or like she said, same amount of work, but different types of work. Maybe you want to go up or down market, or change the type of demographic that you’re working with, or the type of projects that you’re doing.

Courtney Mattern (42:39):

Exactly. So, be honest about what your goals are and if the tools that you’re using are helping you get there.

Charley Burtwistle (42:45):

Love it. Well, that will do it for us today. As always, if you’re listening, we would really appreciate a like or review or subscribe. Join us at The Building Code Crew on Facebook. Otherwise, we’ll see you next time. I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Courtney Mattern (42:58):

And I’m Courtney Mattern.

Charley Burtwistle (42:59):

Peace.