Search Results

Certain influencer accounts on Instagram will have you believe that you can literally think things into existence. Which isn’t really the case. Yes, we need to have a vision and set intentions, but then we need to do the hard work and follow the breadcrumb trail to create the reality. Dreams without a plan are just dreams, after all... Why do vision boards work better for some people than for others? I love a vision board - I’ve been transfixed since I went on my very first workshop with the amazing Lara at The Motivation Clinic in Guildford. I’m on to my second iteration now and I’ve been amazed at some of the things that have sprung to life for me: A relocation back to Dorset A hotel-style bathroom with his and hers basins A 4m long kitchen island My plant and light-filled office Specific clients I've wanted to work with Not the electric car or the trip to Thailand…but I know they will come when the time is right :) These might only be small things, but they've given me confidence that it works and I know lots of other people who have even greater success with it. I've often wondered why for some people it's like things are jumping off of the page, but for others it can be a slower process. As I’ve gotten to understand more about Human Design, I’ve come to realise why vision boards and visualisations don't work for everyone in the same way - and that is because we have different manifestation styles in our charts. How does our Human Design manifestation style impact how we should approach vision boarding? 1. Specific Manifestation Style If your manifestation style is specific, then you’re designed to get very clear and detailed on exactly what you want to bring into reality. So if you’re visioning your dream life, home or holiday - get highly specific about the details, because they are coming up for you for a reason. This style of manifestation is associated with left brain thinking. Journaling and vision boarding work really well for people with a specific style. 2. Non Specific Manifestation Style If your style of manifestation is non specific then you’re not designed to focus on the finer details associated with what you want. Instead you’re here to focus on the bigger picture and on how you want to feel. So if you’re envisioning a new home, resist the urge to get bogged down in the specifics of the interiors and exteriors, but instead allow yourself the freedom to explore how you want your home to feel and what kind of a lifestyle you want it to support. You don’t need all of the details, because the Universe will work that out for you. Get comfortable with that even if you're left brain minded (logic / planning) in the rest of your chart. So if you’re creating a vision board or doing a visualisation, you’ll be better off focusing on the overarching feeling rather than getting super specific. It’s ok not to have it all planned out. I think it's so useful to know your manifestation style before you create your next vision board, so that you can approach it in the right way. I hope you’ve found this interesting, if you’d like to know more about your manifestation style and how you can integrate your Human Design into your business and marketing, then my door is open for chart unpacks. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

If you feel like you're talking into the void, then maybe its time to relook at your messaging. Our potential customers are bombarded with information minute by minute, so we have to be really intentional about what we're putting out there. They are time poor and hardwired to only pay attention to things that will personally benefit them - the things that help them personally thrive or survive - and our messaging should be tailored in a way that it's going to make it though their filter. We need to explain the value we bring and how we personally benefit their lives. My advice to clients when writing website copy is to scratch beneath the surface to uncover what it is that you’re really selling. Once you’ve figured out what it is that people want and what part you play in this, you’ll be able to position your product or service in this light. Here are some examples from different niches for context... Hairdresser You’re not really selling 3 inches off of the bottom of your hair, you’re selling the feeling of looking better and the confidence that comes with it - the extra spring in your step from feeling like the best version of yourself and what this makes possible. Cake maker You’re not selling cakes, you’re selling a show stopping centrepiece to delight your guests and to add the finishing touch to your special occasion. Photographer You’re not selling a 10 x 8 print, you’re selling the ability instantly re-live a moment in time as if it were yesterday. Florist You’re not selling flowers, you’re selling the power to transform someone’s day or to send love when words simply aren’t enough. Health coach You’re not selling health coaching, you’re selling confidence, the ability to live life to it’s fullest and to be wholly present with your loved ones for longer. So that you make the most of your time on this beautiful planet. Yoga teacher You’re not selling yoga classes, you’re selling the ripple effects of what yoga makes possible - grounding in mind body and soul, better sleep, space to breathe and ease & flow in all areas of your life. Candle maker You’re not selling candles, you’re providing the perfect atmosphere to create lasting memories, or a sanctuary away from the bustle of life and children where you can unwind and reconnect with yourself. What do you make possible for your customers? The above are just examples to get your juices flowing...obviously your examples will be personal to you and your business. So spend some time thinking about what your product or service makes possible for your customers (your ripple effect), and then weave this into your messaging. Here are some additional prompts that you may like to work through: What do your customers really want? What part do you play in helping them to achieve this goal? What does their life look like before and after they work with you / buy your product? What does their happily ever after moment look like? How much better is life? What is the ripple effect? I hope you've enjoyed this article and you've taken something useful from it. Does any of this resonate with you? I'd love to know. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

Have you ever been on the receiving end of a really terrible sales or marketing experience? I know I have... When I started working for myself, my biggest question and fear was “HOW on earth will I bring in business month after month?” So when I saw a Facebook ad for a business coach who would teach me how to get fully booked, I immediately signed up. This would help me find the answer! On the call, she spent a long time tapping into my innermost dreams... She made me imagine what would be possible when I was earning the riches - who I could help, where I could go, what difference I could make. She swept me up in the vision. Then she switched into sales mode... “Are you the only decision maker in your business”, she asked. I said yes. “Are you resourceful?” Yes again. “Will you commit to doing the work?” Hell, yes...and I thought to myself...if this is less than £2k, I’m in. …then, with my dreams laid bare on the table, she told me it would be £8,000 to join her program. She told me I had to be resourceful to be successful in business and if I didn't have the money I could apply for a credit card or loan. She told me the price was only valid for 24 hours, after that it would go up to £10,000. And finally she told me not to speak with my loved ones for advice, because they hadn’t been on the call with us, and therefore they wouldn't understand the 'journey' we had been on together. I got off the phone in tears…my confidence in tatters. I couldn’t afford the coaching. I wouldn’t learn the secrets. I was going to fail in my business. Is this really the way to sell and market my services? As I sat red-eyed on the sofa, I wondered if I was supposed to play on people’s hopes, dreams and fears to be successful. I realised that if THAT was the way to do business, then I’d rather just go back to working for someone else. I didn't want anything to do with her or her questionable sales techniques and I wondered how well she slept at night. The whole experience left me with a horrible taste in my mouth, but an unshakable conviction that I would NEVER impose these kind of techniques on my clients. Manipulation and fear-based selling Manipulation is a common tactic used in the psychology of selling, and we see it all the time in offers: Fast acting or time sensitive bonuses Super slashed discounts Prices that miraculously halve because people 'don't want you to miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity' Risk reversal promises Bonus up-sells after you've bought the thing they've been selling you People create offers including these elements because they've been told it's the best way to do it. But these things are all based around fear, lack and manipulation...and I wonder if the days are numbered for this style of selling? I certainly don't want to be sold to like this any more Do you...? All of these things leave me with a bad feeling about sales and marketing in general. What's the alternative to fear based marketing techniques? Does the answer lie in marketing our products and services in a more gentle and conscious approach? By creating a marketing strategy that's aligned to our unique Human Design. By leaning into our values and marketing in a way that feels right for us. By sharing our truth with openness and without agenda. By actively creating helpful content that will attract and connect with our ideal people. By committing to experimenting with the above. My conscious marketing experiment This is my marketing experiment for at least the next 12 months and I will be updating you about what's working and what's isn't as I go along. You can read all about my conscious marketing experiment here. Maybe you'd like to join me...? Feel free to reach out if this resonates. I hope you've enjoyed this article and you've taken something useful from it. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

With website design, clarity is key and if you confuse people, you lose people. As a Wix partner I see lots of really busy sites where people have tried to cram in every conceivable piece of information that might be relevant to their visitors. This doesn't actually help people to move forwards, but instead it's completely overwhelming. Getting them from A to B as simply as possible Simplicity is key and we need to take people from A (when they land on our site) to B (where they follow through on our call to action) as simply as possible. People don't need ALL the information, they just need enough information to follow through on your call to action (Book now / Contact me etc) Then it's over to you so that you can step in and nurture the relationship. I recommend the following pages as a good start for your website: Home page First impressions count and your home page has a really important role to fulfil in terms of converting your visitors. It needs to pack an impactful punch. As well as navigating your visitors around your site, your homepage also needs to: Explain very clearly what it is that you do, where you do it and who you do it for. Explain the transformation that you deliver with your service or products. Establish empathy for what your ideal client is struggling with. Establish your authority and why you are the best person to help with their problem. Introduce your service offering. Provide a clear call to action for what they should do next. Provide social proof in the way of testimonials Balance the needs of your customer with the needs of Google (don't underestimate the importance of this for your discoverability). I have a tried and tested method of incorporating all of these elements in my Wix website builds. About or Bio Page So many people make the mistake of using their about page to list off their experience and qualifications, and if you do this you're missing a trick. We're hardwired to pay attention to things that help us either thrive or survive...so they need to recognise themselves in your story. What does your product / service actually mean for them? People chose brands with purpose right at their heart so this page should also be dedicated to establishing connection with your ideal clients through shared values and beliefs. So explain your purpose and vision of what you believe is possible for the future. Sweep them up in it. Contact Page Include all of the ways that people can contact you - both in-person and also digitally. If you want to include your Instagram grid on your website, l think this is the place for it....but not until after your contact form. The last thing you want is for people to click off of your site before they've taken action, only to be lost forever down the rabbit hole that is Instagram (sounds a bit dramatic, but you get the gist). I also like to include an option for email sign up on my client contact pages. Make sure your contact form and subscriber form are working and visible on both desktop and mobile, especially if you've embedded code from a third party email platform such as MailerLite or Mail Chimp. Test it out to be sure. Blog A blog plays a really important role in terms of the overall discoverability of your website and delivery of your marketing strategy. You might want to read about why you need a blog for your business and also how building a blog will help you to supercharge your marketing efforts through content repurposing in these two articles. Services Page This is the place to detail all of the ways that people can work with you. You may have one page for each offer or a single page combining it all. What's best? As search engine optimisation is done on a page by page offer, I'd recommend splitting out your offers for increased discoverability. So for instance if you have a pilates offer as well as a health coaching offer, these would be better on separate pages so that you can optimise each for the different keywords that will be applicable. I hope that makes sense, as always my door is always open to you if you have questions about anything you've read. If you'd like to consider Wix and would appreciate a supportive female-first approach to your build, head on over to read more about my Wix website design services. You can also download my free guide to see if Wix will be a good fit for you. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

Many of my clients are career changers in their 30's, 40’s or 50’s who have found great success in the corporate world, but have reached a point where they want (they need) to do something else. Some have ticked all the boxes in terms of the 'traditional' view of success, but something is still missing. And some have made it to a certain level at work, but the idea of the next step up no longer lights a fire in their belly. Call it a mid-life crisis if you will...but there comes a time when you realise that you no longer want to work for someone else, and instead you want to use your unique tapestry of skills and experience to directly and personally help more people. When the seed of an idea becomes too loud to ignore and you just have to start Often there’s a seed of an idea for a business that keeps rising up, a little whisper initially but eventually it’s too loud to ignore, as you realise that you want to use your skills and experience to do something more purposeful with your time. It’s at this point you’ll start to think about breathing some life into your business to see if it’s a goer. It takes commitment to build a business whilst holding down a job, but when you find something you love it's amazing how you can suddenly find time in your day. The benefits of setting up your business before you give up your 'day job' Just 1 hour a day can be enough to create momentum in your business, and there are compelling reasons why you should start sooner rather than later: It means you can test the water before you go all-in on your business It grants you time and space to build your online presence You can take time to explore your brand values and message You can build your business with a safety net in place It provides a welcome release from work Let's explore each in turn. * It means you can test the water before you go all-in on your business Does your business idea have legs? Breathing life into your idea is the only way to really test the water to see whether people will pay for what you want to sell. This might look like offering your services for free or at a reduced rate whilst you gather feedback and collect testimonials. Your original idea might not be exactly what people want or need, and may evolve into something else...but you won't know until you put it out there. * It grants you breathing space to build your online presence If you dream of quitting the day job to work for yourself, then build your online presence before you need to rely on it for leads. Building your website and social media takes time, so start before you're ready so you're not on the back foot when you finally get to quite the day job. * You can explore your brand values and message fully Unless you're working with a brand identity consultant, it can also take time to land upon your brand story and message. It's something that evolves and develops as you gain more experience of working with people. There are things you can do to speed up the process however, including getting clear on your brand foundations. I have a freebie to help you with this. * You're building your business with a safety net in place "Leap and the net will appear" I love this quote by John Burroughs which speaks to throwing caution to the wind to follow your dreams. It's fantastic...but also completely terrifying for many people unless you have nerves of steel...especially with the financial and economic backdrop we've seen of late. There's something romantic about trusting in the Universe and jacking it all in to follow your passions, but at the end of the day we've got responsibilities and families to support, so a safety net is good. Building your business whilst you still have the security of a job puts you in an enviable position. It allows you to experiment and put the groundwork in whilst still taking home a salary. And crucially it allows you the funds to invest in the foundations of your brand. * It provides a welcome release from work If you're slowly going crazy with the monotony of work, then this is for you. Pouring time into your business idea ignites a fire in your belly and can make you a happier in the day job. Speaking from personal experience, running my photography business alongside my Finance job helped me to stay sane. As an 'artistic' type working in an office environment, I often felt like a round peg in a square hole, but my photography ticked many of the boxes which Finance couldn't, including providing a creative outlet. What starts as a hobby or interest can sometimes set ablaze a new path so stay open to the clues as they arise. Are you ready to breathe life into your idea? Developing your seed of an idea and setting up in business is exciting, but it can feel overwhelming to know where to start, especially if you don't have a background in websites, design or marketing. If you're wondering when's the right time to create your first website or how to get started with social media or building a cohesive visual brand, then I am here to help. I believe that we should all be able to create fulfilling work doing what we love and I'll be sharing the very best ways of gaining traction for your brand so you can do just that. If you're thinking of setting up in business then it's a super exciting time and I'd love to help illuminate your path - you can sign up for my email list to join my inner circle. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

Hands up who wants to become an Instagram content creator for a living? I'm guessing that as a female founder building a business around your passions, you probably DON'T want to spend all of your time creating content for Instagram. Instagram is an amazing platform for growing your business and building a community (which is where it's strengths lie). But if you're spending all of your time creating posts and writing captions, there's no time to do the things that will help to grow your business via Insta the most: namely engaging with other accounts, replying to comments and generally being an active member of the community. This goes for other platforms too, but I'm using Insta as my example as it's my preferred platform and has been pivotal in terms of growing my business over the years. Instagram content creation (by this I mean creating your posts and captions) should be as efficient as possible so that it doesn't take you away from your engagement strategy. Enter content repurposing...your new secret weapon. What is content repurposing? It's not, as it sounds, just about digging out an old post that's done well and posting it again (although that may be part of it). In its simplest form, content repurposing is all about creating one long-form article or asset such as a blog post, newsletter or podcast, and then repurposing it for other platforms. Content repurposing is one of the best ways to create efficiency in your social media posts. So this very blog post that you are currently reading can live out its true destiny to become: > One blog post > One newsletter > One Linked In post with link to article > One Facebook post with link to article > One Pinterest post with link to article > 2 - 4 Instagram/Facebook posts and stories - achieved by chunking up this article into separate posts. This blog post has therefore created up to 9 pieces of content for your brand. Win win! Yes, there is a bit more work upfront, but content repurposing is a strategic approach which will pay dividends by speeding up your marketing and positioning you as an expert in your field. The added benefits to your brand of content repurposing (this is the REALLY good stuff). Aside from saving masses of time on Insta, the added benefit of content repurposing is that you are building your own marketing real estate: You're growing your native content and driving traffic to your website. You're nurturing your email list to create a flow of warm leads. You're improving your SEO by keeping your website fresh and engaging. You can be strategic in your marketing and warm people up to your offers. You're no longer creating content just for Instagram. You're creating intentional content that's intended to speak directly to your target audience by addressing their problems, concerns and struggles. What's not to love?! But wait, there's more...you can reduce your reliance on social media which is a good thing. It makes sense to be on social media but we don't want to be completely at the mercy of the algorithms. We're not in control of Instagram or Facebook so it's much better to create your own native content and then use social media platforms to get eyes on that content, rather than the other way around. You're building your castle on your own land so to speak. Getting some help in this area. I hope you've taken something useful from this post and if this has inspired you to experiment with content repurposing in your business then I'd love to hear! Content repurposing plays a significant part in my conscious marketing experiment where I am learning to market my business in a more aligned way and with more ease and grace. If this sounds like a great approach that you could get behind, you can sign up to hear more about forthcoming workshops where we'll be covering among other things: How to set up your Wix blog How to identify topics for your blog How to optimise blog posts for SEO How to style graphics for your Instagram feed How to write your captions About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

How exciting is it when you finally launch the website?! The culmination of months (or years) of thinking about your business, brought to life the second you hit the ‘publish’ button. You can finally hold your head up high and shout about your brand. If you build it, they will come, right? Or at least that’s the age old saying...so where are all the potential clients? Surely they should be beating a path to your door by now...?! If you’ve launched your website but you're not coming up in Google search rankings, don't panic. Simply having a website open for business does not immediately qualify you for page one rankings…if only it were that easy! It takes a little time and we have to do some work to get there. To help understand why your website might not be ranking, we first need to understand what Google is looking for. How does Google decide where you sit in the rankings? Google's main mission is to serve up the right content to the right people. When someone searches on a specific keyword or term, Google will rank your site (and your competitors sites) based on two things : Site Authority - Your website's ability to rank relevant content in organic search results within your niche. Site Relevancy - How relevant your website is in relation to a particular search term or topic. So how do we affect our site authority and site relevancy? We use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). What is this in simple terms? SEO is everything we do to help our website to rank highly in search results. Authority and relevancy can take time to build which is why SEO is a marathon and not a sprint, it’s a series of tweaks and refinements to hit the sweet spot. Authority and relevancy are also not wholly within our control, but there is lots you can do tip the odds in your favour. As a Wix marketplace partner I see a lot of sites that are failing at ranking on Google. If you've created your website yourself and you're not a website expert then you may well be missing some of the fundamentals in design and SEO that will help with your rankings. Getting your site ranked is also a two way street. If you've worked with a website designer then they can get you set up in the best place possible, but there are some things that you'll need to do to promote your site. I don't want you to languish on page 2 / 3 obscurity for any longer than needed. So without any more delay, lets cut to the juicy stuff... If SEO makes your eyes glaze over, I completely get it…but stick with me. I’m going to make this simple and pain free. How to get your website ranked on Google 1. Make sure your site is indexable Sounds obvious, but you need to make sure that each page is set to be discoverable by Google. If you've built your site in Wix and haven't disabled the feature then you should be good to go, but if you're toggled pages off whilst you've been building then double check they're available to be indexed. 2. Make sure you have enough text on your homepage You might like the idea of a sleek, minimalist design, but you have to give Google something to work with. If your site has little to no keyword-rich copy, you’re making it harder than it needs to be to rank. 3. Use your headings efficiently Headings are not just for show, they’re to structure text to make it easier to consume - both for Google and your visitors. In recent years its become common place to use headings to take your customer language, which is nice, but in my experience it can have little to no impact on your discoverability. You have to achieve a balance between speaking to Google and speaking to your target audience - This is why writing copy for SEO is a different skill to writing copy for your business in general. 4. Optimise for the right keywords Not too generic, not too niche...what are people actually searching for when they're looking for someone with your unique set of skills. 5. Optimise your images Google can’t read pictures, so you need to lend a helping hand by adding keyword rich descriptions to your website images. 6. Make sure you have internal links set up between pages. Google LOVES links between your site pages because they link content together and help the bots to make sense of what your site is about. Don’t rely on your menu, create internal links to help the bots and your visitors to navigate your site. 7. Get blogging If you don’t have a blog you’re missing out on a huge opportunity when it comes to creating keeping your site fresh, targeting specific keywords and not to mention educating your visitors moving them along in the buyer journey. 8. Keep up with your competitors (but in a way that's authentic to you) Google is constantly weighing you up against others who are competing to be ranked for the same keywords. Needless to say, if your competitors are making strategic improvements and blogging regularly, Google will likely favour their site over yours. Of course, the opposite is also true - they could also be making changes which favourably benefit you What's important is not to create content just because other people are, but to share the things that you are inspired and passionate to share and the rest will follow. 9. Keep your site fresh If against the above backdrop you’re not keeping your site fresh, you’re missing an opportunity. Get in the game :) 10. Create more backlinks to your site So you’ve launched your site, what do you do now? Now you need to get it out there. You want as many links back to your site across the web as poss. Leverage social media, directories, guest blog articles, Google My Business. 11. Utilise Google My Business You’re missing a trick if you’ve not optimised your Google Business profile. Google has given us an amazing tool to use and it wants us to use it! 12. Look at what’s working / not working Checking for errors in Google Search Console and resubmitting your site for crawling when changes have been made. 13. Submit your site to Google Search Console Google needs to know about your site if it's going to rank it. This goes for new pages that you've added as well. I've written some guidance on the steps I take after I've refreshed my website here. 14. Recognise that it takes time Authority builds with time - the longer your site is live, the more activity, visitors and links back to your site there will be. All of which help you to rank in Google and all the more reason to create a website for your business sooner rather than later. 15. Create a site that your visitors will enjoy browsing The longer people spend on your site and the more pages they visit, the higher you will rank because Google uses time spent on a site to determine whether your site is relevant and useful to people. 16. If you've just hit publish If your site is brand new you'll need to start by building your authority and these are the steps that I recommend to my clients in the first few weeks to help with their google rankings. In summary, SEO doesn't need to feel hard or like a dark art. Remember that the algorithm isn't against you. There are specific things that Google wants us to do and we can help ourselves by ticking those boxes. Wix is an awesome website building platform which has brilliant SEO features, which is one of the reasons that I choose to use it for my clients and I recommend it to anyone looking to DIY their own site. If you'd like help to create and establish your own Wix website, feel free to contact me or you can head on over to read more about my Wix website design services. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

I'm a Wix designer, and over the last couple of years I've noticed that this triggers some people. I've been at networking events and been made to feel bad about my choice of platform builder, mainly by other designers convinced that Wordpress is the only solution. At first I'd take on this energy and feel pretty crap, I but then I started to realise that there might be something else at play. (I'm not debating here that Wordpress is an incredibly powerful and advanced solution - because it is - but it's not the right option for everyone) Why Wordpress designers don't like platform builders Ask a London black cab driver what they think about Uber...and I'm pretty sure you're not going to get an unbiased and glowing review. As with taxis, so with websites... If you solicit advice from Wordpress designers about which website platform to choose for your build, the majority won't have good things to say about template builders. And this advice can carry a lot of influence over you, coming as it does from an industry expert. Why might this be? Website template builders like Wix and Squarespace are handing the power back to the end user. Anything that disrupts industry norms is going to ruffle feathers. With business owners taking back control of their websites, monthly retainers for designers are no longer necessary. This is going to be bruising for a lot of people who have been used to this type of business structure. So when seeking advice about where to build your website, just be aware that there may be other things at play which have nothing to do with matching you with the right platform. The main reason I use Wix? My clients are telling me it's what they want. Your website should support you in doing what you love - running your business - rather than hindering you and creating an industry of work and overwhelm. My clients don't want Wordpress. My clients want a robust, beautiful website that doesn’t scare the living hell out of them every time they need to make an update (believe me, you can have it all). They don’t want to live in fear of tech or plugins expiring. They don't want to be tied to a designer any longer. They want the freedom to be able to respond in their business If (like me) you're a Generator, then you need to be in RESPONSE in your business. Just lately I've been thinking more about how grateful I am for the flexibility that comes with Wix, because I've used Wordpress in the past and it wasn't always this easy. As a Human Design Generator, response is my strategy, so a website platform that allows me to evolve my messaging, content and offerings in response to external cues is really important for me. And I need to be able to do this in a timely manner once my authority gives me the green light to go. If like 70% of the population you're a Generator or Manifesting Generator, then having a website that you're empowered to update will be vital. Are you tired of a website you can't update? Thankfully we no longer have to endure clunky old websites that don't allow us to pivot and respond in our businesses, and we don't have to feel tied to designer and be at the mercy of their schedule. There is a lighter, more expansive option. Maybe it's time to reimagine your website and what might be possible. Are you ready to explore different options? Just as Wordpress is not right for everyone, neither is Wix. There are lots of options and it's important to find the best fit for you - for where you are now but also for where you want to be in the future. My door is always open and if you'd like to pick my brains on any of this, simply head on over to my contact form. If you'd like to consider Wix and would appreciate a supportive female-first approach to your build, head on over to read more about my Wix website design services. You can also download my free guide to see if Wix will be a good fit for you. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

When I work with my clients on their Wix websites, I always encourage them to add a blog to their site. Sometimes I come up against a bit of resistance... "I'm not very good with words" "I don't have anything interesting to say" "I don't have time to dedicate to writing blog posts" You might also associate blogging with those times when you're scrolling (and scrolling...and scrolling) through reams of ads and blurb to get to the crux of how to cook the blooming recipe that you've landed upon. Frustrating, I know. But I'm not talking about blogging in THAT respect here. I'm NOT talking about monetising your words with ads and sponsors. I'm talking about creating a platform to share your truth. Blogging is a means to share what matters to you...to connect with your community...to explain your unique perspective. As female founders we have to wear ALL the hats in our business every day - and arguably the most important of those is the hat of the marketeer...even if it feels a bit hard to blow our own trumpets. If your marketing currently consists of posting on social media whenever the urge takes you, then it might be time to think about creating something with more longevity. This is the brilliance of your blog. It keeps working for you years after your Instagram stories have expired. And according to OptinMonster, 77% of internet users read blogs. Websites that also have a blog are shown to have 434% more indexed pages. Social media used to be one of the lowest hanging fruits in terms of generating enquiries, but it’s becoming harder to cut through the noise.. So throwing yourself at the coal face of social media might not be the best use of your time right now. Reach is becoming harder to guarantee, engagement is down, and unless you intend on becoming a full time content creator, you probably won't want to be focusing ALL of your energy there. Your time is your most precious commodity. If you’re spending time on marketing, then it makes sense to investing that time in the most valuable way possible. Creating blog content that will simultaneously build your website authority whilst also giving you content for your social feeds and newsletters is a great way of killing two birds with one stone. If you think you don’t have the time to blog for your business or you don’t have anything valuable to say, it might be time for a reframe. In my view, you'd do well to have a blog. And here's why: Why is a blog great news for your business? A blog is less intense than recording podcasts or video. To be able to market your business really effectively and call in organic leads regularly, you need a platform on which to host your content so that people can discover you. That platform might be You Tube, a Podcast or a Blog. If the thought of recording video content or podcasts brings you out in a cold sweat, then a blog might be your new best friend. What's most important here is to choose a platform that's aligned to your gifts (and to your Human Design). So if the written word is you thing, then embrace it! A blog means you can start to dominate your niche. Once you've decided that blogging will be your vehicle for connection, you can become the go-to expert in your niche by creating clusters of posts around specific topics. Your website is not designed to answer every single question or reservation that your people have - it's designed to get people to complete your contact form so that you can start to nurture a relationship offline. But with a blog however, you are free to educate and entertain your readers to your hearts content. You have a free pass to get inside their heads and talk about the things that matter to them. This is how you position yourself as a trusted advisor. You'll be warming up potential leads. By delivering value on your blog and sharing what people need to know before working with you, you'll be warming people up to work with you. So that when they do reach out, they're already primed and know what to expect. You'll also be giving yourself more opportunities to build your email list. You can talk about the things that light you up Your blog is a great way of embracing ALL the sides of you. You can use it to respond to external cues as they crop up or to talk about what's going on in you life or business. There are people out there who are waiting to hear from you, so don't leave them wanting. You'll save time because you don't need to think up separate content for social media. Drafting just one blog post will give you enough content for multiple posts newsletters and social media posts. Creating content once and then repurposing it is a great way to protect your time and energy in your business. In this way, blogging for your business is a win win situation. It keeps your website fresh and engaging for Google and visitors. Google loves nothing more than fresh content to get stuck into...and by posting relevant content regularly, you're helping Google to help you. Here are some of the other things that Google has recommended that us small business owners do to help our websites show up in search engine results. It allows you to target specific long-tail keywords with less competition. This comes down to discoverability. By optimising your blog posts for specific, lesser-known keywords that have less competition, you can dominate those terms and reach new people. These keywords might not have a huge amount of traffic, but these searches are VERY intentional. So when these people find you, they really find you. A blog will work magic for your SEO Ok, so this is a big one and I've left it until the end because I don't want you blogging just for SEO...because if you do that, it will show in your content. But if you're trying to rank for specific search words, then it makes sense that you need to create authentic content around those search words and without stuffing keywords into your posts. Blogging also means you'll be creating a network of internal links as you connect your articles 'dot-to-dot style' - which will not only help your customers to discover your content, but which will also give Google something to love. And lastly...don't forget that every revolution starts quietly... What could you start if you started to sharing your words? Have I done enough to convince you that blogging for your business might be a good thing to explore? Blogging plays a pivotal role in my Conscious Marketing Experiment where I am stepping into alignment to market my business with more ease and grace. Are you ready to get started in sharing your truth...? If you'd like help to create and establish your Wix Blog, feel free to contact me or you can head on over to read more about my Wix website design services. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

There are certain times of year, in particular January and September, when our thoughts naturally turn to the next chapter for our business and part of this might require you to refresh your website. You make your changes, hit the publish button...and sit back to relax. But before you relax... how can you make sure website updates are noticed? I've recently made a large number of changes to my own Wix website recently and it got me thinking about the things I do after I've hit the publish button to ensure that the changes reach my ideal audience. And a lot of this is about getting Google on board with my mission. I've decided to share some of these things with you today. There is a little bit of tech in here...but please don't feel overwhelmed. I'll try to keep it as simple as possible and my door is always open if you have any questions relating to any of this. Make sure you're on Google Search Console First things first, if you're not already registered with Google Search Console then you'll want be. Log in with your Google account and check whether your website is associated with your account. If not, navigate to Add property under the top left dropdown and follow the instructions to verify your website ownership. Then follow the following steps Check your search engine optimisation settings for your new page in your Website builder On your website - before you flag up content to Google, you want to make sure your search engine optimisation is looking ship shape. Head into your SEO settings for your new or updated pages and ensure they're all complete and include a sprinkling of your keywords. Those keywords should also appear in your content and on-page headings. I'm not heading into the detail here as this is such a huge subject which I can't even scratch the surface of today, and not the intended purpose of this post. Submit a new site map. Back in Search Console. If you've added new pages to your website, you'll want to make sure they get found. By using the Sitemaps functionality in Search Console you're making Google aware of the existence of these pages. Simply fill in the following field with sitemap.xml Request a reindexing of your site While you're in Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool to get your new content indexed. You can wait for Google to crawl your site organically, but it's better to request this and you can also trouble shoot any pages that are not available for ranking. Type in your domain or the specific URL for you new page in the URL Inspection browser: Google will then do its thing to retrieve data from Google Index and let you know whether you're indexed or not. My pages have been indexed so I get the green tick, but I can still force through an indexing request by hitting that link on the bottom right... Write a blog post linking to your new page or content Back on your website now. Google absolutely loves internal links between pages because the crawl bots can follow links to access your content. Creating a blog post or series of blog posts highlighting your new service / content / page is a great way to help Google to help you. Share your new content on Google Business / Maps. If you haven't already realised, Google has provided us with an epic tool for communicating with them and our customers. Your Google Business / Map profile is one of the most important tools in your marketing toolkit and it shouldn't be ignored. You want your profile to be attractive and complete and then you want to be posting regularly in order to keep ahead of your competition. Share your new content on your social networks. Again, the idea here is to create backlinks to your site that will create AUTHORITY for your website, so post about your new content with links wherever you have a presence. I hope that's been useful and might help next time you hit publish on some website changes. If you've recently launched your website for the very first time, you might be interested in the steps that I recommend to my clients in the first few weeks after hitting publish to encourage traffic to their sites. If you're not yet set up with your website and would like a supportive female-first approach to your build, head on over to read more about my Wix website design services. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

Just recently, I've been giving my website a thorough going over as part of my conscious marketing experiment to tweak messaging, photographs and flow. As well as a review of my search engine optimisation and offerings. A major refresh is something I do a couple of times a year, to ensure that my website is up to date and reflects what I'm about. This time I also had a new services page to add into the mix - Human Design readings - a natural addition to my line up of branding services as I lean into helping my clients to create a brand from the inside-out. I hadn't planned to add in this service quite so soon, but I felt the calling to do it and decided it was the right time to test the waters. I LOVE that I am able to pivot and adjust my website offering on a day to day basis like this! This is the benefit of having a website that you feel confident to change and update - and this is something that I'm keen for my clients to benefit from as well. Your website is a constantly evolving beast And here's the thing. Every time I do a major refresh of my website, I think to myself 'I've nailed it'...and then a few months later I can see things that I want to amend. Not because I've missed things...but because our businesses change all the time (as we do). And, because your website acts a mirror to your business, it makes sense that your website should flow and morph with these changes. Our businesses are constantly evolving, and it's our job to ensure our website is an accurate reflection of who we are and what we do. Do your website updates feel more stressful than they should? If your business is constantly evolving, and your website has to keep up to speed...then these seemingly innocent website updates can become a potential source of stress if every time you think about making changes you get technically overwhelmed or you're worried about 'breaking something' behind the scenes. So you might just stick to the confines of the template - refreshing the odd photograph here, tweaking a few sentences there or adding blog posts. And if it feels completely overwhelming then you might stick you head in the sand altogether and not make any changes at all. But more about that in a moment (because believe me when I say I've been there and done that) How do you make your seasonal website updates stress free? This got me thinking about how grateful I am that I've built my website on a platform that I can ACTUALLY use. And how frustrating and expensive it would be if I was tied to someone else for these changes. I'm grateful to be in the driving seat of my business. There is no big secret here and it's just really common sense, but the answer to taking the stress out of website updates lies in building your website in a platform that you can actually use Why I don't use Wordpress (any more) For years I had a Wordpress site. I was so excited to launch! I'd read that Wordpress was the 'best in class' and so surely it was the key to taking my business to new heights. Now... I'm pretty good with technology, but even I couldn't figure it out. It was clunky. Plug-ins kept expiring on me so my contact form would suddenly stop working. The theme was stuck in a time warp. I couldn't update the thing and it just felt completely overwhelming. My hands were tied when it came to steering my brand. So slowly, slowly...my website which I had felt so excited about gathered cobwebs and my leads suffered as a result. It was a truly painful experience for both me and my business. When I started Fresh Leaf Creative, I decided I needed a more empowered solution to my website. I'd read about platform builders such as Wix and Squarespace, so I did my research, tested out the alternatives and made my selection based on what felt right for me. I moved over to Wix, and I vowed to never again give away control of my website. I felt like I was part of a revolution. Your website is the most important part of your marketing ecosystem Your website is the central cog around which ALL of your business activities spin. Whether you're creating podcasts or courses, marketing on social media or promoting your business through magazines or at networking events, all roads lead back to Rome. They lead back to your website. Your welcoming online hub. Wix allows me the luxury of being in control of my website. And I say luxury, because it feels like that after my previous experience with Wordpress. I don't take this freedom for granted - I am grateful every day. What is the 'best' website platform? I am not suggesting that Wix is the right choice for everyone - because we are all different, and our businesses are all different and they require different functionality. I also know plenty of people who are very happy with Wordpress, or they are happy to pay to outsource their website maintenance to a website designer. I'm not really talking to those kind of people here. I'm talking to those of you who WANT to have control of your website, but who DON'T WANT to be bogged down with the technical side of things. You will know if this is you. The best website platform is not the fastest or the most technically advanced or the one with the most features. These are the basics and they go without saying (and to be honest it's all much of a muchness now) The best website platform is one that you are confident to use to spread your message with the world...Wordpress is super powerful but all the tech in the world is irrelevant if you can't keep your website up to date. I happen to choose Wix because it lights me up, but Squarespace is another great option if you want another alternative to look at. Creating a website that allows you to take aligned action And for those of you who are also interested in personal development and Human Design, your website can play an important role in allowing you to lean into your Human Design type. For those of you new to Human Design, it provides an energetic blueprint and a roadmap for how to live in alignment with our true selves and I am playing with this in my business this year in my conscious marketing experiment. As a 4/6 Generator, I've learnt that I'm not here to initiate, and when I do initiate things tend to fall flat. As Human Design Generator, my strategy in business (and life) is to RESPOND. This is how I create the most flow and ease. Being in control of my website helps to create the environment of response that I require to be in flow. It means I can pick up on external cues around me, and then respond directly through my website to the things that feel light and expansive when my authority and human network gives me the green light. I hope you've found this interesting and that it's given you some food for thought. If you're ready to re-imagine your website this year and take back control, please do feel free to find out more about my Wix website design services If you're curious about your own Human Design and would like to understand what this means for you in life and business, you can find out more and book a Human Design reading with me. About Lucy: I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence, so that they can create their positive ripple effect in the world. I'm based in Dorset and offer website design, brand photography, brand design and Human Design readings. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.

Media kit, services brochure, pricing guide...call it what you want...there's there's no denying that this is an amazing weapon in your tool kit for converting leads into paying clients. If you don't have one, you may be wasting time or missing out on sales. What is a media kit? This is a brochure (digital or physical) that showcases your services and explains how you work, who you work with and what you charge. What to do with your services guide based on your Human Design type? For Human Design Generators who's strategy is to RESPOND and for Projectors who are WAITING FOR AN INVITATION, a service guide is the ideal next step when an enquiry lands in your inbox. It allows you to react to the external cue that is asking for a response. If you're a Manifestor then your strategy is to INFORM & INITIATE, so you don't have to wait for something external to respond to. You are here to lead the charge and can be more proactive with your services guide and actively email it out to potential clients that you'd love to work with, in fact you should actively do it because other people (like me!) are waiting for something to respond to. My own kit receives lots of positive feedback and has been instrumental in driving my business forwards, so I thought I'd share some wisdom about why it's such a great tool for service based businesses. How can your services guide help to protect your time and energy? * It pre-qualifies your clients People find you in various ways - word of mouth, social media, organic search to name a few. You won't be the right fit for everyone (nor should you aspire to be), so how do you figure out whether someone is a good match? Your media kit weeds out clients that are not the right fit BEFORE you've invested lots of time. No more email tennis. Your time is the most precious asset you have in your business, and you have to protect it. * It makes you stand out from the competition Your potential client has probably fired off multiple emails - to you but also to many of your competitors. A beautiful services brochure will ensure your business stands out in their sea of responses. First impressions count, and your services guide will help make your mark. * It allows you to respond quickly Because your client will have emailed other people just like you, it's important to respond in a timely way. Having an email ready PDF that you can send along with a personal note allows you to respond quickly so that your client knows they are important to you from the word go. * It avoids awkward conversations about money If you're like me and you don't love conversations or bargaining about how much your services cost / are worth, you'll fall in love with your media kit. You can set out clearly what your offer is and how much it costs (without jumping in to justify it). Plus your potential client will be able to digest this in her own time. * It demonstrates your value Your services brochure allows you to demonstrate exactly why your prices are what they are so that your client cab see the value in what you can bring - ie. what transformation you deliver. This is about showcasing the very best of you. * It sets expectations around what it's like to work with you You can clearly lay out your process so your clients understand what it's like to work with you. They can decide if you're right for them from the start. * It builds trust Potential clients land with you at different stages in their customer journey. Some may have been engaging with you or quietly watching for some time (warm leads) whilst others may have just found you on Google and fired off an email (cold leads). Either way, you can ensure that the very first thing they see, aside from a well crafted email that sparks their excitement, is a gorgeous services brochure that showcases your brand. If you've spent time and care making your media kit look professional, they'll feel that you are a safe pair of hands. * It feels more personal Sending a beautiful PDF to your client so that they can mull over your offer will feel personal and more exclusive, because not everyone has access to that information. Directing your client to a website page may be efficient...but not as special. * It provides pricing flexibility For me, this is not a huge consideration since my prices are the same for everyone, but if I were providing services to businesses of different sizes I would want the ability to flex prices (I would not want to charge the same to a large LTD as to a sole trader). A services brochure allows you to do this effectively and serves as a record of what you've quoted when it's time to send an invoice. * You can showcase your business as you want people to see it Your media kit plays an important role in ensuring future clients see everything you would wish for them to see before they commit to working with you. Your website should do much of this work, but even if you have great website navigation, you're still at the mercy of people clicking off of your 'grand tour' at any point. * It builds excitement At the end of reading your media kit, you want them to be excited and inspired to take the next steps with you so there will hopefully be a reply in your inbox very soon. Remember that some people will sit with the info for quite some time before replying, so don't be disheartened if you don't get a strong yes/ no response immediately. A gentle follow up is always good when the time feels right. So there you go, these are my top reasons why creating an effective media kit should be on your list this year. Stay tuned for an upcoming post on how to create your own services guide. If you'd like to explore your own Human Design and understand what this means for your business and marketing, you can book an introductory chart reading with me. Or if you'd like to work with me on building your business from the inside-out, head on over to learn more about my services. About Lucy: I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website specialist based in Dorset. I help female business owners and career changers build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of. Work with me | Book a Human Design Reading | Sign up to my email list to join my inner circle and for help on creating impact in your brand.