[24] Blogging, Content, and Design Essentials with Arianne Foulks of Aeolidia

Today I am talking with the amazing Arianne Foulks from Aeolidia, with whom I discuss the essential website design and content elements that will ensure your site invites people in and encourages them to want to shop with you.

Arianne has a wildly successful web and graphic design studio, and directs a team of people who craft gorgeous websites for creatives. I invited her on the show because she knows what works! In this episode we talk about logo design, photography, content, and more – all the things which a great website needs to get right.

It’s so important to have your own home on the internet – somewhere that represents your business to the world and tells your business story. But it can be hard to know what to focus on when creating a website, as there are so many possibilities!

Listen in for Arianne’s top tips for making sure your business’s online home is the best it can be.

Quotes and highlights from this Episode:

“Have your own domain name even if you have other web presences.” {Arianne}
Get your domain name and point it to your primary online presence (e.g. Etsy)
Having your own domain belongs to you and nobody else unlike Facebook and Etsy when your shopfront belongs to those companies.
People want to go at their leisure and find out about you online before getting in contact.
It’s like having a menu in a restaurant, it’s a way to see what’s on offer before you sit down to eat.
Your about page is the most important thing to get done first on your website.
“People want to know who made it, why they made it and what their story is.” {Arianne}
Big beautiful photos are so important.
Tell a story with your products through styling.
“Learn a little bit about what makes good photography. Less of the technical stuff and more of what makes a great photo.” {Arianne}
Make sure you tell people your name so they feel they know you a little more.
Contact information is vital.
“It’s an important for searchability to keep your website up to date and relevant” {Jess}
It can be important to have both their own website and other online stores if possible.
It’s not enough to rely on Etsy or another platform to send them buyers.
“Relying solely on a company who is not under your control to send you customers is not ideal.” {Arianne}
Build up an audience on your own website.
“I can sell in Australian Dollars on my own website but in American Dollars on Etsy.” {Jess}
StitchLabs (This site/resource is no longer available): A way to keep your inventory up to date on multiple platforms without having to do it manually.
It’s still very important to blog even when you have an ecommerce site.
“Those who have been in the blogging world for ages think it’s a no-brainer. But for newbies I understand the confusion about why you would blog.” {Jess}
You need to enjoy blogging to want to blog.
Blogging brings traffic to your site – partly through Google and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
Blogging gives you keywords which will eventually list on Google and traffic will come to you over the years.
“Having a blog can really humanise your brand.” {Arianne}
Establish yourself as an expert in something.
Once you start blogging it makes all your other marketing efforts easier.
Your social media is made much easier when you have your blog written and you can borrow content.
“Get yourself on a schedule and find something that you like and you enjoy doing with your blog.” {Arianne}
Make sure you’re keeping your target market in mind.
Video can be a great way to get more people interested in your website.
Make sure you have some keywords associated with your video so it’s searchable.
“There’s a lot of writing that goes into marketing.” {Arianne}
“When we say keywords, we don’t just mean individual words.” {Jess}
Think about it more like a ‘keyphrase’.
What are your customers going to be typing in?
Try not to use jargon and lingo that your customers may not know.
Keep working on your website as long as it doesn’t take you away from other aspects of your business that also may need work.