Marketing Journeys · The Tradewinds Method · Build
Session 2.3
Your
Website
I have a website. So why does it just sit there?
Marketing Journeys2.3First, What a Website Is For
A front door, not a brochure.
It has one job: turn a stranger into a name.
A door with a doorbell, built to turn a visitor into a name. Your answer to the Secret Agent headwind: a site that captures, not one that just sits there.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteStop Trying to Impress
The homepage has one job:
capture.
Not to win a design award. Not to list every place you've ever booked. To make one clear promise and make it easy to raise a hand. Impress less, capture more.
A pretty site nobody acts on is a brochure. A plain site that captures is a business.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteAnd the Ones You Don't
The handful of pages you actually need.
Home
The front door
One promise, one clear ask, proof you're real.
About
Why you
Your niche and your story. The human they hire.
Offer
Your signature trip
The packaged thing from 2.1, with a way to ask.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your Website
Write for the Visitor, Not the Award
Clarity over clever.
Say who you help and what to do next, in plain words. "I plan trips for book lovers. Start the conversation." A confused visitor never books. A clever headline they don't understand is just confusion in a nicer font.
If they can't tell what you do in five seconds, the copy is too clever.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteThe Lesson That Saves Businesses
Own your domain.
Separate from your website.
Your domain is your address. Keep it in your own account, in your name, no matter who builds the building. The address is yours. The building is rented.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteDone-For-You Is Fine. Locked-Out Is Not.
Keep the keys.
Update your own pictures. Write your own blog. Add a page. Change a word without a bill. No long-term contract. And the big one: you can export all your files and information and move to another platform without going dark.
Hiring it out is smart CEO leverage. Getting locked out of your own business is not.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteA Real One, and It's Why We Stress This
One missed payment.
The whole business went dark.
An advisor paid a service to design their site on a locked-in platform. They missed a single payment, and their entire business was shut down online. They didn't own the keys.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteTwo Honest Paths, Both Fine
Build it yourself, or have it built.
Build It Yourself
Wix is fine, and the real win is you'll actually finish. A simple site that exists beats a perfect one that doesn't.
Have It Built
Smart leverage, on one condition: you keep every key, can edit your own content, and can port everything out.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteWhatever You Build On
Speed and mobile win.
Most visitors are on a phone, and a slow page loses them before they read a word. Heads up: Wix and Squarespace carry a lot of overhead, they load heavier and they're less SEO-friendly. Keep it light.
A fast, simple site beats a slow, fancy one every single time.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteYour First Brick
Map your site.
1
The pages you need
Home, About, your Offer. That's the whole list to start. (The Site Map worksheet.)
2
Your homepage headline
Who you help, in plain words. "I plan trips for ____."
3
Your one primary call to action
The single thing you want every visitor to do. Just one.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsitePut Your Second Mate to Work
More than copy. A whole-site build.
Draft
All three pages
Home, About, Offer, plus an SEO title and meta for each, from one intake.
Clarity Test
The 5-second read
It role-plays a first-time visitor and tells you what's unclear.
Keep the Keys
Don't get locked in
It drafts the control questions to ask any developer.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your WebsiteWant a Hand With This Part?
Three ways to get unstuck.
Group
Professor Hours
Bring your specific question to office hours and ask it live.
One-on-One
Book a 1:1
We work on yours, screen to screen, until it's done right.
Done With / For You
Hire us
Consultant or coach. We build it with you, or we build it for you.
Marketing Journeys2.3 · Your Website
Built With You, Not Taught at You
A site that captures beats a site that impresses.
You can map your pages today. Standing up a fast, capture-focused site, with the domain in your own name and every key in your hand, is the work. That's what we build together, done with you or for you, and always portable. We build it with you →
Next → 2.4 · Your Manifest: the place you keep every name you capture.
Post your homepage headline and your one call to action in the community. Questions? Bring them to this week's Professor Hours.
Marketing Journeys2.3