In this post, we'll cover the top 3 things that will help you build your website fast.
But before that, I just want to share a little bit about myself. I am a career technologist. I’ve done a lot of work, mostly in the back end, in my early career building data centers, servers, and all that not really glamorous stuff but required and necessary for all the technology that we use today. So, think of it as more along the lines of infrastructure services.
As my career progressed, I worked all the way through tech support, moving into development, and into project management. But really, the focal point of my entire career has been on automation and process improvement, helping businesses streamline the work that needs to get done to make money.
Right now, I work for a commercial bank. I lead support and development teams to build financial enterprise commercial-grade software. So, everything I do, both in my day-to-day job and for my online businesses, is all done within an Agile mindset.
If you’re not sure what Agile is, it’s actually what I’m going to talk about.
Watch the video:
There are 3 simple but key things that are going to help you build your website fast. However, the execution of them is what trips up a lot of people most of the time.
What are the 3 key things to building your website fast?
No. 1 – You need a plan
Planning is important, but you don’t necessarily want to go overboard and try to plan for a whole year either. Why? Because what you want now and what you're audience looks like may be very different one year from now.
Also, one big mistake a lot of beginners make is trying to build a website that looks exactly like Pat Flynn's "Smart Passive Income" blog or some other successful online brand that's been around for years. That's fine for inspiration, just remember to be unique, and most importantly, understand that this stuff takes a bit of patience, dedication and time.
Instead, take a look at other websites for inspiration but know that your version 1 is not going to be like someone else’s version 10.
You need to create a plan around what a shippable, minimum viable product looks like to you. Do you want your website to have 3 pages to start off with? Maybe just a home, about and contact page?
Just remember to start off small and work towards incremental planning. I plan my work over 2 week sprints (Agile speak), and then follow it up with a review to see where I could have improved.
You can have that one single page up and running so that people can look at it and give you feedback. That would be my recommendation. But, even if it’s just one page that you’re starting with, you still need to have a plan.
No. 2 – You need to execute.
If you don't execute, then obviously, things are not going to get done. Execution can come in different flavors. It can come in you being the one who’s hands on and doing the work. You can also have someone in your team, a web designer or freelancer, that’s going to help you out.
For most people who are just getting started, DIY is more cost effective. You can get started very quickly with so many different page builders out there.
I use WordPress right now and Thrive Architect. I cannot recommend that combination enough because I’ve been building WordPress and other types of websites for over ten years and this hands down has been the best solution to build a website with a focus on converting visitors to subscribers to my email list. Thrive Themes membership has all of the A/B testing tools for your content and helps you build professional high-converting landing pages (similar to LeadPages, at a fraction of the cost).
In that span of time, I can tell you that if you’ve ever thought about setting up a website, this is the time. Today is the day.
There’s so many tools available at your fingertips. You don’t have to be a code wizard or a programming genius to get these things done. The truth is, I’m not. I’m more on the process and project management side of things, but anybody can pick it up and get started fast.
Now, for the last one, which is a really difficult one for people to get into this mindset…
No. 3 – You need to focus
We live in a world today where focus is a rare commodity.
Think about anything that you have at your fingertips and probably in the palm of your hand right now. You're probably reading this on your phone or maybe on your computer.
More than that, you probably have notifications that are going off all over the place trying to pull your attention into different directions. It happens with your email because many people are subscribed to tons of email lists and interacting on social media 24x7. If you're not careful and mindful of this, you simply won’t get things done and achieve the productivity potential that will help you build your brand at a much faster rate.
So, if you’re struggling with this today, it's time to make a change my friend. Not doing this puts the hopes and dreams of you having a successful online business, website, or whatever it is that you’re looking to create at risk.
What can you do to stay focused on building your website?
Minimize distractions
What I like to do is turn off the notifications on my email and all my apps, especially Facebook. I then batch the time that I spend to check those things. That way, I can get focused on the work that I have already planned to execute.
Use a project management tool
If you’re looking for a really great tool to plan your tasks, I highly recommend using a visual-based project management tool. I’m a little biased because I come from an Agile and Kanban background. A lot of the work that we do in the software development and in the Agile world is all visual. We have a visual work flow that we look at.
Everything that needs to be done is in your Backlog column. You then pull in things in an In Progress column when you’re working on them. Then, you have a Done column.
List your tasks out, and each day, put a reminder on your calendar or an alarm for those tasks. But, the first thing you need to do is to look at your Backlog column and To-do list to remind yourself what you’re currently working on.
Here’s the thing - You’re not going to finish every task on a day-to-day basis. You may need to go back the next day and continue where you left off, but it’s very important that you get into that mindset and to focus. If not, you start second-guessing yourself or doing other things other than working on your business.
So, heads down and start working on your business. 🙂
How’s your website going? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
Leave a Reply