Classification: Strategy
How To Create A Content Strategy
With clients slowly going quiet over the holidays and with the new year fast approaching, you’re probably thinking about your...
Build it with Blocks — WaveApps.com
In this live event, I shared my process for building (or in this case, rebuilding) sites using blocks! We cover:...
How Much Does A Copywriter Cost?
Learn how much you should expect to pay for written content from a freelance copywriter or a copywriting agency.
Recurring Revenue: How To Sell A Learning Management System To Your Clients
I’ve owned an eCommerce-focused agency for the last 10 years, and I’ve always been keen on exploring different avenues for...
How To Increase Recurring Revenue By Selling A Content Creation Service
Monthly blogging is a treasure trove for recurring revenue, it’s easy to implement, and it has results you can track.
How to plan the leap from side-hustle to full-time agency owner
Looking to take the leap from side-hustle to full-time agency owner but a bit nervous? Here's how I did it!
How I Use Email Marketing in My Agency
Email marketing has provided an effective, one-to-many strategy for my agency — here's a look at why and how I do it.
Why These 5 Things Will Help You Win More Proposals
I've found 5 things that make my proposals stand out, get signed, and protect myself from scope creep. Are these in your proposal?
Web Agency FAQ's
A growing database of frequently asked questions web agencies can answer for their customers.
Humans v. Algorithms: Who are you writing for?
As if writing content wasn’t hard enough on it’s own — you have to walk a fine line between making...
Writing Processes & SOP's (A Real-Life Example)
An over-the-shoulder look at me writing up processes and standard operating procedures for client website builds.
Everything You Need to Know About Offering GMB Services to Your Clients
For local businesses, Google My Business can be a powerful tool that helps them attract attention and leapfrog to the...
Acquirable: Building an Agency You Can Sell
In this live event I interview Link Moser who has been buying web agencies since 2013 to learn more about...
25 Additional Services You Can Offer to Your Web Agency Clients
While an argument can be made for keeping your offerings small and charging a premium, that’s not the only way...
How To Grow Your Agency Using The Power Of Niche Marketing
Are you struggling to attract new clients to your business? Do you want to get paid more for your work?...
More than just a logo: branding can be your super-secret sales weapon
Let’s jump into this imaginary (but oh so familiar) scenario for a moment: You’re 40 minutes into a kick-off video...
Agency Sales Framework (with Cliff Almeida)
Cliff Almeida joins us to share his Agency Sales Framework and how he's used this exact process (from incoming lead...
Selling & Building Same-Day Websites
How long does your average website build take? 3 weeks? 3 months? 3 years? (Yeah, I just finished a 1,000+ day project)...
The Pipeline is Key: Here's Why Being Reactive is Not Enough
Struggling to keep your pipeline filled? Learn why reactive marketing might be holding you back, and what you can do about it.
Charging for Discovery (S.O.P.)
A full breakdown of why you should be charging for project discovery, and exactly how to do it!
Craft the Perfect Analogy to Educate Clients and Secure the Sale
Whether it’s explaining that doing SEO doesn’t provide overnight ranking success, or the necessity for WordPress website maintenance — clients...
The Orderly Inbox
The Orderly Inbox, a.k.a. “inbox zero” isn’t about always being caught up on all of your work—that’s called a “fantasy”....
Building a Minimal Client Dashboard in WordPress
I recently decided to build my own minimal dashboard for the clients on my care plan for added value. In...
The power of having a success partner - get ready to change your business (and your life!)
Success partners are all about action, helping each other grow their business, reduce stress and have the confidence to take on larger projects and or new challenges, and coaching each other through the process.
How To Build A Checkout Page That Converts
To deliver a great shopping experience to online consumers, you have to be able to build a checkout page that is simple, easy to use, and is ultimately built with one thing in mind: conversions.
How To Get Noticed On LinkedIn & Attract Your Ideal Clients
No longer just the place to try and find a new job, LinkedIn can help digital agency owners gain serious traction in their niche, attract the attention they deserve, and yes, even win new clients on it.
Finding Leads (with Pete Everitt)
In a recent poll in the group, I asked the question "How often are you going out and proactively looking for...
Finding Leads
In a recent poll I discovered that the vast majority of people in the group "rarely" or "never" go on...
What’s the best day to launch a website, and why is it Tuesday?
According to the web development community, the best day to launch a website is Tuesday — and there's a good argument for it.
Change is OKAY!
It's been a little while since Kyle and I sat down to record a video, but we're going to try...
Are in-person meetings a new opportunity for your agency?
The pandemic brought even the most technologically challenged online. As we find a new normal, is your in-person availability an opportunity to stand out?
Building a Profitable Business (without sacrificing ethics)
Before we get started, it's only fair (especially given the subject matter of this book) to mention that I was...
How To Sell Copywriting Services To Your Clients
How you can make a profit from outsourcing copywriting.
Rethinking What it Means to "Sell"
Doing “sales” has always felt a bit gross to me. I’ve never considered myself terrible at it — but I...
Sell By Helping
Learn how to “sell” by helping, using a website consultant’s framework for landing new clients.
Rethinking What it Means to "Sell"
Doing “sales” has always felt a bit gross to me. I’ve never considered myself terrible at it — but I...
Creating “Burner” Email Addresses for Setting Up Client Accounts
Setting Up & Accessing Accounts for Clients is a Pain Through the process of developing websites or doing any kind...
How to Sell Website Care Plans More Often
This article will help with a crucial challenge: getting people to actually take up a care plan.
A Friendly Reminder About Domains
This post was born from a horror story, but don't worry; there's a happy ending. It was only a few...
My Experience Getting a Fraudulent Google Review Removed
A couple weeks back I must have made someone local upset. Perhaps I flipped them the bird on the main...
How Do You Manage Clients Who Are In The Same Industry?
One day you’re going to get a request from one of your clients’ competitors to work with them. As big...
How to Find New Web Design Clients
While we don’t claim to know all the answers, Kyle and I have had some incredibly smart guests on our podcast and I’ve gathered together each one of these here (in no particular order) in this post along with the major takeaways from each episode if a TLDR fits your busy schedule a bit better.
Help Your Clients Promote Their Website Post-Launch (Free Email Template)
After noticing clients not updating their social media profiles or directory listings with their website address after their website was...
7 Reasons I'll Only Invoice Care Plans Monthly
Now and then a client will ask if they can pay for their care plan for the full year, some...
You NEED This Free Website Policies Waiver (to protect yourself AND your clients)
Privacy laws are no joke — just ask the companies getting sued for not having the right ones in place....
How to hire a great copywriter (and avoid the bad ones)
Hiring a copywriter is a long and difficult process. I’ve been working as a copywriter for the last 10 years,...
How to Document Your Processes, a Step-by-Step Guide
If you’re lucky, your business will grow over time. You’ll be juggling more work and more employees. If you could...
How To Set-Up Global Theme Settings Inside Elementor
Setting up typography, colors, button styles, backgrounds, form field styles etc. separately on each and every webpage can be such...
You don't actually want higher paying clients.
Last week I posted a simple question to the group... “What makes your favorite client your favorite client?” If you...
Our Tips and Tricks for Getting Your SEO on Track in 2021
People make WordPress websites for a variety of reasons: To start a cooking blog, to promote their small business, to...
Prioritizing Web Safety and Security on Your WordPress Site
Since the release of its very first version in 2003, WordPress has surely and steadily snowballed into the content management...
Why, What, & How of Custom Post Types with Paul from WPTuts
If you've heard the term Custom Post Types (or CPT's) being used, but never fully understood them— then this is...
Can clients use my plugin & theme licenses?
Learn how to handle sharing plugin licenses with your clients & the one question you should ask.
ADA Compliance | Basics
ADA Compliance is a loaded topic. There's a lot that can go into making sure a website is accessible and as of writing this there's no "real" documentation out there that states "This is what you need to do to be compliant".
Creating Page Rules in Cloudflare for Elementor
Cloudflare improves your website’s overall loading speed with additional security and performance benefits. Amongst the many features of Cloudflare is...
The One Tiny Thing I Had Never Thought Of When Selling Maintenance Plans To Clients
Sometimes all it takes is a couple of comments, a little Googling, and a half hour to make a huge...
Add WooCommerce Customer to a Group in MailerLite
For a while now I've been struggling with having multiple products in my WooCommerce store, and adding customers for specific...
My Inbox-Zero Strategy
After one of the busiest and most stressful weeks of my life, I posted a status update on Facebook minutes...
The Two Most Important Steps to Every Process
Where most processes go sideways isn’t lost somewhere in the weeds between step 3 and 33— it’s simply setting proper...
Managing Client Expectations
Matt and Kyle chat about what's been happening in their respective businesses - this time around we'll be talking about managing client expectations.
Nobody Asked, But We're Answering
Kyle and Matt chat about the two topics we both bring to the table this week along with a post from inside The Admin Bar group.
Block Editor, Sales Forms, & Should We Wix/Weebly?
Today we're trying out a slightly different format! In this show Kyle and I discuss one thing what's been happening in each of our businesses.
Graphic Design vs Web Design
All three of us began our design careers focusing primarily on some form of flat graphic design, be it branding, t-shirt design, or print design, but found ourselves for one reason or another leaning further into web based design as our individual businesses grew... how come? Listen/watch to find out!
Time to get Organized!
In this episode of The Admin Bar we're talking about organization and quality of life improvements and what with having a bit more down time than usual, now might be a good time to start building better habits.
The Friday Email - Probably the World's Greatest "Hack" with Nathan Ingram
Nathan Ingram (coach, speaker, trainer, author, and agency owner) joins us to talk about the ‘Friday Email Strategy’ and how this simple, weekly email and drastically improve client communications and help give you your weekends back!
Planning, Selling, & Executing Website Care Plans with Kristina Romero
In this episode we cover why care plans are more about relationship building than anything else, whether or not you should require care plans, if you should charge monthly or annually, and how you can implement some easy client touch points to improve relationships with your customers.
Book Review: Company of One by Paul Jarvis
I’m just wrapping up reading ‘Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business’ by Paul...
Spam Lemonade: How The Email Scammers Made My Day
I don’t know about you, but it frustrates me to no end that my clients are getting tons of solicitations...
WordPress in the Flesh
In this episode, titled 'WordPress in the Flesh', we take a deep-dive into these events and talk about the benefits of attending events like this in person, what to expect, what you can gain, tips for speaking, and a whole lot more.
“Freelancer” is a Four Letter Word
Nathan Allotey shares his personal story and revelation of how calling himself a “freelancer” was giving people the wrong impression and how shedding the label immediately allowed him to stop competing with the Fiverr’s of the world.
Want to charge more for websites? Here’s a start.
When we offer to “design” or “build” a website for potential customers, we’re using a pretty generic term that doesn’t...
Not-So-Typical Networking
Back in October Dave started a thread in the group that said: "If you do not have a WordPress Meetup in your town, START ONE!" and the thread ended up being pure gold— with a ton of interest. Running his local WordPress meetup for the past two years has given Dave the label of "the WordPress guy" in his local community— and lead him to 6-figures in revenue!
38+ Services to Increase Your Website Care Plan Recurring Revenue
Recurring revenue is what helps me sleep like a baby at night. Getting to the point in my business where...
Pre & Post-Launch Checklist for Successful Website Go-Live's
When it’s finally time for go-live, I don’t know about you, but I get anxious just to get a project...
How My Business Will Succeed in 2020
This post (and worksheet) are for those of you out there who aren't super into planning. The ones who "have...
Writing Proposals That Help You Win Clients
Adam Hempenstall from Better Proposals stops by The Admin Bar to discuss the role proposals play in our business, plus about a million tips on ways to improve your proposals (and what you might be doing that's killing them!).
Project Huddle
Sticky-note style feedback on your designs & web projects. White-label, self-hosted, and powered by WordPress.
How to Get Quality Feedback from Clients
Andre Gagnon, creator of Project Huddle, stops by The Admin Bar to discuss how we can make soliciting feedback (and ultimately client communications) a breeze through his amazingly simple (yet powerful!) communication tool.
Maintenance Reports: Are they worth sending?
Kyle and Matt chat about a recent request from one of Kyle's clients. They requested to be sent maintenance reports on a regular schedule. Is it worth spending the time setting them up and sending them out or is it a waste of time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere?
A Unique Way to Say “Thanks”
Ever since we had Jason Resneck on the show a while back talking about “pro-active word of mouth marketing” I’ve...
Let's Talk Managing Care Plans
We’ve already determined the importance of recurring revenue (in the form of a maintenance plan) in your agency. But one consideration you need to have with any service you offer is how does it scale?
Quit Asking Prospects What They Want Their Website to Look Like.
Newer agency owners and freelancers always seem to ask questions about how to get higher paying gigs. This typically leads...
Proactive Word of Mouth Marketing
Today’s guest, Jason Resnick, shares with us how we can adjust our processes to create moments in time that encourage more referrals from our customers in what we’re calling “Proactive Worth of Mouth Marketing”.
Finding Clients as a Small Town Agency
Jennifer Moss runs a small-town agency, and for years has dove into the challenges living and working in a small community can bring. How do you grow an agency with a limited pool of local clients? How important is your reputation? What steps has she taken to make her agency successful? Find out in this week's episode!
Book Review: Dealing with Problem Clients
A BOOK WRITTEN SPECIFICALLY FOR THE WORDPRESS PROFESSIONAL Written by author, speaker, and business coach, Nathan Ingram I was recently...
Designing a Brand that Attracts your IDEAL Client
Christopher and Jenny Schell have created a truly unique brand in the often carbon copy web agency space. Their company, Design Rangers, has a instantly identifiable identity that helps differentiate them from other agencies, and attracts their ideal client.
Let's Talk Exit Strategy - Build an Agency You Can Sell
What is the end game for your agency? Do you plan on your last days spend behind the keyboard? Moving on to something else "one day"? Or can you build the kind of agency people pay good money for?
Building an eCommerce Solution Really Ain't That Hard!
Does the thought of building your first eCommerce site on WordPress give you some unease? I know the first time I installed WooCommerce I felt way out of my league. But really, it's not too hard!
What is a White Label Partner, how does it benefit my agency and how do I chose one?
When you do something day in and day out, you forget that other people in the world may not know...
Maximize Your Recurring Revenue Model
John White has taken the subscription model that has become completely normalized in today's economy and turned it into an amazing source of recurring revenue for his web development company.
Building a Complete Website in a Day
This weeks guest, Chantal Edouard-Betsy, had an agency just like the rest of us... doing a little bit of everything for everyone. Realizing the challenges that came along with that, she knew something needed to change. That's when she launched '1 Day Webs' and began building complete websites in just a day.
How to Over Deliver Every Time You Launch a Client Website
There's a natural cycle you and your client go through during the life of your project. It's actually not all...
Knowing What Your Client Values Makes You More Valuable
You might work a lot in a certain industry, market, or niche, but ultimately no two customers are alike. This...
Maintaining Client Relationships when They've Gone "Silent"
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, and probably again in the future…again. For those of you who...
The 1 Year Anniversary (of a HUGE mistake)
They say mistakes are like assholes, everyone's got one but no one likes to talk about it. Well... today I...
How 9+ Agency Owners Really Define 'Success'
We are not normal. No entrepreneur really is. Taking on risk, putting it all on the line, leaving it up...
How to Find & Work with Clients Remotely
Many of us rely on "local" business to keep us busy... but it's a big world out there, and not everyone has that luxury. This week we're talking to Davinder Singh Kainth who has been running a wildly successful agency for years- completely remote! Learn how he finds and works with clients from a distance.
Our Biggest Takeaways & Ask Us Anything
A special week on The Admin Bar where Matt and Kyle look back at the biggest takeaways from the first 19 episodes (there has been some true gold!). AND we're taking YOUR questions, so load them up and we'll get through as many as possible!
Building a Better Agency Through Outsourcing
We all understand how outsourcing can help our agency make better use of your time, increase revenue, and deliver better results... but finding reliable & trustworthy partners can be difficult. Our guest in Episode 18 (and TAB top-contributor) Chris Castillo has launched a new way you can find (and become) the right outsourcing partner.
How to Setup OBS for Facebook Live Streams
Many of you have asked about how we set up our TAB live streams, so this week, Kyle and I have put together an overview of our process. From the very basics of setting OBS up, to creating the background slate, and finally adding video feeds and streaming to FB live, we’ve got you covered!
Seeking a Work-Life Balance
No matter if you work alone from your home, or are managing a growing team, achieving a healthy work-life balance is extremely difficult for the entrepreneur. This week we'll be discussing our successes and failures in setting priorities, time management, and avoiding burnout.
The Pros and Cons of Coworking
This week, at a special time to accommodate our friends down under, we're discussing the pros and cons of running...
Building Accessible Websites
Heather Gray joins The Admin Bar to discuss accessibility standards within WordPress websites and how we can become better designers by making our websites accessible to folks of all abilities.
Email Isn't Dead, You're Just Not Doing it Right
In this episode we talk email marketing and why it's on the uptick! Join Pete Everitt and Dave Toomey as we dive into the do's, dont's, why's and why not's in the world of email.
The Keys to Content Marketing
In this episode of The Admin Bar we have the one and only Kim Doyal! We'll be discussing content creating for creatives and agency owners, how and why to implement it and what kind of content produces great results for both current clients as well as prospects!
Pricing Your Projects for Profit
In this episode of The Admin Bar, we're joined by Bret Phillips of Sideways8 to talk pricing strategy. Bret has given this talk at WordCamp and brings a ton of experience and value to the show on this topic!
Keeping Your Business on Track
This week we're joined by Imogen Allen and Leanne Mitton. Working for yourself, by yourself can be a struggle. But these two have cracked the code on how to keep their businesses on track. Learn about how their accountability relationship is helping them achieve their goals and grow their business.
Put Your Passion Into Motion
Not everyone hits their stride the first time out of the gate. Sometimes learning to pivot and course correct as your business and skill set evolve is just as important as pushing through rough patches. This week's Admin Bar episode, we're speaking with Liam Clisham of Five31, who's done just this with his own career. We'll learn where he started, what course corrections he's made along the way, and where he finds his business now. It's quite a story!
Future Proofing Your Agency
This week on The Admin Bar we're joined by Walt Spence and Lee Jackson to discuss how to set your...
High Performance Marketing Funnels
Woah! This episode was awesome! We're joined this week with Dave Foy and Todd E. Jones to discuss the making...
In-House Staff vs. Outsourcing
In this episode of The Admin Bar we're talking with Chris Castillo and Paul Lacey about how they've decided to grow their agencies capabilities. One has hired in-house staff and the other has built out a strong list of people to outsource to. Find out why they've chosen the paths that they have and why it works for them!
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