5 steps to creating your own artisan website and attracting potential customers

How to create a website for craftsmen?

For artisans who know nothing about website creation. It used to be complicated for them to create their own websites. But today, there are all-in-one tools that allow artisans to create their websites quickly and easily.

In this article, you will discover how to create your own website if you are a craftsman.

Why create a website when you are a craftsman?

In the past, I was an apprentice electrician and I saw my employer, a skilled electrician who did really good work (our projects were works of art), who nevertheless had trouble finding good projects.

It's terrible to see a guy who works so hard but still struggles to find new jobs. It really hurt me (and I was afraid of losing my job too).

My former employer's concern was that he was waiting for phone calls. To put it simply, he was practicing hope marketing. That is to say, he hoped every day for phone calls about construction projects. As a result, the business was relatively unstable.

The tragic story of my former employer's electrician friend

Let me tell you something else. I did my internship with a friend of my former employer, who had also been an electrician for years. And he, too, was really good at his job. Despite all that, one day, the three of us found ourselves in a bar one morning.

And my former employer's friend announced that he was closing down his company due to a lack of projects and that he had found a job as a technician in a factory!

I was really upset because the guy is a great guy with a wonderful family. He had taken me on as an intern before, you know, the mandatory internships you have to do to get your degree. And now he had lost everything because his phone wasn't ringing anymore...

At that moment, I definitely wanted to help him and get him out of that mess to return the favor. But there was nothing I could do; it was already too late.

Conclusion of this terrible story

At the time, I didn't know it, but now I do. If my former employer had set up a website or a sales funnel, his business would have been less unstable.

And my former employer's electrician friend wouldn't have gone under if he had done the same.

So, if you are a plumber, painter, mason, or other craftsman, I will show you five steps to create your website or sales funnel in order to get recurring jobs and avoid having to close up shop.

Mistakes to avoid when creating your website as a craftsman

As a craftsman, you need to be mindful of the many mistakes you could make. To launch your online business and ensure that it serves you well as a full-time salesperson, you need to be aware of these common mistakes.

• Choosing WordPress is rather a mistake these days.
• Hiring an agency can be a mistake
• Striving for perfection with your website is a mistake.
• Having a website without an autoresponder is a mistake.
• Accepting an offer with commitment is a mistake.

How can you create your own website if you are a craftsman?

Previously, to create a website, everyone had to know how to code. Or else they had to hire a specialized web agency, which was extremely expensive. Now, new tools have emerged that allow anyone to create a website without knowing how to code.

Nowadays, these platforms have made it easier to create all-in-one websites. Anyone can now start their own business online. It is no longer necessary to know anything about computer languages.

Today, artisans can build their own websites without spending weeks on it! If you're an artisan and you know how to check boxes and drag and drop, then you can build your website quickly and easily using these web marketing platforms.

I can help you remotely if you have any questions or need clarification. Feel free to contact me via the contact section. ^^

Attracting prospects as a craftsman: website or sales funnel?

You need to understand something. Websites are pretty much a thing of the past. Today, the companies that are successful on the internet and those that are skyrocketing their results are the ones that have set up sales funnels.

With a sales funnel, you can be much more precise in targeting your visitors. Your sales funnel also allows you to filter out prospects who are not ready to buy. Above all, a prospecting funnel does not give visitors the choice of whether or not to scatter.

Either he buys, or he leaves! And that's great! Because people who hesitate are not usually good prospects! It also allows you to effectively leverage the artificial intelligence of large corporations if you want to advertise, for example.

The advantage therefore lies largely with the sales funnel. I will tell you more about this in this article. After reading it, you will understand that you need a sales funnel for craftsmen in order to ensure the long-term success of your business.

Prices for creating your artisan website

When surfing the internet, you will often see people saying that using WordPress with a good web host is the cheapest option. Indeed, in terms of "direct costs," if you only use WordPress and a web host, it will cost you a maximum of €200 per year.

Except that it's not that simple to calculate. For €200 a year, you won't be able to do much unless you're a pro at coding and computer languages. Because there are all the indirect costs to consider too...

Typically, with WordPress, as soon as you want to customize something, you'll need to write lines of code in CSS or JavaScript.

If you want to do this all day long, then WordPress is great for you. Now, if you pay a freelancer to do the coding, it will cost you more or less. Generally around $50, but it varies greatly.

Then, if you make 10 changes, it starts to get expensive, and let's be clear, you'll probably make a lot more than that... That's why I'm talking about indirect costs. And you should be aware of these costs before launching your online business, which is why I'm telling you about them (you can thank me in the comments).^^

WordPress maintenance for your artisan website

Then you have maintenance to do, plugin updates, etc. And managing compatibility bugs. If you hire a freelancer, it will cost you around $200 per month... I can tell you that maintenance is a nightmare.

Because I myself use WordPress for this site (and yes, at first, I fell into "the trap"). Fortunately, I had a little time (the whole day) to fix all the bugs at the time, but that's not the case for you if you're a craftsman.

You're starting to realize that when you add up all the costs, WordPress is actually the most expensive option. To be honest, it's exorbitant—you can expect to pay several thousand euros over the lifetime of your website.

So, is it relevant to use WordPress when you're a craftsman? I don't think so... Fortunately, there's a better solution now, and I'll share it with you a little further down.

Step 1: Admit that you need to implement a prospect acquisition strategy

Most craftsmen don't have an automatic prospect acquisition strategy. That's what you understood when you read the beginning of my article with my personal story. The problem for craftsmen is that when they have work, they are busy and therefore don't have time to devote to this.

And when they don't have work, they are constantly busy looking for jobs. It's clear that this is a vicious circle, with tradespeople working in the business rather than on the business. Yes, it worked more or less during the thirty glorious years when there was full employment and jobs everywhere.

But today, this is no longer really the case, as construction projects are becoming increasingly rare. If you are a craftsman or want to set up your own craft business, you need to establish channels for acquiring prospects that work either completely automatically or semi-automatically.

You should no longer spend your time looking for prospects. You should spend your time working on projects and getting paid. Craftsmen who are comfortably successful have understood this virtuous circle. And they put it into practice by attracting the best prospects to get the best projects.

Step 2: Choose the best platform to create your artisan website

I've shown you that WordPress is no longer really the best platform for creating your website as a craftsman. So you want to know how you can create your craftsman website for less than WordPress and quickly without coding.

I'll give you the best platform to launch your artisan website and attract as many prospects as you want. It's called Systeme io. I'll also give you the best price with a 30% lifetime discount.

The best thing to do is try it for free by clicking on the link above. Don't just take my word for it! Try it out! You have nothing to lose by trying it, it's completely free and you don't need to enter your credit card details. All you need is an email address and a password to create an account.

It's super easy to use, but if you want, you can follow my free starter guide on System.io. As you'll see, there are no plugins to install, no bugs to deal with, and above all, no maintenance to do!

Step 3: Develop your artisan website to attract prospects

I want to draw your attention to an important point so that you are not caught off guard. Most craftsmen believe that because they have created their website or sales funnel, prospects will flock to them and they will suddenly be overwhelmed with work.

Creating a sales funnel when you're a tradesperson. This is only the first step in developing your strategy for acquiring projects. Once your website is up and running, you need to attract traffic to it. There are several ways to do this.

In my opinion, the best method is to optimize your natural search engine optimization, particularly on Google Maps. Yes, that's how I do it, and it's the same for many people. When you need a plumber, electrician, mason, painter, or other tradesperson.

For example, you type "electrician Marseille" into Google. Google then displays the results from Google Maps with the company's listing, phone number, AND website. The first thing a good prospect does is take a look at your website!

If the website looks good, he figures that the craftsman must be pretty good at his day job too. That makes sense! Would you hire someone with a crappy website or no website at all?

Personally, I don't even look at tradespeople who don't have a website on their Google Maps listing. I look at those who do have a website, and if it looks good, I give them a call or send them an email via their contact form.

Step 4: Filter prospects and keep the best projects

If you have built your sales funnel for craftsmen with System.io and implemented your strategy for developing and acquiring leads automatically, then you will face another problem, as you will be inundated with leads who want you to do their projects...

The goal for you at this stage is to filter the leads that come through your acquisition channels. And, of course, to keep the best leads and the best projects. Because all the other leads are harmful to your business.

You want good projects with good prospects. Prospects who are willing to pay well without complaining, prospects who are organized and don't put pressure on you, because everything is defined before the project starts, everything is organized.

But you know you can also make money with "bad prospects." That's right, because you can simply refer those prospects to tradespeople who don't have a sales funnel and are struggling to find customers.

You can simply act as a business finder! Other tradespeople will be happy to benefit from your prospect acquisition channel. Every time you send them a prospect who signs a contract with them, they will pay you referral fees .

This will enable you to increase your profitability while helping other artisans who are struggling because they don't have a sales funnel.

Step 5: Deliver your finished projects, collect payment, and enjoy a sustainable and organized craft business.

Now that you've followed all the steps, you've created your sales funnel for craftsmen. You've optimized your website's Google ranking. You've filtered your prospects and projects to keep the best ones. There are just two or three more things left to do.

You still have to deliver the projects. Because having a ton of great prospects is great, but you have to keep them happy by finishing their projects. You'll also need to collect your customer payments (I trust you on that ^^).

Congratulations! Thanks to all the steps above, you now have a sustainable and organized craft business. You can now work with peace of mind, knowing that you will have top-quality leads at your disposal, provided by Google.

You will also realize that you can enjoy life and your family on the weekends, because you are now organized. So you have a business that works for you and not the other way around (or very little). Don't forget, we work to live, we don't live to work!

Must-see:

Let me know if you plan to create your own artisan showcase website in the comments.
You can use the comments section as a chat room and ask me any questions you may have. ????

Have you read my free starter guide on System.io?