[00:00:00] Mike Ganino: It all came to me in a dream. A brand new website. Most people probably don't dream of websites in the night, or actually, if you are in love with your business or, you know, you can't stop thinking about it, maybe do dream of it. But my new website came to me in a dream and it was illustrated and it had story and I knew it was time to make the change. 

[00:00:32] Mike Ganino: But I also had invested a lot of money building my previous website, which won a ton of awards, best public speaker website, greatest personal brand website. So why was I willing to risk it all? And why might your website be ready for you to make a change? We're going to talk about all of that on this episode of the Mike drop moment. 

[00:00:52] [00:01:00]

[00:01:40] Mike Ganino: For a long time, I've taken issue with people who are speakers on storytelling or teach storytelling, and then their websites, their content, even their speeches. Don't actually involve any stories we stand up and we say, you should use stories. You need to tell stories, stories of the best. And then we don't actually [00:02:00] use any stories in our own work. And that was one of the things that woke me up that night. 

[00:02:04] Mike Ganino: When I thought I want to redo my website. It was that impartially, that a few things, my business had changed my goals to change. My offers had changed. And it was time to make a change. And for me, I knew right away that I wanted to have this. Illustrated website, a website that told a story, not only with the words that were on it, not only with the way that the pages were sequenced and the journey that a website visitor. 

[00:02:30] Mike Ganino: Website. Of viewer of finder, whatever they're called. Would go on, but also one that ain, actual character on the page goes through. And that's when you meet Zoe. Zoe is the Fox character that is that is used throughout the brand new Mick menino.com. To tell the story of someone who has something to say it was a message to share with the world. 

[00:02:55] Mike Ganino: And goes on this journey towards gathering. Uh, [00:03:00] consortium gathering momentum, gathering energy behind her movement. And that was really the vision I had when I, when I woke up that day. And so I started, I went on this journey to kind of find. Someone who could illustrate the website. In the way that I wanted, because I didn't want just something kind of abstract. And like, I didn't want doodles. I wanted like a, full-on like fable storytelling website. And that's how I found the team over at Detra forum who did all of the website, all the copy, all the illustrations for me, for the site. 

[00:03:33] Mike Ganino: One of the things that. I think is applicable probably for you and your business as well is really knowing when is the right time to change a website because there's also. A little bit of a risk that doing a whole new website can be just a form of procrastination, of not doing the things you should be doing, putting out the content, making the sales that you should be doing because you're constantly reworking the colors and things like that. 

[00:03:58] Mike Ganino: I have enough friends [00:04:00] in the, in the brand and design space to, to realize that that's a real risk. And it also keeps a lot of people in business who do that kind of work. But for me, this is where it came down to. And I wonder if for some of you, it might not be the same. A lot of the public speakers that I work with in my coaching, the time comes for them to do a new website because of these reasons. Number one is that the business has changed. Maybe when you originally started your website, what you did was, you know, X, Y, and Z, and now you're doing a, B and C. 

[00:04:32] Mike Ganino: So has your business shifted. Are the kinds of things that people come to you for different. Should there be a new way of packaging that and telling that story? In my case, My previous website that was designed by the glorious Jamie Vera and who I believe is a retired maybe for mostly doing this work. That's what I've heard from people I've referred to her. 

[00:04:51] Mike Ganino: Um, she's writing what will become. A best selling book right now. Or that comes out in 2022, but [00:05:00] she designed the website. I'd gotten a ton of a ton of like fan girling because of that, because she's just so iconic. And so my previous website was gorgeous. It was a beautiful, it was designed by one of the best designers out there. I worked with my friend, Erin Lindstrom on all of the words that were most of the words that were on the website as well. So they were just so perfect for what I was doing. 

[00:05:24] Mike Ganino: Which was being a public speaker. I was aiming at speaking. So my website's goal was to generate public speaking leads for me on a stage teaching. I was out there talking to organizations, associations about storytelling. And. It worked beautifully. I mean, I was booked and busy for many, many years with that website, it did a beautiful job at what it was supposed to do. It also won several awards for like best speaker website, great personal brand website. 

[00:05:56] Mike Ganino: Uh, so many times people reached out to me and said, oh my [00:06:00] gosh, your website is exactly like meeting you in person. And that was really the goal of that site. And it did it. That's what it was supposed to do, but my business has shifted. In the last, probably two and a half years, but really significantly in the last year and a half. 

[00:06:15] Mike Ganino: Towards working specifically with speakers. Now, I still do a little bit of work here and there. Uh, teaching executives and sales teams, how to use storytelling and how to present. Their sales pitches and how to present at conferences and things like that. But most of my work these days is from working with people like you, individuals who are on the other end of the podcast, listening while working out or walking the dog or in the car, wherever you're going to on an airplane. 

[00:06:43] Mike Ganino: If you're headed somewhere. I work with people on their speeches, on their performance of their speeches. And so the website that showcased me as a speaker was no longer as relevant. So my business had changed. And that's one of the things I think for, for you [00:07:00] maybe. Is when your business changes significantly, your website needs to follow you. So that one you don't, you don't worry about giving it out to someone that someone says, oh, how can I find you? And you're like, Ooh, don't look at my website. It doesn't really do a good job of displaying what I do anymore. 

[00:07:15] Mike Ganino: Now that doesn't mean that if your business shifts a little bit, you need a whole new rebrand and you need to go using gorgeously illustrated images like we did for Mike adeno.com. That had a whole different point for me, but it does mean that you need to think about. Whether your website is serving the purpose, it needs to serve in supporting your business. And so that was one of the big reasons that I woke up that night and dreamed of like it's time to do a new website was my business had shifted so significantly. 

[00:07:47] Mike Ganino: The second thing. The second reason that you might want to rethink your website is that your clients change. Now, those two things can be inner changeable, right? That your business shifted. And so your clients did as well, but they don't have to be, they can be [00:08:00] separate. For example, if your business shifts. 

[00:08:03] Mike Ganino: And your still working with the same kinds of clients, then a lot of your branding on there might still work the same types of colors and feelings, the same types of words. Those might all still work. The same images might still work for you. But it might be that both have changed, which was, again, in my case, what happened? My brand had changed because I was, or my business had changed. 

[00:08:26] Mike Ganino: Because I was doing less speaking and more and almost exclusively coaching people on public speaking and storytelling and performance. And my clients had shifted from being mostly associations and people that were coming to my website, really, for it as a brochure of what it would be like to hire me for their event. 

[00:08:45] Mike Ganino: And more for people that were making the decision to work with me on their talks. So what those people needed to see my new clients really needed to see less of like Mike is wonderful on stage. You should hire him. He'll make your event amazing. He's the shot of energy for [00:09:00] your conference. And more. 

[00:09:02] Mike Ganino: The kinds of testimonials that are on my site now that I helped people find their story, that I helped them have the confidence to stand on stage and give it that I helped them unlock new levels of their own performance, that I helped them create the mic drop moment, standing ovation, worthy part of their speech. 

[00:09:19] Mike Ganino: And so my clients had shifted in, so the website needed to shift to that was really clear to me. Now the third thing for me. And maybe you, if you're thinking about redoing your content, your website, Is that my intellectual property had changed. Uh, again, I had gone from, from teaching storytelling to executives, organizations, leaders, sales teams. 

[00:09:40] Mike Ganino: To teaching public speakers, authors, entrepreneurs, how to use storytelling for sure onstage, but also how to become the kind of public speaker people talk about. And remember the kind of person who goes from being a. Really smart. Subject matter expert to a [00:10:00] transformational storyteller on that stage. And in that process, 

[00:10:03] Mike Ganino: My intellectual property around that had gotten better. My. Signature. Frameworks, I guess, in a way, how I teach rapid prototyping, which is my method of going from idea to stage ready speech. My. Uh, specific teaching around storytelling and the storyteller's journey and how, as a thought leader, we can't just get up there and say the same types of things everyone else says, but that we have to include our personal stories. 

[00:10:32] Mike Ganino: Our vision for what the future could look like in our work. And so as my intellectual property started getting better, the website needed to follow suit as well. And that's where you can see as you go along. If you look even on the about page, you'll see, there are specific little things that call out. 

[00:10:47] Mike Ganino: What do I believe? What is my methodology now? And so my intellectual property was better. It was more specific. It was more tailored. And so we weave that through this brand new website as well. Now. [00:11:00] I was talking about my website. And one of the things I wanted it specifically to do was to tell a story. And so you can see if you go to Mike and yanno.com, if you're like sitting at your computer and want to follow along. 

[00:11:11] Mike Ganino: You could see that from the very beginning, this is a different website. I was a little bit scared. Not react. I was scared to not scared, you know, that feeling when you're like, maybe I'm a little bit nervous to do this, but I absolutely know it's the right thing to do. I was feeling that when we designed this, because. 

[00:11:29] Mike Ganino: I've never seen a coach like me. Who uses an illustrated. Creature. And illustrated animal to tell a story. And that's exactly what we did with Zoe, who is the character of this Fox on the first page, who wants to come alive and ditch the template and share the world, but doesn't know how to do it. And so you see, as you scroll this first page of the website, the homepage where you introduced to her at the top, and then you scroll down and there she is in the forest, standing on a [00:12:00] soapbox. 

[00:12:00] Mike Ganino: Uh, telling her story, trying to raise her flag and no one's really paying attention. All the other animals in this, this forest scenar are kind of ignoring her. And you notice they're all north American forest animals. Uh, later you'll see that those shift. And as you scroll down, you'll see her kind of getting clarity, figuring out her story in a more intimate setting. And as you keep scrolling, you'll see all the creatures from that north American forest, getting excited about her message and bringing others along. Like they see themselves in it so much that they want others to follow along. 

[00:12:34] Mike Ganino: And then as you get to the bottom, you'll see Zoe, they're standing by a campfire. Uh, telling the story and all of these, these, these animals, these creatures out there listening and enthralled in it. And that's really the story I wanted to tell. Is that that's possible for all of us. And so for me, the illustrated bit of it was a way to really tell. 

[00:12:56] Mike Ganino: A story using classic storytelling [00:13:00] devices, like the animals, like the campfire, we all gather around campfire at some point. Uh, to, to tell our stories, to share lessons, to, to share what we've learned out there. And so all of this was about being able to, to really tell that story without having to use a bunch of photos of myself or stock images of people that aren't real. 

[00:13:19] Mike Ganino: I wanted this to, to not only be a story that it was telling, but also to play into all of the classic tomes and ideas and richness that you would find in fables and fairytales in storytelling. And even when you follow Zoe over to the VIP coaching page, which is where people can learn about working with me, one-on-one. 

[00:13:42] Mike Ganino: On their content on there. On their speeches, their stories, their media training. Uh, you'll see there that there's even an illustrated version of me. That's coaching Zoe. Uh, that actually came from a real photo shoot for my last website, where I had worked with, uh, there was a picture of me working with someone one-on-one and they illustrated me and [00:14:00] they, they put Zoe in as the person I was coaching. 

[00:14:03] Mike Ganino: And as you scroll down on that website, you'll see that at the end. Uh, she's now meeting with a bunch of people. She's done this VIP coaching, and now she's meeting with a bunch of creatures and the creatures, the animals in this one have changed to be a global audience. Now there's an elephant, there's a zebra, there's a lion, there's a monkey, there's a rhinoceros. 

[00:14:20] Mike Ganino: And all of those are really popped up. There's like an antelope. All of those are really popped up to be a little more visual and all those north American ones are a little more kind of stencilled or lightly illustrated in the background. Uh, sketched in if you will. And so even that was part of what I wanted. 

[00:14:38] Mike Ganino: The story to weave the story, to tell. And so as we crafted this, not only was. That illustrated story important, but also the words and the copy. And that's where, again, working with the team I worked with, they really helped to put this story together in a way that was truly a story that was truly someone wanting something going after it [00:15:00] stumbling along the way, and finally achieving it through. 

[00:15:03] Mike Ganino: Transforming themselves, which is the work I do with people as they get ready to take the stage that they want to take in their, their. You know, life and their business. And so for me, those were the reasons it was time to blow up my $20,000 website. My previous website that I had spent a ton of a ton of money, resources, time building, uh, and creating this new one. And so. 

[00:15:28] Mike Ganino: It also was a little bit, I don't know. A little bit of like, I'm ready for 20, 22 it's time to make the change. For so long, I was like sending people to random landing pages because they would want to come work with me on their TEDx talk, or they had a book that was coming out and we were going to work on the speech for the book, or they were just coming to me to work in general on speaking. And I would send them to a specific landing page here or there because my website wasn't built to do the job I needed it to do, which was to help people understand what it would be like working with me as a public speaking coach. 

[00:15:58] Mike Ganino: And so this new [00:16:00] site. Was. 

[00:16:03] Mike Ganino: About cleaning that up, clarifying that, but also about taking it to that very next level. I've never seen another business coach with an illustrated website like this, and I've seen very few people that sell storytelling. Whether it's through copy through spoken word. Through workshops through keynote speeches. I've seen very few of them. 

[00:16:25] Mike Ganino: Actually use storytelling on the sites. And I wanted something that did both of that, that night when I had that dream and I woke up in the cold sweat saying, it's time to change this. It was that, that I dreamed of, of somebody landing on this page and being taken on an experience. And that's what I hope for you too, as you're thinking about, is it time to make changes to your website or your content is, has your business shifted? That was the first question I ask. Have your clients changed along the way? 

[00:16:51] Mike Ganino: Has your IP advanced, uh, to a new level where you can bring more of that into your work? Uh, because that's what you know you're [00:17:00] doing. It's, it's the clarity, the specificity that I teach in storytelling, you can weave into. Into your website and ultimately. Is your website working for you? Is it telling the story it needs to tell, is it doing what it needs to do? Is it generating the leads that you need it to lead? And if you're. 

[00:17:17] Mike Ganino: Creating a website as a public speaker, which mine is no longer that there's a speaking page hidden on there somewhere, but then I'll send out to people specifically want to bring me in, to work with their, with their teams or their association, but. What you have to ask yourself for your speaking website is, does it do what I need it to do? 

[00:17:38] Mike Ganino: Clarify my IP. Really, really make it clear what my business is and drive leads to my speaking business. Then. That's a big question. We should all be asking as we head into to new years, new months, new weeks is does my website work for me? 

[00:17:58] [00:18:00]

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