A new website, huh? What was wrong with the old one? Oh where do I start…
Actually my old one was ok and served its purpose for its very short life.
But life doesn’t stand still, business changes, we change…and it’s all about adapting and going with the changes if you want to keep up.
And my decision to change was a no brainer after working with The Profitable Firm www.wearepf.com on my new brand.
My new brand was the catalyst for the change.
I’ll be honest here…when I created my first website it took me an age to write the content. Why? Because I didn’t want to pay someone else to do it for me. But it was also something that I didn’t really want to do either.
So I left it and left it and left it……for 18 months! Can you believe it??? I mean why? It’s not like I’m lazy, but I’d created this thing in my head that it was such a huge task (I have a habit of doing this) and so kept putting it off.
I actually thought that I had to put ALL the accounting info on my website…like what a VAT Return entailed, and what company year end accounts are, and all about payroll and auto enrolment.
I mean no one really wants to read that stuff unless you’re an accountant, and even then I can think of better things to do with my time.
To give this a bit of time context, I started working with the fabulous team at PF in September 2021. Within a month I had taken the knowledge I’d learnt from them so far and created the content for my first website. A bit of toing and froing with my web guys and boom, it went live. With a lot less detailed content than I’d originally planned, but with a completely different approach, I’d done it.
AND even if I say so myself, I’m damn proud of getting it done. What it ended up like is so far from what it started out as!
I knew it was only going to be temporary, but I now had something in place for the next 9 months.
And boy, the next 9 months were a journey!
So let’s take a look at why I decided to upgrade to a shiny new one…
I don’t pretend to know a lot about tech…admittedly I know more than my parents, but then I work with it every day, so you’d expect that. But I don’t know how to build a website, or how to use SEO to help my business.
Partnering with PF helped me rebrand in 2022 from Eight Accounting to Revive. And the journey was incredible. And exciting…let’s not forget how good it is to name your business.
But it all began with an introduction to marketing and the principle which underpins it…explained so simply in a book by Donald Miller called Building a StoryBrand. If you get the chance, read it…even if you’re not in business, you’ll be able to relate to it, because it opens your eyes to the marketing that goes on in everyday life…in movies, on tv, in shops…it’s everywhere!
That book made me see not only what marketing was about, but how I could apply it. And once I’d read that, I stepped into the world of finding out who I am as a business. What my values are. How I can help people.
Rebranding is a proper process…done correctly of course. Yes, you can ask someone else to redesign your company logo, or build you a website, or come up with some new names for your business. But do they really ask about YOU? And do you know what guidelines to give them?
It was a decision I took when I understood that my prospects couldn’t see who I am and how I can help them. I knew that I needed my brand to reflect this and Eight Accounting and my logo and website just fell short on this.
And that was the order in which it all changed…first my name.
This was the scariest and most exciting part…what if I didn’t like it? Cue inner voice telling me my brand isn’t for me…it’s for the people who I can help! There were four names in the mix at the end…each one considered and three discounted for various reasons.
And I can’t tell you the relief I felt when I searched for Revive online, checked the domains were available, looked at social media channels. And all the stuff you have to do to make sure you’re not infringing on someone else’s business. I’ve even managed to trademark it…yay!! Revive® makes me more happy than it perhaps should lol!
Once I had the name…Revive just summed up perfectly what I do with clients’ accounts that are in need of some ‘tlc’…the logo came next. And this I was able to leave to PF to put something together…they had taken me on this journey, so knew all about how I help clients. They understood me, so they knew what to create.
Oh the colours…I would never have chosen orange and green personally…cue inner voice again…it’s not for me…it’s for the people I help. And yes it is right for my brand…it’s strong and bright and bold and distinctive.
And the last piece of the jigsaw? Yep, you’ve guessed it…my website. Beautifully brought to life, designed, scripted. A gateway to my business.
So my new website was not just a revamp…it turned out to be so much more than that. It actually turned out to be around a year from the start of my rebrand journey and a natural conclusion to it.
So what next?…Time for a period of consolidation, to develop best working practices, looking for ways to improve the client experience. Because, let’s face it, who are we without our clients…they are our reason for being in business.
And maybe, just maybe, I can develop something in the future to help more people quickly. Before they even start their business. Education through knowledge is the key, because you can’t ask the right questions if you don’t know what you need to know!