Building a website that works for my client: my experience with Systeme.io
The discovery call that I have with my clients is always really exciting: listening about your business and workng with you to put all the pieces together so that you have a website that works for you!.
Kendra came to me with a clear business idea and so many exciting pieces that just needed to be put together on a website platform.
She had a weekly podcast about to start.
A book that was very much ready to be published and sold online.
A course she was looking to sell in the next 6 months.
A landing page and an email sequence already built on Kit, which was linked to a lead magnet.
What she didn't have was a website. Or a clear sense of how to connect all these pieces into something cohesive.
That part was my job.
home page & pop-up
The Part Where I Had to Set My Preferences Aside
I'll be honest with you. When I first sat down to think about what platform to build on, my mind went to the tools I know best. The ones I've spent years working with. I can better predict issues and understand how to navigate requirements that way.
Systeme.io was not at the top of my list.
I was thinking we could make it all work in Squarespace, but let’s face it, you need something a little bit more robust for a website that needs so many different functionalities and room to grow. So naturally, I suggested WordPress.
But Kendra had tried WordPress already; she had purchased her domain from Hostinger and was totally not in love with the steep learning curve that comes with WordPress.
And I cannot blame her!
So we started exploring alternative platforms, and I started researching for a solution that would be low cost, that would have all the functionalities that Kendra required, but that would also be easy for Kendra to handle.
The more we talked, the clearer it became: we needed an all-in-one platform. And this is where we finally settled on Systeme.io.
Building It
So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
Learning a new platform is never easy because you are naturally going to be slower, but I was eager to deliver a site that Kendra would love and in time for the first episode of her podcast!
I knew from our initial consultation about the business, the core values and the unique selling points that I wanted to showcase.
But as I started building the home page, I knew I needed to get deeper to really show what Becoming The Oak was all about.
So I kept in touch with Kendra, and we chatted a lot about her story, her values and the points of difference.
And voilà! When the home page started taking shape, and I asked Kendra to check it out, she was super happy with it!
The rest of the pages came along nicely as I was getting more acquainted with the platform. And yes, we did launch the website just before the Podcast went on air!
But how is systeme.io?
Systeme.io has had a Blog feature for a while, but just recently introduced a Website feature.
What I didn’t know was that their website was a bit buggy, which may have caused a couple of headaches!
All in all is not a bad platform and allows a fair bit of flexibility if you are ok with building without pre-made templates and want to create something unique!
It has so many features for such a low cost. In fact, you can really test it all out for free.
We found that unless we wanted to be extremely limited with segmentation of emails and funnels, we absolutely need to upgrade to the StartUp plan.
But at 17$ it is not a bad price at all for a system that essentially has it all!
We essentially implemented:
A website with 5 pages, including a pop-up that leads to a landing page
A landing page that allows the visitors to sign up to receive a free guide and to follow a 4-week journey (email sequence)
A Blog that holds all the podcast episodes so that the main episode page can be dynamically updated
Each Episode page is set up as a blog with a transcript for SEO
Mailing lists tagged for segmentations, like podcast updates, newsletters, and courses that are coming up
Forms to collect information from podcast guests and contact forms.
We set up a few funnels to trigger emails and/or tag new contacts to different mailing lists
This is just the beginning, really. We chose this platform because Kendra needed a place where she could easily sell courses, and Systeme.io makes that look really simple.
I’m excited to see how this platform will support Kendra and her business moving forward.
WHAT i TOOK AWAY FROM THIS EXPERIENCE
Yes, helping clients sometimes means getting out of our comfort zone, and yes, sometimes it can be frustrating to work with web design platforms that aren’t as flexible.
But at the end of the day, we build so that our client can promote their business effectively.
Some of our clients NEED and WANT to independently maintain their website, especially when they are at the beginning of their journey, and funds are limited.
As designers, I feel it is our job to listen, understand what our clients need and do our best to empower them with a website they can control, at that particular moment in time.
Platforms come and go. Preferences shift. But a client who feels genuinely seen, genuinely served, and genuinely set up for success should always be a priority. That's what I'm here for.
