The Solopreneur's Guide to Building a Sustainable Online Business (Website Marketing Hack)

Building a sustainable online business shouldn't be done using one marketing channel, but should be a layered omni-channel approach. First you build an automated foundation on your website that works without you, then you add other relevant channels for community and customer loyalty.

It's no secret that solopreneurs wear all of the hats in their entrepreneurial journey. You're not just providing the service or the product you sell. Still, you're also the marketer, the salesperson, the customer service rep, the designer, the spokesperson, the everything or nothing at all.

You didn't start your business just to watch it sit and collect dust. You had a vision for it and an income goal. But how exactly can you create a sustainable online business? And by sustainable, I mean one that actually has measurable, scalable traffic, leads, and sales every month.

Transform your website from just a digital portfolio to a lead-generating business that works without you logging in.

The Website Marketing Hack That Most Solopreneurs Don't Implement

These days, when people are starting a side hustle or online business, they turn to one marketing channel: social media. In my opinion, social media should be the last channel you use to grow your business.

Here's why website marketing is a firmer foundation: when it's set up correctly, it can generate leads on autopilot from something you set up a year or two ago. It's almost like a compounding effect, similar to investing. When you open up a brokerage and invest money into a ROTH IRA every month, that money compounds in the stock market over time.

Similarly, setting up your website using a search engine marketing strategy can compound traffic over time and add "cash" or leads to your business. The issue with this approach is that it can take a few months to see the traffic. But once you have it, you're able to convert visitors into lifelong customers from the processes you already set up. You do have to refine and improve it, but it's a much better approach for consistent growth.

4 Ways Website Marketing Makes Your Online Business More Sustainable

1. Your website attracts more high-quality leads When you set up your website using a search engine marketing strategy, you position your business to attract high-quality leads. This isn't just finding keywords, but doing deep research on the intentions of your ideal customer. Are they searching for commercial intent or just informational? Using tools like SEMrush and Ubersuggest can reveal what your person is searching, where they're looking, who's competing with you, and how you can show up as a result.
   

2. Your website provides valuable data you can scale and leverage Getting traffic to your website gives you a footprint to track. You're able to look into your insights to see which pages actually generate sales, how long a visitor is staying on your site, where they drop off and exit... all of this is valuable information to help you tailor your website to their flow and reduce friction that's preventing them from taking the next step.
   

3. Your email list grows and stays with you forever, pretty much You can generate monthly income from an email list. This is much harder to achieve with just social media followers. People on your email list are already hot leads ready to receive from you. And most of the time, you can keep this email list forever no matter what you new product or business you decide to launch. Followers aren't forever, because social media can close their doors and you've gotta start over with a new app.
   

4. Your website gives you a foundation to build from With all of the above happening consistently, your website becomes a foundation to build from, rather than something collecting pixel dust. With a scalable search engine marketing strategy, you can then add extra channels to strengthen your brand like social media, collaborations, community forums, and more.

The Problem with Only Relying on Social Media vs a Search Engine Marketing Strategy

I believe the reason people turn to social media first is because it is now "learned behavior". Naturally, you assume your business should be there because it's where the people are. It's where you see virality, numbers, comments, and you think posting there will attract the people you sell to. This isn't always the case.

You don't have to be everywhere all at once or all at launch. You just need to show up where it makes sense. Obviously, if you're teaching people how to use social media to make money, maybe you should launch on social first. But that doesn't mean your website is obsolete; people are searching for this inside of ChatGPT and Google, too.

Will your website show up for those results, too? Remember, building a sustainable online business should be a layered omni-channel approach. Never keep all your eggs in one basket.

Metric	Website Marketing	Social Media Marketing
Keywords	You know the search intent behind the keywords, whether it's for purchasing, browsing, navigating, etc	It's a bit vague. "Website marketing tips" can be a business or a customer using this term
Content	You can attract leads from content you published a year or two ago	You need fresh content posted daily or weekly to stay top of mind
Leads	You keep your email list leads for a lifetime no matter what business or product you launch	Followers aren't leads and can't be retained for a lifetime and can be lost overnight

Okay, I get it; use my website as a lead-generating foundation. And then what?

After your website is set up to attract high-quality leads on autopilot, you can then branch out from your website. You can begin implementing other search platforms such as YouTube, Pinterest, and podcasting.

These other channels are strong search platforms and work the same for SEO. Google recommends YouTube videos as answers, so it makes sense for you to build authority with video content. Each of these platforms have their own SEO research built in, so you can discover what your customers are searching for and how you can best show up with the answers.

Not only do these extra layers work for generating more leads, but they also build customer loyalty. You are giving your current leads more ways to learn and connect with you in the spaces they frequent. And it can drive conversions with your current leads because you're delivering valuable answers to the questions they have about your product or service.

Leads start trusting you as an expert in your niche and are more likely to purchase when your expertise is demonstrated using visuals.

The omni-channel approach becomes your online business franchise

Think of your website as your main location; it's the full-service storefront of your brand. It consistently receives "foot traffic" from high-intent buyers searching for your product or service. People flow in and out consistently because they're always looking for this product or this service, and it's easy to find because you've worked hard to rank high in your category.

Your next locations aren't full-service but "satellite" locations like YouTube, where you offer video content, Pinterest, where you offer bite-sized tips, or a podcast where you have a chance to entertain or deep dive into nuances they hadn't considered about your product or service.

But all roads lead back to the full-service storefront, your website, where products can be purchased and where leads can be retained.

Ready to take your website seriously?

My Logged Out Leads: Website Authority Blueprint will teach you how to take your website from a digital portfolio to a lead-generating business that works while you're logged out with your kids or traveling the globe.

Take a peek into what you'll learn to set up your digital storefront that attracts high-intent buyers on autopilot and how to get back your time with AI and automations.