The Captain Coder Podcast

Hosted by Marisa VanSkiver, Captain Coder

Business

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Episodes

145

Latest episode

Jun 2024

Language

EN-US

About the show

Get ready to grow your online business. Join us each week for actionable strategies to improve your website, content marketing, and more to increase your leads and book out your biz.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 12, 2024Episode 9315 min

Writing Compelling Website Copy that Converts

You want your website to make you money, right? Of course you do! If you want your website to generate revenue, it needs to be set up to convert.How do you do that?You have compelling copy that leads them to some kind of action.One of the best ways to write copy that converts is to focus on accessibility and inclusion. When your copy speaks to everyone, you can reach your entire audience.Let’s break down how to improve your copy and increase conversions.MENTIONED RESOURCES:Free Buyer Persona TemplateHemingwayGrammarlyFREE RESOURCE: Create Accessible ContentFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

June 5, 2024Episode 9217 min

The Business Case for Web Accessibility

If you’re in marketing, you’ve probably heard people talk about how your website needs to comply with ADA standards.Web accessibility isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a practice that everyone in the marketing world should follow—for their websites, social media, and all marketing.To be blunt, making your content more accessible can be an investment. Many businesses have put it off, thinking that it doesn’t really “apply” to them.That’s not the case. Providing an excellent experience for all of your customers is incredibly important.And yet, I understand that you have to go to your boss and get the budget to transform your website and invest in new processes.In today’s episode, we’re breaking down the business case for web accessibility, including:What web accessibility isWhy web accessibility matters to your businessThe cost of getting accessibleMaking it a priorityMENTIONED RESOURCES:FREE RESOURCE: Create Accessible ContentFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

April 24, 2024Episode 9115 min

6 Pages Your Website Needs

For a business like yours, your website is your storefront, pitch, and even the gateway to building trust with potential clients. I’ve been building websites for decades, but distilling an entire business into just a few pages is hard.You want your potential customers to be able to learn enough about your business that they know who they might be working with, make it easy for them to reach out and start a relationship, and get steady new traffic from Google.How can you possibly organize all of that information?In this guide, we’ll dive into the six essential website pages you need to craft a compelling online presence. We'll explore how each page contributes to attracting, educating, and converting leads, ultimately turning website visitors into loyal customers.MENTIONED RESOURCES:Get a Privacy Policy templateFREE RESOURCE: Create accessible content easilyFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

April 17, 2024Episode 9017 min

Why a Custom WordPress Website Pays Off

Imagine a website that perfectly integrates with your marketing strategy and drives more leads. Does that feel impossible?It can be hard, especially when today’s trend seems to be cookie-cutter themes and everyone’s websites look the same.But what your website looks like matters. According to Stanford University, 75% of people judge a company's credibility based on its website's design.Do you want to risk your reputation and sales because you took a shortcut with a popular template?I didn’t think so.Ditch the theme everyone else is using. A custom WordPress website is an investment that delivers significant ROI through improved SEO, web accessibility, flexibility, security, and a unique brand experience.In this post, we’ll cover:The ROI of a custom WordPress websiteHow its advanced security protects your brand and customersAnd the power of a unique online presenceFREE RESOURCE: Create accessible content easilyFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

April 3, 2024Episode 8921 min

AI-Powered Marketing: Human Touch Included

AI has made it easy to add some personalization to our marketing, be more efficient (which is great when you’re a one-person team), and create content far more quickly than we might have been used to.But how do we use AI and still keep that human touch?I’m not sure there will ever be a day that our use of AI doesn’t need oversight. After all, it’s only as good as the people training it. That can lead to biases, misunderstandings, and false information (or as Chat GPT calls them, “hallucinations.”)Let’s break down how you can use AI to make your life easier but use it responsibly.MENTIONED RESOURCES:Google GeminiSurfer SEORankIQBrand Voice Chat GPT ProcessFREE RESOURCE: Create Content in Minutes with AIFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

March 27, 2024Episode 8826 min

Improve Web Accessibility: 5 Steps To Follow When Creating Content

Can everyone use your website and the content you create, or are you excluding up to 27% of your audience? When you focus on creating content that all people can access, regardless of their abilities, you’re working to improve your web accessibility. On the flip side, when you don’t follow some basic best practices, you’re not just excluding potential customers; you’re putting your business at legal risk.Just a chilling fact for you - there were thousands of lawsuits filed against website owners last year for accessibility issues.How can you improve your web accessibility and ensure your content is user-friendly every time (and get that lawsuit target off your back)?The sad reality is that it’s a pretty simple process to make vast improvements to your website accessibility, and yet it gets neglected far too often.Let’s break down five steps you should take when creating content for your website.MENTIONED RESOURCES:AHrefs ALT Text ToolWordcounter.net GrammarlyWebAim’s free contrast checkerCaptions AppRev.comPave PDF FREE RESOURCE: Create Accessible ContentFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

March 20, 2024Episode 8720 min

5 Ways to Boost Customer Retention and Drive Repeat Business

Have you heard this lately: “We need more leads.” In marketing, we often focus on getting new leads and customers into your business, but what about the leads you already have? It’s time to think about boosting your customer retention and bringing them back over and over again.Keeping happy customers is the best way to grow a business. Repeat customers spend an average of 67% more than new customers and it’s five times more expensive to get new customers than it is to retain the ones we have.So why aren’t we taking care of our customers and selling them more?Let’s break down five strategies you can implement in your business to cultivate customer loyalty.FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your websiteFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

March 6, 2024Episode 8640 min

Solidifying Your Entrepreneurial Vision with Liz Wolfe

Have you been asking yourself whether or not you’re cut out for entrepreneurship? Fun fact - everyone is cut out for it - if they want to be.I know that choosing to run your own business is not the easiest decision. Honestly, I think being a small business owner is one of the hardest things any of us could choose to do. But if you have a solid vision for your business and what entrepreneurship will look like to you, it becomes a whole lot easier.In this episode, Liz Wolfe and I are unpacking everything you need to keep in mind when you’re running your new business.You’ll learn:Her own unusual journey into entrepreneurshipWhat most new entrepreneurs get wrongThe four entrepreneur personality typesWhere new entrepreneurs should startLiz’s system for new entrepreneurs Why visioning worksHow to start on your ownMENTIONED RESOURCES:Liz’s CEO Personality Quiz - https://lizwolfecoaching.com/resources/quiz/Brendon Burchard The Millionaire Messenger - https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Messenger-Difference-Fortune-Sharing/dp/1451665997/Mrs. Space Cadet video - https://www.tiktok.com/@mrs.space.cadet/video/7339671823715503406 FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your websiteFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

February 28, 2024Episode 8523 min

6x the Impact: Repurpose Your B2B Blog for Multi-Channel Marketing

Having a blog for your business is a great way to bring targeted traffic to your website. However, the average blog (without AI assistance) takes about 5-6 hours to write and get on your website. Want to get the most out of that investment? It’s time to repurpose your blog articles.Repurposing, or transforming your blog content into other formats like social media snippets, infographics, or videos, allows you to extend its reach, engage diverse audiences across different channels, and maximize the value you get from your initial investment. How do you break up a long blog post and make it palatable for these other platforms so you get reach?Let’s take a look at six ways we can do just that, including:Turning into audioMaking a videoHow to make it multiple social postsUsing it for an emailCreating downloadable resourcesAnd transforming it into a visual assetMENTIONED RESOURCES:StreamyardDescriptFREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your websiteFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

February 21, 2024Episode 8424 min

Harness the SEO Magic of Regular Blogging

The first result on Google gets 39.8% of the clicks, but that can feel like an impossible task in 2024. There’s so much competition.But there’s one thing you might be overlooking because it feels like “no one reads them” anymore - blogging.Blogging has long been and still is one of the most effective ways to improve your SEO and climb the Google rankings.Let’s talk about how you can make blogging an effective tool in your SEO belt.In this episode, we’re breaking down:The magic of SEOHow blogging supercharges SEO5 steps to writing blogs that rankAnd a freebie to get you startedMENTIONED RESOURCES:Episode 79 - SEO Secrets that Generate RevenueAHrefs free Keyword GeneratorFREE RESOURCE: Write blogs that rank checklistFollow me on Instagram: @captaincoder