Why I Started Stellar Platforms

Why I Started Stellar Platforms

by | Jul 22, 2017 | Articles

I built the wrong platform for myself, and that’s how this all started.

After years of working with successful authors and coaches, improving or creating their digital infrastructure, it gave me the opportunity to examine how a thought leader builds a successful business on their teachings.

There were a number of similarities. (I call them Cornerstones.) Once I identified what these similarities were, and how the most successful platforms worked, I resolved to make a platform for myself.

I made the wrong platform.

My intentions were noble, at least. I did some really deep soul searching, and I asked myself: how could I have the most positive impact on the world? Not just today, or in ten years, but in a hundred years – how could my work provide the most positive benefit to humanity, one century from now?

I settled on fatherhood.

If I could help men become better fathers, then they would raise better children. Better kids grow up to become better people, and better people make a better world. This was the area I identified as having the maximum impact for my life’s work, so I built a platform around it.

I made a logo, and a brand, and a website for BeTheBetterDad.com. I started blogging about the habits that make me a better father, and I made a free online course, the 5-Day Father Fitness Program. That gave me some customers, which meant I could ask them about the problems they face, and structure my offerings around solving those problems. I made Customer Avatars, and discovered, to my surprise, that I was in no way qualified to help this audience.

The problems that modern dads are facing – divorce, depression, having kids living in separate households – I wasn’t equipped to help them with that. I’ve got no experience with divorce, and I’m not a therapist or a relationship coach – I’m a guy who has a good handle on his habits, and I tried to share some of those.

But what this audience actually needed was not something I could provide.

So I went back to the drawing board. I asked myself, “What am I uniquely good at doing?”

I looked over the entire infrastructure that I created for Father Fitness, and I thought, “I can do that. I can make a platform.”

Stellar Platforms was created so that I can help people with what I do best: create the branding and automation infrastructure that financially supports a thought leader as they grow their audience.

The Four Cornerstones

Like many polymaths, I’m not an expert in any one thing, but I have a modest level of mastery in some very different things. It turns out this variety of skills is especially useful for the 4 Cornerstones of a Stellar Platform.

  • My theatrical training gave me an artistic flair in creating characters, which I use when making Customer Avatars.
  • My sales training has given me the psychological understanding of why people buy, which I use to make Sales Funnels.
  • My time as a writer gave me the ability to produce and disseminate ideas clearly, which is a core component of Content Marketing.
  • My freelance web design business taught me how to integrate complicated platforms together, which is essential for eCommerce.

I never thought these separate areas of my interests would combine anywhere. I only pursued the interests that appealed to me most at the time. Now I have the opportunity to use each of these areas of mastery as a Cornerstone to my own Stellar Platform. That’s why I started this business.

Stellar Platforms are for Rising Stars.

The kinds of people who need these four Cornerstones are the thought leaders and authors who have a message, and have an audience, but they don’t yet have a platform to enable them to make a living by simply spreading their message.

If you are one of the Illuminators of Tomorrow, let’s work together.

How To Make a Customer Avatar

How To Make a Customer Avatar

by | Mar 21, 2017 | Articles

To sell more of your product, reach a bigger audience, and grow your list, the single most effective thing you can learn is how to make a Customer Avatar. Having a good Customer Avatar will give you a near-superhuman ability to communicate powerfully with the people who are most likely to become your customers.

Note: A Customer Avatar is also often called an Ideal Client Profile, or a Buyer Persona. In this article I will use the term ‘Customer Avatar’ because it sounds much cooler.

Let’s face it: not every customer is right for your business. Your message can resonate really well with some types of people, but not with all of them.

Having a Customer Avatar allows you to identify the specific characteristics of people who like to buy what you’re selling. You can make your own Customer Avatars by following these 5 simple steps:

Customer Avatar Step 1

Find a template

A Customer Avatar Template is a document with blank spaces for you to fill in the defining characteristics of your ideal client. These templates are very useful, and I recommend you try a few different ones. You might end up liking one, but then find that another has better questions, or a better layout.

Here are three places to find Customer Avatar Templates:

If you use iWork’s Pages, you can use our own template for making Customer Avatars here:

Customer Avatar Step 2

Prepare your questions

There are lots (and lots) of questions you can ask while building your Customer Avatar. Read through the links above, and you’ll find dozens to choose from. (Be sure and use the “But no one else would” trick in the Digital Marketer post.)

We recommend you read through the templates and articles above, and collect a list of questions that you will ask about each one of Customer Avatars.

Some of them will be redundant, and that’s okay. Asking the same questions over and over forces your brain to dig deeper, to look past superficial answers, and discover something new. Something clear. Something definitive. That’s what you’re looking for with these questions, is tiny little characteristics that define this type of person.

Developing that list of questions will make you think how to get into your customers’ minds, and that’s a useful exercise. Don’t skip it. There is a full list of questions that you can use in the DIY Customer Avatar Creation Kit at the end of this article.

Customer Avatar Step 3

Set the space to work

What you are planning to do is some of the most fundamental, introspective work you will undertake this year. This work could have dramatic positive results for your business. So, don’t throw it together on your lunch hour. Set the space. Decide for yourself:

  • Where will you physically do this work? At your normal desk, or somewhere else?
  • What time of day is best for you to do it?
  • What kind of music, beverages, and/or snacks do you want to have available?
  • Would it be better to do this alone, or with a partner?
  • Will you print the templates, and fill them out by hand? Or type your answers into a computer?
  • What day will you do this work?

Answer these questions thoughtfully. That’s what this exercise is, after all – it’s a series of questions answered thoughtfully. Start off right by asking yourself how to best set yourself up for success.

Customer Avatar Step 4

Answer the questions

You’re at the appointed time and place. You have all of your materials. The rest of the world is put on pause for an hour or more. Do the work.

While you are here, think of your best customers. Think of who they are, why they came to you, and in a hazy, non-distinct way, think about the type of person that person is like. Think about someone famous that you would love to work with. Don’t define these people in your work, define the group to which these people belong.

Customer Avatar Step 5

Edit and review with friends

Your first draft of your Customer Avatars are just that – your first draft. Show them to colleagues, friends, and even competitors, and ask them for feedback. You will likely have a few surprising responses that make you say, “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!” This feedback is just as important as the work you put into it, and you can see dramatically positive results in your business if you are open to receiving feedback from others.

Revise your Customer Avatars regularly. As you grow with your business, you will learn more about the people you serve. Incorporate that knowledge into these foundational documents, and your business will continue to improve.

Schedule a Customer Avatar Workshop

If you’d like to follow a step-by-step guided process to make your own Customer Avatars, schedule a Customer Avatar Workshop with Stellar Platforms.

WordPress Website Design

WordPress Website Design

by | Feb 19, 2017 | Services, Website Design

A professional WordPress website design provides three major advantages to your digital platform:  

WordPress Website Design Advantage #1:

Updating your WordPress Website is easy.

Getting an update to your website doesn’t have to involve lengthy (and expensive) back-and-forth discussions with the one designer who knows how to change the website without breaking it. If you need to change a photo or some text, you can log in to the back end of your website yourself, point and click, and it’s done.  

WordPress Website Design Advantage #2: 

People know WordPress websites.

Web designers the world over understand WordPress – at last count, this open-source platform powers 25% of websites worldwide, and no competent web developer nowadays can look at a WordPress site and get lost. Whoever handles updates to your site in the future, it will be in a common language that anyone with IT skills can understand.  

WordPress Website Design Advantage #3:

Your software license will never expire for a WordPress website.

The building blocks of your website will never be recalled, and customer support will never disappear. Too many people speak this language.   When we build a website in WordPress, we are standing on the shoulders of the immense programming community that uses and loves this platform. We can start out with a quick, easy method of creating a cutting edge website, because the plugins and themes developed by other programmers are available for our use.  

Your website is your digital storefront.

The virtual territory that you have claimed and made your own, crafted according to your aesthetics and tastes, a place where you can receive your friends, your audience, and your customers.  

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. – Steve Jobs

New website visitors make instant decisions about the character of your business and your brand, based on the first few seconds on your homepage.  

Returning customers will sift through your pages, and their experience will leave them feeling one of two ways – better or worse.   A good web design can sway that decision.  

Working with a professional web designer can make a lasting impression on the people who visit your website.   Your website is your soapbox, where you can showcase your expertise and establish your authority in your industry.  

A professional website design improves the image of your company, engages your audience with your message, and can help to increase customer inquiries and boost revenue. 

3 Questions To Ask Yourself About Your Website

Website design is more than just the “look and feel” of the site. Like Steve Jobs said, design is ‘how it works.’ So, how does your website work?  

  1. How does your website encourage the flow of visitors from one step to the next?
  2. What is the ultimate conversion goal for each website viewer?
  3. What action do you want your new website visitors to do?

Your website is the foundation of your online marketing strategy, which is why it is essential to work with someone who understands the psychology of web design.  

Are you thinking about making or redesigning a website?

Click here, and let's talk about it.

Let’s talk a bit about what a new website design can do for your future.

Answer these questions thoughtfully, and it will assist me in translating your vision into a happy website visit.

I want to know more than just what your new site will look like; I also want to understand what the new website will do for your business.

“I’ve had many sites built over the past 10 years. This was, hands down, the best experience in regards to efficiency, design, and back-end mechanics. Caelan is easy to talk to, patient, knows what he’s doing and can execute in a timely manner. It was a pleasure.”
Robin Jay

President, Las Vegas Convention Speakers Bureau

Responsive Website Design

Responsive Website Design

by | Feb 16, 2017 | Services, Website Design

A Responsive Website Design changes the layout and sizing of your website elements, based on the size of the screen upon which it is viewed.

In the old days, websites had a defined width, and sometimes a defined height. If your screen resolution did not match those exact numbers, you would have to scroll left-to-right to see the entire website.

Users are used to scrolling up and down, to see the parts of web pages that are ‘below the fold,’ but scrolling left-to-right provides some real usability problems. Now that devices are built with resolutions as wide as 2560 pixels, and as small as 300 pixels, having a defined website width creates a bad browsing experience for most people – unless the website is responsive.

Responsive websites are often 100% width, meaning that they take the full width of the browser, wide or narrow.

To see Responsive Website Design in action:

Responsive Website Design Example On a Desktop:

  1. Bring the cursor of your mouse over to the right hand side of your browser window.
  2. Click and drag the side of the browser window to the left
  3. Notice how the columns below shift their size and appearance

You can even set some elements to only show at certain browser widths, meaning: you can have elements that show only for tablets, only for desktop, or only on mobile.

Responsive Website Design Example On a Tablet or Mobile Device:

  1. Turn your device 90˚ to one side.
  2. Notice how these elements change their position? That is responsiveness.

“If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard, but if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy.”
– T.Harv Eker

“We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away. ” – Chuang Tzu

Responsive website design is essential for SEO

Responsive website design makes it easier for customers to connect with your brand on a device they use all day long: their mobile phone.

Making the effort to build a beautiful website won’t matter, if the website can only be easily viewed on one type of device. Your website needs to look good on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Many people search the internet on their mobile phone or on a tablet, and older web designs don’t look good on those little screens.

Responsive web design shifts the elements of your website depending on the size of the browser that is viewing it, so it looks good on every device.

Mobile friendly websites are more likely to show up in local search results, and good local search rankings give you the opportunity to connect with more customers in your area.

“Throughout the entire process of updating and re-designing our website, I was thoroughly impressed with Caelan’s work. He was consistently available once weekly for a phone conference to discuss ideas and progress, and was always available to field any questions I had. He also offered a lot of creative suggestions for the website design, and coaching and guidance for future ideas I have for our business growth, as it relates to our website. His willingness to offer further training to myself and my assistant for continued content updates to out site was a very nice bonus. Ultimately we are very pleased with his work and excited about the new website.”

Joshua Phillips, ND

Hawthorn Healing Arts Center

Membership Websites

Membership Websites

by | Feb 14, 2017 | Services, Website Design

The advantages of a WordPress CMS are huge – you can easily upload new content, categorize it in your page structure, and organize pages and posts via tags. For premium content delivery, you can protect your best content from the general public by creating a membership site with WordPress. Membership websites create a members-only section of your website, where only your customers and registered users can read, watch, and download your best content.

Membership Website WordPress Overview

If you have a WordPress website, you know how to login to /wp-admin – you enter your username and password, and gain access to the back-end of the website.

There are many different permissions levels in WordPress. The 4 standard levels are:

  • Admin
  • Editor
  • Author
  • Subscriber

Each of these permissions levels gains access to different levels of functionality within your website. Admins can do anything and everything, including creating new users, changing core theme files, and more. Editors can publish content to make it live on the website, while Authors can create content, but cannot publish their changes.

You can use the Subscriber level to protect your premium content, or create another level for ‘Customer’ or ‘October Mastermind’ or ‘Community Member,’ and assign access to specific pieces of content in your website based on the user’s permission level.

What this means: You can designate any WordPress post or page as ‘private,’ meaning it is only accessible to logged-in users. You can designate which user levels can access certain pages, meaning that if you have a different user level for every product in your library, you just need to assign a specific user level to an account after a product is purchased in order to unlock access to that content.

How To Build Membership Websites

The easiest way to create membership websites is to download a membership plugin. Here are three good ones:

  1. MemberPress
  2. Paid Membership Pro
  3. WooCommerce Memberships

These out-of-the-box solutions allow users to register and gain access to select areas of your website, but they do not integrate with your shopping cart right away. It takes some work to get a specific membership level to co-ordinate with a specific product purchase, and getting the plugin to automatically generate a username and password, that already has the right login level, is the tricky part of the automation.

Easy Membership Website Trick

Do you have some premium content you would like to protect?

There is an easy way to make membership websites, baked into the WordPress CMS itself. It won’t create logins for users, but it will protect your content with a password.

Publish your premium content on your WordPress website as a standalone page. When you publish it, under Visibility don’t select Public (the default) or Private, select ‘Password Protected.’ Enter the password that users need to enter to access your content.

Now, if you want to deliver some premium content to your email newsletter subscribers, for example, you can send them the link and the password. It won’t be available to everyone on the internet, but only to those with the password.