The Digital Presence Mistake That’s Costing You Clients
Think a website alone is enough to attract clients? It’s not.
In this episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show, Amanda talks with Paige Wiese, CEO of Tree Ring Digital, about the common digital mistake that keeps businesses from being seen, and what to do instead.
We explore:
Why your website is just the starting point
How marketing drives real business results
The value of solving a specific pain point
What it takes to stop blending in and start standing out
If your business is online but not getting traction, this conversation will help you take the next step.
Tune in and learn how to build a digital presence that gets noticed and brings in clients.
Full Transcript
Paige (00:00)
The website is really the hub. The website is where all of your traffic should be going. But if you are not doing anything to drive traffic to that website, that website’s not gonna do anything.
Amanda Kaufman (00:28)
Well, hey, hey, welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And today I am joined by Paige Wiese, who is the founder, CEO, and general badass for Tree Ring Digital. She’s got 16 years of experience working across multiple different industries. Her specialty, she is a master of all things digital. So, know, website, social media, and so on.
Paige, I am so excited that you’re here. Welcome to the show.
Paige (01:00)
thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here as well. Thank you.
Amanda Kaufman (01:05)
Yeah, love it. So Paige and I hit it off when we were both part of a business incubator kind of a situation. And we got into it the other day, just a huge bit of flow about digital assets and about people running businesses more confidently with their digital content. I was like, goodness, we need to have a conversation here on the show. So Paige, I’m just so curious. I love asking my guests, why this?
I mean, you’re clearly brilliant. You could do anything. Why have you decided to focus on building a business centered around digital assets and growing web presence and digital marketing and all this stuff?
Paige (01:46)
Yeah, it came for me, it came from a need of like, how do I make money? Like, architecture isn’t working in 2008, it was not happening. And so I was just trying to figure out.
Amanda Kaufman (01:54)
⁓ wow.
Paige (01:56)
Yeah, so I was like, what do I do? And I didn’t really know and I just decided why don’t I take some of the skills I sort of know, which is a little bit of design and put it into, let me teach myself web design. Let me see what that is. And so I just started teaching everything I could about website design and development and then started hearing clients talk more and more about like, but it’s not working, but it’s not working. And I realized it wasn’t working because they weren’t marketing. And so that’s when we started expanding into a full service age.
so that we could really assist the clients do that entire journey of what that looked like. I got really lucky though, because along the way I had no idea how much I loved business. I had no idea like everything that went into business, right? And so then I actually just got more excited of like, let me dive deeper. Let me learn more. What’s this going on? What’s that? And so that’s, you know, why I decided to build a business around it is because I really liked watching clients be able to grow and
empowering them to know that they can, no matter what their marketing budget is and knowing that I took the same journey of how do I start with not even knowing how to purchase a domain name, but somehow start and grow a business. And so I really like to be able to support the clients through that journey.
Amanda Kaufman (03:08)
you
I’ll be honest, Paige, I actually sometimes miss those ignorance on fires kind of days at the beginning of the journey because I feel like every entrepreneur starts the journey with like, well, why not? know, like how hard can it be? You know, there’s a little bit of a laissez faire sort of like, sounds good, let’s go. And, you know, even if you have like this dream or this ambition of being a business owner, I actually really love the ignorant days because it’s just like,
You discover so much and you learn so much. my goodness. so, ⁓
Paige (03:44)
Or you feel fierce, you’re like, why
not? And you just keep diving in, right? And now it’s like, maybe I can get back off a minute.
Amanda Kaufman (03:49)
Right, right. And the more you can access that
attitude, you know, the better. I’m eight years into my journey, so I’m like halfway on your timeline there. But I find the more I can kind of nurture that curiosity and that, you know, wide-eyed wonder of like, I wonder if this will work. How do you do this? And especially with ChatGPT now, my goodness, it’s so powerful. So…
Paige (04:11)
so much.
Amanda Kaufman (04:13)
One thing I was hoping maybe you could unpack for us is like you made the distinction. You’re like, hey, they’re doing websites. The websites aren’t working because they’re not really marketing. Do you mind unpacking that a little bit more? Because I think a lot of the people that might be listening to this, you know, they’ve probably built some stuff. They’ve probably been told, hey, do this and build that. And then it’s crickets. Like what’s the distinction?
Paige (04:39)
Yeah, and it’s frustrating when it’s crickets and that’s what we really looked at is…
The website is really the hub. The website is where all of your traffic should be going. But if you are not doing anything to drive traffic to that website, that website’s not gonna do anything.
So you can put it up there, you can build it, but they won’t come, is like the saying goes, in this situation unless you are doing some sort of marketing. Marketing can come in a variety of ways, however, just building a website is not going to automatically bring you all of it.
building the most amazing website with all automation, streamlining and processes in place won’t make visitors come to the site. You still have to be out promoting your brand, getting brand recognition and getting it all out there before it’ll actually start generating leads. And that’s really where that difference starts to come in is
Amanda Kaufman (05:21)
Thank
Paige (05:33)
Once we start marketing though, yes, we want the website to have the right messaging, tell the story, be generating the leads, getting them through that pipeline and process. And it’s how everything comes together, but just building a website isn’t going to get the business that you’re looking for.
Amanda Kaufman (05:49)
So good. Yeah, I think about those interventions of like the website setting up like your social profiles, all of those things that we’re told to like do and build. The way I think about it, and I’m curious, like please argue with me, you know, publicly, that would be awesome. But the way I think about it is I’m like, those are actually conversion points, right? That’s not the initiation of like,
Paige (06:03)
Yeah.
Amanda Kaufman (06:10)
why someone would seek out your website or why someone would even stumble upon your website or have your website catch attention. And when I say website, I’m like, actually your business or even your presence. Why would people notice you and get that visibility? So I am so curious. A lot of the people that I work with are typically experts, coaches, service providers.
What are some of your favorite kind of go-to tactics to get that traffic happening and kind of activate into the marketing?
Paige (06:44)
I think you know with that, especially in that coaches consultant space, that is one of the few areas that I start saying you really do have to start niching. I’m not a big, big, big advocate for like niche. You look at my company, we haven’t really niched. We help all industries, all different you know services that we offer but…
when it comes to and when we look at like how do we get ranking higher in the search engines, you can’t just rank higher because you’re a consultant or a coach or you know a speaker. You really have to get into what is that user looking for that’s going to hire you and that is where you start to stand out and when you can carry that messaging through everything that you’re doing and really position yourself into that, then yes people will start wanting to hire you. You’re standing out and they’re seeking you specifically. It also starts
to narrow out how much your competition is because again if you’re just trying to go after coaching there’s so many, there’s so many out there and but when you can go into a specific thing like executive consultant in oil and gas, that person that’s looking is gonna type that into a search engine or you know stumble upon you on LinkedIn or Facebook or something.
and want to follow and learn everything about you, pick up your book, whatever that looks like. And so that’s really where you’re starting to, you know, focus on your messaging and how to get that back to the site.
Amanda Kaufman (08:04)
I love that. Yeah, you know, I’ve been helping coaches to be more successful in really having the conversations that convert and the conversations that matter with people. And when I think about, you know, digital presence and social media and online presence, like my general philosophy is that it really should be an extension of those powerful conversations that you’re having. And one of the things that I noticed that was a huge breakthrough,
was that nobody really wanted coaching. Right? Like it turned out that it was like a very sexy thing to become a coach. But when it came to proposing to somebody else, like, Hey, let me coach you. It was like, Whoa, you know, totally different kind of a conversation. And what I realized is like, is kind of a, there’s an authoritative leadership piece to it.
Paige (08:35)
Yeah.
Amanda Kaufman (08:57)
And if you’re not leading a clear process, a clear set of steps that somebody is walking through, it’s very hard for people to conceptualize, why do I need you? What’s your purpose again? And sometimes I have to admit, I envy business owners like you sometimes because I’m like, man, it’s easier to understand that you’ve got a website.
Paige (09:12)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Kaufman (09:22)
You you can look at the Google Analytics and you can like see it. So what would you say to somebody who is maybe doing something that’s a little bit more, perhaps feels invisible, like coaching, right? Like they wanna activate into that, they wanna bring the specialty. The way I like to teach it is I like to say, and I’m not leading the witness, just telling you, the way I like to teach it is like, figure out what’s the problem that they’re facing that’s keeping them up at night.
and market to the problem and present a solution and then be the coach bringing the solution. That’s generally how I like to teach it, but I’m curious, what are your insights on that?
Paige (09:58)
Yeah, I mean, you’re right. You’re calling it problem. I would call it the pain point, right? Like, what is it that is keeping them up at night? What is it that they’re trying to solve? And how can you solve that and make it easy on them as a business owner or, you know, like whatever they’re going through life coaching, whatever it looks like.
They’re lost, they’re stuck, they don’t know and they really are looking for an expert to come in and take care of that. And what does that look like? For different people, it’s different levels. Is it kind of a do it yourself with a walkthrough? Is it a full blown done for you service? And even knowing what is it that you’re trying to provide in that space and really identifying what that ideal client looks like for you will help you be able to target to that pain point even more as you go through. I mean, for example, I know
you know as I continue to grow and change and scale, it’s like okay so I’ve gotten this far but I need someone who can get me that far or I need someone who can change me into helping me with this issue and when I can identify that, yeah I’m ready to dive deeper into what does that look like for a coach, a consultant, to whatever to come in and and teach me what I don’t know especially for someone who’s self-taught or maybe you do have you know a robust background in it, you’re still looking to like lean on someone else and go but you’re
expert and it could come into taxes too. Not my you know jam but like I need that person to come in and consult me and guide me through what is the right decision to be making but I also am very specific of it of like for investing in you know residential real estate, for commercial real estate, whatever that looks like. So then I start really honing in and going okay how do I find that expert and that’s kind of that example I was saying earlier of
the deeper you can get into that exact pain point in what you’re trying to do instead of just I’m wanting to coach anyone and everyone, the easier it’s going to be to start not feel so invisible in that area.
Amanda Kaufman (11:52)
There’s a big distinction in how you’re talking about this and I really just wanna shine a light on it because you’re doing such an amazing job, thank you. You’re talking about this pain point and I think one area that a lot of coaches kinda get tripped up into is they look, look, people who get into service-based businesses are generally extremely empathetic, heart-led kinda people. So they look around and they see all this pain around them. It’s like, oh, somebody’s really upset about the election cycle.
Paige (11:59)
Thank you.
Amanda Kaufman (12:19)
Pain point, right? Somebody just lost their job. Pain point, know, somebody has an unfortunate health condition. Pain point, right? So they’re like looking all the way around at these pain points. And like, this is one of those podcasts that y’all rewind and really listen to what Paige said because the distinction I’m hearing is yes, it’s a pain point, but it is a pain point that you, as the consumer, have identified.
Paige (12:34)
Thank
Amanda Kaufman (12:45)
and that you are ready to part with. Like you wanna let it go. And I think sometimes, so I have to let it go on my arm, because I literally have to be like, you gotta let go of all those other kinds of pain points where maybe somebody is like, no, I need this pain point. This is part of my identity. No, I need this pain point, you know, because I’m not ready to do the work for the transformation versus the pain points like you just described where it’s like, all right, I’ve got this gap.
Paige (12:46)
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Kaufman (13:15)
You know, I’ve got this goal, this thing I want to attain. It is painful for me that I don’t have the ambition attained, right? And typically I find that selling coaching in that space is just night and day easier, right? Easier and more fruitful for the client. And then as a coach, you end up with more testimonials, right?
Paige (13:37)
Well, and
not only that, it’s, you know, as you go into it all, it’s, hey, I have this, but that’s not my area of expertise. And so when you can identify who your ideal client is and where they’re not experts and where you know they’re going to be lacking, that is a way to also help them kind of self identify where that pain point might be that they need to release and, you know, be like,
okay yes like I could really use help having someone that could do that for me and that was you know a bit again of how do I grow, how do I scale, how do I achieve goals and things that I’m trying to do and looking to those experts. I laugh when you say that you know coaching isn’t you know what people really want sometimes and it’s so funny because we like to partner with like business coaches, business advisors and whatnot
and it is the hardest referral for us to give out is like, hey, so yeah, we want to help you with your website and your marketing, but can you go talk to this coach first over here? And you’re right, they’re just like, why would I need one? I’m like, no, no, no, like, I’m actually doing you a favor. Like this really is what you should be doing. I’m not telling you cause you’re not doing something right. I just think you’d be so much further along or really get a lot of these burdens off your plate.
so that what we are doing is going to be more impactful for you. And so it is hard that more people don’t want it, but when you can start to identify what is that motivating factor behind, then it does start to be an easier sale.
Amanda Kaufman (15:05)
It totally does. Now kind of related to this, I’d love for you to maybe just shine a little bit of a light on your take on branding, you know, because to your point, I know when I started coaching and I thought, like this is again, the ignorance on fire. I thought that if I just did a banger good job, then people would…
like refer me, I’d end up with this flywheel and like everybody would like send referrals like crazy. And what I find is that I do get referrals, referrals are amazing, I love referrals, but it just, it never ever really like hit at that higher level. And it wasn’t until later that I realized that there was kind of that embarrassment thing of like, yeah, I kind of got some help with that. And like,
Even if people were really successful and super happy with me, it was almost like they were kind of keeping me as this close, held secret to their heart. So I would love your perspective on branding because branding to me has so much to do with our decisions about our visibility. Really it permeates pretty much all of your behaviors through your entire business, but I’d love your take. What is branding?
to you and what role does it play in growing a business successfully, especially online?
Paige (16:36)
Yeah, for me, branding is just one of those where…
you need to hone in on it and it covers so many things. It’s not just what does your logo look like. It’s not just what are the colors that you’re using, right? I mean, it gets into what is the story? What is the imaging or imagery? What is, you know, just everything? How cohesive does everything come together to make that happen for brand? And I think a lot of people when they first get started think, I mean, we’ve had, you know, clients come to us and like, I don’t need a logo. Just throw up some text that say my name and we’ll keep moving. You know, we’ll deal with that later. And it’s like,
but that’s also like the first thing they see and the thing that’s an identifier so like it should have something there that helps you stand out above just the name of your business and a font and so you know diving deeper into all of that but when it comes to your digital presence for me it’s really like the more you put into that the more people take you seriously and the more people see wow
they really are established. They’re taking, you know, they’re really good at what they do. They are the experts. They care. They’ve put time into these things. And that’s really where your brand starts to shine. If you’ve got your socials all discombobulated and nothing’s consistent, whether it’s the imagery, whether it’s how frequently you post, whether it’s the style in which you’re posting, you know, is one example, or your social isn’t matching your website, then people are like…
why would I pay X amount to work with this person? Like, is it really worth it? Where is this money going? What’s going on? But when you can put all that together and really look sharp and on point, they won’t care. When you’re messaging, aligns, and everything is looking really good, they’ll go, yes, here’s my money. I know you’re going to take care of what I need. And I can tell because you’re also doing a good job and you’re also representing your brand very, very well.
Amanda Kaufman (18:27)
Yes, I love this. love this. know, I work with a lot of people who have a prior experience as an employee. So they understand the idea of professionalism in that context. And what’s coming up for me is you’re describing this as I’m like, oh my gosh, yeah, like that it’s essentially your professionalism, you know, on display 24 seven through your your different assets and how you actually show up. And I know for me, I
I started my entrepreneurial journey. I’m laughing and hardly able to spit it out because look, I was done with corporate.
I was done with just like, I felt like I was peacocking, I felt like I was not being my most authentic self, and I had this huge rebel moment where I was like, branding doesn’t matter. So then I wound up for years with this super hodgepodge of presence. I was very present, but again, the look and the feel and everything, it just changed so much. looking at that, I realized later I was like,
Whoa, that was my brand. And my brand looks like a freaking tornado, right? Like.
Paige (19:38)
I think we can all say that. mean, if I look back,
I still keep a couple business cards from like when I first first started as a completely different company name of just a look how far you’ve come. I can’t even believe you put that out there, but we did, you know, and that’s also just part of it. You have to start somewhere, get moving, and then let that brand continue to evolve on its own as you continue to invest and pay attention and see what’s working, what’s not. I’m with you though. I’m like…
Amanda Kaufman (19:46)
Yes!
Paige (20:07)
That’s what I was putting out there before. my, okay. So it’s just a nice little reminder of where we’ve come from.
Amanda Kaufman (20:12)
It’s so true. It’s so true. you know, for me too, it was also a reminder of like the value of building relationships across multiple different disciplines, you know, because, you know, I was able to like build friendships and build connections and business connections with people who did really have aesthetic talent, right? Not just the eye, but like they could actually say, hey girl, like, you know, you might want to, you might want to just like.
That’s garish. Like, let’s figure something else out. So good. Well, Paige, what is the best way for people to keep up with you and follow you?
Paige (20:46)
Yeah, the best way to keep up with us is going to be on LinkedIn, more specifically Page Wiese under my profile. That’s where a lot of stuff gets posted related to the company. I’m personally not that great on the company side of it all. We’re still kind of mixing, but I just know, you know, I’m out there so much. It’s a great way to stay in touch with me.
Amanda Kaufman (21:04)
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me on an episode here on the show. This was a real pleasure.
Paige (21:12)
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you again so much for having me and I’m looking forward to continuing to stay in touch.
Amanda Kaufman (21:18)
Amazing, amazing. And hey dear listener, don’t forget to smash that subscribe button. And if this spoke to you in any way, if there was any part of it that lit you up or inspired you forward, make sure you grab the link to the episode and text it to your friends. Three friends maybe might want to actually hear about the progress that we make through our entrepreneurial journeys. And if you have 30 seconds, just…
Just 30 seconds, could you please leave an honest review? Because I honestly thought that Paige did an amazing five-star job, that’s my honest opinion there. But it does genuinely help people make the choice to listen to these episodes and discover us. And we are very grateful when you do that. Awesome, well thank you so much for joining us and we will see you on a future episode. Do what matters in the meantime.