Your Business Will Fail in 2026 If You Don't Change THIS One Thing...

The reason why nobody discovers you online, the reason why nobody takes your brand seriously, is what we're going to be talking about today. And you're going to have to stop doing this one thing if you want to succeed in 2026 moving forward. So one of the biggest things that I get from other business owners is they complain and they're like, oh my goodness, I don't get any leads, I don't get any business, I don't get any traction from my website. And we continue the conversation and I'm like, okay, well, what's— what does your marketing look like? And they're like, oh, well, I have a website and nothing wants me Nothing makes me want to crawl up into a ball and start crying more than hearing that sentence. And so it just makes my, my Gen Z heart very sad to know that there are people out there who think that having a website, simply having a storefront website or something that people can click on is a marketing strategy. And that's what this video is about today. So if you have a website and you're watching this video, you watch to the end, hear me through. I promise I'm not crazy. But that's the topic for today. And I know everybody has a website. Like, I have a website. It sucks. I hate it. And I don't really even use it that much. And it makes more sense for online businesses that only sell online. You have to have this. I'm not saying get rid of your website. I'm saying prioritize the way that you market it because just simply having a website, people trust in Google way too much, way too much. And we'll get to that here in a second. I have a hot take here on the Brand Builders Podcast. Nobody cares about, cares about your website. Your new brand, the face of your business and your brand is now your social media accounts. And this has developed over the last 5-something years. Honestly, last probably 10. It's been slowly emerging, but since TikTok came out and did their thing, it is now everything. 20-something years ago, you could add just a website and it was the hub of your business. Like everybody went to your website, they discovered you on Google. If they searched up something or saw an ad, everybody discovered you this way. With AI, with the things that are coming out nowadays, with the amount of content that people are putting out now, This is no longer— it hasn't been an option for the last 5, 6 years. Now you can have a website, like I said, don't get me wrong, but nobody's going to visit it like you think. Even if it looks great, even if it functions great, which if you have something, make sure it function— functions right, because I've gone to websites where there are dead links everywhere. Make sure it works right. I saw a post this morning. I woke up, I was on Facebook. I made a fire, did a devo, and then I got on Facebook and I saw this post from this company who, they make websites and I'm not gonna name the name, but they make websites and they're like, hey, just letting you guys know, we make websites, click this link. And learn more, which I found it on Facebook. I didn't find it on Google. I wasn't looking for a website builder. So I was like, okay, I'm interested to see what this is. So I clicked the link and I immediately was taken to their website. So one of the first things that I saw on their website was the header said something about how good they were as a company. Hey, we are the blah blah blah blah, we've been doing this for X amount of years, trying to give themselves credibility, but really all they're doing is talking about themselves. Um, but they mentioned that, and then underneath that, it cracked me up, and this was like not an impressive website or anything, which is sad because they offer website design, but it said, P.S., I made this exact website all on my own. And that blew my mind. The fact that you had to tell them, hey, I actually built this website that you're looking on, on my own, because I'm trying to prove that I can do it for you too, which is great, great to let them know that you can actually do the job. But the way they did it was just a very odd way of doing it. So don't do that. If you do have a website, open up with how you can help your client, because that's why they're there, because you can solve a problem for them. So like I said, I found that post on Facebook, like many people do on Facebook, on YouTube, on Instagram, on TikTok. They find your stuff, they find about you, they find out about your brand on social media. That, that's like, that's it. Here's some of the reasons why. One, because of artificial intelligence, people are now going to ChatGPT significantly more than they are to Google. And Google's trying to catch up. They have some good AI tools, but because of these AI tools, they do the research for you. So now your SEO no longer matters as much on Google. As it does on these AI platforms. Because now you want to pop up if somebody searches best restaurant in Los Angeles, you want to be the number one restaurant on ChatGPT. If somebody's trying to plan a trip, we're going to Oregon in a couple months and we use ChatGPT to plan our trip. We're like, hey, what are some fun things to do in Oregon? And guess what popped up? The top things to do. And it makes me wonder, why are those things the top things to do? Why do they pop up over every single other thing to do in Oregon? Why is that one thing popping up? I want you to ask yourself, what was the last time that you personally discovered a business or a product solely off of the website? Like, you didn't see an ad, you didn't see a video, you didn't see a Facebook post or YouTube video or somebody collaborating with them. When was the last time that you saw and discovered something specifically only on a website? And I want you to think about this because if you're a business owner, you want to think about where your clients are finding you. For me, I don't promote my website hardly at all. Even if people ask for portfolios, like, I'll just send them links to work that I've done. But think about this, because whenever I ask myself this question, guess what the answer is? I don't remember. I don't remember the last time I discovered something. On Google alone. So SEO doesn't matter in the same way that it did before. If you are paying somebody— hear me out— if you're paying somebody to run your SEO and your Google Ads, I, I want to encourage you to rethink and maybe even reallocate those funds elsewhere because you're— I'm just gonna say it— you're wasting your money. You're wasting your money. There's no point in doing it anymore. If you're going to pay somebody, pay somebody to help you with content, with your social media, with your presence online, because we're competing for attention of all of our consumers, and whoever makes the most content wins. That's how it works. Hey, really quick, I wanted to let you guys know about a 5-day challenge. It's called 5 Build Loop Video Challenge that we put together exactly for you. Because if you're watching this, you're probably an entrepreneur, a business person, or a creator who's looking to monetize. And so if that's you, there's going to be a link in the description. We're going to be going over all of the things that I've learned and took away over the last 4 or 5 years to figure out how to make content work for your business and not against your business. And so for us, this is how we get about 90% of our clients within our business, and it's 10x, sometimes 100x our engagement and views and even leads. Same exact thing goes for all of our clients. And so if you're interested in this, click the link below and apply today. There's only a limited number of spots because it is one-on-one. And so hope to see you in the challenge. Let's get back to the episode. That's how it's going to work for a while. And so are you on YouTube? Are you on Instagram? Are you on TikTok? I help businesses every single week set up these accounts because they've never even thought about having a YouTube channel. Why haven't they thought about it? Why are you just relying on your website? Anyways, I hope you're getting some value out of this podcast so far. If you're still watching, thank you. You're an OG. But that's pretty much the main thing I wanted to cover today is stop focusing so much on your website. Stop paying thousands of dollars for somebody to actually build your website. I'm actually going through this process myself right now. We moved into our new studio. We're probably going to have to be rebranding pretty soon with the naming. And so I'm like, okay, what do I do for a website? The current one I have, I don't really like. I want a new one. Should I pay somebody? Should I not pay somebody? Should I try to do it myself? Is it going to be even worth it? Have— through the last 4 years that I've had a website on Google, it's looked decent. I have maybe had 3 people reach out specifically through the website because they found me. They found me on Facebook. They went, they went to go submit an inquiry. On my website. It's just as easy to fill out a form, a submission form somewhere, just as easy to send me a DM, to gimme a phone call. And so really it doesn't really matter what your website looks like, um, at least if you're a service-based business. Now, if you have products, this is gonna be a little bit different because that's how people buy. But what actually builds trust now and gets people to buy is having a face attached to the brand, being in front of people consistently. So showing up every single week, every day, and creating landing pages that you can send people to from the content. So landing page, what is a landing page? It's somebody, it's somewhere, it's basically a website that whenever you create content, this top of funnel content awareness part of the content funnel. Whenever you create this content, people see your videos and then what do they do? You make us— you make a call to action in the video or in the description or the comments and say, hey, if you want to buy this product, hey, if you want to book a call, hey, if you want to sign up for this thing, hey, if you want to grab this free lead magnet that I have for you, click the link in the description. And then boom, that sends them to wherever you want to send them. If it's just the homepage of your website, like your normal website, it's not going to really work. They're just going to exit off. They're going to be confused. They're not going to know what's going on. If there's a landing page with specific information that they are specifically looking for at that moment in time, they are more likely to stay on the page and actually read or see the videos that you have on the page. So a lot of times These landing pages are short, they're simple, they have minimal wording. They only have the words that communicate exactly what you want to communicate and nothing else. So no filler words, no extra. It's just, hey, this is what it is. Watch this video to find out more information. Boom. And if they watch the video, they find out what they— that they are interested, then they can book a call, do whatever after that. But in order to get them there in the first place, you have to be in front of them constantly. That's the era that we live in. And me being Gen Z, growing up in this, seeing this unfold in real time has been an insane experience to witness because I have friends who have gone viral and they've, they've made whole careers about around being creators and putting out content, and that is their career now. So there's ways to make that easier as a business owner. Obviously I'm a business owner, so I have to do some of the same things. Uh, if— go watch some of my other videos on content, uh, creation, batch creating, editing, using editors, editing yourself, etc. So with that being said, if your website is your main marketing tool. This is how I want you to reframe your mindset going into 2026. I want you to, um, make this your strategy and make this your plan for the whole year moving forward. Content, content, content every single day if you can. At least 3 platforms with YouTube being one of them. And only use a website if it's to check out for them to buy something, or if it's a landing page for them to book a call. That's your game plan. Content first. Everything else is just a funnel going downstream, and the people who make it through the funnel are more than likely going to buy because they've been kind of filtered out. But stop spending thousands of dollars to pay somebody for your website. Because your website is not your strategy. Your website is not your brand. You are the brand. If you're the founder and you can be on camera, that's the best place to be. That's such a common theme now is a founder-facing brand. Like big brands are doing it too, not just small local brands. It's the big brands. So I hope that helped your perspective and your mind, mind shift for 2026. It's going to be a good year. We have lots of content coming out just like this one. Let me know in the comments what you want to learn about next, what your biggest struggles are when building a brand online, when trying to get out there and gain awareness in 2026 with, with the biggest communication shift in the history of the world, which is the internet. And video. So if you enjoyed today, make sure to subscribe, and we'll see you on the next episode of the Brand Builders Podcast. Peace.