What to put inside your secret Client Resource Hub
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As a service-based business, we work with a lot of clients, ideally. Between those clients, I realized they don't all know the same set of things. Right? sometimes you have to repeat yourself between clients, which is fine.
But if you want to save yourself some time, you can give them a resource library and the best place to put that is actually in the backend of their website on a secret page.
That way they always have access to it anytime they're using their website, which is ideally what they are doing and not passing off all of these minor changes to you on an ongoing basis, unless you have the team to support that.
I don't, it's just me.
I offer a resource library to all of my clients because I want them to be able to research this stuff themselves. Ultimately learn the answers to the questions they're asking so that they don't have to ask again.
This gives them the freedom and autonomy to manage their own website, without needing me unless they specifically want to hire me.
If you're curious what goes on the inside of that resource library, hang tight, because I'm actually going to show you what's inside that document, how I set it up and all of the things.
Before we dive in, a quick disclaimer:
Today’s post works best as a video, but if you prefer to read through my rambles, you can do so in the transcript below.
Now, let’s watch the video!
TRANSCRIPTION
Peek at my Client Resource Hub in ClickUp*
In the last video, I shared with you how to create a password-protected private resource page on your client's site, because the best place for you to store this kind of information is in a place that they're actually already going. Right?
I have a ClickUp doc, where I copy and paste all of this.
And I change out the custom links that are specific to this client, which is actually only one or two of them.
The rest are static places that are readily available for the general public and I'm just pointing them in the correct direction.
So that's a template that I set up that I don't have to repeat the process for and then I put a link to the document at the top of the page so that the person can get to the most updated version of that document.
So I don't house all of the information here, only the links to all of the information; that's the point. Then all of the updated information stays in ClickUp-land.
If you're not a user of ClickUp, though, it doesn't have to be a ClickUp doc. In fact, it can be anything. It can be a page on your own website that you built and you send them a link to.
It could also be a page in Notion*, if you wanted, since Notion can have public pages with their own links. There's a list of different options that you could be using. I use ClickUp. That's my own preference in this season of my business.
And what that actually looks like over here for a client.
This is the view of the public document, they're not logged in, or when they're not a ClickUp user, they don't see the edit doc and they don't see their profile picture. That's the only difference.
They have the option to download this multi-page document as a PDF or whatever the option is there. Yeah, there we go. So we can do per page or all pages as a PDF if they wanted to have a hard copy, which is great.
Uh, the goal here is to share as much information in one place where I can keep it updated. They can see when it was last updated and you repeat yourself a lot less.
They feel confident because they know where to go when they have a specific question.
So on each of the sub-pages here, we have a new page checklist and that's what this is.
New Page Checklist
If we go into the new page, you can see, I have reminded them that this is a table of contents.
Just like in Notion documents, anywhere that you click on this in the table of contents, it will jump you down to that section on this page. Kind of like an anchor link and Squarespace, right?
This has a list of how to make a new page in Squarespace with actual screenshots, they can click on and blow up. They can't check off as they go, because they're not a contributor on this document. They can not make edits like that. But that doesn't matter. They could, like I said, download it, print it out and check it off if they wanted to.
But the point is, so they know what to do in every stage, what the page settings are, where the best practices are, what the page slugs should look like, all of this stuff. Right?
Then I also have a section for a new blog post or new event posts in the events collection.
They're very similar, so I just have one checklist for that. In that, I also have the settings for each post, which goes through all of the tabs here in the settings for that post. So that covers the content, the options, the SEO, the social image, the sharing, and the saving.
And then I have some pro tips in cons on using portfolio collections. What they need to know before they make any changes, if we are using one of those page types, because those are good things to know. And then from there, the actual checklist on making a new, new sub-page or whatever you want to call it. Inside a portfolio collection.
SEO Tips & Resources
On the SEO tips and resources sub-page of this client resource hub. I have some quick links to go back, to get a blank copy of the document they got when they first started working with me. So if they ever need it again, they can grab it right here.
Then I also have some beginner resources over here on the right, a YouTube video that Squarespace shared, and also a podcast episode that is with a Showit-specific SEO expert, which was really helpful information, still very applicable to Squarespace or probably any other platform.
That was a great listen too. It's not super data heavy, not super technical or lingo heavy, so clients would be able to appreciate that information.
Underneath that, this is a lot of the meat and potatoes without the action steps that I pulled directly from the workbook.
So if they just were like, what. What was that FAQ? I saw on the SEO workbook, it's right here.
Apps, Services & Plugins
Now on the apps services and plugins page. I have again, the table of contents, and this information is broken into different headers.
Squarespace websites and plugins a list of my favorites, the code plugins, or shops like Ghost, SQSP Themes, SquareWebsites.Org, all of my favorites.
Then some tools like Elfsight, Spark! Or SquareKicker. Also the DIY SEO plugin, when that's available, I will have that link there.
Underneath that, I have a list of all my favorite software and apps. And of course, I have to mark where I'm an affiliate. So I do get kickbacks if they sign up through any of these links, but I am clear about that everywhere that I can be. And at least they know that the software exists.
Because a lot of the time when I set up a call with a client or when they set up one with me if they have a support question or something like that, they're asking me,
" I really want to do X. Is there a way for me to do that?"
And I'm like, "yeah, there's an app for that."
Here's the list, right? So this allows me to repeat myself less if they are looking in this document.
So what you have to do to maintain this right, is when they send you an email asking a question, you can say, " that's a great question. I answered that in your client resource hub on this page."
Give them the link so they can jump right into it, and start to reinforce that's where they go to check first, before they actually ask you a question.
When you get new questions, that's information that you can dump in here for everyone else to have the answer to. Right? So that's the favorite software and app section.
Marketing Resources & Experts
Underneath that, I have marketing resources in a wonderful reminder that I do not believe you have to be –– in fact, I firmly believe that you SHOULD NOT BE on every platform trying to do marketing in all the places.
You will spread yourself so thin, that the butter, loses all the calories. Like you will not have any more energy to do anything else. If you are posting everywhere, trying to push your stuff everywhere. So get really good at doing one thing. That's my little disclaimer there.
So I also share a service that creates the content, like if you have videos and you want someone to style and edit them for social media, Content Crop is a great place to do that.
I also have a list of, uh, social media schedulers. If they want to investigate an option for that.
There's nothing worse than having to think about what to post on Instagram in the moment. When it's happening. You want to be present and then post it later.
So, those are schedulers that I have used or know about or recommend.
Also a course that teaches how to do content marketing, which I have taken. It was awesome. I highly recommend that.
And also a whole other section on finding experts in other industries. Right? Because I am better at design. Not in development, not an SEO, not in memberships, not in courses. Right.
I can do all of those things. But there's a difference in doing them and doing them well, and this is where I draw the line. So I want people to have access to people that I know of that may or may not be a better option to do it.
So for SEO on Squarespace, I have a list of options and links for them to go explore more and do their own research. I specifically mentioned that I've never worked individually with any of these people, they just seem like reputable sources. So, Hey, if you are any of these people and you find yourself watching this video, please reach out.
On the memberships and courses area. I have a specific person that I like to refer people to for Circle. I can set up the initial membership over there, but running it is a whole different ball game. That's a different business model than the one that I operate myself. So I like to have someone else to point those clients to who can teach them more about that thing.
Another option is a course expert who specializes in the three major platforms, including Kajabi, Kartra, and Thrivecart.
There is also an embedded Google Sheet that I got from Booked Out Designer. There's a whole list of available resources in that section.
The last section is accessibility compliance and this is something that I've just recently added just a couple of days before filming this video.
As I learned more, I am brain-dumping that information onto this page, sharing videos, presentations, and information that other people are sharing that I can link to. So then I can give this information and make sure they know that accessibility is important. This is something that we're all learning more about.
And they can go do their own due diligence and know that this is a thing that they need to be aware of.
That includes links to FAQs, video sharing what I know, third-party reviews that I found on other websites, and also the three major platforms that I have researched myself, which one I chose, and all of the information I could dig up on that platform so they can see it all in one place.
But I'm very clear, you need to do your own due diligence. This is ultimately a legal issue, and I don't want to be responsible for giving people the wrong information based on their business, because they know their business best. They know what the laws are, or they can find an attorney that does in their area, which is different than mine.
So that's, as far as I could go with the help on that, but that's, what's inside my client resource hub. They get this at the end, after the project has finished. We have soft launched the website.
This gives them the ability to look at this stuff on their own, feel more confident, and I repeat myself a lot less. So I think it's a win-win-win for everybody.
I hope that gives you some inspiration for what you can put on your own website and share with your own clients. Put your own spin on it and put videos in there if you like recording video, put text in there if you don't like recording video. Host it in Notion or Squarespace or Showit, or whatever.
I hope that you end up repeating yourself a lot less, like I have. I will see you in the next video.
If you’re reading this, you’ve missed the outtakes at the end of the video. 😉
I’m sorry for your loss! 😂
