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How to Build a Website with Leafly
Whether your big or small, a website is the ultimate way to level the playing field. It brings you credibility while making you look professional and is an essential step in your customer’s journey.
A website increases your visibility and is extremely important when it comes to Google. As you know Google is the largest search engine in the world with over 3.5 billion daily searches. More than likely 50% of your dispensary patients have googled your dispensary before visiting. Check the stats below.
- 46% of search on Google include local intent
- 97% of users use search to find local businesses
- 28% of users purchased an item after a local search
- 70% of users will visit a store because of what they found online
Knowing these stats, this article is to help you build a website for your dispensary or brand using nothing other than your current Leafly subscription. Assuming you pay for a Leafly Subscription.
Start with step 1 if you’re interested in How to build a website with Leafly.
How to Build a Website with Leafly Step 1: Purchase your domain
This is an easy one. Most of you probably have already done this, All you need to do is create a Godaddy.com account and then do a search for the domain name. This is going to be your website name for example MyDispensaryName.com
Once you locate the domain your domain go ahead and complete the purchase. Don’t lose your login information for GoDaddy, you will need it later in order to set up your new website using your Leafly Account.
How to Build a Website with Leafly Step 2: Find Website hosting
So here’s the next step. If you’re doing this on a budget then you can easily purchase share website hosting from any number of hosting companies out there. Here are a few of the top hosting companies when we google searched.
– HostGator – LINK
– BlueHost – LINK
– LiquidWeb – LINK
After purchasing your web hosting you will now need to point your domain. But first, we need to find your nameserver for the current hosting site. Your name servers can be found in your welcome email or oftentimes in your Cpanel. Here’s an example of what the nameservers look like:
– ns0000.hostgator.com
– ns1111.hostgator.com
How to Build a Website with Leafly Step 3: Point domain / Change Nameservers
So now we have to point the domain you purchased at GoDaddy to the server “nameserver” that you purchased with your web hosting. You need to log in to your GoDaddy account. Navigate to my account. Then click “domains”.
Find the domain name you’re going to change ex: MyDispensaryName.com. Click on the domain name then locate the Domain DNS. Click Manage DNS.
Scroll down to the Nameservers. Click Change. It will present a few options which you should ignore. Down in the bottom left you will see “enter my own nameservers (advanced). Click that. We Are advanced! ?
Now you’re presented with two sections.
Name 1: (Enter the nameserver from the previous steps that look like this ns0000.hostgator.com)
Name 2: (Enter the nameserver from the previous steps that look like this ns1111.hostgator.com)
Then click “Yes I consent” and then click continue. You’ve now pointed your domain to your hosting account.
How to Build a Website with Leafly Step 4: Installing WordPress
WordPress comes with free templates. If you wish to upload a template or purchase a better template (highly advised) you can do so at ThemeForest.net. (quick tip: Look for themes that have a lot of reviews, and that are responsive in the FAQs).
Every hosting is different however, you will need to install WordPress. Follow the steps as your hosting moves you through the funnel. At the end, you will receive an email with your login. Username: & Password:
Save this link somewhere, it comes in handy. Yourwebsite.com/wp-admin The wp-admin is the important part. That’s how you log in to your WordPress website. So once you receive the email that the website has been set up. You can now log in with the above link. After logging in you will be prompted to complete the process. Proceed if necessary.
You’re almost done with how to build a website with Leafly.
How to Build a Website with Leafly Step 5: Setup Shop Page
We are almost done. If you’ve survived all that so far you’re darn near a certified pro! Now to add Leafly to your website.
Follow this link (https://menu-manager.leafly.com/embed ) to access your Website Menu color settings and code snippet.
You can follow these steps to access your Website Menu:
- Log into your Leafly Biz Dashboard
- Select the Menu option from the left-side panel
- Select the ‘Build Website Menu’ option to access your website menu
Now Select the ‘copy code snippet‘ to copy your menu embed code.
Now let’s navigate back over to your WordPress website. You’re going to log in and from the left find pages. Click All Pages. At the top, you will see Add new. Click Add New page in your website building platform and apply your preferred settings (page title, slug, parent page, page template, etc .)
Make sure users can navigate to the new menu page. For example, include a link to the page through the site’s global header (“Shop our menu,” or “Order online”)
Paste the embed code into the body of the page, not the page’s header or footer. This typically requires adding a “Code block” into a section on the page and pasting in the embed code snippet into that block.
Save and publish. We advise previewing your embed first, to ensure the final result is correct.
Congratulations you’ve completed how to build your website with Leafly.
When you’re ready to take your website to the next level please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Spark it Up™. We take a lot of pride in helping out our clients and even those who are not our clients. We want to give back as much as we want to build our business. Please share this article with another Leafly owner that’s in need of a website.
If you’re still on the fence about whether or not you should build a Leafly website consider these three things.
3 Reasons you need a website.
1. Analytics.
Yes I know Leafly provides you with basic analytics. I’ve combed and browsed Leafly’s analytics probably more than the average dispensary owner. As you might’ve guessed we have several clients who use Leafly. However, I would take google analytics over any other analytics any day of the week.
Here is a list of the important data that Google Analytics will give you:
- Where your visitors are coming from – very important if you’re targeting a specific audience like your local community.
- How your visitors found your website – this is very important for determining which of your efforts are paying off. It shows if visitors found your site directly, through a referral from another website, or social media like Facebook. More importantly, are they coming from Leafly? WeedMaps?
- Web browsers used by your visitors – knowing which web browsers your visitors use allows you to know which browsers you should be focusing on. Do they use Google Chrome, or do they use Safari? If they use Safari you could probably guess they’re iPhone users and tend to spend more on their tech products, so perhaps they can spend more on your cannabis as well.
- What keywords were used by visitors in the search engines to get to your website – this is very crucial for SEO. Knowing which keywords people are searching for to get to your site determines if you are on the right track and if your content is using the current terms.
2. Credibility.
This is why you want an online presence in the first place, probably the reason you found this blog post.
A website is a go-to stamp of approval, and people only buy from the dispensary they know, like and trust. So while it might be easy to say you don’t need a website because you have Leafly, the dispensary down the street might just be building more trust with their dispensary website and gaming Google search with better SEO.
3. Google Search.
Think about it. Where do you go when looking for a business locally? Not a Cannabis business, just a regular business. Do you open Leafly when you’re looking for a place to change tires? You probably search on Google. Most of society is already trained to just “google it”.
“3.5 Billion daily searches on Google show that most people turn to Google to find information.”
A website allows you to position yourself so people will find you when they search for your dispensary or the products you sell. This allows you to evenly compete with even larger websites. You can optimize your website for local searches to attract new patients in your area. Google might just be the number 1 way a Dispensary gets discovered!