Today we’d like to introduce you to Khara Wolf.
Hi Khara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Many businesses go through transitions. Websites by Khara is no exception. I began as a freelance graphic designer in 2013, which very quickly expanded into website design, SEO, and other marketing services.
After the Covid pandemic, the industry shifted. Small businesses had begun implementing much of their own digital marketing. Online tools became more robust. Some companies hired full-time employees for positions that were previously filled with contractor work because their marketing efforts were now primarily online.
So I shifted my services as well. I narrowed down my scope of work to focus exclusively on Squarespace websites so that business owners could have professionally-designed and developed websites without ongoing maintenance costs. I was tired of my clients struggling to perform updates, and I much preferred designing on the Squarespace platform (once their Fluid Engine editor came out in 2022).
And then AI was introduced more heavily into the “mainstream” tech industry in 2024.
My business and agency has shifted more in the past two years (alone) than the previous 11 years combined, and continues to change daily.
This phenomenon is happening across almost all industries, but in the tech industry, it’s aggressive. My services are still focused on Squarespace website design and SEO services, but ongoing AI integration has become a daily part of maintaining my business.
Today, I my business model includes time spent building AI systems and agents that help me run my business more efficiently and effectively, as well as keeping up with the best way to use AI to deliver websites and SEO services to my clients.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like most small business owners, the first 3 years were a struggle. It took that amount of time to build the business and start acquiring regular leads. For a freelancers or agencies, lead generation is typically the most difficult speed bump in the early years.
I was finally able to kick start my lead generation with some local workshops, cold calls, and referrals, but I almost threw the towel in right before that! Over the years I’ve continued to present workshops, build a robust partner network, and work on my own SEO. This created a steady lead generation flow that has sustained my business to this day.
The second struggle is one most small business owners don’t speak about. What happens when you have too many clients, but lack the internal structure to handle the new volume?
Getting a business off the ground is definitely the most difficult part of the journey, but once you get going, if you hit a high volume before your business has the internal structure to sustain that volume, that can also bottleneck your efforts.
I was stuck for quite some time trying to work out the best way to handle a higher volume and ultimately scale my business. For service providers, you either hire help and continue to increase volume, or you can reduce volume and charge more.
Instead of expanding into a large agency, I expanded into premium services and now work with corporations and businesses of all sizes to help companies not only grow, but remove bottlenecks and scale their growth as well.
As you know, we’re big fans of Websites by Khara. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
What sets me apart is that I believe in 100% SEO transparency.
SEO can be a fantastic way to build a business (it’s worked wonders for my own business), but it’s not right for everyone. And I’ll be honest about that in my conversations with prospective clients.
There are a lot of SEO “scammers” in the industry. It’s a real problem and it gives the service a bad rap.
We all get the daily emails claiming our site “looks good but is getting no traffic”. Some full-sized agencies charge excessive monthly fees for generic reports and jargon that makes the business owner feel like they have no idea what’s going on. I’ve also seen agencies deliver traffic (as promised), but the business owner is $10,000 into the service and hasn’t seen any real increase in revenue.
SEO marketing does not need to be like this.
I believe SEO can, and should be, be explained in plain English.
I believe SEO should only be offered when the business can truly make money back from the service (ROI).
I believe SEO should be part of a bigger marketing picture.
In order to make real money, the increase in traffic from SEO has to be the “right traffic” and it has to convert. I have found that in order to implement SEO services that move the needle, we also have to improve website conversion rates, look at the data and analytics for what is (or isn’t) working (channels and sources), and look at the business as a whole, including profit margins and long term goals.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
One of the reasons I switched over to Squarespace as a website platform (exclusively) is because of the community. The amazing people in the community, and the resources and wisdom they have shared over the years, has by far been the biggest driver of success behind my business today.
For me, mentors and community support came from a variety of sources, and I am currently part of more than one community and/or community group.
I’ve met many of my mentors, colleagues, and partners through courses that had a community component, Facebook groups (especially smaller paid/premium ones), Mastermind groups I’m now part of (or co-founded), and social media platforms (just chatting in the messages).
While this isn’t always an option, attending networking events can also work for a lot of people. This might be a one-time conference in your area, a larger convention you travel to, or an evening networking social event nearby.
My community is entirely online, but another options is to search your area for Meetups. Here in my area there aren’t any Squarespace Meetups, but I have seen WordPress groups, so if it’s an option, those can be really rewarding as well.
Pricing:
- SEO One-Time Audit & Strategy – Contact for current pricing
- Squarespace SEO Growth Services – Contact for current pricing
- Squarespace Website Design – Contact for current pricing
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.websitesbykhara.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/websitesbykhara
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/websitesbykhara
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kharawolf/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@websitesbykhara
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/websites-by-khara-durango
- Other: https://www.kharawolf.com
