Even today it’s still common for entrepreneurs, start ups – even very well-established businesses to pour huge amounts of time, energy and money into a new website. They sweat over every inch of the ‘look and feel’ taking months to make their site look and perform ‘just so’ – then…
…nothing.
It’s only then (that they are more-or-less forced) to learn about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Traffic and Content Strategy, Lead Generation and Sales Conversion.
They (or their designer) forgot about the ‘Honey’ – the stuff that attracts the right people (targeted traffic) to a site every day and what keeps them sticking around… and coming back. The stuff of subscribers, fans, new customers/clients, delegates, applications, registrations (the traffic, and the money).
The bigger problem now is that these types of websites often need to be more-or-less rebuilt from the ground up to incorporate SEO, Traffic and Content Strategy, Lead Generation and Sales Conversion.
The thing is – building your own professional web presence that can attract your ideal visitors (that’s subscribers, fans, new customers, clients, delegates, applications, registrations) isn’t as hard, technical or expensive as it’s made out to be – especially if you’re able to remove most of the trial and error before you start.
More on that in a moment, but if you have built a site (or had one built) that isn’t performing, you may not have to scrap it. Particularly if it has some highly-specialised functionality built into it that is tailored to your business (for example: a quoting system). It’s possible you can still leverage Content Marketing via a Blog and Social Media to drive traffic, leads and sales to your business.
Building (your own) professional looking, well branded web presence today (one that is capable of generating Traffic, Leads and Sales) actually isn’t that hard or expensive. You don’t need to be a web designer or developer – and you likely won’t even need one.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s possible to remove most of the trial and error before you start with a bit of guidance. To learn more, click here to get some great free training, and notifications of fresh, helpful posts sent straight to your inbox.
If this Post has helped you, or you know it will help others, feel free to share it using the social buttons beside and below, and your comments and questions are always welcome in the comments section below.
Mark Tillison says:
Well put, Dean.
There’s a bit of chicken-and-egg here. I’ve had too many disappointing discussions over the years with spritely, would-be entrepreneurs who just spent their savings on a web site which may or may not look amazing.
They ask, “can you run an AdWords campaign or get us top of Google?”.
“Yes. Of course. But no-one is searching for what you do”.
There follows an argument. I can’t help feeling like a shot messenger and feel a bit sorry for them.
Please people, just ask an agency for a little market research. They most likely won’t even charge you. Outline data can be produced in minutes and will tell you whether you’re on the money, or whether you’re most likely going to throw it away.
Dean Kendall says:
Spot on Mark. We are only ever minutes away from real answers, or at least a very good guide to what (or where) the ‘honey’ is for a particular market – as you say, a little research and you have a yes or no… or least you’ll have some fresh angles to think about. And my apologies for the delay in my reply, your comment slip past somehow. Thanks :-)