Web Success: I don’t know everything and you don’t have to either.
This morning (at 7:30, aarghhh) I presented at the first meeting of the new Sandia B2B informal networking group. My topic was Succeeding in Today’s Wacky Web World - without blowing your brain or your budget. I started by saying, “I don’t know everything. If I did, I wouldn’t be here.” I then went on to assure the audience that they don’t have to know everything either in today’s Wacky Web World…get the basics and put them to work for you in your online business. (Technology should be a tool, not an “Oh My God. Now What?” stress-inducer.)
As is my habit these days, I gave them the 3.5 takeaways right up front (If you get nothing else out of this, remember these):
1. Search Engines Don’t Buy Anything (Sure, being ranked highly by the search engines is great…but what are the people going to find when they get to your site?)
2. Creative isn’t the same as good. (Web designers can build beautiful web sites, that don’t produce results. Better to be a little plain and able to do the job.)
3. A business card isn’t permission. (I give out a lot of cards…sorry, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be breathelssly awaiting your email blast or free eletter…and I’d bet most people feel the same way, with the possible exception of a few lonely shut-ins, who also look forward to junk mail…)
3.5 Sorry, you’ve got to get a little techie. (Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of anyone who claims he or she know the deep, dark techie stuff…rather it’s web site software or eletter packages.)
(See? Sandia folks - I told you’d I’d be blogging about the meeting and it took me about two minutes to add this new content to my site. The examples I used in the presentation came from webpagesthatsuck. Mystery Meat Navigation and lots more.)
Related Posts:
I Don’t Get Any Business From My Web Site
Small Biz: Make Time For Web Marketing
Don’t Hire An Ad Agency To Build Your Web Site
Tags: emarketing, web marketing, marketing troubleshooting, web site design
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November 11th, 2008 at 11:12 am
You really nailed it on the head about how web designers can produce a beautiful website that doesn’t sell at all. Many years ago I fell into that very trap. I think everyone new to the web does. Web designers are artists, not marketers. The biggest mistake that most web designers make is that they designs websites with the standard right or left sidebar (sometimes both) with many different links. I suppose that is ok if you are not trying to make a sale from your website. But if you want to make a sale from your website, then you need to design a “direct sales website”.
Direct sales websites do not have beautiful graphics. In fact most of them have very few graphics at all. Also, no more than one link/action per page. The entire website is focused on getting your web visitor to take one action and one action only on any given webpage. For example, if the purpose is to convert the visitor into a lead by getting them to sign up to your autoresponder in exchange for a free gift, then the only action for the visitor to take on the website should be a form to enter name, email address, and then a submit button. There should be no, About Us, Corporate Events, Mission Statement, Screen Shots, Gallery, Contact Us, Book Store, Awards, or any other links on that page but the single action you want your prospect to take.
If your purpose is to go for the direct sale with your website, then any graphics that you use on that website need to reinforce the marketing message or the single action that you want your prospect to take. In marketing and sales copy writing, a picture is not worth a thousand words.