Throw Away Thursday is our opportunity to carefully examine (and learn from) those things that cost business owners wasted dollars, hours and effort. Today’s focus: how to know when your website is a waste.
Now, you should know that I do not make money when I recommend a website overhaul. Not one penny. I refer this work out and — in some cases, for private clients — I pay for this website overhaul myself.
I’m no website wizard. In fact, my ONLY assessment of your website is related to its ability to capture and convert leads.
That’s it and that’s all. And really, that’s all that matters.
For the record, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve made a website overhaul a condition of my willingness to work with a client. Twice, this requirement has caused quite a bit of friction and push back. Once, the owner’s husband had created the website (oops!) and she just loved it. (She DID end up losing the website when she came to terms with the fact that she’d love — more — to see her site making money!) The other, when the owner thought I didn’t bring up the website suggestion gingerly enough. =) Um…. tender, gently massaged suggestions aren’t generally what you find here! =)
Either way, your website can either be an incredible investment or a throw away waste. Here’s how to know if your website is the waste category:
- If your website doesn’t clearly speak to your target market — in a way that allows them to know both 1) that you are speaking to them specifically AND 2) that you are THE go to solution for them, you’re wasting money. This has to do with positioning, specialization, and — of course — copy.
OH MY GOSH. I almost forgot!! I just hired a copy intern…. Someone who will write copy for you — for MUCH LESS than my own fees — but under my direct supervision. His focus — initially — will be on regular, hot content for your blog, bio / about me pages, and the like. No sales pages right now. But, that will come. PLEASE message me (michelle -at- womenwhowow.com) if you’d like to discuss a copy project.
- If your website doesn’t collect leads for you, you may as well take it down. Seriously. A website that doesn’t collect leads for you is like an employee who shows up and does nothing. Your site CAN and SHOULD be like a well trained employee that generates interest, baits the right market, educates them regarding working with you AND collects their name and contact information so you can continue to market to them in the future. I use www.aweber.com on my site to collect leads. But, use whichever autoresponder you are drawn to using.
- Finally, if your website is hard to navigate, or has NO call to action, it’s actually working against you. Save the $2.99 a month — or whatever you’re paying for hosting — and take it down. Don’t allow it to continue to cost you money when it has no ability to earn you any.
One of my go to web heroes is Roxanne of www.rogographicsinc.com. One of the MOST PROFITABLE things she does with business owners (profitable for THEM) is something she calls a Profit Percolator Web Therapy Session. This is where Roxanne applies her own business and internet savvy to YOUR SITE each and every month. She works with her clients to look at site visits, clicks, conversion rates…. and makes actionable suggestions regarding content and navigation so that your site is “trained” to be more and more profitable each and every month. (Please email her at roxanne (at) rogographicsinc.com for more information about this.) Here are some of her suggestions for making your website produce a profit:
You want your website to engage people to hang around and visit for a while and for them to follow a flow of information that leads them to the decision that says either I want to know more and they contact you , or this is a perfect fit for me let me buy now.
Websites are never a one and done kind of expense it’s really like having virtual employee that never stops working for you, so the questions becomes how well have you trained your employee? Don’t be the company that sent your employee to training for 6 weeks and then never evaluate how well they are performing. Enter: Roxanne’s Profit Percolator Web Therapy Session. (That last part was from me!)
I hope this helps guys! Don’t have a website that’s not working its virtual butt off for you. Websites are too easy to “fix” to have them be a big fat Throw Away Thursday! =)
