5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee

5 Easy Steps
to Make Your
Website
Your
#1 Employee

Advance Praise for
Five Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee

This book gives you a series of practical, proven strategies and techniques to increase your web sales faster than you ever thought possible.

– Brian Tracy

Steve Johnsen's lucid, reader-friendly book shows you how and why your website can become your top employee....Don’t miss this breakthrough book!

–
Steve Chandler
Author of
Reinventing Yourself

If you’re ready to really make your website work for you, then read and absorb the strategies in this brilliant book by my friend Steve Johnsen.

– James Malinchak
Featured on ABC’s Hit TV Show,
“Secret Millionaire”
Founder, www.BigMoneySpeaker.com

When I first heard Steve speak on this subject, I was so impressed by his simple, no-nonsense approach that I immediately sig
ned up for his boot camp. Then I ended up recommending his
Power Strategies to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee
boot camp to more than 4,000 of my friends and contacts. Now, finally, here is the information in book form!

In many ways, we have come full circle. Steve told me that he was inspired to write this book by attending one of my seminars, and I was inspired by Steve’s message to make better use of my website to grow my business.

In
Five Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee
, Steve breaks down, in very simple steps,
exactly
what you need to do to make your website your number 1 employee. In other words, he tells you how to have a website that actually makes money for you. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a business or a message that they need to get out to the world. Remember: You don't have to be good to start; you just have to start to be good!

– Joe Sabah,
Nationally recognized speaker, trainer, consultant, author, publisher
JoeSabah.com
SabahSpeaks.com
and
SabahRadioShows.com

Steve Johnsen makes me look like a hero when he works with the businesses I have referred to him. His core values, his high integrity, and his wealth of experience set him far apart from other web developers. Steve gains people’s respect and becomes a trusted advisor from the moment they see him in action. He loves to teach, and clearly explains how to make your website your Number
O
ne
E
mployee. But on top of that he brings his clients clarity on where they need to go to operate a profitable business.

It is obvious that Steve really knows his field. He has been on the Internet since 1984 and has grown multi-million dollar businesses. But beyond that, people can sense how truly caring Steve is, and they really appreciate his simple, practical explanations of what used to be a complicated topic. His book is full of wisdom and teaches business owners how to have a website that really makes money for the business.

Steve regularly serves as an advisor to other businesses within our Make it Fly organization, and dozens of business owners have expressed to me how much they appreciate Steve’s insights and wisdom. I strongly recommend Steve Johnsen and his book to help business owners with their business management and marketing challenges.

– David Block,
Founder of Make-it-Fly

Steve has got to be
the
#1 expert on business websites. He has taught me a lot about the importance of your website and what it’s doing for you, which is to make your business money. Finally, someone has actually explained all this mysterious technical “stuff” in terms that I can understand!

This book shows you, step by step, how to build a website that is strategic and makes your business money. The five steps are clearly laid out, easy to understand, and immensely practical. Steve’s formula for website design is absolutely brilliant. Every business should get a copy of this book.

– Tracy Dunagan, Founder of Impact Communications and Your Business Writing

I can testify firsthand that this formula works. Steve’s team did an amazing job putting together a website for us, and that website became our #1 employee. When the site launched, it was responsible for getting us more than a hundred thousand dollars in orders, and it helped our business make a quantum leap up to the next level. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who owns a business.

– Nannette Powell,
F
ounder of Tweetie Pie Bags

Steve’s
Five Steps
has definitely helped my business grow. Steve helped me figure out why my website was not producing—I was doing really well in the visual, verbal and functional departments, but some technical issues were holding me back from getting the leads I wanted. After Steve worked his magic, I began getting calls on a more regular basis. My business has definitely moved in the right direction since working with Steve. Don’t just read this book—study it and apply it, and it will help transform your business too!

– Michael Grossberg,
Spirited Images Photography
http://www.spiritedimages.com/

Steve, thanks for your contribution to the business community, especially through this book. Speaking from my years of designing and developing web experiences for clients, I can say you hit every important point and also caused me to resharpen my thinking. Every aspect of a website must behave purposefully. Your writing will help businesses focus on the aspects of their website that will provide a real return on investment.

– Dru Shockley,
President Founder,
Call to Action Alliance Inc.
calltoactionalliance.com

In the Venture Capital world we’re always looking for companies that have a solid marketing plan, and a great website is a big part of that picture. In
Five Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee
,
Steve Johnsen breaks down the critical elements to creating a web site that works for you. Regardless of your marketing strategy, be it social media, email marketing or face-to-face, at some point all of your marketing efforts will lead to the website and that s
ite needs to be able to move your clients and prospects towards the sale. In this book, Steve Johns
e
n demystifies the steps to making a truly effective site that gets the job done
.

– Peter Adams, MBA
Author of
Venture Capital for Dummies
Director, Rockies Venture Club
http://www.rockiesventureclub.org/

I can testify from personal experience that this works. My website sales went up 1000% after I worked with Steve. After reading this book, you will never look at your website the same way again. Steve draws on 20 years’ experience in Internet marketing to craft the most enlightening and informative approach to designing a website that actually works; i.e., a website that actually makes you money. This is a remarkable book, written by a remarkable individual, and worthy of serious consideration by anyone who has or wants a website.

– Tom Ninness,
Founder of Summit Champions and Author of
The 90 Day Journey to
Your Sales Success
www.SummitChampions.com

5 Easy Steps
to Make Your Website
Your #1 Employee

Simple Tips to Have
Your
Website
Actually Work for You to
Make You Money

Steve Johnsen, MBA

Centennial Publishing
Centennial, Colorado

Copyright © 201
4
Stephen Johnsen.

All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Centennial Publishing,
Centennial, Colorado.
www.centennialpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Editing by Tracy Dunagan
Book design by Haniel Hann
Book cover design by Haniel Hann

Electronic book edition

ISBN # 978-1-63473-001-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951905

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
First edition
October
, 2014
Second printing July, 2015

With Appreciation

To my wife Esther, who has supported me 200% through all of my endeavors;

To my parents, who set a shining example and inspired me my whole life;

To my coaches and mentors: Gary Barnes, Steve Chandler, and James Malinchak;

To my good friends and colleagues, Haniel Hann and Tracy Dunagan, without whom I would never be where I am today;

To my children, who put a smile on my face every day and make it all worthwhile;

And to you, my reader…and the many clients I have had the honor and privilege to serve;

Thank you so much…for everything!

Table of Contents

Forward by Gary Barnes ..... xvii

Chapter 1. Help! I’m a Business Owner and I Need a Website ..... 1

     What is an employee? ..... 3

     
No gimmicks ..... 4

     
No jargon ..... 6

     
High return on investment ..... 6

     
Your #1 employee ..... 10

Chapter 2. Five Common Myths, and the Real Reasons You Need a Website ..... 13

     
Myth #1: I need a website ..... 17

     
Myth #2: Websites are expensive ..... 18

     
Myth #3: Looks are everything ..... 19

     
Myth #4: We have to put everything on the site ..... 21

     
Myth #5: Build it and they will come ..... 23

     
The real reasons you need a website ..... 24

     
     
Image ..... 24

     
     
Get found ..... 27

     
     
Customers! ..... 28

Chapter 3. What is a Well-Built Website? ..... 31

     
The Five Steps ..... 32

     
Step 1. Purpose ..... 33

     
Step 2. Visual ..... 34

     
Step 3: Verbal ..... 36

     
Step 4: Functional ..... 38

     
Step 5. Technical ..... 40

Chapter 4. Step One: Define Your Website’s Purpose ..... 43

     
The lighting designer ..... 45

     
E-commerce with a purpose ..... 46

     
Selective SEO ..... 47

     
More examples of clear purpose ..... 48

     Action steps ..... 52

Chapter 5. Step Two: Establish Your Online Brand Visually ..... 56

     Remember your purpose ..... 57

     
Visual branding ..... 58

     
Design considerations ..... 59

     
Layout—Images, artwork, graphic design elements ..... 62

     
     
Make it in Modeling ..... 67

     
     
Say Cheese! ..... 68

     
     
Label printer ..... 68

     
     
Auctioneer ..... 69

     
Action steps ..... 70

Chapter 6. Step Three: Write Influential Content ..... 73

     
Built on your key messages ..... 74

     
Outside eyes ..... 75

     
Depth of understanding ..... 76

     
Critical areas to consider ..... 76

     
     
1. Know what you want ..... 76

     
     
2. Know what you bring ..... 77

     
     
3. Know your audience ..... 78

     
     
4. Tell a story ..... 80

     
     
5. Be consistent ..... 81

     
Action steps ..... 83

Chapter 6. Step Four: Functionality, Functionality, Functionality! ..... 86

     
Rule #1: Be easy to use ..... 86

     
Rule#2: Intelligent layout ..... 88

     
Rule #3: Easy site navigation and access ..... 91

     
Rule#4: Use hyperlinks wisely ..... 94

     
Action steps ..... 95

Chapter 8. Step Five: Let’s Speak “Geek”: Technical Aspects of a Great Website ..... 98

     
HTML/CSS code ..... 100

     
     
Overnight visibility ..... 103

     
Titles and meta tags ..... 105

     
     
Make them unique ..... 107

     
Keywords ..... 108

     
Hosting ..... 109

     
Action steps ..... 114

Chapter 9. Putting It All to Work ..... 117

     
Take action now ..... 119

     
1. Decide whom you’re targeting ..... 119

     
2. Determine your website’s goals ..... 121

     
3. Who are you competing against? ..... 123

     
4. Hire the right company to build your website ..... 125

     
5. Plan your follow-up campaign ..... 127

     
6. Who will manage your campaign? ..... 129

A Note from Steve ..... 130

Free Bonus Resources ..... 133

About the Author ..... 135

If you enjoyed
Five Easy Steps
..... 136