5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee (10 page)
Read 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee Online
Authors: Steve Johnsen
Tags: #Business, #Marketing, #Web design
One of the main factors that determine the success of your search engine optimization campaign
—
and your website
—
is the group of keywords that you choose to target.
You want to ensure that as you choose the keywords you will weave throughout the website content on all your pages, you keep several important things in mind.
I will cover those now.
First of all, identify what your potential customer is actually looking for. (There’s not much point in ranking first for a term that no one searches on! All successful SEO and PPC campaigns start with some analysis of your online market, so that you can design a meaningful strategy.)
Secondly, look for underserved or overlooked niches in your marketplace based on competition, search volume, and market opportunities for each keyword.
In defining keywords, you also need to be specific, and make sure each word relates to your topic or business.
Many websites make the mistake of being too broad, general or ambiguous, which impedes the success of your SEO.
You also want to be
aware
of terms that face an extremely high level of competition.
Examples of this might be, “doctor,” “insurance,” “lawyer,” etc.
Now, I admit this is easier said than done
…
but a good SEO expert will be able to help determine the best ways to choose the keywords that maximize your opportunities.
For many people, choosing where their website is hosted comes down to one simple thing: cost.
I can say right off the bat, choosing where your site is hosted on price alone is a
huge
mistake.
The fact is, where your website is hosted makes a difference.
I’m going to get into the how and why behind that in minute, but first let’s discuss what happens when someone pulls up your URL.
Here’s the simple version:
When someone
clicks on your URL or types it into their browser,
their computer reaches out to a DNS server, whi
ch is essentially a phone book…
a directory of where websites live. It then
retrieves the
IP address of the computer, or server, that your website is sitting on, and it then goes to that web
host to
request the files that constitute your
web
page
.
Now let’s get back to that area where your website is hosted, and why it matters.
The vast majority of websites are hosted on a server that is hosting dozens, hundreds, even thousands of websites.
I’m going to refer to that area in which your site and those hosted with it “live” as a “neighborhood.”
Now, there are good neighborhoods and there are bad neighborhoods.
And it really, really matters w
hich one your website lives in.
I’m going to use a real
-
life analogy to illustrate why this matters and how it impacts how your website is treated.
Many years ago, I lived with my wife in Anaheim, California and I was doing some non
-
profit volunteer work.
I didn’t make a large income, and
we lived in a small apartment…
not much to speak of.
One day we had a break-
in, and when the police arrived to investigate, we found ourselves being interrogated,
rather than being
treated with respect and helpfulness.
A year later, I had transitioned back into the biotech industry, and we bought a house about a mile away from the apartment, in a much more affluent neighborhood.
While living there, my car got broken into, and when the police arrived on the scene, they bent over backwards to provide protection, safety and comfort.
What caused the police to treat us so vastly different in each scenario was clear.
It was our neighborhood.
They made assumptions about us, and acted differently, due to assumptions they made about the neighborhood we lived in.
The same goes for search engines.
They choose how to “treat” your website in large part based on where it “lives.”
The truth is that to be treated well, you need to be in good company, in a good neighborhood, with good neighbors.
You can imagine there are a wide range of types of website neighbors: do you want your site to live next to a website containing explicit language or graphics,
a website that has
malware, or a
“spam” site
?
Trust me: you don’t.
You also want to consider the number of neighbors you have in your host neighborhood.
There is an area of my city where a lot of housing has been recently developed, and there’s only one major service street in and out of that area. The traffic in the mornings is horrendous!
It’s the same with your website.
You
r site
can be on a computer with 3,000 other websites, 10,000 other websites, or you can be on a computer with 5 other websites.
Have you ever had 20 programs open on your computer and everything starts to slow down? That’s essentially what happens when there is too much hosted on one server.
How much faster and more responsive is your website going to be if there is a smaller number on that server? The answer is, much faster.
And that speed of retrieving your site directly impacts your users’ experience on your website.
When a search engine indexes your site, they will pull up all of your web pages in a few seconds. If your server can’t handle the load, the search engine will simply go away and try again some other time…maybe. Having a web host that offers
dedicated
resources to serving up your web pages goes a long way toward helping yo
u get a good ranking on Google.
No Free Lunch
Watch out for web hosting providers that offer “unlimited” services
, such as unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, etc. Disk space, bandwidth, and CPU cycles cost the hosting company money. Therefore, the
only
way a hosting company can be successful offering “unlimited” services is if all their customers are not! There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
A buffet restaurant can offer “all-you-can-eat” because there is a limit to how much any person can eat in one sitting. A successful website, though, can use 100,000 times the bandwidth than that of a failed website. Know this for certain:
If your website becomes successful and starts to use a lot of resources, the “unlimited” hosting provider will ask you to upgrade or simply shut down your site. And, meanwhile, the rate-limited service will hurt your chances of
being
successful in the first place.
Best advice: Pay more for a hosting service that provides a fixed amount of disk space and bandwidth
that is all yours to use
, like this one from Cloud Mountain Marketing:
http://number1employee.com/services/web-hosting/
When you go about building your website, you must prioritize making it technically effective at its very foundation. If you don’t, the rest hardly matters.
Take the following steps as you go about creating your website.
Make sure your
HTML
code is readable to humans.
That’s the best way to ensure it will be readable to the search engines.
Refer back to the discussion on
title tags and
meta tags in this chapter.
The rule of thumb is, make sure your
title tags and
meta tags relate to the actual content on your website, and don’t be repetitive page after page.
Each page’s content is unique, and your
titles and
meta tags should reflect that.
Regarding keywords, the main message is, choose your words carefully!
Again, refer to the tips administered in this chapter: you must work with someone who knows how to choose keywords, and/or become educated on key word research yourself.
Remember that “where you live” matters.
Choose where your website is hosted carefully, because it matters.
Now you’ve been versed in what it means to have a technically sound website.
This knowledge, if used, is powerful.
I hope this has dispelled some myths and solved some mysteries.
In moving forward, it’s simply a matter of sticking to the action steps, and applying what you now know—so you can create a website capable of making money for your business.
Now we’ve seen that
you
can
have a website that actually makes you money, that returns much, much more than you invest in it, and that functions as your Number 1 Employee.
Regardless of your experience in the past, it is possible to have a website that works for you to make you money as long as you apply the 5-steps presented in this book.
It starts with clearly defining your business
purpose
for your website—what do you want your website to do for you to grow the business?
Then, it’s as simple as following the formula for website success:
- Strong
visual
design that communicates your brand and personality and makes people want to do business with you; - Great
verbal
messages that catch people’s attention and get them to take action; - A
functional
design that creates a great user experience and gently leads people where you want them to go; - And the
technical
, “under-the-hood” aspects such as good code, SEO, and high-quality web hosting
.
If you have a dream of having your website working for you 24/7 to grow your business, you now have a clear road map to get there.
If you want something you have never had, be prepared to do something you have never done.
We know that this formula works, because we have clients who use it every day to get huge benefits, and we have seen it work for hundreds of websites.
The fastest way to get started is simply to get started.
The fastest way to get started is simply to get started.
Here are some simple action steps you can take to get you moving in this process. When you work with us, we will spend dozens of hours to help you find the ideal answers to these questions, but you can also work through them on your own.
Before you design a website, you must know who your target client is.
When I speak at a business convention, whether it be a keynote address or a breakout session, business owners often say to me, “Steve, how can I work with you?”
Because I
have to be selective about who
I
work with,
I
have developed a clear profile of what
my
target client looks like.
My
ideal prospect is a business owner
or senior level manager
responsible for business growth. In addition,
I am
looking for people like this:
- Ha
ve
an established business that provides a full-time income - You strongly desire to have a website that functions as your #1 employee
- You are tired of having a website that does little for your business, and would like a website that really makes you money
- You are willing to invest in your business in order to have it grow
- You
a
re willing to devote some time to the consulting process so that we can develop a customized marketing strategy - You or your staff are willing to provide input into your website’s content, up front and potentially on an ongoing basis
- You don’t want to spend your time managing your website
- You want the absolute best people in the industry to build and manage your website for you
Since we have this profile in mind, we do not need our website to appeal to people who are thinking about starting a business, who are converting their hobby into a business, or who are satisfied with their current level of income and have no desire to grow. We can focus all our energy on appealing to the right client.
My ideal client is:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Once you know who your target client is, you then need to determine what your website can and should do to help you grow the business. Website goals vary greatly from business to business. Here are some examples of valid website goals.
For an
engineering firm
, to get prospective clients to pick up the phone and call.
For a
golf supply store
, to sell products online.
For an
orthodontist
, to get prospective patients to book an appointment for an initial consultation.
For an
author/speaker/info marketer
, to build a tribe of followers that will be eager to buy additional materials.
For a
photographer
, to showcase their work so that prospective clients will be convinced to hire.
For a
commercial printer
, to generate leads or requests for a quote.
For a
restaurant
, to provide location and hours, menus, testimonials, and to allow online reservations and takeout orders.
For a
data service
, to add online subscribers.
These are just a few simple examples.
The possibilities and combinations are endless, but there are probably only a few goals that are the best use of the website for
your
business.
My
website’s goals are
:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Two men were
lying in their sleeping bags in a tent
when they saw a bear come crashing toward their camp site. One man immediately started
running away, while his companion pulled on his boots and began lacing them up.
“What are you doing?” the man shouted to his friend. “You can’t outrun the bear!”
“I don’t have to,” his friend shouted back. “I just have to outrun you!”
When we are building a website that will be your number 1 employee, we invest a lot of time in studying the industry and your competition. This tells us two things. (1) What are the current trends and design styles in the industry, and (2) What do we have to do to create a site that will blow away all your competition?
When you look around at your competition, think about w
hat will set your site apart from your competitors
. Also notice w
hat some of them
are
doing that
might be a great idea that you can adopt.
My website will be outstanding when:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
4. Hire the right company to build your website
It is impossible for one person to be really good at visual design, branding, developing key marketing messages, writing compelling copy, designing the site’s user experience, coding the site, performing search engine optimization, and developing the campaigns to bring potential customers to your site. A team approach is always the best approach for building a website.
It is also very hard to go out and hire a designer, copy writer, programmers, etc., and expect them to work cohesively to bring about a great end product.
A good team has a strong leader who keeps everyone focused on the goal—a website that will make money for you. The members of a good team understand that achieving that goal is much more important that merely being good at their individual craft. And w
ith a good team, the value is always much more than the sum of the parts.
As I was writing this chapter, I was talking to a friend who is currently involved in a major website project that is coming unglued. The client had hired a great marketing expert from Chicago to write the copy, a terrific designer from Texas, an excellent programmer from Ohio, and an SEO company from another part of the country. Each one of the vendors is good at what they do, but no one is in charge to make sure the website sticks to its primary goal. And there is no one who is really able to mediate between the conflicting demands of say, the copy writer and the SEO guy, or the designer and the coder.
This project is like a car without a driver!
When you are hiring someone to build your website for you, it is helpful to be very clear what criteria you will use to select the firm. Be sure you hire someone who tailors the website to your business goals. Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you ask someone to build you a website, and they simply say, “Okay,” then that’s probably not someone you want to hire! A good firm will spend a lot of time understanding your business and your goals before they start in on a project.
Also, when you hire a web firm, don’t just look at the design portfolio. Obviously, if their designs are terrible, you don’t want to hire them, but a good firm can produce designs in many different styles.
Their mindset about how the website can benefit your business is much more important than the styles of designs they have created for other clients
. Your business is unique, so your web design should also be unique.
My web company needs to:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
The best time to think about how you will get people to the website is before the website is ever built. What strategies will you use to bring people to your site?
When we work with you as our client, we do not want to build a site and then leave you on your own—“high and dry” so to speak. We also do not want to build you a 50 foot bridge across a 60 foot river. To us, a website project is the start of an ongoing partnership, with the goal of making you money and growing your business.
For some types of businesses, social media may be a great medium to do that. For other types of businesses, social media may not be that effective.
For most businesses, some level of search engine optimization will be necessary to maximize your website’s earning potential. Understanding who your target client is and their online shopping habits will go a long way toward determining how you will “market” your website.
The top ways I can bring people to my site are:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
The most important thing is to begin. Fear of failure can immobilize you, even with a great idea....Fear of failure paralyzes people and makes failure certain.
– Dan Miller
Lastly, make sure you know
who
is going to manage your website and execute your well-thought-out marketing campaigns. The best plan will not work if you don’t have the right people in place to follow it!
Some companies like to manage this in-house, but most of our clients prefer to have an outside professional firm manage this for them. They also find that they usually get better results that way!