For some people, the idea of having a website is very exciting. For those that have not had an online web presence can be a daunting experience. This is because there is a misconception that all of a sudden I’ll be exposed to the millions and I want it to all look good before I go live.
But the reality of the situation is that it doesn’t work that way. Yes it’s possible for millions to find you but that does not happen overnight. This is a false perception (in the case of a brand new project)
You see, online its a mind field, there is so much information available to people and initially, there is no reason for people to know who you are.
Yes, your friends and family or people who know of you will visit your site to check you out, to support etc. But in most cases, these people are not your target audience. Some may be but in most cases not.
When you first launch a website, it has not domain authority. Google has no idea who you are and there frankly there are not enough pathways or channels that lead back to your site.
The analogy I always use is to get customers to imagine that there is a massive ocean and you have just brought an island in the middle of nowhere which has huge potential.
How will people get to that island?
If they don’t know about it how will they know where to go?
If there are no roads, no boats, planes, submarine how will people get there?
They need to know you exist right?
Sites like google give you your first lifeline. What they say/require is for your site to have clean code and relevant content. They also give you the ability to create sitemaps and submit them to search engine so that your sites can at least get indexed.
Its got a lot faster but to get indexed properly can still take a bit of time. In some case, it can still take a few weeks to even rank for your main keywords depending on the level of competition on that word. If you have something unique like your name and your domain is your name then this can get indexed quicker.
The next thing search engine do is run algorithms to initially determine what you are all about so that can start to serve your site to people who may be looking for your products and services.
So then think about this, if your content is not strategically written in a way that is useful for your target audience how will Mr google for example know what you are all about?
If your pages, URLs, content is not written in a search-friendly way, your site’s ranking is going to suck organically. so to won’t rank where you need it to.
Because of indexing capabilities, these become the first channel/pathway to allow people a way to get to your site.
In my digital agency business, we’ve worked with hundreds of companies where we installed stats on all of them.
We monitored them over time and I can tell you right away you can see from the data which sites are pulling in organic traffic and which are not.
If you have just a broacher website, these days these sites will not pull hardly anything. If the topic of your site is generic you will find it really hard to get any traffic at all (if it just sits there doing nothing).
I kid you not when you look at the stats and data it’s shocking.
This is why we know that when you launch a website initially on its own, it will get hardly any traffic at all.
The false expectation on the client’s side is that they think they will get all these new people looking at them but it’s not true because they have not fully understood the reasoning behind this.
I’ve had to explain this to people from day one saying don’t expect any traffic straight out of the box if you have not done any marketing, pre-work, launches etc.
A website just put out there as a broacher website will do nothing for your business online. The only advantage is that you now have a domain to add to your business card or share on social media so that people can now at least find out a bit about you and your services.
For an initial step to having this listed on a business card with a proper domain name and domain-related email is fantastic for offline activities to be able to share more about your self with people you meet and interact with offline. A huge presentation for business is still down offline so do not be under the illusion that you must be 100% online-focused.
The first thing people will do is google you. And if you are nowhere to be found this will work against you.
So as a minimum having some presence online can work for all your offline activities and way to send people you have interacted with somewhere.
The whole lead generation is another conversation, this is all about the first contact lol.
So don’t be folded into thinking that your site will be pulling thousands right out of the box, or that it will be indexed at the top of Google.
This is also is another misconception. I’ve heard so many web companies say yeah it will be ranked on the 1st page of google. And people get excited thinking its all over this is going to be amazing… but what they don’t know is what keywords will you be ranked for? Are they just ranked for things which are to low to attract any significant traffic or ranked for things which are not related or useful in any way,
That’s why it’s important to think about how you will actually get traffic to the site, what’s the purpose of your site?.
It is just to showcase your work so you can share it with people that fine as a starting point.
But if you want it to actually work for you and your business then you have to think strategically. You have to think about your target audience and their needs, you have to think about blogging as a minimum for example.
Creating your own content is the cheapest most cost-effective way to get the ball rolling. Blogging, for example, is a long term strategy for organic growth but its one of the best places to start.
When I said earlier we use to ad stats to all sites. We used to look at the sites and see how they are doing. And see which ones that where ranking organically
And without any ad spend were the ones that had consistent, regular and unique content updates, these sites just did allot lot better.
Just in case the word blog jars your state because surprisingly for many it still does, that look on peoples faces when I tell them to blog is priceless lol.
I tell people to just replace the word blog with, content, articles, news, how to’s etc it’s just regular content you would be creating around your niche topic.
The sites that had blogs with regular consistent updates were just doing better than the ones without.
A broacher site without any activity may get you, 30 unique visitors, a month, that’s like 1 a day, which is nothing.
Online its all about numbers, its a numbers game with industry averages of 1-5%. Meaning if 100 people came to your site only about 1-5 will take a look. Which is madness
Obviously the percentage can be higher depending on the niche
But sites with blog content were pulling in much more traffic because more pages are getting indexed, the titles were written in a way that was useful for readers… eg if you look at how you are now asking questions to Siri and Alexa etc means if you write in a way that people are searching will just help your site over others.
For example, one client is pulling in 30k+ visitors a month just because they have been blogging. (This can take time as you need to build domain authority, site authority, regular content and become a trusted source.) But
I was just sharing this to show comparisons
It’s unfortunate that a lot of people out there are still not aware of the importance of content and content strategy. (There are many other ways too but for this post it’s about getting started)
Most web companies don’t educate the client, they basically just ask the client what they want and then deliver.
I know as I use to do this too. It’s only when many many years ago when I started to look at the data did I start to question it all. It made me aware that most peoples websites flop because they don’t know what to do next, what direction to go in. The ones that listen and take action excel, the ones that don’t seem to move much.
Their thinking is I have a website why is this not working?
And that’s because there is no strategy and no big-picture thinking behind it.
I always strongly recommend having a strategy in place first. Map out the whole customer journey. Look deep into your business, the different product ladder of services you provide and when to best present these options to clients. When you have all that in place then the goal is clear and you’ll know what content to create and when to use it.
These days your website needs to be part of your overall business. You need a digital strategy. The way things works have changed massively, a simple broacher web site is very limited in how it can help, its main thing for you would just be a basic web presence.
It uses to be about websites, then it uses to be about sales funnels, now it’s about ecosystems. It’s no longer about individual things in isolation, but all about your overall digital strategy and how it all fits together in the big picture of things, its holistic in approach.
Some of you may be thinking, Well we’ll just do SEO and Social media to drive traffic.
But again this too falls short at times because most people are blindly just chucking stuff out there with no measurement of return on investment. They just hear the next thing and just try whatever hoping and prying.
But they never take time to think of their message, who are they trying to serve, what are the things their target audience really need. Everyone is just trying to do the same as every ones else instead of really focusing on what problem they are solving.
For example, I have a methodology called the digital SIMAC method in which there are 3 levels and 4 steps in each. And a website is step 6 in a 12 step process.
Social media fall under step 8 for example and a website falls under step 6 so basically this means there are 5 steps that come before you would build out your website. These include the problem, the solution, the business, the brand, the sales funnel and then website.
There is a lot of groundwork that needs to be done ideally before you build out a website especially if you are serious about building an online business. More so one that utilises both on and offline processes to have a more complete business pathway to achieve your goals. I won’t go into this too much here as I’ll be talking about methodology in future post and episodes.
As you can see from just some of the things I’ve covered here that perhaps there more to just having a website?
Perhaps there’s more thought that needs to go into this?
So many times when I’ve mapped out the whole strategy of where you are and where you want to be and then the path to take, really helps create clarity. It can be daunting but it’s real.
There is too much hype on the internet about click button profits overnight riches. But they never tell you it can take 3, 5, 10 years of blood sweat and tears for overnight success. Allot depends on you as an individual and the mindset you hold and the people you interact with.
If you don’t believe me check it out for your self, to the research allot fo business that has been successful online have been at it for years. It can take years to hit millions.
Don’t be fooled or deceived.
I’m only sharing because it happened to me too, I got caught up in all this online nonsense of how to make 30k in 5mins, they never tell you how much time and energy they put in before that point., its just marketing speak
The Time taken to do the research, to create your offering, to brand it, to market and position it, to find JV partners, to launch it, to spend money on adverts etc etc etc can take months.
It’s all requires strategic planning. And it’s better to be upfront so to manage expectations in an authentic way.
Best advice is map it out all out first, draw out the process , create a clear path for your clients, create a Busines process you can follow as a complete system and not just one thing like a broacher website in isolation to all other steps but to looks at the overall business and where your website fits into it.
Like I said if the site is just for initial positioning then that is fine too, but understand that having a digital strategy , a blueprint will help you navigate and get to your goals quicker than trying to figure it all out on the fly, doing patchwork as you progress, it just causes friction and just takes longer to action. If you map it out first it works better for your overall business.
What if I take the wrong path I hear some of you say, and that’s a good question too. That’s why you have an MVP (minimum, viable, product) as this allows you to test a market before you get going, or to start and not get too deep in because finding out the market does not want it. More on MVP in a future episode.
If you are not sure, do head over to Supercharge Your Website and on the site, you will find a link to the website content planning guide/download. Check it out and if you have any question feel free to reach out.
I hope this has been useful… and until next time have a great time…
Conclusion: The Magic Pill That Does Not Exist
Learn how the promise of less work and less effort for your customer will bring more sales and more money for you!
The All-in-One Easy Button
Everyone is looking for a magic pill…for a longer life, more youthful looking skin, a fat bank account.
(Heck, I’d buy a “magic pill” to solve my most pressing problem, wouldn’t you?)
But, as we all know, there are no magic pills. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t influence the consumer’s insatiable need for a magic pill by crafting your marketing message to solve all their problems in a single stroke like this:
- “When you hire a babysitter from the XYZ Employment Agency, you get a nanny, a housekeeper, AND an accomplished cook for one low daily rate.”
- “Purchase a 3-piece XYZ Weekend Set and we’ll include an overnight bag, luggage tags AND a leather passport case. All YOU need to bring is your tickets!”
Magic Moment
Sometimes people are looking for a magic pill to do everything. Other times that need a magic pill that will do one thing NOW. Alka-Seltzer promises instantaneous relief for heartburn sufferers. Netflix offers movies when you want them on demand.
If you can’t promise instant results with your product, offer fast results. For example: “When you order online, we’ll ship your XYZ Herb Garden to you via overnight mail so you can have rosemary, basil, and oregano in time for Sunday dinner.”
Food for Thought: Reverse Psychological Tactic
How do you like this one: Admit to your customer that there is no magic pill:
“Dear Friend, I’m sorry to say there’s no magic pill for repairing bad credit after bankruptcy. You can’t just read my book and expect the banks to welcome you again with open arms. “But you CAN expect to get the tools you need to take the steps you MUST in order to…”
Get the picture?
Digital Business Coach | Web Revenue Strategist | Award-Winning IT Consultant | Author
Transform Your Skills, Knowledge and Experience Into a Thriving Online Business
Get Expert Guidance and Bespoke Growth Strategies, Meticulously Crafted to Align with Your Individual Journey as a Subject Matter Expert.
With over 18 years of industry experience in business and personal development, I’ve successfully been working with coaches, consultants and authors set up the right systems and implement strategic content strategies to start, grow and scale their businesses online with automation, digital products and services. (To work with Jatinder – click here)