Web Strategies #19

How Your Web Site Works - Or The One Thing You Need Before You Talk To Your Web Designer

I’ve just written a talk on How To Create A Profitable Web Site And Not Lose Your Shirt. Of course, in the talk I cover many of the things I talk about in this newsletter.

However, writing this talk has highlighted for me that there is one important thing you need to do before you start talking to a web designer. And if you don’t do this one thing your web site is bound to fail.

Before you build a site you must have a good marketing plan. And if you do not, even if your web site design is really good looking, it will probably fail. Many readers probably have a marketing plan and have put a lot into a well thought out plan. But this really is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make.

One the one hand, a web site is the marketing tool of all marketing tools. It is one of the most effective ways to get your marketing message across. On the other, it is a myth that you put up a web site and people just find it on the web. The truth is that behind every successful web site there is a dedicated businessperson who is promoting it.

Click here to see a diagram of the Marketing Hub from Marketing Guru Robert Middleton. This diagram is one of my favorite little bits of marketing education. Once you see it, you don’t forget that your marketing is all working together.

When you look at it this way you see how the web site leverages or magnifies your other marketing efforts. And how your Web site does not work by itself. It works by making everything else work better.

If you are doing no marketing now, you’ll want to do some research on marketing on and offline. Then choose no more than one or two marketing strategies to learn and make your own.

You’ll have success with marketing if you take it one step at a time and one new strategy at a time. Choose a marketing strategy that plays to your strengths and that you like, whether it is being with other people or writing or organizing events.

Also ask what others in your profession typically do and don’t do? Not that you must do (or resist) what others are doing, but it may indicate what is successful. Or it might be an engrained convention that is begging to be tested by someone like you.

So what I’m saying is that everyone needs a marketing plan, but you get to pick your own formula. If you are a plumber or hairdresser you might use small ads in local papers that include your web address and a Yellow Pages ad or you might join some networking groups in your neighborhood.

Perhaps you are a contractor or a business coach and get most of your business by referral. You can list your site on your business cards, invoices, emails and brochures. Tell your satisfied customers that you'd be happy if they told people to visit your Web site when appropriate. When customers refer others they will tell them to check out your site.

So that's the long and the short of it. You need a marketing plan if you want to have a successful Web site. Otherwise, it doesn't matter how much money you chuck at your web designer, you'll never make a profit out of your site.

Two good resources for writing a marketing plan.

Guerrilla Marketing : Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business-- by Jay Conrad Levinson This book is ideal for many locally based retail, trade and service business. There is also a book from C. Levinson on Free Guerilla Marketing. Free or low cost marketing is often key to many independent businesses. One thing I learned from Levinson is that paid ads are expensive and often have one of the lowest returns for small businesses. There are better options to paid ads.

www.actionplan.com for the Info Guru Marketing Manual by Robert Middleton. This book has everything you need to start marketing your independent professional service business.

If you are a long term reader of Web Strategies, you know I mention the Info Guru Marketing Manual every few months. It gives me satisfaction to recommend this book to others as it helped us temendously to build our business.

Next article: 10 Ways To Promote Your Web Site Online

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