ireckon blog

Secrets and Superman

Posted by: Emily on 18 Apr 2008 @ 12:44 pm Category: Marketing

I recently came across a web development company offering a FREE CD (normally worth around $100) that would unveil the Secrets to a Successful Website. Given that I work in the industry, come from a marketing background and am generally inquisitive – I had to find out what these secrets were. I ordered my CD.

The CD arrived promptly, was well branded and came with some print material about the company – good start. As I listened to the CD – I found more than a few contradictions in what I was being told.

Firstly – I had ordered a CD that had promised to give me the Secrets to a Successful Website. The very first thing I heard – was that I was going to learn the Secrets to Making My Website Make Money. Now – I see a fundamental difference between these 2 statements.

Not all websites are created with the aim of making money. Take the Mamre Association for example – we created a website that would provide many useful functions for them – none of which involve purchasing or ordering, in fact no money changes hands at all. If someone from the Mamre Association had ordered this CD, they would have switched off within seconds.

I then listened to The Voice tell me that I needed to define my target market. Valid point, I thought to myself – although if you need to be told to define your target market – you are probably not at the stage where you should be investing in a website.

Some great advice followed. I was asked what sort of business processes could be automated. Yes – this is extremely important for any business. If you can spend less time on tasks that CAN be done with little or none of your own involvement – you have more time to focus on the tasks that require your time and attention – and ultimately – the tasks that make a real difference to what you can achieve. The goal is to automate your processes – while ensuring that they are still working for you. When the cracks show – people will notice. I was told that ‘this style of email is an example of automating your business processes’. Now although there was an option for me to learn about these secrets by receiving an email and downloading the audio file – I opted for the CD – delivered by Post. This automated process has failed.

Next secret – how to use my website as an effective sales tool. I’m slowly getting over the fact that these secrets are about making my website make money – and not about it being successful – and it pops up again. I agree to turn my inner cynic off – and roll with it. The Voice goes on to tell me about ‘asking for a response from my customer’ I call this – a call to action; encouraging users to interact with my website and follow through with an action that I want them to. Now this action could be making a purchase – don’t get me wrong – but it could also be entering into a competition, leaving contact details, signing up to receive my newsletter, providing an opinion on a particular topic etc.

The Voice goes on to tell me about how some businesses invest in a website because they think they SHOULD have one. And that as a result they end up spending money on a site that does nothing for them. I agree – although The Voice has moved on to talking about offering value to increase revenue – and I’m still thinking about how many websites are unsuccessful as a result of poor planning. Decide what you want your website to do – it’s pretty simple – and then decide on actions for how you will achieve your goals, and decide how you will measure the success of your website.

I’m now told to integrate my website with my overall marketing. Correct! In the late ‘80s a fresh-faced Kevin Costner starred in Field of Dreams. He was told – ‘if you build it – they will come’. He built it - they came. If you build a website – they will not just come – people need to know it exists – either through knowing the url (through your offline marketing), or through a search.

This brings me to my major issue. The Voice tells me that the next best way to promote my website (aside from offline promotion) is using Google AdWords. I have no issue with Google AdWords – I think it can be an extremely effective way of promoting online presence. The Voice tells me he is not a fan of submitting websites to search engines, and that because of the amount of websites out there – top positions in results pages are changing so frequently that even Superman couldn’t keep up. According to The Voice, the best way to advertise on search engines – is using an AdWords Campaign. I then looked at the print material that came with my CD, and the words Search Engine Optimisation were staring back at me.

Search Engine Optimisation is not a one time only then you’re number one in Google type exercise – it’s ongoing – and as the Search Engines are continually changing the algorithms and rules they use to rank websites in their organic listings, the websites themselves need to evolve and their owners or developers need to spend time and effort to see results. Andy – our Chief of Search can do it – and he’s not Superman (although he is very good at what he does), he doesn’t even have a cape. Just because Search Engine Optimisation may not be easy, it takes time and high rankings cannot be guaranteed – the rewards are too high to not bother trying.

I’ve had time now to think about the secrets I was given – for making my website make money – and I’ve come up with some thoughts.

Keep your aim to have a successful website. Set your goals, and measure your website against them to determine its success. The secret to that success? Choose a good developer.

A good developer will offer their professional advice as to what are the best ways for you to achieve your goals on the web. They will learn about your business and encourage you to define what your goals are, offer their solutions and ideas, and develop a website that works for you. No two websites are the same, no two website owners are the same – why should a developers approach to any number of projects be the same?

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