10 signs your website might be ready for an upgrade

You’ve made the commitment to digital marketing, but for some reason your website isn’t delivering the kind of traffic and leads that you were hoping for. A company’s website is its face, the basis for a potential customer’s first impression. Take a hard look at yours and see if it shows any of these 10 […]

You’ve made the commitment to digital marketing, but for some reason your website isn’t delivering the kind of traffic and leads that you were hoping for. A company’s website is its face, the basis for a potential customer’s first impression. Take a hard look at yours and see if it shows any of these 10 signs of needing an update.

  • 1. Too busy. Some websites are so overloaded with animated graphics, videos and sound files that a viewer gives up rather than deal with the chaos. For maximum impact, make sure every element in your website design provides useful information without unnecessary distraction.

  • 2. Not busy enough. A website with too much empty space and not enough meaty content will bore viewers, so they’ll move on. Your website needs to show viewers enough information (or links to information) that they feel welcomed and want to stay and read what you’re offering.

  • 3. Too shallow. A website with a lot of trite, obvious or irrelevant content tells your web customers that you don’t respect their time and expertise. Offer potential customers real information with links for further research if you want them to stick around to do business with you.

  • 4. Too technical. If you are selling technical products/services to a highly specialized target audience, then it’s okay to fill your website with the specs and graphs and data your customers are looking for. But if you are trying to market to the general public, tailor your content to their comfort level. Translate your marketing points into clear, accessible language that won’t intimidate your viewers.

  • 5. Too hard to find. A gorgeous website won’t do any good if your customers can’t find it. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the technique of imbedding key search terms in your web content so that your site will be found when people search using those terms. Your digital marketing vendor can help you update your site using this technique or there are online guides for doing it yourself.

  • 6. Not interactive enough. Web marketing is the art of getting customers to come to you by visiting your site and showing their interest so you can open a relationship with them. Does your site invite visitors to share their contact information? Do you have an automated welcoming email to send them, thanking them for their visit? Does it include surveys and other interactive tools that help you learn more about your audience? A top-notch website not only informs your customers about you, it gathers data for you about them.

  • 7. Too goofy. It’s tempting to try a little silliness as a way to engage customers, but a benchmark website successfully balances competence, authority and approachability. If your website looks too much like you are just having fun, it may be difficult for your customers to trust that you will take them seriously. Humor is a great icebreaker in marketing, but make sure to balance it with a healthy dose of serious information.

  • 8. Too predictable. Consumers doing research before a purchase look at a lot of websites. Yours needs to stand out from the crowd. Accomplish this with an elegant design, authoritative content, and creative use of non-text tools and interactivity.

  • 9. Too self-absorbed. A good website doesn’t expect potential customers to believe everything they read. Provide valid, working, credible links to source documents when you make an assertion. Don’t plagiarise from other sites. Your customers need to form a clear sense of your company’s connection to the larger industry and your awareness of current trends, news, etc. that may affect their relationship with you.

  • 10. Too hard a sell. Old-style marketing focussed on getting information in front of customers, no matter what. Today’s more nuanced, user-friendly marketing strategies focus on engagement, on getting customers to see why it’s a good idea to choose you as their vendor. Your website may still try to attract customers by denigrating your competitors or by playing on your viewers’ fears. Those tactics are too harsh for online media. Play up your company’s strengths, the great reviews you’ve gotten, the cutting-edge science behind your products. But don’t go negative, it turns people off.

Once you know how your website looks in the light of these common mistakes, you can begin to develop something better. If you have questions about how to make your website better serve your company’s needs, let us know. Our e-book, 3 Steps to Website Success, may be the tool you need to take your website to the next level.

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Why your business needs a technical co-founder…and where to find one?

It takes both vision and know-how for your business to succeed. You’ve got the vision. Perhaps you have the start of a team. But in this era of technology, you must also have the technical know-how to get the job done. Don’t overlook that critical component. It’s really not possible to overestimate a technical co-founder’s […]

It takes both vision and know-how for your business to succeed. You’ve got the vision. Perhaps you have the start of a team. But in this era of technology, you must also have the technical know-how to get the job done. Don’t overlook that critical component. It’s really not possible to overestimate a technical co-founder’s importance.

Forming a team that includes a variety of experiences, skills and outlooks can offer your business a better chance at survival. Combining different strengths to achieve your business goal will enhance your success potential.

What to look for:
Your technical co-founder needs to bring a variety of abilities to the table. As you consider what you need for that position, keep these qualities in mind:

  • 1) A record of success
    Don’t take someone’s word for it, let their record speak. Never hesitate to inquire into past work experiences and successes. How do their former team members regard them?

  • 2) Enthusiasm
    Attitude is harder to quantify, but a motivated and enthusiastic presence is critical in your technical co-founder. Look behind the data. Use your intuition. What feeling comes through? Look for a technical partner who enjoys what they do and does it with passion.

  • 3) A feel for both technology and business
    Does your co-founder understand conversion content? Have they mastered exceptional branding? Do they realize how important it is to automate your business process and, just as important: do they know how to do that?

  • 4) Expertise in the fields you need
    You know what you know, and you need to know what you need. Be sure that a potential technical co-founder has the skills your business needs, be it coding skill, design skill, skill in SEO, whatever is relevant to your domain. Do they know how to produce revenue-generating results?

  • 5) Organized
    Knowledge is only part of the equation; production is an equally important component. Ensure that your technical co-founder has organizational ability. Using an effective workflow is key to successful technical production. Businesslike technology is just as important as well as businesslike production. Can your co-founder use the Lean Canvas approach to allow the flexibility your future requires?

  • 6) Balances listening with leadership
    You want a technical co-founder who’s a team player. They need to know and share your vision. And, they need share their expertise easily and naturally. Can your potential partner offer a profitable vision for the future? Do you feel comfortable enough with them to trust their experience?

Where to Find a Technical Co-founder

One model for technical co-founder is to recruit an individual. This process is similar to the process of choosing a life partner or spouse. You may choose to indirectly recruit your co-founder by working your networking system. Attending events geared to entrepreneurship, weekends like “Startup Weekend” for example, or others like them can expose you to technical talents.

Another model that’s worked successfully for many business startups is to partner with an established technology firm. Choosing this route gives you flexibility and the advantage of “hiring” a team as a technical co-founder. Until or unless you find “the one” person to whom you feel a complete and unequivocal commitment as co-founder, working with a technology firm is an investment in your business that can pay dividends in ongoing success.

Consider Us!

If you still have not found your technical co-founder, contact us. We would love to hear your idea and potentially fill that vacant seat on your team. Our work produces results, turning your idea into a lean, mean, well-oiled business machine. We invite you to examine our portfolio page and see how we’ve affected results in business after business throughout our history.

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