12 questions any good web design company should ask before starting work on your website

If you’re a business owner with a website, here is a question…

How many new leads and/or sales has your website brought in during the past week, the past month, or the past year?

If your website is bringing in a significant amount of new business on an ongoing basis, you are in the minority. Most small business websites are almost worthless as a marketing tool because they’ve been built by designers or programmers who know very litle about marketing.

On this point, (and as a sidetrack before I get into the 12 questions mentioned in the heading) I was approached by a client this week who needs help to get his website ranking higher in Google. I had a look at the site and saw a massive problem. The site is built using a content management system, which doesn’t allow meta tags to be added to each page. This means the title of every page on the site is the company name… nothing else. This site contains a large number of products, each of which people could be searching for in Google. But they won’t find this website because of its non-existent meta tags.

Now, the programmer who built this website is obviously very talented as a programmer. He has custom-built a content management system. But while the site is technically brilliant, sadly, it’s almost worthless in terms of marketing the company’s business on the Internet. 

So, bearing this in mind, before I agree to build a website for a client, I need to be sure in my own mind that the site I build will actually be a valuable investment in terms of bringing in new business. Otherwise, what’s the point of building it?

Here are the 12 vital questions…

 The answers will help me to determine, first , whether the business actually needs a website (not every business does) second, what type of site they need, and thirdly, what sort of ongoing internet marketing strategy they need.

1. How do you acquire new customers or clients now?
2  What is your business plan? Specifically, what is your Mission Statement? What do you deliver to your clients/customers above and beyond “quality at a fair price”?
3. How do you keep in touch with your current customers?
4. What’s your most profitable product or service?
5. Do you have any underused capacity that you’d like to scale up?
6. What causes you the most aggravation or frustration in your business?
7. If you already have a website and/or email marketing strategy, how is it working?
8. Where do you want your business to be in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years from now?
9. What is the “Lifetime value” of a new customer or client?
10. What is the profile of your “Ideal Customer”?
11. Do you have an advertising budget?
12. What is your current return on ad spend?

These are vital questions, which every business owner should know the answer to. It’s my job, if they hire me to help them market their business, to ask these questions and then offer the right solution, based on the answers.

How to Recession-Proof Your Business Using the Internet

I have just published a new report called
‘How to Recession-Proof Your Business Using the Internet’.

The report is too long to post here (about 9 pages). So I’m offering it to you as PDF to download. The report is free and you don’t even have to give me your email to get it

But if you find it helpful, I would like to ask that you will forward it on to someone else who might also benefit from it.

The Report covers:

• How People’s Behaviour Changes in a Recession and How to Profit from It [Page 2]
• What You Should NEVER Do in a Recession and What to Do Instead [Page 3]
• The 4 Reasons Why You Need to Market Your Business on the Internet [Page 4]
• The Top 3 Ways to Market Your Business on the Internet [Page 6]

To get the Report, Click Here.

‘Winning Websites for Small Businesses’ - a new handbook for New Zealand businesses

I have just finished writing a brand-new handbook for New Zealand businesses, called “Winning Websites for Small Businesses”.

I don’t believe there’s any other publication in New Zealand quite like this handbook because it’s aimed specifically at the unique needs of the New Zealand marketplace.

If you have a website for your business and it’s not getting you the amount of visitors, leads, or sales that you wish it was - this handbook has been written for you!

I’ve basically tried to summarise everything I know about website design and selling on the Internet, in a user-friendly way that is easy for the ordinary business person to understand.

This handbook is not about website design in the ordinary sense. It is about how to build a website that SELLS - and there’s a big difference

If you are keen to find out more about this handbook (and if you’re a New Zealand business that has a website, then you should be) then go to www.winningwebsites.co.nz.

Win customers by giving away FREE information

By Harvey Segal

What is the best way to attract visitors to your website? Everyone agrees on this point - it is by providing Free Information.

Let’s see how to do this and why it works so well. Suppose you are a supplier of video recorders. Hopefully you will be the owner of a professional sounding domain name, such as VCRworld.com.

You write an informative article entitled “How to Choose a Video Recorder” which explains:
* the key features of video recorders
* a guide to prices
* handy tips for using video recorders
* useful accessories
* potential problems
* future developments

Put this article on your website or have it available by mail (on an autoresponder if you expect a big response). While your competitors are all posting similar ads which say “Buy, buy, buy our cheap video recorders” or sending unsolicited bulk email to thousands, you will be posting short ads which say:

Our Free Guide: “How to Choose a Video Recorder” explains the key features to look for, prices and handy tips. Visit www.VCRworld.com. And whenever you contribute to any group where there are potential customers you include your signature:

“How to Choose a Video Recorder”
FREE guide - www.VCRworld.com

Your visitors will be impressed by the quality of free information you are providing and your well chosen domain name: they will regard you as an authority on the subject.

They will be easily influenced to buy from your site while your competitors’ unoriginal ads are consigned to the email waste bin.

Make Your Website Sell

Hundreds of new business websites are springing up every week. The owners of these sites are full of optimism that their venture into e-commerce will transform their business by bringing in new customers and boosting their sales.

But the reality is that most websites fail abysmally as sales tools. Why? Because the owners of these sites have spent a lot of money creating fancy graphics but paid little attention to the words on the site. And it’s the words on websites that sell. Your fancy graphics might entertain your potential customers but they won’t make the sale.

Take a look at many of the websites out there in cyberspace. They are full of spelling mistakes, poor grammar and cumbersome text that makes you want to do only one thing…click your mouse button and move to something else.

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