Websites | How Do I Get There From Here?

You guys are small businesses owners. You know how important an online presence is to grow your business. Some of you have 2 or 3 websites — or, a website and a blog — or, a website, a blog, and a Facebook business profile (fan page).

“Yeah, I’ve got a site; had it about 10 years. It’s never done anything for me, though.”
“I used to get good traffic on my site. Now, I get very few leads.”

“What do you want to do?” is the first question I ask  clients when we talk about updating an existing website, or designing a new website. Invariably, the focus is being found by prospective customers/clients/readers; “if you build it they will come.”

Developing an online presence begins with pencil and paper. Researching keywords is important.  Identifying your ideal customer/client/reader adds another dimension to the marketing strategy.  Defining your point of difference is critical. So are branding elements — logos, colors, tag lines. Understanding the needs of your ideal customer/client/reader and translating your product/service into benefits is key.

To make sure your site is easy to use, “Don’t make me think ,” is the guiding principle.

A good website is self-evident to the reader. To your grandmother. To your 8 year old. To the guy next door. A self-evident usable site prompts the reader to respond, “Oh, it’s a …” with no questions or hesitation.

I know that principle to be true, and yet I still plow through developing this site with a jumbled mess in my head.

My style is jumping in with both feet and learning as I go. Pick up an idea here, an idea there. “Oh, that’s an approach I haven’t considered.”

This site is an open book into my learning experiences; jumbled though they may be. I touch on marketing, communications, technology, WordPress, Mississippi Delta Blues, motivation and social media. I even talk about getting my nails done.

But what the heck do “Bits of Orange” and “Personal Days” mean?

Personal Days used to be Inspiration. Equally lame. In this category are Monday Morning Coffee Breaks. I send coffee break emails to friends, family, clients and colleagues. Each week I receive an email response thanking me for a timely uplifting message. Here, on the site, nothing, nada, zip.

Also in Personal Days are the Sunday Morning Blues videos. My Twitter profile (and Facebook and LinkedIn) all reference my love to play the blues while cruising in my Jeep Wrangler.

Bits of Orange is an oh, so cute way to categorize random bits of information that don’t seem to fit nicely anywhere else. This is the category for most of the email updates from my Posterous blog, too — even when I really want the updates to go into a different category. I always forget to use double parentheses, or I write ‘tags’ instead of ‘tag’ as instructed ((tag: strategy, small-biz-owner)).

Okay, maybe organizing my thoughts isn’t a strength. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. I know lots and lots about marketing online, digital communications, building WordPress websites, group dynamics, and motivating others to succeed (remember, I was a therapist in my first life).

Besides, I have a new title on my business card that defines and clarifies the jumbled mess in my mind — “Strategic Innovator | Tech Marketeer”.

Photo Credit via Flickr Creative Commons: Alan E