More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: Are you welcoming people to your business through your web site or are you turning them off?
Welcome, and go away!
One of the not-so-charming signs of the business world reads "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." Now I can't say I know the legal ramifications of this sign but I can say that marketing-wise it's an immediate turn-off.
And although I'm outspoken about such unconscious anti-marketing, I just discovered I'm guilty of it myself. On the home page of my web site, the copyright notice asked my visitors to not copy material from my web site, but also said: "Don't even think about it!"
Great way to build trust and rapport, eh?
I put up that notice after someone had gone and copied a whole bunch of stuff from my site without asking. So my knee-jerk reaction was to post this not-so-friendly notice.
I should have know better. And I just reworded it to make it more visitor friendly. But this got me thinking, "What are some of the things we do on our web sites to push potential business away even as we try to attract new clients?"
Two big ones. Let's start with "Crummy Web Design Syndrome."
It looks as if you not only went the budget route in designing your site, you deliberately made your site as unappealing as possible. If you're wondering why your site isn't attracting any business, this could be the place to start.
Your site doesn't need to have high-end design with a lot of bells and whistles, but it should be pleasing to the eye, easy to read and understand, and effortless to navigate.
In my experience, only about 10% to 20% of Independent Professional sites meet even those minimal criteria. This means that 80% to 90% of those reading this have a web site that is actually hurting their business more than it's helping it.
Yes, you may be pushing business and money away from you just by being up on the web! Now don't go look at your site and say, "Well I think it's pretty good." I'm afraid you're not a good judge. Find an outside person who can be objective.
The other pervasive issue is "Catatonic Web Copy Affliction."
It starts with headlines that confuse instead of inform, it continues with long lists of three-word bullet points, and it finishes off by failing to answer any question visitors might have about the business. Finally, it does absolutely nothing persuasive to get someone to take action to find out more.
But how can you really know if your web site needs improvement? After all, you put a lot of time, money and energy into it, right?
Let me tell you the ultimate way to judge your web site. If it's making you a lot of money, it's probably OK. Clients send friends to check out the site, you're getting new subscribers to your eZine, people are calling or emailing you wanting to know more. And you can point directly to the web site as attracting more clients.
If this isn't happening, it needs work. Perhaps a lot of work.
Be willing to get some feedback and make the changes necessary - to the headlines and copy, to the sign-up page for your eZine, to the free stuff you give away, to the information about you, to the detailed information on your services, to the case studies of successful projects.
Everything matters. And if you don't care, it shows. It's not much better than saying, "Welcome, and please go away!"
P.S. If you have any feedback on my website, please let me know. I'm sure many things could be better!
* The More Clients Bottom Line: You need to say more than "Welcome!" on your web site to attract new clients. You need to work at your site so that literally everything invites your visitors to take action. Only then will you reap the rewards that come from a site that can be your most powerful marketing tool.
Learn more about "Your Most Important Marketing Tool" (your web site) in part 6 of my 8-part series here:
http://www.actionplan.com/mc/crackcode.html#6
Free Feedback on Your Web Site (and more!)
If you're an owner of the InfoGuru Marketing Manual can get free advise about your marketing, including feedback about your web site. If you have the manual, take advantage of all the expertise on the InfoGuru Support Forum. If you don't have the manual, learn about it at the link below and listen to Bill Metcalf interview Kathy Mallary about the benefits of the Forum (2 min, 40 sec).
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html#forumYou can also listen to the interview by clicking on this link:
http://www.actionplan.com/mp3files/KMForum.mp3
Until next week, all the best,
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Cracking the Marketing Code for Independent Professionals~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2005 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:
"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses."
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