An ‘Independent Web Advice’ Blog

The trouble is not your website.

Time and time again I am asked by customers and clients “why isn’t my website working?”.

I ask them a simple question, “what do you want from your website?”. Most people do not know. They wave their arms meaningfully in the air with a serious and ponderous face, but usually the answer is the same - more business.

Yet when I look at their sites they are often a cross between a business plan and a very boring, often unread, brochure. Who we are, where we are based, how to find us, how to contact us, what we do, our services, me me me me me me me.

If you want someone to give you money, then tell them what you will do for them. Talk about them, their life, their needs and wants. Not your own. I can assure you that no-one goes online with a burning desire to know all about you. People want to learn something about themselves and unless you talk about them, empower them, inform them, give them something of value, your visitors will just dissappear again.

The trouble with your website is not your website, it is you and your business. Positioning your website in the first place is sometimes the most difficult of decisions. Repairing an otherwise wayward site is usually a case of starting all over again. From scratch. With a blank canvass.

So sort out what you actually want your website to do (more business is not good enough). Remember to make these goals SMART, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and with timescales included. Otherwise you may as well be sailing without a rudder, orienteering without a map or on a picnic without any food. (For the less troubled by coarse language, you are pissing in the wind.)

What do you want your website to do? Got an answer? Is it S.M.A.R.T.?

Paul

3 Responses to “The trouble is not your website.”

1. Rowan Young Says:
   November 18th, 2006 at 7:59 pm

   My website needs something. Is SMART the specific, measurable thingy that marketing people go on and on about?

2. paul Says:
   November 18th, 2006 at 8:05 pm

   Hi Rowan,

   Yes, SMART is…
   Specific
   Measurable
   Achievable
   Realistic
   Targeted

   Just phrase them into questions about whichever target or goal you have in mind. For instace, is your goal Measurable? Is your goal actually Achievable? Is is a specific goal or is it one of those ‘do better at..’ type non-goals?

   What is your website? You should take the opportunity to link to your own website whenever you post to a blog. This will help your Google rankings and for a PR5 site like this, it is a considerable vote of confidence in you site (according to most major search engines).

3. Lacie Gunderson Says:
   August 21st, 2007 at 4:37 pm

   One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesteon everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.

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