What’s a SWOT Analysis? Not to be confused with the verb “to swat” (an action I was increasingly using in late summer as the flies invaded my house), the SWOT analysis came to mind while eradicating my kitchen of the annoying flying creatures. Why? (They do sound similar…) We need fast, efficient tools for making good decisions. SWOT analysis quickly provides great perspective, from multiple angles.
READ THIS! (Yeah, right…lol) It’s a common problem: You want folks to read your newsletters, white papers, your website pages, social media and blog posts. But you don’t have time yourself to read others’ material. Sound familiar? So how do you get folks to read what you have to say? Easy. Improve your writing’s readability. Become a better writer. (I see your eye roll!) Start with the Hemingway Editor. It will teach you what can be improved.
It’s possible you’ve never looked at your website traffic reports. (How many visit? How long do they stay? Which pages do they visit?) But I do configure Google Analytics for every site I build. Even if you don’t review the analytics, I do.
Accessible to Whom? For many, website accessibility is a topic to “deal with later.” If you’ve personally never had difficulty navigating a site or making a purchase on a site due to visual, hearing, or other access issues, how can you make this a top priority to address?
The Value in a Fun Website > Why does your site have to be fun? More fun = more interaction. More interaction = more visitors stay longer on your website. And the longer they stay on your site, the more your site rises to the top of Google rankings. Bonus: The longer they stay, the more inclined visitors are to give you their business.
They look around your site. Make a decision to fill out a contact form (or not). And leave. Not much in terms of “engaging the visitor,” is it? This is the most common interaction (if you can call it that) between visitors and websites (excepting ecommerce sites – a whole other animal). But is it effective? This level of engagement (if you can call it that) is akin to flipping on the news or some other TV show. You look. You leave. Do you remember what you saw or what was said? Probably not...
A prospective client asked initially for me to update their site as the original site designer was no longer available. "Sure," I responded. "Send me your updates." Their list was minor. "Can you add these 3 photos and captions?" I began asking questions: "What are you trying to accomplish with your website? Who are you trying to reach? What were you hoping it would do that it's not?" This level of probing opened the floodgates. No one had ever asked about their goals. (Hint #1 - Never expect site visitors to show up just because you build a site!) Turns out they had quite a lot of terrific products and not too many buyers as of yet.
Recently I was asked about designing email signatures. I had designed (and redesigned) my own sig block long ago, complete with logo and links to my social channels. I had also designed a few for clients, keeping the design very simple, with just the basic elements included.
As the years have passed, however, I’ve begun to receive a few emails with elaborate signature blocks, including images, even video or animations (GIFs). And I’ve reminded more than […]
“I was referred to you by a friend. How do we get started?” she said enthusiastically. These words are music to the professional’s ears! The sales cycle just got reduced to a nanosecond. New business is coming through the door effortlessly. Yahoo! Was it really that easy? Can you sit back and just enjoy the referral business walking through your door day in and day out? Yes…and no. In the past year, I’ve watched at least two businesses thrive on the referrals they’ve exchanged. I sat down with both recently to learn how they developed their referral business.
“I used to never refer people,” stated Bill Welch, owner of Northern Lights Electric, a 40-plus year resident of Sonoma. “You couldn’t trust people,” he explained. I asked him to explain how it was that in more than 40 years of business in Sonoma he felt he couldn’t trust another contractor to refer work to them? After all, according to Nielsen, ninety-two percent of consumers trust referrals from people they know. “Well, my reputation’s on the line! The couple of times I tried to refer someone, they either didn’t follow up on the referral, or they botched the job so much it embarrassed me.”
