| How to kill your site before its created
This is easy! All you have to do is:
- Insist that all you need is an online brochure.
- Never market the website.
We‘ve lost a few (not many) clients after telling them that. They "knew better" and left because they thought we were going to try to "sell them something."
What can I say? They (not their designer) blew it. Badly. So badly, in fact, that their sites never became viable.
Put on your "business hat" for a minute and forget what a website‘s purpose might be. What might be appropriate for just about any business-related website these days? Well:
- Receive online payments - Even if you don‘t sell products. How about getting deposits, invoice payments and even charitable donations online? Would improved cash-flow help any business? Reality check: In today‘s world, payments are made with "plastic."
- Offer an incentive - It doesn‘t matter what the incentive is. It could be a gift certificate, a coupon redeemable at a brick-and-mortar store or anything else appropriate for the business.
- Give something away - Again, it doesn‘t have to be much. Maybe Aunt Bessie‘s prize-winning receipt for chocolate rhubarb cake, a hint-and-tips sheet, a mail-in coupon for free samples, a flyer announcing a special event - whatever.
- Announcements - Tell people when that special sale is going to be, when a major event is going to occur and let the website be part of your marketing strategy.
If any of that "sounds reasonable" (and it should), understand this:
A brochure-style website cannot do any of those things. Every last one of those items implies that this-or-that changes from time-to-time.
By definition, such sites only present "fixed" information.
Oh, I just had to pop your balloon, didn‘t I?! I‘d say I‘m sorry, but I‘m not. Better you hear it from me than to become a statistic later on.
Part of our job at HirMon & Associates is to help you build the best online business tool possible to fit your specific needs.
In this case, that business tool is called - a website.
Marketing? That‘s another story, but here‘s a clue: It doesn‘t involve search engines...
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More
things lurking in damp corners to avoid...
2008
□ Welcome to the Dark Side of the Internet...□ Getting a site that "sucks" □ Hey! The oil light‘s on... □ Domain Name Hell □ Vanishing Web Designers □ How to kill your site before its created □ "Losing it all" - Overnight □ Shark infested waters
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