Why In The World Would I Want A Website?
Yeah, I know I need one … I mean, every other company has one, so I should want a website too, right?
But what on earth am I gonna do with it? Will it really help my business? How can I be sure it will actually benefit me and my bottom line?
And how much is all of this gonna cost? Sheesh, I’m not even sure this world wide web thing’s gonna last … maybe it’s just a fad?
These, and other, seemingly silly questions are actually very valid concerns. If I don’t know what my site is for, what purpose it serves, if and how it can benefit me & my business … and how to actually make that happen … then it may seem like just another distraction … something that keeps me from attaining my Real Business Goals.
A website without a fundamental strategy is probably just a waste of time and money.
In this day and age, everyone knows they need a web presence (and a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, a Twitter account, a Linked-In profile, a massive e-mail list with auto-responders, multiple Diigo bookmarks, at least three hundred votes on Reddit, and of course some catchy pictures posted on Pinterest).
But very few folks actually know how to leverage that into something meaningful for their business, let alone do it in a manner that doesn’t suck all their time, money and effort into a swirling maelstrom of confusion.
But All Is Not Lost!
Because a well-crafted website, with a clearly defined purpose and good implementation, can become the gateway to increased exposure for your business.
And that increased exposure can lead to increased profitability, either from direct sales from your site (e-commerce), more customer inquiries about the services your company offers (leads which evolve into sales), or perhaps profits from advertising space on your site (affiliate marketing or ad-sense campaigns).
How you monetize your site depends on your business model(s) and the strategies you’ve chosen.
No Matter Your Business Model, You CAN Rank at the Top of Google (and other search engines).
Contrary to what most SEO ‘experts’ would have you believe, achieving first-page rankings on Google & other search engines does not have to be complicated. Or time-consuming. Or expensive.
Believe it or not, getting your site to rank at the top of Google’s search results pages, thereby attracting visitors who are interested prospects looking for what you offer, is neither Rocket Science nor Magic.
And that is what we do.
You Know Your Business … and we know Google (and Bing and Ask and Yahoo and 7-Search and Duck Duck Go).
We’ll use our knowledge & expertise to rank your website at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) for keyword phrases that are pertinent to your industry and your specific business.
That means people who are actively searching for precisely what you have to offer will find you on Google … they’ll visit your website … … and then be so enthralled with the amazing content on your pages that they will immediately contact you and beg you to let them give you their business.
(Okay, I may be exaggerating slightly, but you get the idea).
In a nutshell, simply stated:
We build “good” websites, websites that are attractive, informative and easy for your visitors to navigate.
Then we get your site ranked and well-positioned on Google, so your prospects can find you.
Finally, we move your site to the top positions on Google for dozens if not hundreds of applicable keywords. And we see to it that your site stays in those top positions.
So … you may have a few questions:
Where do we start?
What should we do first?
How long is this gonna take?
How much is it gonna cost?
And this WILL increase my bottom line, right?
Great Questions! I’m glad you asked!
I don’t mean to sound glib, but the honest answer is:
It Depends.
We could just as easily ask “How Long Is A Piece Of String?” And the correct answer would be: “How Long Do You Want It To Be?”
To properly answer those specific questions, we need to spend some time ironing out the details of what you want and expect from your site. In the mean time, I can give you a general idea of what the process entails, and what you can expect.
Phase I: Information Sharing.
We’ll start with a brief overview of how Google Search works, now and in the past (before and after the Animal Updates).
Next, based on the answers to a few questions I ask, we’ll gather some statistics on your market (as Google sees it). We’ll take a look at your competition: their sites and their statistics, and quickly determine if they are “good” or “bad” sites, “easy” or “difficult” competitors, and what it will take to overcome them in the rankings.
Then, we’ll explain how, regardless of your competition, we can make your site superior!
Phase II: Architecture & Design Discussions.
We’ll “wireframe” your site, and discuss options for how to lay out your pages. Trust me, this is more fun than work: on the web, nothing is written in stone. You’ll see!
Phase III: Select Your Preferred Style.
Choose among several revised prototypes of your site, and fine-tune the details of its design. We’ll also continue building the content for your site, and implement a schedule for including new content on your site on an ongoing basis.
Phase IV: Focus on Content.
Concentrate on the content for your pages, and how to spread that content across your site. Content means articles, graphics, newsletters, imagery, blog posts, announcements, videos, newsfeeds, … whatever you wish to imagine, we can put on your site!
Phase V: Strategize.
Develop the strategies for off-site optimization, as well as ongoing site development and maintenance. We explain this in elaborate detail in our Phase I meeting: it’s part of the “Animal Updates” discussion.
Phase VI: Implementation.
Plan and implement the ongoing strategies from Phase V.
Time Frame for Phases I thru V: 2-4 weeks to perhaps a month.
I know it seems like there’s a lot happening all at once, and there is.
But the tools we use for web development can get a lot done in a short time, and changes can be made instantaneously.
Nothing is so rigid that it can’t be tweaked later.
By the end of Phase V, your site will be growing and ranking well on Google for a variety of search terms. Your rankings will continuously improve, as will the breadth and depth of terms for which you rank.
Time Frame for Phase VI: Perpetual, Ongoing, Continual, Perhaps Forever.
This is what determines ‘how long you want your piece of string to be.’
The ongoing process of external link-building and on-site content development is the strategy that allows us to literally decimate your competition.
Will this improve your bottom line?
I simply cannot answer that question.
But let me ask, “If, every month, your company got an additional 30, or 60, or 120 incoming phone calls from new prospects looking for services that you provide, do you think those calls might have an impact on your bottom line?”
What if the number of calls was 300 or 600 or 1200? Or more?