Why aren't all web designers millionaires?

Think about it, if you knew how to sell things profitably online why would you bother developing sites for other people? It is because well designed websites are just part of what is needed online? So instead of updating your Twitter feed or adding a pithy post to your Facebook page please have a think about your company's website and whether it is doing the job you hoped for. Fundamentally, is it making you money either by selling things or creating new customer enquiries?

The purpose of any businesses website is simple. Firstly, you want it to attract the right visitors, secondly the site content needs to engage people sufficiently to encourage them to purchase your products or encourage them to give you a call. If you are running Google Analytics you can obtain this information in minutes.

In my experience the best approach is to look at your site one page at a time and assess whether all the pages on your current or planned site have a clear purpose. Websites are just a collection of pages and Google ranks pages not websites so thinking why a page deserves to be on your site is a good place to start. We spend hours pondering visual routes, graphical languages and photographic styles but sometimes forget to think what a piece of content is actually meant to achieve. Just because it was in the last brochure you had printed is not sufficient justification.

You and your business have a personality. Does this come across on your website? Also, please think carefully about over using stock photography that bears no reflection on who you are and what you offer. If your business is not comprised of an ethnically diverse mix of very beautiful people then why give this impression online?

So before you set off and experiment with re-marketing, social media and online advertising why not spend a little time thinking about how your website is performing and how accurately it represents what your business is actually about. So think less about the aesthetic and more about personality.

Originally published at http://8020thinking.tumblr.com/post/45993907080/why-arent-all-web-designers-millionaires

Is your business ready to change?

When working as a psychotherapist I know that the most important two questions I ask a client before any work commences are “Do you want to change the ways in which you are currently living your life?” and “Are you prepared for the challenges ahead as you undertake those changes?”

Surprisingly organisations that I have met do not approach the subject of change in the same way. 

When organisations face problems, the most common form of change they undertake is to re-organise. However unless they ask themselves an amended version of the first question “What are the quantifiable objectives you hope to achieve as a result of these planned changes”, it has every chance of being change for change sake. And then what about the challenges ahead?

The change process creates new or more intense challenges. The three main effects tend to occur in:

• Communication. How do you stop the rumour mongering?
• Procedures. Many organisations are like trains, they run very effectively in a straight line but even the equivalent of “leaves on the line” can cause major disruption
• Personal relations. This can become strained as team dynamics and alliances are impacted. 

 So the advice from It is rocket science is to ensure that your organisation answers the two key questions before any change begins. This is particularly important for small companies or groups where any negative financial impact will be that much harder to overcome.

Replace habit with thinking

Both in business and our personal lives we are all guilty of continuing with a behaviour we know is both wasteful and damaging. We become weirdly trapped by our own history, reluctant to challenge the main reason for our predictability -which often come down to - that’s the way we have alway done it.

Why not pick one thing you are unhappy with regarding how your business operates and have close look at what you could do differently. If you annually produce a company brochure lets revisit how well the last version performed. Who was it sent to? How was the mail out followed up? What do the sales people think about it? Did it make money?

Marketing and sales is about customer acquisition and retention so if the brochure is not delivering on these 2 criteria it is time to think about the content, how it is being distributed and ultimately if it is the right tactic to generate more revenue.

By constantly re-thinking old habits we can embed a challenging culture in the business that helps a business driven by continuous improvement. 

The death of traditional marketing

If like me, you work within the marketing industry, be ready for at least 5 years of massive change. The choice of channels and media has never been more diverse. We have the ability to deliver bespoke messages to highly targeted audiences, create online ads that follow people around the internet and then provide detailed response rates to our clients. So putting messages in front of people is the easy bit. Delivering reach is no longer much of a skill. What is more challenging is connecting with people in a way that turns them into customers. The ability to create campaigns that connect is now what is required.

The power of word of mouth marketing is a given but now it has evolved and become massively amplified. Imagine, you are about to enter a restaurant, and before stepping inside one of your mates leaps out of no where and tells you the food is terrible and the service is diabolical. After you have recovered from the shock I’m guessing you would immediately think about going somewhere else. What if he then suggested a great alternative close by? Chances are you’d give it a go. This behaviour is exactly what is happening online every second of every day and is only set to increase.

SMART technology is making people smarter and more informed about what products and services are on offer anywhere in the world. They can also quickly learn what friends, followers and other customers have said about the quality and value of what they have purchased and experienced. The lazy mass marketing campaigns of the past that incorporated a standard formula of TV, Radio, Press, Outdoor and ….”Oh and we better knock up a little website as well” are over.

Look at the recent campaign for Old Spice - 200 YouTube videos produced by Wieden+Kennedy in 48 hours. Time to accept we are all going to have to do more with less or change our revenue models.What about being paid on results? With Google, the ad world’s frenemey, offering hugely powerful media buying and research tools, all for free, it is hard to see how existing agency models can survive.

Marketing companies need to think like businesses partners focussed on helping clients to create better products and customer experiences to differentiate them from their competitors. It is not about helping clients make their products look great, it is all about helping them make their products really great.