Take The “Improve Your Web Site Challenge”
by: Karen Scharf, Small Business Marketing Consultant
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Michelle, Deb and I are in the process of making huge changes to our operations at Modern Image Communications. Kind of like the cobbler with holes in his shoes, we’ve been so busy with client work that our own business has been much neglected. And, as much as I hate to admit it, our website at modernimage.com is in dire need of several fixes.
So I thought it would be kind of fun to use our own web site makeover as the next Successful Site Secrets case study. You can follow along as we make our changes, and I challenge you to participate with improvements to your own web site.
I’ll share the results we experience on our own web site at the end. But in the meantime, I figured I’d let you in on some of the changes we’ll be making that you can easily apply to your own web site:
1. We’ll be updating all of our sales copy.
Let’s face it, our web site copy stinks. Most of it was thrown together in a rush because we were too busy writing sales copy for our clients. But copy is critical to the success of a web site, so it will be the first thing that gets overhauled. What state is your web copy in? Does it compel your site visitors to purchase your products or hire your services? If not, do the math… how many sales are you losing each and every day?
2. We’ll be focusing on SEO.
Since the majority of our clients come from referrals, we haven’t spent much time optimizing our own web site for search traffic. Michelle will be doing keyword research for our pages, and the timing is perfect since we’ll be rewriting all our copy anyway.
3. We’ll be getting more social.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, we’re finally getting on the social media bandwagon. It’s not that we haven’t thought social media was a great thing – in fact, I do think social media provides a wonderful opportunity to connect with your clients, prospects and colleagues. It’s just that we haven’t really dedicated the time… until now that is. We’ll be adding several social features to our web site in 2009.
So there you have it, three of the many web site improvements Michelle, Deb and I will be focusing on for 2009. I challenge you to “play along” by incorporating these changes into your own site, or by identifying the three biggest problem areas in your site and creating a plan of attack to improve them.
Take The Challenge
Want to play? Let us know the changes you plan to make to your web site and give us a deadline for each one. Post your intentions here and we’ll all help each other stay on track.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I like this idea. I will work on #2 and my deadline date is February 28, 2009.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Do you have any ideas for how we can do #3? I don’t know how to use social media on my website. I would plan to have it deadlined by end of march
December 10th, 2008 at 8:05 am
I need to work on the first one fixing my sales copy. I’m open to any help or advice anyone wants to give.
December 10th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Great idea! good luck to everyone.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Just wanted to check in and see how everyone is coming with the Improve Your Web Site Challenge. Just a couple pointers…
Be sure you break down your big goals into smaller, measurable action steps.
Tiffani, you say you want to work on SEO by February 28. Mentally, that’s got to seem like a daunting task. I would suggest you break that down into smaller bites, like “complete keyword research for home page by January 2″ etc.
Walter, I’ve got to admit that I don’t have the whole social media thing down yet. I do think there is great opportunity in Facebook groups and LInkedIn conversations and such. I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to this.
I will be working with a Social Media coach in the upcoming weeks and I’ll keep you posted as things progress.
As for you Kathy, I would start “fixing your sales copy” by first identifying what the problems are. Where are your site visitors dropping off your page? Do they get past your headline? Into the third paragraph? Have you done a thorough analysis of your conversion rate? Once you pinpoint the exact problems, making the fixes will happen automatically.
I hope you all keep us posted with your progress!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Hi all – great idea! No one believes us that we are good online marketers if we don’t prove them right! Hmpf. So I did my new homepage, get great response – but only from people who already know me. I get too little additional leads out from it. So I will re-write my copy (#1) and go more social (#3). SEO’s already fine
My action steps #1:
Analyzing the problem: 2, January 2009
Figure out a plan: 10, January 2009
My action steps #2:
Figure out a plan: What’s important for me as a German-based web-copywriter?
2, january 2009.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Monika,
Sounds like you’re really on your way!
I’m curious… you say you’re getting too little leads from your home page. Have you determined whether it’s a traffic issue or a landing page issue? I’d spend a little time figuring that out.
On a lead generation site, you should aim for at least 20% conversion (leads, not sales).
If you’re getting 20% conversion, but it’s still not enough to fill your pipeline, you should focus on increasing traffic.
If you’re not getting 20%, it’s probably a landing page issue. Since you’re a copywriter, I’m sure the copy if great
So the next thing to consider is design, layout and mechanics.
Feel free to post your URL if you would like any of us to take a look at it.
And also feel free to share your SEO tips. I’m sure there are many readers who’d like to know what you’re doing.
Thanks for sharing your plan!
December 18th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Tiffani, if you have your goal broken down into smaller steps, post it here so we can keep you in line! Now drop and give me twenty!
March 12th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I just wanted to say that I love this site