5
WAYS TO TELL IF YOU NEED A NEW WEB SITE
CARA'S
CORNER
What
better way to begin a new year than to take stock of where you
are and plan where you want to be. In the last two months I have
completely redone my web site. I went from a portal site to a
single niche site. I even changed web hosts which meant I had
to review, relink and rethink everything I put back in. It took
me ten days, which is really fast. But I knew my niche, I knew
my content approach and I knew what I wanted to offer and what
I no longer wanted to offer. It was a joyous time of decision
making, rebranding, and refocusing.
And you know, of course, that content
strategy is part of my coaching work, as is copy writing.
The
article below will help you see if you need a new web site to
move your business forward. If it is, I'd be honored to work with
you.
And
while we are planning forward movement, I'm going ahead great
guns with my own personal marketing strategy of writing and posting
100 articles on the internet. I have tools for you if you want
to pursue that route, an ebook "How
to Enhance Your Expert Status Writing and Posting Articles on
the Internet" and my very complete and fabulous home
study course: Article
Magnetism, How to Write Articles for the Internet. It will
really get you started on this powerful strategy that can earn
you thousands of dollars in free advertising.
May
this New Year bring us the realization of our fondest vision.
Warmly,
The
Vision Distiller
5
WAYS TO TELL IF YOU NEED A NEW WEB SITE
I just recently created my fifth website in ten years. Why? Because
it was time. I have changed and needed a new reflection on the
internet. A new website gives you the opportunity to rethink,
re-choose, reposition and rebrand. Here are some of the signs
that it's time for a new one
You aren't getting the results you want
The first clue that you need a new web site is that you are not
getting the results you want. People are coming to your site but
not opting in. Your conversion rate is minimal. Not a good sign
of success. Look at your cpanel webstats and see the pattern of
the past year. Chart your growth. I keep a chart of my web stats
and mark on it what marketing strategies I put in place during
a particular month so I can see how effective it was or was not
as the case may be.
You may need a new opt in, a new design, stronger keywords, and
new sales pages- pretty much everything in order to get the results
you deserve. A new web site lets you start fresh.
Is your web site getting the conversion rate you want?
Are you attracting the number of visitors to your site that you
need to be successful?
Your niche has tightened and needs rebranding
This niche-tightening is an on-going process. We start out wanting
to serve the world and, after time and sometimes trial and error,
we figure out the type of people who need and want our services.
As we do, we need to change our copy content and our product offering.
Several years I created a portal web site, which means people
coming to my site had to make a choice on which of two websites
they wanted to visit. One side was filled with philosophical and
inspirational messages and the other was focused on internet marketing
which also had some philosophy and inspiration but was definitely
targeted for the pro-active internet marketer. You can imagine
how different the copy and content was for each of those two sites.
It was amazing what that simple change made in how differently
I could interact with the visitors to each side. I even had two
separate emagazines going. Sometimes a portal site is a great
answer and sometimes it simply divides the visitors who come.
However, I recently took a hard look at the productive and not-so-productive
areas of my business and saw that even though the philosophical
side was an area of service that was true to my heart, it was
not at all lucrative. So, I took a deep breath, released the purely
philosophical side that wasn't profitable and designed a new website
focused on the pro-active internet entrepreneur. The results were
immediate as I focused my business in a much more targeted way.
Does your present web site address your most targeted niche?
Your services and products need repositioning
What do you want to offer? What do you no longer want to offer?
List your income streams in lucrative order, then look at your
web site and see if you are indeed promoting what people are seeking
from you. I can't tell you the number of times I added specialized
coaching packages in my previous site and what a relief it was
to narrow myself to a more clearly defined niche. My clients helped
me reposition myself as The Vision Distiller because that is what
they kept asking me to help them do.
I know I learn more every year, which means I organically have
more to offer. Creating a new web site gave me time to rethink
and re-choose. Once I narrowed my niche and dropped one of my
websites, I also dropped some products from service. If I choose
to promote them again I know now that I will have a separate website
with a new name just for that target market.
What products or services are providing income and which ones
are simply taking up space?
How can you promote the ones that are working in a more unique
and innovative manner?
You are smarter and wiser now
Creating a new web site is about dressing properly for the occasion.
You have changed since you designed your last site. What image
do you want to project? Is it more professional? More casual?
Harder sell? Softer sell?
Every new sales page I write is stronger and clearer than the
one before. It's because I keep learning how to make choices and
define my offering. I know more and can put it to work for both
me and my clients.
Another benefit of creating a new web site is that you have the
opportunity to rethink your navigation, add that media page you
are now ready for, change your content strategy and strengthen
your copy. You get to re-package and re-position your products
and services.
How have you changed since your last web site and what do you
need to upgrade, clarify, release, or improve?
You have more to offer
As entrepreneurs we continually have great ideas and the more
we act on them the more diversified we become. However, stop and
see how your business would benefit from having more than one
web site. For instance, I coach people in web site content, information
product development and internet marketing skills. At the moment
they are all on one site. What if I created an entire site only
about information product development rather than just devoting
one page on my present site? It would have different keywords,
more targeted articles, and it would address different needs than
people who come to my site for content development and internet
marketing. Perhaps you want to think it terms of two websites.
How can you combine or leverage or repositions your existing
products and services on a new web site.
Take a long hard look
Get your stats out, look over your income streams; look in your
heart to see what you love to do and what you are doing because
you think you should. Make a list of what people are asking you
to provide for them, in service and in products. Notice how your
business has changed. Do you need a new shopping cart or opt in
offering? How can you bundle your products for great effectiveness.
How effective is your affiliate program? Do you even have one?
Get professional help
Invest in some content strategy coaching to help you sort out
and focus your site map and offerings. A professional can help
you focus your vision into a profitable internet presence. Hire
a professional web designer to capture your essence in design.
And get a copy writing coach to help you create the most compelling
copy you can manage.
Make this next web site the best ever!
©
Cara Lumen 2007
www.caralumen.com
WANT
TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-MAGAZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as
long as you include this bio with it:
Cara
Lumen, The Vision Distiller, helps you distill your
vision into a specific and profitable course of action. Her specialty
is internet marketing, content strategy, copy writing, and signature
product development. Through her Magnetic Marketing Method, Cara
offers innovative, inexpensive, and impactful ideas for the pro-active
entrepreneur. Learn how you can become a Success Magnet at www.caralumen.com
WHAT
CAN A CONTENT STRATEGIST DO FOR YOU?
