Some Common Webmaster Mistakes

Note that this video is from 2013, although I doubt much would change if it were answered now in 2016. Same philosophy, different implementation.

A New Generation of Values and Beliefs

Society is largely shaped by twenty-somethings, and it's been twenty-something years since the internet became a part of our homes, schools, and businesses. As they enter the workplace and marketplace I believe it will begin to shape a new society faster than we expect.

As twenty-somethings enter the world as adults, they bring with them their values, beliefs, knowledge, and other aspects of themselves. I believe this generation has very different ideas about the world, people, identity, and work than generations prior. Not strange or crazy ideas, just bigger leaps beyond their parents than we've experienced up until now.

They've done things in ways that never existed. They've socialized differently. Interacted with their schoolmates differently. Experienced movies and music differently. Seen and heard things at a much younger age than before. Seen and heard an astonishing amount of stuff without any parental knowledge. Seen and heard more in general than any kids before them.

The first generation to have been raised in an entirely digital and connected world is now entering the workplace and marketplace. It will be interesting to see how their values and beliefs become expressed in the world around us.

What Is Your Website's Call To Action?

Throughout all of your marketing efforts, your business must present consistent messages, offers, and calls to action to your prospects and customers. This includes your website.

Someone in the company, whether owner, manager, marketing department, or sales team, needs to determine a basic sales approach that all of your promotional material will adhere to and support. Some companies have newspaper ads that say one thing, salespeople saying other things, and a website with yet another focus. Coherence is the name of the game.

Your print advertising, emails, business cards, website, and other marketing material should work together toward the same underlying outcome. Don't just lay a heap of information on people then offer no direction about what to do with it or how to benefit from it.

What is your broadest, most basic marketing goal? To get people into your store, get people to call or email, buy products through your website, or something else?

Now, considering this, does your website have a clear and obvious call to action on every page? Does your website ask people to pick up the phone and call? To come to your store or office? To subscribe to a newsletter? To participate in a poll? To leave a comment? To sign up for a free sample or demo? To click and buy now? If you came to this page about online security guard training would it be apparent what action to take?

Does your website clearly ask visitors to do something simple, specific, and logical? And have you made it incredibly easy for them to?

Our Three Latest Web Design Clients

Like most web design companies, we get some clients who have thoughtful ideas for their sites, and others who give us raw material and tell us to call them when it's done. It's the variety that makes it interesting.

Sometimes we get clients who are just fun to work with. Our latest three web design clients were actively engaged in the design of their sites, and all three were fun in their own way. (And of course each one of these is now a top-10 ranking site in their market, since that is our specialty at Second Glance Digital Media.)

Robin Walton, freehand illustrator and artist (RobinWalton.ca) - Being a freehand artist, Robin had given much thought to the look of her site and had made some custom drawings for it. All we needed to do was translate her ideas into a functioning site. This was fun to build for a few reason: she's an independent freelance artist, and we love putting people on a small budget in the top-10 search results; she came prepared with great ideas and custom content for the site; and she asked good questions about what could be done, what might look best, and responded immediately to mock-up approvals.

Inside Security, about the new Ontario security guard course and test (InsideSecurity.ca) - Inside Security also came prepared with tons of content. There's nothing better than good content. It makes site design easy and search engines love heaps of real information. We spent some time acquiring images to supplement the predominant text, but much of it was simply building the site and getting layout approvals from the client. It's a straightforward design, very clean and easy to read. There's nothing cute or artsy to distract from the solid text content of this informative site.

Heritage Natural Beef, drug-free local beef (HeritageNaturalBeef.com) - Another case where it was rewarding to put a small business in the top-10 search results. They actually had a site for several years but it couldn't be found in searches, and I mean you couldn't find it no matter how hard you intentionally tried. It hadn't been banned or anything, it was basically just lacking every possible element of correct design. When we were done they ranked number two, only behind the long established industry leader.

Excerpt: Why Local Businesses Need Web Sites

Here's an excerpt from one of the articles on our site:
Why Local Businesses Need Web Sites.

"Local businesses serve clients who live or work physically near the business. Local businesses can be small or large, but the key factors that make them "local" are: they offer products or services that people need to experience first-hand (like eating in a restaurant), or prefer to try first (like trying on shoes or clothing before purchase), or are impossible to do at any distance (like getting your car fixed)..."

When you think about it, our lives revolve around local businesses: dentists, realtors, accountants, lawyers, optometrists, auto dealers, repair shops, hair salons, etc. The funny thing is many of these businesses and professionals don't understand the benefits of advertising their services, including having a proper web site. Some of them will happily run ads in the local newspaper, yet never spend a few hundred dollars to have even a simple site built. Hard to believe.

This is a fairly long article, designed to help business owners and managers understand the value of a web site. Pass it along or leave a comment if you find it helpful.