Let's go back to November or December….
If your life looked anything like mine, you were in meetings talking about the 2020 budget. Trying to figure out where to spend money and where not to spend it.
Maybe, like me and my team, you decided to push for an event-based approach to the budget. We planned for 3 or 4 large events and a ton of smaller ones.
We also budgeted to have folks on my team speak at those events – always a chance to drive further brand recognition.
And then the emails starting coming in…
One event after another was delayed. Then many more were cancelled. Eventually our 2020 calendar was devoid of any events.
And all that budget, all our estimates, all our plans were clearly not going to work.
Maybe you're in the same spot. Maybe you're realizing you have to put that money to work. Maybe you've come to the same conclusion we have – we won't be connecting with people in the same way, and we won't be handing out business cards or collecting leads like we thought we would.
Your website is your business card
It surprises me to learn that some small businesses still don't have websites. But even the ones that do, when we get to talking about them, realize that the “we need to update / refresh our site” is often pushed further down on the list of things to do. So much so that it rarely ever happens.
When your website is your business card, you quickly realize that first impressions count. It's what people are going to look at. It's what they're going to evaluate. And just like you wouldn't give them a thin, folded, photocopied business card, your website shouldn't look like crap either.
When your website is your business card, you realize that you don't need flash; you need substance. You need people to know how to reach you. And why they should reach out to you. Your skills and expertise should match their current challenges.
When your website is your business card, you realize that you need to capture prospect information so that you can easily follow up – and that often means integration with CRM and marketing automation solutions.
So what do you do now?
You can teach yourself WordPress
If you are running a WordPress website that was built by someone else, someone who took off and left you with a site you can't update, you might want to learn how to update it yourself. If that's you, then I want to introduce you to my friends at WP101. They've taught more people about WordPress via their video tutorials than anyone else on the planet. The videos are that good. And today you can teach yourself for 30% off, using my discount code: COVID19.
You can teach yourself SEO
Let's face it, if your website is your business card and no one can find your business card, you're done with. That means learning how to adjust your site's settings and the configuration of your SEO plugins, but it also means learning about SEO itself and how the search engines think. To do that, you could read a bunch of articles. Or simply sign up for Pathfinder SEO, with my discount code (timetoinvest) of 50% for the next three months, as they teach, train and coach you.
You can hire someone to build your website
When your website needs a complete overhaul, you may need to start all over again. If that's the case, and you don't want to do it yourself, you may need to hire someone. There are tons of great folks out there to help you. If you get stuck, let me know, and I'm happy to point you to folks like Purple Finch Studios or Zeek Interactive.
You can hire a professional agency to help your site get found
Okay, maybe your website is more than just a business card. Maybe it's a business card, a brochure, a video walk thru and more. When you need your site to do tons more than just be a business card, you may need to pay some additional funds to drive traffic. Facebook ads, paid search, paid social, and more. In that case, there's a marketplace to help you find the best folks, called Credo, that I highly recommend.
One last thing…
A few years ago, a new business card printer showed up in the market. Moo was completely different than VistaPrint – they were a premium product, priced that way, and the results were incredible. People talked about the business card you handed them.
Well a few years ago a new WordPress host appeared on the scene. They were a premium product, priced that way, and the results were incredible. People are still talking about their speed. Check out Liquid Web / Nexcess.net WordPress hosting to see what I'm talking about.