After last year successful appearance and speaking on the topic of: “How to take your web site to the next level,” I was invited to present again to the Pittsburgh Consulting Community. So on Thursday 1/7/2010, at 4:40PM EST, I will be speaking on “Social Media And All That Online Jazz.” Hope to see you there.
Click here or on image below to register.
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Our latest newsletter, featuring the extensive work we have done for Libby Wagner, President, Libby Wagner & Associates and Influencing Options, is now available. Click here to view.
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May this next year be the best of many to come. Wishing you health, peace and happiness. Chad and Laurel.
Images I captured during my recent Israel trip:
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Sea of Galilee
Jaffa
Jaffa
(click on images to enlarge)
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A question was asked today on an online forum I’ve implemented and help moderate. Here is the question:
“I’m doing a redesign of my site based on comments gleaned from an earlier post. (thank you to all). A point was made that too much is buried and buyers are not compelled to dig any further. My worry is having the home page crowded with too much info. I don’t want the buyer to work too hard. As if this isn’t enough, I have three services which i really want to highlight so I have to make sure those are front and center. I plan to include links / topics such as “client results” / “case studies”, “testimonials”, etc. , but what other elements do you feel are essential for the home page?”
I was surprised that all answers from various members focused primarily on tweaks to design and some minor words enhancements. Here was my reply:
Assuming your objectives are:
1. Create credibility and strengthen your brand.
2. Improve and increase your contact with others, increase your distribution list and potential clients.
3. Make it easier for your clients to do business with you.
4. Implement technologies to easily and consistently deliver your value to your clients
And assuming you want to position yourself as a world-class act, then your site does not need a facelift, it needs a major surgery.
And keep in mind that design, look & feel and navigation are only one small component of desired success. Some of the others are:
1. What valuable content (article, position papers, case studies, booklets, books, teleseminars, workshops …) is on your site to benefit your current and future clients?
2. What are you doing to increase your content consistently and how do you leverage it?
3. What are your strategy and your tactics?
4. What elements of marketing gravity have you committed yourself to and how does your site leverage them?
5. What does your accelerant curve look like (products and services)? how does it evolve? Any chasms in it? How does your site support and leverage it?
6. Are you a speaker? If not, should you be? If so, how is your site promoting you as such?
7. Should you leverage social media? If so why or why not and which one(s) should you embrace?
8. Does your target audience search for you and if so should you engage in search engine optimization (SEO) or paid listings (PPC)?
9. Should you create a blog or build a community around your work. Should you create videos and podcasts and place them on your site and on YouTube and iTunes and others?
10. Should you have an affiliate program?
11. Are you evolving and reinventing your business and your site?
12. How would you rank yourself on my Internet strategic profile and where do you need to be tomorrow?
13. I could go on and on …
Focus on design and you will probably end up with a pretty web site that most likely has missed its mark and objectives. But then again, some say: “if you build it, they will come.” I say: “will they?”
Let me share this with you. The ones that have taken my recommendations seriously and work hard at consistently executing the strategy, recognize the highest success. The others, have pretty web sites!
Best,
Chad
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Alan Weiss and Chad Barr are pleased to announce that we are engaged with Phil Symchych of Symchych Consulting Inc. located in Canada, on one of our Million Dollar Web Sites projects. The particular appeal of this is that Phil is an expert in small business growth and is focusing on dramatically accelerating the speed of his success. He is also doing this concurrently with a major book project called “Outrageous Growth” that he is co-authoring with Alan. This is the kind of aggressive promotion and overall improvement of marketing position and leveraging of technologies that is so important these days.
The work has just begun and I will notify you when we launch the amazing new site.
Welcome Phil.
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Alan Weiss and Chad Barr are pleased to announce a new joint venture, Million Dollar Websites. This was created in response to consistent requests for a combination of superb and powerful marketing text combined with state-of-the-art web technology. We’ve created an absolutely unique web site development approach—turnkey for a new site, metamorphosis for an existing site—with three programs to accommodate a variety of investments. The return on those investments will easily reach seven figures.
Hence, Million Dollar Web Sites. We invite you to visit. This is a unique service, finally combining high tech, with high touch in a pragmatic and customized approach.
http://www.chadbarr.com/million-dollar-web-sites/
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In the past 10 weeks I have been traveling for almost seven weeks for both business and pleasure. It was truly an amazing time and I would like to share some of my experiences with you in my next upcoming posts.
Back in October, I traveled to San Diego to attend and speak at Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Consulting College Grad School. A terrific group of 15 consultants attended the grad school for two and a half days to discuss business challenges, best practices, case studies and participated in various role plays and examined growth ideas.
Here are several take-aways:
Below are two testimonials from my speech which I recorder with my HD Flip Video camera. First one is from Lisa Nirell, founder of Energize Growth:
And the other from Sara LaForest, co-founder of Kubica LaForest Consulting:
And finally, the fabulous setting outside my window. And remember not to get caught in the web.
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I was scheduled to talk with a client of mine recently. I reviewed the most recent email she sent me, prior to dialing the phone number, and noticed her phone number at the bottom of her email signature, which I do recommend as a great pragmatic practice. I picked up the phone, dialed the number listed and got the sound of a fax machine on the other end. Thinking I dialed the wrong number, I dialed it again and got the same fax machine sound. I then pulled up her cell number and when finally connecting she asked me why am I calling her on her fax line. I said that I called the number listed in her own email signature. She indicated that she uses that email address only for private communication and her telephone number listed is her home number that is also used as a fax machine. She then asked me to dial another land line number which was not listed in her email signature.
This illustrates a prime example of how technology may actually complicate the ease of being able to contact you. If you require a fax machine, set up a dedicated number and do not run the risk that your fax machine answers human calls and especially those from your prospects and clients. And if you are listing the phone number to contact you in your email signature, which you should, make sure that number leads to you or your voice mail and not your fax machine.
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