Stop - You are doing it wrong!

[Nathan Denton]

That's what I recently realised when a new found online mate pointed out a number of issues he notices with the way I was running my online business. After getting so engrossed in the work I was doing, trying to tweek my sales pages and come up with the best offers I could, I lost sight of a number of key elements which were impacting on my business.

Professionalism was a big one for me.

My friend confronted me when he was reviewing one of my sites and told my quite simply that my site looked 'amatuerish'. I was shocked and quite defensive about it. But, after reviewing that site and looking at a few of my competitors sites I realised that my friend was right. The site I had up there was CRAP!

Anyways, I quickly contacted my web designer and got him working on a number of improvements and tweeks to that site to bring it up to the same standard as others who operate in my market.

In this day and age we cannot afford to be mediocre and simply expect our customers to hand their hand earned over to us. Professionalism and offering a point of differentiation are two keys to ensuring you succeed in all your business endeavours (online and offline).

[mediasamurai]

Well said.
Professionalism will surely make you successful in life.
Glad you realized about improving your site.

[Sam Smith]

Actually, I don't know. It depends on your market.

Seem to see a lot of goobers using crayoned arrows and deliberately mis-spelling things in their copy. (I mean look at Frank Kern, who deliberately wears tshirts and draws attention to how shoddy his production skills are.)


I think that professionalism is definitely a good thing, but that when it's lacking pointing it out can be even more useful, as it builds trust.

[Pufferf1sh]

Yes and no I think. A pristine site with all the eye candy is nice to have, but may be time-consuming or expensive to put up. Plus an SEO site is probably more important for many, rather than it's image. One thing for sure is that it is crucial to take a step back from each project to evaluate its overall effectiveness and plan the next steps forward. Several times I have caught myself getting consumed in minor details that do not have a significant impact on my return on investment.

[falcon_warrior]

Agreed. With so much stuff online nowadays, people just don't know what or who to trust. That is why maintaining professionalism is the way to go.


Nicholas Chen

[goalpower]

Making your site look nice is important - seo is important - but the main thing is having a powerful message in front of a targeted audience. Driving traffic is key.

[dsmpublishing]

Talking about the issues you mentioned i came across a site with problems just the other day. The person that owned it was on an internet marketing course and was being taught how to have a fully functioning business. Including everything from setting up popups to designing squeezepages.

But what hit me was that they had a very badly designed website that looked like it belonged in the 1990's yet the pop and graphics for the freebie was amazing. If they had just put the pop up on a squeezepage instead they would get so many more signups and it was obviously ruining their business.

kind regards


sam
X

[Nathan Denton]

I agree Sam - you need to pick your mark. Sometimes those quick and nasty sites work perfectly.

[Nathan Denton]

Originally Posted by goalpower

Making your site look nice is important - seo is important - but the main thing is having a powerful message in front of a targeted audience. Driving traffic is key.

That's right - no traffic means no results. The more traffic you receive will allow you to test and improve on the different elements of your site to achieve higher sales/conversions etc.

[Gclunis]

I've always operated on the idea of professional simplicity (just made that up lol). Basically make something look professional, but don't bog it down with tons of cool features or anything like that...strip it to the bare minimum and have it functional and appealing..that's wat gets customers to see a site as reputable. I've been doing alot of research on my competitions landing page so that I know what to avoid on mine. And I have run into alot of pages that theres just too much on it. There are so many distractions that the reader is likely to never finish reading the review or w.e. which obviously will kill sales. So if your website is simple, useful, and valuable, your potential for sales will increase.

[Virginia M. Clemmons]

Originally Posted by Gclunis

I've always operated on the idea of professional simplicity (just made that up lol). Basically make something look professional, but don't bog it down with tons of cool features or anything like that...strip it to the bare minimum and have it functional and appealing..that's wat gets customers to see a site as reputable. I've been doing alot of research on my competitions landing page so that I know what to avoid on mine. And I have run into alot of pages that theres just too much on it. There are so many distractions that the reader is likely to never finish reading the review or w.e. which obviously will kill sales. So if your website is simple, useful, and valuable, your potential for sales will increase.

I agree. K.I.S.S. is the best way to go about designing your website. The more fancy & unnecessary features you have on your site, the more likely that the customer will get confused about what to do next only to leave your site and never return. Also, professionalism is key at all times regardless of complex or simple your site may be.

Virginia

[Nahar]

I appreciate you sharing this. We all love to learn and use all the IM secrets that bring us traffic, increase the conversion, etc.

But ultimately real people make the decision to buy our stuff. Internet is a pretty recent invention but Marketing is old - really old. I am sure the ancients understood the importance of making the first impression, etc. Let's not forget it!

[hbixler03]

Great subject. I totally agree, for me personally I don't stay on a website for very long if it's not set up nicely.

[pheonix44]

This is not always the case. Just yesterday I saw a site where the theme was a girl who called herself superwritergirl. She had a cape on like superwomen with the colors and all. Her site was quite amateurish and many would not take it seriously, but she seemed to be getting more business then she could handle. Some people are intimidated by a site that is too fancy, or should I say sales letter. Your site doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be effective to get the reader to take the desired action. If it get conversions that's all that matters.

[Nathan Denton]

Originally Posted by pheonix44

This is not always the case. Just yesterday I saw a site where the theme was a girl who called herself superwritergirl. She had a cape on like superwomen with the colors and all. Her site was quite amateurish and many would not take it seriously, but she seemed to be getting more business then she could handle. Some people are intimidated by a site that is too fancy, or should I say sales letter. Your site doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be effective to get the reader to take the desired action. If it get conversions that's all that matters.

i've seen different 'concepts' like this and some work really well while others fail. If your site converts and it has the ability to get people to take specific actions then I agree that the site is a success.

[tomcam]

Only thing that matters is how it converts, not how good it looks.

[igorhelpsyousucceed]

Hey Nathan,

you are totally right. We simply cannot AFFORD
to be average, we need to stand out and be unique, professional
and credible.

Igor