The Client Letter
February 6, 2013
Way North of Lake Wobegon
Cloudy 17 Degrees
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Back in college I started getting into web design.
To earn some extra money, I was interning with a salesman who worked for AT&T.
He was interested in starting a real estate business and I designed the website for him.
I remember walking through one of the big box bookstores back then and seeing a book called something like, “Webpages That Suck.”
It was full of examples of, you guessed it, crappy websites.
The book’s goal was to teach good web design by pointing out bad design.
Frankly, I don’t care what a website looks like. I only care if it works or not.
And by “work,” I mean that it contributes to the results of your business in a meaningful way.
If it doesn’t work, then it sucks.
If your website isn’t “working,” the good news is that you can change it.
Even better, these changes have little or nothing to do with software plugins, or geeky stuff or even much of anything tech related at all.
All it requires is a change in your thinking. A shift in the strategy you use when you’re putting your website together.
Here’s the thing:
Your website doesn’t exist for you, it exists for them. It exists for the people you are trying to attract and help.
So this requires that it’s put together with very specific things in mind.
It’s easy to forget this. That’s why most service professional’s websites all kind of look the same.
You’ve got the “here’s what I can do” part, then the “here’s what it costs part,” maybe a “here’s how great my clients say I am” part.
All that is great, except it doesn’t mention the only thing your potential clients care about.
If you forget to build things with THAT little secret gem in mind, then you’re going to get one of those sites that just sits there.
But there’s more.
Over the years, I’ve discovered some things about using websites to sell your services.
I’ve discovered that things like blogging, Facebooking, chirping and tweeting to build your business are largely wastes of time.
I’ve also discovered what you SHOULDN’T talk about on your website unless you want to send your prospects running for the hills.
Most service provider websites just sit out there collecting dust instead of collecting leads.
If your website was an employee, would you fire it?
If the answer is yes, then why not build a website that gets the clients?