Being fearful is one of the largest stopping blocks that people experience. Fear of failure, fear of being disliked, of being cast out, ending up alone, etc. Most of the time, these fears aren’t even really real; not rational fears. And more important than that is that most of the time the fears aren’t actually defined.
Specific and Measurable – Where do you like to keep things vague?
People in general have a real love affair with the grey areas. The shadows, ambiguousness. We seem to do almost anything possible to keep from answering questions in a straight way, and we love to weasel out of being clear about things. It’s a step beyond avoiding accountability. It’s a fear of specificity.
What your website visitors want to see – and how to lose them
I saw an article on Inc.com entitled “Almost Half of Your Visitors Leave Your Website if They See 1 of These 3 Things. The article had some very useful information about what your visitors want to see on your site, though due to some sort of lapse in editorial oversight they forgot to mention the These 3 Things. Oh well. I’ve summarized what your visitors need to see here in this post.
Is your website getting the job done, or is it an online dumpster fire?
So which one are you: Is your site current, vibrant, healthy, modern? Does it WOW your visitors? Does it represent your brand and does it fulfill on your sales and marketing goals? Or is it an online dumpster fire? Your website is only as good as the results it delivers. That’s worth taking seriously.
You Wouldn’t Believe the New Opportunities! – he said to me.
You Wouldn’t Believe the New Opportunities! – he said to me.
I received an email this morning that made me laugh and warmed my heart. It was from one of my favorite new customers for whom we’ve just built a new site.
Rethinking your Mobile Website Strategy
Here’s your takeaway for this article: Your mobile visitor and your desktop visitor are not the same person and they have different needs.
Question: are you taking these differences into consideration when building out your pages?
ALL THE EXPERTS – Some thoughts on expertise
Have we reached PEAK EXPERT? This has been coming up a lot lately in my Mastermind group and in conversations I’ve been having with friends and colleagues: What does it even mean to be an expert at something? I’m seeing a rather disconcerting trend whereby folks who take a couple of online classes and decide that they’re going to put their own (tragically minor) spin on it and go into business teaching that thing themselves. The trouble is that this person isn’t an expert; they just took a couple of courses and now they’re going to regurgitate this plagiarized shit back on their own customers. How do you tell the difference?
8 Common Homepage Mistakes & 10 Rules to build by
The topic of how to build a truly great homepage has been on my mind a lot over the past few weeks.
First, I’m going to list out some very common homepage mistakes I see out there in the wild. Next I’ll make some recommendations that you can apply right away. Finally I’ll give you a short list of homepage rules that I’ve developed over the years which I edit regularly to keep up with the times.
Designing a better MailChimp signup process
From subscription form to welcome message, your MailChimp signup process has to really stand out from the crowd. I’ma show you how to do that right now. SO MANY people get this way wrong. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot when you’re still at the starting line.
[PODCAST] What’s Your Website’s Real Job – Do you even know?
Last week I had the privilege to be featured once again on the excellent 805Conversations Podcast with Mark Sylvester and Patrick Melroy. This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground and I know you’ll find some real value in this talk on Web Strategy, Branding, and Authenticity Marketing.
How Clear is Your Brand Message?
Consider your message for a moment. Your brand message that you’ve got on your site, business card, and so forth. Got it in your mind’s eye? Good. Now riddle me this: how well does your message reflect what your company does in your marketplace?
CoSchedule is Your Blogging Buddy – Srsly
Every once in a while a WordPress plugin comes along that is so mind-bloggingly useful and beneficial that it actually changes your own habits. Co-Schedule is such a plugin.
MailChimp Knowledge Base – Video Archive
Here’s a quick-jump guide to all of the excellent Video resource videos that MailChimp has put up into their Knowledge Base. These MailChimp training videos range from Beginner to Advanced.
Check Out Death to Stock – Source Cooler Images
Your blog needs to be graphically driven, and it’s always best to source an image library that fits your voice and message. Enter Death to Stock.
[Podcast] The Web Can Be a Scary Place — Be Sure to Have a PLAN
I had the privilege of sitting down with Mark Sylvester of 805Connect and Patrick Melroy of Pullstring Press for a rousing 805Conversation which centered on the importance of having a strategy in place as you begin to build your web presence.
Playing with Blocks – Time Management Tips for Freelancers
View PostYour long rambling newsletter is not making you any friends
View PostTop THREE things I look for in a WordPress Theme
We use high-quality WordPress frameworks to build out our sites. This is how we’re able to deliver a $6,000 site that would have cost more than $10,000 just 3 years ago.
Looking for a good Shopping Cart? Consider a Gravity Forms Pay Form instead
View PostDO NOT Play it cheap when it comes to your web hosting
Do not play it cheap when it comes to your web hosting. I have a “deep thoughts” box on my homepage with the following message: CHANCES ARE YOUR WEBSITE ISN’T A HOBBY — IT’S YOUR BUSINESS!
You Gotta Have a Privacy Policy – Use iubenda to Generate Yours
iubenda is a web tool for generating a Privacy Policy for our sites in a matter of minutes. Very simple to use and beats paying massive civil fines.
Why Your Content Strategy Needs to be a LOT Better than Mine
View PostA Social Experiment Leads to Better Leads
We’re conducting an online experiment to track a handful of different content posts across several platforms. We run this sort of test every couple of years to learn more about what’s currently working out there in Social Media Land and what’s not working.
If Content is King, is Social Media Queen? The answer is NO
You’ve heard it before: Content is King. Well, if Content is King, then is Social Media Queen?
No. Content is also Queen. And Content is Prince, Princess. In fact, Content is your entire Royal Family.
4 Steps to Presenting Your Services The Right Way
View PostMapping out your web presence can be a real pain in the ass!
View PostIn 2014 Content Remains King – 5 Ways Google is Changing SEO
In 2014, Google proves that Content Remains King. Reputation is a hard-earned, easily-lost thing. While customer service (like Zappos and 37 Signals) and killer products (like Apple and Tesla) grab the most ink, investing the same level of quality and attention to detail in a robust content strategy is vitally important to a successful online presence.
What’s Leadership REALLY? Sometimes I wonder – Also: things I’ve learned from my dogs
While I feel that everyone can benefit from some mentoring I think that we’re going overboard with our leadership compulsion. I look to my dogs for guidance, as they seem to have it all worked out.