Rethink Your Web Presence

Thanks for these questions, Chris. Particularly relevant to writing a daily blog such as yours, I think, because the information our readers see first keeps changing all the time. So it's difficult to always give out the same signals all the time. One solution I've found for this is to generally always starting my first paragraph with talking about the topic of my blog (creating legacy), and then relating whatever else I want to say that day to that. By the way, I've found that this way of doing things also helps with SEO for the main keyword, if that is also the theme of the blog. If anyone here has any other ideas about how to meet the expectations of your readers on a daily blog please let me know. Thanks again for the thought-provoking questions, Chris.

After reading this post, I feel even better about my redesigned website (launched 11/09). As a real estate agent, I see so many of my cohorts falling into 1 of 2 camps. Most offer a basic template website with lots of generic information on home buying & selling, plus a home search. But they don't do anything to convert their visitors into connections and ultimately clients. The other group, the bloggers, thinks they are much better than the template agents.But most are still missing the boat since their focus becomes about their articles…talking about the community, the housing market or a few properties without making it very clear that they are asking their visitors to hire them.

I hope that I've found a better solution. I have a home page that is totally different than the blog, and which is designed to tell people what I want them to do and how to get to the pages that can help them with each task. I even included a multiple choice list in my contact form to remind them of the things I can help them with.

I honestly can say that I feel that I'm on track for each of your questions. And the result is that I'm seeing more people register for a home search, more people visiting the pages I want and more people calling me to ask for help.

Awesome! An update…….the judge in the case did a 180 in his attitude this past Friday, and released to attorney's fees to Danny's attorney after refusing to pay him (with Danny's money) for 7 months. I believe it is because of the 10 people that met up, wore the “Free Danny Tate” t-shirts, and showed up in court to provide scrutiny.
The Awareness concert is on the 23rd, and then his “final” court hearing is on May 24th/25th. With the help of Facebook………i'm going to try to turn that scrutiny into 200. I think we can do it.
Six years ago…….this level of quick engagement, and networking would never have happened, and Danny would have been alone in that courtroom on Friday. Thank God for Facebook, and all the tools that we use to share important stories now.
I'm constantly excited and hopeful by this.
Kevin

Great 'give-away' blog, Chris. You are a genius with your media because you know how to give and give and 'go the extra mile', AND you know (now) how to ask for value in return. Remember this, Chris: NO ONE RECEIVES VALUE UNLESS THEY GIVE VALUE. WE DO NO ONE A FAVOR BY JUST GIVING AND NOT EXPECTING SOMETHING IN RETURN. Nature (life) just doesn't work that way. Great, bog … thanks, rob

True, though, more often than not. I'm 40 and I can see 8 point happily, but you know what? I see LOTS of people with their fonts all jacked up high.

Here's the trick of it, Ian: we need a nicely groomed place because people pass by it on the highway all the time, but SOME DAY, someone's going to pull into your driveway and take a look at your storefront.

Thanks for this Chris. It's so timely for me. We're starting work on a new project for an organization that insists that providing their members information and building relationships are separate and you can't do both at the same time. We've been struggling a bit to figure out a way to explain and help them understand that the two parts work together. These questions are a huge help! Thanks for being so generous with your knowledge!!

Great as usual, Chris. Although I gotta tell ya, my first thought when I finished reading was not how to improve my site but “Oh crap! I'm now 'older.'” Oh well, I'm off to pick up a nice white belt and revamp some client sites. :)

Interesting and important post. It definitely leaves me with some blog soul-searching to do so I can fine tune myself and how I project myself.

I needed this. I thought I had the questions above figured out but the reality is, I'm kind of not too sure. Thank you for putting this into perspective, Chris.

It is said that the name of these shoes is inspired by Kanye West' nickname, and the combination of Nike styles with modern Nike's innovations can be found in the designing of these shoes.

These questions are really useful. makes you really think about what you are doing. Thanks for these. It really helped me a lot.

Great advice. This is a common problem I see with my Niche Affiliate Marketing System conference attendees: they have these great ideas, yet the outward message they send is for them – not for their potential visitor, buyer, client, etc.

Love the post! If we can honestly answers these questions for ourselves and apply the principles to our web presence, then we can build more long-term relationships with new visitors.

I need to answer these on my blog, and answer them every day.
Thoughtful post and putting most of us on the spot.
Cheers,
Todd

There is a clear lack of task identification for websites. Site visitors come to do something, and they want to do that with as little delay as possible. Sites are busy telling consumers how happy they are to see them, and all time that could be saved by the magical solutions they have. Make the key tasks obvious, respect the visitors time, get them on their way as quickly as possible. If you do not know what the the key tasks are – then you have even bigger problems!

Dara, your comment points toward where technology meets the ways in which content naturally travels. The problem I see for many brands is that they adhere to ideas of stickiness that make more sense for content providers that are selling advertising against content than for marketers whose whole goal, presumably, is to get people talking about their brand, their products, their content, etc. For the latter, the idea of building one centralized platform and expecting people to come to it seems quite misguided. Instead, the question is how do you get the content circulating in the places where people are discussing related issues, and technologically then how do you best assist in that process.

I hadn't thought along this axis, Christine, but I like what you've brought to the post. Thank you for sharing your take. : )

I like to trap my visitors in an endless maze of confusion. It is my key task. That and world domination of course – which is why I need you all distracted and confused…

I love that you mentioned a larger font for your aged readers. I have thought of the same thing, especially since I worked for an optometrist in the past. I feel like that one tidbit of information is HUGE;-)

Loved the entire article!