Wakeup Time: My Website Isn’t Working
Web Makeover Time
I’m not comfortable about this, but I have to face the fact that my website is not working. Right now there are so many other things I want to be focusing on, but I know that I have to deal with this and sooner rather than later.
Readers of my blog over the years might think, Oh no, he’s not changing it again, is he? But the answer is, yes. I need to.
Not so much how it looks as what it delivers, or doesn’t
It’s not that it doesn’t look ok. It does, or so I’m told by others whose opinion and judgement in the matter I respect.
And it’s not that the pages and blog posts can’t be found and read. They can – as far as I know.
In fact, I was really pleased, delighted in fact, when some time ago a respected colleague and friend congratulated me on my website, which I designed and built on the WordPress platform, using the Genesis Framework for WordPress, with the Enterprise Child Theme.
And others have told me it is impressive, very professional, and so on.
But my thoughts on the subject keep coming back to this: Its. Not. Working.
By which I mean is that it’s not working, in any way I can easily determine, to win me business.
Also, and this is an important consideration, the Genesis Framework child theme for WordPress I am using currently, Enterprise, while it looks ok and is technically navigable on my smartphone, is not actually mobile responsive. Which means it is not easily readable on a mobile device, so that’s not helping anyone, readers or me.
Definitely makeover time.
Purpose and Design
So, having determined – as I have – to do something, I have to work out what needs to be done and how.
I think I’ve got those fairly clear, in principle at least:
What – a site which will continue to aim at providing value for readers and at the same time have a strong focus on generating leads and generating new business,
How – two steps for now:
- design and build a new front end, using the new, 2.0 version of the Genesis Framework and a mobile responsive child theme
- systematically work through the content and layout of the About page and the pages explaining various services and products
I’ve looked at the current crop of Studio Press’s Genesis mobile responsive child themes and I’m thinking the eleven40 Pro theme (see screenshot below) might be the one that best suits my purposes.
Also Blogging More Regularly!
Those are important considerations and steps, but I know they won’t substitute for more frequent and regular blogging. So planning and executing on that will be part of the mix.
As a small step in that direction, I am experimenting with making every Monday a blogging day, so that I start the week with at least one or two blog posts completed. And for starters I’m writing this one on a Monday.
A Work in Progress
I know there is a lot more to be done to ensure that my website and blog are well structured, maintained and regularly tweaked to ensure they are:
- easily readable – and helpful – whether on a desktop, a tablet or a phone, and
- helping me build leads and maintain/generate business.
I have a few ideas about that and will be doing some experimenting as I go.
If you have any suggestions about making the site and the blog more informative/helpful to readers and more business-effective for me, you will have my full attention.
Des Walsh
Business coach and digital entrepreneur. With coach training from Coachville.com and its Graduate School of Coaching, and a founding member of the International Association of Coaching, Des has been coaching business owners and entrepreneurs for the past 20 years. Over the same period he has also been actively engaged in promoting the business opportunities of the digital economy. He is a certified Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) coach, and a certified specialist in social media strategy and affiliate marketing.
Hi, Des.
I’ve been reading your blog every now and then since last summer, I think, although this is the first time I’m actually commenting. Don’t ask why, I just have a habit of leaving long comments and when there’s no time to do that, I’d rather not comment at all.
Here is what I recommend (maybe it sounds weird coming from a total stranger). In my 5 years of blogging and guest blogging and online activity I found that the following actually work:
1) Long in-depth articles (maybe 2,000 words or more) on multiple pages (using breadcrumbs). If there’s like a “15 pieces of advice for online businesses” article, this would definitely drive attention and new readers.
2) Infograhics, videos, reports and data results – people are so into it, the idea of discovering an online research and having all the results there, in an interactive manner. There are even boards on Pinterest and Facebook Pages that do only one activity: collect and share infographics.
I don’t have any infographics on Australian businesses, but I do have 1 Video and 1 Infographic about the State of Accidents in Australia. If this is something you’d be interested, please email me or tweet me and I’ll send it to you right away.
3) Business models, personal development, Psychology of Business – all these draw people closer to a blog. I’m assuming you also have an international audience, not just Australian.
4) Webinars & Online conferences: these work like miracles. I’ve been going for this approach for over a year now and results are definitely showing. I have at least 30 people per webinar session, which is ideal for an “online training” session. I even had 100+ people and it was really difficult to deal with everyone.
5) Twitter chats: just follow certain #hashtags. There’s always an online budget twitter chat, a seo chat, business chat & more. You can’t imagine the number of new followers and the number of new visitors & comments that result after just one Twitter chat.
6) Google+ communities: maybe it’s the new Google algorithm changes, but these communities are really crowded and people are very active. It’s like how things were 10 years ago on forums: everyone was active, you’d get insights, have a good time and exchange ideas with lots of people.
7) LinkenIn groups: – kind of the same with Google+ communities. Lots of users, lots of insights, spending good time and with quality people.
8) Have you tried to pull an offline business meeting? With the purpose of networking and connecting, exchanging ideas etc. I know there are tens of groups on Meetup.com who meet for design purposes, business, networking, idea exchanges etc.
This is what I can recommend for now. I hope you find this useful. And yes, as you said, constantly updating your blog with fresh new articles is a way of drawing more people and more business contacts.
Thanks so much Roxana for your very thoughtful comment. Lots to think about.
My pleasure, Des.
It might look a bit mixed up, but a strategy must offer multiple channels to benefit from (my two cents).
I am curious which of these will better work, so if you ever get your hands on a set of data and results, do let me know. 🙂
Have a lovely week!
Roxana
Yes, I see from your LinkedIn profile that you are a stats person. 🙂 Not my strength, but not something I take lightly!
I will look seriously at each of the points you recommend for attention. Right now though my focus is on the 30 Day Linking Blitz project I am running – http://30daylinkingblitz.com
Des