Guest Post: Dianna Huff, a veteran Web Marketing Expert, helps consultants and freelancers maximize their online marketing efforts with marketing assets they already own – and without spending a lot of money. To learn more about her Web marketing coaching services, and to download her free Twitter report, visit www.the-profitable-consultant.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @WebMktgCoach
Recently a consultant called to inquire about driving traffic to his Website, which consisted of three pages of poorly written copy.
“If you want real ROI,” I said, “you need more content that’s optimized – for starters. You also need to market your site through various methods.”
His response? “Are you kidding me? I pay $1.50 a month for this site. I don’t want to pay more.”
(Yes, you read that right – One dollar and fifty cents.)
Penny-wise, pound-foolish mistake #1: Using a rock-bottom “all-in-one” Web development / hosting service.
Sure, this business owner got a Website on the cheap from his Web host (he admitted he paid a nominal fee for three pages), but in this case, low-cost also equals NO BUSINESS.
Unfortunately, I see this mistake all too often.
Penny-wise, pound-foolish mistake #2: Not reading the fine print.
Another time a fairly successful real estate company called about developing all new content for their site. It sounded like a great gig – they were hip to blogging and social media and were raring to go.
That is, until they hit a major roadblock. When they called their Web host, they learned they didn’t own their site or the URL nor would the company allow them to make changes to the Website template.
Dentists, lawyers, real estate companies and other service professionals often fall prey to Web marketing companies that provide a range of low-cost Web marketing services, including Website templates, domain registration, hosting and even canned content.
Service professionals and consultants find these services attractive: they can easily customize the canned content and they get everything they need in one place.
The problem, however, is that the service professional doesn’t read the contract’s fine print and finds out months or years later that he or she doesn’t own the site, the content or even the URL.
In order to “break free,” he or she has to start over from scratch – which ends up costing more than if the consultant had simply gone the “from scratch” route in the beginning.
Penny-wise, pound-foolish mistake #3: Not budgeting for professional Web design.
A few months ago a consultant called about his Website that had been designed by his wife’s sister using FrontPage.
The site reflected poorly on the consultant and he acknowledged that fact, yet when he saw the proposal for a new design and content, he never called back (and the site, designed in 2001, still hasn’t changed).
Granted, you’re a consultant or freelancer and paying $750 or more to have a professional designer set up your site can punch a big hole in your pocketbook.
However, not having a professionally designed site can end up costing you big money in the long run as prospective clients bypass your site for your more slick competitors.
The Internet is now a fact of marketing . . . and to be successful online, you must ensure that you own your site and the content, that a reputable company hosts it without strings attached, and that you have your site professionally designed.
In my next article I’ll give you tips for developing a professional Website site that’s easy on the budget and brings in paying customers.
Image courtesy of kolix on Flickr
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These three mistakes should help make people more aware and serve as a good warning Dianna. I’ve worked with several small businesses recently where there was a change in ownership. The new owner came in, expecting to use the old website (or at most re-work parts of it). Unfortunately they discovered the site, design, content and URL weren’t part of the business sale agreement. The previous owner simply deleted the whole site (!). Or also, as you said, the previous hosting company wasn’t willing to let go of the URL. So make sure the digital assets are included in the sale along with all pertinent access information. In those cases I had to work with the new owners and come up with a new URL, site content, everything.
Mike,
Now there’s a story I had not heard! Thanks for sharing it.
It happens very usual, when new guys inspired by some cool idea of business decide to make a website in very fast and the cheapest way, you know! However, as you mentioned, by doing things like that, they doesn’t think about a future perspectives for the business, they decided to start. Of course, it happen like that, only because guys are not competent in IT area – and it’s normal, I think. People who make a business, which isn’t connected with IT area, should be knowledgeable in that.
However, in nowadays, Internet marketing plays a huge role of rolling up any business, therefore new businessman should always try to focus on that point.
Perhaps, they best way in such a situation would be to be not afraid of using professional web development services?! To have a consultancy, to set up goals and finally to create a working ‘alive’ website, which could work well, somehow influencing on business grow…
Good advice.
I would add that for freelancers living on a tight budget the least you should do is buy your own domain name which shouldn’t cost more than 10-15 bucks a year. Design and content can be improved and moved around later on when more money comes in but losing the domain after a few years can really hurt.
I couldn’t agree more. Time after time, professional clients phone and ask for a website that can do all sorts of things, designed bespoke for them and to be managed by them using a CMS. When told that it would cost somewhere around £1,000 they just don’t understand why “it should be so much” (because they are blasted with people saying that they can have a website from… £50.00)…. and they then run to the £150.00 to set you up and £25.00 a month locked in rubbish template floggers. That’s right… your law firm could choose from 1 of 40 fantastic templates… Yep.. and look just like every other law firm – with that really annoying cheap stock photo in the top left…. They are not thinking that they have had no help, no consultancy, no bespoke design and, after 2years, have spent £750.00 for virtually no ROI, no brand value and probably no control over their domain or email.
We wonder in disbelief how anyone could be so “not in control” of a major part of their business and business communications. Many don’t make a note of their usernames and passwords. Many have no idea who they bought their domain from. It is really very worrying.
We tell clients that they wouldn’t go to their office every day and not know who their landlord was, who they paid their electric bill to or how to show people where their office was on a map. But many have little or no comprehension of the value their website could have. They know they need one. But they don’t really know why.
Great post Diana.
Yogi — I agree. I bought three domain names when I started out in 1998 — “diannahuff.com,” “marketingwriting.com” and “dhcommunications.com.” The first two point to the last one. (I’ll never forget when Steve Slaunwhite said, “Ooooh, so you’re the one who owns marketingwriting.com. Curses!”)
My first Website consisted of five pages and wasn’t all that much. I grew it by adding my newsletter issue to it each month — plus any new work I could feature.
Adam — Don’t get me started on canned content! I once did research for a dentist who had a canned site — and found over a dozen other dentists who used the same template and images. UGH. And some of the companies that market to dentists actually promote canned content as if it’s a good thing!
Amen on point #3, Dianna. I lived with my own hand-coded html site for almost a decade before having a designer create a “real site.” Afterwards, I kicked myself for having waited so long. Pound foolish, indeed. It’s still under development, but amazing how many people have commented positively on my new look.
If you’re like me and have absolutely no design talent at all, I would add that a professional designer should develop all of your marketing materials–business cards, stationery, etc., in addition to online media. Image, as they say, is everything.
Very good points. As a web designer, I come across this all of the time. It’s hard telling clients that they have to start over or pay more because they went with the low cost solution.
I’ll be very interested in reading your next article since I’m in the process of writing an article on tips for creating a professional website.
I designed my site myself using WordPress and a few downloadable resources, and knowing what I know now, I think a lot of bad websites stem from fear. Until I bought my own domain, I didn’t realize how *fun* making a website design was, or actually doing the fiddly bits like renaming the database tables for security. I actually cared about the backend, and realize that doing this for others could be a great revenue stream. I’ve even been told by a colleague that the site design makes it look very intimate and personal, rather than distant and corporate.
Granted, my site isn’t the greatest, but at least I own the content, and know that the design, while similar to others out there, is genuinely unique. I think a large part of having a good website (that could become a *great* website over time) is a willingness to get your hands dirty.
To be honest, I’m not sure if these are examples poor web marketing or simply poor business skills.
Whether we talk about web marketing or aged-old business promotion, some of the timeless rules still apply. “You get what you pay for,” and “There is no free lunch, but there is a cheap one and it might upset your stomach,” and “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Oh well, one more for the ages. “A sucker is born every day.” And nowadays, the internet is there to fool them, I guess. Thanks for the post.
Jake, you wrote “Image, as they say, is everything”, and in an ironic twist, your homepage is just that: only images. Your online image does indeed communicate a good impression, your copy too – but only for humans.
Search engines cannot decipher words in images at all, so all a search engine will see is your page title, meta description and image alt text. You said your homepage is still in development, so maybe that’s something your designer can improve on.
Dianna — Terrific arguments I can use the next time I get a call asking how much a website will cost. When the cost is the most important variable, I know the person is uneducated about what it takes to make a custom business/professional services website a success. Content is king both in words and design. Before any work on a website begins, I stress the planning phase — everything from purchasing a domain that ties with the business name and easy to remember/spell to having a web schematic laid out showing the site architecture, number of pages, linking, etc. Plan that the site will grow and change. Websites are never done and an unchanged website is a dead website.
I do think the starting price of $750.00 you stated is dirt cheap for a custom website — that might get you a home page at best.
Kristin,
Yes, $750 is dirt cheap but it’s a lot of money when Network Solutions is advertising on the radio that you get a Website up and running through them for $4.99.
I love you note about laying schematic and ensuring the site architecture is scalable. That’s something many people don’t consider.
Ouch! $4.99 for a website. Buying into that would be foolish!
Creating a web schematic is a good tool to give the client a visual perspective of how the website is layered and linked. It also helps define functions and hopefully stop design creep (client wanting more than what had been originally estimated for) before it can start.
great post as usual!
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