Whether you are building your website or growing an existing one having a strategy for success will help enormously.  In fact you simply cannot expect to be successful without it.

Why?

Well, often website owners struggle and struggle is a very clear message.  It’s the message that something is wrong.  After years of working with hundreds of web owners I have noticed that the struggle is often the result of dabbling: They do a little bit of Google AdWords, have a brush with Search Engine Optimisation, flirt with improving their sales copy, some even dump their entire site in the hope that their web designers will wave magic wands to make them millionaires overnight.  Then they wonder why their website never really gets top flight success.

This is down to the hope that by doing something different (anything different) their website will perform better.  However, without a strategy – an overview of the sequential (and sometimes simultaneous) steps that need to be taken – most web owners are left floundering on the rocks.

My aim over the next few weeks is to give you the strategy to make your online business flourish.  Let’s call it a blueprint.  It’s not complicated and it’s not technical so please enjoy the sense of relief that you may feel that the route to success is easier than most believe.  (You are welcome to get a bit excited at this point.)

Step 1 – Get into the Web Owner’s Mindset

Owning a website is more like owning another business with all the complexities and work that entails.  In fact there are so many elements to it you could easily be engulfed with ‘stuff to do’ and many web owners end up suffering from information overload to the point where they are debilitated into inaction.  Knowing how to run and develop your website is more about how you think than simply a matter of doing things on a list so it’s important for you to get your mindset right from the outset.  Think of this as the same mental exercise an athlete might do before running a race – your mindset sets the foundation stones for your future.

The keys to unlocking the right mindset for your website are as follows.

1. Recognising that growth and success will probably not happen overnight.
2. Knowing that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.  (Read More…)
3. Engineering your time to focus on your website; having control over that time, doing it regularly and having a sense of purpose about what you’re doing.
4. Developing an action based mentality where you’re driven by the idea of getting things done.
5. Having a really clear understanding of money and how it affects your thinking, your business and where you want your website to ultimately ‘be’.
6. That your website is a sales person and deserves the same attention and respect.  (Read More…)
7. Understanding the key differences between being a website owner and a business owner.

Once you’ve got your thinking in gear you’ll need to find a web designer to build your site.  (Take a look a my two previous articles on The Website Owner’s Mindset Part 1 & Part 2.)

Step 2 – Find the Right Web Design Partner

Finding a good web designer can be as tricky as finding your life long partner!  Your web designer will need to mesh with you, your business, your website’s needs and even your values and principles.  They will have to ‘get’ inside your business and your head in order to connect with what you want.  And you have to do the same in reverse.  After all if they are about to help you represent your company online you’ll want to be sure they are right for the task.

Here are some of the things you need to understand about web designers.

1. Do they have the right design skills?
2. Do they have the technical capabilities?
3. Have they got a sense of how to promote your online business?
4. What are their competitors like?
5. What are their rates?
6. Would you be better off using a freelancer?
7. What information do they need in your project brief?

If you’d like to know more about choosing a web designer, take a look at my articles on How to Pick the Perfect Web Designer.

Next week I’ll be covering Planning & Building Your Website as well as the 7 Principles of Internet Marketing

Jed Wylie is the author of Make Your Website Sell and works for Morgan Wylie a web design and digital marketing agency in the Midlands.