Why does a website take a million years to build?
Hello and its great to have you on the NEW Brand it Purple website – about JOLLY time you are thinking.
Some of you have been wondering why its taken FOREVER to launch my site(s) – yes we are still working on the others, although the Ashley Knoote-Parke site is up and running (incomplete I might add), we have been attempting to refine our current website for eventual launch. Blimey! I tell you – what a nightmare! This has been the ultimate thorn in the thigh - developing a website. Am I alone or have you experienced the same difficulties? Probably the reason is this online stuff is ‘too hard’ and we put it off (I did) and when it was faced, it was with trepidation knowing it was something we HAD to do but was kicking and screaming, because it hasn’t gotten any easier, in fact I think it has gotten harder.
It has become so complex and there is so much you have to remember and to do it is another ‘thing’ we have to put our attention to. Lets face it, how many of us are brilliant at doing this stuff? I have yet to meet any business operator who is brilliant at this and finds it a breezy walk in the park, in fact everyone I speak to has complained that website development has been one of their business challenges. Unless of course you are a giant company who has squillions to throw at web development and the funds to employ ‘someone’ to ‘deal with it’! Well as business operators we invariably become the ‘someone’ who ‘deals with it’.
The problem I believe stems from the need to be ‘out there in cyber space’ and if you aren’t online then you are NOBODY, sadly. Today the website is a necessity for anyone in business who needs to market themselves (which is anyone in business) and simply put – if you don’t have a website – you are a bit stuffed to say the least. In business we need to become famous as a personal brand or becoming a Purple Poppy and physically that can be quite easy to achieve (if you’ve read my book Brand it Purple) you would know how to become famous, but online, well that’s a WHOLE other ball game.
Now with a press media background and having been in the print/publishing business most of my life, the HARDEST thing has been the transition from physical presence marketing to online marketing. Some of the rules are the same but by and large there are new rules for online. There are 2 big questions I think need to answered when it comes to web development, firstly WHY? Why re we doing it and WHAT? What are we hoping to achieve and what do we our visitors to do when they arrive?
Well we started this web development process 18 months ago and it has taken all this time to get it to this point. 18 MONTHS, that’s insane! However it has been a massive learning curve. The actually writing only took a week once we had worked out the site map and what we wanted our visitors to have access to. We decided that this was to be a site that promoted me as a speaker and a information resource. OK having worked that out, what information? What do people want – what are they looking for? I would love to be able to say I have the whole ‘sales funnel’ thing happening! *Fat jolly chance* That is what the web gurus have led us to believe, that we HAVE to have a sales funnel, well I’m not so sure.
Lets think about it, if you are looking for information on someone (me for example) and you are thinking to hire a professional speaker (me for example) *smile* you would be looking for confirmation that you had made the right decision and that the people on the website speak and vouch for me. The purpose of having the website in this case I believe is to provide credibility, offer a solution to what you are looking for and as mentioned seek confirmation about your choice. But you can only do that if all the information is on hand and backed up by others.
It is a steady process of marketing online which goes hand in hand with marketing live. For example, I may do a speaking engagement and by doing that I am physically able to market my self to the audience. Now we need to translate that to online. Include a video snip of said event and make sure its on the website and send it to your database and let them know what you have been up to. 1st rule of marketing - maintain top of mind awareness and occupy mental real eastate, so that when your customer is ready to make a decision, who do they think of? You.
So why does it take a million years? Because we have no idea what we are doing! We may be really good at what we do (speak, real estate, accounting, or graphic design etc) but unless we are trained in web development we struggle to get our heads around the notion of online web development and online marketing. There are a squillion and one books out there now that tell us what to do but not how to do. How about finding web developers who do what they are going to say by when?
We were lucky, our web developer was patient and explained in layman’s terms what we needed to do and what we happening but every other experience for me has been abysmal. So that got me thinking about why? Possibly because the world wide web itself is so new and people are adapting to the technology including web developers, plus they are having to keep up with the fastest evolving technology in the world and keep abreast of whats going on.
If there are any developers who can keep to their promises, make it easy for customers, deal with the database and keep the ball rolling with little effort from us the business owner, then I think you have the right to become a gajillionaire!
Lesson learnt:- be prepared to adapt, be prepared to learn and be prepared to give your online presence the same amount of attention as your live presence already commands, so adapt or wilt!
Yes you CAN become an online Purple Poppy if you do the above!
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