Technology Business Website Rant...Again

The first thing I do when I meet a technology service providers at any kind of event is to check out their website. When you are dealing with tech as a business, you need to have a professional and FUNCTIONAL website.

Although many are still pure garbage sites, which I can't understand why anyone would bother, I am happy to see that there are many more coming around to the professional look.

While I just said that let me add in that many have also taken the "too easy" road on this. Yes more nice sites are popping up in the world of small technology service providers, but they are still cheaping out a bit as far as being different. I can't tell you how many of these sites have the same pictures on them. Even worse, the same exact slogan. Are you kidding me?




I know that getting a good looking site up fast is somewhat of a priority if your site was really bad or non-existent but please take the time once it's up there to find out how you can get an original graphic or 2 to replace the same ones everybody else has and think of a new slogan. If your web designer made your website slogan, go to guru.com or something and have a slogan contest paying the winner $50 or something. Some originality is a good idea.

Anyway, that's not even the purpose of this post. The purpose was to talk again about functionality. Whether I am seeing very original or modified cookie-cutter designs, the good news is that newsletters and better yet some sort of download, like a white paper, are being implemented. And if you feel funny about offering people free information in exchange for a name and email address, you are not using your site for it's #1 purpose of automated marketing/lead generation.

So the good news is I'm seeing this stuff. The bad news is that in most cases it's only being half correctly applied.

Let me explain. If all you are doing is collecting names and email addresses from a download and then using that to send out an email blast only when you are trying to sell something, you just wasted an excellent lead generation source. And you're really not applying as much automation to it as you can.

If the database you are using to collect these names does not have an autoresponder attached to it, you just missed out on the real purpose of the information capture. And if you do have the autorepsonder and you don't use it... well do I really have to say it?

Get a download piece on your website and have it on every main page of your site (home, products, services etc) at a minimum. Have the download be related to the theme of the page. Capture the name and email address. Send them the download. Follow up with them. That last one is the missing link, my friends.

The purpose of a download is to give a visitor something useful, put them into a marketing funnel and have them take an action to contact you. That indicates a hot prospect and it's completely automated. That means if the download is a 1 page white paper on subject X, then you should have an autoresponder email series set up to elaborate on the main points over a couple month time frame with an action item to get them to contact you.

If you are not doing this, it has the same effect of sending out 1 direct mail piece and expecting it to generate a response. Even worse, you are taking a warm prospect (they found you and took the download), and thinking that they are ready to buy right now. They are hunting and you opened the door. If you don't follow up and be in front of them when they are ready to buy, then you really just opened the door for a competitor to piggy back off of the great info you just gave away.

OK, the rant is over as this is turning into a novel and can get much more in depth. If you would like to listen to me continue on this subject and help you apply it to your business, you know where to find me.


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

Looking to Retire in the Next 3 to 30 Years???

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To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach