In the previous post we discussed, why and how often you should back up your website.\u00a0 In this continuation we will discuss the 2nd secret of website designers which is:<\/p>\n

#2:\u00a0 A nice looking website doesn’t guarantee you’ll make any money from it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

First a story, then the lesson:\u00a0 When I was working in Corporate America, I sat in what is commonly termed as a cube farm today.\u00a0 A cube farm is rows and rows of cubicles that have desks for people to work at.\u00a0 The company I worked for literally had acres of cubes for people to sit at doing their jobs each day.\u00a0 We were chained to our desks by the wired headsets that we wore so that we could participate in the many teleconferences that we had to attend each day in order to do our work or we were speaking with our clients to obtain information about one of their systems.\u00a0 I worked on a core team of individuals who each specialized in a part of a greater system.\u00a0 We had contractors who would help us out during busy times so that we could meet our deadlines.\u00a0 Contractors were just as important as the core team and would often work in different teams over the course of time.\u00a0 There was a contractor that worked across the aisle from me and because of the nature of my work, I was co-located between Colorado and Georgia, I was unable to get to know this contractor very well, which is to say, not at all other than knowing his name.\u00a0 Apparently whatever he was working on, required him to be away from his desk a lot during the day which was not unusual so we didn’t know each other very well.\u00a0 One day, my manager was about to introduce some new international interns to our teams and he ran down the aisle and asked me where the contractor was.\u00a0 I told him I didn’t know but I would page him and have him return to the area as soon as possible.\u00a0 He then proceeded to ask me what the contractor did and my response to him was, “I have no idea what he does, but he sure is pretty!”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I share that with you to impress upon you that you, as the business owner, need to know what your website should be doing for you.\u00a0 Is it just something to look at and read content and move on or do you want it to actually to showcase your products and allow customers to purchase immediately?\u00a0 The old adage of “the eye buys” is entirely true.\u00a0 I find it incredibly frustrating when I see a product online and have no way of purchasing what I see because there is not a Buy Now button right on the website.\u00a0 If I have to call a number to speak to a human, I get concerned that there will be a language barrier, they won’t get my billing and shipping details correct, they’ll get the item number wrong or they’ll use my credit card information inappropriately.\u00a0 If I call and I have to press “1” for English or go through one of those hideous phone menu labyrinths, it’s much easier for me to just go to the next website in the Google search list to get the product that I want.\u00a0\u00a0 Basically, the fewer hurdles you put between your product and your customer’s wallet, the better chance you have at making a sale!<\/p>\n

#3:\u00a0 It takes longer than you think to create a website!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even when you have all the graphics, website copy, your incredible offer, know exactly how to hook in your shopping cart and autoresponder, social media links and everything else it takes to create a well functioning website, it still takes time.\u00a0 Just as it took you longer to get across the room when you were learning to walk compared to someone who was experienced in walking, so it will also take you longer to build your website.\u00a0 If you are not gifted with the knowledge of technology, it will be even longer and possibly more frustrating.\u00a0 Will you eventually figure it out?\u00a0 Maybe…maybe not.\u00a0 That’s not the point.\u00a0 The point is that you’re now trying to figure out how to put together a website when that is not your core knowledge so you’re now not concentrating on your core body of knowledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How much is your time worth?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Let’s say you’re\u00a0 a cake decorator and you sell your cakes for $10 each.\u00a0 This is an extreme example because if you’re a master cake decorator, you can easily make more than $10 per cake but you get the idea.\u00a0 How many cakes does it take to pay for a basic website?\u00a0 A basic one-page website may cost $300 or 30 cakes.\u00a0 Even if it takes 2 hours, you can probably fit 4 cakes at a time in a normal oven which is 8 ovens full.\u00a0 Eight ovens times 2 hours is 16 hours.\u00a0 A very full day of doing what you love!\u00a0 Raise the price of the cakes, put more cakes in one oven or use two ovens and you’ll reach your goal of $300 much quicker with the added benefit of doing what you love so it’s not a chore!\u00a0 How much non-income producing time do you have to throw at learning how to put together a website?\u00a0 When I learn new things, I expect to make mistakes and it’s part of my learning curve.\u00a0 How much time and money do you have to through at a non-income producing venture?\u00a0 If you need to make money fast, you want to move through everything that doesn’t produce money fast so that you can concentrate on what does make you money and that is your core competency whether than is personal fitness or cake decorating.<\/p>\n

#4:\u00a0 If computer technology is not your core skill set, you will be learning to do a lot of things one time and never use that skill again before the technology changes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a website is put together, once the initial structure is put into place, you rarely need to touch it again.\u00a0 If it’s not done correctly, it will need to be done again.\u00a0 That is also known as wasted time and energy.\u00a0 Anything that you stack on top of it will also need to be replaced as well.\u00a0 Technology (i.e. hardware and software) are constantly being updated.\u00a0 By the time you need to use that knowledge again, the technology will likely have changed.\u00a0 Why would you take the time to master it in the first place if you don’t need to?\u00a0 You didn’t go out and take an automobile assembly course when you needed to learn how to drive, right?\u00a0 So why do you need to teach yourself how to build a website if you’re a cake decorator?<\/p>\n

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In the previous post we discussed, why and how often you should back up your website.\u00a0 In this continuation we will discuss the 2nd secret of website designers which is: #2:\u00a0 A nice looking website doesn’t guarantee you’ll make any money from it! First a story, then the lesson:\u00a0 When I was working in Corporate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[26,369,525,15,19,537],"yoast_head":"\n