What would you say if I told you that your website doesn’t generate sales for 4 reasons and those reasons are:
1. You’re boring
2. You’re cheap
3. You’re a negative creep
4. You might as well be dead
Yowzah! Sounds harsh right? Well, friends are allowed to be harsh when they’ve got your best interests at heart, so hear me out for a minute and then we can kiss and make up at the end.
“We need to talk… about why your website is bombing”
1. You’re boring
If your website isn’t as vibrant and evolving as the rest of your business then from an online visitor’s point of view you’re boring and staid. If you use your website as a static bio rather than as an active marketing tool then of course it isn’t going to generate sales.
If you don’t update your website regularly with fresh content then your visitors won’t interact with it, which is just as well because they’re unlikely to find in the search engine results pages for the same reason.
If you’re not convinced, think of it this way – would you put an ad on a billboard and leave it for years without changing it, especially if it wasn’t working?
2. You’re cheap
A lot of websites fail because the business owner has a short term mindset and makes ‘cheap decisions’.
If you think of everything in terms of what it costs you and forget to think in terms of what value it’s going to add then you’re doomed. Whether we’re talking about websites, employees, marketing or materials – if you make cheap decisions YOU’RE DOOMED. [Life lesson bonus: this principle applies to every aspect of your life]
And I’m not just talking about money. Being cheap with your time and energy is just as destructive.
Reason number 2 could equally read ‘You’re Afraid’, it’s the same thing. Cheap decisions are made out of fear and desperation. The golden rule of sales is never make a call if you’re desperate. So it follows that you should never make a decision if you’re desperate.
There are lots of businesses out there with a website that is static, has little to no SEO and isn’t optimised to generate leads or make sales, all because they didn’t want to spend too much money or waste too much time on their site. And so they went with a cheap and easy option, rather than a sales generating option.
And here’s the thing, the cheap option always works out more expensive in the end. In business and in life.
You’ll spend more money, more time and more energy trying to fix the cheap option than you ever would have spent on the alternative. And the alternative would have been making you money in the meantime.
3. You’re a negative creep
Lots of business owners have decided on some level before they even begin that this internet thing doesn’t work, not for their business anyway. If you’re not using the internet to grow your business, see if this sounds familiar.
You don’t believe your website can generate sales. You’ve dipped your toe in the marketing and advertising water over the years and nothing really worked out for you, nothing made a dramatic difference.
So, whether it’s conscious or subconscious, you don’t believe that any of it really works, websites and online marketing included. If this is you, be aware that subconsciously you make all your decisions through this filter and manifest the reality you’ve created in your head. So it’s important to keep the faith!
4. You might as well be dead!
Friends are allowed to be harsh. Hang on to that thought for a minute while you ask yourself if this sounds like you when it comes to your website.
You’re too old, bored, preoccupied or drunk to try. And for all you’re doing you might as well be dead!
Here’s the deal. Life isn’t easy. Making money isn’t easy. Running a business isn’t easy. Hell, sometimes getting out of bed doesn’t seem all that easy. [Wow, I'm really uplifting you here]
The point is, if you want to do something well you need to work at it. So of course your website doesn’t bring in the big bucks if you got someone to build it and haven’t looked at it since. To get your website making sweet sweet music you need to learn how to play it. You need to invest yourself in it, learn a little about how online marketing works, what makes a good site, how to get visitors and what you need to do to convert them into customers.
It’s simple. If you invest yourself in it and learn a little, you’ll see results. It won’t happen until you work at it, but nothing good does. The most worthwhile, rewarding and fulfilling things in this life are not the easy ones. But you already know that, that’s why you’re an entrepreneur.
To learn about specific things you can do to generate leads and sales online, sign up for our email updates below. It’s all free (see, friends do get more than just abuse and harsh truths around here).