Websites
are just too much work to build, how can I get one already done?
One of the biggest problems we
have with business owners is getting them to understand that they
need a website, but that always leads to the biggest obstacle of
all, it is a lot of work.
99% of businesses fail for one
simple reason, the owners are lazy and unwilling to do what it
takes to make the business work. And when it comes to websites
the problem gets even worse, since they don't think they need a
website, they just don't want to do what it takes to get it done.
Most business owners call us
and ask us to do everything for them. Just build me a website
with a few pages, black and red, home, about us and contact page,
nothing special.
Unfortunately, we don't know
anything about their business, we don't have any details about
what they do, offer or sell. So when we create a few pages, they
tell us, "that is not what I wanted".
Well what do you
want? If you can't tell me, I can't build 100 websites and
when we get one you like, you take that one. If I do that,
then I have to charge for each website, which of course
nobody wants to pay for.
So we have to depend on the
business owner to give us the data we need, images and graphics
to build a website. Without that, we can't do anything at all.
That means, the business owner
needs to do some of the work.
And getting a business owner
to give us content is a little like getting a 3rd grader to do
their homework when their friends are asking them to come out and
play.
In most cases, they will shop
around until they find someone else that will do everything for
them. When that person does not have any of the info the business
needs, they look again, and again all this time invested instead
of just sending us the information we need.
It seems people are so lazy,
they will work tirelessly to avoid working, which makes
absolutely no sense at all.
But nonetheless, that is the
case.
So how do we handle
the lazy cry babies?
We send them someplace
else.
And we choose to do that
for one simple reason, if they are too lazy to even give us a few
pictures and paragraphs of information to build their website,
they will never have any success with the website.
That means we will spend time
building a design, working with them to teach them how to
maintain it and then they cancel.
The issue of businesses
canceling after 2 or 3 months has become a bit of a sore subject
for us. Since we don't charge for support or even all the design
help we provide, we only get $20 a month and sometimes spend 20
hours working with a new customer in the first month alone.
Now I could go down and work
minimum wage at Walmart and make more than $20 for 20 hours.
So it is important that our
customers will stay with us long term.
It really sucks to turn away
customers because they don't want to do anything on their website,
but ultimately we have built a huge customer base of active users
and users that have been with us for over 10 years. That makes
our business very strong and that is what we try to bring to our
customers as well.
They don't realize,
without the ability to work on their own website they wont be
around 10 years from now.
If they can't find a few hours
a week to give us the information we need, then they will never
keep up the website or get any real value out of it.
Most website hosting companies
charge 1 or 2 years advance hosting on websites, because they
know 90% of the people that start website give up in the first
month.
So the only way anyone can
make money is to charge in advance.
It is a lot like gym
memberships. They make you signup for a year or 2 to get in,
because they know after a few weeks you will probably stop using
it. because it will be hard work and require a real commitment.
At pageBuzz, we don't want to
operate like that. We don't charge people for websites that they
lost interest in. We only charge by the month as you go. This way,
anyone can cancel at any time.
But because of that, we need
customers that will make some effort.
Sure we can do all the work on
the design, get everything working, do the SEO and even run
advertising campaigns if they choose. But we can't run ads
without knowing about your business.
To get to that point, you need
to teach us.
The way we ask you to teach us
is by writing it down, either in email or on the website pages.
This should not be
a shock, this is the information that all of your customers
need, the information that they seek when the go to your
website in the first place.
That is the whole
point of having a website, to tell people stuff about your
business.
If you can't do that or don't
have anything to tell people, then you just don't
need a website.
The work you do on
your website is a reflection on your business
People will look at the effort
you made on your website and judge your business. That is just a
fact.
People today need more,
websites have given them so many more details about who they can
do business with. People are more educated and more careful.
If you build a website
with no information, they wont use you. It is that simple.
Godaddy Website
Tonight
I just watched a Godaddy
website Tonight advertisement on one of their affiliate websites
and it talked about this very issue. They have 90 templates that
are already populated with content. So if you don't want to do
anything, write anything or are just typically lazy, you can
select a premade template.
Now that seems like a big
savings for the lazy people, but there is no relevant information
about what you do, offer or sell. There is nothing on the website
to tell your customers more than the fact that you exist.
How many people do you think
will go to a dentist that has a website that says simply "I
am a dentist"?
How many people will go to a
doctor that has a website that says "I am a doctor"?
How many people will use
daycare from a website that says, "we watch your kids $5/hour"?
If you you would, then great,
take one of those premade websites and you will forever be happy.
But if you are like the rest
of us and wont leave your kids at a daycare without doing
research on them, seeing references and checking local police
records and complaints, then you already know that those premade
cookie cutter websites are not going to help your business.
Yes it is Hard Work
Welcome to owning a
business, yes it is hard work. We all know that and
having a website will not be any different. You need to make at
least a small effort to be online.
There is no question we could
also build you a website that would work for anyone in your
industry. Just like a business card, one size fits all. Hey, I am
in business, here is my address and phone number.
But if we plan on having you
as a customer 10 years from now, that is not enough and not
really worth our time or your money.
And that is why we have to
push our lazy customers that act like 3rd graders throwing down
their books and saying "This is too hard". We have to
drag it out of them or when they get to 4th grade, they won't
know how to do what they need.
It definetly sucks to have to
be that way, but we are not the ones that are lazy. We put 10 to
20 hours into new customers helping with design, support and
educating them. The least they can do is help us get their vision
on the pages.
If you don' have time
or patience then pageBuzz is not a good fit for you. You can go
over to Godaddy and get a website already done, ready to go and
one that 10,000 other people in your business are also using.
But if you are looking
for long term web partners and are prepared to be part of the
website, pageBuzz is the best in the business.
|
