Welcome to the second edition of the mailbag. I would like to create more of these types of posts but can only do so if you guys ask questions or submit them to the mailbag. Check out the mailbag page to submit your own questions to be featured here.
Today we have a few different questions.
I see that you utilize a Website and a blog also. Why would you have both? Would you recommend that system to those who are creating a Web Design Agency? – Hiram
Well this blog is unrelated to my offline business but yes, I do have both. I don’t separate a blog from a website though, it is just an extension of the website. I just add a blog menu item and that is the blog.
Why do I do this? If you check out the ultimate guide to lead nurturing or even view the lead nurturing webinar a few weeks back then you would see I use it for lead nurturing, but also lead generation, content marketing, etc.
A blog could be useful for nearly any type of company. There are different purposes like connecting to their existing audience, nurturing leads, generating leads, establishing authority.
Yes, I absolutely recommend having a blog if you have your own agency or even if you’re simply a freelancer.
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This next question is just selected as part of a longer back and forth email:
I don’t know if the guy who submitted the sites to search engines actually did as I have only had 40 is views and I am wondering if this is normal or if this is about right. – Jay
Jay fell into a trap that a lot of business owners do when it comes to SEO. A beginner, or wanna be SEO guy had him believing that simply submitting his blog to the search engines would have a positive affect on traffic to his site.
Search engines are pretty complex and highly sophisticated nowadays. It used to be that you would “ping” them or submit the site to the search engines so you can get indexed. However, that is no longer the case.
Google, Bing, Yahoo, they’re all pretty advanced, and you actually don’t need to submit them, ping them, or even link to the blog or website anywhere online and they will still find and index the website. They do this based on domain registration data so you will be indexed without needing to do anything.
SEO and just being indexed are two different things.
Being indexed, doesn’t mean that you will receive any kind of decent traffic or any traffic at all. You need ongoing SEO whether it is through a company or you do it yourself.
Do you target leads that don’t already have a website? – Jason
I will target those that do and don’t have a website, but my preference are those that have an existing website.
If a business doesn’t have a website in 2015 it is pretty clear that they either can’t afford one or they don’t understand how the growth of the internet and advancements made in technology have impacted businesses across the world.
These businesses may change their mind one day, or “see the light” but usually they are a tougher sell because they think they don’t need all that internet mumbo jumbo. They aren’t as qualified as someone that has a website and sees the importance of having one.
That is the reason why I prefer targeting businesses with a website already. A lot of awful websites are out there and some businesses with perfectly designed websites are STILL unhappy with SOMETHING. These tend to be the higher paying customers, and better value customers.
I know what you’re thinking…
You’re wondering why a business with a good website would want to use you? Well there are a lot of reasons they may be currently unhappy, like:
- They’re unable to make changes
- Their website takes a while to load
- The company that manages the site charges too much for changes
- The website has problems that causes it to not rank well
- They’re just tired of the design
There are countless reasons why they may be unhappy, and this is great news for you because they already take the internet seriously, they believe having a good website is important, and they are the ideal candidate for upsells and cross-sells.
Think about it… if you’re selling health insurance, you’re more likely to get someone to switch from a provider to use your company if they already have health insurance, than to get someone covered who is currently uncovered.
Alright guys, that sums it up for this issue of the mailbag. If you have a question, check out the mailbag page and submit your question to have it answered in the next issue.
