Finger Eating Garage Door Reveals Breakthrough Web Design and Linking Strategy

November 19, 2008 at 10:05 am · Filed under Web_Design

Last Thursday afternoon I was working on a garage door and regrettably loosened the torsion spring too much. This spring is what relieves or neutralizes the weight of the garage door so the openers can work without burning out and so you don’t have to be Arnold Schwarzenegger to open it.

I released the door from the opener and it began closing way too quickly. As I rushed over to try and slow it’s decent, I grabbed the handle with my left hand and was trying to grab anything with my right hand. Unfortunately, the only thing that got grabbed was my pinky finger - two knuckles up. The 1000 lb. door came crashing down so hard it broke the glass in one of its sections.

When the dust cleared and the glass had stopped clinking- I looked over to see my finger clamped firmly and squashed flatly between two sections of the heavy wooden door. I had no one around, no other neighbors were home, and I was trapped, in lots of pain, and unable to get free or lift the door (what would you do?). I tried pulling my cell phone out of my pocket but inside the garage there was no signal.

I did the only thing I could - I screamed for help through the broken glass

Now, you may be wondering what in the world this painful story has to do with web design- but read on and I’ll explain…

I yelled for what seemed forever, but in reality was maybe five minutes, yet no one came. Now, for a few minutes I thought to myself - “I have a knife in my pocket- am I going to have to cut my own finger off to get free?” Seeing how flat it was crushed I didn’t really think it had much chance of surviving that trauma anyway

I wasn’t that desperate quite yet and figured I should try calling for help again - and here’s where some recent training with internet marketing came in( “What are you talking about, Bob?” you ask.)

Dan Kennedy always talks about “leading a customer through your site”. Don’t leave anything to chance. They want to be told exactly what to do next.

So as I stood there in gut wrenching pain, totally unable to move or get free, I thought to myself, “maybe people are hearing my cry for help, but don’t know where it’s coming from. It could be just echoing around the neighborhood”

So in a last ditch effort, I started screaming (and I can be quite loud) “HELP! I’m trapped in a garage at 52 Lakeview Ave. and I need help NOW!” Within a minute or two about 5 guys came running down the street from somewhere (I don’t know where) and up the driveway. The specific directions worked! They began trying to pry the door up but it had come off the track and was jammed. So their prying was only clamping the door sections even tighter on my finger. OUCH! So once again, I got specific.

I told 2 guys to stay out side-3 to come around back and come inside. I had 2 go to work on the pulleys on either side and get them back in the track, the other one called 911. After what seemed like ages, the door was back on track and lifted high enough to allow the finger to be finally pulled out from between the sections. Ugh. It was nasty looking, flatter than a pancake…(almost surreal)

Now, how does this relate to Web site design? It’s very clear to me In a matter of life and death (ok-life and death of a finger), nothing happened until I specifically yelled for help with exact directions where to come. I tried for five minutes screaming just for help- that didn’t work. Only when I screamed the address where I was at and what the problem was, did I finally get a good response. Zero before, 5 after. Hey! That’s a 500% increase!

We need to do the same thing with our web design and linking strategies. Specifics- Lead the client or potential client through the process step by step clearly. Use accurate keywords and descriptive text for all your links. Don’t scream out generically, or they will never know where to go next. All they’ll hear is a vacant echo, as they continue doing what they were doing before. And they’ll probably end up someone else’s client because they can’t hone in on where the cry for action is coming from and where they need to go.

Miraculously, after being rushed to the hospital, blood had begun to flow back into the finger and x-rays revealed only a broken knuckle. Because it had been caught sideways, the tendons and nerves were preserved and not cut, aside from some numbness and pain, the finger is well on its way to a full recovery (Phew! Really glad I didn’t cut it off now).

Moral of the story: Design your site and your linking strategies as if your life (or finger) depended on it. Be specific, be specific, and oh yeah, be specific.

Bob

Bob Volk, Founder of VolkNet Enterprises, is an Internet Entrepreneur and has started/co-founded many sites including http://volknet.com, http://seo-elite-services, and his newest venture, an automated link exchange program with a unique twist at http://Link-Blaster.com.
He specializes in Web Site Design, Marketing, and SEO Consultation for both small and medium size businesses doing $30 - $40 million a year.

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Choosing Your Web Design

September 3, 2008 at 5:07 am · Filed under Web_Design

We would all like to have the best looking website, that’s a fact - but if we keep in mind that our main objective is to finally sell our product or service online, we’ll realize that maybe design is not the most important factor when it comes to achieve this objective.

Professional design is probably the most time consuming part of the web development, so my first tip would be, before you are contacting a Web Design Company, to browse the Internet for companies which offer similar services and products - you will find probably hundreds of them - save in your Favorites four or five websites which you really like, print out these, and show the printouts to as many people as you can, especially to your existing customers, and ask them which one it’s more likely is to make them take an action (contact, buy, subscribe) on the site. This way you have conducted your own little “marketing pool” which will add weeks and weeks of online presence and business.

Based on this little pool you’ve conducted you know have a good idea on how your website should look like to entice your visitors to buy your service/product.

The next step would be to contact the Web Design Company of your choice and show them exactly want you want, cutting this way 80% of the design time. The designer will probably make suggestions and additions, some off them good ones but most of them just so they can mark up the price of the design.

I would advise that you should be really firm on your feet if you really want your website to be up and running ASAP.

Another very important aspect of this design contracting process is that even you showed them exactly what you want, you have to realize that you are not the designer’s only client and the designers are working on probably tens of other projects too, so I would advise you to put in the contract you are signing a very firm deadline for the site design, and ask for penalties on the design company end if it’s not done in time, this way you will ensure that your project is prioritized.

Mr. Josh Szatmari is a Web Marketing, Search Engine Optimization Specialist & Web Developer, currently the Vice President of Performance Development Corporation and the Web Development Director of Hilton Head Rentals.

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Need A Website Built 6 Major Web Design Tips to Protect You

June 2, 2008 at 11:05 am · Filed under Web_Design

So you decided you need a website and you need to hire someone to make it. Well lookout! You need to be very careful. To stay with a reasonable budget and good service, please follow the following 6 steps to protect yourself.

1} Customer Service: This is the most important step. Make sure you can always talk to a real person. If you have to keep using a web support form and phone messages. Then move on. Web design needs real people to create it, and if you cannot talk anytime you want, then your doing business with the wrong company.

2} Domain Registration: Make sure the company you pick can buy and maintain your domain. Make sure they know how to set it up correctly for your new website and they make sure it gets renewed every year.

3} Web Hosting: Every website needs to be hosted. Does your design company have their own servers? Many do not. Its always nice to only call or contact one company to handle your web design needs and your hosting and Email needs.

4} Web Design: Websites do not need to cost you a second mortgage. Most of the time, a simple site is all you need. But many designers build sites as they see it. They normally do not think about how the site needs to perform for the search engines and clients with slow internet connections. A good designer will use basic technology and will be aware of the search engine needs.

5} Web Maintenance and Updates: This can be a killer. Make sure your design company includes updates and changes in their package, or you can be nickeled and dimed to death at 40 to 80 dollars an hour. Look out for gimmicks and games. Find a company that truly wants to be your full website provider, including changes.

6} Web Marketing: This is just as important as customer service. You can pay as much as you like for a website, but it is useless without traffic. Make sure your design company builds a good marketable website for you and provide you the services you need to get your site submitted to the search engines. They may also have programs to help with web pay advertising.

You need to ask every web design company about the 6 items above and how much they cost. A truly good web design company will have all 6 items to their package. If not, you will be facing a web design nightmare.

For any questions about the services above, feel free to visit http://www.necustomwebs.com or http://www.nwcustommarketing.com. Or email nwcw@nwcustomwebs.com at 541-390-8128.

Rangerrob of the Northwest.

A Northwest Outdoor Redneck, supporting friends and Family to enjoy the outdoor together. View Hunting, Fishing, Flyfishing, Kiting, Boating and much more at http://www.rangerrob.com.

Feel free to visit his web services at http://www.nwcustomwebs.com.

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