I’ll go ahead and say it.
Unreliable, unresponsive, and overpriced website developers and agencies are a serious problem in my industry.

Statements like this tend to make me enemies. But that’s okay with me. My goal as a consultant in website management and the WordPress platform isn’t to prop up my industry. It’s to help you maximize the value of your website—even if that means ruffling some feathers.
I provide website maintenance services and training to businesses all over the United States and I am often disappointed in the reputation of my industry. As a WordPress expert, I hear horror stories from prospects and clients. Lots of them. Mostly from business owners feeling held hostage by their website developer–who fell off the face of the earth.

Need reliable website maintenance services? Contact me for information and pricing.
With my subscription based website maintenance services, you get dedicated time on your website each month.

Contact Emily (844) 972-6224

The truth about website maintenance services

As a business leader, you don’t have the time, resources, or knowledge base to devote to your own website management—or maybe you do, but you’d rather spend your resources directly on product development or relationship building or whatever it is that makes your company tick.
In addition to my work as a website manager, I am a WordPress trainer and advisor. I meet people all the time who decide to take back the reigns of their company website by learning WordPress. All too often, that decision is fueled by negative experiences with website developers.
Too many website management service agencies are thrilled to take your business, but when it comes to fulfilling their promises, they just don’t show up.
They don’t listen to you. They don’t get back to you. They don’t know what you need, so they can’t give it to you. Eventually you come to realize: it’s time to get out of this relationship.

So, how am I different?

I’m not a website developer.
More than a year ago, I made to decision to let go of the website development part of my business. Instead, I focus on website maintenance services and WordPress training exclusively.
That decision has changed the quality of my work life dramatically. It means I can be available to my clients for those seemingly small but important updates to their websites. And, my clients are happy.

How to tell when your website maintenance services are NOT adding value

How can you recognize when your website management agency is working for itself—and not for you?

Every situation is unique, but here are five tell-tale signs that your website maintenance services may not be giving you a fair return on your investment:

1. Failing to communicate

As I’m sure you’ve heard, communication is a two-way street. You want to work with someone who can speak AND listen: someone who not only hears what your website management needs are, but who can translate them into actionable steps and keep you informed about progress.

You should never be left to wonder what your developer or content manager is up to. If she drops off the planet for weeks at a time, you’re wasting valuable time and money trying to keep track of a lost cause.

2. Over-promising and under-delivering

When it comes to website maintenance services, the old adage is true. If it sounds too good to be true…

This can be a hard line to walk, especially if you’re relatively new to working with web content management agencies. You want to work with an ambitious team with big ideas, but you don’t want to be paying month after month for promises that never materialize. Don’t even get me started on so-called SEO services that produce zero results!

To gauge whether your agency’s promises are realistic, ask questions. Don’t be afraid to request examples of past work that point to your agency’s success with similar business needs and KPIs.

3. Not being flexible

Sometimes even successful businesses become stuck in their own processes and old ways of thinking. Always remember that your website maintenance services should work for you. Your website manager should be willing to listen to your needs and adapt as necessary.

Of course, if your ideas will totally tank your SEO or otherwise cause harm to your business, your developer should provide respectful pushback. You can respect that, right? But refusing to consider your scheduling preferences or waiting weeks to push a standard update to your CMS? Big. Red. Flags.

4. Refusing to provide administrator level access

I’ve talked about this all-too-common problem before: it’s unethical for your web developer to restrict your access to your own website. At the beginning of your working relationship, make sure it’s clear that you will register your own domain name and expect top level access to your hosting account and WordPress dashboard.

It’s simple: your site is yours. If your web developer, designer, or content manager won’t give you access, don’t work with them!

5. Just…being…too…slow…

Even though this issue comes last, it may be the most common problem with website maintenance services today. I can’t count the number of times clients have approached me feeling utterly defeated by an unresponsive, almost-comically-slow web developer. The key word, though, is almost—it’s never funny when your website goes offline or your registration form breaks on the last day of sign-ups for your webinar.

If your requests take weeks to get a response, let alone a solution, your website manager is not providing you value.

Are you ready to take back your website?

Even if your webmaster is putting up all of these red flags, it may be tempting to think, “But I’ve already spent so much money on this agency’s website services. I can’t afford to drop them now!” And this makes sense—in fact, it’s so common that there’s a whole field of study around this sunk cost fallacy.

But the truth?

You can’t afford not to.

Consider all the time you spend, wasted, on chasing down your developer or arguing for the right to access your own content. Think about the hours you could spend on value-added activities or on taking a little extra time off . . . ugh.

If your website management services aren’t responsive, reliable, and 100% focused on you, it’s time—fire your website designer! You get to choose.

Your website is a big part of your nonprofit organization, no matter who you are. However, maintaining your website takes a considerable amount of time and effort—and managing a nonprofit doesn’t come with that kind of time!

That is why organizations opt to hire an agency or web development company to help with designing and managing their website. Unfortunately, hiring website management services often has negative results. It’s critical to protect your nonprofit organization’s online assets in the event of a complicated situation.

I can’t tell you how many horror stories I’ve heard from nonprofit leaders about the nightmare they’ve experienced with a web design agency. From not having administrative access to having their entire website shut down!

[Read more…]

Welcome to my toolbox! Here are the tools I use on a daily and weekly basis. My work would be a lot harder without them. For the record, I’m an affiliate with a few of these companies but I’d recommend them even if I wasn’t. Their products are truly worth it.

Getting Started

If you’re like most of my readers, you use WordPress because you’ve heard it’s easy. But the truth is, WordPress is only easy when you know how to use it! It’s important to avoid common pitfalls and have a strong foundation. That’s why I wrote my ebook, Unlocking WordPress.
Download your free copy now.

Many people overlook search engine optimization when it comes to WordPress because they assume that having a beautiful theme is all that matters. This doesn’t have to be you. I’ve compiled a checklist for what you need to do to have great SEO. Download your free copy now.

WEBSITE HOSTING

I’ve worked with many hosting companies in my experience as a website developer and WordPress Trainer. If you use WordPress, I recommend WP Engine. Learn More.

I also use HostGator for hosting my websites. They offer month-to-month rates if you are not ready to commit to a full year of website hosting. The “Baby” plan should be plenty of space and speed for most small to medium sized companies. Learn more.

WORDPRESS THEMES

Avada is the #1 selling theme for WordPress users. This is the theme I recommend if you need your website to do backflips. It is a more advanced theme so it may be quite challenging for new users, but it comes with excellent documentation. Learn more.

My own website is built using a StudioPress theme on the Genesis Framework. I recommend their themes because they are built with SEO in mind. They offer high speed themes that look great right out of the box. Learn more.

These themes are built with serious photographers and artists in mind. Minimalist designs. They include eCommerce functionality, too. Learn more.

These themes have a modern look and are built to work with the popular Woocommerce plugin for eCommerce websites.

DESIGN TOOLS

Ever wonder where all of those beautiful photo quotes and banners on social media come from? Search no more. Canva is the secret weapon of social media managers and marketing teams everywhere. Learn more.

Easily generate beautiful three dimensional images with Boxshot. Think images of eBook covers, iPhones, stacks of CDs, and many other types of packaging. Learn more.

This is one of my first stops before building or redesigning a website. Adobe Kuler is a great place to explore and create a color palette for your website. Learn more.

EMAIL TOOLS

Hands down! There’s no better tool than Google Business Email for managing my business email and filtering out spam.

Ever wonder where those fancy email signatures come from? Here you go! Learn more.

LIST BUILDING

Wufoo helps me create attractive forms, generate invoices, and integrates with most popular email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and AWeber. Learn more.

This is what I use for sending email messages to my subscribers. I’ve used several platforms and this one is excellent if you have a list of more than 1,000 subscribers. For smaller lists, I recommend the free level at Mailchimp. Learn More.

This is what I use to create opt-in forms and deliver my ebook. LeadPages is also a great tool for creating professional looking landing pages. Learn more.

WEBSITE BACKUPS

This tool is quickly becoming one of my favorites for creating website backups. If your WordPress installation is built as a multisite, then you will want to choose Duplicator Pro instead of Backup Buddy. Learn more.

Easily make backups of your website and store them in the cloud. I use Backup Buddy to copy and migrate websites. Learn more.

PRODUCTIVITY

I use a specific method with Evernote and require it of my staff for task management. The combination of using Evernote with GTD has not only changed the way I work, it has changed my life. Learn more.

The simple task of scheduling can take up a lot of time. I’m able to avoid the back-and-forth of email scheduling with the vCita appointment scheduler on my website. It integrates with my other calendars so I don’t have to worry about double booking. Learn more.

As a Google Business Email user, our company is using G Suite more and more. We got our feet wet with Google Drive and now we’re moving toward using the G Suite business tools over the Microsoft Office Suite. Learn more.

OTHER RESOURCES

Everything I know about sales I learned from Jeffrey Gitomer. Gitomer Learning Academy is a worthwhile investment to train your staff or sales team. Learn more.

Whenever I travel, I always stay at an AirBnb. I will never stay in a hotel again! Here is $40 toward your first trip. Get it here.

Learning how to increase online sales is a mix of art and science; your conversion funnel needs to both look good and run smooth. Running a WordPress website is the first stepping stone, but there are some other things to consider as well.

Business owners in the digital age need to have a strong, optimized website. With 70% of households using the Internet when shopping locally, it’s a process we can’t ignore.

Today, I’d like to take you through 3 sure-fire ways to help your business make more online sales. These optimization techniques will help you build a noteworthy WordPress website that showcases everything you business can offer.

1. Set a Clear, Primary Goal for Your Website

“If you don’t have a single focus for your site, it’s very difficult to achieve results.”
– Peep Laja

It’s always disheartening to see websites that aren’t expressing themselves clearly. A strong website is built on a singular primary goal. Examples include:

• Sign up for a website newsletter.
• Opt-In to receive a service quote.
• Purchase a product.
• Call your office or visit the store.

Now, as your website evolves, your goals may evolve too. Maybe you’ll want people to both purchase a product online and visit your store. However, I’d advise business owners to get their primary goal running like a well-oiled machine before adding a secondary goal to the mix.

2. Create an Enticing Opt-In Offer

An opt-in offer is a powerful opportunity to move visitors toward that goal you established. The idea is visitors will give you their email address in exchange for your offer. This bring value to you because you can now communicate with those visitors on a regular basis using email marketing. And that’s a really great way to increase online sales.

Some creative thinking will help you position the offer in a way that moves visitors down the funnel. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• (Goal) Newsletter Signups: (Opt-In) A free eBook, course or other form of content.

• (Goal) Quote for Services: (Opt-In) Free Consultation/Advice/Call

• (Goal) Purchase a Product: (Opt-In) X% Off first online purchase

• (Goal) Visit Your Store: (Opt-In) Coupon for free gift when visiting your store

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your offers! Do a bit of research and see what your competitors are offering as an opt-in. Then, of course, think of interesting ways you can make an even better giveaway.

3. Stop Focusing on Yourself

As a business owner, it’s easy to get trapped by the idea that potential customers want to know about you. If that an element in their purchase process, it’s usually small and can be satisfied with things like testimonials, social proof and blogging.

Want to really know how to increase online sales? Make your website all about the customer.

• How can your About Me page actually help the customer?
• How can your testimonials clear up any doubts they may have?
• How can your blogging educate and answer questions?

This is one of the strongest tips when it comes to knowing how to increase online sales. You simply can’t go wrong with a customer-centric website, especially when it’s combined with the first six tips in this post.

Now You Know How to Increase Online Sales

These 3 techniques will serve as a strong foundation for any local business. By setting goals and positioning your content the right way, customers will trust you and your company.

If you want a way to increase website sales, this is how to do it.

And, if you’re still struggling with the basics of WordPress, that’s okay too. Contact me today and let’s chat about how I can get your business ready to take your website to the next level.