The Shocking Truth About Budget Hosting
It never ceases to amaze me how many business owners and entrepreneurs we come across who are willing to spend thousands of dollars on a top of the line results-optimized™ website, but don’t want to spend more than a couple of bucks per month on hosting. As a lifelong computer geek, that kind of logic sends my head spinning. Quality hosting is one of the most important components of a results-optimized™ website. It’s kind of like someone buying a Ferrari and then going out and sticking the motor from a Honda Civic in it. It might still...
read moreWARNING: 10 Ways Your Business Website is Costing You Money
As a marketing consultant, the only thing that stresses me out more than a business owner who thinks that he doesn’t need to invest in a website is a business owner who has invested in a website that sucks and doesn’t feel the need to un-suckify it. When I encounter a business owner or entrepreneur who falls into the latter group, I usually start by painting an idillic picture of what life could be like if he had a kick-ass, results-optimized™ website — more leads, more conversions, less money spent on brute-force advertising —...
read moreResults-Optimization™ 101: Results-Optimized Content (4 of 4)
In our previous posts, we discussed the components of a results-optimized framework™ and we covered how to de-uglify your site using results-optimized design™. In this post, we’ll share with you the number one thing that our customers hate hearing from us. “Content is King.” Yes, Content is King, he is not a benevolent dictator. He requires your complete and undying allegiance and attention if you want to maximize the value that you get from your website. In today’s “get it now” society, the notion that you might have to work...
read moreResults-Optimization™ 101: Results-Optimized Design (3 of 4)
In our last post, we discussed what we mean when we tell customers that they need a “results-optimized framework™”. In this post, we’ll dive into what we mean we tell customers that their websites are ugly. I’m just joking. We don’t actually tell our clients that their websites are ugly. At least, we don’t anymore (we learned that lesson the hard way). We tell our clients that their websites don’t utilize “results-optimized design™”. (See? I was paying attention in business school.) But unlike some of my fellow B-school...
read moreResults-Optimization™ 101: Results-Optimized Framework™ (2 of 4)
In our last post, we defined a term that we here at Inspire just blatantly made up (because that’s what marketers do) — results-optimized™ websites. But unlike most marketers, we’re actually going to define our made-up terms in detail. We established that results-optimization™ consists of three things: A results-optimized framework™ Results-optimized design™ And tons and tons of results-optimized content™ In this article, we’ll be unpacking what we mean when we say “results-optimized framework™”. The complete set of...
read moreResults-Optimization™ 101: How to Turn Your Website into a Digital Salesforce (1 of 4)
Everybody knows somebody that designs websites. Web designers typically come in one of two flavors — free-spirited hipster, and power geek. Pretty much everyone is familiar with the wonderfully bohemian, soy-latte drinking, MacBook-wielding, indy-band loving, meticulously disheveled, hipster, web-designer-slash-aspiring-rock-star that will gladly design you a gorgeous looking website as soon as he’s back from touring the country with his band. On the other side of the spectrum, you’ve got the Mountain Dew fueled, cave-dwelling,...
read moreWhy Every Business Should Be Using Social Media
A group of my friends from my old employer have a daily ritual. Every day, approximately an hour before quitting time, they roll their chairs toward the center of the aisle that separates their cubicles and engage in an activity that I have affectionately dubbed “the fireside chat.” These chats typically cover a wide range of topics from politics to economics (which usually leads back to politics). But the topic for today was social media. In characteristic fashion, the opinions among the group on the topic were mixed. Some felt...
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