For the cost I agree it’s a good method for creating a website -
I think because of what I’m selling it doesn’t work though. They
all have a blog look to them. I’d shell out some money for a
custom website if I had to. I’ll send you some links for what
I’m talking about…

So I wrote that then went looking, and it seems most people
doing video work at my level are using wordpress. Hmmm.

I’d assign the money for a site like this one: { obscured}
This happens to be a guy in RI who does voice
over work, I know he paid something like $500-$1,000 for this site. I think if your in the business of presentation, like video work, your site should pop out. WordPress looks professional, but doesn’t seem to have stand out from the crowd capabilities.

My response:

That site is lame. The only way that it is getting any traffic at all is through traditional advertising or PPC. There is absolutely zero searchability, seriously it has NO search value. There is no text, no regular updates. His is a pretty billboard in the Appalachians it is practically worthless. Take his site to alexa.com or compete.com, he doesn’t even exist.

Just in case you don’t believe me or beg to differ I took it to the street. I’m a huge fan (though not presently a user) of Hubspot, their philosophy and technology. Their Website Grader is very cool. It analyzes sites for web marketing effectiveness, grades go from 0-100. Here’s what WebsiteGrader had to say about the site:

A website grade of 4/100 for [obscured].com means that means that of the millions of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 4% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data , website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.

So what about a WordPress site used as a CMS? The frontend of distressedpro.com runs on wordpress (BankProspector does not) and with ZERO advertising, using exclusively content marketing and social media we’ve grown to over 100 members since December 20th, 2009 (that’s a month and a half). The site has only been live since late September. I think the number of users (and the caliber, though I’m not going to get into that right now) speaks for itself but what does WebsiteGrader have to say about my WordPress presentation?

The website www.distressedpro.com ranks 283,052 of the 2,050,623 websites that have been ranked so far.

A website grade of 86/100 for www.distressedpro.com means that means that of the millions of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 86% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data , website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.

A. Traffic Rank : Top 3.438 %

Alexa is an online service that measures traffic for millions of sites on the Internet in a similar way to Nielsen television show ratings.
Your website has an Alexa rank of 1,069,222 which is in the top 3.438 % of all websites.

Can you make WordPress look professional? I don’t know it but its good enough for The NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox, Yahoo, Harvard, CNET, and the list just goes on.

There are a number of Content Management Systems that you could use. But you need to be able to regularly update your site with posts. The only way that guy is getting any traffic is by traditional advertising or PPC. If you build custom you will be rebuilding every 24 months. WP can look like almost anything you want. Other CMS’s that you can checkout that I can help you with (this is an open letter to my friend remember) are Expression Engine, Joomla, Drupal, and Squarespace.

If you are thinking about your website as a placard you are thinking about it incorrectly. You need to think about it as your broadcast station from which you disseminate information. Information through which potential customers find you, visit your site and engage. A CMS will help you to do that and you’d be hard pressed to find one that is as flexible and affordable as WordPress.

I’m not an internet guru I’m just a guy who has been driving a lot of leads and business online and I’m going to share what I’ve learned.

Step 1: Google yourself.

What do you find? Something? Nothing? Worse..? If you’re doing business today you’re getting Googled. If you have a particularly common name then there will be a lot of results that have nothing to do with you. But think about what you would do if you were  looking into doing business with somebody. First you’d probably google their name. If you got no results you would google their name and company name. Next you might try their job title or job description. Think about it.

If I was looking at working with an “investment broker” named “John Smith” from “Fidelity” in “Boston” I’d search these terms.

You are getting googled, if you’re doing business, period. There aren’t a lot of people with my name so it was fairly easy for me to get control of it online. Regardless of how common your name is you can make some advances.

Step 2: Register your name as a domain name.

Even if you decide that you’re going to use other domain names and sites for business, start here. It is entirely likely that if you have a common name your name is registered. In that case consider some alternatives, use your middle initial, use a designation or a keyword at the end of your name, use a hyphen john-smith.com, johnCsmith.com, john-c-smith.com – john-smith-cfp.com (Certified Financial Planner)  – go get your name right now.

1. Register.com is the quickest domain name check that I’m aware of. I’ve never purchased a domain from them but I always check availability there first.  Once you find a domain that works you need to register it. This should cost you between 6 and $15 dollars per year depending on where you go. You should buy a number of years up front (more on why later).
2. Choose a registrar and a hosting company. I like Bluehost.com for several reasons.
   • Tech support is awesome, they speak English as a first language and so do I, you can IM with them in an instant they are always there, I have never had a problem go unsolved for very long.
   • They use “Simple Scripts” simple scripts frees you from having to know anything to get your website setup (in the next steps that I’m going to walk you through). With Simple Scripts you can literally go live with just a few clicks. Simple Scripts automatically launches a variety of Open Source platforms that are FREE. I will talk more about Open Source for business later.
   • I’ve tried a number of hosts and some SUCK. Take 1and1.com for example. I hate (yes I know that is a strong word) this host. They are cheap but their support is clueless and sites there are slllllloooooowwwww. I also use MediaTemple for distressedpro.com because I needed my own server, and finally I’ve heard good things about HostGator though I’ve never used them, a few of my techies like them (I think because they’re cheap).
3. Go ahead and register your name as a domain, and if you have one, a company name.
4. Alternate domain names: If you don’t have a company, you’re independent and a sole proprietor etc, or maybe you want to do this anyway – register a keyword rich name – boston-investment-advisor.com, rhode-island-video.com, somerville-real-estate-attorney.com. But if you go too long it will be hard to use in print in a lot of places. I have a number of domains for different purposes.

Note: rhode-island-video.com is better for your search marketing efforts than rhodeislandvideo.com, even though it doesn’t look as good.

Step 3: Start assembling your assets.

You are probably going to have to wait, at a minimum, a few hours maybe a day for your domain name to be pointing anywhere. While you have this time and you’re all anxious about getting your website setup go ahead and start compiling your assets. By assets I mean all of the content that you’ve been hiding away from the world. Like what? Anything that you have done in your profession that you have not published and that is good enough for the world to see.

Compile things like:

1. Videos
2. Photographs
3. Papers or article you’ve written
4. Case studies you’ve compiled
5. Data or analysis you’ve done on a subject
6. Spreadsheets
7. Opinions

Whatever, get it all together. It doesn’t have to be ready to go live. Make a folder for ‘Assets’, make some sub-folders that pertain to your categories and dig deep, pull it all together and get it organized.

What if I have no assets?

First off I don’t believe you, look harder, but lets say you don’t – jump to step 4.

Step 4: Start thinking about who your customer or client is. Write it down.

1. Write down and describe your perfect client or clients. This isn’t new stuff I’m not making it up I’m just reminding you. “But I just want to make my website“  – well you’re going to need to know who you’re talking to. There’s no sense running in half-cocked. Go ahead and describe who your client is and who you want to work with, demographically, physically, whatever. Lay it all out there so you know who this website is talking to.

This is enough for a couple of days work. Probably you won’t want to spend too much time describing your customer or client and you’ll just just start futzing around with your site DON”T do it. You’ll be wasting your time now and in the future while you’re correcting your errors. Once you start thinking about who you’re talking to your approach will change.

This really is enough, so go ahead and get into who you’re going to do business with so you can start your site out right.