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I just recently created my fifth website in ten years. Why? Because it was time. I have changed and needed a new reflection on the internet. A new website gives you the opportunity to rethink, re-choose, reposition and rebrand. Here are some of the signs that it's time for a new one
You aren't getting the results you want
The first clue that you need a new web site is that you are not getting the results you want. People are coming to your site but not opting in. Your conversion rate is minimal. Not a good sign of success. Look at your cpanel webstats and see the pattern of the past year. Chart your growth. I keep a chart of my web stats and mark on it what marketing strategies I put in place during a particular month so I can see how effective it was or was not as the case may be.
You may need a new opt in, a new design, stronger keywords, and new sales pages-- pretty much everything in order to get the results you deserve. A new web site lets you start fresh.
Is your web site getting the conversion rate you want?
Are you attracting the number of visitors to your site that you need to be successful?
Your niche has tightened and needs rebranding
This niche-tightening is an on-going process. We start out wanting to serve the world and, after time and sometimes trial and error, we figure out the type of people who need and want our services. As we do, we need to change our copy content and our product offering.
Several years I created a portal web site, which means people coming to my site had to make a choice on which of two websites they wanted to visit. One side was filled with philosophical and inspirational messages and the other was focused on internet marketing which also had some philosophy and inspiration but was definitely targeted for the pro-active internet marketer. You can imagine how different the copy and content was for each of those two sites. It was amazing what that simple change made in how differently I could interact with the visitors to each side. I even had two separate emagazines going. Sometimes a portal site is a great answer and sometimes it simply divides the visitors who come.
However, I recently took a hard look at the productive and not-so-productive areas of my business and saw that even though the philosophical side was an area of service that was true to my heart, it was not at all lucrative. So, I took a deep breath, released the purely philosophical side that wasn't profitable and designed a new website focused on the pro-active internet entrepreneur. The results were immediate as I focused my business in a much more targeted way.
Does your present web site address your most targeted niche?
Your services and products need repositioning
What do you want to offer? What do you no longer want to offer? List your income streams in lucrative order, then look at your web site and see if you are indeed promoting what people are seeking from you. I can't tell you the number of times I added specialized coaching packages in my previous site and what a relief it was to narrow myself to a more clearly defined niche. My clients helped me reposition myself as The Vision Distiller because that is what they kept asking me to help them do.
I know I learn more every year, which means I organically have more to offer. Creating a new web site gave me time to rethink and re-choose. Once I narrowed my niche and dropped one of my websites, I also dropped some products from service. If I choose to promote them again I know now that I will have a separate website with a new name just for that target market.
What products or services are providing income and which ones are simply taking up space?
How can you promote the ones that are working in a more unique and innovative manner?
You are smarter and wiser now
Creating a new web site is about dressing properly for the occasion. You have changed since you designed your last site. What image do you want to project? Is it more professional? More casual? Harder sell? Softer sell?
Every new sales page I write is stronger and clearer than the one before. It's because I keep learning how to make choices and define my offering. I know more and can put it to work for both me and my clients.
Another benefit of creating a new web site is that you have the opportunity to rethink your navigation, add that media page you are now ready for, change your content strategy and strengthen your copy. You get to re-package and re-position your products and services.
How have you changed since your last web site and what do you need to upgrade, clarify, release, or improve?
You have more to offer
As entrepreneurs we continually have great ideas and the more we act on them the more diversified we become. However, stop and see how your business would benefit from having more than one web site. For instance, I coach people in web site content, information product development and internet marketing skills. At the moment they are all on one site. What if I created an entire site only about information product development rather than just devoting one page on my present site? It would have different keywords, more targeted articles, and it would address different needs than people who come to my site for content development and internet marketing. Perhaps you want to think it terms of two websites. How can you combine or leverage or repositions your existing products and services on a new web site.
Take a long hard look
Get your stats out, look over your income streams; look in your heart to see what you love to do and what you are doing because you think you should. Make a list of what people are asking you to provide for them, in service and in products. Notice how your business has changed. Do you need a new shopping cart or opt in offering? How can you bundle your products for great effectiveness. How effective is your affiliate program? Do you even have one?
Then get professional help
Invest in some content strategy coaching to help you sort out and focus your site map and offerings. A professional can help you focus your vision into a profitable internet presence. Hire a professional web designer to capture your essence in design. And get a copy writing coach to help you create the most compelling copy you can manage. Make this next web site the best ever!
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Taken from
http://webdesign.org/
This articles TITLE took my interest, due to my passion for web design and determination to learn more advanced coding, I often find myself planning, designing and implementing websites randomly, even in class.
I will most definitely use his idea of the "portal page" (most commonly referred to by VB6 scripters as "Splashpage") when my website targets a greater niche, however, do you think that a splash page may give one website more focus then another?
I know I have done something similar with my signature on other websites, I found that more people clicked on BaseConcept then Gamefuel when I had something similar.
But what do you guys think?
Do you believe that these 5 steps are accurate?
Do you think more could be added?
Address and discuss.
When to know you need a new site
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