From Liability to Asset: Make Your Website Work for You

Do you know your average sale per customer? This is your yearly revenue divided by your total number of customers. For discussion purposes, let’s say your average sale per customer is $7,500 (or $150,000 divided by 20 clients).

Your Website, if it’s an asset, should bring in at least this much in leads and/or sales each month. If it’s a liability, you’re losing this much — and more — in potential sales month after month.

If you doubt me, consider this: in the last 60 days, I quoted projects for six new clients and have closed on four of them — with a verbal pending for one of the projects.

Of these new clients, three found me via the Web (aka: search) and three came from referrals. More important, all of these new clients indicated that it was my Website that helped educate them regarding my expertise and how I would benefit them.

When I look at one-person consultant sites, however, I don’t see Websites that seek to educate potential customers. Instead, I see brochureware sites that don’t give potential clients any idea of why they should do business with the consultant.

In his best selling book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) defines what is an “asset” and what is a “liability.”

Simply put, an asset is something that brings in money: stocks, bonds, real estate investments. A liability is something that costs you money: your car, your principal residence, etc.

For many consultants, the Website isn’t the asset it should be — meaning, it brings in leads which turn into sales (income) — and instead is a liability as in, it loses the consultant sales.

Here, then, are my six strategies for turning your Website from a liability to an asset — one that brings in leads that become sales.

1. Optimize, optimize, optimize — If you remember one piece of advice from this article, make sure it’s this one. Potential customers cannot find your site when searching if it’s not optimized for search engines.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is something you can do yourself, but it does have a learning curve and it does take time. Consider hiring an independent SEO consultant who can help you with optimization — and who can recommend strategies for increasing traffic to your site.

2. Kill the “brochureware” excuse — Most consultant sites I see have five pages: Home, About Us, Services, Contact Us, and maybe a Resources page. And even worse, consultants will say, “My site is my brochure.”

And that is why these types of sites are b-o-r-i-n-g and do nothing to increase sales. Think about it, when was the last time you got excited by a brochure?

3. Explain what you do in plain English — One of the first questions I find myself asking when viewing independent consultant Websites is, “Ummmm . . . so what exactly do you do?”

To combat this, try this exercise: write down what you do in seven words or less.

When I first did this exercise, my “mission statement” was: “I help businesses achieve their marketing objectives through results-based marketing communications and copywriting.” Whew!

After some judicious editing, I’ve got it down to: “I help businesses achieve their objectives with results-based marketing.” Better — but I’m still working on expressing this even more succinctly.

4. Become a content creator — I’m sorry to say this, but if you want your site to bring in traffic and you want it to help sell your services, you have to create content — lots of it, including: reports, surveys, white papers, case studies, tools, articles, e-books, and information pages.

5. Learn to love marketing — For many of the consultants I talk to, marketing is a dirty word. According to Kiyosaki in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, however, those who have a thorough understanding of marketing and sales are those who realize their goals and achieve success — no matter what they do for a living.

To increase your marketing knowledge, read books, listen to tapes, and attend marketing functions. I must receive half a dozen invitations to professional meetings, Webinars and the like each month — and all are geared toward helping me become a better marketer. I attend what I can and constantly read newsletters, articles, blogs, magazines, and books.

6. Embrace social media — We’re living history even as I write. Our culture is undergoing profound change — and how we communicate has changed forever.

This means that if you’ve ignored social media because it’s a “fad” or a waste of time, you’re doing yourself, your business, and your Website a serious disservice. With social media you can easily drive traffic to your site, communicate your expertise, and set yourself up as a thought-leader with minimal effort and expense.

Do you have a success story about how you improved your Website so that it brings in leads and sales? Feel free to share it here.