I see it every day. Business owners, all over the world, are frustrated. They are finally starting to see where the web is headed. They now understand that consumers are turning toward that massive e-cloud (the web) to make all of their purchasing decisions. They know they don’t have control over this part of their business and the feeling isn’t a good one.
As I like to say it, they’ve lost the keys.
The idea that a small business owner doesn’t have control over his or her company’s marketing, branding, and sales success sounds ridiculous to many, but the fact is it’s a sad reality for so many at this moment. Because such a large majority of small business owners in today’s world did not grow up around computers, code, html, etc; many are forced to put the success of their business in the hands of someone that doesn’t work for them, doesn’t understand their business, and certainly doesn’t share a passion for their products.
As we all know, this person is the infamous WEBMASTER.
Now don’t get me wrong, as there are some great webmasters out there. But truth be told, most webmasters don’t make it a focus to enable their clients. In other words, they are afraid that if they teach their clients too much, then they’ll no longer need their services. Frankly, I can’t stand this close-minded mentality, and it’s why I’ve been doing so much small business web coaching recently. The time for non-tech business owners to feel empowered and enabled is now.
Do You Hold the Keys?
Every business owner should hold the keys to their website. They should be able to start its engine, hit the gas, and drive it wherever it needs to go. Now does that mean a webmaster’s services may not ever be needed? Of course not. It simply means that webmasters are there for support, but they certainly shouldn’t be the person behind the wheel.
This is why Content Management Systems should be an essentially requirement for just about any business owner in today’s world. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the beauties of CMS systems, they are changing web design as we know it by allowing guys and gals with little or no previous web coding experience to design their own site.
Enough is Enough
As I’ve shared before, just over 18 months ago I was a web design dummy. Heck, I was a technology dummy. But knowing my dilemma, I finally got sick enough to do something about it. That’s when I learned about CMS technology, Hubspot, and the incredible powers of Inbound Marketing for my business.
Since that time, I’ve spent countless hours trying to get with the 21st century. I want to be on the cutting edge of web marketing success and technology for small businesses and it’s my hope to infuse this same passion, as well as a general self-belief, in other biz owners who currently find themselves in a position of concern and stress just as I did 18 months ago.
But enough of that, as I want to briefly state here 10 skills that every small business owner should know right now. If you don’t know these basic skills, it is time to make a change, but we’ll save that little point for the end.
10 Web Design Skills Every Small Biz Owner Should Know Right Now
1. How to Change a typo/text/etc.: Don’t laugh, many business owners couldn’t change a simple typo on their website if a gun was held to their head. Sad but true. If you currently do not know how to do this, you haven’t just lost the keys, you’ve practically lost your business.
2. How to Post a Blog Article: Similar to #1, but as we’ve discussed over and over again here on The Sales Lion, content marketing is essential for every small business. And blogging, as most are now realizing, is the easiest means whereby one can gain the favor of search engines through massive amounts of helpful, user-friendly content.
3. How to Make a YouTube Video: We live in a visual world, and sales and marketing are more visually dependant than ever. What does it take to make your own YouTube video? About $150 for a flip camera and a computer. That too much for ya?
4. How to Upload/Post a YouTube Video: Once a YouTube video is made, a business owner should know how to slap it up on their site within 2 minutes or less. Again, a content management system makes this little copy and paste procedure as easy as pie.
5. How to Upload a Photo: Gosh it used to be difficult to upload photos onto web pages. But now that most CMS allow designers to adjust photos (manipulate size) on the fly, uploads are a matter of seconds.
6. How to Rearrange a Webpage: If I went to my business’ website right now, I could completely rearrange any page on the site within 60 seconds or less. In my case, this is made possible through Hubspot’s super simple CMS, but having such an ability is extremely important in determining what works best for a site. An example of this is Amazon.com . Those guys are always tweaking and rearranging their site in an effort to see what has the biggest impact on consumer sales.
7. How to Create a New Page: Before the age of CMS, this was extremely difficult because it meant that designers had to deal with HTML data, a new template, etc. But today, creating a new page on a site is no different than creating a blog article. With a few blanks filled in, as well as the page’s content, any business owner can create a new page on their website within a matter of minutes.
8. How to Add a Form: I’m a strong believer that every page on a website should include some type of form on it. And when I say ‘form’, I mean something that a visitor can fill out (usually because they get something in return) and give you their information and from that point on they are in your sales funnel/customer base. This process is known as ‘lead capture’ and it’s incredibly important in today’s world.
With Hubspot, I can create a lead capture form, including an automated response, within minutes. Once this form has been created, I can then post it on any page of my site by a simple click of the mouse. This is why if you go to my site you’ll find a form on just about every page.
9. How to Integrate Social Media: We’ve all heard it. Facebook, Twitter, and the like are changing the world as we know it. What was just a ‘fad’ a year or so ago is now a normal part of everyday culture. Consumers expect businesses to be a part of social media, which is why every business owner should be able to display their social media icons and info easily on their site.
10. Analytics: Although analytics is necessarily a design component, its importance is paramount. Sadly, many business owners don’t have a single clue as to what type of traffic they get on their site on a daily basis. Not only that, but they don’t know which pages are getting viewed, which ones are useless, and how much time visitors are actually hanging around their site.
Every, and I mean every, business owner should be heavily involved with their website’s analytics. This is no different, nor any less important, than a business owner knowing how much money he or she has in the bank, or how many customers came in their store that day. And considering analytics are free (Google Analytics), it is inexcusable that any business owner wouldn’t take the time at a minimum of at least once a week to really find out and study the traffic patterns and numbers of his/her website.
So there are 10 website design skills every business owner should know right now. How did you fare? Were you 10 for 10, or 0 or 10? If you find yourself unable to perform the actions I’ve mentioned here, then it’s time for a serious change. In fact, you should sit down with your webmaster today and tell him that you’ve lost the keys and you want to get them back. If he hesitates, then you let him go and move on to someone that will empower you with such abilities. This is exactly what I did with Hubspot and it was the best decision I’ve ever made as a business owner.
So take back the keys, get control, and watch the incredible impact it will have on your life.
Questions and comments, as always, are invited and appreciated.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Well said. I’ve always been a believer in making it possible for the customer to really own and control their website. With CMS software being so cheap and easy to use now (wordpress) there’s no reason not to provide this service. Its makes the web designers job easier too!
Much agreed Melbourne, sounds like you are doing your clients quite a service. Keep up the great work and thanks for stopping by!