Summary: Whenever I talk with the owner of a business or professional practice who is struggling to attract more clients, they inevitably tell me that they are either in the process of planning out a new website, or working with someone to build a new website, or updating or completely overhauling their existing website, and I am frequently forced to point out that a website alone is very unlikely to fix your business problems.<br> <br> <br> <br> David: Hi and welcome to the podcast today co-host Chris Templeton and I will discuss why a website will probably not fix your business problems. Welcome back Chris.<br> <br> Chris: Thank you David. Nice to be here. A lot of professionals seem to put so much stock that their website is going to grow and scale their business. What makes you think that it's not going to solve their problems, David?<br> <br> David: Well, a website is usually an extension or a visual representation of the business, so if you're not making enough sales then your website is only going to continue or amplify whatever is happening. It becomes a reflection of what you're doing off the website, which obviously already isn't working. So simply adding that to a website is not likely to change things, but it seems to be the Go-To thing. Everybody always is talking about this website like it's going to somehow revolutionize their business.<br> <br> Chris: And so, are you saying that if you don't have good sales that it's more than just the website or is it only the website?<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Need Help with This?<br> <br> <br> <a href="https://www.topsecrets.com/call/" class="button-style-2 button-style-2-green">Schedule a Call</a><br> <br> <br> David: No, the issue is definitely not limited to websites. In fact, it sort of goes back to what we talked about in a previous podcast about <a href="https://www.topsecrets.com/dont-blame-the-delivery-mechanism/">marketing vehicles</a> that we used, and how some people put their entire faith in the marketing vehicle. In this case, the website, and completely forget about the fact that it's not just the delivery mechanism, i.e. the website, that matters. It's, you know, what's the messaging that's going on there? What am I trying to accomplish? Have I created this sort of greased chute that we've also talked about in previous podcasts? It's designed to attract people, pull them in, gather information, turn them from total strangers into prospects by giving me their information so that we can then have a conversation with them or interact with them and eventually turn them into clients. So people think that a website should automatically do that, but very often they're just not even built that way. They're not even designed that way. They're not well thought out, and they're certainly not designed to accomplish the kind of results that people often would like to get from a website.<br> <br> Chris: When you think about a website and the mistakes that professionals make, what do you think are the biggest mistakes they make in terms of their online presence and their websites?<br> <br> David: I think it starts with thinking that the website is going to be their entire solution. They think, okay, well once I have this website, everything's going to be wonderful. Now there are online businesses like Amazon, where the website is the business. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about, for most people who are in business, if you have a business or a professional practice and you're using a website; if you don't recognize that it's a tool. It's not a substitute for a sales team. It's not a substitute for a marketing department. It's a tool, like a business card or a brochure or a catalog or a vending machine. It's a tool and many websites are designed like that.
