Steve Johnsen

Personal and corporate growth for business owners, executives, coaches & entrepreneurs

Expense or Investment?

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A website is an investment

An expense is something that you have to have in order to be in business. An investment is something that pays you back more than you put into it.

Many business owners I encounter do not consider their website as an investment. Even fewer consider it as a high-return investment. If your website is not doing anything for you, this makes perfect sense. However, businesses whose website is merely an expense are missing out on a huge opportunity.

Picture of money bags - is a website an expense or an investmentSmart business owners are always looking for ways to invest in their businesses. When you develop your website as your #1 employee, almost by definition it is providing a great return on your investment.

When building a website for your business, focusing on cost can lead to a site that does not do much. Focusing instead on what the site can do for you results in decisions that just might make your website a really smart investment.

Steve Johnsen, MBASteve Johnsen is a marketing strategist, a business coach, and the Founder of Cloud Mountain Marketing. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 best-seller, 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee.

A steady stream of qualified leads

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A website, and more generally, Internet-based technology, is the most cost-effective method of marketing for most small businesses. It also usually delivers the best return on your investment.

You can generate more leads or sales with your marketing dollars when you invest in a good website. In addition, the leads you generate and the customers you bring in are self-qualified.

These leads have already stepped up and identified themselves as being very interested in your product or service. The beauty of a system that brings in qualified leads: it gives you more time to do what you do best.

What’s in a logo?

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Before starting any custom design project, we first help our clients articulate their core values and key messages. In some cases, that results in our clients wanting to reevaluate their company logo.

A great logo is not designed merely to look pretty; it is a symbol of your values and what you stand for. A good logo designer may spend dozens of hours understanding your beliefs, values and messaging before ever starting to put ideas down on paper.

Simon Sinek said it well in his book, Start with Why:

Symbols help us make tangible that which is intangible. And the only reason symbols have meaning is because we infuse them with meaning. That meaning lives in our minds, not in the item itself. Only when the purpose, cause or belief is clear can a symbol command great power.

Most companies have logos, but few have been able to convert those logos into meaningful symbols. Because most companies are bad at communicating what they believe, so it follows that most logos are devoid of any meaning. At best they serve as icons to identify a company and its products. A symbol cannot have any deep meaning until we know WHY it exists in terms bigger than simply to identify the company. Without clarity of WHY, a logo is just a logo….

Most companies have logos, but few have been able to convert those logos into meaningful symbols. Because most companies are bad at communicating what they believe, so it follows that most logos are devoid of any meaning. At best they serve as icons to identify a company and its products. A symbol cannot have any deep meaning until we know WHY it exists in terms bigger than simply to identify the company. Without clarity of WHY, a logo is just a logo….

Take a moment to reconnect with what your logo was designed to mean. Perhaps that will put an extra sparkle in your day!

To your success!

A simple formula…

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The only reason for having a business website is to make your business money. But how do you do that? I have a really simple formula for you:

Traffic + Conversions = Customers

In this equation, traffic does not mean the number of “hits” on your website. That can be a pretty useless statistic. Rather, it refers to the number of people who are your ideal potential clients who are visiting your website to check you out.

Conversion refers to a website that really speaks to your ideal prospect and makes them want to connects with you.

It’s that simple. I can assure you that when you take care of these two items, the website will make you money. When you really break it down, the only reason that a business website might not be making money is that (a) the right people (the ideal prospects) are not finding the site, or (b) once they’re there, the site does not speak to them in a way that makes them want to connect with you. Or it could be both.

To your success!

You don’t need a website

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Most marketing and technology consultants will tell you every business needs a website.

I say that you don’t need a website.

What you actually need is a profitable business. With clear purpose, good design, influential copy and strong functionality, your website serves as a tool to make your business profitable. Without these, not so much.

If you chose to invest in a website, make sure it makes money for your business. You probably know someone who has a great product or service, but is currently frustrated because no one is finding them online. You may also know someone who has spent way too much time and money on their website, only to be disappointed that their site doesn’t produce results.

Don’t let this happen to you! Here’s a book that can help with the process.

[Insert Amazon widget for 5 steps book]

To your success!

Job titles and website performance

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In a survey of Web Designers, the #1 previous job title was Graphic Designer. Not too surprising. Where it got interesting: the #2 previous job title for Web Designer was Waiter.

The advances in software have made it so that anybody with a computer can become a web designer almost overnight. They simply buy a piece of software that can churn out websites-in-a-can, fill in the blanks and spit it out live on the Internet.

I do know people who are making a living selling those kinds of websites to small businesses.

That said, if it’s your website we’re talking about, you have to ask yourself, do you want to hire a former waiter with a piece of software? Or do you want to work with a team of people who all have 20 years experience in the industry, who build high quality websites that actually make a lot of money online?

The websites we’ve built bring in over $10 million a year for our clients and we’re growing. We’re adding to that every day because we have a fantastic professional team. Interestingly, none of us have been waiters.

To your success!