Are You Guilty Of This?

“Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either” Aesop Quotes

This has nothing and everything to do with marketing, it's totally about who we are as enlightened humans being in a world that we have created.

Sometimes as business people we need to step back from whatever we are engaged in and evaluate ourselves. We need to examine what we are doing to our reputation and character by the little decisions we make in our daily lives. By themselves they are by no means life changing decisions but they always define who we are and how the rest of the world perceives us.

It's the little things in life that really count. Like how some people behave with a waiter/waitress in restaurants that gives invaluable insight into their own character. In business, these same behaviors determines how we are perceived by others.

Our word, that is our oral promise should be "as good as gold" or even paper money.

Of course we must always leave allowances for the unexpected, it’s why pencils are built with erasers because everyone make mistakes: in judgment on completion times, returning calls, emails, meetings or even promises for payment. As humans, we plan and it is said that "God laughs" at our plans, but that's no excuse not to communicate.

Communicating after making an oral promise is not something we do "if we have the time" but should become a personal obligation/commitment to, at a minimum, explain why we could not or did do what we promised to do. The promise does not evaporate into the universe, being known as not having a "good word" destroys the character.

Allow me to put it into perspective. This came up because of the experiences I have had recently with web designers in and outside of Trinidad. Yes, consider this a request for your services if you meets the criteria below.

You may or may not be aware, I have been in a continuous search for a Web designer/developer for the last couple of months after a very strange experience with someone I trusted. I will not go into that here but suffice it to say that has happened was surprising and an enlightening experience which I will share in another post. It's no wonder that the web design/development industry continues to be so nefarious with a saturation of wannabe designers who all claim to be able to build anything. There are designers and Designers.

What am I looking for? Not much. A designer for sure but there are other qualities that, after my experience, are much more important. I call it character. Fortunately we all have one.

But before we go there, let me share some background so you can appreciate
why the urgent need for a designer with certain predispositions.

Team players

In my function as a Business Web Coach assisting business owners to establish their web presence, it’s essential that I have a pool of designers/Developers to design websites for clients.

The coaching includes all aspects of web development starting with the initial concept, story board, structure, copy, business model innovation, traffic generation and one-on-one or group training after the launch. The intent is to bring to the table online experience and marketing strategies to develop a viable revenue generating web site for the business.

My plan is to host a one day seminar titled "Getting Started Online" This seminar promises to embed a marketing mindset into the participants enabling them with foundational knowledge to establish their web presence and possibly a web site.

With the web coaching service I prefer to begin at the concept stage and not have to do an extreme marketing makeover on a website that is already published. I know very little about web design, coding or graphic design. It is therefore very important that I work with a web designer. But not just any designer, I'm looking for designers with two enduring qualities apart from their ability to design a professional web site:

Professional Integrity

This requirement is at the top because it is extremely important the designer/developer understand that this can make or break our relationship. This has nothing to do with being a honest person but more with character. In my humble opinion, behavior as described above does not show a lack of character because whatever they do is their character. It demonstrates a blatant disrespect for the value of "their word" when given as a promise.

From time immemorial oral communication has initiated business it's indeed a sad day when everything must be in writing. Imagine putting a simple promise like, "I'll call you" in writing.

Mind you, this relates not only to designers/developers but too many professionals are beginning to behave like politicians and lawyers. Granted, It may be a little thing to some people but expeditiously making repeated unfulfilled promises is wrong. Not only wrong in business but in any social setting.

If you are a designer and you don't agree, I'm so glad you are reading this because I hope I never do business with you.

Experience and Creativity

The designer must be self motivated and creative. He/she must be able to reproduce an idea and essentially make it look good online. The nature of the industry, i.e. overpopulated with semi-professionals, makes it important that the designers/developers have a registered company and preferably a design staff.

There skill must include all the necessary coding capability to develop a self contained eCommerce site with content management system and accommodate a merchant account platform. I am also looking for someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, someone who is willing to invest in their own future and to gain experience in developing websites that generate revenue.

If you meet these requirements, I would love to speak with you, send me an email.

In the interim, because of my experience I have used my limited knowledge to host my domain on a wordpress blog platform. If you are serious about online marketing click over to the blog, review it and make a comment or give some feedback. Done without the aid of a designer, it's not professional but it meets my needs until better can be done. Take a look at it and leave some feedback. You can find it at Here

Is Your Business Web site Useless?

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." Albert Einstein


Ogosh man; that question is so insensitive.

Ok, I’m sorry I asked it like that but I just wanted to get straight to the point, not to beat around the bush. In reality beating around the bushes is safer because what’s in the bush is unknown.

The tactful, indirect approach is more likeable because it appears more sensitive, unassuming and compassionate. All enduring qualities I’m sure but in the end its fluff and no substance. To get to the truth you need hard questions.

This blog will carry a series of posts focusing on business web sites in Trinidad and Tobago. We want to drill down into what it takes to build, market and maintain a professional web presence that is actually a business profit center. We want to discuss your experience, not mine, therefore your participation is required. You will get out of it what you are willing to put into it; nothing more or less.

The question is sincere and honest because your web site could be useless.

The fact is that very few business people give their web site a second thought once it’s launched. The reason is simple, they believe that because there are millions of people on the web, when a website is launched anyone can visit. True. In fact they imagine that their customers will be the first to find them. Not true, sadly a web site is not something that you build and they come. Marketing your site MUST BEGIN BEFORE it’s built, NOT AFTER.

Now, do you see the point of my question?

Answer 3 more questions about your business web site.

Be honest with yourself, if you have a site and you were instrumental in building it. Share the answers to the questions only if it’s not embarrassing. Get help if you need it because web sites, unlike wine, do not get better with age. Without marketing, it can only get worse. The questions are:

1.What is or was the purpose for your site when you built it? Don’t say just to make money that is the universal purpose of every business web site. Here’s a hint; if you do not have a shopping cart or pay pal button on your site then you are attempting to make money indirectly. But do you have any marketing tools on your site? Share or think about the purpose of your site.

2.Directly related to your site’s purpose is its business model. Do you use a business model on your site? If your site is made up of a series of pages about you, your product and directions to your store that is not considered a business model. By the way, having a contact page rarely generates inquiries. The internet is not the yellow pages and have you noticed that you don't need the yellow pages anymore, even here in Trinidad.

3.Do you, or is someone under your responsibility, tracking your site metrics? One of the best features of the internet is that everything can be tracked and linked back to someone or some site. If you do not know where your visitors are coming from how will you get more or know if people are even visiting your site?

Ok the answers to you might be a bit troubling. If you do not like the answers you come up with to any of those questions, its ok, you know how misery likes company. The internet is full of sites like yours because many other sites owners are doing exactly as you are.

Web designer do not talk much about what happens AFTER your site is launched because if they did you would probably have opted to leave the internet alone.

I’m here to help. If you are stuck on any of the questions just make a comment.

Again, I’m here to help you, at least to point you in a direction where you might get answers. This is a two way street, if the questions I asked are not what you are concerned about, then ask your own questions.

Tell me what you will like to see me write about. Even if you are in the thinking stage; ask.

I will respond to any and all questions that relate to your web site marketability or establishing your web presence.

This is an invitation to a conversation. Monologues are boring.

If you own a website but not satisfied with its performance, contact me.

If you are thinking of establishing a web presence and need some direction, contact me.

Or, just make a comment, private mail me. I will respond to each and every question in the same format in which it was asked.

If you wish, I will do a quick evaluation of your site and provide you feed back on any areas that, in my opinion, can be improved.

Please, do not take this offer if you believe that your site is perfect and cannot be improved.

The floor is all yours now.