So, in order to better demonstrate how the ideas I share can work on your site, I will be reviewing websites from members of this community. We’ll go through a site and break down what works well and what can be improved.

Today I am reviewing Amaliah Grace’s website. Amaliah has a robust website with a lot of different offerings. In the video below I give her (and you) some ideas for bringing focus to a site and improving audience engagement.

A few key points from the video:

0:40 - What you can learn from this (and other) site reviews
1:30 – The benefits of an early call to action
3:00 – How to summarize a variety of offerings
5:50 – The importance of centralizing audience engagement
8:00 – A great (and free) tool for understanding how visitors use your website

I’m going to be doing more website reviews in the coming weeks and months, so if you’d like your site to be considered for public review, complete the form below.

NOTE: All of this information (with the exception of your email address) may be used in a video on this site, so if you don’t want it shared, please don’t submit it.

You should be breaking more rules. So should I.

Every day we are cluttered with more of the same: website content you’ve seen before, blog topics you’ve read before. The same free guides. The same email signup forms. The same headlines.

If you want to stand out, you need to, quite simply, stand out.

One of my guilty-pleasure movies is Multiplicity, starring Michael Keaton. The plot is as dumb as it sounds: a guy clones himself in order to get more accomplished.

For some reason, the part of the movie that sticks with me is when one of the clones ends up cloning himself. The resulting clone was well… off. As a copy of a copy, he was ineffective at everything.

There are a lot of copies of copies online.

It usually works like this: Person A does something well. Group B likes what Person A does, copies what they did with a few modifications, and gets pretty good results. Then Group C copies Group B and the results start to suffer.

Copying causes two problems. The first is that what worked so well the first time can not always be replicated. The strategy employed might work very well for Person A, but by the time it gets down to Group C, it doesn’t make as much sense.

The other issue is that the more people employ the same strategy, the more repetitive the strategy appears to audiences, and they lose interest.

Reality television seemed pretty amazing when The Real World first aired. It seems far less so when you watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

My challenge to you is to find something that you can do that no one else is doing. Break the formula that others, myself included, are telling you to follow. Do something you’re afraid of. Do something that has a great chance of not working, but also the possibility of wild success.

Here are two of my favorite people online doing just that:

Ashley Ambridge, The Middle Finger Project

Ash covers a lot of the same ground that others do: how to build a successful business. Yet she stands out. How?

She swears like a sailor. She uses giant titles. Her website doesn’t look anything like other websites. She posts pictures of herself on vacation, including the time she fell on her face trying to jump over a small body of water.

Ash delivers insightful advice, but she also has a lot of fun. Sometimes she offends people. And she’s not for everyone. But those that love her, LOVE her.

You don’t need everyone to like you. Just the people that matter. And the only way to find people that matter to you, and that you matter to, is to offer something different than what everyone else is offering.

Karol Gajda, Truth. No Consequences.

Karol loves honesty. As a result, he makes real, human connections. Not too long ago, he abandoned his quite successful website to start over with a site he felt was more real and more authentic (losing a lot of email subscribers in the process).

Karol is currently trying to get people to unsubscribe from his email list. He has stated that he wants to get to a readership of 0. What he actually means (and has clarified), is that he doesn’t want people following him who are indifferent about his work.

He’s forcing his followers to notice him and actively choose whether or not he’s for them.

He accomplishes that by doing things like writing a 4,997 word blog post, full of intimate details, about how he went to Los Angeles to learn how to better approach women. He got a lot of unsubscribes and celebrated it. Those that remain with him are engaged and active (to the tune of 116 comments).

I look forward to Karol’s emails. I know they’re going to be different than 95% of the emails I receive from other website personalities. He has my attention because he’s different.

Be different.

Find something, anything that you can do that is unique to you. Break the noise. Break the rules.

I’m working on this myself. How are you going to do so?

I’m guessing there are some people I know who will say I shouldn’t share it with you. But I’m willing to take the chance…

In the past, I’ve discussed the idea that we learn a great deal from failure. And I’ve encouraged you to not be afraid of making mistakes for that very reason.

I’m not alone in this thinking. Many bloggers, inspirationalists, and coaches will tell you that progress is dependent on the learning that occurs when things don’t turn out as you want.

Yet, advice on failure is usually dispensed from people who share how they already weathered the storm and came out the other side. They’ll say something like “this one time I made a mistake, but look at me now: I’ve got it all figured out.”

The truth is, however, that we’re all still making mistakes in the present. Even as we progress, we’re making guesses as to what’s going to work next. Sometimes we’re right and sometimes we’re wrong.

And quite recently, I was wrong. I had a big plan and, simply put, it didn’t turn out as I wished. I’m telling you this because I want you to know that it’s okay to not have everything figured out.

It’s okay to put a lot of work into something and have it be a bit of a dud. And it’s okay to let people know that you don’t have all the answers. As long as you keep learning and keep growing.

So what went wrong?

Over the past month, I worked with you to develop a web training program. Two weeks ago, I started taking orders to enroll in that program. And while a number of individuals signed up and were excited to get started, I obviously missed the mark with a lot of you.

To be honest, marginal interest in The Web Program wasn’t good enough for me. While it is true that my work here serves my own purposes, if it’s not serving yours as well, then I’m not doing my job.

For this reason, I decided to scrap my plans for The Web Program, at least in the form that I presented it. I’m re-tooling a bit and I will definitely be offering more training opportunities in the near future.

(As for those that did enroll, I will be working with most of them on a 1-on-1 basis instead; others got a complete refund.)

So, if failure is all about learning, what did I learn?

The most clear observation for me is that in an effort to make the most impressive program I could construct, I was unable to focus on a solution that addressed some of your more specific needs. I may have overestimated the robustness of what you were looking for.

This is not something I could have learned without putting myself out there. So, while it’s disappointing that it didn’t hit the mark with more of you, I now know much more about serving this community.

I have heard of scientists who celebrate with a nice dinner when their theories fail, because they are able to eliminate one possible option. To them, the value of learning is as important as the outcome.

I can’t say I don’t care about the outcome, but I do celebrate learning how I can make a bigger impact.

What’s Next?

I’m excited to use what I’ve learned to refocus my work and refine my efforts here. I still plan on offering simple, straightforward guidance on building better websites. I already have a number of ideas and look forward to sharing them with you.

If you’re still hungering for website training that makes you excited for what comes next, rather than overwhelmed and intimidated, stick around.

And remember, as I was recently reminded: building something from nothing, as we are all doing here, is not a formula. It is a process. It takes work. You will suffer setbacks. But you will keep growing. And I’m here to help.

I have my own ideas for what that looks like, but what are yours? Where should we head next?

I can remember the moment that my first website went from something I did for fun to something that would change my life forever.

It was the moment that I decided to take control.

Up until that point, I had created the standard website: a few informational pages, accompanied by a couple of photos. This was 1995 so my options for a more dynamic site were limited.

However, I started seeing a few other websites that had interactive tools, like guestbooks, where visitors could actually add their own content to the site. While intriguing, adding such a complicated feature was an intimidating thought.

But I gave it a shot and spent day after day on trial and error, “breaking” my whole site far more often than I got positive results. Eventually, I made it work, and then made a few similar applications work, as well.

However, it was a frustrating process. I didn’t understand the technology I had implemented at all. Doing anything with my site felt like a risk. I never knew which change would bring my whole site down, or what I’d need to do to get things working again.

Taking Back Control

That’s when I decided to learn to do it right. I went out and bought a book that helped me understand what I was doing and suddenly all the pieces started to click. The errors I made were now obvious, my solutions for fixing them so much more clear.

That was the point that I took control of my website.

It was no longer this separate entity, a mystery that I could never expect to understand. I knew I could implement anything I wanted to, as long as I was willing to put in the effort to learn the right steps.

But I also recognized that my process was not ideal. I spent too much time making unnecessary mistakes. There had to be lots of other people who wanted to add the same types of engagement to their sites, but who didn’t have the patience that I did to get through the frustration.

So I decided to share what I had learned. I simplified and re-wrote the applications so that they were easier to install. And I wrote step-by-step instructions to guide people through customizing the applications to their needs.

And I put them on my website for free.

These free applications were my first taste of success, attracting thousands of visitors and even getting me published in a how-to book about websites.

Fifteen years later, I find it interesting that I’m doing almost exactly the same thing. I’m figuring out the best way to share all the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years, ensuring that anyone can benefit from what I’ve learned.

And what started as a purely technical pursuit has grown into a wide breadth of skills in building a successful website, including how to…

• create an ongoing growth strategy
• attract and engage with an online audience
• infuse content with creativity and personality
• build and run an online business

… and more, including, most notably, how to connect all these pieces together.

In order to deepen my impact, I have continued to add to my web proficiency with the help of key books, blogs, guides, and personal mentors (as well as some good old-fashioned trial and error).

The Web Problem

During all this time, web technology has become increasingly user-friendly. But I still continue to see people unable to grow their websites because they don’t know how to use the tools that are right for them, anchored within a wider online strategy.

Seeing people struggle to create the websites they envision for themselves was why I left my job last year. I saw friends over-pay for websites they hated but were stuck with. I saw organizations I cared about get billed thousands of dollars for web tools they didn’t need.

I am frustrated by the website technology industry I’ve worked in for so many years. I hear stories that remind me of what it’s like to take a car to a shady auto mechanic: you don’t really know what’s wrong or what they need to fix, so you just pay whatever they say and hope it works out in the end.

Taking The Next Steps

I want to take the mystery out of building a successful website. I want you to understand how the pieces fit together so that you aren’t intimidated to make changes that grow your site.

This motivation fuels me and is exactly why I’m considering creating a web training program. A program that would lead you through the different elements of website growth and use a variety of approaches–from hands-on guides to personal support–to ensure you get the results you seek.

In order to test the waters for that program, I’m thinking of putting together a free resource kit for you… if you’re ready to start taking control of your own website.

Here’s what the The Smart Website Owner’s Resource Kit will include:

• A web strategy worksheet to help you get clear on the direction to take your website (including what your next step should be)
• A list of the top mistakes people make with their websites, the good intentions behind them, and a substitute for each that actually works
• A step-by-step guide to a quick and easy web project that will improve your website immediately

Plus a few more goodies. The final contents of the kit will ultimately be decided by you, since I’ll be asking you for your feedback.

But before I put this together, I want to make sure there’s enough interest.

Here’s What I Want You To Do

I’m making a list of people who want The Smart Website Owner’s Resource Kit AND who want to be updated on the web program I’m considering creating.

So if you’re interested in the free kit and the potential web program, enter your email address below:

UPDATE: The interest list is closed. Learn more about The Web Program here.

If enough people get on this interest list, I’ll make the kit and send it to everyone who signed up.

I’m looking forward to creating this for you!

In service,
Seth

P.S. If you have any suggestions for what I should include in the kit, please leave a comment below.

I know I ended with a bit of a cliffhanger in the previous post. Sorry about that. I’m hoping it didn’t cause you to lose any sleep. I’m losing enough for everyone, what with the 5:30am earthquake we had on Monday and the extra nerves and excitement I’ve had about sharing all of this with you.

When we last left off I was talking about the idea of doing something big. Something that you’ve been asking me to do.

This idea was sparked by our work together over the past months. But I also realized that taking this on would actually be the result of over 17 years of my work on websites. Work such as…

… starting my very first website, as humble as it was, to promote music I was making way back in 1995…

… developing early web apps that got me featured in Setting Up An Internet Site For Dummies…

… creating my own movie-themed social network from scratch (I once called it “my baby” on national television)…

… and, of course, helping hundreds of individuals, small businesses, companies, and non-profit organizations launch, overhaul, or upgrade their web presences.

But there’s one thing that I haven’t done. I’ve hesitated to pursue it for a couple of reasons, and I’ll fully admit that one of them is just plain fear.

However, that type of thinking is exactly what keeps us from making an impact. It’s what keeps us from giving everything we have to give.

Revealing What I’ve Been Hinting At

So I’m seriously considering doing what you’ve asked me to do, which is to give you everything I have.  To open up my complete toolbox of 17 years.

To reveal the strategies, teach the technologies, and inspire the heart that it takes to build a successful website and grow an online business.

I’m contemplating creating a program that leads you through the entire journey to your own robust, thriving website. To your website that changes everything.

This would be a very unique program, something I’ve not seen elsewhere. It would combine:

• Custom Web Strategy: developing a unique, ongoing strategy plan that matches your web goals
• Simplified Technology: guiding your tech work step-by-step so you can focus on your results
• Direct Personal Support: answering all of your questions and working with you to put your best self online

The program would also serve as a private community of individuals you could rely on for support and added insights on what they learn inside and outside of the program.

Because I want to co-create this with you, we would work side-by-side to develop the details even further. But the heart of the program would focus on the three areas above (I didn’t write about the Three Pillars of Successful Websites last week for nothing!).

I’ll be honest: I get excited just thinking about what this could mean for all involved.

Here’s Where I Need Your Help

Despite my excitement, the idea of putting this together scares me. If you know the way I work, you know that there are no small projects. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to make sure it delivers. That would probably mean more sleepless nights for me in the months ahead.

I only want to do this if there is enough demand.

So I’d really like to know:

• Should I do this?
• Is this something you’d be interested in?

This program would be for you, so your feedback and thoughts are vitally important to me.

I’m eager for your input. Leave a comment below, even if it’s as simple as “Yeah, buddy” or “No, that’s crazy.”

Let me know what you think!

In service,
Seth

But… today is different.

I want to pull back the curtain and share something a little more personal.

Here it goes.

It’s been almost a year since I decided to leave my job. I gave notice to my boss last March.

It’s funny, when you dream about leaving a job, especially to pursue your own business, you think of dramatic moments. You think of Jerry Maguire.

You see yourself walking out, holding a box of your things, either to the applause of those proud of what you’re doing, or to the dirty looks from co-workers jealous they aren’t doing the same.

But it was nothing like that. There were some difficult discussions and sad faces, but the entire situation was pretty undramatic.

And wrapping things up at work took far longer than expected. It wasn’t simply a few choice words and a quick walk to the elevator. Instead, I stayed on for months, first full-time, then part-time, until I finally did walk out the door of an almost empty office months later. Just a quiet Friday in late July, the weekend before my birthday.

That weekend, like every birthday for the past eight years, I wrote a long letter…
to myself.

The tradition of writing to myself on my birthday serves as my own personal new year: a time to reflect on the year that passed and dream of what I want for the year to come. I then seal the letter and open it again the following year.

As you can imagine, last year’s letter, written a few days after my last day of work, was filled with hopes for my new venture.

And so as I sit here…

… almost one year to the day from when I decided to take a chance on myself…
… slowly approaching the letter I’m set to open…

I’m thinking about how much I’ve already accomplished. I have…

• Overcome a false start. The first few steps I took with my new business weren’t right for me. But I was able to recognize that, regroup, and pivot towards a path that has resonated with me, as well as those I serve.
• Worked with some very talented partners. I’ve never been a particularly great networker. It’s always intimidated me. But I learned how to reach out to potential partners in a way that works for me and that created a number of strong allies in my work. I’ve been published on more sites than I ever expected and the support of my partners continues to create exciting opportunities.
• Made an impact on your websites. It is absolutely inspiring to watch the guidance and training I provide get manifested on your websites. Together we’ve launched websites from scratch, added new layers of engagement and dynamics to sites that needed both, and reached new audiences as a result of these efforts. It’s an honor to contribute to and celebrate your successes.

I’m proud of the work I’ve done, mostly because of what it means we’ve accomplished together.

But now it’s time to take it to another level. It’s time to change everything.

In that letter I wrote myself last summer, I included one big goal. But after this time sharing and working with you, I know I can go bigger.

Not because of me, but because of you.

Over the past few months, there’s something that a number of you have asked me for. And it goes even further than the goal I had originally set.

For that and a couple of other reasons, I’ve held back on pursuing what you’ve requested.

However, I’m now seriously considering taking it on.

And I’ll be honest: I’m nervous. Because doing this will mean giving more of myself and sharing more of my work than I ever have before.

And if I do this, I’m also going to need your help.

In the next post, I’ll share with you what that is. Stay tuned.

P.S. I’ll be back with more details in a couple of days. But until then, I’d love to hear: are you hatching any plans of your own this spring?

And what’s your yearly goal-setting ritual?

I love to watch kids imitate their favorite athletes or movie stars. They usually focus on repeating one distinguishing characteristic, like Derek Jeter’s batting stance at the plate, or Julie Andrews’ accent in Mary Poppins, enabling them to feel like they’re embodying the whole person.

Many people do the same thing with their websites. They find a site they love, think they know what makes it so good, and try to replicate a single obvious element.

But building a successful website is about more than modeling your efforts after the surface tactics of those you admire. It’s about building a true foundation that supports and fuels the growth of your site.

Building that foundation won’t take as long as it took Jeter to develop his many baseball skills, or for Andrews to carry a film on her own, but it will take effort.

So what do you need to build a proper foundation for your site?

You’ll need to master the Three Pillars of Successful Websites.

Starting with…

Strategy

A successful website strategy means understanding the evolution of your site, and then driving that evolution. Don’t wait for natural selection.

The key to strategy is recognizing your current stage within the evolution. If you know where you are now, then you know what comes next. The best strategists always know what comes next.

Most people work within a very small scope when considering their website strategy. They see it as a checklist to ensure they’re doing things properly…

• use social media
• build an email list
• make sure my picture is above the fold
• etc…

This is a very static, one-size-fits-all plan of attack.

Instead, you should be thinking about your website within a larger context.

What are my desired outcomes? Where is the greatest area of possible growth? Traffic? Conversion? Engagement? Then keep strategizing. What’s the greatest opportunity I have to improve that specific area?

Building an increasingly successful website means thinking strategically. See your site along a path of progression and then shape that path with clear action.

Technology

One of the more common errors I see people make when developing their websites is putting technology before strategy (which is why I’ve listed it second here).

• How do I use Twitter?
• Are premium WordPress themes better than free ones?
• What plugins should I be using?

Questions like these can’t be answered properly unless you have a strategy that’s driving the need for a solution. Simply mimicking the technology use of others will not be enough to make you succeed. The wrong technology used perfectly is useless. Give a caveman an iPhone and it won’t do him much good.

Determine what you need to be doing based on your website strategy. Then figure out what technology, if any, is necessary to implement that strategy. Then — and only then — do you need to worry about how to make that technology work.

By implementing only the technology that moves your strategy forward, you will save yourself lots of time, money, and tech frustrations.

Heart

Yes, just like the Tin Man, you need heart. The heart to push through resistance and disappointment. The heart to persist until you reach your goals. The heart to dig deeper when you’re failing and dig deepest when you’re succeeding.

Building a successful website with an engaged audience is hard work. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You will be challenged. And you will need heart to get through those challenges.

But you will also need heart to create. Not because it’s difficult. But because it’s absolutely necessary for people to care about what you’re doing.

The web is full. Literally. Full of noise and full of competition. To stand out, you need to hit people in their hearts. You need to move them.

Whether you’re selling a product, trying to promote your business, or simply wanting people to read and share what you’re writing, you need to create in a way that resonates with your target audience.

The only way to do that is to put your heart into everything you do. Don’t create to get ahead. Create to make an impact. Then find a way to make an even bigger impact.

That takes heart. But, fortunately, that’s the one thing we all have right from the start.

Imagine these three pillars — Strategy, Technology, and Heart — supporting your website in a triangle formation. The weakness of any one will inevitably topple your entire site.

Make an effort to develop each of these building blocks within your website. Maintain their strength and look for opportunities to interlock them, making your foundation that much stronger.

Become a master of the three pillars of successful websites and you can change everything.

Where is your website foundation most shaky? Let me know in the comments.

And completely unrelated: the photo I found for this post reminds me that my wife and I are travelling to Italy this summer. Any must-see recommendations? Any pillars of successful travel in Italy?

Seth’s Seven Hidden Laws to Building a Dynamic Website guide was instrumental in the establishment of my website. It provided clear, concise, and easy directions to get started.

Perhaps the most important thing I learned from him is to have a plan! For years I had an idea in my head of the type of website that I wanted to create and the type of content that I wanted to share with the world. I tried a couple of blogs for a while, but I never stuck with it because they lacked clarity and focus.

However, once I came across Seth’s Seven Hidden Laws to Building a Dynamic Website, I was able to take the idea that had been in my head for years and apply each of Seth’s laws to formulate a plan for my website.

Without this plan, I’m not sure I would have continued. With his advice, wisdom, and willingness to help, I was able to go from having an abstract idea in my head to a bonafide website with a clear purpose and identity.

To show you how I got there, I’m going to go through each of Seth’s Seven Hidden Laws and share with you what I learned and how I implemented each law on my own website.

Law 1: Know Your Purpose
This is the first law because it’s the most important and vital for all of the other laws that follow. This law states that you need to know where you want to go with your website. Without taking the time to define your purpose, you end up creating a website that has no flow and no consistency. This confuses your readers and prevents them from coming back.

For my website, I took the time to really think about the purpose of what I was doing. I wrote down some notes and kept fine-tuning it until it was done. It may take some time as you refine and narrow down your own purpose, but the time you take will be worth it since you’ll come out of this exercise with a coherent direction for your website.

This law helped me tremendously. With my previous attempts at websites, I just started without thinking about what I was actually trying to do. The website that I’ve created now has a clear purpose. Once I was able to define that, the rest of the website development flowed while I kept an eye on where I wanted my site to ultimately go.

Law 2: Clarify Your Identity
This law is about how you present your purpose to the world. This is done through your logo or the colors you use on your website, as well as the tone of the content that you create.

The exercise at the end of the law asked what the feel was that I wanted for my audience when they came to my website.

My answers to this question were:

• That my audience would feel comfortable
• That my website was clean
• That my website had a “homey” feel to it
• That my website would be beautiful and creative while not being “over the top”

Putting in the time to think about my visitors’ experience made designing my site so much easier.

Law 3: Create
The third law is about how creativity separates you from everyone else. The law encourages you to not just build a website, but to use the tools at your disposal to stand out in the world.

I designed and created a website that stands out by making it clean and simple, yet presenting the content in a way that was pleasing to the eye.

When it came to creating the content for my website, I wanted to stand out from the crowd by empowering the audience through my words to take action in their life to move closer towards their true selves. I also used the tools available to me to create an ebook that further explains the philosophy behind the site and goes deeper into the message I’m conveying.

Law 4: Distribute
Seth says during the introduction to this law that “people only go to your website once.” This concept took me aback at first, but the more I thought about it and thought about my own behavior when it comes to the websites I visit, it’s true. The audience relies on you to keep them informed. It’s not their job to check your website to see if you posted something new. You only get one shot at this (most times) so you have to be prepared.

For me, I used this law to create many different ways for my audience to give me permission to deliver content to them. Currently on my site I have a button for Twitter, Google+, my email newsletter, and RSS. I chose to give my visitors many options so that they could choose which one was most convenient for them. It’s not about which method I want them to choose, but to give them lots of options to make their own choice. I made it as easy as possible for my audience to get my content. Don’t make the distribution complicated!

Law 5: Extend
The law of extension opens our eyes to the impact of our audience forwarding our content to people they know. Think about your own experience: you are more likely to read something or visit a website if your spouse or your best friend tells you to go there than you would be if you just discovered the site through a retweet on Twitter.

I chose to make it easy for my audience to extend my content by adding share buttons to each of my blog posts that will allow the reader to email the link, post it to Facebook, or tweet it out on Twitter. This makes it easy for the reader to share my content with their own audience. This is another law where I didn’t want to make the process complicated.

Law 6: Listen
The sixth law is about encouraging your audience to connect with you and creating an environment where the desire for engagement is clear. The audience should know that you want to hear from them. The audience should also know that the communication works both ways, and that you interact with your audience regularly. This can be done via email, on Twitter, on Google+ or through the comment system on your blog.

I implemented this law onto my website by installing a comment system and offering encouragement at the end of every post that I want to hear from my audience (usually by asking them a question related to the post). When someone comments on a blog post, I always reply to the comment to show my audience that I’m here to interact as well.

I’m not interested in only putting content up on my website, I want to engage with my audience too. I respond on email, Twitter and Google+ when a reader reaches out to me. These are all choices I make so that the communication between the audience and me is encouraged and nurtured.

Law 7: Be Aware
The final law encourages you to pay attention to how people are interacting with your website. Being aware allows you to know if your audience is seeing what you’ve created. This is usually done through statistics run on your website, such as Google Analytics.

Without being aware, you don’t know if you’re succeeding or failing in reaching your goals.

I installed Google Analytics on my website so that I could see how my website was performing and which content my audience was connecting with and visiting the most. This information allows me to make changes to how I’m delivering my content or see which type of posts are viewed the most.

It’s not until you have this information that you can begin the process of improving your website. Having the statistics is one thing, but acting when presented with the statistics is another. If your audience is not seeing what you’re creating, then you need to make changes to ensure that they do see your content. Don’t just look at the stats, use them to implement changes where necessary.

Conclusion

Seth’s Seven Hidden Laws to Building a Dynamic Website guide is a great tool to use if you want to create a website that makes an impact. My website is proof of the benefit of using this guide. By taking the time to read the guide as well as answer the questions Seth asks at the end of each law, I had a great foundation upon which to begin building my website.

Seth has said that the “dumbest thing” he ever did when creating a website was not having a plan. If you follow the Seven Hidden Laws to Building a Dynamic Website guide, you will definitely come out of that with a plan to implement. You will be ahead of the game from the many people who create their sites without thinking about what they’re aiming for.

Knowing where you’re going tells you what tools complement your plan, and will go a long way to ensure that your website sustains and grows.

Will you follow the guide to create a website that gets your message out into the world? I hope so. The world is waiting for your voice. I’m looking forward to seeing what you create!

Dave Lukas writes on WarriorDave.com about redefining the term Warrior for current times to mean someone who is called to be more in the world while displaying strength beyond the physical. He inspires people to embrace the Warrior that resides in each of us and to recognize the power and ability we possess to be a fierce individual with a passion for life.

A note from Seth: You can get a copy of my free guide, Seven Hidden Laws To Building A Dynamic Website, here.

So pack your lunches, forge your parents’ signatures on your permissions slips, and let’s all hop on public transit in an orderly fashion. No buddies required, but if it makes you feel better, feel free to pair up.

On today’s online field trip we’re going to visit three websites that make some big mistakes in the experiences they provide their visitors. The sites vary in size, but all offer lessons that can be applied to any website.

Another note: My apologies to the operators of these sites. I know many other people make the same mistakes you do, I just happened to find your sites while I was writing this article.

Our first stop is…

Pet Finder
http://www.petfinder.com

Let me start off by saying I actually love the work that Pet Finder does. It is an amazing service that helps a ton of animals and people alike. We used it every day when we were looking to adopt our rescue dog.

But their website could be so much better.

Their homepage is a mess. There’s so much going on that it’s difficult to know where to begin as a first-time visitor. You can tell that they’re aware of this based on their feeble attempt to create a “On Petfinder You Can…” box in the middle of the page.

If you feel your site is overly complicated, don’t add another element telling people how to navigate through it. Instead, strip away all the stuff that makes it so complicated and let your visitors to find what they’re looking for.

Don’t tell them what to find, just make it easy for them to find it. If you’ve got too much that you want your visitors to do, then consider creating separate sections that house related content, rather than trying to fit it all on one page.

If you don’t know or can’t prioritize what you want your visitors to do, then they won’t either.

How I Got Rich
http://howigotrich.net

This website may have some helpful information on it. But there are two mistakes really holding it back.

The first is that upon visiting the site, I have no idea what it’s about. This is a mistake that a lot of bloggers make: they let their most recent blog post speak for their entire site.

That means that if your last blog post was titled “Link Authority Test Update,” then that’s the first thing people read about your site.

Instead, consider adding an “about” box above your blog entries or at the top of the sidebar so your audience knows what they’re going to get out of your site.

The second mistake this site makes is that the focus is strictly on the website author. While it’s great he became rich (or so he says), people don’t visit websites like this so they can be amazed by someone else. They are there to learn how to do it themselves.

Rather than framing everything through his own lens, I’d love to see this author take the approach of translating his efforts for others, so that visitors to his site can more clearly benefit.

People don’t want to know about how great you are. They want to know about how great you can make them.

Writer’s Blog
http://writingcraft.blogspot.com

This website is a standard looking website, something that we all see somewhat regularly. That, however, is not the problem with the site. Instead, the author of this website makes a few other key mistakes:

• The first thing a new visitor sees is two copyright notices. Protecting your work is important, but leave it in the sidebar. It’s a gruff introduction. If you were reading a poem to someone, would you start off by telling them not to steal it? Twice?
• The site has a boring title. Writer’s Blog could be anybody’s blog. At least add a name, like Jane Doe: A Writer’s Blog. Titles matter, whether they’re for a page or a whole site. Create a memorable title. If you can’t, at least make it somewhat unique.
• The text is difficult to read. The font is relatively small, and the grey letters on top of a complicated background image makes it very tough to read. This website is supposed to be about writing. The author should focus on the words, not the design.

That concludes today’s online field trip. Got any website mistakes you hate to see? Share them in the comments.

And let me know if you’d like me to do more online field trips like this. I’m already working on writing up a trip to some of my favorite websites. Maybe we can even visit some of your own sites and look for ways to make them even better. Let me know what you think.

Luckily, I live in Berkeley, right across the water from San Francisco’s Chinatown, filled with tea shops.

So when I visited this amazing neighborhood in search of tea, I visited most of the shops. But I only chose to buy from one of them. Why? Because this shop did things differently. And you can employ the exact same tactics they used in their store with your website, turning your visitors into loyal fans and customers.

Starting with…

Provide An Entry Point

The shop I bought from, Vital Tea Leaf, offered free tea tastings. Now, this was important not because it got me to enter the store, which I was going to do anyway, but because it gave me an entry point for my experience within the store.

With each of the other shops I visited, all I could really do was smell the various jars of tea. Being a complete newbie, I didn’t know what I was smelling, or even what questions I should be asking the staff. I was intimidated and unsure where to start. So I left.

The free tastings at Vital, however, gave me somewhere to start. I didn’t need to come up with the right question, or demonstrate any knowledge. All I had to do was sit down and drink some tea. At the very least, I could talk about what I tasted.

You should be doing the same thing with your website: providing an entry point. Visitors are going to come to your site, unsure of what you offer, and unsure of where to start. Figure out how to demonstrate the value you provide in an easy, accessible way.

Then give them a reason to interact with you. Give them something to consume, to comment on, or ask you about. Figure out a way that makes it easy for them to enter into a conversation with you.

Engage

Once I was seated at the tea tasting table, Royal (his real name), my host, worked to engage with me. He didn’t ask me what my favorite tea was, or even tell me what his favorite tea was. He asked about where I was from and we talked about Chinatown.

Royal was friendly and excited to talk to me, as well as the other people doing tastings. He would serve various teas and look on with curiosity as to how we would react. He wanted to hear our opinions. He gave us tips on brewing tea that later made me feel more knowledgeable and comfortable in making a purchasing decision.

Your website is about more than selling (when I say selling, it could be a product, service, or content you want people to see). Your website is about engaging with your audience, and giving them a reason to be there other than to buy. It’s about empowering them with the knowledge to make a decision about their next step.

People want an experience. They want to feel a part of something. Open your website up to your visitor. Be curious about them and hear what they have to say.

Give them a seat at the table, something to discuss, and then listen. Give them an experience. Engage.

Offer Social Proof

The free tastings at Vital meant that there were always people in the shop. Watching us laugh and nod our heads at the tasting counter only encouraged more people to join us. Just as it was reassuring for me to see others interact with Royal before I sat down, my presence helped other people to join the group.

Sometimes it helps to think of your website as a party. You want to arrive when there are already guests there. And you want to see that those people are having a good time. It lets you know that you’re not making a mistake by being there.

One of the values of engaging with your website audience is that it shows others that there is a buzz going on. Visitors become more likely to add a comment after they see that a discussion has already started. They’re more likely to explore your site, knowing others have already found value in it.

So whether it’s displaying your comment count, Twitter follower numbers, or testimonials from past clients, find a way to offer some social proof that you’ve got something valuable to offer.

Don’t Be Pushy With Sales

Royal never once asked me if I’d like to buy any tea, even the ones I obviously liked. He probably could have at the end, and I wouldn’t have minded. And perhaps he lost some sales to others who started by looking for free tea, but who would have bought if he had asked.

What Royal did, however, was give me confidence in what I was buying. The more I knew, the more I tasted, and the more I trusted the source, the more likely I was to buy.

I walked in to Chinatown looking to buy. I just needed to find the right experience that would make me comfortable in doing so.

Your website audience is the same. They are looking for a solution. They wouldn’t be at your website if they weren’t. They want to invest in something. You just need to give them the confidence to do so.

Empower them. Give them an entry point. Engage with them. Offer some value, offer some social proof. And don’t be overly pushy.

After that, they’ll be more than happy to give you their attention, and maybe even their money.

Do you have any real world purchasing experiences that have led you to think differently about your website?

Perhaps more importantly, do you have any tea recommendations? I love the “Blue People” oolong tea I got at Vital, but am on the look out for more great teas. Let me know your favorites!