Stop Running Around the Room

The Digital Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Websites That Sell– Robert Bly (Entrepreneur)

So, how is your website doing? The so-called experts will all tell you that your business must have a web presence, but they don’t often tell you why. So, you go out and build out a website and depending on how much your budget is it may look slick, have some nifty doo-dads and maybe it even tells some of your business story, but how is it doing? Is your website driving sales, or customer experience; is it at least filling your sales funnel?

If you are scratching your head and not sure what the answers are, then you probably really have your answer. You may be guilty of what I call running around the room! Some guru tells you, you need a website or a Facebook page or a Twitter account, so you go out and do just that. The question then becomes, WHY? If you find yourself being pulled in twenty different directions, all the while chasing the new, shiny, thing; then you will want to take a break and invest some time with Robert Bly’s new book, The Digital Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Websites That Sell.

Bly has made a career out of cranking highly effective marketing copy that does exactly what it’s supposed to do; sell products and services. PERIOD. If you are a small business or looking to fire up a side hustle or even make the transition from side hustle to full blown business, this is a great starting place to gather knowledge of how to build out a website the actually makes you money! And isn’t that the bottom line?

If you are an experienced marketer, Bly approach may seem a little basic, but I can’t tell you how many people I work with that that invest in building out a website, only to have it not produce the results they thought it would and then who take the attitude that “this internet thing doesn’t work” or use the now famous line “I was too late, everybody already had a website like mine”.

Let’s face it, even folks who do this for a living are playing a game of catch up because the digital realm is changing seemingly every day. If you don’t have a solid foundation to build on then things like AdWords, landing pages, click through rates and the multitude of social media sites will all amount to deciphering hieroglyphics. Bly delivers the basics in easy to understand chunks and action steps that you can put into play right out of the box to start impacting your business today. Once you mastered the delivery, I would even suggest picking up one of Bly’s books on how to write effective copy that sells.

Avoid the Void

The Power of a Positive Team – Jon Gordon – (Wiley)

Have you ever been a part of a successful team?

How about a team that did not quite meet expectations or failed miserably?

Looking back at those experiences were you able to break things down and get to the bottom of what worked well, or where things went off the rails and failed miserably? It’s always a good idea to do that kind of postmortem break down to identify what works best.

In his latest book, The Power of a Positive Team bestselling, business and team guru Jon Gordon not only walks you through what the elements of a successful team are, and as the title suggests, how a positive team proves to be more successful. Now that may not sound like brain surgery, but as always, Gordon really offers some definitive insights, often based on scientific research about the mindsets that go into the chemistry of teams.

One of my go to stories when coaching teams or individuals, is about going to your favorite book store and asking for a book on how to be better at being negative, as I used in my review of Jon’s book, The Power of Positive Leadership. I spend a lot of time focusing on the impact of communication, good and bad, on businesses, and I love the chapter here that focuses on how communication impacts teams. Jon hits it out of the park when discussing how teams need to avoid the void; when there is a void in the process, more often than not, negativity will fill that void. He illustrates how effective communication within the team and its individual members can eliminate the void and cut down on negativity.

If you look at problem areas in most businesses, no matter what the business type or industry, communications are almost always at or near the top of the list. Gordon really drives home the point that while communication is “often the last thing you want to do” it is “the most important thing you must do.” He suggests a number of effective vehicles for communication among teams; it boils down to finding the method that works best for the team and the situation because it is not a once size fits all proposition.

Teams and team work comes in a multitude of varieties and Gordon offers great ideas and actionable steps the can help you keep those teams working in a positive fashion and with great results. This is a straight forward book, that you will want to keep handy so you can plug these steps into action.