Fellow entrepreneur Mike Gamache shares why building your own website will save you thousands
This is part 1 of a 3 part series by Mike Gamache discussing the best content management systems (CMS) and blog platforms for those intrepid entrepreneurs that want to build and manage their own websites. In this first post, the Fleetfoot Marketing co-founder shares the difficulties he encountered in his efforts to outsource building his company website, an obstacle entrepreneurs commonly face. Stay tuned next week for an in-depth look at what website management tools are best and what entrepreneurs can do to get the most out of each.
Those of us who are entrepreneurs are a different breed. We set our minds to a goal and make it happen, period. We spend overwhelming amounts of time and money to turn dreams into reality, and the worst thing that can possibly happen is to have our progress halted. Internet Marketing is evolving at a pace that is nearly immeasurable, and many entrepreneurs have realized that they will not succeed without a website and successful internet marketing strategy. As entrepreneurs, when we hit a wall, we find a way around it or break through it. We have done it hundreds of times with our businesses, but there is one item that is vital to our business’s success that we have to completely depend on an outside source for: our websites.
Unfortunately there are far too many website options, tools, plugins, social media sites, and services to choose from. Most entrepreneurs don’t have the slightest idea of where to start with a website, or how to use that website to produce a return from our extremely valuable time and finite finances.
Before I get into some of the tactics and options, let me tell you a little bit of my story and why a website was previously my biggest barrier to success:
I have been building and developing a video marketing company for over six years now. My current website is only a couple of months old and generates around 200 hits a day with 344 on my best day so far. My company feels like our projection of 2,000 hits a day by the end of the summer is pretty modest, but I will save those details for another article.
When I first began my entrepreneurial pursuits, I thought I would just hire a web developer, they would build a good website, customers would find it, and profits would come in… I was totally wrong. I have had two websites that were both around $20,000 projects completely fail in the production phases. Both times, the development company sold functionality that they couldn’t produce, while promising deadlines that they did not even attempt to reach. I had seen this before when I worked as a video producer at other companies whose job it was to produce websites. Unfortunately, it appeared that their clients were experiencing similar issues to the problems I have had.
Learn why nailing down the right domain name is vital to your business
Our job as entrepreneurs is to develop a profitable concept, turn it into reality, and delegate the aspects we can’t handle independently to others who can. The biggest unknown to most entrepreneurs is website development and internet marketing. The reality is that many website development companies understand that their clients are completely dependent on them. They know that we are often unequipped with the knowledge and skills to take matters into our own hands when our websites aren’t produced as promised. Unfortunately, too often they are right.
This realization is a huge blow for most entrepreneurs, but if you are like me, you will dedicate yourself to doing whatever it takes to remove the liability of depending on another person or company to produce such a vital part of your business.
After being burnt twice, I realized that my only chance at success was to become independent and proficient at the skills needed to build a basic website and show up on search engine results pages.
With this realization, I stepped back after six-years in the video production industry and took an entry-level job as an “Internet Marketing Specialist” where I learned all of the concepts I needed to become independent at a skill set that was vital to my company’s success.
My perspective isn’t one of a web developer, it is one of a business owner who refused to let a website stand between myself and my business goals. I plan on getting to some great technical advice in the next part of this short blog series, but first, I hope your perspective is now focused on removing a major liability that can make or break your business. When you take your business’s web development and content management into your own hands, you proactively protect your business while continuing to develop your personal knowledge and skills that will either make your business succeed, or increase its success.
