Problem: When it comes to developing your site, how do you know who to trust? How do you avoid being taken advantage of by a developer? There’s a lot you can do, and it’s simpler than you think! It’s all about finding a geek who gets you. Read on for key ways to ensure that you stay in the driver’s seat when it comes to your website.

Gather all the other elements you need for the site

Make sure you have what you need, so that your developer has a good sense of the structure you want for your site. Your first priority is to get yourself properly set up for success. Follow these steps before contacting a web designer, to pave the way for a smooth web development process.

1. 1. 1. 1. Have your keyword research completed, as well as your site map.
         2. Write your content following the THBLI method or have it nearly finished. This will save your money, as it shows the developers you are ready to go and they do not have to wait for content for each web page.
         3. Prepare a Creative Brief for the Developer. Email heather@findability.com for the latest copy of our creative brief.

If you’ve never heard of a creative brief before, this comprehensive document provides your developer with a snapshot of your business and your overall vision for the site. This will include company mission, tagline, target audience, tonality, color scheme, and competitive sites for industry reference.

It’s also helpful to consider your requirements for the site. Go through the items below to see which best serve your needs:

• Mobile responsive site
• Shopping cart
• Credit card processing
• Opt-in box
• Site-wide search function
• Videos
• Social Media sharing buttons
• Your TOP 10 favorite competitor sites

Additional Elements

Apart from the buttons and functions you need in your site, there are a few other things to consider that really define the quality of your site. These include:

• Professional-grade photos (want to know what kinds of photos you need? Check out this helpful chapter from my book, HERE
• Testimonials
• Logos
• Color preferences
• Logins for current hosting, website, Google Analytics, and social media links

The more you can share your vision with the developer, the more likely your site will meet your expectations. You need to let the developer know if you require a shopping cart and credit card processing for example so these elements can be worked into the site from the beginning.

Ask for referrals from people you trust

One of the best ways to find a good developer is to reach out to your network. Why go through a long vetting process when someone who shares your values already has? This can save you time and get the most qualified candidates in front of you. Don’t just take their word on it though – have a look at their work! Do you love their website? Make sure it’s in line with your style and needs.

Beware of the sneaky “squid ink” move!

A HUGE red flag to look out for is the “squid ink” tactic. My husband once compared a certain type of developer to a giant squid. I’m no expert on giant squids, but apparently, they swim in fast and spew ink all over the place to muddy the waters and protect themselves to get away. “Squid Ink” developers purposefully cloud the client’s judgment with smoke-and-mirror strategies and big words meant to intimidate or confuse.

They can throw all sorts of complicated jargon at you that they know you won’t understand, hoping to overwhelm you into saying yes to a bid without having any control or understanding of what they offer. You don’t want that kind of manipulation going on with something as important as your business.

Code Jail

Don’t get stuck in “code jail” – some developers use a sneaky proprietary code, so that no one but them can make changes to the site. This is YOUR site; don’t let them play that game. The solution for this is to ask if the developer uses open source tools. Here’s a great definition of open source:

“When a software program is open source, it means the program’s source code is freely available to the public. Unlike commercial software, open source programs can be modified and distributed by anyone and are often developed as a community rather than by a single organization.” (source: http://www.techterms.com/definition/opensource)

Open source options for web design and development include WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and SquareSpace. These tools are well respected, search engine friendly and have a content management system (CMS) that allows for easy content changes or updates which is essential for sustainable infrastructure.

Choosing one of these open source platforms for your website is smart, because you will be free to switch developers if the need arises, or even hire an in-house developer. Avoid developers who use other tools if you want to retain power over your site and have the freedom to hire and fire in case things don’t work out. YOU are the client, and this is YOUR site. No one belongs in the driver’s seat but you!

Set a Budget and Due Date

With a clearly defined date and budget, you can set expectations and have more accountability from your developer. Don’t skip this step – you don’t want to be hit with surprise expenses or unmet deadlines! Before actually starting your website project, it’s absolutely crucial that you establish your budget. If you don’t have a figure in mind, you could end up spending a lot more than you expected. In addition, letting a designer or developer know the budget helps them estimate your project more accurately and know what can be accomplished for that fee. They’ll know not to recommend things that are way out of your spending limit, but suggest extras that could improve your Findability if you have the funds clearly laid out.

In addition to the budget, choosing a due date gives your project measurable parameters. If the timing is unrealistic, web professionals will let you know that the job can’t be completed and they’ll ask for more time right away. If they agree to it, you have a time to hold them accountable to, which takes a lot of pressure and guesswork off your shoulders as you prepare to launch!

Next Steps: If you want to know more, check out my book here: http://a.co/8jcZySD or get on a free call to figure out the best next steps for your current webmaster romance or divorce, give me a call. 888-588-9326

The post Webmaster Romance or Divorce? You Choose. appeared first on Findability University.

For many business owners, time off is a rare and coveted thing! This is the time of year where many of us are trying to conjure time to get everything done, and still get home on time. This time of year, a lot of us are on the go, traveling to see family. Instead of my usual tips, I’m going to help you make the most of your time getting around outside the office, for the things that matter the most. Let’s not have a Christmas Vacation Family Adventure! Love the movie, hate holiday travel. 

In this blog, we’re going to explore some of the top time-and-money-saving apps out there, so that you can make the most of your time with the people you care about!

GATEGURU  

When you’re at the airport, this app is your best friend! It offers so many useful tips in one app!

Real-time updates on things like your gate and any time changes (as in, no more hurrying to a gate, just to find they changed it… again.)

• A list of amenities – Now, you’ll know where your favorite places to eat or shop are, without wandering around, hoping to find a directory. 
• Car rentals – Your journey isn’t over when you get off the plane, and this app won’t leave you hanging either! Partnering with Avis, this app gets you exclusive discounts on car rentals, so that you can save your money for something more fun!
• Weather forecasts – Knowing the weather is a helpful part of your airport strategy. Stay in the know when you need it!

LOUNGE BUDDY

I have yet to meet someone who actually likes sitting in those uncomfortable airport chairs. It’s even more brutal when you’re catching a late night flight, and spend your evening hunched miserably between someone who doesn’t seem to know how to use deodorant, and someone else who thinks their screaming children add a certain ambiance to the waiting area.

With this app, these trials and tribulations are a thing of the past! It gives you access to a network of airport lounges around the world, without needing a 1st class ticket or and special club affiliations! This is just about getting you out of the cramped, uncomfortable, noisy waiting area, and into a nice, quiet, spacious lounge as you wait for your flight.

• Book a lounge with a kids’ room – This is a great option when traveling with your family, so that the kids have the ability to play safely and release some energy before being cooped up and sitting still on the plane. 
• Take a breather – Arrive early and unwind with a cocktail, while sitting somewhere comfortable and quiet. 
• Refresh yourself – Do you hate how groggy and icky you feel after a late-night flight? Are you meeting someone special at the end of your travels? With this app, you can find a lounge where you can take a shower, to wake up and wash off that airport grime!

ROADTRIPPERS

Are you more of a car person than a plane person? If you’re driving somewhere this holiday season, there’s an app for that too! Roadtrippers breaks down the best routes for your drive, complete with all the elements you’d need to make it fun and convenient! Here’s a few of it’s best features:

• Locate camping sites, hotels, and more for when you’re ready to stop driving for the day. 
• Find drives filled with history and scenic attractions.
• Get the insider’s guide to all the local restaurants – no more driving around and hoping you find something before you get too hungry!
• Explore the outdoors! Get local information on hikes and parks.
• Things to do – don’t just stay in your motel! This app helps you find out what each town has to offer, so you can make the most of your trip!
• Themed drives – They don’t just make the most of your route – they also offer adventures for you to explore, from their amazing guides! Discover the surrounding area in a whole new way!

JETSMARTER

Travel like a rock star!!

This is a program for people who travel often, and are tired of shuffling shoeless through TSA checkpoints. Say goodbye to mediocre travel, and say hello to the exclusive, luxurious experience that aviation was meant to be.

Private flights – Are you looking to book a flight with a special someone, and you want to pull out all the stops? Book a private flight, and travel in style. No screaming kids, no cramped seating, just you and whoever you want to be there with you!

Shared flights – Book a flight with other leaders and fascinating people, while enjoying the relaxing luxury of an exclusive flight.

Not only do they offer incredible flights, but the also offer exciting events, only to its members. It’s a great way to network with leaders, ambitious entrepreneurs and people with incredible life stories! Your adventure awaits.

I hope that wherever you spend the holidays this year, it’s a time of joy, great food and fun!

Happy Holidays from the Findability University Team!
Heather, Veronica, Laura and Dede

The post Prevent a GRISWOLD CHRISTMAS: 4 Essential Travel Apps appeared first on Findability University.

This month is all about giving your website the best start it can possibly have. For this week, we’re going to focus on security and peace of mind. As you know, there’s a lot more to setting up a website than just buying a domain name and getting some words and pictures up. We’re going to focus on some vital steps to make sure your site is set up for success, and stays firmly under your control.

YOUR ONLINE EMERGENCY PLAN: ARE YOU READY?

Gather The Troops! I have had so many clients come to me in a complete panic after their social media person disappeared, their web designer decided to take off or someone hacked their site. (We’ll talk more about how to find quality people in another conversation, to help support you there too.) Moments like this can be devastating, stressful, time consuming and expensive to recover from if you don’t have a plan. What would you do in this stressful situation?

Instead of frantically running around trying to recover information and shelling out all sorts of money and losing valuable time trying to regain access, I’d like to offer a simpler solution, and the steps you’ll need to get there. The first rule of the game here is…

BE PREPARED!

The best emergency is the one you are already expecting, and have made a plan for. It takes the fear, stress and surprise out of it, and lets you continue on as normal. Below is the first part of my coaching program – my Executive Login Sheet – and I’m offering it for FREE because I want to help you be prepared with a plan. It lists all the assets you MUST know, the vital documents you need, and should be kept in a secure, safe place for emergencies.

This document contains all the important information you need for the keys to the castle: your website, blog, social media pages, Google account, etc. Don’t be held hostage by a negligent developer who won’t give you access to your own property!

Trust me, you want to do this. Fill this out. Keep a copy locked in your office and consider using a storage tool like lastpass.com.

Pro tips:

• Using “. . .” behind all your passwords will safeguard your password and triples the difficulty of guessing.
• Please, please please do NOT use your birthday, anniversary, pet names, colleges or anything that is publicly available to find information on. STOP AND CHANGE ALL YOUR PASSWORDS TODAY. Then use the sheet below to gather them together and keep them safe. You’ll be so glad you did.

Here’s the Executive Login Sheet. It’s going to be your new best friend, waiting in the wings until you need it, although we hope you don’t. This sheet isn’t just amazing for emergencies, but also for important transitions like hiring new employees or contractors, so that you have all the information they’ll need to implement all of your specifications on your site.

Get it here! //drive.google.com/open?id=0B49hB7Sk-3tJZlI0UVZOZWhBUEk

I’m here to help you make your website everything it can be. For more in-depth support reach out to me today!

The post How to Give Your Website Some Love appeared first on Findability University.

SEO – or what I like to call Findability – is absolutely riddled with misunderstandings. The only way to organically rank for specific, targeted keyword phrases is the create a keyword map. This map taps the mindset of the searcher and helps guide your content creation, tailoring it to what is ALREADY being searched for. It lets you market to a demand that already exists and is actively searching for what you offer.

Web sites are like books. A book has a cover (your homepage), table of contents (your site navigation) and pages of content (your body copy). Think of your site for the full story and NOT just a sales brochure.

Here’s a great real-life example:

All the keywords you see in the map below are the words that Jay’s ideal customers search with in Google. The number under each keyword is the annual search volume for that one phrase. It’s very important to remember that we must use THEIR language, and not our own style of communicating, to get them to the site. Remember, we must get them to church first and then convert them. Not the other way around.

VIDEO TESTIMONIAL:

The post Drinks Before Dinner: Get to Know Your Customer’s Words! appeared first on Findability University.

The Creative Brief – How to Speak the Language of Developers

When you embark upon a new website project, it can be daunting to find the right designer that also knows the intricacies of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Many business owners get excited about a beautiful design, without knowing if it truly supports their needs in being highly findable.

A super important point here is that the web site design comes AFTER THE SITE MAP IS COMPLETED – NOT BEFORE! Trust me on this one – you will thank me later. Do not get sucked into pretty before the findable. Make sure to fill out your creative brief BEFORE you talk about design. Make sure to interview a number of web designers, see examples and call their references.

Here is a document to fill out BEFORE you start interviewing designers/ developers, to make sure you have the foundation you need to leverage their work to its maximum potential!

How to hire and fire a web developer: Read THIS chapter for your business’ safety, and your sanity!

The post Dazzle Your Visitors Heart Stopping Design! appeared first on Findability University.

There are critical indicators that absolutely need to be addressed BEFORE you launch your new site. 
These check marks are carefully evaluated by Google and search engines. If you do not want to lose any credibility you have built with search engines to date, you 100% need to review the document below with your designer.

I’m going to share my Essential Pre-Launch Checklist. It contains all the critical elements that need to be checked before you launch the new site. You wouldn’t build a rocket after it was launched into space, and you don’t want to shoot your company out into the world until you’ve built the right website with all the right tools for it to grow with. Until your designer says that all have been addressed, do not move forward with the launch. Capiche?

Download This PRE-LAUNCH CHECKLIST

Sometimes it’s just as important to know what NOT to do, as what to implement. Here are some hazards to avoid! Don’t get trapped in the consequences of a faulty foundation for your site.

TOP 10 CATASTROPHIC SEO MISTAKES WHEN LAUNCHING A NEW SITE



(Don’t do these!)

1: No redirects from old pages to new pages on the site

2: Images are not named with the keyword phrase for Google images

3: No updated – keyword-rich – titles and descriptions for each page on the site

4: No Google analytics code on every page of site for tracking

5: No Google webmaster tools setup

6: No Google alerts setup

7: No SEO tracking tools like semrush.com or woorank.com

8: Updating your domain name expiration to five years for Google trust

9: No Yoast or SEO all-in-one plugins installed in WordPress

10: Not deleting “no follow” tag from robots.txt before launch

The post Catastrophic Failure to Launch: Is Your Site Really Ready? appeared first on Findability University.

IT’S NOT LUCK, ITS GOOD PLANNING – DO THIS ONE THING!

Go buy yourself a green beer, but let’s not plan on needing luck for our online marketing strategy. You’ve got something so much better!

This month, we will be exploring some really practical, simple “do this one thing” approaches. Each week I will give you one simple tip or focus that you can go do that day and make a difference.

This week’s tip is all about photos. Photos are what brings your website alive to a client at first glance. The photos you choose can make a massive impact on how your site is seen, before they read a single word.

Are you prepared with the right ones?

Here’s how you find out… and what to do about it.

Google Images

Go to //www.google.com/imghp and see what images come up for your company name or your name. The reason you see what you do is because these are named that word – i.e. HeatherLutze1.jpg

Here are some important things to consider when you see what comes up in the search:

– Are any of these images out of date, old or just strange? It might be time to clean house.

– Find three images on your site and change the names to how you want them found.

– Now upload the new images with its keyword and the alt text too.

– Wait a few weeks and Google yourself again. You will see your images front and center under your name or company name. Magic!

Professional Photographers

Having professional images on your site can make all the difference. A lot of people don’t think about this (that’s why you have me!) but wedding photographers are generally unemployed Monday – Thursday. Take advantage of that fact! This is a great time to hire them, while they’re off, to take professional photos for your site or blog.

Use https://www.craigslist.org or other resources such as https://nextdoor.com/ to vet photographers. Make sure you see their work before hiring them to make sure that you like their style for your needs, by checking out their websites or asking for a link to their online portfolio.

Here are some examples of the shots I suggest working with a professional photographer on for your website:

– Backgrounds you can use in social media

– Photos with clients to build credibility

– Ask employees to gussy up and get their headshots taken

– Photos of products, files or anything that makes a good background

– Group photos with your team

Here is a web photo image planner with some ideas to get you on the right track. Even if you have to use your iPhone, any new accurate pictures are better than old photos! This is a link to a helpful list that you can keep as a photo planner if you are going to take new photos for your site.

Stay tuned for next week’s tip!

The post It’s Not Luck, It’s Good Planning – Do This One Thing! appeared first on Findability University.

Google Alerts are a great way to watch yourself and your competition online.

Make the information come to you!

Forget late-night clicking to see what the competition is doing. Let Google Alerts do the heavy lifting!

Here’s how to make the most of this useful tool:  Go to https://www.google.com/alerts

1) Use quotes for all the words you want to get alerts for. For example: “heather lutze”.

2) Add all product names and proprietary naming of any kind – your “findability formula”.

3) Add all names of executives and key players for your team.

4) Make sure to also include the names of your competitors – for example “myenemy.com”.

5) Protect the copy on your page: Put all the text from your homepage into quotes. Then if anyone steals your site, you will be the first to know with a helpful alert!

6) If you’re an author, put all of your first chapter in quotes and watch who steals your book, or information from it. I often do not chase those people – I guess they are spreading the word  – but it’s always good to know, especially if they’re trying to profit off your hard work.

7) Speakers? Put “Request for Speaker” or “Marketing Speaker” in your alert to see what new opportunities might await you.

Important tip: Make sure to set your alerts to a weekly digest so you do not fill up your inbox with google alerts. If its critical, then put that one alert and have it sent daily.

Are you ready to set your site up for success? Call me today and let’s make something incredible happen.

The post Do This One Thing….Set Up Google Alerts Correctly appeared first on Findability University.

Ever seen the “searches related to…” at the bottom of Google Search Results?

Many people barely notice them, but they actually offer a wealth of ideas on how to go deeper into your topic. It gives you a resource to find out just how people are searching for the things you have to offer!

Step One: Choose a keyword

Step Two: Google that keyword, and scroll down to the bottom of results page.

Step Three: You will see a group of “Searches Related to…Keyword Phrases” – this is a treasure chest of related phrases. If you are an industry leader in Leadership Training, for example, then you should consider writing about:

You will also see questions (sometimes) in the search results as well. Answer these questions as part of your content strategy.

Tools like Ubersuggest.io and Answerthepublic.com will also gather all those “searches related to…” and give you downloadable lists to reference as well.

Now that you have some great direction, you’re ready to take an important step in becoming Findable! Want some insider insight? Call today and we’ll show them all what your site can do at full throttle!

The post Do This One Thing…to Improve Your Blogging and Social Content appeared first on Findability University.

In life, I find that its very hard to see when you are looking out from the inside, while we’re trudging through the day to day tasks that pile up around us. The words and phrases we use on a daily basis are often not as obvious as you might think. We also guess wrong. So do this one thing – you have an untapped resource of VERY valuable information.

Your employees. They’re your front line. Ask your employees or call center workers what comes up day to day. They hear the “bitching, moans and complaints” that come out of your customers and prospects mouths. The front desk knows all the questions – “Do you do this?” “Can you help me with that?” and your sales people will know all the objections! Leverage that to your advantage.

Use THIS attached sheet. Sit down with your people and ask them what people ask for when they call. You can get some great keyword ideas from your own staff!

Let’s create a strong direction for your company’s journey. Call me today – you’ll be glad you did!

The post Just Ask Me Already…. appeared first on Findability University.