A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go Trout fishing with my good friend Tim Donnelly. It was the first time I had ever been stream fishing for Brown Trout. The weather was gorgeous and the stream/landscape were beautiful. God sure knew what he was doing when he created this earth.

Take a look at some of these pictures and get out there and enjoy this great Country!

   

Isn't it really great when things start to click? Check this out...

We recently completed the first phase of a very complex/involved website project for one of our RV Dealer clients. We started 5 months ago and expected to be done with the first phase in 3 months. Needless to say we went 2 months over and that really bothered me for the past couple of weeks. Why does website development almost always seem to take longer than expected?

The more I ran various scenarios through my mind I realized it was because we kept limited resources on the project. Funny thing is I did it on purpose. Why? Because it was working. Not so much from a timing stand-point, but from a creativity and quality perspective.

I was recently turned on to 37Signals.com and their products. What caught my eye though was the e-book they put together outlining their web dev processes. Eager to absorb, I purchased it and started reading it. 15 or so pages into it there it was...

Constraints Force Creativity
Run on limited resources and you'll be forced to reckon with constraints earlier and more intensely. And that's a good thing. Constraints drive innovation.

There's the Click!

That's exactly what happened with this web project. The site was released with better and more meaningful usability features than was originally scoped.

I'm excited to get through the other 150+ pages of their e-book. Maybe more will click!

Until next time ... The best things in life aren't things.

I went on a buying spree these past couple of weeks and purchased 5 books I've had in my WishList on Amazon for the past few months. It's time to dig in and continue learning from the experiences of others.

The first book I chose to read is called Cashing In with Content written by David Meerman Scott. Why did I choose this book in the first place? Many good reviews, but more importantly it subscribes the same philosophy that I hold true ... Content is King on the Internet.

Without real, meaningful, valuable content on your website you've got, well, just a website. A web brochure if you will. You'll be/look like everyone else and will only get a very small percentage of the ultimate revenue your website could help to produce.

David profiles a bunch of websites that are exceeding their business goals using their websites. Each business speaks in their own words how they use content to make the difference.

Here are a few of the Best Practices David comes up with to close the book out...

Best Practice 1: When launching a new site, start with a comprehensive needs analysis.

Sounds simple enough and for the most part in the beginning that is the thought process for just about everyone attempting a new website or site re-do. Fact is, most never actually do it or do it correctly.

It's not something you can do in a day or even a week. Your site shouldn't be all about you and your company. It's about your future/current customers and their needs, not what you or your top salesman thinks would be cool. If you don't put your site together with the right content that your prospects and customers want you will be missing the boat and a lot of sales because of it.

Best Practice 4: Encourage browsing by using appropriate self-directed paths.

David says it best ... "When a new user visits, the site makes its first impression and the user quickly decides: Does this organization care about me? Does it focus on the problems I face? Or does the site only include information describing what the company has to offer from its narrow perspective?

Well said David ... With our InteractRV Dealer Website Software we see this all the time. Decision makers at Dealerships thinking that just listing their inventory is good enough and that's what their online prospects/customers want. Sure it's important, but just listing inventory is a narrow focus. It only meets the needs of the prospect IF you actually have on the lot what the prospect thinks they need or want.

Part of why I spend time reading books, speaking with website guru folks, and getting feedback from website visitors is to continually learn what their wants and needs are and how we can help our RV Dealerships meet them.

I've only provided 2 of the 12 best practices David outlines. So, get the book yourself learn more about what real content is and how you might make your website a profitable sales tool.

Until next time...