If you hired a new employee, would you tell him what your company does, set him at a computer and let him go? Of course not, you would first train him and give him a specific job and responsibility. Otherwise he’ll be a waste of time, money, and space.

But this mistake happens over and over again when small businesses create websites.  They worry too much about what the website SAYS and LOOKS LIKE and not enough about what the website DOES. In other words, they don’t give their website a job. They know they are supposed to have one, but they don’t know what it is supposed to do.

Before you leave the office today, go through these simple questions and see if they don’t spark some ideas on what job you should give your website to do:

1) What is the most valuable action someone could take on your website?
2) What is the most common action visitors take on your website?
3) If you could have your visitors do one thing before they leave, what would that be?
4) What elements of your website are getting in the way of them doing this?
5) What parts of your website are missing that may help them take this action?

Just like an employee, if you fail to give your website a job…you can’t expect it to do much for you.

It may sound altruistic, but for years I have felt a keen desire to help small businesses not only survive, but compete with their super-sized competitors. Many of the businesses I worked with and projects I took on seemed unrelated, but over the last couple months I have discovered a common link, a mistake shared by all of these situations; and it deals with each company’s website.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to share these secrets to success through video. Along the way, I will show you what it takes to grow any business by taking your business’s website and transforming it into the ultimate employee. An assistant that works 24/7 engaging, conversing with, and successfully selling to prospective clients and customers. To watch the first video, click the link below.

Video 1: The Secret Mistake of Small Business Websites

One of the first things I do upon arriving at any sort of web marketing site is to size up how good they are at marketing themselves. If they can’t market their own company, how in the world will they be able to do any good for mine?

For instance, today I visited the website of ioVentures (http://www.ioventuresinc.com/), Utah based SEO firm that is located a few miles from where I started my college career in Orem, UT. I thought, “Utah SEO, fairly common term, but they have a decent reputation…I wonder how high they rank.”

So, I typed in “Utah SEO”…not top3, or 5…or 10. Weird. I clicked “Next”. Oh, there they are, #13.

I put myself in a prospective client’s shoes. Surely they have a simple question, “Can they really help me rank higher in the search engines rankings?” Maybe I’d do a search for “Utah SEO” and see you on page #2? How does my new impression compare to the original one?

This concept applies to everything:

-If you sell weight loss stuff, you’d better be thin
-If you sell money-making tools, you’d better be rich
-If you do web design, you’d better have a great looking site

Step 1 when running a business with visible results…make sure your customers can see those results in you.

The guy could steal millions of dollars worth of diamonds using wine glasses, make a bomb out of anything as long as he had his pocket knife, and could skydive with a car. Now, he shares his insights on your business’s website.

1) It’s ok if it’s jimmy-rigged.
Sometimes, we may think we need an Ocean’s 11 style setup to pull off a successful website, but that’s simply just not true. A simple scheme was more than enough for MacGyver and you’d do well to follow his advice. Content is king, it’s ok to jimmy-rig the rest.

2) Be yourself, people like it.
Now, it’s no shocker that MacGyver never won any awards for “Best Actor”. But somehow, his quirky, simple personality has won over millions of fans that now scoff at cut rate, new TV programs. Why? He was himself, and people liked it. The lesson? Let your personality and character show through on the website, visitors love to see a face behind the page they are looking at.

3) Keep moving your feet.
MacGyver had a secret to his success in solving problems: he never stopped working toward a solution.  He didn’t camp out for a couple days to come up with a plan.  He know what to do and kept working. With online marketing, the first few weeks online can be frustrating due to lack of results. Just keep moving, trying new things, and expecting to fail a time or two.  Success online comes only after determination and consistency.