The Evolution of a (Social) Website

With all the talk of social media marketing, I often wonder if people forget about the greatest tool in your marketing arsenal. I’m referring to your corporate website. It’s still your main marketing hub, the place where people go to learn all about your brand and discover more about your products and services. As prevalent as social media is, it’ll still be some time before your Facebook page becomes your corporate site.

Of course, I write a lot about social media and I’m a big believer in building your brand experience on your social networks, not just on your site.

That said, keep this in mind—81% of people who want to know more about your brand visit your website to validate your products or services. The other 19% check out your social media channels. So as we all get more diligent about engaging on social media, we can ‘t forget that there will always be one main hub that carries the bulk of our marketing message and content—your company website.

At PureMatter, we recently rebuilt our website after only two years. I had to think hard before we did it, because it’s not an easy task to rebuild a site, even for us, the cobblers’ kids. But truth is I’m much happier with the new site and was glad to put the old site to bed.

Since this is fresh on my mind, I want to talk about six core elements of a website that need to be incorporated into it from the ground up, not just stuck on it like an afterthought. These things are especially important as you work to create a synergy and continuity between your website and your social sites. If you’re considering a site overhaul, here are some things to keep in mind:

1) Flexibility, especially as it relates to mobile optimization. I’m going to assume that you have a content management system that allows you to update your site at a moment’s notice. But is your site optimized for mobile? I’m not saying you have to develop a mobile site—but it should be easy to see and searchable on a mobile platform. I’m making this a priority on this list because, on average, 20% of all website visitors are using a mobile device, especially those clicking over from social sites on their cell or tablet.

2) Cross-promotion. All signs point to content promotion being the number one way to connect. Assuming your blog is fully functional and content is readily available for download, that’s only the first step. Your entire site should be about cross promoting something else on the site. Your blog links to another page. Promotions properly tie to other pages. Users want to be led on a journey. Drop downs are great, but taking them on a journey is a much more engaging experience.

3) Marketing automation. Email marketing is dying. There is no way that you can be smart about what people want to hear and when they want to hear it. And building up your resource center doesn’t cut it. Creating a way for people to experience all the activities on your site (and on social sites)—and delivering it to their doorstep at the right time—is what takes your resource center from good to great. I don’t have room here to talk about the tiered approach you should take, but tying your resources to smart automated marketing (that gets smarter over time) casts a much wider sales force than hiring more people to make phone calls.

4) Social integration. This goes without saying. Not only should your website allow me to connect to your social sites easily, but you should share every inch of your site out on all my favorite networks.

5) Curated content. Think it through. Pinterest is great for the visual thinkers. But when you look at someone’s board, it can be overwhelming if it’s not categorized for me to skip and scan quickly. Visual content is all the rage, so if you can visually show the essence of what you are offering consumers on your website, you’re ahead of the game.

6) Simplicity. Some people want to through every APi and widget at their website because there are so many people to connect into and out of your site. Don’t. And more importantly, with so much on other social sites, users just need enough to get the basics—who are you and what do you offer. Otherwise, get me to the fun stuff and the educational stuff. In other words, less about you, more about them and meeting their needs. That’s the crux of marketing anyway, right?

Key Takeaway: Be social. Engage on Facebook, tweet regularly, connect on LinkedIn and maintain your blog. But never neglect your home base. Your company’s website is the hub and the rest are the spokes. All parts are necessary to create a well-rounded brand experience. Don’t focus solely on the spokes and neglect the hub, making it outdated and irrelevant. This is where people go to really “get” you.

Entrepreneurship Is Not War

“A global battle unlike any the world has ever seen approaches.  November 9^th-18^th, Startup Weekend teams will compete as a part of Global Entrepreneurship Week…”[1]

That’s the promotion for a startup competition set for November 9-19, the “world’s largest startup competition.”

“This year’s edition of Global Startup Battle is going to be bigger and better than ever. More than 1000 teams in more than 100 cities compete for world startup domination…”[2]

“Rally your troops for battle and defend your city’s startup pride.”[3]

Their heart is in the right place, we suppose.  Contests build excitement, encourage budding entrepreneurs, bring people together.

But “battle?”  “World domination?”  “Rally your troops?”  We’re not so certain about all the military analogies that slop into business strategy or literature, let alone in the business of fledging entrepreneur hopefuls.  Is this really the way we want them to see the world?

And we’re not at all sure that business plan competitions are the best way to help people learn to build successful companies.  For one thing, competitions are decided by judges, not customers and P&Ls.  For another, in competitions there is a winner and the rest are losers.  Are  the teams who put together plans and poured their souls into their ideas in the hope of succeeding really “losers” because they didn’t win a beauty contest?

A Russian botanist friend, world-renowned as a taxonomist (a classifier of plants) was fond of saying over shots of brandy: “Competition produces fitness!”  David Sarnoff, first president of RCA and a pioneer in consumer television, often said, “Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in men.”  In a macro-economic sense, competition is a good thing.  In the marketplace, even in politics, we recognize that competing interests in the long run produce a more fit economy and better livings standards, challenges in equitable distribution of benefits notwithstanding.  But we think we would all do well in the world of fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs to keep in mind the kind of “competing” that will actually help them learn and grow.

In the startup world, unlike winner-take-all contests, unless two or more startups are going head-to-head at exactly the same market, it’s not a winner-take-all framework, not world domination as the hottest new team with the best idea. What does a contest teach all those companies the judges don’t love? Especially if it’s a global battle for survival?  Survival for what?  In the startup world the competition is not with other startups vying for the favor of people passing judgment on plans and presentations.  Instead, the competitor to focus on is anyone who is vying for the favor of your customer’s wallet.  Any entrepreneur with a good idea filling a valid need that someone will pay for, any team with good execution and a differentiated solution can be a winner.  Sometimes the best allies and resources a startup team can have are the startups around them.  Anyone in an accelerator or incubator can tell you that.  They are not in some guerilla war to out-dominate each other.

There’s no social value in war and battles, except maybe survival.  Entrepreneurship doesn’t need to be about destroying an enemy (aka competitor) so much as collaborating and marshaling resources to be successful and produce a social good.  Maybe we would all do well to remind ourselves once in awhile that building and running companies is not war, or even battles in a war.  The only thing war and launching a company have in common is that both are a struggle for survival.  In war you use violence to survive by killing your enemy.  The biggest enemies of startup entrepreneurs are not their brethren starting other companies: the true enemies are Sloppy Thinking about Markets, Misguided Execution, and Sloth.  Clever ideas and slick presentations that impress judges can win contests but they’re not necessarily the formula for success in starting successful companies.  Which is the more important in building the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators?

5 Ways to Become a Happier Entrepreneur

Over the last several months of traveling I’ve found that the people that are the happiest, are often the people with the least.  What does that say about entrepreneurs who often strive to have it all?

People in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and where I am right now in Indonesia, enjoy drinking out of a coconut under a palm tree just as much as the wealthiest people in the world.  Except, these people most likely have a lot less stress.  It’s like the old adage of the capitalist on vacation who tries to convince a happy local fisherman to start the next big fishing empire with him… all so they can make tons of money, and hopefully one day retire to an island, have a quiet life, and spend their days fishing.  What’s the point?

How does an entrepreneur find something to work on that truly brings them happiness?  While nobody can be sure, here are 5 things that should be part of your plan…

Way 1: Start Something That Matters

You are going to spend your life working.

It might as well be something that makes you money.  It might as well also be something that makes the world a better place. Lastly, if I’m going to work as hard as I do, it might as well be from somewhere amazing.  See Step 1 of my 5 Steps to Going Location Independent: Do Meaningful Work.

When all is said and done, your life’s work can be spent working on small ideas, or it can be spent working on big ideas.  That is up to you.

Way 2: Become Clear on What You Want

Write it down.  Make it your goal.  Visualize it.  It’s not the formula that’s tough, it’s the hard work and execution.  At least make it this far.

When we’re young, it’s important that we get as many experiences as possible. If you’ve never had a crappy job, how are you going to appreciate when you find a good one?  If you were never exposed to the world of entrepreneurship, you would have probably never considered it.  If you’re reading Under30CEO you probably go see the speakers, attend the seminars, read the books, and watch the videos.

You had the exposure to taking an alternative path and learned that striking out on your own was a viable career option.  Now, become 100% clear on what you want out of your life and stick to it.  You’ll be happy you did.

Way 3: Get Exposed

While I’d always dreampt of making millions of dollars and traveling abroad, I figured that I would be too busy running my business to have the time to see the world.    Until I read the Four Hour Work Week, I never realized that you could run a business and travel at the same time.  Not to mention, that you didn’t need a lot of money to do it.  Thanks for the exposure Tim.

But until I got a taste of it in Costa Rica this summer, I didn’t realize that this was something that I would actually pursue.  A huge component of becoming a entrepreneur who knows what they want is being exposed to new people and new ideas that will get you on the right track.

Way 4: Increase Your Education

Okay, okay, I’m not talking about an MBA.  An entrepreneur’s education should be something can make them money.

The best entrepreneurs are always looking for new opportunities and investing in self education.  It’s the reason Mark Cuban reads three hours every day.  If you are looking to start a business, work from paradise, penetrate a new market, or find a new challenge to conquer, you’re going to need to learn from people who can help you make it happen.  When an opportunity arises to learn how to get what you want, the most committed entrepreneurs take it.

Education is what Under30Media is about with Under30CEO, Under30Careers, and Under30Finance.  Now, with our new brand Under30Experiences we’re designing educational experiences for young people to go explore developing markets.  We’re helping make a lot of people happy.

Way 5: Meet Meaningful People

Our education partner for the GREEN Business Tour to Costa Rica Mikhail Naumov was smart enough to build a business that allowed him to spend 7 months in Costa Rica last year, while finishing his degree at Rutgers University.  Their company, the Global Renewable Energy Education Network all started with one trip to Costa Rica…

I saw what Mikhail was doing and thought there must be a way that we can work together on a project that gets me closer to my goal: to find opportunities in amazing places around the world.  If you want to build a business that allows you to live the lifestyle of your dreams, you need to connect with others who are doing it.

The Costa Rican School of Happiness

What amazes me about Mikhail’s story and so many people I’ve come across in Costa Rica, is how grateful they are for what they have.  When I heard Costa Rica is Time Magazine’s Happiest Country, I had to experience it for myself.

Luckily for you, we found a way to pay it forward and have designed our GREEN Business Tour to allow you to do just that:  meet meaningful people, who can increase your education about opportunities in an amazing part of the world.

Our adventure will form lifelong friendships in our community of attendees who are looking to start something that matters.  Costa Rica is a leader in clean technology and alternative energy, they are the first country to pledge to become carbon neutral by 2021 and we’ll be meeting with some of the world’s leaders in sustainability and design.

There are approximately 22,000 American expats living in Costa Rica and so many of them are living completely organic lifestyles, living off the energy grid and investing in real estate at the heart of eco-tourism.  They have become clear on what they want and found a way to make it happen.

To attend the GREEN Business Tour to Costa Rica, December 5-9 2012, email matt (AT) under30ceo.com with a paragraph on why you should be considered.  For information on this trip and others, such as our Microfinance Surf Camp in Nicaragua and Startup Iceland Adventure in 2013 sign up at http://under30experiences.com

… and remember without action, these 5 Steps won’t make you any happier.

Author bio: Matt Wilson is Co-founder of Under30Media and is looking to help every young entrepreneur on the planet.