A few days ago I was doing some consulting for a client who was caught in the middle of a giant data migration.  Definitely not everyone’s favorite.  So I’m doing doing some research for my client and working with one of their software vendors.

And their software vendor had a support website.  One of these places where you log in and find a lot of answers to your questions.

Well, this was all fine and good, except for one major, major
flaw:  The support website did not work in Internet Explorer 8.

So I tried Mozilla Firefox. And I logged in the support portal, and the support portal was incompatible with Mozilla Firefox.

Hmm.  I logged in to it using Apple’s Safari, and it was incompatible with Apple Safari.

I actually had to give them a Phone Call so that they could tell me which web browsers their support website was compatible with.  I was exasperated, to say the least.

So imagine my frustration for a moment: I was trying to get technical support to begin with, via the web.  Then I had to call technical support in order to receive technical support.

This, as you can imagine, did not endear me to this particular company. In fact, it kind of made me a little bit upset.

But it was a great example of the mistake that many web designers make – and it happens all the time.  They design their websites to be compatible with a certain type of web browser, rather than using a design that’s compatible with any and all web browsers.

This is a sure fire way to lose customers.  Let’s do the math.

I tried Internet Explorer 8. So, as of right now, that’s about 15% of website visitors. It didn’t work, so they alienated at least 15% of their customers.

So I tried Mozilla Firefox, that’s about at 22% of web browsers.
Of course it didn’t work, so now they have ticked off a total of  37% of their customers.

When Apple Safari didn’t work, they added another 8% to the total of customers who won’t say nice things about their company, and brought the entire total to 45%.

Simply by having an incompatible website, they’ve alienated almost half of their current customers.  Before they go out of business, I hope they give me a call.

Here’s what I would recommend to them to solve this problem:

First, they should sign up for a Wally the Web Guy Website Critique and Action Plan.

We’d go over the huge importance of not alienating almost half of their visitors.  We’d make sure to architect the information they are putting on the web so that their visitors can find what they’re looking for, as fast as possible.  And we’d ensure that their website design was tailored to those who were actually visiting the site – so that those qualified visitors can take the actions that you want them to.

Second, they would want to measure their results with the Visual Statistics Package.

They can only understand and improve what they measure.

The visual statistics package is like a light bulb in a gold mine – they would no longer be blind to what their visitors are doing; they’d actually be able to track their every move – and improve their results.

Finally, after creating so much ill will towards themselves, once they fixed all their problems, they’d probably need to get the word out again.

To do this, I would recommend they sign up for the Search Engine Friendliness Foundation package.

Within a month’s time, they would see a jump in qualified visitors to their website, and the best part – they would have a website that all 100% of those visitors would be able to see.

The good news is that after doing so much damage to their brand, with a few simple fixes and a couple months, they’d be on right track again.  And that, as Adam Sandler would say, is “Not too shabby.”

Until next time,
-Wally

P.S. – Website owners worldwide have seen some amazing results from their custom Money Generating Website Critique.  Details found here.

As we prepare to celebrate one of my favorite holidays, the 4th of July, and celebrate our freedom, our liberty, let’s not forget how awesome it is that the American revolution actually happened.

It really was a turning point in history, giving rise to the most advanced civilization and form of representative government, with more power into the people’s hands, than had ever been seen in the history of the world.

It took some pretty powerful marketing strategies to make the American Revolution happen.

One of the things that is often forgotten about the revolution is that up until almost 1770, nobody really wanted to break away from Britain, in America.

Really, the American people were looking to have control over their own destiny.  Not much different than people today.

But a funny thing happened along the way.  A bunch of incompetent politicians were in control of Britain, and a bunch of geniuses were busy taking control of the American side of things.

To make the American revolution happen though, and to get people to put their safety, security, and even their life on the line, some seriously amazing marketing had to take place.  A completely powerful and compelling vision had to get across to the common folk, because let’s face it – most of the time it’s the common people who do the dirty work in any type of war.

So to get the message out, some serious convincing had to take place, and there’s 3 main strategies that the Revolutionary Americans used.

The first was to have a message that interests the right people.  The landowners, the merchants, and the people who were running things in America were certainly not cool with the taxes, the tarrifs, and the other obstructions being put on trade.

And they certainly weren’t cool with being told what to do by a bunch of people far away in Britain, who had never set foot on American soil.

When Patrick Henry yelled out “Give me liberty” and then stuck himself in the heart with an imaginary knife, falling to his knees screaming “or Give me death…” – this was the right message to the right people.

The second powerful marketing idea is to get your message out to as many people as possible, as fast as possible.

Thomas Paine was there making the case for revolution with his pamphlet titled Common Sense.  The language was colorful, magnetic, and compelling – in short, it worked.

And combined with the printing presses running overtime to get the pamphlet into everyone’s hands, the hearts and minds of Americans were charged towards rebellion.

Finally and most importantly – you gotta follow through on your promises.

The founding fathers definitely followed through.  They led the Americans to victory, and then locked themselves in a room for almost 30 days in the heat of a Philadelphia summer to create the constitution, that has amazingly held together pretty well to this day.

The American revolution lives on to this very day in the hearts and minds of freedom lovers everywhere, and for this we can thank an amazing group of people, and three powerful marketing strategies for making it happen.

This year when you raise a glass to Alexander Hamilton (or your favorite revolutionary), be sure to remember that the marketing strategies that gave us this great nation are also the same ones that you can use to skyrocket your business on the web.

After all, the freedom and prosperity that is available to those who are brave enough to go after it and grab it, is what the revolution was all about.

Happy Birthday America,
-Wally

P.S. – Be sure to keep an eye on Wally’s Web Stars over the next few weeks.  There’s a lot of new stuff to tell you about and I’ll be posting some great updates here.