OT: Blogging

[dekindy]

Our small company hired a professional website developer to setup our website and blog, URL's below.

http://www.yourfinancialwatchdog.com/
http://www.yourfinancialwatchdogblog.com/

I am convinced that this was state of the art when setup in approximately 2007. The advice was that the blog should have it's own domain name and would drive activity to out blog. We really did not think that blogging was an effective marketing method because the financial services field is so crowded and almost impossible to get noticed but were convinced we had to had a blog so we implemented it. Typepad has been difficult to work with, two of us use it and both have the same impression, and were advised that Wordpress might be a better option.

Now our marketing person is convinced that blogging should be a major marketing effort and has moved our blog to Hubspot. She was also advised that our blog was not "connected" to our website and that was a disadvantage. She also feels that Hubspot has the "social media" and other tools that we need as blogging resources to make blogging effective.

Here is how it looks now.
http://info.yourfinancialwatchdog.com/blog

Our marketing person is still setting it up so I am not certain of the final appearance but in it's present form it is not as professional or consistent with the look of our website.

I really don't know what I don't know about setting up websites and blogs. My focus is creating entries. Can someone help me understand and give me confidence that this switch is a good thing? If I am able to compose entries more easily I will be happy. However our company only has one marketing person and I am wondering if her time was well spent making this change. It is my impression that we may be taking a step backward and I don't want to be a pain in the axx if that is not true.

[dave thompson]

Just a quick impression: Your blog and website are very unclear and unfocused as to what you are and what you do.

If you all are going to spend the time to write blogs and maintain websites, you should have a much clearer message. It was hard for me to understand what I was reading about.

[Ahneida Ride]

contact BBD ....

he has the skill set to build an appropriate web site.

[Climb01742]

a few quick thoughts...

you're falling prey to the social media version of being a lemming. every company feels it needs a social media component to its marketing. which, in very broad terms, it does. but social media is a tool. it's not a strategy and it's not a message.

i'd suggest taking a step back and asking yourself (or your company), what are we trying to accomplish? what's our message? our audience? and what's our strategy for communicating?

social media is the raging flavor of the month. and done well, it has many strengths. but too often, it's done in a backwards way. we need a blog, without understanding why you might want a blog, and what sorts of blog entries further your broader marketing objectives. or we need a twitter account or a facebook page or need to run a groupon offer...as if the sheer act of tweeting or blogging are a goal in themselves. they aren't. again, they're tools. they are tails without the dog. you need the dog.

from a design standpoint, both your original blog and your new one are, sadly, a bit of a mess. my eye has no idea where to go. my mind has no idea what's important. i'm not understanding what you're trying to say.

i sincerely don't mean to be harsh. but i fear you're wasting time, resources and money.

social media is a bandwagon everyone and their uncle is jumping on, but in far too many cases, the bandwagon has no driver and no route.

i fear your 'marketing' person might to in a bit over her head.

back up. do the necessary strategic groundwork for your marketing. figure out how social media might aid that strategy. find a better designer. and be sure your posts are of interest and use to your target audience.

[dekindy]

Just a quick impression: Your blog and website are very unclear and unfocused as to what you are and what you do.

If you all are going to spend the time to write blogs and maintain websites, you should have a much clearer message. It was hard for me to understand what I was reading about.

I agree. Our service is supposed to appeal to analyticals. As an analytical I keep telling our marketing person what analyticals want. A respected consultant that was going to market our product our marketing person that and at one time the website was exactly what I wanted. However because of our lack of marketing success she keeps changing the website.

[jtakeda]

First off, I agree that your website is very unclear as to what you do exactly. I work for a marketing company and social media has become a huge benefit in getting business online. Money management is an especially emotional AND analytical decision. People have to know that your system works and also trust you enough to buy your product or service.

The social media aspect is where the "trust" part of the online marketing strategy comes into play. Having a social media presence allows you to interact with the two most important people to your business. Current clients and potential clients, and it also allows your potential clients to get a feel for what your current clients have experienced from using your product.

If this is unclear in any way or doesn't make sense you can respond back and I will try and explain what I mean, otherwise I think your marketing director is on the right path.

[dekindy]

First off, I agree that your website is very unclear as to what you do exactly. I work for a marketing company and social media has become a huge benefit in getting business online. Money management is an especially emotional AND analytical decision. People have to know that your system works and also trust you enough to buy your product or service.

The social media aspect is where the "trust" part of the online marketing strategy comes into play. Having a social media presence allows you to interact with the two most important people to your business. Current clients and potential clients, and it also allows your potential clients to get a feel for what your current clients have experienced from using your product.

If this is unclear in any way or doesn't make sense you can respond back and I will try and explain what I mean, otherwise I think your marketing director is on the right path.

It is obviously unclear because we do not do money management.

How many pages of the website did everyone review? Cover page only or is it the whole darn thing? I realize you have to get their attention right away and if you did not get past the cover page then nobody else will either and it does not matter.

[dave thompson]

It is obviously unclear because we do not do money management.

How many pages of the website did everyone review? Cover page only or is it the whole darn thing? I realize you have to get their attention right away and if you did not get past the cover page then nobody else will either and it does not matter.
I looked at the cover page only. Because it told me nothing, I didn't go any further. To me, as a consumer, the first page has to tell me what you do. The rest of the pages will tell me how you do it. In other words, I judged a book by its cover.

What do you do?

[Climb01742]

It is obviously unclear because we do not do money management.

How many pages of the website did everyone review? Cover page only or is it the whole darn thing? I realize you have to get their attention right away and if you did not get past the cover page then nobody else will either and it does not matter.

dwight, i dug down through your site. i viewed your 'bio' video. you seem like an exceeding nice and sincere man (and your dog is wonderful too.) the sincerest advice i can give you is, short-term, put aside your focus on the blog and work on your main site. clarify and simplify your message, do the upfront homework. then, if you can, spend some money with a truly good site designer. as it is, your site isn't working well for you.

[Louis]

I took a quick look.

All the Success Tools for various types of potential customers point to the same thing, an "Academy" but it's not clear what the Academy really is. Also, the fact that all those different profiles end up in the same place suggests to me that what you offer is not customized, despite the site's attempt to give that impression.

Bottom line - it seems to me you need to do a better job describing what your product is. I see lots of vague promises, but nothing concrete.

[BobbyJones]

You've heard by now that people can't figure out what you do, etc, along with the opinions about the use of social media. That's just the marketing angle and you really need to take a very close look at what your objectives are.

From a technical and coding standpoint I'd find another "professional" developer to work with. Although your site may appear visually acceptable to you, under the hood it's what we call a "hot mess" for the lack of semantic markup and disregard for current SEO techniques.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have specific questions.

[Climb01742]

You've heard by now that people can't figure out what you do, etc, along with the opinions about the use of social media. That's just the marketing angle and you really need to take a very close look at what your objectives are.

From a technical and coding standpoint I'd find another "professional" developer to work with. Although your site may appear visually acceptable to you, under the hood it's what we call a "hot mess" for the lack of semantic markup and disregard for current SEO techniques.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have specific questions.

wise words. and he's being polite. :beer:

[dekindy]

Thanks everyone for the time and effort that you went to reviewing the website and the thoughtful replies. It is very much appreciated.

[BengeBoy]

You've heard by now that people can't figure out what you do, etc, along with the opinions about the use of social media. That's just the marketing angle and you really need to take a very close look at what your objectives are.

From a technical and coding standpoint I'd find another "professional" developer to work with. Although your site may appear visually acceptable to you, under the hood it's what we call a "hot mess" for the lack of semantic markup and disregard for current SEO techniques.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have specific questions.

+1