Keep Your Dream Simple (Part 3)
Here we are in post three in our series on the basics of creating a freedom based online business, on the side without ruining your family. The goal is to take this month, give you a few basics and maybe even make you think through your thing a little more. 2014 is coming fast and my goal is to help as many people as possible make their dreams a reality by the end of 2014.
How’s it going? Change anything up? One thing that I’ll talk about a little later is testing. I shared some good stuff with my email subscribers this past weekend (be sure to sign up for exclusive content), testing has changed my business. It’s cool to see and hear great ideas but they might not work for you. The best way to figure out what works is to test out any new ideas.
Before we go on, let’s cover a few more things about the basics of a good website:
The side bar
The side bar is a very important, valuable piece of real estate. This is usually a place that most websites go over board, I was in this same boat. I used to think this is a place to advertise all my products and services.
Now, I only want the most important things on the side bar. This will take a lot of thinking through for you, what are the most important three to four things you can put in your side bar?
Definitely have some social media links, have your one signature product or service, your best content (most popular posts) and maybe one other super important thing. If you choose to run ads, then ads but personally I’m not a fan of ads, I would prefer to advertise my own stuff versus someone else’s. This however is your choice and your website, do what’s right for you and more importantly, your audience.
The side bar is a place to get people’s attention and guide them to where you want them to go next. If it’s a service or product, make the description brief but intriguing, if you’re offering a free gift with a purchase throw the word FREE in there to grab attention:
The theme of this series is keeping it simple, so do that, you want your side bar to compliment, not distract.
Website pages
Have you ever been to a website that had a ton of pages? It’s like “where do I even start?” Yeah, that used to be me too. Keep the number of pages to a minimum if you can, combine (where it makes sense) and make each page super valuable.
Here’s an idea: Home page- This could be where you blog rests or just be a landing page that gives a brief description and has an email sign up.
Blog- If your blog isn’t on your home page. About- we talked about this last post. Start here- maybe? Some websites use this page to start new readers on some of the valuable first few posts that would make the most sense to a new reader.
Products/Services- You can combine these and make your services products or keep them separate. On this or these pages, let people know who you are, where you came from and what you’re offering.
Bonus/Book page- If you’re offering bonuses for a book or product, you can set up a password protected page and throw the goodies on that page.
If you have a book, set up a page to let people know what it’s all about and any free goodies. Again, set up the pages that make the most sense to your message and your target audience. Test what works and doesn’t, that way you’re basing your decisions on real information.
Well, that will do it for the basics of a good website, next post we’re moving forward. I’ve been thinking about my website for a while and maybe even changing things, a good friend of mine asked me if my website was working and converting. I thought about it and took his point: keep it simple 
My website works, it converts and generates income, what more could I want? If you have something that works for you and your audience, don’t keep taking up valuable time (since you’re doing this on the side) tinkering around with your website too much. If it works, focus on adding value and creating great content.
What’s working for you right now? What would you like to change?
