The Webmaster BUSINESS Masters Course was written for Webmasters who are ready to stop dreaming and | Page 6

customers (leads), or increased sales, or cost savings due to a
reduction in customer interface time (or whatever else contributes to their bottom
line).
Your job is to build Web sites that will achieve the kind of results your clients
want and expect. And in order to do that, you must build sites that attract
ongoing targeted traffic, pull these interested prospects to the money-making
Web page (s) and close the deal (i.e., get the order/contract/lead/etc.)
The ability to meet client expectations is the reason why Site Build It! (SBI!) is
an excellent system for Webmasters. It will help you produce impressive traffic
results for your clients, no matter what kind of business they own. See what I
mean by results… http://results.sitesell.com/

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Your clients’ business growth directly influences your own business growth. We
both know that satisfied clients create repeat contracts and/or enthusiastic
referrals.
SBI! provides you with the ideal working package for all but the most complicated
projects… design flexibility (use your own HTML editor and graphic software),
integrated into traffic-generating backend automation/functionality (like page
optimization, SE sitemap updating, SE listing and ranking reports and click-
in/click-through traffic analysis). You get to concentrate your efforts on the
creative parts of your business (designing and copywriting), while SBI!
automates the more tedious parts of traffic-building.
For more information about SBI!, visit http://webmaster.sitesell.com/
In this chapter, you will learn how to define your target market by narrowing
possibilities to a specific group of consumers. You will also hear about three
marketing secrets that reinforce why Web sites are more than just eye candy.
Actually, the most important secret of successful Web site design has already
been alluded to in the opening paragraphs.
In case you missed it, here it is…
Web sites are marketing tools.
Most new designers don’t recognize this reality immediately. And a surprising
number of experienced designers don’t know this either. They design sites that
are beautiful looking. Unfortunately, their client sites don’t rank well with Search
Engines and as a result, there is no traffic generated. The content on these sites
is not focused on the needs of customers so that when visitors do stop by, they
“click out” instead of clicking on the client’s money-making links -- those links that
lead to sales/service contracts/leads/referrals/contact.
These sites may be beautiful… but they are failures all the same.
They are failures because they don’t get results.
Your clients need successful Web sites in order to develop successful online
businesses. They need sites that do the following (these are just a few examples
to spark the discussion) …
• Rank well with the Search Engines
• Attract interested targeted visitors
• Are focused on the needs of their visitors
• Keep visitors on site (and encourage repeat visits)

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• Get the desired response (contact, buy, etc.)
In your work as a Web designer, these needs must drive your actions. As I said
earlier, your ability to create successful business sites for your clients will directly
determine the growth of your own Webmaster business. They win… you win.
Designing for success is a much bigger job than just putting up some content,
adding some photos, using multi-media, etc. and because of that, you can
charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for your services (more on this in
Chapter 5). Your design efforts must produce results… traffic and sales.
Secret #1 is so obvious that we often miss it (i.e., Web sites are marketing tools).
However, it’s a secret you and your business can’t afford to miss.
Secret #2 involves “targeting” and its role in the marketing equation.
How would you complete the following sentence?…
“I am planning to sell my services to….”
If you say “anyone,” you are mistaken.
“Anyone” is not your market. It is unlikely that you will sell Web sites services to
any of the following groups…
• Children
• Retired couples who want to do extensive travelling
• People who don't want Web sites
• Businesses with no advertising budgets
You can’t be all things to all people. Cost-effective marketing (in both time and
money) requires focus. It matches the needs/desires of the most appropriate
target group with your “solution” (i.e., services).
So how do you identify your best niche? Begin by asking yourself the following
questions…
• Who hires Webmasters?
• Why do they hire?
• What do they want?
• What do they need?
• What solutions do I offer that meets these needs?
• What makes my solutions unique?

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Jot down your answers. Add some of your own questions. The goal of this
exercise is to find the ideal balance. You want to identify a target group/niche
that is neither too general (too much competition) nor too narrow (not enough
potential clients).
You will do this same exercise many times in the future -- not for you but for your
clients. “Narrowing the focus” can sometimes be a challenge for small business
owners. However, most can’t afford trial and error testing before they identify