Using You Tube to help my Business?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jen McDonough "The Iron Jen" on February 14, 2012 at 8:25pm

Hi Kevin,

hmmm...perhaps videos may help, but I wanted to give you honest feedback from my first impressions. PLEASE gain feedback from others before making any changes however. Again, this is just my honest first impressions.

I felt "trapped" on your homepage - the red text box with white writing was too much - it sent up signals that this wasn't something I would want to put my valued trust into. Perhaps something with testimonies and a softer trusting look may help?? Your website gave me no indication of why I should "trust" your products. Finances is pretty huge and the thought of doing them on a system that may not work makes me leery. Also, the thought of having to have to fill out a survey of an unknown website makes me say absolutely not. I get that you are trying to ensure people have the right product, but as a person just finding your website, it isn't something I would immediately trust. 

The product pages didn't show me clearly what product would work for me. A description with a link may be more helpful?? When I clicked on the link, it wasn't immediately apparent what each one did. Perhaps lumping them into categories may help (i.e. small business, etc.). 

If your spreadsheets are downloadable into something that is going to make my taxes easier, would that be helpful to list? Having a visual of it would be helpful I think. Will your spreadsheets have any type of graphs available that you can perhaps put as a visual example?

Many apologies as i can't think of how to be more helpful. I can only tell you the "trust" factor is huge for me when it comes to finances. 

Wishing you much success Kevin!!! 

Jen

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sundi Jo on February 14, 2012 at 8:41pm

YouTube can never hurt, especially since it's the second largest search engine. How-to videos are great. Pat Flynn of "Smart Passive Income" is a great example of how to do how-to videos. 

I would have to agree with Jen, that I felt trapped by your website. Maybe considering doing some makeover work in that area. Are you taking advantage of SEO? 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kevin Sieverkropp on February 14, 2012 at 9:07pm

Thank you so much both of you that is what I needed to hear.

I just started doing research on SEO and trying to implement the things I am learning.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Scott Moore on February 15, 2012 at 12:00am

Kevin,

I agree with the others. If I were you I'd blow up the website and start from scratch (check out the Wordpress group and/or the Blogging Your Passion group). I'd also start blogging like crazy, offering helpful free advice and at least some free spreadsheets. Give stuff away and let people get to know you and what you have to offer. Personalize your site. Consider adapting your sales model to finding ways to monetize your expertise after gaining people's trust with your spreadsheets. Perhaps do custom spreadsheets as a service to sell to people (and businesses) who need to get their finances organized but want more than a standard sheet. Check out Dan's 48 Marketing Tips to get ideas for marketing your stuff. That's my 2 cents. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Paul Owens on February 20, 2012 at 9:56pm

Hi Kevin,

YouTube would be a good way to let your prospective customers see the workings of your product.  But I think you need to find a way to make your expertise and product more visible.  To publicize your expertise you could join the discussions on some of the Excel discussion forums out there.  One that I like is "Excel Blackbelts" on LinkedIn. 

I agree with Scott's comment about doing some custom work.  I would guess that almost all small businesses are using some version of MS Office.  In my experience, very very few of them utilize even a fraction of the capabilities of Excel and MS Access to eliminate waste such as redundant data entry. 

Hope this helps.

P.S.  What's SEO?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Scott Moore on February 22, 2012 at 12:21pm

P.S.  What's SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (wikipedia link)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Danny Mullen on February 20, 2012 at 10:15pm

I like the concept, but I am not sure if people want to pay for spreadsheets right out of the gate.  I would suggest offering some type of free version, let people get a taste for what they are buying.  If they like it they will be happy to spend 8bux to buy the premium edition.

Also, I agree with the rest, the website took me  a minute to get a feel on where to click.  For me though, I would like to know what I am getting prior to purchase.

• ▶ Reply