Are You Happy with Your Website?

Classic mystery novel writer Agatha Christie wrote stories about Mr. Parker Pyne, who put advertisements in London newspapers with the heading, "Are you happy?"

People who were not happy would call him up. He would listen to them, categorize their precise source of unhappiness, and call his secretary.

"Miss Lemon," he would say, "we have a number 8d. Call Madeleine De Sara."

The people who consult me are in similar straits. They are unhappy with their wesbites. The websites in question don't have the traffic they desire, or the return on investment, or the search rankings. They know they are unhappy with their websites. They don't know what to do about it.

You may also be unhappy with your website. But do you need Madeleine De Sara or -- that is, do you need a designer, a writer, an SEO, a developer, a linkbuilder? How can you tell?

One example is a company in Sydney that I'm working with. Their website is beautiful. It was designed by an artist. An artist who was unconcerned about usability, navigation, readability by older visitors (and many of the firm's customers will be older), and search. They need keyword development, editing for search, and a linkbuilding strategy. In short, they need an SEO.

Another example is a local bookstore owner. We increased her website's traffic and visibility through SEO and SEM, but her visitors still didn't shop. They were frustrated by the difficulty of navigation, and turned off by the content. We got her some fresh content and a much better shopping cart. She needed a copywriter and a developer.

My third example is a new choral group in Kansas City. They don't have a website yet, so their first thought was to hire an IT worker to write some code for them. In fact, since they have only the vaguest idea of how they want their site to look, they need to start with a designer. Since they also need a developer, a content writer, and SEO to make their new website visible, they're best off with a web design firm.

How about you? If you only know that you're unhappy with your website, you can contact me. Think of me as Mr. Parker Pyne.