by Kurt Scholle

Website Strategy PDF

Have you ever noticed coaches on the sidelines with a laminated paper, sometimes colorful, that they consult in between plays? It’s pretty common in football, but basketball coaches use them too. Theirs aren’t laminated because they play indoors, out of the elements.

These call sheets help coaches manage the game and execute the game plan. In football, my favorite sport, they list plays to call in certain situations based on down and distance, certain matchups and sometimes specific plays for that week’s specific opponent. They list plays for the Red Zone and 2-point conversions.

They help coaches and coordinators in the heat of battle.

You might think of them as a checklist or a collection of checklists that all three phases of the game use: Offense, Defense and Special Teams.

What makes a great game plan?

Preparation. And execution.

Play callers must be prepared for and have the answers to any foreseeable situation that may happen on game day. Certain things may not happen, but you need to be ready against any threat or for any opportunity.

You need to know what plays you like best in the red zone or if the opponent is blitzing you. What is your plan if the starting quarterback is injured?

You need to have a good plan versus the blitz. What do you plan on doing if your backed up on your own goal line?

Your strategies and some of your priorities may change from week to week, or even during the game, but every situation should be accounted for.

The game plan or call sheets are kind of like crib notes.

Hollywood has their own version of call sheets. They are created daily by an assistant director. They are less about strategy and more about executing a production schedule and includes the names of those involved in the day’s shooting, where they will be filming and what scenes will be shot.

Website Strategy Plans

As I watched Bears head coach Matt Nagy patrol the sidelines this season with his Call Sheet in hand, I realized that successful website owners and managers would also benefit from a Call Sheet that would help improve results, reduce stress, increase productivity, improve execution and free up time to do the specific things that define you and your reputation.

The Website Success Call Sheet includes insights on setting up strategy, laying out the site, establishing key performance indicators, website hosting and security, content marketing plans and editorial calendars and getting visitors to the site.

Most of us have checklists for regular and not-so-regular activities, so I came up with the idea to create a checklist of checklists.

And I’m giving you this website strategy PDF for FREE!

Website Strategy PDF

The Website Success Call Sheet (or Play Sheet) covers all your key plays as a website owner or manager. Bloggers to owners of small business websites will benefit, whether your site is built using WordPress or not.

How to Set Up Google Analytics

As Marcus Lemonis from CNBC says, “If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business.” That’s where Google Analytics and Search Console come in. You need to know where you are and be able to measure the results of the things you do on your website or blog.

You have to have a way to measure the results of the plays you run from the Website Success Call Sheet!

We begin with correctly setting up Google Analytics and what KPIs to begin monitoring. Once you get comfortable with that, you’ll be able to figure out even more on your own. I covered Google Analytics previously.

We also discussed setting up the new Google Analytics 4.0. (I must tell you that some people are a little frustrated with Google Analytics 4.0 and even though most expert will tell you to have both the original and the new 4.0 versions running, some are actually uninstalling the new Google Analytics.

Setting up WordPress

Next is our WordPress installation checklist. Register a domain, if you haven’t already, then follow the steps on the Call Sheet. You may need some help from tech support for some of this, depending on your level of expertise, and some hosts, like Liquid Web make it easy with WordPress packages that are usually free.

The Call Sheet will help you monitor and confirm what’s being done and give you some ProTips to make sure you’re set up quickly, correctly and easily. we also give you a list of preferred plugins to help you manage and secure your site, including optimizing for SEO, backing up your content and settings and helping it load quicker, which is something Google values.

The are many WordPress themes that are well-designed, affordable and well maintained. The Call Sheet lists 5 worthy of consideration.

Content Marketing Strategy

There are many keys to Website Success, but the 2 most important are creating content that converts and getting ‘qualified’ traffic to your offers and Calls To Action. So it’s important to have a deep playbook.

Let’s start with content.

Before you create any content, you have to have a strategy. Get the plays you need to benefit!

1. Know your prospect’s needs and desires.
2. Map out the Customer Journey.
3. Define and monitor your Key Performance Indicators.
4. Create and promote your content.
5. Engage with your audience.

You’ll also find 4 different copywriting formulas, which help both new and experienced copywriters create effective content and offers.

Get more at Copywriting Tips for Entrepreneurs.

Simple SEO

Optimizing your content for SEO is part of the plan if you want to attract traffic organically.

There are things you need to do to optimize a blog post once you have found the keywords that people search for. We have hyperlinked to some free and paid keyword tools.

For more on Search Engine Optimization, you might like to read The Ultimate Guide to SEO and for what NOT to do, click over to 15 SEO Mistakes That Hurt Rankings.

How to Promote Blog Posts

In addition to Search Engine Optimization, there are other ways to promote your content. The Website Success Call Sheet includes a dozen or more plays, depending on your needs and resources.

They include re-purposing posts to Medium or LinkedIn, using Infographics to get links to your content and how to use what may be the most popular website content: Video!

See also links to Blog Aggregator Directories.

How to Create Basic Facebook Ads

Paid advertising can help with Listbuilding and Email Marketing. It can announce a new blog post, a new product or service. Facebook advertising has gotten more accurate over the past few years because of the targeting options you have and the AI Facebook uses to make your ads even more effective.

There are really only 4 things that matter…

• The Offer
• The Audience
• The Words (or Copy)
• The Image

This website strategy PDF helps remind you of what’s important when setting up Facebook ads. Get the basics down, practice for a few bucks and you will start reaching your goals quickly.

Email Marketing Checklists

Email marketing works. Large companies use it.

Email marketing or “Listbuilding” usually gives you the best return on investment with industry analysts often saying the a company’s email list returns, on average, $37 to $42 for every dollar spent. Most email marketers will include some kind of ‘tripwire’ or ‘welcome mat’ as part of their funnel, which helps pay promotional expenses. You’ll see them as One Time Offers (OTO), introductory savings or a bonus. Sometimes it’s somebody else’s product or service.

Listbuilding funnels are usually fairly simple and we include the basics on the Call Sheet as well as an Email Marketing Checklist. (see above)

For more on email marketing, click here, where we go into more detail on how to build your email list with lead magnets.

How to Create a Website PDF

The Website Success Call Sheet is designed for people who want to improve their site or build one. It touches on the keys to website success; content that converts and traffic.

For more on the subject, I’ve written two articles that may be useful; one on building a website with WordPress and another on building a business website specifically.

Alright, you’re not done yet! You’ll need some tools, which we also list on the Call Sheet.

You have to think about legal notices and compliance. (Yes, covering your butt is part of Website Success.)

Website Development Tools

Most jobs rely on using the proper tools, whether you’re online or on the jobsite. You wouldn’t pound a nail in with a screwdriver, would you? For website managers, in addition to WordPress plugins, your bag of tricks will include online and offline tools to help you…

• Mockup your site’s design and usability.
• Edit, crop or optimize photos.
• Search for keywords that will attract organic traffic.
• Check page speed and loading.
• Confirm that your site is mobile-friendly or has Secure Socket Layer set up properly.

There are some interesting tools, mostly free, that will analyze what other technology other sites are using, including theme detectors and other stuff that will help you analyze your competition.

You’ll need resources for your content creation, so we’ve linked to at least 25 sources of stock photography, most of it free. You can use images, as is, or sometimes combine images or add your own text. The image of the coach with a call sheet above was downloaded from CreativeCommons.org and we added the “You make the call!” text ourselves.

Website Legal Notices

I’m going to write a blog post on the legal aspects of owning and managing a website. There are laws in the U.S. and abroad that should be complied with, including privacy pages, terms of service and GDPR compliance. You also run the risk of violating Federal Trade Commission guidelines, which can result in stiff fines or even jail time.

What we list on the Call Sheet really isn’t sufficient. It’s more of a notice to pay attention and get some legal advice.

Your Playbook for Website Success

A lot of people have asked for something like this. Everybody likes checklists. You will love this downloadable website strategy PDF.

Keys to Website Success

In the past 20 years or so, I’ve told thousands of people that there are 2 keys to website success; creating content that converts and getting qualified traffic to those offers. I’ve since revised it to include market research and defining your Target Avatars, because if you don’t know who you’re selling to, you’re selling to nobody. I call those 3 keys, The Holy Trinity of Website Success.

There is more smart advice, such as having a Call To Action on every page and always including 2 pages; the About page and the Contact page. Google expects to see those and may penalize you if they don’t.

As I said before, many industries have benefitted by the use of Call Sheets. Now website owners and managers have them for key interests, like content creation, traffic development, setting up Google Analytics or WordPress.

Get your website strategy PDF today!

The Website Success Call Sheet is made up of two 11×17″ PDFs that you can reference anytime, or download them and print them out! Even if you print them, the digital formats have links to many of the resources listed.

Get your copy today!

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