Any plant starts with a seed. An apple seed is normally small and ugly, but with the proper care it can grow into a large bountiful tree. The success of this apple tree does not happen by chance; for the seed to grow, it needs to be cared for, either naturally, or by a caretaker. The more planning that goes into its care, the more bountiful should be the result. Seeds which are not planted in fertile soil, will likely perish; but those planted in good soil will flourish and multiply.
Webified Development started with a seed, a simple idea – introduce myself. Having been an active and successful developer online for more than a decade, it was time for me to come out of the shadows and introduce myself. I quickly realized though, that that idea in and of itself would be of no interest to you. Who am I? Why would you care who I am? Were you not just thinking that as you read those words – to introduce myself? So I needed more than my selfish reason of self worth to make this website successful. I needed a reason for you to want to visit, and to keep you coming back.
Keeping you coming back – that is a major part in what makes a website successful. Paul Boag provides some useful tips for keeping visitors coming back and you should use some or all of them in the development of your own website.
But the key to making people come back is not some marketing trick, or new web plugin. It’s your idea, your seed. Make your idea work for you, by creating a concept that works for your visitor. If you are successful in doing that, then your visitors will like your idea enough to want to come back. Your taking that simple dormant idea you started with and germinating it so that it can grow.
In order to grow WebifiedDevelopment into a bountiful website, I needed to change my selfish idea into a sentiment that you can identify with. It’s the old adage – It’s not about me, it’s about you. So I asked myself. What one quality or trait do I have that I can instill in you? And my answer was confidence. Out of my original idea to introduce myself , I created a concept for this website: To instill in you the confidence and ability to succeed online.
Notice the original idea? It centered around a selfish desire of mine, while the final concept is no longer about me, but instead about you. Take the idea you have for a website and focus the concept on your visitors, the end result will be much more successful!
Website Development usually starts with an idea, a seed… but all to often that seed is what you want to do, and not what you can do for your visitors. Germinate your seed, and turn your idea into a concept by having your idea focus on your visitors. Then, with careful planning and upkeep, that seed you planted, will begin its natural development into a bountiful website. And instead of you toiling over your original idea, you will make that idea work for you.