3 Misconceptions Ruining Your Website [INBOUND 2017 Sneak Peek]

In January 2015, IMPACT was a budding HubSpot partner on a mission: to help people and their organizations succeed, and we were looking for a way to collaborate with other marketing pros, give leads the opportunity to experience our team’s expertise, and interact with the greater inbound marketing community.

That’s when our team came up with the idea to conduct monthly live website critiques online with other industry influencers -- and thus, the Website Throwdown was born. *insert magical background music here*

Since then, we’ve been throwing down websites every month with experts like Peep Laja of ConversionXL, Oli Gardner of Unbounce, and Chris Savage of Wistia, just to name a few.

Last year,  we even took Website Throwdown on the road to HubSpot’s annual conference and did one-on-one, in-person throwdowns at the IMPACT Booth in  Club INBOUND. (which we’re doing it again this month!)

And let me tell you - after doing over a hundred Website Throwdowns there and even more online, the IMPACT team has learned A TON.

10 Things We’ve Learned from Doing Over 100 Website Throwdowns

From conversion rate optimization to content strategy and everything in between, we want to share some of the top things we’ve learned from all the throwing down we’ve done over the last three years.

If you’re interested in learning 10 super practical things you can do to start improving your website right away, come check out the breakout session I’ll be leading at INBOUND 2017!

Here’s a sneak peek of those 10 things I’ll be sharing:

1. Copy: Your Website Isn’t About You.
2. Talk to Your People.
3. SEO Isn’t Dead.
4. Form Fields Should Match the Value of Your Offer.
5. Just Test It.
6. Find a Way to Take Your Own Pictures.
7. Think About Mobile!
8. You Can’t Keep Avoiding Video.
9. Your Blog is Many People’s First Impression of You.
10. Don’t Take the User Journey for Granted

And if you’re really gutsy, sign up to get your website critiqued by one of our strategists in a live throwdown at the IMPACT Booth in Club INBOUND!

You’ll get invaluable feedback to help 10x the performance of your website, get some awesome free prizes for participating, AND be entered to win a free website redesign or a $500 Amazon gift card. Reserve your spot now!

What Actually Happens on a Website Throwdown?

If you’ve never watched or participated in one of our Throwdowns, you might be wondering what all the hype is about.

Our monthly Throwdowns are hosted on Facebook live, and you can interact with the hosts during the live Throwdown by commenting on the livestream.

We spend most of our time looking at the homepage and the blog, since those are two most common places people tend to end up on your website from search engines.

We pick out things like user experience best practices that are commonly missed, search engine optimization no-nos, conversion path flaws, and issues with content.

As mentioned above, when you sign up for an in-person Throwdown at the IMPACT Booth at INBOUND 2017, you’ll get one-on-one consulting with one of IMPACT’s inbound marketing strategists. You’ll be able to ask them questions and advice for taking your website to the next level -- and just so there’s no hard feelings, we’re giving away some awesome prizes to participants.

But It’s Not Scary -- It’s Necessary

I know having your website “torn apart” or “thrown down” sounds harsh and intimidating.

Maybe you’ll hear the strategy you worked so hard on was misguided or that hero image you love is sending the wrong message -- but candid, unbiased feedback is necessary to success.

Although we do love using the boxing theme, our intent is never to beat up anyone’s website.

Our goal with Website Throwdowns is to provide helpful insights from industry experts and to help people get on the path to a better performing website.

While that sometimes includes some tough criticism, we always follow up with practical things to change or advice for making things better.

So, What’s Holding You Back?

Our Website Throwdowns are completely free with no strings attached. We genuinely love helping people make their websites better, and we want to help YOU! So, why wouldn’t you sign up?? Here are three common misconceptions that are probably stopping you (and hurting your website back in the process).

1. My Website is Awesome. I Don’t Need the Help!

Of course your website is awesome! But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be awesome-er (that’s a word, right?).

Websites are living, breathing things that should constantly be tested and iterated on, rather than created, launched,and left stagnant.

Awesome websites keep getting awesome-er with continuous improvement cycles in what we call Growth Driven Design.

Our experts will brainstorm with you on ideas to test, offers to consider creating, and other ways to improve your already stellar website.

And who knows, maybe what you think is awesome about your website isn’t the same as what your users might think is awesome, and you might realize you need to take a second look at some pieces of your site you hadn’t considered changing before.

2. I Have Too Much Going on to Even Think About My Website!

We get it. If you’re a one-man or -woman marketing team, or if you’ve got too many projects on your plate, tackling your website can feel completely overwhelming.

But you don’t have to go it alone! You may be surprised by some of the simple, quick things you can do to increase your website’s performance that won’t add strain on your already-packed schedule.

Your website is the marketing and sales person that never sleeps; so don’t sleep on it!

3. My Website is Awful - There’s No Saving it Now!

You may be right, your website may indeed be awful - but just like an awesome website, an “awful” website is subjective.

A few small changes to an “awful” website could mean big improves in conversion rate, search engine optimization, and overall user experience.

Don’t let the fact that you aren’t happy with just about everything on your website stop you from taking the first step to make it better with a Website Throwdown.

Don’t Miss Out!

Slots are filling up for our in-person Throwdowns at INBOUND 2017 fast! There are less than 100 left and they were all filled last year. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to take your website to the next level - no matter what state it’s in currently.

And if you’re looking for more practical tips on improving your website, don’t miss my INBOUND breakout session on Tuesday afternoon.