In his #1 best seller, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen R. Covey presented a framework for personal effectiveness. The same habits can be applied to your website to harness their power and improve your website’s effectiveness.
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Proactive people use their resourcefulness and initiative to find solutions.
Being proactive when it comes to your website means monitoring it daily or weekly to make sure that it is performing the way you want it to. If your website is performing poorly, don’t wait to act. Bad websites don’t get better.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement.
You might be thinking that mission statements went out in the 80’s, but they are still critical to getting an effective website. What mission should your website accomplish? List out the top three goals you have for the website and prioritize them. That brings us to the third habit.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between production and building production capacity.
When applied to your website, this means working on your top goal first. Focus on getting your website to produce results for you. Be sure to balance your results with the correct systems and manpower to keep up.
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial.
Giving out your best tips and content may sound like giving away the bank. But in reality, giving creates good will between people. Consider creating information-packed ebooks, whitepapers, or guides to help your site visitors with their most common problems. In return, ask for some of their information (name, email, title) so that you can get something that will help you.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood.
Your website should not be a one way street. If you mention “us” or “we” or even “I” at least once or more in every paragraph you’re suffering from “us-we-itis.” Move your focus to your potential clients and talk about their problems. Let them know you understand their issues. Then tell them know how working with you will benefit them.
Habit 6: Synergize
Through mutual trust and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a better solution.
Consider finding professionals that can help you with your website. You have enough on your plate taking care of your business without having to also put on the hats for copywriter, marketer, and search engine expert. When you stop trying to do it all yourself, you will be amazed at how much gets done and how well it works.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
The seventh habit is one of renewal and continual improvement, that is, of building one’s personal production capability.
The beauty of websites, versus anything on paper, is that they are never static. The content and visitors create a dynamic venue for action and communication to take place. After your website is launched, it needs to be maintained and monitored for continual improvement. A truly effective website is one that is always striving for improvement.
We’ve been designing and building highly effective websites for more than a decade. If you’re ready to create synergy and bring your website up to the next level, contact us. We can help you achieve your mission.







