Business

An Important Blog Page If You’re Looking To Do Business

29 Comments

There’s an old joke that goes like this:

A woman is down on her luck and has been for a long time. She’s very religious and has always gone to church every Sunday of her life. One day she decides that she’s never asked for anything, and decides to pray to God to ask for a favor.

“Please God, let me win the lottery so that my life will improve.”


not a service I’m providing

She makes this request every day for a week, a couple of times more than once. Finally, the following Sunday, she gets down to pray but says “Please God, why won’t you answer my prayers. I’ve always been a loyal follower, and now you’re my last hope. Won’t you allow me to win the lottery?”

Out of the blue comes a voice that says “Lady, you have to meet me halfway; go buy a ticket.”

Trust me, it’s funnier when said out loud. lol

Anyway, I lead with that joke because I was talking to someone about this blog. I’ve always said that I had never really expected to make money off this blog, but that it wouldn’t depress me. I said that I’d written more than 1,100 posts on many different topics, many addressing things I could do for others, but I’d gotten very few responses. I said I wasn’t sure what else there was I could do other than continue to write every once in awhile about things I could do for people.

My friend listened and then asked “Do you have a services page on your blog telling people what you do?”

Out of the mouth of the uninitiated, I realized it was something I’d never added to this page. Sure, I talked about my business to a degree, but I had never thought about creating a Services page to go at the top of this blog along with all those other pages.

Goodness folks, it has to be one of the goofiest things in the world to forget, but the easiest and one of the most important pages to create. I know I’ve been to other people’s blogs, and some of them have this page. Why I had a mental block about it is beyond me. Anyway, I now have one; it’s fairly simple right now, but as time goes on I’m sure I’ll flesh it out more. After all, it’s mainly to serve a function, not to be overly conversational.

Just something to think about if you’re ever hoping someone will like what you have to say on your blog and then start thinking about maybe hiring you for something.
 

29 thoughts on “An Important Blog Page If You’re Looking To Do Business”

  1. Sometimes, it’s the simplest things that we overlook.

    I like that lottery story. It’s a great reminder that it takes some action on our part, however small, to get the things we want.

    Thanks for sharing!

  2. Mitch,

    I like your story.

    So many times we think that we are doing what it takes to get something we want when in reality we have missed the mark by just a fine line.

    Many times it takes someone else pointing out the obvious to us.

    That is why I love the community of bloggers on the internet. They are all really willing to point the obvious out when we don’t see it.

    Dee Ann Rice

    1. Thanks Dee Ann. I think that’s why I love bloggers as well, though in this case it was a non-blogger who asked the question. I almost felt silly; almost that is. 🙂

  3. That’s pretty funny Mitch. I know in my case I have found new and ingenious ways to shoot my self in the foot only to slap my own forehead later.

    IM, like all things has a learning curve and you have to put your 10,000 hours in to get good at it…like anything.

    Thanks for sharing this. I appreciate it…:)

    Mark

    1. Thanks Mark. Of course now I have to go add something like this to a couple other pages of mine for consistency, even though they’re my business blogs. Can’t forget the maxim of making it simple for everyone.

  4. Funny that you didn’t think of it when your read my post about creating a Hire Me page. It’s not all that big a leap to utilising a services page. I reckon it all depends how you say it. 😉

    1. That’s true Sire, but you know, sometimes you just have to be hit over the head with something before you notice it. Remember, I’m the guy who doesn’t notice stuff in this house that’s been around for more than 10 years. lol

  5. I love this story because it is interesting, thanks a ton for this information shared concerning creating a service page for your blog.

  6. I quite liked this joke and yeah definitely putting a service page is a good idea. Actually tuning up the idea is also good for example changing the color of button or CSS style of service/product page can lead to more order, tweaking the ads for different pages can also improve conversion.

      1. WordPress is not very flexible about this or at least I don’t know how to do it, but other CMS give some option to display different ads on different categories, similar to widgets but more targeted.

    1. Thanks Jon. Yeah, that probably needed to be added a long time ago, and as I said, I bet I’m not the only one that’s forgotten to have that page.

  8. Hi Mitch

    Great story but on the point of the services page I would say that it needs to be far more prominent with some strong definitions of the things to do, with of course some ordering pages so particular services can be purchased online. Example: X no of links, On Page SEO optimisation for a particular keyword.

    The point I am trying to make is that there are so many elements of SEO that you must be able to articulate what you are offering

    1. First Peter, did you change your last name? lol

      Second, I created that page around 2:30 in the morning and really hadn’t fleshed it out yet. However, I think it also depends on what services someone is looking to market as to whether they want people purchasing stuff before there’s even been a conversation. For instance, I’d never do SEO work for anyone without first evaluating their site, and thus I wouldn’t even think of charging them until that part was done. Ergo, no pre-link, if you will.

  9. Mitch, this is on my short list. I never thought it applied to me because I wasn’t a consultant. Gail Gardner of GrowMap pointed out that she never knew I created software. She suggested the same thing – a service page.

    Now, if I can just finish this blasted project! LOL

    Cheers,

    Mitch

    1. LOL! Mitch, the services page can be simple or complicated obviously, but these other projects just get in the way sometimes, don’t they?

    1. Exactly Gabriele. That’s how we prove that we’re still learning stuff, even if it’s small stuff. I just need to do a bit more with mine eventually.

  12. Enjoyed that story – and I didnt have to say it out loud 🙂

    I know what you mean, I guess you felt that it would just happen if you put yourself out there. On my first blog, I thought everyone would automatically love what I had to say but you really have to put yourself out there

    Hope you have luck with your services Mitch

    1. I actually did Sandip, or by just writing about it here and there on this and other blogs. But life doesn’t work that way, and I should have known better, but just hadn’t thought about it.

  13. Hi Mitch, I was thinking that maybe, the Services page can be combined with the About page but with some catchy Title.

    But then as I scanned the website of a management consultant I recently got in contact with, I must agree with you. For a business/professional website seriously looking for clients, there should be a Services page separate from the About page. I noticed the usual sequence Home/About/Services. But it is not always that way.

    1. True Novz, it’s not always that way but most probably it should be at least sitting there in case someone might be interested in the services.

  14. Having just put my artwork back in Redbubble it only recently occurred to me to have a page linking to it… so, you’re not alone! But good on you for getting up a Services page here.

    One suggestion, though: make the text bold, that way it’ll stand out amongst other images on the page. 🙂

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