How do you make better decisions with your website? It’s simple – Using analytical data and benchmarking. You’ll want to sign up with a service like Google Analytics (I use this on all my sites, it’s just a superb tool) and install the tracking code on all the pages on your site.
Do business as usual for the next month. Now we have a months worth of data to look at. Now you can implement that marketing campaign, put up advertising, whatever initiatives you wish to try with the website. Then a month later we can look back and compare the two sets of data, to determine if what we did worked. We benchmark against ourselves, in prior periods.
The reports show an amazing amount of data about your website and users. Not only that, but you can setup conversion goals to learn WHY users might be “abandoning the process” (leaving your site) and you can try to tweak the site to increase those conversions. Looking at the data, studying it, and really knowing it will help you make more informed decisions about what you’re doing with your website.
Hi Josh, I am going to hire a developer to build a website for me. The website developer says he will keep the copyright and he will give the give me a license to use it. He says he will box and sell the product to others as well. Is this right? Shouldn’t I be the owner of the website he has written? What is your advice?
Todd
Hi Todd, make sure you get a developer who will sign an NDA agreement – make sure you define who owns proprietary scripts/code that is written for your website. You might have to pay a bit more for a developer willing to relinquish that, but if you don’t want others having access to it then it might be worth it. Make sure you have a solid business and marketing plan, because that is what is going to make your business viable, not the fact that its proprietary – most anything on the web can be duplicated, but your success is in your court.
You absolutely still need to get the ownership in writing on a contract. A simple NDA or section on the contract which outlines this is appropriate. You would state something along the lines of “If Consultant develops any patentable technology or other intellectual property during the course of this Agreement, such technology will remain the sole property of Client unless otherwise assigned in writing by both parties”
Never assume anything; make sure it’s always in writing
Josh,
Between selling an idea or service and selling a product on the internet, which one has the largest potential for buyers and to make the most profit?
Thanks,
Taylor
Hi Taylor,
I think it depends on what kind of service or product you’re selling. Generally, a service will require your constant effort – for example, if your service is building websites, you’re going to have to consistantly be working on getting new clients and doing the work to get paid. If you’re selling a product, for example, a book or a piece of software, you’re creating a passive stream of income. The product will keep selling and earning you money without your constant effort. If you created a new passive stream of income each month for a year, you’d have 12 different products, each earning you money, and only requiring your maintenance or marketing efforts.
If you have a question, ask Josh
