When good people have bad websites
I’m bumping into a lot of very sad websites these days.
Some of them belong to people and businesses I know. People and businesses I respect, like, and patronize. People and businesses I recommend to others.
Others belong to people and businesses who somehow caught my interest. Whether it was an intriguing tweet on Twitter, a blog post I stumbled across, or a chance meeting at a networking event, something about them was interesting enough that I wanted to learn more.
But their websites? Oof. And ouch.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that this makes me very sad. When someone’s work is really good – and their website is really bad, or even just mediocre – it breaks my heart.
Because a GOOD website is easy to have.
Let me repeat that:
A good website is EASY to have
It doesn’t take a lot of money. It doesn’t take fancy technology skills.
It does take time and vulnerability.
Vulnerability …
… because you need to dig deep and be yourself, honestly and openly. You need to let people know who you are, and why you do what you do.
You need to be clear about exactly what it is that you do, and for whom.
And you need to be honest and admit that this might be something you can’t do on your own.
Time …
… because digging deep and finding that clarity isn’t something that happens overnight.
As I wrote in a recent newsletter article, “Don’t Peel the Rosebud,” it takes nurturing and time to discover how your business truly wants to bloom.
And it takes commitment
Being vulnerable and putting in the time to do the digging can be scary and even painful.
And doing the digging is hard to do for your own work. (Trust me on that one. I’m intuitive, fast, and damn good at doing this for my clients. Doing it for myself…geesh.)
What’s your opportunity cost?
Many of the sad, bad websites I’m seeing are almost certainly sad and bad because their owners wanted to save money.
But if your website isn’t getting the results you want – or if you’re not even sure what results you could be getting – then you might want to think about opportunity cost.
That’s the lost income that you could be getting from your website.
Because if your business’s website isn’t making you money, then it’s more than just a waste of money. It’s actually costing you money every time someone like me comes to your site … and wanders away again without interacting with you.
Your website is one of the places in your business where it literally doesn’t pay to be frugal.
AND you don’t have to break the bank
The good news is, it doesn’t have to cost a lot. There are great designers out there who can do wonderful things on a reasonable budget. (I do my own, but if I needed a designer, AllieCreative is the one I’d call.)
And as I said, you’re the one who has to put in most of the time and effort to get your website to say what it needs to say.
Any website copywriter who says they can create your site from an overview of what you do … isn’t going to give you the kind of site your business needs and deserves.
Any website copywriter who doesn’t come back to you over and over again with questions, asking you to go further and dig deeper … isn’t going to give you the kind of site your business needs and deserves.
That’s a good thing. You’ll save money (because you’re not paying your copywriter to do what s/he can’t do), and you’ll have a website that engages and informs your visitors and encourages them to sign up for what you’re offering.
And just incidentally – your site won’t break my heart when I see it.
I’m relentlessly persistent in helping my clients create websites that are a real, resonant expression of the truth of their work.
If you’d like a review of your website, including concrete suggestions for improving it, just leave a comment with a link to your site. Be sure to check the box to be notified of comments so you get my response delivered to you.
Caveat: I reserve the right to stop doing reviews at any point! This is subject to my availability and there’s no implied guarantee that your site will be reviewed, or that it will be reviewed according to any particular schedule.
Update as of May 27 2010: I’ve closed this post to comments because I’m no longer taking requests for free website reviews.
Instead, If you’d like a review (and if you have a website, getting it reviewed by an impartial third party is a Very Good Idea), I’m now offering Website Reviews at a very reasonable price.
Especially if you’re a reader of my newsletter, and have downloaded “Your Website and You” – the free report on the website questions, assumptions, and mistakes I hear and see most often. It comes with your newsletter signup, and includes a link to get the Website Review at a 30% discount.
Posted under Communicating your message.
Tags: Credibility, Marketing
Comments
Comment from
Grace
Time April 9, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Hi, Jeff! Good to see you here on my blog, and thanks for jumping in to be the first one with a review.
(A small disclaimer: Jeff and I have known each other for several years through our local chapter of the American Society for Training and Development.)
The first impression of your site is clean and well-organized. I’m happy to see that you don’t make the mistake of having out-of-date events in your events list in the sidebar. It’s also really great to see that your tagline is clear and unambiguously stated right up front: “we help clients improve customer service and employee performance.”
Your navigation is mostly clear and unambiguous as well – another plus. One nitpick I have is that I had to stop and think for a minute … what are “TPS Tools”? … before I realized it’s the company initials. You might consider streamlining that to read simply “Tools” or “Suggested Tools” or something like that. People have a deep-seated fear of appearing stupid, which – even when they’re browsing a website with no one else watching – will cause them to dismiss a heading they don’t understand.
A similar (though even smaller) nit comes up on the “Next Level Blog.” Next level of what?
I’m a little surprised to click on the “about us” option and find information about working with you, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing – just a small surprise.
One more niggle: the graphics on the home page are practically all I see. I have to scroll down to see most of the content. (Laptop screen – but remember, people are using smaller and smaller screens these days, as well as larger and larger!)
Overall, I would say you cover the basics. Now, here are a few slightly bigger suggestions.
Not to be too punny about it, but the first thing I’d do is make the font size bigger and the main column width narrower. People who make decisions about hiring a company such as yours are often baby boomers – and we have old eyes. Even for younger eyes, the human eye functions best with about 10 to 12 words per line. You already do well with adequate white space and catchy graphics; this would be another way to gain readability and thereby potentially keep your visitors hanging around a little longer.
Secondly, estabilishing a stronger sense of connection with your visitors would probably help you get a greater conversion rate. I get that Toister Performance Solutions helps clients improve customer service and employee performance, but I dunno … I’ve got a pretty unique situation on my hands, and I’m not at all sure they can really help ME. (And trust me, even when their problem is exactly like everyone else’s, everyone thinks it’s unique – as, to some extent, it is, of course.)
How can you do this?
1. Demonstrate that you understand their pain. What are the most common situations people need your help with? You don’t have to explain the solution; you just need to make it clear that they’re in the right place. And you need to demonstrate this on the home page, before you start telling them how you can help. Look at it this way: you wouldn’t expect your doctor to start writing a prescription before she knows if you have the flu or a broken leg, right?
2. Testimonials and case studies. Can’t over-emphasize them. And they shouldn’t be the usual sort of thing – you know, “Jeff was wonderful!” They should start out with a concern… “I wasn’t sure if … ” and then go on to answer the concern with a resounding success.
Finally, what do you want people to DO?
This is one of the three most common mistakes people make on their websites: a lack of a clear call to action.
For most services-oriented businesses, it’s hardly reasonable to expect anyone to sign up for services right off the bat. So … you want them to sign up for your newsletter.
I get your newsletter, so I know you’ve got one – but it took me a bit of hunting around to find the tiny link to sign up.
Make it bigger. Put it on every page. And create a white paper (maybe the one from your social media experiment – that would be a great choice, actually!) that you give away only to people who sign up.
I hope this is helpful – and that it wasn’t too painful!
Comment from
Jennifer Hofmann
Time April 9, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Are you seriously not charging for this, Ms. Judson?? I went looking for a sales page! I value your opinion so highly, any price would be worth it. Really.
My hat’s in the ring if you’re not totally sick of looking at my website by now. Feel free to take other takers if not!
Comment from
Grace
Time April 9, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Jen – Yep, I am seriously not charging for this, Ms. Hofmann. It’s a bit of a trial balloon, shall we say, and it’s a chance for people to put their websites up for review and maybe learn a little from what they read about others’ sites. Who knows whence it will lead?
Your site! Onward – and again, I must issue a disclaimer stating that I know Ms. Hofmann for, yegads, three years now I think it must be!
Very cool, clean design, Jen, in terms of the graphical design elements as well as the content. It’s definitely clear what you’re up to, and how to navigate. You lead me through the process on each page, with a clear call to action at each point along the way. And your navigation menu is also absolutely clear to me.
It’s worth noting that this could be because you and I both learned website content principles from the same person; it would be interesting to have a stranger’s viewpoint on that.
I miss the graphics you used to have at the top of the page. It’s funny, because I don’t dislike what you have now, but I feel a bit like I’ve missed the top step on a flight of stairs. Almost every website out there has a much bigger, stronger banner than you do, so it feels a little bit as if your pages are (‘scuse me!) slightly undressed, if you know what I mean. It’s not a bad thing – it’s just that I tend to be a tad suspicious of designs that are enough out of the ordinary that they make me stop and think about the design instead of the content, if you see what I mean.
At the same time, especially for a home-office organizing site, I love the subtle decor. Nice.
I’m also going to make the same old-eyes whine I made on the previous site review. I want a bigger font. But in your case, it may not be so much of an issue; I suspect your typical site visitor is younger and less subject to blurry vision.
I’m not a fan of a question to lead off the home page. As a first-time visitor (which of course I’m not, having seen your website before), I’d want to be a little more sure about what I’m reading before my mind is asked to answer questions.
Nonetheless, you do make me feel curious. And your personality shines through.
Calls to action: they seem a little tentative. I want you to sound more certain! “You might like to sign up…” makes me think, well, then again, I might not – and if she’s not sure, how can I be sure? And at the bottom of the “Is This You” page, there are three calls to action, which is at least one too many (and two of them are redundant: your newsletter and your giveaway).
Speaking of the newsletter, I think you’ve got too much preamble before the signup form. When I click the link to sign up, I expect to see a way to sign up, not more verbiage convincing me that it’s worthwhile to sign up.
It’s more of that certainty thing. A coach I knew many years ago used to say, “Certainty sells!” And he’s absolutely right.
If you know, deep down, that your newsletter provides value, then you don’t have to keep selling me on it. The Bard of Avon (Shakespeare) said, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks!” – and he has a point for more than just Lady Hamlet.
Your services page, on the other hand, has that sense of clarity and certainty, and I like how you lay out steps for your visitors that describe what they will need based on where they are.
Overall, I think your site speaks clearly to your target audience. The suggestions I’ve made are fairly minor – if you choose to act on the content suggestions (versus the design suggestions), it probably wouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes to an hour to make the tweaks.
I hope this was helpful!
Comment from
Natalia Real
Time April 9, 2010 at 8:25 pm
What a lovely gift to us internet dwellers!
.-= Natalia Real hopes you’ll read…The limitations of the written word =-.
Comment from
Grace
Time April 12, 2010 at 8:02 am
Hi, Natalia – and thanks for calling it a lovely gift – what a nice way to put it!
Your website has an interesting style – I know at the end of your latest blog post you mention that you think it’s too pink, but I actually don’t see that. There’s a minimalist feel to the design that I rather like. And at the same time, your navigation is clear and easy to understand.
More and more people are featuring their blogs as their home page, as you’ve done with yours. However, I think it’s very hard to do that effectively.
The real purpose of a home page is to make an initial connection with someone – to let them know very clearly if they’re in the right place to find what they want/need.
On the other hand, a blog’s purpose is generally to develop a relationship over time. While a single blog post can often be instrumental in creating that initial connection, that’s more the happy exception than the rule unless you’re willing to be extremely focused and dedicated to conveying a very consistent message in every post you write.
It seems to me in skimming through your blog, and reading some posts in more detail, that in your case, it’s more likely to help people get to know you over time.
So although I know it’s a lot of work, my biggest recommendation to you is to create a separate home page that will help you pull in a targeted, specific audience – and then perhaps guide them to your blog once they’re interested in learning more about you and your work.
I like your “Is This You” page very much. It conveys a real sense of personality and is specific about what you offer.
Your “About” page leaves me feeling … curious. I like “nonsleazy companies and kindhearted people”!
So, why do I say it leaves me feeling curious? I just have the feeling after reading it that there’s a whole lot more depth and mystery to Natalia than is presented on your website in general, and in the About page in specific. Which is perfectly okay – I’m not saying there’s anything to change, just reporting on my feeling after reading it.
On the “Writing Samples” page – you might consider adding links to the topics list, instead of suggesting that people scroll down. It’s an easy tweak to make that would increase the usability of the page.
That’s an impressive list of samples, too! which would make the additional links even more helpful, including a “return to top” link after each topic.
A couple of general comments:
On the “Muestras en espanol” page, you have comments turned on. Did you mean to do that?
I’m not sure what blog platform you’re using for your site, but if you can, I would change it so that you don’t see the “There are no comments for this post” message at the bottom of each page. It will create a cleaner and more professional feel.
General web design practice is to have all hyperlinks blue and underlined. Most people know that the colour isn’t necessarily going to be blue – but the underline is important to help people know where they can click. I recommend keeping the theme colours you’re using, but tweaking the style so that the hyperlinks are underlined.
Each page also has a Search box and Categories. I’d recommend having that appear only on the blog page, not on the static pages.
The navigation bar, as I said, is clear and understandable, which is great. However, you might want to rearrange it just a bit. As a new reader to your site, I’m more likely to want to know about ME first, and then if I’m still interested, I might want to read about YOU. In other words, I’d move the “About” page link second, after “Is This You?”
How specific are you in your marketing on your blog? In skimming through some of the posts, I don’t see you making offers to people for ways to work with you. If the intent of your site and blog is ultimately to generate work, I’d suggest being more clear about that in at least some of the posts.
Since I assume you want your website to be a source of contacts and inquiries about your work, I strongly recommend being very clear about what you want people to do at each point along the way. Most of them aren’t going to be ready to contact you immediately, which is the only action currently available for them.
You do have an RSS feed button, but what if someone doesn’t know the symbol for RSS, or perhaps they’d rather subscribe by email?
If you combine some clearer ways to sign up to receive your posts by email with some more specific statements about the work you do, you may find that you get better results.
I hope this is useful! and by all means, if anything I’ve suggested is unclear, please let me know.
Comment from
Jennifer Hofmann
Time April 12, 2010 at 11:59 am
Wow, Grace! Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I love your suggestions and will get on the “content-based” ones tout de suite. Love it – right on the money as usual.
I agree about your “don’t make me think about the design” observation. I’m not in the market to do design changes at the moment, but I agree that the font size is small. My TM is 35-60, so that’s in the reading-classes category for sure.
You rock. This IS a gift and I’m enormously grateful. As is typical whenever we hang together. Thank you, Grace!
Jen
.-= Jennifer Hofmann hopes you’ll read…The #1 sneaky lie that attracts overwhelm =-.
Comment from
Grace
Time April 12, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Jen – You’re very welcome. I’m glad you found the suggestions helpful, and I look forward to seeing your website develop and grow!
Comment from
Lindsay McGrath
Time May 15, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Just stumbled on this post and wanted to agree with Grace about Jen’s site.
Jen, when you have the resources for a redesign, you should jump on it. I see that it was designed by the firm Grace recommends, so I don’t want to step on any toes…but your site doesn’t grab me! I would like to see a photo or trademark graphic above the fold.
While I have an idea of what you do for your clients, it doesn’t seem clear right away. I would like to see something like, “I help you figure out your office so you can figure out your work!” or some direct tag line right up front.
I am sick of my site myself, so I may the pot in this situation! I hope my comments help.
Comment from
Grace
Time May 17, 2010 at 8:40 am
Lindsay – I understand what you mean about being sick of your own site (which isn’t saying that I think you should be sick of yours!). Mine always seems about six months behind what I’m actually doing – and I’m supposed to be the expert in this!
You don’t specifically ask for a site review in your post, so I don’t want to jump in where I haven’t been invited. However, if you would like me to take a look, let me know in a reply comment. I’ll be happy to do it – and I’m going to be closing this post to comments in the near future. After that, site reviews will be more formal and – as Jen encouraged me to do in her post – on a for-fee basis!
Comment from
Lindsay McGrath
Time May 17, 2010 at 9:05 am
I’d be happy to receive any feedback! If I’m going to plunk down the money down for a redesign I want it to be a useful and great site.
Thanks in advanced!
Comment from
Grace
Time May 19, 2010 at 11:03 am
Lindsay – Great! here goes…
Your website’s initial impression is calming and peaceful.
At the same time, it also feels a bit cramped to me. That’s coming from several elements:
1. The header graphic is out of proportion to the width of the content and the size of your headers. It’s so large that it takes up more real estate than it’s really entitled to – forcing your banner to take up more space on the page than it needs as well. I suspect one of the reasons for its size is the amount of detail in it – reducing the size would probably make it look unclear and odd. I wonder if redesigning your logo/header graphic is part of your redesign plans?
2. Your header font size is quite small. It makes the site feel not just cramped, but almost uncertain or unconfident.
3. Your font size is also a bit small. I know this is something I complain about on almost everyone’s site, and perhaps I just need to get my contact lenses or glasses prescription updated – but all joking aside, I really do think it’s important to consider readability.
4. Along the same line, and still in relation to the cramped feeling, the colour choices for background and content strike me as not being different enough. Readability really does take precendence over aesthetics (though they’re far from mutually exclusive!), and I would strongly urge a white background with black text for the primary content.
5. Finally, I think you can go to a wider column for your content.
On your Home page … I believe I mentioned in one of the other site reviews that asking your visitor questions on the Home page is off-putting. They haven’t yet decided if they belong here; they’re in exploration and feeling-things-out mode. Being asked questions – especially personal questions such as you pose! – can feel threatening and a bit scary. Don’t ask me questions right away; give me a sense of … oh, yeah, maybe she gets where I’m at … first.
Also, the three questions you pose are very different from each other. Who is it you really want to help? As someone feeling stuck, I don’t necessarily know that a therapist specializing in marriage is who I want to talk to … you know what I mean?
As a therapist, it’s crucial for you to establish a rapport with your site visitors right from the start – a sense of safety, of being understood. From your comments, I’m pretty sure you recognize that what you have now isn’t doing that.
Your navigation is clear – which is great! However, the options available aren’t helping me find that sense of safety. There’s no interim page … we go directly from Home to About, which feels like too big a stretch right in the beginning. And certainly Getting Started is way too big a stretch before I have that sense of safety.
The photo on your About page is great! For the first time, looking at that smile, I have a feeling that … hey, maybe she can understand, maybe I can find some help with what I’m struggling with.
However, the content here is too much about who you work with. That may sound odd, given that I’ve been asking for more about who you work with and being able to identify myself in your clients and the things you help them with, but your About page really should be about YOU. What draws you to this work? Where is the passion and spark and fire for what you do? What makes you uniquely YOU and how does that show up in your work?
Getting Started would be a great place to describe more about the process. How often do we meet, what can I expect in a session, do you ever do phone work… and so on.
What’s the purpose of the Resources page? Do you really need one?
In reading the Postpartum and Parenting section, I find myself wondering if this is actually your area of specialty? You imply that by having it on your site.
I wonder if it’s time to commit to a speciality, whether postpartum and parenting or something else?
I’m clear from what you’ve said that your site isn’t achieving what you want. And I’m also clear that it could be doing a LOT more for you – and that you and your work deserve that.
What is your deepest intention for your website?
Comment from
Les Osterman
Time May 21, 2010 at 9:53 am
Grace,
This is my first attempt to develop a website that hopefully people in transition like me will find helpful…
I’d love to get your feedback, suggestions for improvement.
Comment from
Grace
Time May 21, 2010 at 11:25 am
Les – Ahhh, the first time of doing a website – it’s always an interesting process, isn’t it?
Let’s take a look!
The first impression I have is … whoa, blue!. It’s not a bad colour – I like blue – but it’s very bright, and that makes it hard to read the navigation bar on the left. For ease of navigation and discovery, I would seriously consider making the navigation bar less blindingly blue.
I’d also see what you can do to get the content centered on the screen. Left-justified websites are unusual, and tend to imply a lower level of professionalism. (Note I say “tend” – it’s dependant on other factors as well.)
Also, the first time I visited the site, I got a warning from my pop-up blocker. Not sure what that was about; I did go ahead and temporarily enable pop-ups, but nothing came up, and I haven’t seen that warning again on subsequent visits.
I’d feel more clear about what this site is about if there was just a bit more introduction on the home page before the bullet list of what the site covers. And I wouldn’t repeat the site URL in your introduction. Instead, use the actual site title, and consider bolding it: Your Unemployment Essentials. Say it loud and say it proud!
For that matter, why not make the site title (instead of the URL) part of the banner as well?
The bullet list is a repeat of your navigation. Either eliminate it altogether and simply invite people to explore the navigation or make the bullet list items clickable links to their topics.
If you keep the bullet list, consider bolding the topic titles. People typically scan websites, and making the topic titles “jump” will help them find what they need.
I like that you have your story as part of the site, and although for most sites I recommend moving it lower in the navigation, in this case I like it at the top where you’ve put it. For someone to believe that you have the material they need, they need to understand and feel a connection with your story.
However, one thing that’s significantly missing is … who ARE you? There’s no name or any other clue as to who you are. That means you take a significant credibility hit.
What’s with the link on “passionate” to SiteSell? I get that you’re an affilate of theirs (at least, I assume so – and you should be aware that it’s illegal by FCC ruling as of this past January to have an affiliate link without declaring it as such), but it’s a real downer there, and makes no logical sense in terms of the context. Also, do you really want people leaving your site right off the bat when they click on that link? They probably won’t come back.
On my display (Internet Explorer 8 running on Windows XP), there’s a missing image at the bottom of the “My Story” page below the last paragraph.
The “back to home page” link on each page can reference just “Home Page” instead of the site URL – that’s of relatively low importance, however.
Website design standards state that for ease of navigation, the header of each page should be a very close match to the link someone clicked to get there.
So when, for instance, I click “Employee Rights” and land on “Employment Laws, Employment Discrimination and You,” I’m a little confused. You might want to make sure your headers start with the navigation link text, even if you then include other content. So this one, for instance, could be “Employee Rights: Employment Laws, Employment Discrimination, and You.”
I’ll assume you’ve double- and triple-checked your facts. And I hope the disclaimer I see at the bottom is present on every page (I haven’t read every page in detail). You might consider incorporating the disclaimer into your home page in a more prominent position.
Also consider having someone proofread your content. There are typos and grammatical and punctuation errors – nothing huge, but enough to put someone off a bit. And since you’ve put a lot of effort and heart into creating this, you want it to look as clean as possible.
I understand that this site isn’t just for your own feelings of satisfaction in putting it out there. Still, I wish there was a way to move the Google ads out of the middle of the content. Is it possible to put them into a right-hand column, perhaps?
Also, consider other ways of generating revenue. Can you include a “tip jar” of some sort? I know there are little plug-ins available, don’t know if SiteSell offers them or not.
What’s your primary intention in putting this site out there? Is it to provide the information – or to make money from the links? Does your answer to that question change anything about how you’ve set it up?
I hope this is helpful, and please feel free to ask follow-up questions!
Comment from
Les Osterman
Time May 21, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Thank you so much for your time to review my website and give valuable suggestions. These are very helpful to someone like me who had to learn to do everything without any knowledge and skills on building a website. This is a work in progress thus I have not actively publicized the site. I’ll take your recommendations to heart. Your insight and recommendations are priceless!
Comment from
Grace
Time May 21, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Les – You’re very welcome! I’m glad you found the suggestions helpful.
You bring up a question I’d meant to ask and forgot whilst I was doing the review: How do you plan to publicize the site?
If you’re really interested in learning more about how to structure a website that works, check out Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug. It’s a small book, but incredibly insightful about how websites can be as useful and helpful to their visitors – AND their owners! – as possible.
Comment from
Les Osterman
Time May 25, 2010 at 11:50 am
Hi Grace!
I have a few ideas on how to publicize my website as suggested by some who had gone before me. I’ll be following recommendations from SBI as well. My main focus right now are to finish posting all my articles, edit/clean up as you suggested and make this website as professional as possible.
I’ll check out the book you suggested as well.
Thanks for your feedback and suggestions!! I truly appreciate these.
Comment from
Grace
Time May 27, 2010 at 9:50 am
Les – Sounds like a plan to me! and good luck with it. I’ve closed comments on this post (see the end of the post for the reasons why), but I absolutely do want to see what happens for you – so please drop me an email and let me know when you’ve made your updates, and what success you have with it. (If you don’t have my email address, you can go through my contact page here on the website.)
I was on my PayPal account the other day and noticed that they do have a “donate” option – so you can set up a donations button (call it a tip jar or whatever) that links to your PayPal account. That would allow people to select whatever amount works for them relative to the value they received from your site, and the financial resources available to them. I see some pretty high-level people with tip jars on their websites, so I’m sure it can work out!
Good luck!

I will be eternally grateful for your great gift of taking in to the fullest extent what it is that I
have to offer, living it, and then reflecting it back in terms of the potential experience of others.
You have given words to a process that defies words. And you’re constantly in a position to help
me continue to hone that, deeper and deeper and more and more resonantly, who I am and what I offer,
which is truly invaluable. — Jon Hansen,
Working together was absolutely key, and I think that’s what made it such a great
experience. I felt like you were my partner in this. I felt like my success was your
success. To me, someone who has that attitude and the skills to go with it —
that’s an unbeatable combination! — Daniel Stone,
I have a website I’m proud of — but for me, the hugest benefit has been
increased self-confidence. Because of the process we went through, and the validity that
came with the process, I trust what I think and I trust myself to speak about it. I have
greater confidence and clarity in my message about who I am and what I do. — Bev
Dwane AICI CIP,
What you’ve sent me is so darn perfect it hurts! It’s a sheer pleasure to work with someone
who writes as beautifully as you do — and in “my” voice. — Ariane Goodwin, Ed.D,
You have a real gift for words. You’re really, really good at it. — Sherry Essig,



Comment from Jeff Toister
Time April 9, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I hope my website isn’t a sad one, but to your point, I’ll never know unless I’m vulnerable.