When starting a business, most entrepreneurs dream about the finish line; specifically how their lives will be radically better once their business becomes a huge success.   

But, soon after they start their businesses, entrepreneurs/business owners become trapped in the day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-to-month goals of generating more sales and profits, improving employee performance, and trying to reduce their hours and stress.    

At some point, the vast majority of entrepreneurs become 100% focused on these short-term goals and lose sight of their long-term visions. As a result, they begin to wander, and never achieve the vision they initially hoped to achieve.    

The solution is rather simple: you need to stop what you're doing and dream again about the finish line. Specifically, you need to reassess what it is that you're trying to accomplish with your business.

In many cases, this long-term vision will be the same as the long-term vision you had when you started your business. In other cases, your long-term vision might have changed.

But in EVERY case, you must reassess what your long-term vision is, or you'll have virtually no chance of achieving it.

And importantly, once you identify this vision, you need to reverse engineer it.

That's right, you need to fully imagine how your business will look once you have achieved your long-term vision, and then create the action plan for achieving it. For example, if your dream includes a company with 300 employees, you need to create the plan now for hiring and training these employees.

To help you achieve this, follow my step by step plan below for identifying your long-term vision and reverse engineering it.

1: Identify your long-term vision

• Write down what your ultimate goal is for your business.

For example, do you want to sell it to another company? Sell/give it to your employees or children? Take it public? Continue to run it forever and reap ongoing profits?


2: Identify your key end-game metrics

• By what date would you like your vision to be achieved?


• What will your company's annual revenues be at this date?


• How many customers will you have at this date?


• How many employees will you have at this date?


• On this date, what will your day to day responsibilities be?


• On this date, what will be your top selling products and/or services?

3: Reverse Engineer Success within the Key Functional Areas

Answer the following questions as if today was the future date in which you achieved your long-term vision and you were looking backwards.

Marketing:

• What marketing channels allowed you to attract/gain the most customers?


• What have you done to fully satisfy your customers?


• What business partnerships (if any) have you forged that have resulted in significant numbers of new clients?

R&D

• What have you done to develop your top selling products and/or services?

Human Resources

• Who are your key managers that motivate and manage your other employees? When did you find these key managers? Where did you find them? How did you develop them?


• When did you start ramping up your hiring process?

Operations:

• What systems have you built to ensure your business runs smoothly and without your required day-to-day involvement?

Finance:

• Who funded you along the way? How did you meet these funding sources?

4: Create Your Action Plans

Create action plans from your answers above.

For example, if you answered "direct mail" as your top marketing channel, document your direct mail strategy. For example, document who you will mail to, what your message will be, what your direct mail timeline will be, etc.

The exercise above is critical in ensuring your success.

The key is to not only dream about what your business looks like when it has achieved success, but to reverse engineer that dream. You need to think through how your business got to its successful state. And then work backwards in creating action plans that will get you there. And once you create these action plans, be sure that you and your team stay focused on executing them.

The resolution of the NBA lockout this weekend and the news that the games will resume on Christmas is yet the latest example of how when it comes to vastly over-exaggerated predictions of doomsday and worst-case scenarios never coming to pass, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Even a casual follower of professional basketball heard over these past few months the media’s over-heated "analysis" of the lockout.

How the two sides were so far apart that it was almost a certainty that we would miss at least one, and maybe two or three, seasons of basketball.

The hand ringing continued on to player's careers being shortened, arenas being shuttered, and hundreds, if not thousands, of administrative, concession, usher, and ticket taker jobs being lost.

And throughout this din were heard the editorializing on the “greed” of the players and the owners, and how unseemly it was for millionaires and billionaires to be bickering in public over how to split such a large financial pie.

Little remarked on was the fact that since the 1980’s about every other year there has been some kind of work stoppage (or the threat thereof) in one professional sport or another.

And even less remarked on was the amazing fact - even in circumstances where whole seasons are lost - that once the games resumed the various sports leagues have grown to be bigger and more profitable than ever.

Yet, the media gives this reality probably 1/100th as much attention as it does to the anger, discord, and disrespect between the warring sides, and to incessant and discomfiting prophesizing on the “worst case.”

This systemic pessimism and negativity is emblematic of what is in my view one of the main conundrums of modern life and business - that in a world of the kind of plenty and opportunity that our grandparents could only dream of, that we too often remain focused on what we don't have, what we can't do and on those things that can go wrong versus the infinitely more consequential and probable number of things that go ever so right.

Exactly why this is the state of affairs is anyone's guess.

But what is equally true is that the real winners in life and business simply do not play this game.

Sure, being human beings they do occasionally indulge in the baser emotions of gossip, envy, and the schadenfreude of watching the mighty fall.

But far from it being their dominant way of thinking or life, those that win embody Peter Drucker’s famous definition of the effective executive and focus on opportunities and not problems.

They invest their precious energy on the doable and the possible.

And they are so wonderfully absorbed in their "micros" that they simply do not have time to concern themselves with the media - saturated “macro” worries of the world.

So, come Christmas, Dirk, Kobe, Lebron and the gang will be back on the hardwood.

It will be, for them, about and only about exactly what it should be – just playing the game.

Each game, every shot - both to win and to the absolute best of their ability.

Everything else is just noise.

The great ones ignore it. Or even better yet, they are just too busy to hear it.

I've been interviewed twice over the past couple of weeks about the recent Crowdfunding legislation that was recently introduced. And each time, I've found myself correcting the misinformation about it that the media has been spreading. So in this article, I'll give you the truth about what's going on, and how to leverage it.

Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday.

It acknowledges the best qualities of our great land - hard work, diversity as strength, and a focus on solutions not problems.

Whenever I am feeling down about America’s prospects in this brave new world of ours, I reflect on Thanksgiving’s timeless lessons.

As every school boy and girl knows, Thanksgiving traces its origin from a 1621 Pilgrim harvest feast to celebrate surviving an extremely difficult first winter in the New World.

The Pilgrims owed their survival to the goodwill of the Wampanoag Indians – the original inhabitants of the area - who taught them how to grow corn and how to fish in the very unfamiliar New England soil and seas.

As a gesture of thanks and goodwill, the Pilgrims invited the Wampanoags to sit down and break bread in a spirit of friendship and camaraderie.

What a story. First, let's reflect on the guts, tenacity, sense of adventure, and just “never say die” hard work and perseverance of the Pilgrims.

Think about it - if they can make it then with their oh-so limited 17th Century resources, what can we do, where can we go with our virtually limitless 21st Century ones?

And let's reflect on that happy day of brotherhood and be justifiably proud of the powerful diversity of modern America.

Doubt me? Then spend a Saturday with my 5 year-old son Jay Jay’s AYSO soccer team. 

With its Hawaiian coach.

Its son of Ethiopian refugees star player.

And its African - American, Mexican - American and suburban white kid players all happily frolicking in a melting pot scene not to be duplicated virtually anywhere in the world.

Soccer with my sons is a welcome break from what I am sad to say has become a bad, gossipy vice – keeping up with the “news.”

Between the dire talk of deficits, debt crises, unemployment, crime dramas, and natural disasters, if you don't catch yourself you can't help but feel sorry for yourself, the country, and the planet.

It is 99% bunk.

Both the world and America have NEVER offered more opportunities for a larger percentage of
us to live affluent lives, to do self-expressive, remunerative work, and to be amazed daily by the wonders of modern technology and entertainment than it does right now.

This Thursday, let’s give thanks for all that and more.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

A recent survey of business owners showed that 41.4% of businesses count on referrals for over 80% of their sales.    

I actually don't believe this statistic; I think it's way too high.    

But the statistic is very exciting. Because it means that these 41.4% of entrepreneurs are doing it right; because getting referrals is absolutely critical to your business' success.    

Let me explain.

To begin, referrals generally don't cost you any money. So rather than spending $X to acquire the new client, you spend $0. This dramatically boosts your profitability.

Second, getting referrals boosts your average profit per client. For example, let's say your average profit per client is $50. Now, let's also assume that 20% of your clients refer you one additional client.

What that means is that for every 10 new clients you get, you actually receive 12 new clients (including the 2 referrals). Since each client gives you a profit of $50, you've generated $600 in profit from the 10 initial clients. So, your profit per new client goes from $50 ($500 divided by 10) to $60 ($600 divided by 10).

Yes, it's exciting that your profit has gone up 20%. But what's even more exciting is that you can use this increased profit to dominate your competitors. For instance, if your competitors are still only earning $50 profit per client, they can only spend up to $50 per client in marketing expenses. But since you're earning $60 profit per client, you can actually spend more than $50 in marketing to acquire a new client.

This allows you to advertise in more places and in places that your competitors can't afford. This will drive tons of new clients to you instead of your competition.

In summary, getting referrals can allow you to significantly boost revenues and profits, and allow you to dominate competitors.

Now, if referrals offer such a great benefit, why do 58.6% of entrepreneurs fail to effectively use them?  The answer is that they haven't set up an effective referral system.

So here are the keys to an effective referral system.

Step 1: Make the Client Want to Give You a Referral

Clearly, your clients must be happy in order for them to give you a referral. So, make sure you satisfy their needs and fulfill the promises you made them when they purchased your product or service.

Step 2: Ask for the Referral

With a job well done, some clients will give you referrals on their own. But you'll dramatically increase the number of referrals you receive if you simply ask for them.

Of critical importance is to ask 1) at the right time, and 2) multiple times. With regards to the former, if a client needs to use your product/service in order to be satisfied, then you clearly can't ask for the referral immediately. Rather, you'll have to wait until they've used your product/service and can vouch for its success.

With regards to the latter, it is critical that you ask clients multiple times for referrals. You need to do this for several reasons. The first is that clients are often busy and if you ask at the wrong moment, they simply might not have time to give the referral.

Secondly, it's possible that today one of your clients does not have a new client they can refer to you. But maybe in a month they meet someone that would be a perfect fit for you company. But unless you ask for the referral again then, they'll probably forget to give it to you.

In asking clients for referrals, don't just ask them who they think might be a good fit for your product/service. Rather, it's more effective if you guide their thinking. For instance, you should ask, "I know you're a member of the XYZ organization; do you know anyone else in the XYZ organization that could benefit from our product/service?" This allows your client to focus their thinking in order to find more potential names for you.

Step 3: Effectively Contact the Referral

Clearly, once you receive the referral, you need to contact them and try to close the sale.

A key tip here is to ask the referral source to let the referral know you'll be contacting them. As such, rather than contacting the referral cold, you'll receive a warm introduction that will make the referral more likely to speak with you and buy your products/services.

Step 4: Putting it All Together

The key to a successful referral program is to formalize and systematize it. It shouldn't be something that one of your employees does once in a while. But rather, it should be a sequence of events that always happens.

For example, your system might include the following: Ten days after a sale is made your client gets an email requesting referrals. Fifteen days after a sale they receive a postcard. And then 28 days after the sale, your salesperson calls them to request referrals.

In addition to systematizing your referral program, you need to maintain statistics so you can see what's working and what's not working. For example, you should track each of your referral attempts and see which ones lead to new clients and which do not. And then you should tweak them (e.g., change your email to offer an incentive for the client to give you a referral), and track which tweaks work and which don't (and clearly keep using the ones that did work).

A quality referral program will increase your revenues and profits, and can give you real competitive advantage. So build your referral program today!

Suggested Resource: Growthink's Ultimate Marketing Plan Template allows you to quickly and expertly create your marketing plan; and exponentially increase your customers and revenues by developing your referral program and orchestrating the 5 key marketing levers. Click here to learn more.

His name is Kevin Plank. And he was born on August 13, 1972.    

Kevin was a football player at the University of Maryland. But he was no ordinary football player. In fact, he proclaimed himself to be the "sweatiest guy on the football field."     

Being the "sweatiest guy" wasn't a joke to Kevin. He became sick and tired of his cotton t-shirt's inability to keep him dry and comfortable during games and practices. So he decided to do something about it. Specifically, he started searching for a material that would wick the sweat from his body, making him dryer, lighter and faster.    

Kevin succeeded in finding this material, creating products from it, and building a company out of his products. The company, called Under Armour, is now a public company. And when Under Armour went public in November 2005, the company raised $112.5 Million to fuel its growth.

Importantly, Kevin knew that nobody was going to give him $112.5 million in funding to start his company. Rather, he knew he had to raise smaller amounts at first to achieve some success. And with success, he would be able to raise more and more dollars.

So, Plank, while still a college student, started a small business that sold roses for Valentine's Day. While he only made a few thousand dollars from that business, he used that money to initially start Under Armour.

And when he soon burned through those dollars, he got $40,000 from credit cards (he got five credit cards in order to do this) to fund further growth.

And as the company grew, Plank raised more and more money from various funding sources, eventually reaching the promised land of entrepreneurship: going public and raising over $100 million.

Kevin Plank's story is critical to entrepreneurs that need to raise money. Among other things, it should teach you that you can't simply post your idea or business plan online and expect investors to throw money at you. That's just not how funding works.

Rather, you need to figure out the right forms of funding for you based on your stage of development. The latter part (based on your stage of development) is key. Let me explain. While I've identified 41 sources of funding to which entrepreneurs have access, many sources are tied to how far your venture has progressed. For example, if all you have is an idea (and no prototype or beta customers), then you are too early for the vast majority of venture capital firms. In such a case, you need to raise other types of funding first, achieve certain milestones, and then contact venture capitalists.

In addition to understanding which of the 41 sources of funding are right for you, you need to determine what you're willing to give up in return for the funding.

When raising equity funding, you must give up equity or shares in your business. So, if and when your company gets sold or goes public, some of the proceeds will go to your investors and not you.

When raising debt funding, you're agreeing to make future payments of both interest and principle on the loan. And you may need to put up personal items as collateral.

And finally, with alternative and creative funding, which is often a great option for early stage companies, you may not have to give up either equity or agree to future debt payments. But you still must typically give up something.

For example, with vendor financing, you'll give up your right to use multiple vendors (in this type of financing, the vendor will fund your business based on your agreement to use them exclusively for a certain time period). Or with grant funding, you'll give up some of your growth flexibility (since you'll only get fully paid on the grant if you achieve the goals set forth in the grant proposal).

We've all heard the expression, "it's not what you know, it's who you know." This is not necessarily true when raising money. Sure, it helps if you have a rich uncle who's willing to write you a check. But such "friends and family" funding is but a small portion of the funding options available to you as an entrepreneur.

Rather, it's what you know; your knowledge of the types of funding out there and your creativity and perseverance in accessing them that really matter.

So, start by figuring out what company goals you would like to accomplish in the next 12 months. Then, determine how much money you will need over this period to get there. And finally, decide what you're willing to give up in return for this amount of funding.

Once you raise that initial funding and achieve those goals, more and bigger funding options will appear. And, in many cases, upon your initial success, funding sources will start to contact you. And that's the exact position you want to be in -- having funding sources competing to fund you, and not you competing with millions of other entrepreneurs for funding.

Suggested Resource: Want funding for your business? Then check out our Truth About Funding program to learn how you can access the 41 sources of funding available to entrepreneurs like you. Click here to learn more.

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Mr. Rich Correll. Rich’s father, Charles Correll, was “Andy” of the famous radio duo, “Amos ‘n’ Andy”, which at its peak in the 1930’s was the most popular radio show in America.

To get a sense of how famous Rich’s dad was, in the early 1930’s Amos ‘n’ Andy had over 40 million listeners, at a time when the U.S. population was only 122 million!

So Rich grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s surrounded by the movie stars of the day. His neighbor was Judy Garland, and a great friend of the family and hero to young Rich was Harold Lloyd, one of the most famous stars of the silent film era. As Rich tells it, Harold Lloyd’s Beverly Hills home was so large that “The Playboy Mansion could fit in its garage.”

Visiting with Rich at his home is memorable to say the least. And not just because he is an incredibly gracious host and wonderful teller of Hollywood stories old and new. You see, Rich also happens to own one of the largest and best collections of science fiction, fantasy, and horror memorabilia in the world.

And what a collection it is. From old school Draculas and Frankensteins, through Freddy Krueger and Saw, to Health Ledger’s famous Joker, Rich has it all, knows it all, and shares with great passion the history and importance of every piece.

Rich’s collection is so renowned that when he sometimes opens it for display on Halloween, more than seven thousand trick or treaters parade across his lawn. It is so amazing that he helps his good friend Hugh Hefner decorate his famous Halloween party with it.

Even better, Rich has an idea for a new business. And as a guy that hears a lot of ideas for new businesses every day, I can credibly say that Rich’s is a truly GREAT one.

And no, I am not going to share what it is, but suffice to say that because of who Rich Correll is and how he has lived his remarkable life, that he is the perfect person to pull it off. And I hope and believe that he will.

Now meeting with Rich got me to thinking about the big “why” questions of entrepreneurship.  Why take the risks?  Why put up with the hassles, the heartaches? 

Well, to make a lot of money is more than a good enough reason for sure. And praise the United States of America and our way of life for the incredible blessing and opportunity this is.

But inspiration takes many forms, and I know that this nation and this planet depends upon the best among us, the most fortunate among us, to make this world more technologically fluid, more materially rich, more interesting, more beautiful.

And starting and making a business grow and prosper – whether it is a nice, little new restaurant, or a small IT business, or a really big and inspirational idea like Rich Correll’s, is the best way to make all of this good stuff happen.

And so I’ll say it – beyond making money, I believe that those with entrepreneurial gifts and ambitions should and must – risks be damned – be “all in” and use them.

Not an obligation from guilt, but one from possibility. Because if you, Mr. / Ms. Entrepreneur, have the chance to touch the stars and lift all of our gazes while so doing, then why wouldn’t you?

If you're looking for funding and/or to successfully grow your business, a little known secret is to find and leverage Advisors.    

So, who or what are Advisors? Advisors are successful people that you respect and that agree to help your company. Advisors are generally successful and/or retired executives, business owners, service providers, professors, or others that could help your business.    

Advisors generally will not cost you any money (you don't pay them), although I do recommend giving them stock options to incentivize them to contribute as much as possible.   

Getting Advisors is not a requirement for raising money, but they have multiple benefits as follows:

1. Practice: if you can't successfully pitch an advisor to invest time in your business, then you're not going to successfully pitch anyone to invest money in your business. So, practice your pitch on prospective advisors first, and use that practice to perfect it.

2. Connections to capital: as successful individuals, advisors often have the ability to invest directly in your company; and/or they tend to have large, high quality networks of individuals they can introduce you to.

3. Credibility: having quality advisors gives your company instant credibility in the eyes of lenders and investors.  For example, if you started a new hockey stick company, having Wayne Gretzky as an advisor would certainly give you great credibility (and connections). But even having much smaller names than Wayne Gretzky as advisors can build enormous credibility.

4. Operational success: In an interview I did with Dr. Basil Peters (a wonderfully successful entrepreneur, angel investor and VC), Dr. Peters said that mentors and advisors are an entrepreneur's "single most controllable success factor."  Having Advisors with whom you can discuss key business matters as you grow your venture will help ensure you make the right decisions, particularly if they have encountered and dealt with the same challenges already in their careers.

I have seen these four benefits first-hand for my own companies and for companies that we've helped build their own boards. Click here if you'd like to see the list and bios of Growthink's Board of Advisors.

So, how do you build your Board of Advisors?

The steps are fairly simple:

1. Create a list of people you would like to be on your Board
2. Contact and meet with them
3. Secure the best Advisors you meet with

The final step is to hold formal and informal meetings with your Board members to leverage them -- to get them to fund your company or introduce you to other funding sources; to answer key challenges that you are facing, etc.

I must admit that years ago I wasn't thrilled about investing the time to go through the steps of creating a Board of Advisors. But I can assure you; those hours spent have yielded an enormous return on investment. In fact, I should have developed my Board much sooner than I did.

So, go out there and start building your Board of Advisors today. And start reaping the enormous benefits.
   
Suggested Resource: Want advisors? Want funding for your business? Then check out our Truth About Funding program to learn how you can gain advisors and access the 41 sources of funding available to entrepreneurs like you. Click here to learn more.

Is your website as effective as it could be?  

Even though I've probably never seen your website, I'm willing to answer the question for you. And my answer is that your website is not as effective as it could be.   

How can I be so sure? Because I'd venture to say that every website on the planet could be improved in one way or another. It's a matter of identifying which attributes of the website should be modified, and testing whether a change in one or more of those attributes boosts performance.  
 
So, what are the key attributes of a website that you should assess when trying to boost performance. Below are the 10 website aspects I consider most important.

1. Look and Feel

The look and feel of your website is much more important than most entrepreneurs realize. Specifically, when visitors come to your site, it's critical that their first impression is positive.

Importantly, think about who your customers are and what they are seeking. And then cater to them. For example, the look and feel of the Porsche.com website is extremely cool and elegant. Conversely, the look and feel of the Ben & Jerry's website (benjerry.com) is very fun and currently shows animated cows playing in a pasture.

Both websites do a great job of conveying the company image they want customers to have of them. Make sure that the look and feel of your website does the same.

2. Copywriting

The following situation happens to me far too often - I go to a company's website (either I found it online or someone emailed me a link). And then I read the homepage and don't know what the company does.

So, I find myself going to the "About Us" page to read more and to try to decipher what it is that the company does.

Importantly, I'm the exception. Few other visitors will invest the time to figure out what your company does. Rather, if they don't immediately "get it" and you don't immediately show them that you have or might have a solution to their needs, they'll hit the "Back" button and be gone forever.

A quick tip here is to use compelling headlines. For example, if your website sold tires, a great headline would be: "See Our Selection Of Over 500 Brands of Tires at the Guaranteed Lowest Prices." This is pretty much what all customers are looking for (selection and best price), so this headline lets visitors quickly know what the company does and that they are in the right place.

3. Navigation

I'm sure your website has many pages, and it's your job to make it as simple as possible for your visitors to find the pages they want.

Navigation should be done on a top and/or left navigation bar, using links at the bottom of your website AND within the body text of all pages of your site.

4. Accessibility

I ran a Webinar last month using a new Webinar technology.

Shame on me that I didn't realize the new technology didn't work on ipads. So, many ipad owners emailed me that they couldn't access the Webinar.

The key lesson is that more and more, people are using devices other than computers (e.g., mobile phones, ipads) to access websites. Make sure your website is accessible from all of these devices or you will unwittingly be turning away new customers.

5. Quality Content

Website visitors have come to expect that your website will include quality content or information. For example, if your website has articles, they shouldn't be "fluff" - they need to include actionable advice that shows visitors that you know more than they do.

And clearly, having typos and grammatical errors will also turn off site visitors and prospective customers.

Think about the information you need to convey to customers to better solve their needs and differentiate you from the competition. While some of this information is compelling verbiage about your company, more of it should be information that's truly helpful to customers and makes them feel they made the right choice by visiting your website.

6. Amount of Content

The amount of content you include on your website is important for two reasons.

The first is that the more content you have on your website, the more preference search engines like Google will give your site when ranking it for desired keywords.

The second is that if customers are doing diligence on your company, they will want to learn more and more about you. Having a 5 or 10 page website clearly won't allow you to do this (you can start with a small website, but need a mechanism for adding to it).

7. Interactivity

Having a blog on your website helps solve both your website's need for amounts of content (#6) and interactivity (#7).

With regards to amount of content, adding a daily or weekly blog post entry will allow your website to constantly grow in size. This will boost your website's search rankings and give you more keyword opportunities to rank on (since each blog post might rank for certain keyword search terms).

With regards to interactivity, having a blog allows customers and prospective customers to interact with you. It gives you the opportunity to solicit feedback, which provides quick and easy market research.

Your blog also gives you a voice. Here's why this is important. People prefer to buy from people and not faceless companies. While your main website can have a professional, corporate look and feel, your blog gives your customers a look into your personality, and can encourage rapport and sales.

8. Proof that You are Great

Your website must prove that you are great, since many of your visitors may have never heard about you or your company, and there is a natural skepticism consumers have against companies they find online.

Unfortunately, overcoming this skepticism is not as easy as simply stating "we are great." Rather, you need to prove that you are great.

You can accomplish this by including any or all of the following on your website:

• Media mentions (in which media your company has been featured)
• Credibility logos (e.g., a logo of the Better Business Bureau with a link to your BBB rating)
• Client logos, names, testimonials and/or case studies showing you have performed quality work
• Industry associations and groups to which you belong
• Certifications you and/or members of your team hold

9. Have Multiple Calls to Action

Even though all of us have grown accustomed to going online to find new products and services to buy, the way each of us likes to buy is different.

Some of us like to buy online. Others like to fill out an online contact form. Others like to call a toll free number. And so on.

As the website's operator, it is your job to ensure that you have multiple ways in which visitors can contact you to learn more about buying your products or services.

Also, if customers may not be ready to buy now, include calls to action to download free reports or other items to satisfy their initial needs; these items should require them to give you their contact information for further marketing.

10. Effective Page Layout

The final key attribute of your website is the layout of your pages. The art of laying out your web pages properly is known as landing page optimization or LPO.

The key to LPO is making sure that visitors have to think as little as possible. The ideal layout influences visitors to take the desired actions. For example, if the goal of one of your web pages is to get the visitor to give you their email address, having the email box near the top of the page, with a clear headline above it in a big font, will yield much better results than the same email box on the bottom left corner of the page with a small headline.

There are several heat map programs that can show you exactly how your website visitors are interacting with your website; what they are looking at, what they are clicking on, etc. It is critical that you understand this information, and modify your page layouts over time to get more and more visitors to take the actions you desire.

I hope that from reading these 10 key website elements, you've identified ideas to improve your website. Importantly, you must understand that improving your website is an iterative process. You should always be testing new ideas, and tracking results. Doing this for even just a few months will result in a website that is much more effective than the site you operate today.
   
Suggested Resource: Want your website to be more effective? Want a proven step-by-step system to improve your website. Then check out our Ultimate Internet Marketing System to learn how you can build the ultimate online lead generation machine. Click here to learn more.

Whatever one's politics, those interested in seeing entrepreneurs prosper in America have to be heartened by the sea of change in “regulatory attitude” emanating from Washington.

Across the ideological spectrum, I hear near universal agreement that “cutting the red tape” is the fastest way to re-ignite the nation’s economy and best position the country for 21st century global competitiveness.

Let’s have an amen for that!

As both the CEO of a fast growing middle market company, and as an advisor to emerging companies across the industry spectrum, I have first hand experience of the debilitating cost of regulation.

And let me tell you, it aint pretty.

What I want to do - what my company's clients, employees, investors, and partners need me to do - is to stay laser-focused on leading Growthink to its next plateau of growth.

And as it is for all leaders of companies of promise and ambition, this is a huge job.

It requires one - among other challenges - to be constantly vigilant and prescient as to evolving competitive conditions, consumer preferences, and the dizzying speed of technological change.

But that is not all.

Leading a growing company in the 21st century also requires the discipline, the artistry, and the relationship - focus of a master sales person.

It requires the emotional intelligence and fortitude to mentor and develop leaders from within an organization, more often than not these days comprised of somewhat high maintenance "millennials."

And it requires the toughness, the consistency, and the exactitude to connect the strategic and operational dots with the bottom line to grow both fast and profitably.

And oh yes, while doing all of this - which for the significant majority of entrepreneurs is a 75 hour+ per week undertaking - extreme care must also be taken to maintain one's physical and emotional health.

And most importantly of all, while doing all this for many of us it also requires “being there” everyday in every way for one's spouse and family.

A huge undertaking, to say the least.

And one that I - like most entrepreneurs - feel incredibly blessed and grateful to live in a country and a world where such an opportunity, a possibility, a sacred trusteeship, is there for the doing.

But the one thing that the entrepreneur has in very short supply is time.

To be more exact about it, what all entrepreneurs need to vigilantly protect and nurture above all else is their positive and forward-focused energy.

And the one thing that distracts, dampens, and just outright kills good positive energy is confronting and trying to unravel unnecessarily complex, obtuse, and anachronistic rules and regulations.

Now, the exciting thing is that for the first time in my 25 years in business I sense that politicians – across the ideological spectrum and at the federal, state, county, and city level – fully agree with me on this!

This change in “regulatory tone” can be best summed up as the truism that the private sector is the only real driver of the nation’s prosperity and way of life.

And furthermore, given the realities of government budget shortfalls for as far as the eye can see, that the only way for government to make a meaningful economic difference these days is by cutting red tape.

Now for those of you that worry that cutting too much red tape too fast will lead to the kind of excesses that precipitated the 2008 recession, I wouldn’t.

Because the real protection for the consumer these days is our always-on, “you are only as good and trustworthy as that last Tweet about you” modern world.

So government - as opposed to sending yet another notice in the mail regarding yet another distracting and purposeless regulation - how about giving that entrepreneur a pat on the back?

A word of praise?

A thank you?

You can even tweet it.