Hey, 

I used to get really frustrated by the other agencies in my town…

They built inferior websites, charged twice as much as me, and still had 10 times more customers than I did.

For years I just couldn’t understand it. Why would people be paying these guys more for a worse product?

But I read a quote the other day that finally explained it:

“It’s not the best product that wins, but the best-known one that wins”

— Jaiden Vu

These other agencies were on the board at the Chamber of Commerce, they attended every event, they held functions, they sponsored little league teams, they ran ads on Facebook, and one even had giant billboards all over town.

They weren’t successful because they were the best — they were successful because they were the best-known.

While it’s great to hone your skills — and we should all be getting better and better at our job — it’s not the nuances of semantic HTML, or the best CSS class naming conventions that will put your business in the black… It’s getting your business in front of people that will.

We have to do both.

How many hours have you spent in the last year enrolled in courses or watching YouTube videos to sharpen your skills? And how many have you spent making sure everyone knows who your business is and what it can do?

If we’re looking for the best ROI possible, then most of us (myself included) are spending our time the wrong way.

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🔥 Inside The Group 

Automating website maintenance

Melanie asked the group if there is any way to truly automate website maintenance, which set off some discussion on if that's even a good idea to do.

Displaying your email in plain text

Heather's client is insistent on leaving his email address on his website in plain text even though he's suffering the consequences of spam. Are there any other options?

Monitoring Google Serach Console

All those GSC notifications are time consuming — especially if you're doing that for all of your clients. Kathy wants to know where you draw the line? Is this something you monitor for care plan clients? Or is that another tier? 

What to do about clients who ghost projects

Nathan is wondering what kinds of processes and plans to put in place to keep clients from going dark in the middle of a project. There are lots of great resources in the comments if you're having the same trouble!

Best domain registrar

After last week's news of SquareSpace acquiring Google Domains, an anonymous poster created a poll in the group to ask people their favorite domain registrar — and there is a pretty clear winner!.

📰 In Other News 

GenerateBlocks 1.8 (and Pro 1.6) Alphas Are Here!

After spending a little time playing with advanced copies, I put together a video of my top-5 favorite features in the new release (which has left me with little left to complain about!)

The All-in-One Blogging Pack

Join me live next Friday (the 30th) as I talk with Abby about her latest product in the Content Goodies lineup; The All-in-One Blogging pack. Click the link above and hit "notify me" to make sure you're in the loop!

Navigating HIPAA Compliance

Join me live on July 6th as I interview Paul Stoute about HIPAA compliance (and what YOU should know before you get yourself in a pickle!). Register for the call at the link above.

🗒 Accessibility Weekly

This week, Amber talked about the importance of using lists...

Use Lists to Enhance Accessibility

You can join in on the conversation about this topic here, or see all our past Accessibility Weekly articles.

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👋 Before You Go

A couple weeks back I shared a story about one of my long-time client moving to a different developer. I'm pretty sure a big part of that was my lack of communication with them (I mean, no one ever complains about great communication, ammiright?)

With that in mind, and a little inspiration from my TABLE friends, I set up some automations in Airtable that add to-do's to my list to "check in" with every one of my clients every 75 days (at minimum).

The automations only took 30 minutes to set up, the check in emails only take 5 minutes to write — but that consistent communication is invaluable.

It's probably a habit well worth getting into!