You're tuned into the Grant
Business show with Rodney Walker.
Hello, my friend, and welcome
to the Grant Business Show.
I'm your host, Rodney Walker.
Glad to have you here today.
Gonna have a great time.
I believe that today's show is going to be
so awesome that's going to help you to win
in some ways that you haven't won before.
I'm excited because a show like this can
help you to win in ways that maybe
you haven't quite thought that you could win.
And I'm hoping that as we do today
show, that you will see some new opportunities
that you haven't seen in times past.
In fact, today's show is going to be focused on why
your grant business needs to have not just have really have
more a lot more than just a pretty website.
Yes, I want to be sharing with you why you
have to have more than just a pretty website.
And truth be told, a lot of grant professionals that
are doing business, they don't even have a website.
Can you believe that, my friend?
Don't leave yet, okay?
Don't leave just because you may be one of
those that don't have a grant website yet.
You need to listen.
And I want you to hear what I have
to say to you, because if you make this
correction, things can turn around for your business.
This show is a great business show, and it's designed
to do one thing to help your business grow, to
help you to know what you need to do so
that you can begin to win and secure more funds
for yourself as well as for your clients.
I think it's time for us to have these type
of real talks as grant professionals, because if we're going
to do a business and we're going to call ourself
a business, we've got to operate like a business and
do things differently than maybe we've done in time since.
That's why I'm going to be sharing with you some
insight things that I've learned to help you make some
corrections so that you can grow your business.
And today I'm going to share with you that information.
Now let me share with you one thing.
Now, in doing business, a lot of these things that
I'm sharing with you are some mistakes that I made
early on, and I'm sharing with you so you don't
have to make the same mistakes that I've made.
Yes, you can learn from my mistakes and
you can be the benefactor of that.
So here's the first thing I want to share with you.
I've already told you that many
grant professionals don't have a website.
And I think that's a big mistake.
Let me tell you why I think
you need to have a web presence.
Because if you don't have a web
presence, my friend, in essence, you're invisible.
You're who Google says that you
are, in most cases, not 100%.
But you get the point.
If you are invisible and you're grant business.
And I say, okay, great, let me see if
I can find you and I'm in a completely
different state or even in the same state.
But I'm looking and searching for a grant
professional and you don't have a web presence,
a website or something where I can connect
with you, then in essence, you are invisible.
And we want to correct that because we want
to be present so others can find us.
That's one key to them getting on first
base with possibly doing business with you.
Now let's take a look at some other reasons why
you've got to have more than just a pretty website.
The first reason is really kind of simple.
Your website will not be visible if you're
not appearing high within the search engines or
unless you direct traffic to it.
Did you catch what I said?
So you can have a pretty website.
It can have your picture on it, it can have nice
little flowers and all those other little niceties in it.
But if we can't find you and you're
on page twelve when somebody types in grants,
then my friend, the website is up.
It's nice, but no one is coming to you
or unless you direct traffic to that site.
So that was a mistake that I made early on
when I was first starting, I created this gorgeous website.
Oh, it's nice. It was pretty.
It had videos on it, it had a nice
spokesperson on it, it had all these niceties.
However, I wasn't getting business.
People were not finding it.
I had to do some things and I had to start thinking
out of the box and I'm saying to you that you got
to do the same thing if you want people to find you.
Now if you don't want to have anybody find you and you
just want to have a nice website, then go right ahead.
But I want to let you know point
blank that your business does not grow that
way unless you do things differently.
Now if you need somebody to help take
your website or if you need a website
developed, there are some things you can do.
I'll point you to who I use and one
of the services that I have that helps to
take things to the next level that may be
helpful for you over at frontrowseo.com go check that out.
Can help you get your website up ranked higher as
well as on the first page for some keywords as
well as if you don't have a website, it can
develop a nice web presence for you.
Now let's go into that second point that
I think will be important for you.
A pretty website can drive away traffic
unless it communicates professionalism and it properly
communicates your products and services.
Now I've seen a lot of grant websites.
I've been to a lot of them because
we have a number of them over on
igrantwriters.com that are part of our directory.
And we visited many websites from grant professionals.
I mean, literally over 1000.
And I've had a chance to see some
of the websites, some of them truthfully suck.
I'm not trying to be hard, I'm
just trying to be real with you.
They suck and you want to fix this.
And it's good for me to be able to tell you
it sucks so that the people on the end who have
the ability to put monies in your pocket won't have to
be the ones who tell you that by their absence.
So I'm going to share with you the truth so we
can fix the leaks so that you can get more business.
We don't want a website that sucks.
Now, there are a number of
factors that make a website suck.
What do you mean, Rodney?
I'll tell you, some of those factors that
make a website suck is when a website
does not effectively communicate what you're about.
It's so vague.
It shows that you do some of everything.
It shows too many things.
It's not focused, it's not dialed in.
And that can be as harmful, my
friend, as having not enough information.
So we want to make sure that we communicate properly.
And that's why I'm going to encourage you
to get some other eyes on your site.
And by other eyes, I mean get some
other people to truthfully look at your website.
That may be a friend, you may have a
friend or co-worker or someone that you trust
that you can ask them about your site.
Now, some people won't be honest with you.
And that's why you got to sometimes step out of
the box and get somebody who's going to be honest
with you, whether that be a consultant, whether that be
a coach, whether that be an advisor, somebody that you
trust that can talk to you about your website.
Now, if you don't have any eyes on
your website, you just say, Rodney, I
need some additional eyes on my website.
Reach out to my friends and I my team and we'll
take a look at it and we'll be honest with you.
We'll say, hey, yes, this is good.
No, we need to improve this over here.
And more importantly, my friend, I think just getting some
other people to help you can be a significant advantage
for you because I'll be honest with you.
So many grant professionals are out here and they're
operating like they're on some island all by themselves.
I've said it before, I'll say it again.
Some of them are acting
like they're on Gilligan's Island.
And the Skipper, the Professor, Mary Anne,
nobody else is there just Gilligan.
And I don't want you Gilligan
out around here, my friend.
I want you to grow your business and you got to
get some eyes on what you're doing so we can improve
what you're doing so that we can correct and make the
adjustment so that we can grow your business.
People are waiting for you.
They just can't find you.
They found you.
But they turned away because they didn't think
that you were professional as you can be.
That's something that is fixable.
That's the beautiful thing. It's fixable.
We can fix it.
You will fix it.
That's why I'm encouraging you, my friend, to be brave.
I want you to be bold here.
It takes a little boldness to
start correcting things that are wrong.
So be brave, be bold and then be brilliant.
Use the head.
The head is up there for a reason.
It's more than just a hatrack.
So let's make the adjustments.
Make the corrections, my friend,
I'm here to support you.
I'm here to help you.
So reach out to my team and I we look
forward to helping you to grow a successful business.
And until next time, my friend, be brave, be bold,
be brilliant and take charge. On my next show,
I'll be sharing with you why your grant
business needs to have a team to succeed. Big.
I'll see you soon.
Have a great one and remember take charge.