Designing Out Cost
Some people talk about reducing cost and increasing productivity. Most people think this comes from grinding down suppliers. Smart people know that the best and most effective way to reduce cost is to look at the whole design. In this video Sandy Munro who has spent a lifetime in the automotive industry gives an example of how they engineered costs out the production of cars amongst many other products.
Sandy Munro highlights how Elon Musk who has revolutionised the design and production of cars, by bringing in new and innovative production methods. Working smarter rather than harder is the best way to increase productivity. The same principles apply to any processes.
Sadly the UK is very slow to look at the whole process preferring to grind down suppliers – which turns out to be the least effective way to reduce cost.
How This Applies To Websites…
When it comes to websites and promoting those, frequently Google Adwords is the obvious choice. When things are not going well it is not a question of tweaking the bid on an individual word but rather the whole website design needs a major overhaul, and then the Google Adwords needs re-targeting.
Initially that might seem overkill – but it will almost certainly boost your chances of coming up in Google organic searches as well as making it easier to target Google Adwords.
Having run very successful Google Adwords campaigns and reviewed less successful campaigns for clients, the principles which apply in building better cars – apply to websites, one has to look at the whole issue not a tiny part to achieve success. That is the bit nobody at Google tells you.
Part 2 Essentially smart people engineer problems out of design. Not so smart people look for who to blame when things do not go well. What applies to making cars applies to all processes in life.
If you like contrast, compare aircraft safety V The NHS, and the difference in approach between the two. The obvious difference; when a pilot screws up he is going to suffer the consequences along with the passengers, when a hospital has a problem they have plenty more patients queuing up outside to get in.
Search Engine Optimisation – SEO
This is very much like car parts – it is easy not to see the hidden cost of a decision. Companies which suggest you can build your own website in just a few clicks – sadly do not mention that you need to know everything there is to know about SEO before you have a chance of achieving the same results.
They keep quiet about factors which have a big impact on where you come up in Google.
They tell you all the upsides but do not point out any of the pitfalls.
Automotive trouble shooter Sandy Munro has a great phrase “do not save me any money I can’t afford it” i.e. do not get someone to supply a cheaper car component than the current supplier. If that component fails – it could cause the whole vehicle to fail. The same goes for that “cheap” website someone at the company built for you, which looks OK on the surface but lacks the ingredients Google likes.
Of course one can always rebuild a website but that means doing a job twice.
