People are always asking me to show them examples of great websites. Today, I’m announcing the best speaking-expert website contest!
See below to nominate your favorite website or your own site.
PRIZES
1. First prize wins the title of Best Speaking-Expert Website which includes announcement to Jane’s list of 5000+ speakers and bureau agents (ie: exposure).
2. Best website will be promoted on Jane’s blog for up to 6 months.
3. The person who nominates the winning website (even if it’s their own) will receive either a one hour marketing makeover coaching call with Jane Atkinson OR 5 copies of The Wealthy Speaker to “pay it forward” to other speakers.
REVIEW CRITERIA AND THEN COMMENT BELOW IN THE “SPEAK YOUR MIND” SECTION
TO SUBMIT A WEBSITE FOR REVIEW. DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE THE WEBSITE URL!
(Comments make take a day to be posted).
Contest closes October 30th, 2009.
The winning website will be revealed by November 15th based on the criteria set out by Jane and her expert panel.
CONTEST CRITERIA: The winning website will demonstrate the following:
1. “Bookability” is the topic/expertise in demand?
2. A clear and distinct promise (outcome for client)
3. Unique positioning or brand
4. Innovative site
5. Video that sells
6. Easy to navigate
7. Evident credibility – ”expert first” positioning
8. Decision maker friendly (has what they need)
PANEL MEMBERS:
Jane Atkinson – Author of The Wealthy Speaker, Coach
Joe Calloway – Author of Becoming a Category of One
Marsha Friedman – PR Expert, Owner of EMSE, a public relations firm.
Brian Palmer, Owner, National Speakers Bureau
Kris Young, VP of Martin Bastion Productions Speakers Bureau
NOTE: IF YOU ARE REVIEWING THE WEBSITES BELOW, AND DON’T SEE A LIVE LINK IN THE BODY OF THE COMMENT, YOU CAN CLICK ON THE AUTHOR’S NAME TO SEE THEIR SITE.
Tags: Best speaking expert website, Speaker Marketing, top speaker websites
We have just launched our new Blue Light Labs site and are in search for a good speaker to take the place of our old burnt out one from 8 years ago – other wise looking for comments for sure. I am not much of a speaker amongst large groups but have no problem with large Webinars..
Be in touch,
Markus..
I hope its not too late to enter http://www.brucekeithresults.com Bruce Keith’s new website. We designed the site, are hosting it and created a fully branded social media platform for him including Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube (his own channel), Facebook and LinkedIn. Thanks Jane!
Sure, go for it!
Jane, I’m far from shame, self-promtion is a must when you’ve been through the kind of self-made hell I was once trapped in.
My life has been non-traditonal and so is my site…looking forward to any feed back, as I remain out here touching lives in these trenches!—-CherylRich.com
Hi Jane. One more to consider. (Sorry if you got this more than once. I think Im having PC/Mac issues.)
http://www.StopLaughter.com
Dave
Hi Jane,
I **JUST** finished reading THE WEALTHY SPEAKER. Wow. You did such an amazing job of laying out exactly what a speaker needs to do to make it into that top 3%. Thanks to your wisdom, I can already see a number of additional things I’d like to do to my website (most notably adding a discrete 5-10 minute demo reel that sells… versus the individual clips to national TV appearances and speeches that I currently have). In the meantime, I’d love to submit to you and your expert panel what I do have – a focus on promise, outcome, and expert first.
http://www.ManishaThakor.com
Thank you so much for sharing your always insightful thought on your blog… and looking forward to hearing you speak and learning more from you at NSA in November!
With gratitude,
Manisha
Ms Atkinson
I understand that you are evaluating speaker websites.
I would like to “nominate” one.
http://sweeneyspeaks.com/
Thank you.
Walter Rifkin
Thank you for the opportunity.
Sincerely,
Brian
I’d like to nominate award-winning author, speaker, and employment attorney Jathan Janove’s website http://www.jathanjanove.com. It’s a content-rich B2B site that hits home on promise, mission, and deliverables.
Thanks for all of your input to my site. Have a look and see what you think.
I’d like to submit http://www.braudcommunications.com for review and entry into the contest.
Great idea, Jane! I know we’ll all learn a lot from your feedback and the comments of the other judges. http://www.triciamolloy.com
Would you consider featuring a few “runner ups” so we can see more good sites?
Does your feedback inspire or create self-doubt? Current mission: Helping people to offer and ask for powerful inspiring Feedback. Are you ready? It’s time to harvest inspiration… Visit: http://www.readytofeedback.com.
Just launched the (blog) site in September to establish myself as an expert first. Building the “speaker aspect” into it, is part of my next phase. Although early to submit amongst this seasoned group, I thought I would join in and submit.
Thanks for the opportunity Jane, and I agree – Great Contest.
Sonia
Hi Jane,
I noticed my post didn’t actually display my speaking site. Here you just in case there is any confusion. http://www.jackiesavicannon.com.
Thanks again for the opportunity.
Jackie Savi-Cannon
I am very proud of my website as it is a multimedia experience. I have a great creative team that has provided me with my speaker site which connects seamlessly into my online subscription portal site, http://www.rnrprogram.com. The site is interactive and guides the user to find the information they are looking for. It has a contemporary look that I feel projects my style of presentation. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks for the opportunity.
Jackie Savi-Cannon
Hey Jane–
You once asked to use my site as an example for one of your NSA programs and I hope you meant as a “GOOD example”–:) So, please enter it in the “Created for under $2K” category! http://www.PositiveZone.net
Thanks for this great idea-
Susan
Jane, great idea for a contest that is truly beneficial to those of us who desire professional speaking as our full time calling. I would like to nominate Scott Ginsberg of http://www.hellomynameisscott.com. His branding is phenomenal. His topics on making your self more approachable is genius in my opinion. I would also like to nominate Janet Drez of http://www.OctopusFaith.com. She is a Christian speaker. Her website makes me want to hear anything she has to say. I’m in the infant stages of my business and still have LOTS to learn. I will be paying close attention to who the winners will be. I would like to give my site a makeover in 2010.
Hi Jane. Great idea. As a speakers bureau we see a lot of websites. Here’s a few our team agrees are effective speaker websites:
Jim Harris – http://www.jimharris.com
Jim Carroll – http://www.jimcarroll.com
Peter Sheahan – http://www.petersheahan.com
Looking forward to your results.
Theresa
Jane,
I don’t want to miss out on this contest! I took YOUR advice when redesigning my website and am anxious to know how I did! I nominate http://www.RobinJay.com. I designed it to primarily support myself as a speaker; secondarily as a coach. It just went LIVE this week – I am aware of a glitch or two, so please forgive. Hopefully, by the time you and the judges review, they will have been ironed out. It’s THAT NEW!
Thank you for your thoughtful help; I hope I have succeeded in creating the best speaker site, as I’d love the e-mail blast and some books to pay it forward. Thank you ~ Robin
I would like to nominate my own site: http://www.howardmann.com
Thanks Jane!
enough said….
Hi Y’all… I Just did a MAJOR overhaul of my site. Happy to throw it in the ring. Thanks for the putting this together. Great idea!
Jane, Thanks for hosting this contest. I just learned about you from a fellow speaker and am starting to work through your very helpful material for speakers. While my website doesn’t have all the winning elements yet, I look forward to visiting and learning from the websites that are entered into the contest.
It’s WALDO all the way. http://www.YourWingman.com It’s not only a great looking site, he’s booking 100+ programs a year, so this guy’s got his act together. Even his writing is fantastic. One of his most recent ezines was on “Speed is Life.” The true story was gripping and his solutions and applications to business were great.
I nominate http://www.confluenceworks.com it’s not only speakers but the speakers are a big part of the business
For “Your Stepping Stones to Success” — http://www.rogermaxwell.com
I would like to join in on the fun and comradery!!
Great idea Jane
I nominate my website http://www.astringofhope.com
Jane, I would like to nominate three websites for you to consider. These are all so good: http://www.ScottMcKain.com, http://www.BattleyInc.com and http://www.LindaSwindling.com.
I nominate http://www.janastanfield.com and http://www.artistryofchange.com.
I nominate http://www.youthspeakers.org
http://www.asksuelondon.com another great site!
I nominate http://www.karenzizzo.com. Her site is fresh, and visually captures her essence! New videos are coming soon.
I nominate Nancy Duarte http://blog.duarte.com/ which is hard to miss if you ever plan to speak in public using slides.
I nominate, Jeff Hornstein and his site, http://www.thespeakerschoice.com. Jeff’s firm is a national communications training company and he has done a great job incorporating video into his website.
My website is much improved since it was first set up. The order page works well for buyers as does the ability to order through PayPal. My line of business is very much a niche market that looks for fairly traditional, easy-to-read pages – nothing flashy.
Ok…I know I already posted for my site http://www.IntentionalSuccess.org but I did not include the site url in the post. I put it on the form, but after reading others here, I thought I would comply!
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
sounds like you are talking about Scott Klososky of klososky.com. Just a coincidence that i know him. really, that, and i am here for some reason.
I vote for me! I think I have a awesome website.
Because my shamelessness knows no bounds, I’ll toss mine in as well.
This is a great idea Jane. Surely we will all benefit from both the process and results. I’d like to nominate Dan Thurmon’s website. No need for superlatives. The website speaks for itself. http://www.danthurmon.com/
I would like to nominate the Web site http://www.prospeakingne.com for its simple elegance and ease of use. Appeal and utility all start with empathy, as well evidenced here.
I love Victoria’s Labalme’s website – there’s absolutely nothing out there like it, because it reflects who she is, and no one else.
It’s inventive, original, fun, light, entertaining, quirky, imaginative, smart, and loving. You can’t model it – because it only fits her.
By the way, it’s very different from her old website which looked like all the others. It looks like with this site, she took the time to get it right , and probably designed it herself, because it’s got her original art work on it.
I vote for Waldo Waldman’s site at http://www.yourwingman.com — it “pops” with a strong brand, has great content, videos and is functional and useful at every level explored.
I’m nominating Steven S. Little site. Yes, I do work for Steve. It’s an effective selling tool for Team Little and more importantly it’s an effective selling tool for speakers bureaus. The site brings Steve into a conference planner’s office.
Hi there my name is David Dalka (http://www.daviddalka.com), I’m a business & marketing speaker on how search marketing and ecommerce strategy are radically changing organizations and their profitability. I’m currently doing a web site rebuild, but I don’t think it’ll be ready by the deadline. However, I would warmly welcome getting to know anyone participating in this thread as I’m near an inflection point in my speaking and in the end it’s all about relationships. Thank you.
http://www.daviddalka.com/createvalue/contact/
I would like to nominate:
David Meerman Scott http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/
I nominate Jim Cathcart’s website http://www.cathcart.com
I nominate Pen Hadow’s site for its emotional impact, clarity and professionalism.
http://www.penhadow.com/
Hello Jane,
I’d like to nominate Michael Podolinsky CSP’s website at http://www.michaelpodolinsky.com
It’s simple and informative. The site is run by Joomla (an open source content management system) where end users can make changes to the content of the site easily without the help of a webmaster. It also has a subscription form for building email list. It helps to build rapport and loyalty with subscribers and potential customers. Tks!
For the latest in speaker propaganda, I mean marketing go to: http://www.AndyCore.com
I vote for Waldo Waldman’s website http://www.yourwingman.com. It’s a first class example of branding. It’s great looking site, simple and functional, and makes good use of his video clips. One of the best looking sites I’ve seen. A classic site for a pure keynoter!
I’ll throw mine into the mix! http://www.eBootCampBook.com
great idea – and love the content Jane!
all the best, corey
http://www.barbaramerola.com
This project of mine started 10 months ago and the website is constantly being tweaked, limited by time and my patience with all the “techy” stuff. Because I am a new entry, I have to nominate myself. Sorry. Even if I get some feedback from others, I will walk away winning, something !
TDK of TDKtalksTM
Hi Jane
Although Simply J.P. is a vocalist as well as a speaker, I am submitting her website for consideration because I like what I see, it’s simple and informative. http://www.simplyjpmusic.com.
I love Karyn’s site…..fun, colorful, informative, cutting edge…..
I would like to nominate Jeff Yalden’s website. I found it very informative. I have however been on many of the sites in this blog and I find them all very good. Keep up the good work folks.
I vote for my husband’s website of course:
http://www.NickBontis.com
By the way, be sure to check out the special testimonial we have for Jane!!! See here:
http://www.NickBontis.com/jane.htm
Great to always hear from you Jane.
Cheers, Stacy Bontis
I would like to nominate one of the speakers I manage – Ray Saint. This is a great idea and I look forward to seeing some killer websites!
Hi Jane, I love shameless publicity!
http://www.samsantiago.com
http://www.risingabovellc.com
Jane,
Hope you’re doing well. Love the contest idea! And, yes, I’m also submitting my own (brand new) website for consideration, http://www.HealthcareHumor.com. It’s only been up for a short while, but it’s been generating lots of new leads for me.
Jane,
I guess I got my site completed just n time — I would like to nominate my site http://www.TeamsRock.com for your latest contest. Thanks for all of your help and I wish you continued success
Gregg Gregory, CSP
I’ll throw my hat into the ring. http://www.tonyjohnsononline.com contains not only video interaction, but also free video and audio feeds that help individuals and companies excel in the area of client satisfaction and business growth.
Nomination: “The Accidental Communicator” at http://www.TheAccidentalCommunicator.com
Why? Well, full disclosure requires me to say that it’s my site; however, since the contest is for “The Best Speaking Expert Website” than this one should be in the running. It’s a stripped down blog that all about making it to the next level in your speaking career — let’s get over that fear of speaking thing and move on to finding ways to actually connect with the audience. If nothing else the site gets credit for consistency and content — it’s updated with new speaking tips that you can use immediately every week. Take a look and vote away…!
As I enter the realm of shameless self promotion, I am submitting my own website. http://www.dataprivacynetwork.com
I am submitting my own site simply because I am hoping to get some feedback on it! I love my website however I’ve just realised that a new perspective is exactly what I need to make it the “best-ever-fantabulous” website in the whole world.
Great idea Jane!
Rolande
happy to throw my own hat in the ring!
Garr Reynolds’ site is captivating!
http://www.garrreynolds.com/
Hello Jane, I’m going to submit my own website http://www.sylvieverleye.be as well. Athough it is important to know that I am a Belgian ‘contestant’. This means that my site is in Dutch and English with a slight extra in Dutch as most of my clients are Dutch speaking.
Kind regards, Sylvie
Hello Jane, I’m going to submit my own website as well. Athough it is important to know that I am a Belgian ‘contestant’. This means that my site is in Dutch and English with a slight extra in Dutch as most of my clients are Dutch speaking.
http://www.garrreynolds.com/
Have to nominate one of my favorite speakers, especially with his use of video clips on the site: Bill Acheson, http://www.keynotesusa.com/
Who knew that an eNewsletter blast to Susan Fletcher, Ph.D.’s entire database would come up with so many ideas? After developing Susan’s new website we sent out a “sneak peek” eNewsletter asking for comments on her new website design. We received tons of comments, ideas and recommendations (Whew!) and this newsletter had the highest open rate in 3 years.
I would love for Susan’s website http://www.fletcherphd.com to win your website contest. We saved your November 20, 2008 email blast “Is Your Promise Clear, Concise and Cha-Ching” to use as a guideline with the web designers earlier this year. Thanks, Jane!
Zan
I will submit Toni Newman newest website http://www.toninewman.com . This is a beautifully built website that show more than her expertise but also it reflects her personnality.
I have reviewed many speaker websites and one of the best in my opinion is Mark Sanborn’s. Well placed testimonials, call to action, demo video, and marketing theme.
Kelly Marsh
Marketing Director
Klemmer & Associates
http://www.Klemmer.com
My clients tell me that find my site useful and easy to use. And they should … given that Jane, you gave me the insights and advice on what it should include when we designed it. Good to connect with you again … even if it is through a contest!
… Merge, http://www.mergespeaks.com
Speaking of shameless self-promotion, I hereby nominate my site!
http://www.garyminor.com
Jane, Of course I am going to submit my own site. Although I am constantly in development stages to make my site the best it can be, I believe it is a great site! Why? Because it gets me business!!! Since my time with you and our talks, I have taken your advise and been able to truly make things happen! I hope you enjoy my site.
Ditto what Jason said on shameless self-promotion!
http://www.MotivationalSmartAss.com/speakerinfo
Avish Parashar, Motivational Smart Ass
“Unleashing Brilliance by Observing Idiocy…”
Hi Jane, you have told me for years that I have a great site, it brings me a wonderful amount of business and clients say how much they loved going through it. It gives potential buyers a good example of what they will get if they book one of my programs. I would love an hour of your expertise time if I win.
Linda
Mark Gungor’s site is engaging and very easy to navigate. http://www.markgungor.com
I am a Youth Empowerment Expert and my website clear defines my promise statement to, “Teach Real Methods To Help Young People Overcome Real Problems”. It’s a clean site that’s easy for meeting planners to navigate. It focuses on a particular audience and there is little confusion about what I do. I encourage everyone to vote for http://www.altonjamison.com! Thanks for your vote and Stay Positive!
Shameless self promotion! You don’t ask, you don’t get…