David Leder David Leder

Stop Chasing Page Views: Focus on What Actually Converts

You don’t need more traffic. You need better results from the traffic you already have.

Too many businesses obsess over page views, sessions, and bounce rates—metrics that look good on a dashboard but rarely correlate to revenue. If your website gets 100,000 visits a month but none of those visitors fill out a form, schedule a demo, or contact you, what’s the point?

Vanity Metrics: The Comfort Food of Web Analytics

Page views and sessions feel good because they’re easy to track. But they rarely reflect business value. These metrics tell you someone landed on your site—not whether they understood your offering, trusted your brand, or took action.

It’s like counting how many people walk past your store without caring whether anyone walked in or bought something.

CRO: The Metric That Actually Moves the Needle

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the practice of improving your site’s ability to turn visitors into leads, customers, or subscribers. Unlike page views, CRO is tied directly to outcomes that impact your bottom line.

Good CRO doesn’t just mean flashy A/B tests. It’s about:

  • Making sure your CTAs are clear and relevant

  • Designing forms that don’t scare people away

  • Aligning your content with user intent

When done well, even modest increases in your conversion rate can have a bigger impact than doubling your traffic.

What You Should Be Tracking Instead

Forget page views for a minute. Focus on these instead:

  • Form completion rate – Are people starting and finishing your forms?

  • Qualified lead volume – Are the right people reaching out?

  • Conversion paths – What content or pages actually lead to conversions?

Tools like GA4, HubSpot, Hotjar, or even simple form tracking can give you this data—but only if you’re set up correctly. If your analytics aren’t capturing form submissions, you're flying blind.

Quick Wins to Improve Your Website’s Conversions

Here are three simple things you can do this week:

  1. Reduce friction on your forms

  2. Do you really need 10 fields? Try cutting it in half and see what happens.

  3. Make your CTAs obvious

  4. Don’t bury your “Schedule a Demo” button at the bottom of a wall of text.

  5. Match the message to the moment

If someone’s reading a product overview, offer a demo—not a generic newsletter signup.

The Bottom Line

Traffic is only valuable if it leads to something meaningful. Instead of asking how many people visited your site, ask what they did once they got there.

If you’re ready to move beyond vanity metrics and start optimizing for real business outcomes, I can help. Let’s take a look at your site’s performance and make sure your forms, funnels, and data are all working toward the same goal: growth.

Contact Me to get started.

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David Leder David Leder

Building a Productivity System That Actually Works

Introduction

Most productivity systems fail—and it’s not because you picked the wrong app.

We’ve all been there: you download a sleek new to-do list app, color-code your calendar, and feel like a new era of organization has arrived. But two weeks later? You’re back to sticky notes, mental reminders, and missed deadlines.

The real issue isn’t your tools—it’s the lack of a system that fits *you*.

In this post, I’ll walk you through **five foundational principles** for building a productivity framework that’s flexible, sustainable, and works with any toolset (or no tools at all).

Start With Purpose, Not Tools

The backwards approach

Starting with apps or templates before knowing what you need is a recipe for failure.

Define your “what” first:

  • What are your key responsibilities?

  • What goals are you working toward?

  • What tasks repeat every week?

Choose tools based on your needs.

A project manager and a creative freelancer don’t need the same setup.

✅ *Tip: The perfect tool for someone else might be terrible for you.*

Create a Complete Capture System

The mental load problem

Scattered inputs = constant low-level anxiety.

Your goal: One trusted place where everything lands initially—work tasks, personal reminders, ideas, errands.

Examples of capture methods:

  • Voice memos on the go

  • Notes during meetings

  • Emailing yourself quick thoughts

📥 Visual Suggestion: Insert image of a single "inbox" or task list with varied items (groceries, project ideas, reminders).*

When you trust your system to catch everything, your mind is free to focus.

Transform Vague Tasks Into Clear Actions

The “organize closet” problem

Vague tasks don’t get done. Clear actions do.

Use the deliverable test:

Break projects into bite-sized, result-oriented steps.

Example:

❌ Plan vacation

✅ Research flights to Denver

✅ Book hotel for 3 nights

✅ Draft itinerary in Google Docs

Action verbs make all the difference:

Call, write, review, send, schedule, draft, research.

🕒 Bonus: Clear actions are easier to time-block and complete.

Build Your Follow-Up System

Delegation ≠ completion

Handing something off doesn’t mean you can forget it.

You need a “Waiting For” list:

Track what others owe you—proposals, emails, tasks.

When to follow up:

  • After 3–5 business days

  • End of week status checks

  • Calendar reminders for big deliverables

This builds accountability—and better working relationships.

📬 Visual Suggestion: Add a table or checklist for tracking pending responses.

Implement Regular Review Cycles

Yesterday’s plan might not fit today.

Without reviews, your system turns into digital clutter. Build a rhythm:

Weekly Reviews

  • Clean up completed tasks

  • Reprioritize for the week

  • Update your calendar and goals

Monthly/Quarterly Reviews

  • Reassess big projects

  • Refine long-term goals

  • Drop or defer outdated tasks

✂️ Permission: You’re allowed to delete tasks that no longer matter.

Reviews = course correction before things go off track.

Conclusion

These five principles work best *together*. They’re tool-agnostic, flexible, and adaptable—whether you prefer Notion, paper planners, Todoist, or sticky notes.

Start small.

Pick one principle and implement it this week.

Call to Action:

🧠 Take 15 minutes to audit your current system. Are you capturing everything? Do you have a follow-up list? Is your task list full of vague projects?

This is how sustainable productivity starts—not with a new app, but with the right foundation.

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David Leder David Leder

Why Your Team Needs a Password Manager

Sharing login credentials across a team might seem simple—until it isn’t. Maybe a teammate doesn’t have access to a shared account. Or a key login is tied to someone who just left the company. Or perhaps your go-to workaround—emailing passwords or dropping them into a chat thread—suddenly feels a little reckless.

If you’ve run into any of these situations, you’re not alone. Managing passwords at a team level can quickly become a headache without the right system in place.

The Risks of Going Without

Not every platform supports Single Sign-On (SSO), which means your team often needs to share a single username and password. But when credentials are passed around informally, they’re hard to track and even harder to secure. If only one person has access, the rest of the team is stuck. And if that person leaves, you could lose access entirely.

Worse, sharing passwords through unencrypted messages or spreadsheets opens the door to serious security vulnerabilities.

What a Password Manager Actually Does

A password manager is a secure, centralized tool that stores and encrypts your passwords. You access everything through a single master password, and many tools sync across devices so you’re never locked out. They also generate strong, unique passwords—meaning you don’t have to remember them or worry about reusing the same one over and over.

For individuals, these features are a convenience. For teams, they’re a necessity.

Why Teams Need a Dedicated Solution

When you use a password manager built for teams, everything gets easier—and more secure. You can organize credentials into groups (think Marketing, Engineering, Finance) and control exactly who has access to what. Sharing is encrypted and seamless. Adding a new team member is as simple as assigning them to a group. If someone leaves, their access is revoked instantly—no need to reset every account they touched.

It’s a far cry from trying to remember who has which password, or hoping someone left instructions behind.

The Bottom Line

A team password manager is one of the simplest upgrades you can make to protect your organization’s tools and data. It keeps login credentials secure, ensures everyone has the access they need, and eliminates the panic that sets in when no one can find the password.

If your team is still relying on spreadsheets, Slack threads, or memory, now’s the time to make a change. Your future self will thank you.

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David Leder David Leder

Garbage In, Garbage Out: How to Write Prompts That Actually Deliver

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity are quickly becoming part of everyday workflows for IT professionals, web teams, and project managers. But the quality of what you get from these tools depends on something deceptively simple: how you ask for it.

A well-crafted prompt can turn AI from a generic assistant into a strategic collaborator. Whether you're planning a migration, drafting documentation, or structuring your next sprint, your prompt is the blueprint. In this post, we'll explore how to write smarter prompts--so you can stop fixing AI's mistakes and start building faster, with more confidence.

Section 1: Why Prompts Matter

In the world of AI, the old saying still applies: garbage in, garbage out. The quality of what you get from AI depends entirely on the clarity of your prompt. For IT, web, and project management professionals, this makes prompt writing a vital skill.

Whether you're debugging code, creating documentation, or generating a task list, a clear, structured prompt can save hours of time.

Think of prompts like giving instructions to a smart, fast-learning intern. If you say, "make a to-do list," you'll get something. But if you say, "Create a detailed task list for a web migration project, including dependencies, and format it for project management software," you'll get something you can actually use.

The difference? Clarity, context, and intent.

Here's an example using a web migration outline:

Vague prompt:

"Make a to-do list from this outline."

AI response:

  1. Plan migration

  2. Review content

  3. Migrate pages

  4. QA

  5. Launch

Improved prompt:

"Based on this outline, create a detailed task list for a website migration project. Include to-dos, dependencies, and group them by phase. Assume this is for a small internal marketing team. Format the output so it can be copied into a project management tool."

AI response:

  • Phase 1: Planning

    • Inventory current site content

    • Finalize new site structure (depends on content inventory)

    • Coordinate with dev team on CMS setup

  • Phase 2: Migration

    • Prepare content templates

    • Begin content migration (depends on CMS setup)

    • Validate formatting and functionality

  • Phase 3: Testing

    • Conduct QA (depends on content migration)

    • Cross-browser testing

    • Fix issues

  • Phase 4: Launch

    • Schedule launch

    • Deploy site

    • Monitor feedback and analytics

This output is clean, actionable, and directly usable--because the prompt was, too.

Section 2: Types of Prompts That Deliver

Clear prompts come in many styles, and each serves a different purpose depending on your task:

Instructional Prompts

Direct and goal-focused.

Example: "Create a checklist for launching a new internal tool, including stakeholder communication and training steps."

Role-Based Prompts

Assign the AI a persona to match tone and priorities.

Example: "Act as a technical project manager and write a kickoff agenda for a cross-functional web team."

Iterative Prompts

Use multiple passes to refine the result.

Example: "List the top five pain points users have with our current dashboard. Then suggest a solution for each."

Format-Driven Prompts

Get structured output for easier use.

Example: "Present the following data as a markdown table with task, owner, and due date columns."

Self-Refining Prompts

When you're unsure what to ask, prompt the AI to help you define the request.

Example: "Ask me the questions you need to help build a detailed knowledge base article."

This turns the interaction into a true back-and-forth, leading to sharper prompts and better results.

Section 3: Using Context to Guide the AI

AI is powerful, but it's not psychic. It doesn't know your audience, your goals, your team size, or your tools--unless you tell it. That's where context comes in.

Even a few lines of background can dramatically improve the results. For instance, instead of:

"Write a checklist for a CMS launch,"

try:

"Write a checklist for a CMS launch for a marketing team of five. The site has 80 pages, we're moving from WordPress to Webflow, and launch is in four weeks."

That extra context helps the AI tailor the checklist to your exact situation. You can also include things like:

  • Team size and roles

  • Technical stack

  • Deadlines or timelines

  • Audience (execs, engineers, clients, etc.)

  • Tone or formatting preferences

Context isn't overkill--it's your prompt's secret weapon

Section 4: Avoid Overloading--Build Step by Step

Trying to get everything in one go is a common misstep. "Build a full project plan, write documentation, create training slides, and generate test cases" is a lot to expect from a single prompt. You'll often get rushed, unfocused output.

Instead, treat your AI session like a collaborative work session. Start small:

  1. "List the major phases of a site redesign."

  2. "Now break down the content migration phase into specific tasks."

  3. "Format those tasks into a table with owners and estimated durations."

Each step generates usable output you can apply right away--before moving on to the next. This approach not only improves quality, it also gives you checkpoints to guide the conversation and make adjustments.

When you treat prompting as an iterative build process, AI becomes a partner in execution--not just a one-time tool.

Conclusion: Prompting Is a Skill--And It Pays Off

Using AI effectively isn't about being clever. It's about being clear. The difference between mediocre and outstanding output often comes down to just a few words of direction, context, or formatting.

As AI tools become more integrated into professional workflows, the ability to write thoughtful prompts is becoming just as important as knowing how to use the tools themselves. Start small, layer in context, build step by step--and let the AI do what it does best: help you work faster, smarter, and with more confidence.

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David Leder David Leder

Welcome to David Leder Consulting: Your Partner in Digital Success and Organizational Excellence

I'm excited to announce the launch of my new website, David Leder Consulting!

Designed with you in mind, this new digital home showcases the services I offer to help businesses, teams, and individuals thrive in today’s fast-paced world.

With more than two decades of experience leading web, project management, and digital innovation initiatives, I bring a practical, results-driven approach to every engagement. Whether you’re looking to enhance your online presence, optimize internal processes, leverage AI tools, or simply stay better organized, I’m here to help.

Here’s a closer look at the services I offer:

  • Web Services
    From website management and optimization to digital strategy and content updates, I help organizations keep their web presence polished, professional, and effective.

  • Project Management
    Need help moving projects forward with greater efficiency and clarity? I provide project leadership, process creation, and project execution support to help you deliver results faster and smarter.

  • AI Implementation and Training
    Artificial intelligence is reshaping business. I offer tailored coaching and support to help you integrate AI tools into your workflows — increasing productivity, streamlining operations, and giving you a competitive edge.

  • Personal Organization Services
    Overwhelmed by tasks and systems? I offer productivity consulting, helping individuals and teams create simple, sustainable organization systems that drive better outcomes.

At David Leder Consulting, I believe that every business deserves the right partner to help them grow, adapt, and succeed.

If you’re ready to take the next step, I’d love to learn more about your goals — and how I can help you reach them.

Visit my new website today and let’s start building your success story.

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