Resisting the irresistible…. or how NOT to be a victim of a really great sales letter.
I got an email from a client on a new service that promises it will do the following:
- It gets you traffic to you blog
- It adds relevant content to your Blog
- It ads (their spelling, not mine) new and constantly changing content
- It makes your visitors happy
- It is 100% F.ree
- It is easy to use (all you need is a blog or website)
- There is NO up-sell or after sign up offer
This is TRULY a case of an INSPIRED marketing piece. The offer is truly irresistible.
The product truly promises to solve a myriad of problems faced by the typical web site or blog owner.
However, it’s only an irresistible if you DO NOT KNOW how Google works.
Here is my response:
There is a thing for which Google will penalize your site and it’s called "duplicate content".
What that means is that if the content that shows up on YOUR site is showing up on other sites as well, Google has to make a choice on WHICH content it will feature. If you’re lucky, and it’s YOUR content being featured on other sites, Google will recognize YOUR content as the originator and your content will be featured while the other copies are doomed to the "supplemental index" (Google’s version of Hell.)
Knowing this bit of information will help you to understand the glaring FLAW in the product’s business model.
From a marketing stand point…. it’s brilliant. He’s addressing EVERY blog owner’s deepest desires:
- Effortless quality content
- Effortless quality visitors
- All of the above delivered for free.
However, while this product will probably be a HUGE success for the developer…it will do little for the countless throngs who sign up to allow him to syndicate his content via their blog. Those who sign up should not be surprised if adding his content to their site does NOTHING for their traffic or their customers.
I guess that’s why my clients have me on retainer, to help them see BEYOND the hype!
In this case, learn from a truly BRILLIANT marketing piece. It does a MAGNIFICENT job of defining a problem and presenting a solution. Not only is it brilliantly crafted, but it was then TIGHTLY targeted to a mailing list filled with web site and blog owners who signed up to learn more about marketing their small business via the internet.
I always tell my clients to look at what artists like this are DOING to promote their product instead of getting caught up in the sales frenzy being generated. Watch their feet, don’t listen to the song!
You’d better shop around BEFORE you begin development of your web site
Long ago, I used to hold free teleclass es to showcase my knowledge of web development to potential clients. Back in those days, my classes were extremely popular and the question I would be asked most often was this:
"What can we, as potential clients do to prepare for the development of our web site."
I wish I could remember what my answer was at the time because I recently I’ve begun a similar journey.
I’m preparing to launch a project of my own and because the platform is unique and very dissimilar to what my company specializes in, it is far more efficient for me to hire an outside firm to do the development of my new site than it is for me to build the project in house. As a result, I’m finding myself sitting in the client’s seat and I’m doing everything I can to minimize the stress on the developer’s on the other side of the table.
For now, I find I’m battling the same demons my clients must face in the launch of their own web sites.
First, I’m plagued with doubt. Because I’m not familiar with the platform they will be using, how do I KNOW these developers really KNOW what they say they know? My background is FILLED with instances of hiring someone who CLAIMED to be capable, only to discover that they had SERIOUSLY overestimated their own abilities.
Combine that with the fact that suddenly, EVERYONE I know is a self-proclaimed expert on what my new web site should offer! From the graphic artist to my sister’s best friend’s neighbor, EVERYONE wants to include their "2 cents" on the project.
Having been on the development side of the process, I am very familiar with the syndrom. However, unlike a few of my former clients, I have chosen to step back, clarify the project and then move forward. Those clients, instead of filtering the advice and selectively applying it to their project, would pepper me with change requests….
- My son’s girlfriend’s step mother says the site should be brick-red instead of light red.
- My son’s girlfriend says the font is too large.
- My mother-in-law says the font is too small.
- Henry, the guy who delivers my dry cleaning says that the right meta-tags will cause the site to appear in every search done on Google for the next ten years.
However, because I have been on the OTHER side… sitting there with a site template in my hand, faxed from the client saying it was approved, only to have the entire site torn apart by a well meaning friend/relative…. when I began getting that kind of input….instead of moving forward with the developer I said, "Give me a minute to nail down my focus."
I held my round table events…. allowed input from those gracious enough to care. I tried hard to hear what I didn’t WANT to hear. I tried to consider features that would increase costs significantly while increasing the project value marginally. I smiled sweetly as Suzie’s neighbor’s grandmother insists that the site be coded in 72 point font so she can read the text…. and then chose to ignore such input.
In the end, I brought back the comments and suggestions which I deemed had merit, and came back to my trusted advisors and we talked about the input. Finally, because I am the one writing the rather large checks on this, I made a series of decisions and have placed the project back into motion.
So if you’re wondering what YOU can do to prepare for YOUR web site development, here is what I’d recommend:
- Build a team of advisors. I prefer the kind you pay because then there’s a sort of "accountability" that isn’t possible when someone is spit balling. It’s the old, "My advice is worth every penny you paid for it" syndrome. If you didn’t PAY for it, then you can’t point a finger if it doesn’t work!
- Announce your upcoming web project with your inner circle. Your inner circle are those who offer their opinions for free. Members of this group will be mostly family and friends. These are people who care enough to offer their HONEST opinion.
- Hammer out the details BEFORE you begin shopping for a developer! Talk the project through with your advisors and your inner circle. Have SEVERAL conversations… you’d be surprised how often that "great idea" starts to lose it’s sparkle as you talk through the implementation.
- Document the details in writing. Remember the game of "telephone" when you were a child? Everyone would sit in a circle and one person would begin by whispering a phrase into the ear of the person to his/her left. The process would be repeated until the message had journeyed around the circle. It never ceased to amaze me at how distorted the simplest phrase could be after a trip around the circle. THE SAME THING HAPPENS IN WEB DEVELOPMENT! Make a list… IN WRITING and check it twice.
Finally, carefully check the quotes that come in on your project. MOST programmers will work DIRECTLY from your requests. While you’re "assuming" that the developer will know to fill in the blanks…. the developer is assuming that if you didn’t address it then it must not be important.
If all of this sounds like a LOT of work… well, it is! Just as you don’t walk into a car dealership and ask the nice salesman to help you create a budget AND sell you an automobile… you shouldn’t appear on your web developer’s door step with absolutely NO IDEA what you want and how you want it to work.
Once you define your site’s objectives, then it’s easier to put a web developer to work for you!
The I follow movement
I guess I should have recognized it sooner…. after all, Word Press is GREAT about letting you know what’s going on when it comes to inbound links to your blog. Here I was out laying "bread crumb trails" by commenting on other blogs and few if any of those comments were resulting in inbound links.
Then I stumbled upon the I Follow Movement. DUH! So that’s what the Do Follow Plug in with Semilogic is all about!
Thanks to Randa Clay, there’s even a logo for the movement! THANKS!
If you’re using a Word Press Blog, then simply installing the Do Follow plug in will open your blog up so that people who comment will be rewarded with an inbound link from your blog. If you’re using a Blogger blog, then here is the tutorial for removing the no follow in your blogger blog.
Understand, if you don’t already, that inbound links are what makes the internet world go round. More inbound links means a higher page rank and therefore, higher SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Position) for your posts.
Instead of relying on the kindness of strangers…. who will exercise proper blogging etiquette by reciprocating useful links, now you can create your own.
Since listing another site as a "Do Follow" blog, I’m finding that people are finally commenting on my blog!
So, if you’ve noticed that it looks like no one is reading your blog because no one is commenting…. get into the I Follow movement.
If you comment, I follow. However, I don’t approve spammy comments. Hey, a girl has GOT to have her standards! <grin>
