Sometimes the bitter pill is the one you most need to swallow.
If you’re about to launch a new website or a campaign to build your business online, there are some inconvenient truths you’d better accept right now.
1) Nobody cares
Seriously. So stop writing about the features of what you’re offering and how you do business. You’re not out to lunch with a new friend.
Seem harsh? That’s the reality.
Your users aren’t interested in hearing about your company and the features of what you’re offering. They’re interested in how sticking around and using your site is going to benefit them.
There are no “hard feelings” if someone hits the back button and leaves your site. And most of the time, they don’t come back.
So the question you need to answer quickly is: why should they stay?
2) There is no such thing as “foot traffic” on the web
For the local ice cream parlor, foot traffic matters. People who happen to walk by will make up a good portion of this business.
There’s no such thing on the web. Your site can, and will, exist in a void if you let it.
The only avenues on the web are built through relationships.
Search engines won’t rank your pages if nobody links to your website. Likewise, if nobody links to or talks about your website, no other websites are going to refer users your way.
If you’ve got a nice site, that’s a good start – now you’ve got to build relationships.
3) There is no one “right” metric to measure
I’m often asked what metrics people should be looking at to determine whether their blog/website is a success.
I almost always answer this question with another question: “what is the goal of your website?”
Metrics are pretty meaningless on their own. Yes, we all look at the number of unique visits to a site, but that isn’t a metric that you’ll be able to tie to success or failure. That’s only part of the picture.
Your website needs a plan with specific goals. Once you’ve set those goals, you’ll find that the metrics you need to measure become obvious – or at least easier to identify.
4) There are no “easy and quick tricks” to gain high-value traffic
You know that old general tip people give you about investing in the stock market – the one that tells you, “when the cabby is recommending buying a stock, it’s time to sell?”
It’s pretty basic: by the time a “hot tip” spreads widely enough that everyone talks about it, it’s dead.
The same goes for building traffic on the web.
By the time a new method of gaining traffic/links/whatever becomes common knowledge, it’s basically useless.
What still works?
- Getting editorial links by creating and marketing great content
- Building tools/resources that satisfy a real need of your market – and that people can’t help talking about
- Establish relationships with influential bloggers and other webmasters and finding ways you can help each other
But none of these is easy or quick.
5) You get what you pay for
People who charge a high hourly rate are usually worth the extra cost.
For example, I’ve repeatedly seen this happen: 2-3 people are spending hours trying to figure out a problem they don’t understand. They’re beating their heads against the wall, ready to throw expensive equipment out the window, etc. Then, they suck it up and begrudgingly call in an expert to take a look. The expert solves the problem in 15 minutes.
How much is that expert’s time worth?
This general formula applies to just about everything: Time x Skill = Value.
Apply this formula to the web: you’re about to launch a new web marketing campaign (or build a new website). Who do you hire? The kid down the block who took a class on web marketing and will work for $15/hr, or the expert who charges $85/hr, but who will work faster and more effectively and will bring in a better return on investment?
I may be biased, but having once been the kid down the block myself I can say from experience: you almost always get what you pay for.
Consider this before you start comparing web marketing services on price alone.
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I definitely agree on point 5.
Even though some of us have been using the Internet for a long time it is still a new territory and most parts of it are all but invisible.
Great tips. I think #5 is probably the hardest one to come to terms with for most businesses (especially small businesses) and web services. With traditional physical products and/or services you almost could tell before you laid out the money what you were getting. With the web it’s not as transparent and it can take a few “wrong turns” before you realize it.
@Carlos – It’s a common frustration in my experience – smart and effective people are not a commodity, so why compare their pricing as such?
@Ignite Media – It’s true, and in a way reputation is everything in this regard. You don’t pay $700/hr for a lawyer unless she’s got the proof, social or otherwise, to back up that rate. Small businesses have a hard time swallowing high rates for any service, but there are some things you just don’t want to shoe string. It’s a matter of the ends (the return) justifying the means (the rate/cost) – finding ways to make the value clear to the client is central to marketing any service.
Man, I definitely want to show this to people who come into meetings saying that they’re shopping around and we’re a bit pricier than competitors, when we’re still very inexpensive for the quality we offer. I love your point about foot traffic. All too many web design clients we get ask “Well, can’t we just implement SEO later?” and we end up saying yes because we don’t want to lose the sale design as well, but really, I want to tell them “Sure, you can start getting traffic later as well!” (I’m not in on the sales meetings, usually. I sit in my cubicle and overhear the meetings….)
You might be able to tell that most of our clients ARE small businesses that definitely are always looking for a deal. While you can’t blame them, I don’t think we should devalue our services at all. We’re definitely in an unfortunate area for selling tech services (St Augustine, Florida).
Excellent post!
@Jaclyn – Yeah, that kind of commodification of services is tough to avoid – it’s good to have a few quick rebuttals for this on hand. Must resist commodification at all costs!
I deal with a lot of small businesses myself, and I’m on eastern Long Island, NY – so I feel where you’re coming from. This isn’t much of a tech hot spot either. And people are very quick to challenge your hourly rate if it’s more than they’re used to spending. But you’re right – if you’re worth your rate, if you’ve proven your value in past projects and their results, devaluing your service shouldn’t even be an option on the table.
Thanks for the kind words – I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Doing that guest post was a great idea. Without it I would never have found this blog and your excellent content. This post could be expanded to five more posts – one for each point. What you’ve written is absolutely true as are the comments your post has garnered so far.
One of my favorite tips – whether you have an online store or are offering services – is never compete on price. Check out a book called High Probability Selling and their site HighProbSell for more details on that concept. Let those who are too cheap to pay for quality be someone else’s headache. My second favorite tip is immediately fire bad clients and make room for good ones!
Anything online from Web design, to blog Themes, to generating traffic, to building ecommerce stores to Web Analytics and everything in between is so complex that few understand it and therefore few will appreciate what those with thousands of hours of experience bring to the table. That is how it has been and probably will continue to be. My solution is to recognize and recommend those with talent.
The only way most small businesses are going to be willing to spend what it takes to do things right is when someone else they trust can make a strong case for WHY they should and WHO is highly qualified. It often takes an expert to truly know who knows their stuff and who is full of fluff!
@Internet Strategist – Thanks for stopping by and adding some great points – and for the kind words.
I’ll definitely check out High Probability Selling. I couldn’t agree more about competing on price. As soon as I get wind of the idea that someone is submitting RFPs and looking to compare on price I kindly wish them luck. The economic outlook is also contributing to this bargain shopping.
Firing bad clients is another key point that many people miss – or they’re simply afraid to tell a company they can’t work for them anymore.
I’m really glad I found your blog. I’ve already shared a couple of your posts on my three favorite Social Networking sites: cliKball, Twitter and FriendFeed and linked them to my own blog posts too. I predict this blog will be very popular.
I’m not usually a fan of three column Themes because they can be too busy. I really like yours though – clean design and good contrast. The only drawback I’ve seen so far is the size of the type when we’re leaving comments. I may have to get out a magnifying glass to read back what I’m typing! ;-)
It’s been a labor of love since I started the blog back in October of 08. It hasn’t always been clear that there is a need for another blog on web marketing, but it’s great to hear from people who appreciate the content – so thank you very much, and thanks for sharing with others.
You’re right, the incredibly small font when creating comments is a real pain. I’m going to fix this right now. Thanks for pointing it out.
My designer is brilliant – I have her to thank for my logo (which I personally love) as well as the general design of the website (I’ve tweaked it some over time, especially when I moved to Thesis).
Hi Mike. I don’t know that there was a “need” for another web marketing blog but there is always room for quality content in any niche. If I were you I think I’d be doing a post recommending Thesis and their affiliate program.
I didn’t realize yours was based on it until you told me but I am certainly not surprised. If your blog designer has time for more work I’d be interested in recommending her.
I’ve been thoroughly researching blog Themes since I started GrowMap and so had Derek Semmler.. We had both come to the conclusion that Thesis was the best theme – as have many other bloggers.
We’re working on some new blogs together that use Thesis and I am hopeful that he’ll have time to convert GrowMap to Thesis too eventually. He still works full time and has a family so I don’t want to impose on him.
@Internet Strategist – I’m planning on putting together a post/page on Thesis. I’m a big fan and have used it to develop several sites so far.
My designer isn’t a blog designer in particular – she’s just a natural at design. She hasn’t yet made her way to coding blog themes – so we sort of tag-team the blogs we build. She designs, I code.
Couldn’t agree more about Thesis, though. It’s a great theme.
@Mike That proves you’re both wiser than the average blogger. There is so much to learn that working together is the best way to create exceptional sites. We’re using Thesis on numerous blogs and each looks different.
Some are concerned that there are so many using it already. I don’t see that as an issue at all so you may want to include that in your Thesis page. I’ve also not seen many reviews that mention their license for multiple sites so I’d add that too. (I’ve been planning a Thesis page myself.)
It may not be your style; however, I’ve found the CommentLuv plugin is a great way to increase readers and comments in my blog. I’ve used a link to a post I did on that in this comment in case you might want to read it.
@Internet Strategist – I have read some complaints about Thesis being used too often and on too many sites, but that’s where customization comes in. Most people don’t recognize this site as Thesis-driven because of the customized design.
I’ll look into the CommentLuv plugin – might be something to consider. Thanks.
I simply fell off my chair reading this article. I mean, this is the naked truth and it seems that some people don’t even think about it. You’re not unveiling any secret but only stating things that should be stated. I think that people need to get some of these reminders every now and then. Great job Mike. I’m linking to this post. Cheers!
@Web Design Bureau – Well, hopefully you didn’t hurt yourself.
Glad you enjoyed the post. I think sometimes it’s the most basic truth that people have the hardest time facing.
Thanks for stopping by (and for the link love)!
Loved your post and I agree completely with everything you have mentioned here especially point number 5. I have seen this several time. Your example of spending hours on something you couldn’t fix and only took the expert 15 minutes, another worst case would be spending your hard cash on someone who isn’t reliable and end up hiring someone else to fix what your first person messed up. This leaves you spending more money and whole lot of time waste! Not good at all!