Virtual Impax

Effective Strategic Digital Marketing

Archives for March 2008

Quality WordPress Themes Done Dirt Cheap

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A while back, I was working on one of my projects and went in search of a Word Press Blog Theme.

Choosing a theme is probably the toughest part of the whole “blog launch” experience. However, as I tell my clients… unlike the process of choosing a “look” for your HTML web presence… a blog theme can be changed as easily as you can change your clothes.

I’ve always loved the work of a designer who goes by the moniker of Small Potatoes and was pleased to discover he’s come up with an interesting method of packaging and promoting his services. Back in February, he launched a promotion Wpdesigner 20,000 Accounts Giveaway

It was brilliant… it was inspired. For $5 you can join a club to get a new premium theme every month. From the support materials:

You can use each theme under multiple domain names. Whether it’s one site, one hundred sites, or more, you do not need to pay any more than $5. Also, feel free to use Wpdesigner club themes for client projects without a developer license.

According to his blog he’s already at 1300+ members…. yet last week he announced that he’s selling WPDesigner.

I’m saddened by the announcement.  I’m not sure I buy the story of his planned extensive travel plans for the year as the reason for the sale.   I suspect the “real” reason is the third stated reason on the blog post where he says he “hates providing theme support”. Unfortunately, this is something he offers using the $5 membership system.

I knew the $5 yearly club membership was “too good to be true”   and I get it.  Support is a HUGE issue when it comes to any business but most certainly a web based one.

Perhaps one reason for the sale is he’s disappointed with the response to his $5 membership club.  According to the information on the auction, he has 400 paying members in the club.  That means there are 900 who won a free membership and will (hopefully) pay next year. I’m one who GLADLY paid $5 and even if he doesn’t offer another theme consider the three offered so far to be well worth the investment!  I’m surprised that only 399 other people saw the bargain of the offer.

By the way, I am his IDEAL client.  His themes are incredibly well coded and I don’t EVER have to contact him about “support”.  IMHO…. pricing the service at $5 per month is no where NEAR enough to deal with the support requests I imagine he gets.  As a result, I’ll pass on making a bid to buy this blog.

Which reminds me of Liz Strauss’ blog post “Wendy Didn’t Wait. Will You?”

A blog isn’t a business any more than a building is a company. We can work our hearts out in the name of our blogs — reading feeds, writing posts, commenting, and social networking — but without a plan, those things won’t get us what we need to pay the rent.

WPDesigner.com has a lot of things going for it:

  • Page views/month:  896,000
  • Monthly Revenue: 890
  • Google Pagerank: 7
  • Uniques/Month: 70,000

With all of that going for it, I think the blog would have been more “attractive” to buyers without the existing membership site and the promise of 9 more themes with support.

Liz is right (she always is, by the way).  A blog is NOT a business…. think of it more as an advertisement for your business that lives on the web.

Logo Design That Your Target Audience Will Love

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David Airey is having a contest on his Logo Design Love blog. Since so many of my clients are in the health and self help fields I took interest in his nominations for that category.

David is asking his readers to “vote” on the “best” logo… however, because of my Niche Marketing mindset…. I can’t help but add this note to my clients who read my blog…

blog logoRemember that your “favorite”  design will be influenced by who you are.

For example,  one of my favorite logos on the page is the one for Fatfighters.  I scrolled right by some other lovely designs which got more votes in the comments section.  Since it’s no secret that I am currently embroiled in a battle of the bulge, it’s natural that I would zip right by other great logo designs such as  the ones for Dumb Little Man, Emergiblog and Lift magazine.

Now, this is really important:  As you’re working with a logo developer and you begin to “shop” your designer’s preliminary work around to family and friends… ask yourself “Are these people a part of my target audience?”

Your target audience is the only opinion that counts when it comes to your logo design.

If Aunt Sally and Uncle Dave are in their late 60’s and are NOT members of your target audience…. don’t ask their opinion!!!  It doesn’t MATTER which logo they like unless they are part of your target audience!!!

I once had a client who was “shopping” a business idea around to her family and friends.  Because none of these people were part of the target market for the product, their responses to her were very discouraging.  However, when she began shopping that same idea to her anticipated target audience, instead of responding with a yawn…. members of her target audience replied with an enthusiastic, “How much will it cost and when can I sign up?”

With that in mind… I’m sure that if Janet Simpson of Nourish Your Life were to review the logos featured, her attention would immediately be drawn to the Organic Passion logo because of her passion for organic foods.  Meanwhile, Simeon Pollock of the Wholistic Blog would be drawn to the Fingertips logo.

Logos are the toughest decision any business owner will make because it takes a talented graphic artist to create a compact two dimensional element that effectively speaks volumes about the multi-dimensional business  which it represents.  David Airey is doing a wonderful job of showcasing this ability… and I’d be willing to bet he answers his email as well.

Why Your Blog Isn’t Getting As Many Comments As You’d Like …

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One of the most common “laments” I hear from my clients (the ones who are actually adding content regularly) is “HELP!!! Very few people are commenting on my blog posts!!!”

My standard response to them is as follows:

It’s been my experience that most people who leave comments on blogs are other bloggers. With a blog of their own to promote, these people are trying to build a “bread crumb trail” to their own blog via their comments. “Regular” people will have to be moved to great extremes of either passion or anger (usually the latter) to be motivated to actually post a comment.

It’s interesting to note that I have a few clients who have NO DESIRE to allow people to comment on their blogs! As I was researching a blog post for another blog, I came across a post from Steve Rubel over at Micro Persuasion titled The Participation Ladder and Its Impact on Marketing and PR.

Forrester segmented the online audience into several different stratas – what they call a ladder of participation. They found that “Inactives” are by far the dominant group (52%). They’re followed by spectators, joiners, critics, collectors and last but not least creators. This last cluster, according to the analyst firm, dabbles in lots of different activities but few do all of them. See the chart for more.

The numbers on the graphic pan out as follows:

Creators: 13 %
Critics: 19 %
Collectors: 15 %
Joiners: 19 %
Spectators: 33 %
Inactives: 52 %

Keep in mind, according to the report, people enter at the bottom of the ladder and move UPWARDS. Inactives don’t usually jump into blogging at the “creators” level. They move slowly up the ladder… becoming spectators… then joiners.. then collectors… then critics.

Now, take a look at YOUR blog’s audience. Where do THEY fall on this ladder?

My clients are definitely fall on the lower spectrum of the ladder. Most of them are trying to soar to the top and as a result, they need my services to guide them. That’s what I do. As a result, my clients (and potential clients) don’t comment on my blog posts, my colleagues do.

While my clients and potential client’s won’t post a comment, they will email me if they feel particularly moved by a post. For example, when I was complaining about my cat and his OCD issues in the post “Are Google Adwords the Answer?” I got several emails from concerned clients who wanted to help my demented self mutilating kitty.

Niche Blog Marketing also offers great advice regarding playing the comments game with your blog:

Focus on building your lists while building rapport with your visitors. Track your progress and study your numbers. Treat social networking like attending your local Chamber of Commerce meeting. Be approachable……..

In other words, ASK for participation if you want comments.

There’s no one who does this better than Liz Strauss over at Successful Blog.com. Notice how she ends her post “Wendy Wouldn’t Wait. Will you?”

What are you doing to build the business of your dreams now?

She got 23 comments on this blog post just by ending it by asking a question. She does that a lot and as a result, her blog is an active hub.

By the way, Liz leads that post with the most brilliant insight I’ve seen on the web:

A blog isn’t a business any more than a building is a company.

BRILLIANT!

Moveable Type Takes an Ugly Swing at WordPress

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WordPress 2.5 is scheduled for release and the buzz on the web is that the transition is going to be another difficult one.  Like the previous upgrade to the 2.3.x, themes will be broken and plug ins will be rendered useless.  It’s part of the carnage of progress.My blog clients don’t have to worry.  When WordPress 2.5 is released, I’ll go through these steps, work out the kinks and when I upgrade their blogs to 2.5 the only “surprise” in store for them will be whether their chosen theme makes the transition.

However, Daily Blog tips reports Moveable Type has taken a “swing” at WordPress and tried to spin the negative buzz surrounding the upcoming WordPress upgrade into positive growth for their platform.

The biggest problem I can see in the PR war between the two platforms is that it’s been my experience that Six Apart (Moveable Type/Typepad) customers are much less tech savvy than WordPress users... they don’t understand blogging basics such as trackbacks which is an important part of building a successful blog.

So we have two camps in this war… in one corner we have Moveable Type and Typepad users… who don’t understand why turning on trackbacks for each and every post is important.  Their “flagship” blog is sporting an Alexa ranking of 55,035.

In the other corner, we have the tech savvy crowd backing WordPress.   Users in this camp include heavy hitters such as Micheal Arrington of Techcrunch (Alexa  ranking 926)  Darren Rowse of Problogger (Alexa ranking 3,529), Daily Blog Tips (Alexa ranking 14,490) and the Blog Herald (Alexa ranking 33,003)

I know, I know… Alexa is skewed towards the tech savvy user…. which is why it’s a valuable resource in this discussion.

For my non-techy readers… Alexa is a type of traffic spy device provided by Amazon.  You install the toolbar and Alexa tracks your web surfing activities and ranks sites in order from 1 to 10,000,000 + and displays this ranking in the toolbar.  Alexa detractors point out the “regular people” don’t usually have the tool bar installed so results are skewed and instead of displaying the ranking of a site’s traffic, instead the tool bar displays the ranking of a site’s traffic amongst the most tech savvy of web users.

WordpressI’ve already placed my bets on the optimal blogging platform for me and my clients…. because when faced with the choice of a platform backed by the tech savvy and a platform of choice for the “less tech savvy”…. I’m going with the platform with the big guns behind it.

My parents bet on Beta as the format of choice for home video recording more than 25 years ago…. they still have that beta max machine in their basement today.   I didn’t want my clients stuck with the “beta” equivalent of blogging platforms.  Therefore, my choice was influenced by several factors.  First, WordPress has incredible community support.   Combine that strong community support with the caliber of bloggers choosing the platform, and WordPress pulled into the lead.  However, the final “straw” in making my decision was when Template Monster began offering WordPress Themes.    Commercial backing + strong user community = winner in my book.

I know there are other GOOD blogging platforms out there, but rather than be a jack of all trades, master of none… I made what I believed to be the BEST choice for my business.  Speaking of which,  I don’t see Drupal’s developers taking potshots at WordPress.  Instead, they’re heralding the migration of Popular Science Magazine to their platform.  Way to go Drupal!

My Gym Gets an “F” for Customer Appreciation

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Sixteen years ago, I purchased my first “The Firm” work out tape. I was introduced to the product by an ad in SHAPE magazine.  I paid $49.95 which was a LOT of money for a video tape, even back then.   It marked the beginning of my personal quest to restructure my body without the aid of a surgeon.

I was an AVID home exerciser until I gave birth to my third child the same week we moved into a new home to accommodate our growing family.  For some reason, that series of events threw me into a tail spin from which I have yet to recover physically.  In other words, I fell off that horse and haven’t been able to get back on for any serious stretch since.

Fast forward 13 years later. Over the past decade, I’ve made multiple “false starts” at regaining my “the Firm” physique.  Thanks to my hyperactive dog, I had slain the “I gotta exercise” monster but I wanted to add weight training to my cardio vascular walking work outs. After six months of false starts….last December, I joined a gym.. . hoping to achieve the goal to the left!

I told the gym’s owner up front that I was was joining for much needed accountability. THIS IS IMPORTANT: I was assured that if I went MIA, I would get a phone call from them.  We’re grading on a curve and they’re the ones who set the standard. I didn’t set up a false expectation… they did that for me.

In February, I contracted the Bataan death flu that was going around. Because I suffer from some kind of sick mental defect, I found it IMPOSSIBLE to stop working and rest … which meant my recovery took longer than anyone else’s on the planet.  Needless to say, I haven’t been to the gym in the past month.

Not only did I not get a phone call… when my birthday came and went this week, I didn’t even get a birthday card from them.

I used to get cards when I lived in Indiana from my insurance agent on my birthday. My husband would get them too and I have to admit… its only in retrospect that I recognize what a powerful marketing tool it was.  I never would have imagined that something so small would have such a HUGE affect on my loyalty to my agent. In hindsight, those silly birthday cards actually kept me from rate shopping on my insurance! I realized that as I begin to “rate shop” for the third time since moving to the Sunshine State. I’m ready to jump ship. The agent with whom I worked isn’t in that office anymore…. I have no connection… no loyalty… no reason to remain other than getting the lowest rate possible. It’s an ugly position from which to try to do business.

Back to my gym… it’s not that they’re not trying to grow their business.  After all, they are having a drawing next week to present a 50″ plasma television to one lucky member.  The way to enter the drawing is to either renew your membership (1 entry) or bring a friend who joins (2 entries). The problem is… a chance to win a television isn’t enough to get me to renew my membership OR bring a friend. On the other hand, the guarantee of a warm, personable staff would be MORE than enough… and that’s not what’s happening there.

The friendly faces I saw behind the counter in December when I signed up are no longer there. The helpful personal trainer is gone and replaced by a young man whose disgust and disrespect for the middle aged woman with whom he was demonstrating the proper use of the equipment was glaringly obvious.  The pleasant, friendly older woman behind the counter when I joined has been replaced by a surly teenager who sneers as he hands me a bottle of overpriced water.  Snowbird season isn’t over…. what happened to the friendly staff?

Because of what I do… I’m conscious of what’s going on. I’m taking note.  The other morning, I found myself watching an infomercial for The Firm. I find myself thinking, “You know… I could pull out my old tapes and try to get back on that horse again.”

OOPS!!!   Not only am I NOT bringing friends and family in to join “my” gym… I’ve already checked out myself. They may have gotten 12 months of membership fees out of me… but they won’t get a renewal at this pace.

The thing is… the gym owner and staff “set the tone” for the gym.   They set my expectations by assuring me they’d stay involved… but once my check cleared… they were on to “more important things”…. like recruiting new members.

I tell clients over and over again…. you can not build your business exclusively upon new customers.    If you don’t have repeat business… you’re dead in the water.  Whether it’s a gym… or a blog… repeat customers are the LIFE BLOOD  of any business!!!