Virtual Impax

Effective Strategic Digital Marketing

Home » Page 61

Cost effective way to fastrack your design success

by

The vast majority of my clients are of the "bootstrapping entrepreneurial" variety, which means cost effective is one of their TOP priorities.

For that reason, when I launch a new blog for a client (and blogs are a boot strapping entrepreneur’s best friend) I always offer the option of using a Template Monster Templates for their self hosted Word Press blog.  For less than $60, we can "dress" their blog in an attractive and stylish "theme" which can easily be changed in the future.

I usually don’t recommend they use a "free" template for their blog just because the quality of those free template blogs tend to vary widely.  One client fell in love with just such a "free" template, only to discover that any pages created in Word Press won’t display properly (i.e. AT ALL).  That created a problem.  My client was in LOVE with certain elements in this blog theme which she can’t find duplicated at Template Monster.  For her, we had to move to plan B.

Plan B involves:

  1. Hiring a Graphic Artists/Designer

    This client spent three months posting her design requests to various web sites which offer to connect clients with designers.   Her hope was to find a "rising star" who would create a design for her.  Unfortunately, that never happened.  When she told me she was going to raise her listed "budget" for the project to more than I paid for the cover design for my book, I offered to introduce her to the graphic artist who designed the cover of my book, Richard Leach.

    Richard is an incredibly gifted graphic artist and he designed a SUPERB graphical concept for the theme.  Step 1 is completed… and now we’re moving to Step 2.

  2. Hiring  someone to code the design.

    Unfortunately, this client was directed to a source that claimed to "code your design" for a low, low cost of $150.   I had been telling her that a custom coding job would run in the $750 range….  so she was THRILLED to find this resource via a business coach with whom she works.  Unfortunately, inquiries to this designer yielded a response along the lines of  "I’m swamped and I can’t take on any more projects" type of a reply.  (His web site is down now which I assume means he”s going to raise his rates.) 

    I’ll admit, I was concerned when she first approached me about this "low cost alternative".  My figure was based upon using a word press theme developer I know personally to code the design.  Other sources range in the $650-$750 range for custom coding of a design as well. One site, recommended by Tech Crunch is  XHTMLized Turns Your Design into Code. When you choose "WP Theme" at XHTMLized the price automatically jumps to $649. 

Just a word of wisdom to any one new to business and/or life:  When you get four quotes for something and three of those quotes are within 20% of each other… and ONE of those quotes is a full 80% LESS than the other three… throw out the rock bottom quote.  (This is why you should get multiple quotes on any project, web or otherwise.) 

In the case of Template Monster Word Press Themes, you’re getting a theme at a 90% discount FOR A REASON (two to be exact): 

  • Because they can sell that same theme over and over again! 
  • Many of the themes offered there are variations of a select group of theme codes… so while two themes have markedly different graphics, code wise they are almost identical in nature.  In economics class your professor called that "economies of scale".  It costs $750 to code the first design, but it only costs $50 to swap the graphics and change the color values for the second theme offered for sale. 

This works in reverse as well.  If you have four real estate agents and THREE of them tell you they will list your house in the $300L-$350K range and ONE agent assures you he/she will list your house at $650K…. disregard that final figure.  No matter how BADLY you want to believe it, most of the time it’s not the three agents who are "wrong" about the value of your home.  Instead, you have ONE agent who is trying to "buy" your listing.

My client is going to have a LOT of money invested in the development of her new theme.  (Unfortunately, it looks like she’ll be spending $500 more on the coding than she originally estimated.) However, she’s going to end up with a blog like no other, and one which powerfully communicates what she does before you read a single word of copy.   Because she’s a seasoned business professional, she understands better than most of my "boot strapping" clients that you have to spend money to make money.

In the end, it’s rare to find someone who is great at what they do offering their services at a fraction of cost.  What always happens is the provider becomes deluged and as a result, raises his/her rates.  If you find you’re swamped, then it’s time to raise your rates.  Trust me…. the clients you lose aren’t nearly as good as the clients you’ll gain.  

 

Is your business “Comcastic”?

by

I certainly hope not!  Bob Hill of the 2 Texans Down Under blog says:

But now something like that is happening. Just as “going postal” was born and then added to our language, the term “being comcastic” has been coined and launched. One day soon, dictionaries may list this entry: Comcastic – “adj., behaving with insensitivity to and disregard for the interests of customers.”

OUCH!!!  According to Bob’s blog, there are over 350,000 citations of the "Comcast vs the hammer lady" story.  There are also countless others citing "Comcast Customer Abuse".

One of the ways the web HAS changed marketing is that now, when a customer feels disrepected AND they have a blog… they can tell the world about their gripe.  Then, as a business owner, you have one of two options:

  1. Hire an attorney… sue (and lose!)
  2. Make it right with your customer

Part of being in business is customer service.  You can be VERY short sighted and provide "Comcastic" customer service….  or you can keep your eye on the long term goal… remembering that a satisfied customer tells 3 people and a dissatisfied customer (without a blog) will tell15-16.

As Bob says:

Maybe there’ll be a second definition for Comcastic — “willing to delay or deny services to which customers are entitled. (See also ‘imperialistic’)”

Marketing is harder these days thanks to the internet

by

There are times when I want to scream at the screen of my computer.  I am frequently faced with controlling this impulse, especially when I read a diatribe written by a 22 year old about how the web has made it so that marketing messages nobody cares about don’t work anymore.

My mind starts spinning, and I’m certain my head is following suite.  "The internet hasn’t changed how marketing works!  People have ALWAYS ignored slickly presented messages no one cares about."  What has changed is the fact that the internet HAS provided marketing professionals the opportunity to watch those bored and uninterested visitors leave in droves.

But then, a recent conversation with my 17 year old son has enlightened me.  Perhaps the internet HAS changed the way marketing works.  After all, it has changed DRASTICALLY the way music is marketed. 

Long ago, in the days before MP3 players…. in the days even before the internet… when the world was cold and we killed sabre toothed tigers for food and clothing…we were limited in the way we could obtain music for our own listening pleasure.  We could choose to listen to a radio station play our favorite songs or, we could take the leap and purchase the music so we could listen to what we wanted, when we wanted to listen.

Oh sure, it’s still BASICALLY the same today… except you have a LOT more choices.  Those additional choices have DRASTICALLY changed the way music is marketed. 

Back in the old days, if you were going to purchase a single song, you bought a 45 rpm vinyl record.  (45’s were smaller versions of albums and were played on a turntable…. you know, like the rappers use today.  I have actually HAD this conversation with my children by the way!)  When you purchased this 45, you got a BONUS song on the back.  If you wanted access to MORE than those two songs, you purchased the album. 

Albums were pieces of vinyl offering a dozen or more songs, including those songs offered as "singles".  However, true fans would always purchase the album so they would have access to songs not available to just everyone.  Back in those days, to demonstrate your love of a musician or group, you would reference a great song included on the album but never released on a 45. 

Then came the internet… and it wasn’t illegal file sharing that changed the face of marketing and music. 

CHOICE HAS DRAMATICALLY CHANGED THE FACE OF MARKETING MUSIC

In the old days, if you wanted access to a song that wasn’t available on a single, you had to purchase the entire album.  People would purchase albums just to own a single song… but that was the old days. 

Now, if you want to won a song, you can do so with a single download, and THAT is changing the face of music.

When a band was interviewed and asked why it had been so long between albums, they responded with the acknowledgement that in the music business today, every song on the album has to be great.  Otherwise people will simply download the "good" songs and not download the "bad" ones.  If, of the 12 songs on your album, only 2 "connect"… today’s music consumer is able to download those 2 "good" songs for as little as .89 each instead of popping for $13.48 for the entire album.

Ah, the days of releasing a single to act as "bait" to drive album sales is quickly coming to a close.

It’s not only affecting the music industry, but everyone else as well. 

In the end, people will ALWAYS, I repeat, ALWAYS yawn and turn away when you present a marketing message that doesn’t connect.  However, what the internet HAS done is to provide not only a way for advertisers to watch them yawn… it’s also given consumers more choice.   Not only do they have more choices, but consumers also have a voice.

The latest Google Sh*t Storm

by

Well, Google has done it again.  They’ve changed the way they assign page rank (which is a measure of a web site’s "validity") and web masters everywhere are throwing up their hands because overnight the rules have changed yet again!

Most of the blogosphere is reacting with outrage.  Andy Beard has a GREAT piece on the ensuing melee resulting from the latest shake up.  It’s funny and it’s educational.

However, it’s important for business owners to keep in mind that relying solely upon Google to deliver your customers is VERY dangerous, indeed.   See, Google defines their "customer" as those who search, not those who pay to be found by that search.  Because of this definition, you can’t TRUST Google to do what’s right for you, the one who wants to be found.  Google will always do what is in THEIR customer’s best interest…. damn those of us who actually pay to gain access to those eyeballs!

gorilla.jpgSo while bloggers from A-Z may rail against the latest actions of the 900 lb Gorrilla that is Google, there isn’t much any of us can do to alter their actions.  

For the past DECADE I have encouraged my clients to design their web presence so that it can be indexed by the search engines, but to then to market their business like the search engines don’t exist.  

There are other ways to make your potential customers aware of your business OTHER than Google.  There’s an old saying that warns you against putting all of your eggs into one basket.  Many marketing professionals once extolled the "squeeze page"…. to which Google replied….SLAP! 

Now, Google is issuing another SLAP, this time to bloggers who feature paid links on their blogs.  Google isn’t going so far as to delist them, but Google is discounting them, and that hurts.

Then again, I am reminded of a story in the book "Striking it Rich.com" (copyright 1999) where one business owner (Long Island Hot Tubs)  had with the all powerful 9at the time) search engine, Alta Vista.  His submission of his site, which at the time featured 400 pages of product,  was deemed to be "search engine spam" and the site was delisted by the search engine.

What bothered Harrison most was that "as a judge, jury and executioner, they deleted all references to our site."

According to the book, Long Island Hot Tubs (now Pool and Spa.com)  turned to the web in the late 20th Century because other forms of advertising had failed them.   Alta Vista wielded the same harsh stick then that Google freely waves today.  The last laugh was on Alta Vista.  It’s no longer the 900lb gorilla.  Now Google sits on the throne.

As you build and promote your web business, keep in mind that Google views their "customer" as those who use them to search.  Getting access to just a small portion of those millions of eyeballs are why there is a now a "job function"  known as "Search Engine Optimization".    There are other ways to access those eyeballs… it is just that few of those options actually have a "deliver those eyeballs for free" option.

 

So you claim you’re an expert….

by

If you’re an independent service professional, you had BETTTER be an expert, especially if you want to charge $100 an hour or more for your services.  Whether it’s the web, the law or real estate, if you’re a solo entrepreneur chances are you’re selling your expertise in a subject matter as the basis of your business.

So you’re an expert.  Congratulations.  Now what?

manatcomputerbored.jpg

Well, the next step is that you need to communicate this expertise.   After all, that will be the foundation of your marketing message. 

There are a lot of ways you can communicate your expertise.  You can:

  1. Declare your expertise on your logo/business cards/business letter head, etc
  2. Write a book on the subject area of your expertise
  3. Launch a blog on the subject area of your expertise.  Post frequently on the topics in the subject area of your expertise.
  4. Deliver speeches and talks on topics within your area of expertise.

If you’re smart, you’ll focus upon steps 2-4 and possibly skip step 1.

Step 1, declaring your expertise,  is probably the least effective way of communicating your expertise.  From your prospective client’s point of view, it’s "easy" for you to declare you’re an expert.  The next thought in your prospective client’s mind when they see or hear you declare that you’re an expert is usually, "Prove it!"  That’s what steps 2-4 are all about.

Steps 2-4 are all ways in which you’ll prove your expertise.  For example, when you write a book, you are instantly awarded a certain level of "expertise"…. a well written book that is well promoted and sells a lot of copies affords you even more "authority".  However, merely getting your book published no matter what the quality of the content is usually enough to get you points in the "expert" category.  Being able to say to a potential client, "Here, read my book" is a great tool to demonstrate your level of expertise.

Launching a blog where you post frequently on your subject matter area is another GREAT way to DEMONSTRATE your expertise.  Many authors actually pull their book content from their blog posts and vice versa.  Blogs are an expert’s best marketing tool.

Finally, speaking frequently on your topic is another way to demonstrate your expertise.  Do you speak better than you write?  Then video tape yourself and post those short videos to your blog! 

In any case, communication is key in demonstrating your expertise.  Potential clients must be ASSURED of your expertise before they’ll pick up the phone and call you.  That’s why blogs are GREAT marketing tools for indepdendent service professionals.  Your blog allows your potential clients to "test the waters" without taking a HUGE leap of faith and contacting you, whether by phone, mail or email.

That’s why I HIGHLY recommend blogs for clients who want to demonstrate their expertise.