May

9

How to Answer the Telephone

Filed Under Content Development | Leave a Comment

A massage therapist gets a phone call:

Hello. I was referred to you by my doctor. I work long hours at a desk and...

Before the massage therapist hears another word, he is anticipating a series of topics. He already has an idea of which complaints are likely, and which muscle and nerve groups are likely involved. The massage therapist draws on his experience to anticipate how he may be able to help, and is prepared for other questions that an office worker may have.

Is the the massage therapist's web site equally responsive?

A brochure site is likely to stop at a mission statement, an address and phone number, a list of services, maybe a map and some background on the site's owner. A brochure web site's copywriting may not even touch on how the massage therapist would prefer to respond to whatever comes out after "I work long hours at a desk and..."

Bad Bad Brochure

A massage therapist's web site gets a the call from a prospective customer:

Hello, Internet. Massage was suggested by my doctor. I work long hours at a desk and...

The bad bad brochure site answers:

Welcome to my home page. I have been in business in the AnyTown area for years and years and am really good at what I do. Please call to make an appointment.

Uh-huh. How fast do you think the "caller" hits the back button and asks Google to serve up another search result? What business owner would answer the telephone like that? Why treat web communication like a meeting of robotic answering machines?

There is no reason for brochure site type web content to behave like a so-so automated self-service telephone system. Brochures don't need to stop at brochure-speak, either.

Good Brochure Sites Give Good Phone

Obviously, web sites have more room for answers than a 40 second answering machine message, but what does that mean?

Web Sites Can Paint a Picture

One quick diagram of affected nerves and muscles can show our office worker that the massage therapist has experience with their most likely complaints. Another diagram could empower independent self care by illustrating good desk ergonomics.

Add about 500 words per diagram page and you've invited search engines to the party. Indexable text gives Search Engines a way to cache a path between the searcher and the brochure site's images.

The impression left on our interested office worker is of a thoughtful, knowledgeable, resourceful and professional massage therapist, ready to offer professional services. On the phone, our massage therapist can give that impression through tone of voice and basic knowledgeability. Online communication can afford to be wider, encompassing more than what is practical over the phone.

Web Sites Can Speak to Multiple Audiences

On the telephone, our massage therapist can only speak to one prospective customer at a time. Online, a full range of customer personas can be personally greeted.

Every business will have their own target audiences, each with a set of characteristics and needs that are beyond the scope of "Welcome to my home page. I have been in business in the AnyTown area for years and years and am really good at what I do. Please call to make an appointment."

Massage might be of interest to these six prospective customer groups:

  • Office Worker
  • Hunched-over Gardener
  • Overworked Carpenter
  • Automobile Accident Victim
  • Injured Weekend Sports Star
  • Professional Dancer

Each of these customer groups can be distilled into personas who would have their own version of "the call."

Hello, Internet. Massage was suggested by [referral source or influencer]. I am [a persona that is also a keyword] with [a problem that is also a keyword]. Can you [a solution that is also a keyword].

Can you hear the call? Write sites that can answer the phone!

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May

8

Just say NO to trust, and then what?

Filed Under Branding, Monetization | 1 Comment

I have a post in the works about trust and marketing, and I'm stuck.

I have issues. Specifically, I have issues with advertisers who don't get that marketing is hand in glove with trust. I'm going to clear the air.

Yes, it's true. I am going to rant. I'd put this aside, and it's still bugging me, so here it is.

How Not to Market to Me

In my 101 day round up I mentioned that I need to write an advertising policy.

I also need to promote and custom-design the My Top Spots widget, and add an advertising policy. Pandering is nicer with ethics and personalization, eh?

Speaking of (potential) pandering, within a couple days someone posted a comment on the post asking me to contact them about advertising. I thought: if this was a forum that I was moderating my first thought would be to pull it as a link drop. I correct myself: this is blog, not a forum, and the comment is not a post. I check the author link and find a link exchange advertising site. I email them.

Thanks for stopping in at my blog. I'm going to stick with the scratchback.com Top Spots widget for a while longer, probably until the redesign is done. I haven't thought through what else I'd want to do.

The scratchback widget has had a couple people register who I had to delete. They'd registered with a coming-soon placeholder on a domain, which would be a quick way to buy a link for a porn/pharma spam site, without the person hosting it knowing. What standards do you have for any links you'd like to see placed on my site?

The reply did not answer my question about their standards for what links they'd place. Instead, they said "Thanks, but..." and asked for a $30 paid review of their services and my paypal account email address. Warning bells go off in my head. It is not a good sign that they ignore a question about quality control. I email them again.

I cannot review your service because I do not know anything about your service, from my own experience or from what people I respect have said.

This isn't strictly true. I am starting to remember a rant somebody posted about a very similar series of emails.

They respond with a five paragraph sales letter. The last email, the one where they tell me they want me to write a review of them for $30, was two lines long. Some of the information in the current email dances around answering my unanswered question about quality standards, by saying they have a "free tool for advertisers to make paid links look natural for Google." Dishonesty is not a good sign.

Basically, the email says:

  • Please register with our system as an advertiser. It is up to ten times more profitable than selling sitewide links
  • We sell links at a very low price.
  • Our free tool makes paid links look natural to Google
  • Do not use "nofollow" when you review us
  • Don't pay that it is a paid review.

I reply:

  1. In the interest of respect I do not, ever, write a paid review without disclosing that it is a paid review.
  2. I would not add something to my site without background information, such as comparing paid and unpaid feedback. Since you ask that reviewers hide that reviews are paid, I can conclude that accurate information will be hard to find.
  3. If I were to review you, anyone who knows you have this policy of hiding if a review is paid would have a big signal that I will be dishonest with my readers for the payment of $30.

Please do not contact me again.

No Respect, No Sale, Then or Now

Later that day I hear back from them:

Thanks for your reply. You can write that it's a paid review but please at the end of the post.

Waiting for your reply.

They write back again, two weeks later:

Hello. How are you? So what about the review? I think that $30 is a fair price for the review at your blog. Please provide us with your paypal email.

Waiting for your reply.

Thank you

Way to listen, guys.

So, What's the Big Deal?

Spammy, sloppy marketing techniques. To get my trust, an organization needs to be clear and direct. Are they buying advertising or a paid review, or are they primarily a paid link exchange? And, if I have questions, that's a good thing. My questions are an opener. Dodge them and lose my sale.

More than that, I think online marketers need to be careful not to get desensitized to spammy advertising techniques. We see so much blatant spam! It's an easy slide to think that if it's not porn or pharma spam - or an obvious bank scam - it's more trustworthy. That level of trust is a long way from the kind of trust that makes loyalty. You don't get loyalty from $30 paid reviews. You get loyalty from something more like real word of mouth marketing based on the honest opinions of real humans - not gossip. I'm talking reputation.

I guess if you want to see the online branch of your life as a disposable numbers game, reputation is also disposable. Take while you can, then move onto the next thing, right? Use the "free tool for advertisers to make paid links look natural for Google," and move on when the house of cards comes tumbling down.

The problem with that kind of logic is that it stinks up the neighborhood. Yes, there is a "neighborhood," and just like in real life the kids next door are going to be playing on the same street, learning your lessons. Let's keep it clean, don't think for a minute that your Internet life is a flash in the pan that won't matter in real life -- but, treat it that way, and that's what you have.

1 Comment

May

7

I’m Your (Twitter) Pusher Mom

Filed Under Social Networking | 8 Comments


Not so long ago I was trembling with trepidation over Twitter. It's only been a few days, and I'm already hooked. Hooked and recommending it to others.

I'm Your Pushermom

My Push Mower

I'm your Mama,
I'm your Daddy
I'm that blogger
In the alley
I'll connect you
When in need
Want some clicks?
Have some tweets
You know me,
Get my feed
Your green thumbed
Stumble Mum

I'm your pushermom
I'm your pushermom

Tweak and test, coding clean
Super lean WordPress theme
Dealin' good, for the brand
Betty Crocker, Take a stand
Quoterati, quickly read
Twitterpated, in the head

I'm your pushermom
I'm your pushermom
I'm your pushermom

Social life online
Woman of many favorites
A diva of social delights
Feed me readers, RSS
And I'll dofollow all your best
SM traffic is a blast
How long can a good thing last?
Woo-hoo, no...

Got to network it, y'all
Gotta network it, now
Pushermom gettin' linkin', y'all

Branding mind, branding sign
Make connections all the time
My profile and just me
For all readers to see
Blogging queen is my thing
Writin' posts is how I swing

I'm your pushermom
I'm your pushermom

'Twitters, please', for a generous post
Make your world what you want it to be
Gotta tell y'all I love community
Wanna give you somethin' better than time
Been told my voice is fun to read
Can give a readership what they need
I know I can connect, I know I can build it
Just SEO don't make it
SM, yeah

Got to network it, y'all
Gotta network it, now
Got to network it, now

I'm your Mama,
I'm your Daddy
I'm that blogger
In the alley
I'll connect you
when in need
Want some clicks?
Have some tweets
You know me,
get my feed
Your green thumbed
Stumble Mum

I'm your pushermom

The Real Pusherman

8 Comments

May

6

I Dofollow Comments

Filed Under Blogging, Wordpress | 15 Comments

My nofollow comment status is coming down.

Dofollow Comments as a Linking Philosophy

A good conversation is worth fistfulls of gofollows or nofollows or any kind of follows. Why? Because people who have participated in or read a good conversation on a blog are likely to come back and do it again. Unlike Search Engine algorithms, people develop loyalties, and blogs live and die by loyalties. Develop the network and the links will come. Use keywords and the Search Engines will also use those keywords - to make sense of the links.

Putting links before people is backwards, especially for blogs.

Risks of Removing Nofollow from Blog Comments

I've been thinking of removing nofollow for a while, and I've had reservations. I don't like the idea of being sought out by quasi-commenters who search specifically for dofollow blogs. I imagine them using the search status plugin for Firefox to see just how "dofollow" a blog's comments are, and deciding to make some lame link drop comment based on that.

I'd really rather never deal with link drops. Ever. Anywhere.

The fact remains that though a blanket nofollow on comments may make sense where comments aren't carefully moderated and the blog's owner isn't around much, that's not the situation here. I'm in here every day, and I'm a compulsive spam zapper. As as a forum moderator I have some serious practice at being consistently and conscientiously compulsive about such things.

And, the forum thing also has me predisposed to going the extra mile for a readership.

Once in a while someone will leave a comment that has a bit of their heart in it. For that, I'd like to hand out party favors or pour 'em a second cup of coffee, but being as this is a blog and I already serve up full feeds, the tender I'm intending to add to the pot is a little thing known as dofollow.

I'm removing nofollow from the comments on this blog, with some caveats.

Dofollow Comment Spammers Beware

  • I'm not allowing signature links to bad neighborhoods, no matter how wonderful the comment.
  • I don' wan' no stinkin crazy quasi SEO signature link text
  • Dofollow only kicks in for those who have been commenting here for a while
  • Last but not least, no "junk" comments. Some kinds of one liners with sig links are not comments.

"Thanks for sharing. Great blog." Is not enough of a comment to disarm my anti spam radar. Likewise to a "Look here for your answers" that stops short of adding to the conversation here, and links to your own services. If you're out searching for dofollow blogs that also have green fairy dust page rank, tread gently when commenting. I am a generous linker when someone has established themselves as a generous contributor. Otherwise, don't poke the bear.

In short, I'm putting Lucia in charge.

Lucia's Linky Love

Lucia's Linky Love is a beautiful dofollow plugin. Check out some of the configuration options:

  • Dofollows are added to the author "name" and links in comment text after a commenter leaves some minimum number of comments. The blogger can set this minimum number to anything between 3 and 10. This encourages regular visitors to comment, but discourages spammers by forcing them to visit your blog many times before they get "dofollows".

  • Gives peace of mind. Dofollows will not be added to comments left more than 14 days after you published your most recent post. This is a safety feature that prevents your blog from becoming a link farm should you ever be unexpectedly absent from your blog due to illness or any other major life event.

  • The blogger may refuse "dofollows" to "names" that contain too many characters. This can be used to avoid giving "dofollows" to commenters who claim their name is "cashmere dog sweater".

More About Nofollow and Dofollow

Ultimate List of Nofollow & Dofollow Plugins - Andy Beard's February 2007 post is still a good resource, over a year later. He has this to say about Lucia's Linky Love: I was going to liken this plugin to a Ferrari, because it is built to be fast, but it is probably more like a Subaru, not just fast but designed for rugged terrain and can handle the twists and turns of comment spammers without slowing down.

15 Comments

May

3

Twitter - A Digital Game of Hot Potato?

Filed Under Social Networking | Leave a Comment

How many dozen screens has this potato passed through since it was last touched by human hands? And yet, in our mind's eye it's touchable, as fresh as it was the day it was first "screened." You can almost smell it.

Let's Play Pass the Idea

Yesterday I passed on an IM about a Stumble about a blog post about a Tweet, and it was good.

The very concept of passing on an IM about a Stumble about a Tweet, voluntarily, is dizzymaking. A shiny idea-nugget caught my attention, and, ping a ping ping, it was tripping through three screens for me, two of which I changed or created, and then it made a progression through a couple more screens on my chat friend's end.

On the opposite end of the breadcrumb path, my idea-nugget had gone through several more screens to get to the originating blogger and become part of his blog post. Yon little tweety thing had been quite the traveler, before we even get close to the Tweets that inspired my happy chatty "Oh cool! I know someone who has to hear about this."

Moving information from person to person is like a digital game of hot potato. In the case of tweets, let's call it a game of toss the digitater, with many, many branches.

Follow me on Twitter.

Image Credit to ThrasherDave

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