Just the FAQs Blog

Archive for the ‘Online Promotion’ Category

One of my favorite NPR shows is hosted by Diane Rhem. Recently, she interviewed folks who were connected with several online dating services. Her guests included Nancianne Sterling, who is the founder and owner of TargetLove.com. Ms. Sterling specializes in helping folks write an online dating profile that reveals top qualities and gets responses.

One of the observations that Sterling made was that folks tend to describe themselves by filling their profiles with a list of generic adjectives such as: honest, dependable, and caring.

She stated that if everyone used these words to describe themselves then those qualities would no longer be unique. Instead, she suggested that creating a brief demonstration of those qualities would have more impact. For instance, a man could include a statement such as the following: I’m the guy you would call at 2:00 a.m. to come change your flat tire.

According to Sterling, such a statement shows compassion in action. It also demonstrates that he is a dependable, caring, enduring, and tolerant person. A demonstration statement delivers a vivid picture to the reader and helps them easily connect and identify with you.

That’s exactly the kind of connection you want to make with your clients.

You can use this online dating profile tip to help you market your product or services. For instance, if you offer a how-to series or helpful tips and state that they are easy to use, who considers them easy? One of the tag lines for Just the FAQs books is that they are written for non-geeks, which helps the target audience immediately identify with the product. The profile statement connects directly to the reader and demonstrates that it meets their need.

Another aspect of profiles that Sterling sited was that they often don’t convey the very best attributes of a person. When she read profiles that her friends had posted, she knew that they were omitting endearing traits. So, she offered to write profiles for them.

You can use this trick to show off your skills too.

Think of it as writing a profile for your best friend. You would be excited to tell others about them and all the wonderful things they had to offer. Excitement is contagious. If a potential client gets excited about what they read on your site, they are likely to tell someone else about it. Word-of-mouth is the best kind of promotion and makes products go viral quickly.

The profiles that Sterling writes are intended to get responses. Think of this as a conversion rate. Give your readers a reason to read more or to buy your product or service right away. As Sterling states on her site, “In the business of sales and marketing, traits do not sell products, but rather, it is the power-packed words describing a product’s benefits that trigger an emotional response and, ultimately, a purchase.”

Many hosting companies offer free site templates or build-your-own site features. While this may seem like a great value-added service, it could be a trap for first-time site owners.

The reason that I would never recommend such a service to one of my clients is because these templates are based on a proprietary format. Following are three reasons why using these services may be a bad idea.

1) No matter how much you customize the template, it still belongs to the hosting company. If you want to change hosting companies in the future, you can’t simply take the design with you. This means that you’ll have to pay a designer to re-create it for you or use a different design. Keep in mind that the look of a site is part of your branding.

2) You will not be able to back up any part of your site onto your computer. The hosting company may offer backups that will reside on their site, but will not allow you to back up the data on your computer. That means that the template theme and all of the content, which is stored in a database, cannot be moved to another host.

3) You can only use the widgets, gadgets, and plugins offered by the host. Those created by third-party are not usually allowed. This means that if you find a cool plugin for your sidebar to advertise something, or one that makes your site administration easier, you may not be able to install it.

The whole point of a host providing templates and build-your-own site services is to lock in repeat business for their hosting product. Once you are heavily invested in the site, you are not likely to move it because you would have to start all over again from scratch.

Following are six of the top reasons why I recommend using a WordPress based site instead.

• WordPress is open-source code, meaning that there is nothing proprietary about it.
• You can go with almost any host provider.
• Themes, or templates, are available from multiple designers and you can change them at will without disturbing your content.
• You can back up your theme and your database (all the content info) on your computer and move it to any other host at any time.
• There are hundreds of thousands of free widgets and plugins written for WordPress and more are being created every day.
• WordPress integrates seamlessly with other products, such as an online calendar and with RSS feeds providers, email campaigns, and more.

Most of my Web design clients come to me for their second site. Almost all of them got ripped off or trapped in a bad deal on their first site. The rest created a site that looked pretty, but didn’t function well. Each one has either told me that whatever money they saved doing it themselves was not worth it in the end, or they tell me that whatever money a consultant costs is far less than having to start over from scratch or paying to have a site built twice, not to mention the time needed to restore their content.

Normally I would advise you to read the fine print before you sign up for one of these services, but there is none. The companies that offer such services are selling ease, and that’s exactly what they deliver. There is no problem as long as you stay with that host for as long as you own the site, or if you never need anything for your site beyond their restrictions.

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People who are considered intuitive are not generally regarded as being highly adept at running a business. But, thanks to science, that idea is changing. Recent studies show that intuition may actually be a critical component of success.

In 2006, Dean Radin, who is the lead researcher at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), interviewed Rollin McCraty, who is the Executive V.P. and Director of Research at the Institute of HeartMath, for a Shift in Action podcast. Among the topics discussed was the role of intuition among serial entrepreneurs, executives, and venture capitalists.

McCraty recalled a study conducted in Australia with serial entrepreneurs who have been successful with more than one business. In-depth interviews were conducted over several years. One of the notable things that was found to be consistent was that they all relied on intuition. Another common thread was that they all cared about the community in which they lived and were focused on ways to contribute directly back to it.

A few years later, McCraty conducted his own study with entrepreneurs at HeartMath, in association with Cambridge University, using a slightly different protocol for measuring the intuitive index among serial entrepreneurs. The results confirmed that entrepreneurs showed a much stronger psycho-physiological response than non-entrepreneurs or those with non-executive jobs.

In the interview, Radin also mentioned a study conducted in the 1970s by Douglas Dean at The New Jersey Institute of Technology where precognition tests were given to executives. The results were correlated against their company’s profits. The study showed that there were significant correlations between executives that displayed stronger precognition ability to higher profits. The findings were collected into a book, which is titled Executive ESP.

Because non-profit research facilities like IONS continually seek funding, Radin often comes into contact with venture capitalists. In the interview he noted that all of the highly successful ones rely heavily on intuition simply because they are constantly working in a realm of high uncertainty.

Both Radin and McCraty concede that having a high intuition index is only one component of becoming a successful business manager. They both suggest that a balance between intuitive and rational cognition is necessary. As Radin states, “If you were a pure intuitive, you might be a good psychic reader, but that wouldn’t necessarily mean that you were able to balance your checkbook.”

Research shows that intuition plays a critical role in business. So does caring for your community. It’s not always just about the sale. It’s about balancing heart and mind into a profitable whole that ultimately becomes a win-win for everyone.