| LED Digest 2450: Should You Be Using Facebook? |
|
|
|
================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. July 17, 2007 Issue no. 2450 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ===== NEW ====================== --== Facebook & LinkedIn? ==-- ~ John Smart "Creating Facebook and MySpace and Linkedin and other accounts...Do we want to do this?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== The False Economy of Amateur Work ==-- ~ Michael Linehan "I'd like to extend this topic a little further..." ~ David Spahr "I'm betting no SEO/SEM can tell me who my typical customer is or why they buy what they do." ~ Tom Anson "But there is another side to this equation..." --== Offline Action: Print Catalogs? ==-- ~ Dirk Johnson "I think the point of my original post is being lost..." ======== NEW ====================================== From: John Smart Subject: Facebook Many times over we have discussed linking, and the power of inbound links. Which leads me to two things. 1. Could you all please link to my website? (thank you!) and 2. Creating facebook and MySpace and Linkedin and other such accounts - is this beneficial? Do we want to do this? Could this be a new way of marketing? I guess not that new, MySpace has been here a while. John Smart InternetDesign.com A Human Touch in a Digital world. ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Michael Linehan Subject: False Economy > ... is it better to hire an expert when you can afford it -- > absolutely. But the issue is knowing enough to see > when the expert is selling used cars or really knows > their stuff... Just wanting to agree, but with a "buyer > beware" warning label attached. - Bruce Clay, LED Digest 2449 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1855/190/ For these points and all the rest - well said Bruce, and I couldn't agree more. One of the critical parts of this picture is to at least be an informed consumer. Adding your clarifications and a 'buyer beware' warning label to what I wrote is an important addition. Thanks. And thanks for your post and support on the idea, Jill [Whalen]. Interesting to hear that you've been struggling with this - ongoing work for me, too. Andrew [Taylor] - great concrete illustration. I'd like to extend this topic a little further by placing the "partner with professionals" idea into a larger context. Two principles that may be useful in thinking about this idea (or anything else, for that matter) are these... 1. Is how you are running your business today going to give you the growth you want? Could you even run your daily operations in the current manner if you grow five times? From this point of view, it can be seen that the "I must do everything myself" ethos contains inherent, severe limits on growth. Maybe you do want to grow, and maybe you don't --- and the latter is OK too. But if you do want to grow, put the systems in place now to proactively and strategically create what you want, rather that implementing them reactively later in an attempt to catch up with what is happening in the marketplace. 2. A complement to #1 is the matter of how to even judge an idea's validity or usefulness. The usual way people do this is to ask, "Is it right or is it wrong?" I would like to respectfully suggest this is not the most useful question. A more powerful, potential-enhancing way to judge is to ask, "Is this a useful way of looking at things? Would implementing this suggestion have a substantial positive impact on my business?" For the "partner with professionals" idea, I believe the answer is, "Yes". Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy www.marketing-alchemy.com -------- new post - same topic --------- From: David Spahr Subject: Finding a Qualified SEO > ... and as much as you want to do it right and effectively, > sometimes you simply must bootstrap your way to the > top... small but consistent changes do eventually lead > to a better web site. - Bruce Clay Wow. Great post Bruce! I'm glad you lurk and save your infrequent posts for bringing some balance to the discussion. I have always worked my own site(s). I did not have the money for SEO. As a stay at home parent I could afford the time and wear and tear on the seat of my pants though. So I have learned and continued to do my own (on LED since near the beginning). Although my sites are very simple in design and structure, I have always been able to crack the top 10 with the search engines and enjoy #1 positioning with a couple of sites for my most important search terms. My metrics may not impress and the dollars aren't huge but I make a living. Any SEO work I would need would be more in the marketing aspect rather than the positioning aspect. Since redesigns often seem to result in actually lowering positioning (especially possible in my case) I would not be real interested in doing that. Linking would not do it either. I already have 4700+ inbound links. Here's the thing. I'm betting no SEO/SEM can tell me who my typical customer is or why they buy what they do. Anybody? If I have to explain it and they have to think about it starting from square one, then their marketing efforts are likely to be hit or miss. My customer is not a typical "surfer". I know who my customer is, where they go, how and why they buy what they do. I'm sure there are additional things I could do for marketing and some redesign tweaks I could do. These things seem to happen organically though. If I had the dough for SEO/SEM Bruce would be my guy. Just his excellent post explains a lot about why I would make that choice. David Spahr http://stereoviews.com -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Tom Anson Subject: False economy Hi fellow LEDers, I agree completely with Michael Linehan's comments about operating your website under a false economy. I've struggled with this question myself for years. There are many things that I'd like to get to in promoting my website and building my business, but there always seems to be one (or twenty) other things I need to do to my website before I take those steps. I've often quipped to people I know that, due to my limitations (I've started this business because I'm too disabled to work a "real" job), although I've been online for about seven years, I'm only about 15 months along -- and most of that was learning curve. I also know that, no matter how much I put into my website, there are going to be aspects of it that are more like a Lada than a Lexus, and I can't help but wonder what the difference would be if I could have my site actually "finished" -- put together by a professional. But there is another side to this equation: I'm not really a businessman. Building my website (however unprofessional it may be) is what I do best. While one could argue, then, that I'm in the wrong business; but really, I'm just trying to make the most of the resources I have. From what I've seen on LED, I think a lot of those in this community are in a similar situation, although the specifics are different. And, there is another side to economy: While Michael might say that saving $1000 while spending $3000 worth of time is not a good business move, not everyone can spend "a few thousand dollars" when the results are only a "maybe". It's not all that smart to spend what you don't have on spec. That's a gamble that I don't care to make (again). That said, any professional on this list who can take a look at my site and, from the context of the industry I'm in, tell me how you can turn my "few thousand dollars worth of profit" into $100,000, I'd be more than happy to listen to you. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com ============ Sponsor Message =========== We say this: We're the best bloody web copywriters on the planet. You respond thus: Prove it. We say: OK. Read these http://getwebcontent.com/copywriting-samples.php and see if you don't agree with us. You say: Where do I sign up? We say: Visit http://GetWebContent.com/LED today. ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Dirk Johnson Subject: Print catalogs > ... a lot of accounting systems really choke > on multiple retail prices per item. - Dirk Johnson, LED Digest 2447 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1853/190/ > Actually, set up properly, that's never a problem... You just > give the item a slightly different, but unique, product number > code, and to the accounting system, it's totally different... - Eva Rosenberg, LED Digest 2448 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1854/190/ Hi Eva. I am aware of that trick, and I even pondered it as a possibility when I was writing my post. It is possible to have an unlimited number of unique SKUs with unique pricing codes for each item. Here's where the systems "choke", though. Having multiple codes for the exact same item can create real havoc when trying to manage inventory and make purchasing decisions. Comparing large mail order catalog operations to small retailers is not really apples to oranges, either. Their systems probably consolidate the multiple pricing data down to one item for inventory and purchasing purposes. Most off-the-shelf accounting systems that small businesses use can't do that. What's more, you'd have to allocate inventory to each different item when it's received in stock. How many units should be allocated to the "catalog" priced item stock and how many to the online item? What if you need to swap the stock levels around in order to cover "outages" on one item and thus prevent back orders? Will you have two "bins" in physical stock, or just put it all in one? Then what do you do when it's time to count inventory? That'd be more allocation management work. And price changes to either the cost, the selling price, or the item details would now require at least two data entries, not just one. My head hurts just thinking about managing this kind of inventory gymnastics, day-to-day. Again, I think the point of my original post is being lost with these kinds of arcane theoretical arguments. Multiple pricing structures, just for the purpose of offering a print catalog in a two-tier pricing system, creates even more workload and confusion across the organization. What will the employees think of all of the added hassle? The potential for making an error is constant, and it comes from the top down. That is never good practice. A manager's job is to simplify, not complicate. Just managing the catalog production and distribution is hard enough. Adding a second pricing layer really explodes the challenge. Rube Goldberg would love it. Yes, it's possible. Is it practical and a good use of limited resources, the most valuable of which is management time? Opinions can vary, but, having been in the trenches of a small-time but fast-growing mail order operation, I really doubt it. Best regards, Dirk Johnson Partner - Operations DomainDrivers LLC www.domaindrivers.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED SEOToolSet.com Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification Join the certified SEO directory: www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/189/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/187/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/201/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "I like you Betty." - Ty Webb |
