Lessons Learned – Do Your Research
Posted by Mary in Recommendations on August 4th, 2009
Yesterday I took some of my dying plants to the plant shop and asked the plant expert (horticulturist?) to diagnose and fix what was wrong with them. They were wilting and brown, and looking all-around pathetic. Turns out there was no drainage for the poor guys, and they were drowning. The friendly plant person drilled holes in the bottom of my pots, and I walked away with the hope that my plants would recover from a month of suffocation.
Poor Guy!
I didn’t pay for the drilling service, because – as it turns out – it was this same shop who sold me the non-draining pots that would eventually drown my plants.
Seems strange that a plant shop would sell pots that could kill their plants, but that’s what happened. The very same thing happens in the world of Web development and social marketing. Since many of the tools on the Internet are free (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to name a few) and online tutorials on how to use them are abundant, it’s easy for a less-than-honest person to make claims of expertise that only years of experience can justify.
As a consumer, you need to do your due diligence when hiring someone to design, build, or market a website or other online presence. Check references, view a portfolio of work, ask for a rate sheet, whether there are any guarantees on the work, and what is included – and not included – in the scope of the work that will be done.
It’s important to research the company or individual who will be working with you. Web developers, designers, marketers, and managers are a dime a dozen. Good ones who know what they’re doing are hard to find!
Is Facebook Enough?
Posted by Mary in Questions Answered on August 2nd, 2009
A typical 405 Commute
While driving up the 405 freeway today in Southern California, I had some time to think about the answer to a particular question that I was recently asked.
If you’ve ever driven Southern California freeways, you’ll understand how time was something I had plenty of during my stop-and-go commute, as well as why the topic of traffic was on my mind.
In this case, however, the type of traffic in question was not the sun-soaked SoCal kind, but the online kind. The questioner wanted to know whether he needed to build a website for his small consulting business, or if it was enough to have a URL on Facebook and direct potential clients there.
The answer is pretty simple: While having a Facebook page is a critical part of your Web strategy, it’s not enough. You still need a ‘real’ website that contains information about you, your company, and how to contact you. The site can be super simple — one or two pages only — but should have well-written content, a strong IA, a compelling call to action, and be well-prepared for Google’s spiders.
It doesn’t have to be huge and expensive, but it does have to be ‘there’. Without it, you are not realizing your online potential.
Starting at the Beginning
Posted by Mary in Recommendations on July 30th, 2009
It’s a daunting task, starting up a new blog. For many years I’ve been thinking that I need to do this… heck, I’ve told numerous clients to do it and always felt a little bad and quickly changed the subject when they asked me what my blog address was. Classic case of “do as I say, not as I do”.
Well, the hypocrisy ends today!
So here’s my toe-dip into blogging:
I upgraded my HootSuite account today. Usually I don’t recommend specific products or web tools because there are
I love the simple HootSuite interface
many to choose from, and open source ones tend to have to marinate for a while before you can tell if they’re really good or not.
This time is different.
I have no affiliation with HootSuite (http://www.hootsuite.com), but I love them! Using their simple Twitter management tool has streamlined my life so much, it’s really great. I love their new tabbed interface and how easy it is to manage multiple Twitter accounts. In my line of work, that’s invaluable!
So here’s a whoop whoop to HootSuite!
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