To Be A Better Business You Gotta Forget Your Services
Why is it that some businesses succeed and others don’t? Could it be that the business that succeeds is better at what they do than you are? Maybe, but probably not. Why is it that some businesses that do crappy work succeed more than other businesses that do better work? It’s because they’re not doing enough.
When I talk about not doing enough, I’m not talking about enough services, enough work or enough features. I’m talking about doing more than just “what you do”. Doing more than just design, just development or just writing.
Gimme more!
People tell me I’m a good marketer because they see me everywhere on the web. However, that isn’t necessarily marketing, as I don’t really put myself on the web to get seen, but that’s how I do more. Perhaps it’s just easy for me to see the obvious in what mine and other’s businesses are missing.
Here’s an example. I know some guys who had a great idea for a social media site. Unfortunately even though they’ve launched, they really haven’t gotten any support or many users. I wish they’d ask my advice, because I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong. What is it? They haven’t done any more than put the website up and talk to a couple of local news stations.
The second problem was waiting so long to launch. When they had the original idea no one else had it either, however by the time they had launched, two other similar services had already been out and had a pretty strong following. So no one heard of their service.
Another problem, is that they’re nowhere on the web but in their own little corner. The problem with only being in your corner is that no one else knows where your corner is.
Gimme success!
The keys to success in the online world is less about services or features and more about where you are and who can find you. There are thousands, if not millions, of “awesome” designers and developers out there, but you could probably only name a few of them off the top of your head. Why? Because you see them in everyone else’s corner.
How to get seen
Succeeding on the web, or being toted as a great marketer, is pretty easy. All it takes is just “being there” and time. It’s been about 9 months since I started “being there.” While I’m certainly no where near as famous as the other guys, I get my fair share of fan mail and “hey I see you everywhere!” emails. How and where did I do this?
The web is smaller than you think because we’re niched into a tight community. I got out there. I started a blog, I wrote for others’ blogs, I commented and I tweeted and I only did a tiny bit of Facebooking and LinkedIn. Actually, I did nothing on Facebook or LinkedIn, but instead I tied my accounts together so they’d update each other.
Because clients see my name everywhere, they remember me when they need a developer. Am I the best developer out there? Probably not (yes). But I’m there.
Don’t drop the ball
Of course, being there isn’t going to matter if your work and customer service suck. So even though being a better business doesn’t really matter when it comes to the kind or amount of services or features you offer, quality still matters.
One angry person can really, really ruin your months of hard work to get seen. Even worse, because you’re so well known, an angry customer is going to get their voice heard that much more. Can you imagine what would happen if an angry customer wrote about Jeff Zimmerman or Eric Meyer? I’m pretty sure everyone on the web would hear about it.
How have you gotta seen?
What do you do to get seen everyday? Has it worked?
image by mudpig
About the author
Amber Weinberg specializes in clean and semantic XHTML, CSS and WordPress development. She has over 10 years of coding experience and is pretty cool to work with. Amber is available for freelance work, so why not hire her for your next project?
Hey Amber!
Good article, it surprises me that you’re not involved more in the Facebook and LinkedIn community, because they are great marketing tools as they are.
Speaking of Social Media, I’ve added you to my twitter (BenLacey09) to receive your tweets!
*Tweet tweet*
I like your website too! Unfortunately mine is down for a few days, but if you get a chance go check it out!
I look forward to reading more of your blogs in the future!
Thanks Ben! I’m on Facebook and LinkedIn a lot – have you not been able to find me?
To be honest I haven’t had much time for anything at the moment, let alone Facebook, Twitter or the well needed updates to my main website.
When I get a chance I will find and add you
How’s your weekend been?
Very busy! lol
Great article, I’ve just recently started setting up my social media game for my freelancing services, the only downside is that between work, studies and freelancing, I don’t think I will be doing much online socializing, but a little bit here and there is better than nothing.
Yea it’s tough to find enough time to do everything. I try to limit my social media time to once in the morning, at lunch and whenever in the evening.
That was some good read.
I read a lot, I mean like A LOT, and I can tell you this – there are neither that many articles like this out there, nor have their authors your approach to the topic.
I couldn’t agree more, although to be honest – the number of “social places” people expect us to be is way too big. Try do Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter equally and you’ll go mad. That’s why I chose and focused only on one of them.
P.S. That ‘tying accounts together’ you talked about – is it made sort of automatic? That would be quite useful.
Yea, you can install a facebook app that will update your facebook when you tweet, and you can do the same on linkedin and myspace. One tweet will update all four.
Good article Amber. After reading this I really got motivated in being more active on the internet instead of just making websites and just reading stuff in a more passive way. It does matter to get seen in the crowd. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for the good article. There are a lot of possible places to be seen and if you aren’t utilizing them, you’ll get left behind. I’ve mostly worked off word-of-mouth but still realize the importance of getting out there and trying to be seen. I also agree that whatever you do, if you drop the ball, it wont really matter.
Keep up the good articles
Great article Amber, thanks for sharing your knowledge
Greetings. I just wanted to post that I’ve I have been visiting your blog for 3 days now and I wanted to post that I’m beginning to enjoy your post. In the mean time please keep up the good work. Thank you very much for the quality information provided. I appreciate it!
This is a very cool gimmick. I tested it out when it was on show locally, but it is not deserving the cost in my judgment. It operates Windows XP without a snag but the keyboard was a bit tricky to function.
I really enjoyed flicking through this. I think I will that a look through your other posts!
Do you have any good hints on how to find websites that are looking for guest bloggers? Where do you go to get on so many different websites as a guest blogger. Do you just search for certain sites or is there some main central authority you’ve found where you get access to several different sites that you can guest for.