Should You Have Advertising on Your Site or Not?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the on-site advertising issue. Luckily, one of the schools only goes up through kindergarten.

A lot of website owners struggle with the idea of monetizing their sites, especially when it comes to advertising. They want the income of ads, but not the clutter. And some fear that advertisements will make them appear greedy to their readers, elicit nasty feedback or even lose them subscribers.

But is having a few ads in your sidebar that big a deal? Are ads really going to draw the line between a hugely successful site and one that appeals only to the most ad-tolerant minority? Possibly, but only if your site sucked to begin with.

On-site Advertising. Debunking the Reasons Against.

1. Ads take people away from your site

This isn’t actually 100% true. I mean, ads do take people away from your site but there are so many solutions for this it’s not really much of a detriment.

First, there’s always the “Back” button and everyone knows how to use it.
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There are Only Four Business Styles. Which is Yours?

Which Style of Business is Yours? Your customer has money and you want it.

You have a service or product for sale and your customer wants that.

Somewhere between those two is a seemingly delicate balance of who delivers what and for how much money. I say a “seemingly” delicate balance because in truth there’s only one way to intelligently run your business. And when I say “intelligently” I mean with more knowledge than, say, a jar of mayonnaise.

When your client gives you money, you have a choice of what you do with it and what you give him in exchange.

The four types of business exchange

Someone gives you money for a product or service and you take it and run. That’s called theft.
Someone gives you money and you do a lousy job for them. That’s called being half-ass.
Someone gives you money and you do exactly what you say you’ll do. That’s called fair exchange.
Someone gives you money and you do exactly what you say, and then a little bit extra. That’s called securing your future.

For real business people and people who believe in ethics, options 1 and 2 aren’t options. They’re unethical business practice and could possibly land you in jail and/or with a black-eye and missing teeth. I don’t recommend this route. Unless you just happen to be a fan of cramped spaces and general disfigurement.

Option 3, just delivering what was expected, is certainly fair. It’s also excruciatingly average. I don’t recommend this route either.

Option 4, going that little bit further, is the only way to go.

How to deliver beyond expectations

Do it faster. Your client is expecting the project in six days. Extra: Finish it in three.
Give them more stuff. Your job is to deliver a horse to your client’s stable. Extra: Throw in the rope or a free bag of feed.
Educate them. Your client wants a website, so design the website and then show him proof of its valid code, or how the contact form works. Or write him a tutorial on how to use the site on his own. Or give him free site maintenance for a month.
Extra service. Your client is expecting five logo samples to choose from. Extra: Give him ten.
Great communication. Your client is expecting an answer to his emails within 24 hours. Extra: Write him back in 5 minutes. If people in general were better at communicating, I wouldn’t list this as an extra. Nowadays, believe me, it is. Fast, open and clear communication is extraordinary. The “I’ll get around to it” attitude is the prevalent viewpoint on emails.

There are other ways, but you get the idea.

And can you imagine if you did a combination of these methods? Pandemonium. In a good way.

But doesn’t this break the bank?

Not at all. The point is not to give away so many extras that you break even on every project. The point is to be extraordinary, and that doesn’t necessarily take money. Sometimes all it takes is great communication to do the trick.

And besides, if your idea of great exchange is to supply only the barest of minimums you’re not really cut out for business. Every stellar business success has been built on a foundation of delivering above and beyond.

And if the extras you choose to employ do take money, you’re still in fine shape because you can deduct the costs from your income as a business expense. That means it’s a wash and costs you a grand total of zero cents.

Don’t look for ways to cut down your service to your clients. Cheap businesses do this and it makes them look even cheaper.

Everybody can be average. Which is exactly why you shouldn’t.

Productivity Blogs, Hypocrisy and Me Just Generally Getting Some Things Off My Chest

No, I’m not yelling at you, my readers, I’m just yelling. Even us happy cheery fellows can get mighty pissed.

Angry Pug For the past who knows how long, I’ve been deleting RSS feeds from my aggregator. The first ones to go are the “how to be productive” ones, or the “63 new productivity apps that will take hours to learn and mere seconds to irreparably destroy your life.” I’ve got none of those left now in my reader now.

And I like it.

Why I’ve Read my Last Productivity Post

First, I’m bored as hell with this whole subject. I pretty much was after the second or third post I read, months and months ago.

Second, I’m already productive.

Third, regardless of how brilliant the productivity info is, 99% of the readers are going to keep on doing what they’re already doing. Most likely that is something that has been working for them just fine. Be it Post-It notes, a notebook, phone calendar, whatever. It doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference. If it helps you be productive, it works.

And there’s this…

The Piece of Gold That Productivity Gurus Are Clueless About

For all the tips and tricks, none of the gurus seems to have noticed that productivity isn’t even the problem in the first place.

When we are interested in our lives, our projects and our hobbies we DO them. Happily and with passion. Hours go by in the heat of production and when we’re done our tendons ache and our eyes burn, but we’re not even slightly tired. We have to force ourselves to sleep while our imaginations continue to burn into the wee hours.

Nobody has ever habitually forced a passionate man into creating on his passion. If you like what you do, you’ll fit it in. If you don’t like it, blunt enforcement certainly isn’t going to help.

My advice is to stop being productive. Just go outside and take a walk. Go look at the sky. Go turn on your imagination somewhere, somehow, any way you can. And when you’ve found a passion you’ll know it. You’ll feel that trickle of adrenaline in your belly. Your pulse will quicken and you’ll know exactly what you’re going to do when you get back home.

The Real Secret of Productivity

This is so simple it doesn’t even warrant it’s own blog post.

How to get shit done

Make a list of things you need to do
Do them, one at a time or two or all at once, whichever works
When you get distracted and stop working…
…stop. Get back to work
Repeat if necessary

Yes, that’s pretty much it. Just wake up in the morning, make a list of important items and do them. If it’s more complicated than that and you need some guidance on how to actually make an effective list, go read Nick’s Todoodlist. It’s a brilliant, entertaining read and will change how you start your mornings.

Why I’m So Pissed

I’m tickled crimson right now because one of the gurus out there who runs the one of the largest productivity blogs between here and Neptune can’t seem to find the time to write me back and answer my two-sentence email.

Sure, that happens. I guess. But not with me. Not with James Chartrand and his partner Harry. Not with Nick Cernis. Not with Collis. Not with my mother and father. Not with some multi-million dollar execs I occasionally correspond with. Not with a bunch of other people who, no matter how busy they seem, ALWAYS write me back.

But why can’t this productivity whiz? Am I at the bottom of his to-do list? Or am I lost somewhere between his iPhone, Things, Basecamp, Moleskine and iCal productivity tools? Yes, that is sarcasm, but I don’t think it’s unwarranted.

“Well perhaps there’s nothing in it for him,” you say. Oh, but there is. I’m on assignment right now doing something that will no doubt make him and I both a good chunk of change.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to do the project anymore.” Possibly, but he sure hasn’t told me.

“Maybe he’s too important and has way more important things cooking.” Nobody is “too important” for someone else. We’re people. All of us. We’re here together, right now. My world is his world, and mine is his.

So what should I do? Give him the benefit of the doubt? I have already, going on six weeks. And besides, it’s no longer doubt. Now it’s certainty and first-hand knowledge that his business ethics, communication and just plain old manners suck.

Am I giving up on the assignment and throwing it all out? No way, dog!

I’ve poured myself into it.

And it’s good.

And I love it, which is why I’ve been carrying on alone, without input from the person who asked for it in the first place.

Nope. This assignment will be finished and will remain mine. I’ll sell it myself through my own sites, to customers who I will communicate with and respond to if they write me.

I won’t sell as many without his gigantic readership behind me, this I know. But it’s not about the money is it? It’s about the passion. It’s about connecting with one, two or a thousand people who care enough to write me, to laugh with me, to cry with me and to support a guy who doesn’t know much outside the realm of his own imagination.

These are people for whom I create. That’s a privilege, and it’s one of the richer payments I get for simply being alive.

_____________________________

“We will now return to our regularly scheduled happy author. If you’d like to take part in his usual jolly goodness, subscribe now.”

The Internet. Now with Tartar Control.

The Internet, Now With Tartar Control I think every time I buy toothpaste I buy a different type. I can’t remember from tube to tube which brand I owned before, so every time I go to the market I have to look at 120 boxes all over again.

Every single time.

In fact, the only specific tooth product I can think of at all at the moment is one old people use to soak their dentures in at night. I only remember that because the commercial for it is absolutely abhorrent. Watching someone take out their teeth and stick them in a cup of fizzy liquid as the camera zooms in isn’t my idea of a good time.

But then again, if I were 96 I’m sure that would be the stuff I’d buy because I’d be in the market for fizzy tooth solvent and it’s certainly a memorable commercial.

Individual toothpastes aren’t memorable because individual toothpastes don’t have unique branding.

Toothpaste in general, as a product, has branding: you take a box, add some swooshy toothpaste-like shapes, put some glitter on it, add the words “white,” “tartar” and “control” in any combination and you’re golden. Every toothpaste company is stuck in that rut and that’s why I have no idea what’s on my bathroom counter.

Sounds like the internet doesn’t it?

Today a website is a website is a website. There are thousands of new sites every day and if my own web surfing is any measure, fewer and fewer of them are worth a damn. Perhaps we’re seeing the proliferation of a new day where the unique website is dead and the best you can hope for is to buy 67 domain names, put template-based websites up and hope for your .05 cents of revenue from Adsense.

Not gonna happen.

I mean, think of how many websites you’ve ever seen since the beginning of the internet. Lots and lots.

Now tell me how many sites are in your bookmark list. See?

Now, I’m not one to say that every site has to be different and designed by a $15,000 designer. There are millions and millions of websites and obviously the line is going to blur somewhere.

But having a generic site is not enough. A plug-n-play theme is not doing you, your site or your product any good at all.

If we can’t distinguish your site from another, it’s just another toothpaste, isn’t it?

Girl Scout Marketing

Peruse the Marketing section of your local bookstore and you’ll see a lot of titles and some unusual pairings. Guerrilla Marketing, Punk Marketing, Pyro Marketing…the list goes on.

These are not bad books and if they were I wouldn’t say so, at least not now, as this post is not intended to be a review. I merely hope to assuage your marketing dilemma.

The problem with the above titles and the apparent surplus of marketing styles available to us is that they confuse something that is very very simple. They also imply that perhaps there is some hidden technique for marketing that only a punk or pyromaniac knows.

Take Biff. Biff is starting a new business (a banana stand he intends to run with his cousin) and wends his way into his local Barnes & Noble. He looks at the titles and thinks to himself, “Well, jeez. I’m not a punk so I don’t think I need to learn to market like a punk. And I’m certainly not a pyro, except for that one incident back in grade school. And guerrilla? Do I have to wear camo for that? Probably…I’m out.”

Biff gets confused and takes off. He decides he’ll just figure it all out on his own. And probably he will because Biff knows deep down that marketing is simply telling people what he’s selling.

The Backbone of Marketing

Marketing is nothing more than finding a communication line from you to your consumer and putting your product on it. That’s all it is. You can call it whatever you want: punk, pyro, elephantiasis or Aunt Jemima’s Christmas Basket, but marketing breaks down to the simple actions of:

Have a product
Find someone to tell
Find a way to tell them
Tell them

That’s marketing.

Whether you do that via TV, radio, magazine ads, internet banners or street-corner evangelism, you’re finding a communication line and putting your product on it. You can do it with a loudspeaker, by dropping turkeys out of an airplane or setting shit on fire. You can do it aggressively, loudly, expensively or all for free. How you choose to market is up to you, but without a communication line and someone receiving at the other end of it, you’re not marketing.

A Simple Real-Life Example

There’s a knock on my door, and I answer it.

On the stoop is a little girl. She’s wearing a Girl Scout uniform and she’s got a little red wagon piled high with boxes of cookies.

She says to me, “Do you want to buy some cookies?”

That’s marketing.

Anti-GTD advice: Managing your email and good customer service

You may be productive but your customer service blows

I don’t check my email every hour or four as GTD specialists seem to recommend.

I never check it at all because my email is always up and it checks itself every minute. I use the Gmail/Google Notifier combo and when someone writes, a little window pops up and tells me who’s writing and shows the first couple lines of their email. I hear a beep, glance up from my work for approximately .00003 billiseconds, see who wrote, decide if it’s important and respond or not. If it’s a client or potential one, I usually respond immediately.

“But Charlie,” you’re surely saying right now, “it takes time to glance up from your work. And I’ll bet by the end of the day, you’ve wasted 5 or 6 minutes doing so.”

Well, guess what. I’ve got 5 or 6 minutes. I don’t run my life or my business where I’ll implode if I check one more email. When I was in the corporate world that’s how things were. And that’s why I got out.

One of the things that bugs me about the GTD system, or rather one version of it I guess, is that email accountability goes out the window. Productivity specialists often recommend very intermittent email checking. They say check it only in the morning, or only in the evening, or every four hours.
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Are your freebies scaring away new customers?

“In which Charlie feels duped.”

price tag When I published my ebook a while ago, I didn’t debate for a single second about whether it would cost anything to download. I knew from the outset it would be free. But one thing I did debate was whether the download would be available to everyone or only those who signed up as RSS subscribers.

That debate lasted about 3 seconds, and I decided to make my ebook available to every man, woman, child and amoeba, subscriber or not.

When free isn’t really free

What helped me make this decision was going to a site to pick up a copy of an ebook that sounded interesting. Though it was written by someone I’d never heard of the description sounded enticing and I wanted it. When I found out it was free I wanted it even more. Free is by far my favorite price.

So I followed the link to the website, clicked on the appropriate link to acquire the ebook, and was immediately confronted with this message:

“Subscribe to download.”

My smile disappeared. Then it turned into a frown. I began to squint suspiciously, the same way I would if I were in a New York City subway and some guy with a trench coat and no pants started smiling at me. I stared at the “sign up now” link, pondered for a moment whether the ebook really was free and decided it wasn’t. There’d be no signing up today. Not for me. Read more