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The question,” Is your site a library or a bookstore?” has been haunting me for weeks.

I suspect that it is one of those things that just popped into Amy Africa’s head and she tweeted it on impulse. The transfer from her thought to my mind has been keeping me awake at night.

I wondered if Amy would consider my website a library, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted it to be perceived as a bookstore. After all, I was a professional consultant, well trained in the “clients come from referrals, not advertising” mindset. To shift from “I’ll post a few links to my playbooks” to a full court press was a huge jump that I wasn’t ready to take.

Our website originally looked like this: [Read more →]

Last night I participated in #blogchat on twitter with @amyafrica and @mackcollier. The session was filled with actionable tips for improving your website/blog conversions.

Amy Africa is well known for her attention to testing and analytics. Everything she shared was based on results from confirmed tests. Does that mean that they are guaranteed to work for your site or mine? No.

The only way we’ll know what works is to test it.

Some responses to Amy’s tips surprised me. There were a series of tweets decrying tactics Amy recommended because the individuals didn’t like them personally.

This is a logical response if you are your target customer. I’m not. And, I learned that the hard way, by trial and error. [Read more →]

According to many social media innovators, the channel is Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” on steroids. They say that it is a new form of marketing that is all about building relationships and attracting people to your business.

I’m so tired of hearing that social media “is all about the conversation.” Maybe I am still in the “don’t get it” group, but the last time I checked the purpose of marketing is to promote your business. Since social media is a form of marketing, doesn’t that mean that it’s partially about promoting your business?

The problem I have with the social media guru battle cry “It’s all about the conversation” is that it misleads people.

You can spend 18 hours a day 7 days a week chatting online without acquiring a single customer. But, the cry continues to resonate through the online community. [Read more →]