Think Basis It's Good For Business

Being a “web guy” means that hosting is kind of a huge part of what keeps everything going from day to day. In the past we kept and managed our own servers at The Planet. It was largely good, though not perfect. But, after 4 years of self management we decided to go less stressful and also get some “Digg proofing” from the Media Temple (gs) service. In theory the service sounds great and their site makes it sound like the next best things since Twitter. Unfortunately the reality is a bit different.

Here are some things that have really bugged me about (mt). I’m not saying this because I hate the company. In fact I like their philosophy but…

1. They say you can host 100 sites on the service but you can only really host 1 SSL site.

I wrote to them about this several months back and they still haven’t updated their site. They state that you can host up to 100 sites on the (gs) service. Sounds great right? Well not if you have to have more than 1 SSL site. So if you run 5 e-stores you’re SOL. I asked them to clarify that small point in their marketing copy and they never did. I find this borderline deceptive and at the very least absolutely useless to making a purchasing decision between their (gs) and (dv) offerings. Especially if you already go through the arduous task of moving to their service. (see point #3)

2. The (gs) service has constant downtime and they post photos of their office parties online.

As I write this we’re going on over 2 hours of downtime. Thanks for nothing (mt). This was happening at the exact same time a client was on the phone with me inquiring about our service. Looks really good for a web developer when he can’t even keep his own site up and can’t get through to tech support. In fact I think this may have cost me the sale for an e-commerce site development project today.

Finally I said enough is enough but step #3 will explain further.

Did I mention the office parties? I wouldn’t really care but promoting their extravagant parties through Twitter at the same time my site is down is kind of rubbing salt in the wound. (This actually happened.)

3. There is no way to migrate to, from or between their services. #lame

We ran Cpanel on our server for over 4 years. During that time we could migrate sites between our servers, to and from other services with the push of a button. When moving to Media Temple we had to manually port over 30 sites including files, databases and e-mail accounts. A stupendous pain in the ass. Now that we’re here I decided that the (gs) is (bs) and wanted to upgrade to a virtual dedicated server solution and take up managing our own server again. Hell, I could keep a server up with only 2 incidences of downtime in 4 years (5 minutes total). But wouldn’t you know it, Media Temple couldn’t be bothered to come up with a migration solution between their own services. This is really inconvenient and an extremely stupid business practice. Not only are they giving me a good reason to just move to a proper dedicated server again, but they lost my business today because I can’t easily move 30 sites that are on their own servers. This one really boggles my mind.

4. Their MySQL solution is always going down so you have to upgrade.

Unless you upgrade to a MySQL grid container don’t expect your site to stay online for any reasonable amount of time on the (bs), I mean (gs). If I had a dollar for every minute I spent dealing with issues before upgrading, I’d be a rich man. It’s much easier to just pay the extra $20/month and save yourself the headache.

5. Putting in a support ticket takes at least 8 hours (and sometimes 24 hours) to get a response, and the phone wait time today was 27 minutes.

‘Nuff said about that.

6. Useless SSH access to anyone but the main user.

If you’re on the (gs) and want to give SFTP access or SSH access to a developer you’re boned. I mean you can set up the user and give him access but he will only be able to access a subfolder within his own account. Unless of course he wants to use plain FTP. Does (mt) even care about security? My answer here is going to be “not so much.”

This is rudimentary stuff for any business. Do you want to give your web guy your master password? What if things go wrong? It just doesn’t seem very useful to me. I can’t even figure out why you’d want to give someone SSH access to a useless folder. “Hey super cool programmer. Here is command line access that you can use to do absolutely nothing of use within this one folder that only you have access to.”

I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that the company will improve things drastically because I like the idea of a clustered service. But Media Temple, next time you have a party, please make sure that my site is up before you post the pictures.

By now everyone in the search community is familiar with Google’s motto of doing no evil. But without getting into a huge debate about the merits of capitalism and the economy, I think it could be argued that their product search, as it stands, might be venturing into evil territory.

At the moment, the core focus for the search product is almost exclusively based on price. It’s basically a price comparison tool so people can get the cheapest product around: great for consumers, but perhaps not so useful for the economy and the world at large. Buying cheap may not be the best course of action when it comes to sustainability, the environment or local economies.

I know I know. Lots of criticism, not a whole lot of suggestions. So how would we improve Google Product Search this holiday season? Here are a few ideas:

1. Let the consumer decide what the overriding purchasing decision is instead of price.

Personally, I like a deal but price is rarely the deciding factor when I’m making a purchasing decision. I like to know about quality, ingredients or materials and where the product is coming from. It would be nice if I could have that info right in the search results.

2. Add additional product tags for “Green” credentials.

There is a lot of talk about global warming, sustainability and pollution in general. There are also a lot of regulatory bodies including the USDA that certify organic products. Unfortunately none of these show up in Google Product search. I’d love to see these added as tags so organic and earth friendly credentials are prominently displayed. I think this would be in line with Google’s own stance on the environment so I don’t know why it’s taking so long to have it implemented.

3. Show the country of origin and Fair Trade status.

With all the talk about economic recovery and impoverished nations, it’s really surprising to me that the country of origin is not displayed for any products. In this day and age, wouldn’t you pay a dollar or two more for something made in the USA? It’s a key selling feature in many paper catalogues so let’s give the consumer the right to know where their stuff is coming from. I think a little flag icon would do the trick nicely.

While we’re at it, how about fair trade? It’s nice to know my organic chocolate came from Peru or something but are the farmers and processors being fairly treated? Was my rug made by a 5 year old kid who was forced to work? Were my electronic products made in an energy efficient manner? There are numerous bodies and organizations dedicated to these issues. If these certifications were shown in the search results, customers could opt to vote with their dollars if they deem an issue sufficiently important. At the moment, they can only be self serving by choosing the cheapest option. We can’t improve the world if we can’t make an informed choice.

4. Indicate local products.

Sadly this feature is implemented to some extent but it only works for places to buy. It would be great to see things produced within your city or state. (Bacon from a local farm, honey from within your state rather than pasteurized and blended from Argentina.) What a wonderful way to support local economies by putting the product’s origin right in the main search results and letting the consumer vote.

5. Sort by the features above.

Currently you can sort by price. You can get the cheap product or the expensive product. I’d love to be able to search by local product, or by fair trade only, or by organic only. Give me some options Google. Come on, I know you have the technology. Lead the way.

I don’t like to call Google evil often because I like a lot of their products. But it seems like Product Search is lacking in innovation and like google.com is out of sync with google.org. The great news is that a lot of these features would be pretty easy to implement and retailers would jump right on them. So, if anyone at Google happens to read this, maybe we can get a few of these changes done in time for next Christmas. Please.

In an industry with as many gray areas as Internet marketing there are bound to be some disagreements. From time to time tempers flare, and a heated discussion ensues about what is, or is not, the appropriate way to handle something. But, in the interest of adding a little more fuel to the dying fire, I wanted to throw in my two cents about the tendency some people have to fall back on petty name calling instead of engaging in a legitimate discussion. In short: no matter how much you might dislike someone, if they’re backing their opinions up with facts and examples they are not a bully.

On the one hand you could lazily define bullying based on some lame text book, but I’d rather define it based on those 80s teen movies we all know and love. The bully was the guy who shamelessly (and without cause) picked on the protagonist just because he could. He’d knock the books out of some nerd’s hand and then high five his friends because acting like a dick is totally cool. They’d instigate a fight just because they were stronger and then they’d totally humiliate some poor kid who’d just moved in from New Jersey.

But, since people rarely behave like this in the real world, the idea of bullying seems to have been co-opted and abused by people who don’t want to engage in actual debate. Sure, there’s no reason to dignify petty name calling or baseless insults (which are often the cost of online anonymity), but when someone stands up to you and offers a well reasoned argument or opinion, turning around and calling them a bully is just a crutch. There’s a huge difference between being outspoken about your opinions and going out of your way to start a fight with someone. There’s nothing bullying about someone calling you out and saying they disagree. In fact, it’s exactly those types of comments that help keep you honest and relevant.

Sometimes it’s easier to whine about how people are bullies than it is to stick up for your opinion, especially if you happen to be wrong. And let’s face it, most of us are wrong from time to time. The true leaders in the industry are the ones who embrace dissent and are not afraid to admit when they’ve stepped out of line and extend an olive branch to whomever they might have judged unfairly.

Does bullying take place online? Absolutely. But aside from the ever present comments from trolls, the reality is it’s usually a whole lot more subtle. Genuine online bullying is a lot more like bullying in real life. People don’t just run around dumping spaghetti on someone while an entire restaurant laughs at the poor sap’s misfortune. However, people most certainly do say nasty things about each other behind their back and encourage friends to do the same.

Real bully blogging isn’t about passing along your opinion or responding to someone you disagree with, it’s about using your audience to attack someone who has done absolutely nothing wrong. A good example would be the “mommy blogger” who threatened to say negative things about Crocs if she didn’t get a free pair of shoes. That’s just blackmail and intimidation. Compare this with the commenter who takes the time to explain why they disagree with something you’ve written, or something someone in the industry is doing, and it’s pretty easy to distinguish dissenting opinions from outright bullying.

There’s nothing wrong with being vocal, in fact sometimes it might be one of your biggest assets, but the next time you get into a disagreement with someone who says, “I think you’re full of shit…and here’s why,” maybe you should hold off on calling them a bully until you actually listen to what they’re saying.

Just something to think about.

Seriously, there’s enough clutter already without people starting up blogs to just cut and paste other people’s material. It’s kind of like asking someone to watch your cam copy of a movie when they’ve already got their own copy of the DVD.

Today I was alerted by someone that one of the articles I published on the food site Daily Fork had been blatantly plagiarized by a site called All Top Movies. At first I assumed it was one of those sites that pretty much republishes articles in their entirety, but at least has the courtesy to include the author’s name and a link back to the original source (the online equivalent of leaving a little bit of cash on top of the dresser). Unfortunately, in this instance absolutely no effort was made to either link to the original or give me credit for my work. It’s posted as if it’s their own original content, when in fact, I’d argue it looks pretty sloppy when compared to the original.

The article in question is a stupid little list on 10 Fictional Diners and you can see the impressive placement the story is getting on their site.

Flattering...but still stealing.

After doing a little bit of digging I found the following statement on their about page:

Alltopmovies.com does not claim to own exclusive rights on all posts, images and videos published. All sources we use to create our articles are and will be credited with a proper linkback. However, we are hosting a lot of uncredited material from unknown authors we recieved via mails, from friends and our readers. If you own copyrights to some material such as images or data and you want us to remove it from our pages, contact us to claim your ownership and we will either credit you and your website, or if you wish – completely remove the content.

Sure, I get it, you can’t always track down the original source of something a person sends your way. However, I’d argue a quick google search would be a decent starting point to see if you could pinpoint exactly where the article you’re about to steal came from.

See how easy that is? It's almost like magic.

It seems like All Top Movies is basically just saying, we’ll steal whatever we want and if you don’t like it, ask us to take it down. Obviously I’ve already contacted them and asked that the article be removed, however, I think the more important issue is, if you don’t have anything worth writing about, don’t start a blog in the first place. Asshole.

UPDATE: The list on All Top Movies has now been updated to include a link to the original article at Daily Fork, and the pictures and text have been removed.

However, articles like this are still being posted when the original would be easy to find and provide with proper credit. Also, for some reason in this example they actually took the time to include “seen on AllTopMovies.com” to each of the images. Presumably so no one would steal their hard work.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but when it comes to doing contract work, a huge amount of headaches can be avoided if you make sure both you and the client are completely clear up front about who is responsible for what. It’s not entirely uncommon for the client and the consultant to have two very different views of how the relationship is going to work, and when the contract between the two parties is vague or non-existent, it’s even more important to make sure your client is getting exactly what they expected whether it’s what you promised or not.

Over the past five or six months I’ve watched one colleague struggle with a “nightmare client” that has expected a great deal of hand holding at every turn. This client was initially brought on for a small amount of consulting, but due to an ambiguous contract and poor project management on the part of the agency, the client is now getting several pieces of content, design work, and tens of thousands of dollars in additional marketing and man hours. It doesn’t matter that the client wasn’t originally supposed to receive any of that. And it doesn’t matter that they haven’t paid an additional penny, because the original agreement was vague enough that the client could reasonably assume all of this would be included, despite the company that put the agreement together only intending the contract to include a small amount of initial consulting.

So, whose fault is this type of scenario and what can you do once you’ve already gotten stuck in an ambiguous contract? Well, it’s possible the client is simply being opportunistic and using any loophole in the contract to weasel their way into getting more than they know they should. However, the more likely scenario is the client legitimately misunderstood what they were going to be getting, and if that’s the case, arguing and pushing back will likely lead to a poor relationship and might even end in non-payment.

As the company doing the work, there is nothing tying them to continuing a poor relationship with the client and jumping through each additional hoop aside from the desire to get paid and keep their client happy. At any point they could just fire the client and recommend someone else, but if they decide to continue onward then the relationship shifts from being mutually beneficial to one party being a slave to whatever expectations the client has and any new issues that might arise.

With this particular case, and with almost any client project, there were three specific points in the process where this could have been handled differently in order to minimize or entirely alleviate any unnecessary conflict.

1) Expectations could have been made clear from the start

Obviously the easiest way to eliminate any miscommunication would have been to sit down at the outset and discuss what was expected of both parties. This would have prevented the consulting firm from thinking they were providing recommendations while the client was absolutely convinced they’d be getting everything from conception to implementation to marketing.

2) Specifics of the contract could have been discussed as soon as it appeared both parties were interpreting things differently

Once the contract was already completed from the consultant’s perspective and it was clear the client still expected a large amount of additional work, it would have been the perfect time for a difficult discussion. The consultant could have gotten a clear understanding of exactly what the client expected and decided whether or not it was going to be feasible to move ahead with the contract as interpreted by the client. If so, then they could make it clear this was an exception and the client was getting a tremendous amount of additional value. And, if not, they could apologize and either offer a partial refund or come to some similar compromise before things got too far out of hand.

3) Lastly, the client could have been given a take-it-or-leave-it offer of what the consulting firm was willing to provide

With each silent acquiescence to the client’s request, the consulting firm loses the opportunity to explain the initial miscommunication or salvage anything from this particular client. It turns into an all or nothing proposition where they need to bend over and take it from the client until the bitter end or they can finally get fed up and fire the client. However, the longer the relationship has gone on, the more difficult firing the client is going to be, and the less likely a decent relationship can still be salvaged.

For this particular company it appears that at a certain point it just became too late and it was easier to ignore the problem and complain in private than to actually do something about it. Personally, I’ve been guilty of doing the exact same thing or of operating with no contract at all when it comes to smaller projects. However, from watching this unfold I’ve become convinced that it’s worth having an initial conversation with every future client before any work is done in order to go over the contract and make sure both parties are completely aware of deliverables, timelines, and expectations, and that we’re both speaking the same language when it comes to who is responsible for what. I don’t want to be a case study for poor client communication.

If someone gave you the winning lottery numbers, would you go buy a ticket? Personally, I might not. It would depend on a number of factors, the greatest one being whether I believed the person who was passing along this million dollar piece of information. Even if they are telling me something that could make my life considerably easier and lead to large amounts of cash, if I don’t buy into it then I won’t even take the time to run down to the store and put down a dollar for my winning ticket.

The same thing could be said for companies that hire consultants. There are a couple assumptions you can make when a company is either in the process of hiring or has already hired someone as a consultant.

1) There is a problem

Unless the company is putting someone on retainer to poke around and tell them how great everything is, then chances are the consultant was hired for a specific reason (or reasons). Most likely there is something the company feels is not operating very efficiently, a task they didn’t feel confident tackling on their own, or a specific skill set they are looking to improve. And…

2) They are interested in finding a solution

It seems reasonable to assume the company wouldn’t be paying good money on a consultant if they didn’t feel like there was a strong chance they could make some improvements to whatever problem they are facing. Otherwise, why bother in the first place? There’s minimal value in having someone point out your battery is dead unless you’re ready to get out the jumper cables and get it working again.

But, the fact of the matter is, a surprisingly large amount of companies that spend serious money on in-depth reports with numerous recommendations end up scrapping the vast majority in lieu of either sticking with the status quo or hiring someone else so they can repeat the process. I have a few theories on why this might be:

1) The implementation would be too costly

4) The company doesn’t trust you

Looking at the first two reasons, it seems kind of counterintuitive to even hire a consultant in the first place if you aren’t going to be able to tackle any of their recommendations. It’s sort of like going to a doctor and then refusing treatment. Why not just save yourself the energy and skip the process altogether? Similarly, if it’s likely the company won’t be able to afford the manpower required to implement any changes, then why bother having someone lay out all the things that can’t be fixed?

But, while the first two reasons fall squarely on the shoulders of the company, it’s the last two that are of more interest, since they revolve around the consultant’s direct interaction with the client. Both of these last two reasons have an awful lot to do with the consultant’s ability to communicate with the client and whether the information was presented in a way that makes sense, is reasonable, and is persuasive.

The consultant could be pushing a client to make some simple changes to increase traffic, boost conversions, and increase revenue by 200 percent, but if they don’t clearly communicate the end result and why the process is worthwhile, it’s likely the client will be resistant to making any changes.

Some consultants tend to speak above their clients in an effort to show how knowledgeable they are and make sure the client is left impressed and feeling like they must have hired an “expert.” However, the reality is that these type of relationships rarely seem to generate results for clients, as they’re left with a lot of advice they don’t fully understand and no clear point to start tackling any changes.

However, as is the case in most industries, there is a fair amount of people with questionable ethics and little to no experience in generating actual results. Sometimes these people can be extremely successful over short periods of type by using charisma and shiny graphs to impress prospective clients. However, there is also a chance that the glossy sheen will fade rather quickly once the client starts asking additional questions and is not satisfied with the answers they receive. In this cases, it makes sense for the client to simply scrap the consultant and move onto someone with a more established track record of success. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and it’s fair to be skeptical of anyone who can’t offer specific case studies and a record of proven results.

The best consultants are like a good teacher, and they don’t just focus on explaining the “how,” but they also make sure to communicate the “why” in a way the client will understand. If the client truly believes in the solution, they will most likely bend over backwards to try to implement whatever changes they need.

We finally pinned down the elusive Rebecca Kelley and had an opportunity to get her perspective on internet marketing, current trends, and where she sees the industry heading over the next couple years.

Above: Rebecca Kelley at last year's eCommerce Summit in New Orleans

What attracted you to Internet marketing?

Well, I wasn’t immediately attracted to “internet marketing” so much as the job description that SEOmoz advertised. It focused a lot on writing, which I’ve always loved doing and wanted my career to emphasize. I applied for the job and got turned down, but I stubbornly pestered my boss Rand to at least give me an internship. He did, so I worked at SEOmoz as an unpaid intern during my last quarter of college. When I graduated I was offered a full-time job at SEOmoz. I accepted it because I really liked learning about Internet marketing and marketing in general, and I loved blogging and establishing my voice and attracting an audience. Also, I didn’t want to spend money on fancy “interview clothes,” especially considering I was fresh out of college with student loan debt. Fast forward to three years later and here we are–I’m an Internet marketing consultant and the site manager for SEOmoz (and I still don’t have any fancy interview clothes).

What are the most common mistakes you see SMBs make when it comes to online marketing?

A huge recent mistake is that a lot of small businesses are diving headfirst into social media marketing because they heard it’s this “next big thing,” yet they haven’t a) taken the time to really understand how social media marketing works and what it takes to succeed, b) determined which social media marketing strategies are appropriate for their particular business and which aren’t, and c) focused on more important issues, like on-page optimization and technical fixes.

Social media is definitely an industry buzzword right now, what are your thoughts on the type of companies that should be using it? Or do you think it’s essential for all businesses to be on top of the latest trends?

What a lovely segue from my last answer. I don’t think it’s absolutely essential for all businesses to be on top of the latest trends. Some businesses are just now getting a website up and running–they have better things to worry about than launching a full-scale social media campaign. Likewise, an adult diapers company doesn’t need to have a fan page on Facebook. There needs to be some cohesion in a company’s product/service and its marketing strategy. Just like you wouldn’t advertise feminine products to men, you wouldn’t market certain sectors/products/services on certain social media sites/channels.

Above: Rebecca lives it up as her social media alter-ego "Becseppie"

Where do you see the industry heading over the next two or three years?

I think that mobile and local search will continue to snowball due to the increased adoption of smartphones. Social media marketing will also grow, but I think it could get pretty crowded and the people who actually know what they’re doing will stand out head and shoulders above the rest.

And, on a lighter note, what are some of your hobbies? Do you have any side projects? And, what makes Rebecca happy?

Well, food makes me extremely happy. I am a happy camper when I have a belly full of food. I also watch an unhealthy amount of movies and TV. Thank God for the DVR and for Netflix. Best inventions ever.
Also, I enjoy writing freelance for people (crafting link bait content, lists, etc) and have been doing some personal side projects for fun. I also have been getting into triathlons and race training, and I have a hobby blog called Mediocre Athlete that chronicles my training adventures.

Rebecca Kelley has been in internet marketing for over 3 years and has spoken at over a dozen different conferences on topics ranging from social media to linkbuilding and traditional SEO.

Having previously discussed some of the different small business approaches to online marketing, I’ve had several discussions over the past couple weeks with different colleagues about what can be done by the small business owner who falls into the, “We need to be online…” category of thinking. These are the companies that recognize the importance of having a quality website, know they have a lot to learn, but don’t have any idea where to begin.

For companies like this there are several major challenges standing in their way:

1) Time

Most small business owners are very motivated entrepreneurs that shoulder a massive amount of responsibility across almost all facets of their company. As a result, finding the necessary time to educate themselves about a topic which is almost entirely foreign to them is sometimes just too daunting to warrant starting in the first place.

2) Budget

Unlike most medium and larger businesses, there is typically no budget set aside specifically for Internet marketing, or even for building a website, and a lot of times since the money is going to be coming directly out of the owner’s pocket they will do whatever they can to find the best deal. Sometimes sacrificing quality or deciding to table a project they know they should probably complete.

3) Desire to Succeed

Because they are so invested in the success of their business, their passion for what they’re good at can combine with their ignorance to all things online and create a perfect storm of susceptibility to people who don’t have their best interests at heart.

But, what are the mom and pop retailers with an @aol.com email address and a fear of technology supposed to do? Shouldn’t there be somewhere they can turn for unbiased advice?

A Step in the Right Direction

In an article a few days ago, David Mihm discussed the need for more local outreach, and suggested it would be, “to our benefit as an industry to increase awareness of the opportunities in Local Search among our own communities.”

It is this philosophy that no doubt played a large role in both David, and Pat Sexton, creating a resource specifically geared toward helping small business owners learn more about how their businesses are listed online. Officially launching on January 20th, Getlisted.org offers a great starting point for the business owner with a tight budget and a minimal amount of time.

As one of my colleagues put it:

“Local search is one of the easiest ways to get your business noticed. You can often get top rankings in map listings which drive valuable and tangible returns. For someone who usually has to wear many hats throughout a very busy day, the service makes local search a virtual no-brainer.”

Undoubtedly this resource offers a tremendous amount of value to small business owners, but the biggest question is whether the people who need it most are going to have a way to find out about it.

Becoming a Voice in the Community

GetListed.org has already made its way across the SEO landscape, but the most important part is going to be the next step; making its way to local businesses that might be completely unaware they even need to claim their listing in the first place.

My feeling is that as a knowledgeable internet marketer, the best thing a person can do is try to share basic information with as many people in the community as possible. There’s plenty of business out there, and if you know what you’re doing then there will always be people who need your expertise. However, by building a reputation as someone who’s active in the local business community–and even willing to occasionally offer help with no ulterior motive–the rewards are going to be far greater than if you sit around waiting for someone to email you with a proposal request.

I’m challenging myself and others to find a way to reach out to at least a few of the small businesses right in their backyard that need help with some of the basics. This isn’t about doing a pro-bono redesign of someone’s site or giving away countless hours of your time, it’s about taking an hour or two a month to connect with people who have a strong desire to succeed and will be legitimately grateful for your help.

At the absolute worst you’re going to be giving up a couple hours of your time, and at best you’ll be making a lasting impact on someone’s business and building meaningful relationships within your community. Not exactly a bad scenario.