I’m sitting in the final session of the day, Searcher Behavior Research Update, and I’ve completely zoned out. It’s not that the session isn’t interesting, to be honest, I don’t know if it is or not. I’m just brain-full. I can’t take anymore. I’m done. Good thing Rob and Diana are off in some other session diligently taking notes.
I’ve had some time to consider Google’s new universal search that they are implementing in their search results. What I see makes me think of this in terms of search goulash.
About a year or two ago I had a potential client contact me to inquire about our services. They had heard a lot about us and were really interested in our services for their website marketing. But our discussions ended up hitting a snag before we could get a contract signed. In fact, I basically told them that we were not the ones to be able to help them.
What was the snag? They were unwilling to make any changes to the visible look of their website. They said they had poured thousands of dollars into the design and they liked it exactly the way it was.
Last week I wrote that a search engine friendly website is not the same as a search engine optimized website. While that is a good article in and of itself, I’m using that as a jump off point to start a short series on the topic of building a search engine friendly website. Just in case you haven’t caught on yet, this is the first post in that series.
In customer service, it’s the little things that matter most. A little eye contact here or a head nod there may seem insignificant, and largely are, but to a customer needing acknowledgment, these things are everything. There is nothing worse than needing help in a store and getting ignored by the very people who are supposed to be there to help.
When we are quoting development work for prospective clients we are often asked to develop a website that is search engine optimized. This usually brings me into a long-winded explanation on how developing a website to be search engine friendly is not the same thing as optimizing that website for search performance. Kind of like how building a car is not the same as making it ready to compete in the Indy 500. Those are two different tasks altogether.
Even when you think you’re communicating properly, you may not be. If you’re anything like me (and honestly, let’s hope you’re not!) you find yourself getting frustrated from time to time because some people are not following your directions. You couldn’t be any more clearer, right? Well, maybe you could!
My saga of bad customer service continues…
The Charter Fiasco
A couple of months back my monthly bill for internet service at home changed from $34.99 to $39.94. Raises in fees are a fact of life and I never gave the $5 monthly increase more than a couple of seconds thought. That was until I got my bill last month which added an additional $15 to my newly increased monthly bill.
Finding good leaders, I mean the really good leaders, is not easy. John Maxwell, in his book Developing the Leaders Around You gives us a few pointers on what to look for when looking for a good leader.
Positiveness: The ability to work with and see people and situations in a positive way.
Servanthood: The willingness to submit, play team ball, and follow the leader.
Growth Potential: A hunger for personal growth and development; the ability to keep growing as the job expands.
Last week I read an article that blasted Rand for an article he wrote pointing out the differences between expert and novice SEOs. While I agree with everything written in that article, I think the author could, and should, have taken a better approach.