Good article. Inappropriate title. There are better and more accurate ways to make the point without using the word "douche."

Wow. That's a hell of a list. Can't imagine how long it took you to put that together.

Hey Kaya,

Oy! Is this a timely article! I do follow this (Mostly. Still need to work on the office hours.) but would love to hear more about what you have to say about prioritizing. Between client work, client acquisition, product development and 'working on the business' I often wind up feeling like I'm working my butt off and not getting anything done.

Elge

Have at it Joe:

To (confused) service professionals,

The eMarketing Strategist is the internet marketing consultant who will guide you through creating an efficient and effective internet marketing plan that will get you more clients because I…

• Have increased visibility and attracted customers for dozens of clients
• Educate myself daily on the latest internet marketing trends
• Am a small business owner who needs to keep an eye on costs too
• Your business success IS my agenda

Good job Tia! This is really soid advice.

For those of you who don't know Tia, believe me; she knows what she's talking about. She's built a very successful business and has a sterling reputation. If you're not in her network, you should be!

Thanks for not focusing on which tube to stuff your mesage in but on how to connect with people who want what you have. For some, they sound like the same thing but they are oh so different in implementation.

Hi John,

Great article! It's rare that there's an article on a foundational topic such as marketing that digs deep into a subject and sheds light on it in a way that really helps business owners. You’ve hit the mark here.

You say that, “Competition essentially consists of A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE to your product that fills or nullifies the need you serve.”

I would also add that competition consists of companies that do a better job of connecting with your target markets. You might have a better mouse trap but if your competition does a better job of communicating to your customers, you’re hosed.

The excellent advice you give here should go a long way to helping companies easily figure out how to communicate to customers.

Elge

Hi Richard,

Great advice. The value of testimonials cannot be over estimated. They resonate more with potential customers than just about anything else you're going to write and they're a whole lot easier to write than raw copy.

I regularly interview my client's clients for testimonials and I really like your approach to the interview process. I will definitely be adding some of your questions to my standard protocol.

Elge

Thanks! That's very helpful.

Hi Kelly,

As someone who works almost exclusively on the internet, this article was very helpful.

Having a long illustrious history of asking the "dumb question" every on else wants answered but is afraid to ask, I would like to ask you to expand on #9. I know CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black (figure that one out!) and RGB stands for red, green blue but what is spot color printing and what should we know to prevent a problem?

Thanks!

Even with the link at the top of the page, I'm willing to bet most people don't see your newsletter sign up link. I was looking for it and had a hard time finding it!

I would recommend bringing it into the body of the page and putting the form on the page instead of a link to the form. In the sign up box, tell the reader what they will get in your newsletter in addition to their free gift for signing up. The trick is to make it compelling in as few words as possible.

Hi Dawn,

I doubt there is one solution that will do both project management and invoicing. I've cobbled together a solution. I use JointContact for project management and TraxTime for invoicing. You can test out JointContact for free and it only costs $10 a month for the paid version. TraxTime is only $40.

Great article Tia. One thing I would add would be to get as specific as possible in your proposal. I typically put 3 - 5 hours into proposals for two reasons: 1. It prevents the dreaded scope creep 2. It shows the recipient that you have paid attention to their needs and have crafted a unique solution.

This doesn’t mean you tell them how to solve the problem. You enumerate what needs to be done to get to their desired result.

(This is also a good way to justify charging more than the competition.)

We've got a couple of coworking places here in Portland and I've been wondering if it was worth the investment. After reading your article, I think I might try them out. Thanks Wayne!