You know the old saying about buyer beware and do your own due diligence? Well the
same holds true with promises made on the Internet regarding web services. Just because the Internet has exponentially increased the ease and cost-effectiveness of both doing business and buying products and services online doesn’t mean you don’t have to still be on your toes. I’m not talking about security issues, identity theft, or scams here. Sure those are always a concern. What I’m talking about are overinflated promises regarding what a service will do for you and how long it’ll take to implement it.
I recently worked with a client who signed up for a great lead generation tool. And it is a good tool. I’m not disputing that. What got me rolling, though were the promises made about it. Specifically,
Adding <this great service we offer> to your web site takes less than 1 minute, and no HTML or other programming skills is required to do so.
Now that is swell IF your site has no design template that can be goofed up by inserting their deprecated code and if you choose to use their hosted service at an extra fee. It doesn’t say that here, though.
Now when all is said and done it is fairly easy to add this particular service’s code to a website, but it does take some tinkering to fit it within a website that is designed with a custom layout if you don’t want to break the design of your site. And, if you have consistent styling in terms of fonts and sizing you either need to ignore it entirely for this page (and live with the inconsistency) or go in and tinker with their code some more.
What frustrates me when I read marketing copy like this is that it sets the client up with different expectations than what is realistic for the client’s existing website. All of a sudden this client thinks, oh, it’ll just take 5 minutes and then wonders why their webmaster bills them for 30 or 60 minutes in the end. Is that web designer an SOB? Nope… the client just doesn’t have a full understanding of what needs to happen to make this service work on their own website in a way that adheres to their existing site design.
Now I’m not saying marketing copy is evil. Heck no! It is necessary and if done right is authentic, truthful, and compelling. And it sells! That is what we all want as business owners, right? What gets my pet peeves in a twist is when it sets the client up for only part of the story and leaves other service providers doing the implementing looking bad.
So, the next time you read and purchase a little gadget, add-in, or service for your Internet Marketing toolbox make sure you really understand what it is saying. Even better, if you have a web professional that you partner with long term (the ideal situation) get their input before clicking the “Buy Now” button. That way you can be sure of the full scope of the job and set your expectations (and time and money budget) accordingly.
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