Purge, Purge, Purge... Oh Boy!

I started taking a class yesterday - one that I desperately need. 4 sessions over 6 weeks, with a 2 week break in the middle. The class is Work Smarter, Not Harder taught by my good friend Cathi Hight.

The first assignment is to organize my work space. Oh boy!

I'm moving furniture around, sorting through papers, tossing junk mail, deciding what to file, and what to shred. It's really pretty liberating. It feels good to get rid of unneeded junk and clutter. But it's hard to do, for a pack rat like me.

Why do we keep stuff we don't really need or want?

It gives me a sense of security, a sense of ownership. Even if it's junk, it's still mine. And if it's something I paid for, it must have some value. And if I need something, chances are it's in one of my piles or boxes - somewhere.

Sometimes I think that I may not need it now, but I might need it later. There have been times when I've regretted getting rid of something. This usually happens with clothing. I bought a pair of jeans that were a little too tight for me. I held onto them for a year or two, then finally decided that they'd never fit and gave them away. Of course, when I dropped a few pounds and went looking for them, they were nowhere to be found. Bummer. They were really cute jeans.

I hold onto things because I don't want to deal with them now. This is particularly true with mail. I hate sorting through the mail. I get so much junk mail, so many credit card offers I'm not interested in, mortgage refinance deals, and requests for donations to all sorts of charities. Mixed into it all are the bills I'm so happy to get each month. Occasionally, I actually get something I want.

It's always hard for me to get rid of things people have given to me. I feel guilty if I give them away. What if they come to my house or office and go looking for it? This is particularly true for my mother. It's hard for me to tell her that the orange fuzzy sweater just isn't my style, or the AA-battery-powered keyboard vac just won't do the job. She tries so hard, and I don't want to seem ungrateful.

I don't do garage sales. When I purge I throw the stuff away or give it to the local thrift store. I don't really have the time or energy it takes to put together a successful garage sale. And I'm afraid it will give me a chance to rethink my decision to get rid of something. I'll end up keeping more stuff than I sell. And what if no on wants my junk? How humiliating! At least at the thrift store, I'll never really know if anyone bought it or what they paid for it.

What I've discovered over the last couple of days (besides a lot of stuff I wanted but couldn't find and stuff I thought I'd wanted but really didn't) is that all the stuff weighs on you. It's confining, suffocating, smothering. It's stressful to see the piles. Purging may be scary, but it's freeing. Most of it can be replaced, usually with something better, if I really want it later. The things that are irreplacable go into a fireproof, waterproof safe. Anything else will be neatly organized and put in its proper place.

Rrriiiiiiiigghhtt.

15 Moooooooos

Although there are stacks of books I'd love to read, I don't have time to indulge myself the way I would like. This is a great summary of a follow up to Seth Godin's Purple Cow. The book is still on my list, but for now, I'll settle for this.

Memoirs of a Bystander: 15 things I learned from "The Big Moo"

Quantity vs. Quality Web Traffic

Seth's Blog: Different kinds of traffic

So many discussions of the issue of quantity vs. quality, whether it's time spent with children, money spent on clothing or shoes, reading romance novels or War and Peace, or hours in front of the television. Now here's another one for you: web site traffic.

We in the web marketing world talk about unique visitors, page views, and conversion. As Seth Godin illustrates here, it doesn't necessarily matter how much traffic you get to your site, but whether or not you're getting the right traffic.

I worked with a client who had signed a longterm contract with a company who promised to drive traffic to her web site where she was selling an audio CD. I have to admit that they did exactly that. Her site got lots of traffic, but no one bought her CD -- not one!

Now you may think that the problem was with her product, which wasn't the case. Her CD was professionally produced with quality information. You may say that the problem was with her web site, which was partly true. There were definately some improvements to be made that would promote her CD more effectively and allow for a more simple method of purchasing it.

But even if she had a horrible web site and a horrible product, you'd think that with the millions of visitors sent by the company, she would have sold at least one CD from her web site to an anonymous visitor. But no, the CDs she did sell were to people she met on her own or who were referred to her site by associates. Despite the imense quantity of traffic the big and expensive company sent to her site, the quality of traffic was seriously lacking.

Keep that in mind the next time someone tells you how many hits their site gets. First thing to ask is how that translates to unique visitors (since "hits" are pretty meaningless for marketing). Then ask what sort of results they're getting from all those visitors. Are they converting those visits into sales, referrals, phone calls, etc. They may not even know for sure.

As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that workin' for ya?"

Free or Not... That is the Question

An interesting debate over giving away content for free appeared on Seth Godin's blog over a couple of days last year. I find both arguments compelling, and I think the final answer is... "it depends."

Yes, giving away some content for free works great if what you want is to pique interest and spread an idea. However, there is something called "perceived value." In the minds of some consumers, free means flat out worthless.

Who is your target market? What do they want or expect? What sort of information are you delivering? Is it something your market would expect to and be willing to pay for? Or will they see value in it even if it's free? These are all questions you need to ask before you decide which way to go. Or, if you're a research kinda person, you could randomly take visitors to a page that is free or a page that charges and check the results.

I hope you'll read both posts, then let me know which side of the argument you're on.

Seth's Blog: Forty to One

Seth's Blog: Is "free" all it's cracked up to be?

Fraudulent Charities

It seems that with every tragedy, those who prey on the vulnerable come crawling out from under rocks to make their appearance on the Internet. It was reported on the news the other day that since the sudden and shocking death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, hundreds of fraudulent charities have cropped up on the Internet, using Irwin's name and memory to solicit donations from sympathetic visitors. We saw the same type of fraudulent activities after the 9/11, Tsunami and Gulf Coast Hurricane tragedies.

Remember to give generously, but give wisely. Just because a charity has a web site doesn't mean it's legitimate. Check it out before you donate. This is also a reminder to nonprofits to be sure your information on your web site and on lists such as GuideStar, Give.org, and Network for Good is up to date. For more information, read "Give Generously, but Give Wisely."