Victoria Potts Keale

Why I am now considering myself a “web hobbyist”

Victoria Keale — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:39:33 +0000

It’s Saturday evening, and here I am sitting in my office, “working”.

It’s scenarios like this that have led to my latest “aha!” — I don’t really consider myself a web designer – I consider myself a web hobbyist. I have read so many sales pitches for ‘how to turn your hobby into a business’ that I think I started believing that there was something almost not to be taken seriously in those who make money using their hobby. Like it wasn’t a “real” business. And in some cases, for some people, that may be true. But not for everyone… and not for me.

To illustrate my thought process, I’ve invented Joe Shmoe. Joe in an insurance man – he works his own hours and stays up on the latest insurance stuff. He has clients. He has an office. It’s a job. When Joe finishes up his day, he comes home to the family, dinner, a little TV – normal stuff. Joe is also a car enthusiast. He knows all sorts of what’s what about cars. He has a cool garage with lots of tools and gadgets, and fixes up cars on his time off.

Joe knows a lot about insurance. He knows the ins and outs, the whys, all that stuff. He enjoys his job, and likes to take care of his clients. But Joe knows a LOT about cars. During his free time he reads car magazines, he surfs car blogs, he knows what’s coming out when, what kind of car is worth what, etc, etc…

Why is it that only Joe’s insurance knowledge is deemed of “value”. The only thing worth paying him for? Doesn’t it seem like those who have hobbies are really experts in their chosen hobby? (It’s probably unlikely that his clients would consider Joe an insurance expert – but ask his neighbors, and I bet they’d say he was a car expert.)

Why do we put our noses up when we hear the word “hobby” when it’s connected with a business? Personally, I’d be more apt to pay Joe for something car related then to buy insurance from him. It’s all about passion — the more passionate about something we are, the more we have invested in it, the more we care, the more we know. And for me, I would rather deal with someone who is passionate then “professional”.

So, I am not a web designer. After my lovely (3rd) baby joins the world (20 days from the publish date of this post) websites are no longer my job. I’m not coming in the office 9-5, Monday thru Friday. Because in all reality, websites were never my job. I’ve always just done this because I loved it. Because I am a nerd. Because I read tech blogs, could sit for hours reading code, and I care more about the end result of design then I do about the paycheck.Because I can only redesign my own website so many times a year before people would start thinking me mad.

I don’t want to call the people I do work for “clients” anymore — although I have yet to think of a replacement definition.
I don’t want to be on Twitter anymore. It takes my time away from my family, my hobby and myself.
I don’t want to market myself. (which is partially b/c I hate that part)
I want to spend my free time either helping people with web stuff or learning about new web stuff.
I want to teach people what I know so that they don’t need me. Not because I don’t want to work for them anymore, but because I want them empowered.
I want to continue charging a fair amount for my expertise and one-on-one help – but balance that out with free advice, research and tutorials.

And most of all I want to hold on to the pleasure that nerding out on some code, finally solving that script problem, creating that fantastic logo… brings me. I want to continue to look forward to sitting here in my office, like I’m here because this IS leisure time for me. And so there it is – Victoria Keale is no longer a web designer. I am from now on a web hobbyist. Maybe web hobbyist extraordinaire? Yeah.

What does that mean for this business? Not too much except some service and package changes, and a much different schedule for me. That stuff will be “announced” over the next few weeks, before my little bundle comes. In the meantime I am going to chew on this concept a bit and see where it takes me, wrap up the projects I have left with my “job” and get settled into my REAL job – being Mom. Cause no matter what, that’s the only true full time job I have. The rest of the things I do are really just hobbies!

~Until next time.

When accomplishment is relative…

Victoria Keale — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:23:37 +0000

Accomplishment. What a icky word. As I moved through today (and it’s Monday… so consider that) I had that devil on my shoulder saying “Vic, you’re not accomplishing anything today!” The clock kept ticking away and it didn’t seem like I was crossing anything off my to do list. Bear in mind, I was working all day. I was here at the computer doing work-related stuff, answering emails, talking to clients, doing pieces of projects. But as the day came to a close and I had only checked off one thing as complete, I felt really bad about myself.

So I decided to punch the little devil Vickie in the face and figure out a way to feel better. After all, I was working! I was not sitting on the couch watching Oprah (like I wanted to do), did not take a nap (like I REALLY wanted to do), did not spend time on Facebook (like I seem to always do)… I actually worked on stuff. So what was it that made me feel bad? How could I fix it?

Accomplish is defined:

1 : to bring about (a result) by effort
2 : to bring to completion
3 : to succeed in reaching (a stage in a progression)

In order to fix this vicious circle of doubt I get myself into, I’ve decided to ignore definition #2 in daily life.

From this point on, I am going to view accomplishments for the day in relative terms — Did I get a result from my effort? Did I reach a stage in a progression? Looking at my day today (which I felt nothing got done) I did in fact do both — I may not have finished any particular projects, but on all my tasks for the day I made forward progression, and I got a result (even if that means just an email reply from a client).

I’m going to try this new mental measurement out to see if it succeeds in shutting up that self-doubt devil. I’ll let you know how I do.

And then….

Then my son came home. Distraught. Crying. In a real bad way. It turns out that he got in trouble at school for misbehaving. After a little digging, I figured out that he was less upset about getting in trouble then he was scared (and embarrassed) because he never got the chance to explain himself and his intentions. Now he is worried that his teacher, and his friends, will come to their own conclusions about what he did and not like him / make fun of him / be mad at him. I could feel that misery. And I can relate.

Even though him breaking a rule and me not crossing off my to-do list are very different, the resulting self-doubt and worry are very similar. One voice in my head wanted to tell him “it doesn’t matter what others think of you!!” but I know that is BS. If it was true that others opinions didn’t matter, this world would be a much different place. It does matter — but the key is to limit your list of people whose opinion matters, and to segregate it based on the topic (i.e family stuff vs. business stuff vs. friend stuff). It’s hard to explain that to a 9 year old — heck, it’s hard to explain that to myself! — but I think it’s something that we all need to come to terms with. The idea that the only person you have to answer to is yourself is silly.

And now…

Now I am adding another portion to my get-rid-of-self-doubt plan. Accounting. Justifying my accomplishments for the day to myself is one thing, but I think that I also have to take that step and account for them to those whose opinions matter. I think that is the missing piece to the puzzle… letting my clients know where I am at with things, being honest about what’s possible and what’s not possible (one of my biggest problems – saying yes when I can’t follow through), and generally letting them know where they stand. I think I feel the most guilty at the end of my work day when I don’t have something finished and I think my client thinks I was just sitting around all day, doing nothing.

So I’m giving myself the same “homework” as I am my son. I am having him write a letter to his teacher explaining what he did, what his intentions were, what lessons he has learned, and asking her to help him right the situation. In my case, I am going to try and send “wrap up” emails to my clients who have open projects each day, letting them know where I am at, what stages have already been completed and what’s next.

So that’s that. I figured I’d blog about it to be a bit more accountable to myself so that I can work towards making my daily accountability emails habit. Maybe sending them will, in some way, give me closure that I did accomplish something each day, even if the shoulder-devil says otherwise.

If I blink, I may miss something…

Victoria Keale — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:17:53 +0000

So far, April has been my favorite month this year.

Since I’m feeling rather optimistic, I felt it time to update the personal blog for once (even though I don’t really have time for it…).

Back in March (long, long ago ) I decided to take the first few weeks of April “off” to get caught up with life. It was beginning to get too crazy here with pregnancy issues (sick, sick and more sick), a back log of honey-do’s in the house, overbooking myself with work, and then the regular life stuff. By the end of March, I was feeling like if I blinked, I would miss out on a ton of stuff – so instead I missed out on sleep, on “me time”, on “mom time”, on living… all in order to stay on top of life. Irony? Yes.

Now that my “catch up” time is in full swing, I’ve noticed that I am even busier when I don’t have a schedule then when I do. Again, that crazy irony. BUT the good news is that I have incorporated all those things I was giving up in order to stay on top into my daily routines, so that by the end of April — I will be Mrs. Got-It-Together (ha!). I can dream, right?

My husband and my daughter, camping at Hawn State Park

Here we are at day 7 of April. I’m proud of all my families accomplishments, so I’m bragging… here goes:

Went on our first camping trip of the year (hallelujah!). Only about 40 total hours of “roughin’ it”, but enough to get me back in touch with what’s important. Lesson Learned? Pregnant ladies cannot get a good night’s sleep on the floor of a tent.

Finally found a pediatrician!! It’s been 6 months since we lost our private insurance (my kiddos dad was laid off, so our great coverage went with the job) and we’ve been relying on that government stuff to get us by. Apparently there are not many kid doc’s who accept that insurance, so it’s been rough. BUT by necessity today (since my little girl is suffering from severe allergies) I finally found one that will take us — and by god, it was the BEST pediatric office I have even been to! Super nice, super fun and it seemed like they actual care about my kids. I didn’t even believe that existed! So, mark that one down as a win for this family. Lesson Learned? A good doctor is one that not only knows the doctor stuff, but knows the importance of the emotional stuff too. When you find them, don’t let them go!

The garage is clean, the yard is mowed, and the house is almost clean. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it really makes life a lot easier.

Finally got a new phone! I found out I was eligible to upgrade, so I was able to get me a “smart phone” (Blackberry Curve) for a total of $9. Sa-weet. Now I can check email from where ever… which is a step closer to getting myself ready for working at home plus baby. The next step is to set up a workstation in the living room, so I can be mobile (at least around the house). It’s going to be hard to juggle a new baby and a full time job, but with the ability to work in any room in the house, it’s gonna be a lot easier!

I have almost accumulated all the baby supplies needed for this little bundle of joy and have only spent a total of $22. Through keen shopping (ebay) and getting hand-me-downs from friends, pretty much the only things we don’t have yet are diapers & wipes! I have clothes for up to 18 months, all the furniture, 2 car seats (!!)… now I just need the baby! wOOt!!

I’ll stop there…. I don’t want to jinx myself. I’m hoping the next 3 weeks of April will be just as wonderful. I have 2 more “catch up” weeks on the books before the mountain of new, big projects starts. (Cause I can’t have a good thing for TOO long, eh?)

I forgot how hard it is to be pregnant. Or maybe the older you get, the harder it is? I was 21 when I was pregnant the first time, so I have to believe that my body was in much better shape then. Now, I’m an emotional and physical wreck. I forget everything. I cry for no reason at all, all the time. I waddle. *sigh* I can’t wait for July 30th when this baby stops sucking the life out of me. The hardest part of it all has been dealing with & accepting the fact that I cannot do everything I used to do. I used to get up at 7am every morning and take on life like a rockstar/ninja/superwoman. Now, I drag myself to do anything. But convincing myself that it’s okay to take it down a few notches has been the best thing I have ever done (hence the 3 week “catch up” time). The guilt has subsided, and I am taking comfort in the little accomplishments (hence the list above). I also revel in the accomplishments of my family, b/c they are rockstars at helping me. Even the kiddos… at 6 & 9 years old, they know more about family, love and support then many adults do. Go them!!

Ok — rambling done this time. Must go check some stuff off the list, and then sit down for a while. Cause I’m making a human here, and that’s important work.

New Series #1 — The Web Geek Encyclopedia

Victoria Keale — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:06:09 +0000

I know deep down I’ve known this for years, but recently it’s been in my face more and more so I figured it was high time I embraced this truth: I am a web geek… and we are a special breed.

That said, I do feel it a duty of mine to help my clients and biz friends understand in “normal people talk” what all the nerds talk about — even if it’s just understanding and not “I’m able to do it all myself now” kinda knowledge — b/c I see more and more that many of the people I work with really don’t want to have anything to do with all that tech geek stuff BUT I feel it is empowering to know what your chosen web geek is talking about, be it me or someone else. So… I’m introducing my own little web geek encyclopedia.

I’m going to attempt to cover topics that I know my clients have said “Whaaaa??” to me about in the past (and I totally welcome your suggestions, too!!). So… without further ado…

Victoria’s Web Geek Encyclopedia

Concept: Robot.txt files / .htaccess files and other server things like that.

Explanation: While I don’t expect non-tech nerds to even want to know what goes into server files like these, I think knowing what they are and what they are for is important.

These types of server files tell the non-human entities (i.e. browsers, robots, etc…) special things about your website. There is a lot of special code involved in these files — for .htaccess files for example, they give instructions like who gets access to what, where a certain url should go, and much more. The robot.txt files communicate information like telling the search engines what to look at and what to ignore (like a “hidden” folder or something).

Comparison: Think of driving on a highway in your town. When all is normal, the standard roadsigns will tell you where you should be going, what your options are for exits and general info you may need to get where you are going. But when the highway is under construction, you normally see additional signs, giving directions like “this exit closed, detour exit __” or “exit __ for local traffic only”. Those signs may be temporary (even if they are there for, like, years) but they give you the driver additional information about your drive that helps you navigate the special circumstances. That’s kinda what these server files do — they tell the “driver” (i.e. robots for example) special information about how your site is working so they can navigate it the way you want them to.

Common uses for these files: The most common use for the robot.txt file is to tell the robots from the search engines where your sitemap is, if they are allowed or not allowed to look at a page, or block a specific search engine or IP from your site (or just a section of it). It is good to have a robot.txt file on your server (one per domain or sub-domain) but make sure you or your web tech knows what’s in there. Just in case.

The most common use for an .htaccess file is to give proper access to special password protected areas of your site, redirect pages or sections to other places, block bad people or robots from accessing your site via IP address, or give a custom error message for bad URLs on your domain. It is good to have a proper .htaccess file on your server, but very important to only give editing access to trusted people and make sure everything in it is meant to be in it.

If those types of files are still a mystery to you, feel free to send me a comment and ask questions!!

> > What’s next? Metadata and SEO

Building a new site is fun!

Victoria Keale — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:10:17 +0000

So I am working on my new website and encountering all kinds of problems — starting off with my keyboard not cooperating and lagging behind my typing (ick!) and ending with many of the plugins I am installing not working. It sucks because I install these plugins all the time and on everyone elses sites they work, but for some reason they have revolted against me.

So this post is to simply test on of my lovely plugins. I’m sure I will delete it soon. But if you clicked on the link, Hi! and feel free to check out the rest of my site before I delete this.

Vic

I SOOO can’t wait for spring.

Victoria Keale — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:43:16 +0000

Since I am moving my business to this website (as of the end of this month) I had to take stock of my almost bare personal blog and start actually posting stuff!! So here goes.

Welcome March! Welcome Spring! And welcome back sanity!

My guess is that I am not the only one who goes a little bit insane in the winter. (Unless you live somewhere where it doesn’t get cold, and to you… bah.) The first signs of winter come each year and I get so excited, like this year will be different and I will be able to last without losing my mind. I am always proved wrong — b/c by January, when I realize I have not left my house in months, I am at the point where no one is safe from my wrath. (This year being worse w/the pregnancy hormones taking control).

March is here now, and I see the first day of spring in my sights. *sigh* It’s like my little piece of heaven.

So what does a winter-blues girl do when she sees spring coming?? Clean house!! And not just house-literally… but everything. I’m changing my business name, changing my services, starting new activites like yoga and tai chi, eating healthier, and also literally cleaning house.

I’m pretty excited by this year, since come fall I will have a new human depending on me. My little nugget baby should be here by August of this year (we find out gender in 3 weeks and will then retire the nugget name for an actual name).

I’ve decided that new years resolutions are for the birds, because anyone hit with the winter blues cannot handle making promises and changes and adding stress when they are still so bummed from the season… so I have decided (as of March 1st) that my new thing will be SPRING RESOLUTIONS. Much easier to deal with, b/c my attitude is better and the likelihood that I will actually follow through is much higher. (And I think the gym will not be so packed with those New Years Resolution people since they have all given up by now).

My 2010 Spring Resolutions:

Get in shape. Starting pregnancy yoga (tonight for the first time) and resuming Tai Chi. Wearing pedometer to track steps daily. Actually playing the Wii Fit every week.
Hydrate. Doesn’t sound hard, but I know I don’t consume nearly enough water, so that is my new thing. At least 48 oz per day.
Create Me time. I don’t spend nearly enough time with me. Goals include reading books again, shooting photos again, and finally getting my own ipod with my own music on it.
Teach my kids to cook. We eat out TOO much. My kids don’t appreciate food enough, and we don’t spend enough time together. So each week I am going to cook a meal with each one of my kids and actually let them do stuff instead of watch.

4 is a good number, so I am going to limit myself to those for now.

I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going… and hopefully I will report awesome things…

Are URL Shorteners getting you blacklisted?

Victoria Keale — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:59:53 +0000

URL shorteners are the new cool kid thing to do when sending out promotional links. (See: tinyurl.com, budurl.com, et al) They are a super awesome way to get easy links to pages that may have super-long permalinks or hard-to-remember URLs. Bad side of this is that the bad guys, the hackers, the virus-spreader-jerks have figured out they can use this to send out evil links disguised as trustworthy shortened links that we have all gotten so used to. End result? Your emails are getting blocked, getting blacklisted and make it hard for you to get your click-throughs!! So what’s a good little entrepreneur to do???

Take the power back!! (Thanks to one of my favorite bands, Rage Against The Machine, for that wise turn of phrase!)

You CAN take the power back from those horrid blacklists and hackers by keeping your shortened URLs on your own server. You have options, one of them is hard (getting your own .me URL and doing redirects) and one of them is ultimately easy (after initial set up). So let’s talk about the easy way, eh?

http://yourls.org/ –> This is a free script that allows you to house your custom shortened URLs on your own server. Bonus? You can track your click-throughs via your analytic software. And there is a WordPress plugin that can be used with it! Even easier! Yay!

So how can you get this service up and running? Well, if you are technologically adept, you can follow the easy directions on the yourls.org site and install the software yourself. It’s really not that bad — and if you installed your own WordPress application, you can do this too. But if all things technological scares you, hire a nerd to do it.

Either way, you are going to save yourself time and headache down the road as the bad guys take further control of our legitimate marketing tools — and they will — so the little investment today will make it well worth your time in the future. And the future, my friends, is just around the corner…

Plan. Create. Evaluate.

Victoria Keale — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:07:49 +0000

My approach to a website design (or REdesign, as the case may be) is threefold.

Plan. Create. Evaluate. Those are three key pieces to a website that sometimes gets overlooked, or set aside. I think one of the reasons this happens is because people assume (or in the past have been conditioned to believe) that website design is about the pretty graphics or colors or fanciness. So they hire a designer who makes something sparkle. Something flash. A fantastic looking header that could be stuck on a wall in a gallery. But when it comes down to actually using that website as a business tool, all the flash and fancy in the world won’t keep profits coming in. Enter Plan. Create. Evaluate.

Plan. Create. Evaluate.

My personal threefold approach to website design takes into consideration first and foremost one of my favorite sayings in the world: “Do everything on purpose”. Take time to plan out your site elements, from the small to the big, and do it ON PURPOSE. After you have a plan, create the beautiful site of your dreams (or the basic, black text on white background. Whatever. Doesn’t matter as long as it fits in with your plan.) Then let that site sit for a while (albeit, with updates and posts and normal activity from you). See what happens. Give it 3-6 months. Once you have let your site stew, then it’s time to evaluate. Is it working? Are you getting the traffic you need? Are you getting sales? What reaction do visitors give you? If it’s working, then keep it up!! If not, it may be time to start a new (or altered) plan.

Thing is, your website (and total web presence for that matter) is kind of a living thing. It needs attention. It needs care. It needs to be checked up on every once in a while. Letting a site sit dormant with no activity and no evaluation will not help your business grow.

Looking back.

Many times entrepreneurs either already have or are getting ready to launch a web presence that just “gets the job done”. I have seen many people invest hundreds and thousands of dollars in coaching programs, products, seminars and networking events all with the goal of creating a profitable business – but when it comes time to implement all they have learned, their web presence gets the least amount of attention and in many cases the least budget. Entrepreneurs tend to develop this idea that their product/service/skill can “sell itself!” and why invest a lot of money in creating a flashy site?!?! But the truth of the matter is this: It does not matter how awesome your product is. If buyers can’t find it. If happy customers can’t share it. If you can’t use a success from the past to promote something new. Then what’s the point of having a business in the first place?

I often compare an online entrepreneur’s website to your average, everyday store. Look at where YOU shop in your normal week, month or year. Why do you shop there?? For me, it’s Target. I love Target. And I love Target because:

I can always find one. The brand is unmistakable. It’s a bull’s eye for goodness sake! But I know bull’s eye = Target b/c I see it so much in everything. And driving in a strange area of the city / country I can spot that logo from a mile away!
I know where everything is in the store. Almost all their stores are laid out the same. I can go into a Target in Hoboken and find paper towels in a heartbeat because they are in the same place as my neighborhood store. Familiarity makes it appealing to me.
New items, sale items and special lines are showcased in obvious places, so I see all kinds of cool things I never would have thought to buy each time I go in there. (Ok, not so good for the checkbook – but you get my gist)
I get what I pay for. The quality of their products is totally in line with the cost.

I then compare it to other stores in my area – maybe a specialty shop or a boutique. Why don’t I shop there? Well, because I have never heard of the name. Maybe the storefront is not very appealing, maybe I feel lost when I enter the store or the prices are WAY out of my league (or maybe I just THINK they are).

Now, I don’t say this because I think all entrepreneurs websites should be big box sites. No!! I don’t want your site to be an amazon.com.

But what I DO want to see is a brand that I recognize (maybe from seeing stuff posted on Facebook, or talked about on a blog or on Twitter) and a site I can actually find, a site that lets me find what I want on it easily, calls to action that tell me what new, cool things I should be looking at, and products/programs/services that have VALUE (i.e. get what I pay for).

When I see a site that screams “gets the job done” I immediately think that entrepreneur either doesn’t have the money to afford a well designed website (read: business not doing well), doesn’t care about their website (read: they don’t care about what they are selling, or me as a client), or has no idea what they are doing online (read: they have no idea what they are doing online). While that may not be the case at all, it’s important to understand that your website is a virtual representation of you and your business, and it’s worth the time, effort and money to make it right.

Warning Signs.

There are a lot of warning signs that can tell you if your current site needs a change (or if your current “plan of attack” for an upcoming site needs work). I’m gonna focus on right now on sites that are currently up, but this can be related to sites that have not been created yet – so keep these in mind, new business folks.

Sales have taken a nose dive since the site first lauched.
You have a high bounce rate.
The time people spend on your site is small.
You have no idea how to find out your bounce rate or time spent on site.
You’re not getting many (or any) incoming links to your site.
You blog traffic is not converting into website traffic.
No one can find your site without a direct URL.
You rarely get sign ups for your newsletter or downloads of your freebies.

If any (or – yikes – all) of these fit you, it’s high time you get some help for your website.

Problem Areas.

It can be an overwhelming task to evaluate your site, especially if you don’t know what you are looking for! Below are a few key areas to look at when doing a self evaluation.

Finding you. Good SEO takes time, but bad SEO can rip the bottom out from under you in no time. Does your site utilize all the basic SEO tools like meta data, keywords and simple URLs? (If you thought “What does that stuff mean?” then your answer is most likely NO) And does your web presence have a fluid brand? (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, sales pages, etc…)

Figuring you out. Navigation is the backbone to business websites. Does your navigation, wherever it may be, make sense to your target market? Are you making it hard to find your products or programs?

Spreading the word. Word of mouth is key. Are you giving people an easy way to spread the word on you?

Keeping it fresh. How fresh is the content on your site? Has it been months (or even years) since you added content to your site? Does your blog get updated daily, but the site you sell your services on never get touched?

While there are many more areas to check on, looking at these four basic things and making adjustments to them will make a difference.

I swear I am wrapping this up!

Did you recognize any of the warning signs for your website? Did you see some of those problem areas on your site? Then take action!! Spend 30 minutes a day doing something to move your site out of the danger zone (sorry for the Top Gun reference there).

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Dizzy? Freaked? Many entrepreneurs do. And I think that is why many don’t take action when they need to. And here is where all my rambling is going… get help!!

I can pitch to you right now that you should hire me to help you (and yes, I am a great option ) but in total truth I am less concerned with WHO you get to help you then I am with the fact that you recognize that there ARE people out there who can help you, who do this for a living, for a reason, and that you can utilize to make the most out of your business.

You would not hire a plumber to remodel your house, would you? (Gosh I hope not!) And while you may physically and intellectually be able to remodel your own house, the best option you can choose is to hire a skilled contractor who can draw up plans, perform all the work, and get the job done right. The same goes for your website. Whether you need to build your first website or your current site needs a boost, find a skilled web designer who will work with you to plan out and create a site FOR YOU and your needs.

On purpose.

More mouths to feed…

Victoria Keale — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:24:11 +0000

Well, so much for the Couch 2 5K — in a strange twist of events, my dreams of running a 5K in 8 weeks have been delayed by the arrival of a little nugget of joy… that is… I’m pregnant! I’m guessing the doctor is going to say that pregnancy is NOT the time to train for a marathon… so this will have to wait until next year!

On the upside, it will make the training easier since I will not be smoking anymore. And on that note, the quit date has been raised to, well, now.

More on that in later posts… since there are more people to tell and plans to make.

~Until then!!!

Your testimonials and the new FTC rules

Victoria Keale — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:06:54 +0000

Since the FTC announced the new disclosure guidelines this month, there has been a buzz throughout the blogging community… some crying foul, some saying “about time!”, and others just plain confused.

While the new ruling [for the most part] affects bloggers who are reviewing or endorsing products, the FTC rules do not target them specifically, so it can be assumed that everyone using a blog, social networking, or a website in general for their business needs to be aware of the rules… even if you don’t plan on following them. Knowledge is power, ya know??

So the brief synopsis is that the FTC is demanding full disclosure. The folks at the FTC worry that with all the new media forms out there, consumers are generally confused by what they are reading online – and while consumers tend to assume (or at least, that’s what the FTC says) that a movie reviewer got to see the movie they are reviewing for free (so the consumer understands that the reviewer benefited in some way from the review and therefore may be biased) they don’t realize that a blogger may be getting some benefit out of reviewing or endorsing a product (and – therefore – be a bit biased too). I think the FTC is not giving enough credit to consumers…. but hey, that’s just me.

So now onto the rule — the FTC says anyone reviewing or endorsing a product online must fully disclose what benefit they are getting from publishing said review/endorsement. So, for example, if Jane Doe Mommy Blogger writes up a review on the latest type of Brand X diaper, she MUST publish the fact that Brand X sent her a months supply of free diapers to test. And by doing this, the reader takes into consideration that Jane Doe may be a bit biased because 1) Free diapers are awesome and 2) Jane Doe may be giving a good review so she can get more free stuff from Brand X or another company.

Now, the argument from bloggers is that 1) the FTC is making bloggers look unethical in their endorsements and they are offended and 2) the rule ONLY applies to stuff online and not other forms of media so it’s not fair. Everyone in entitled to their own opinion. My personal thought is that if you protest full disclosure then maybe maybe you have something to hide. Am I wrong?

Anyway — on to how this affects you.

Most of my clients are online entrepreneurs — not necessarily bloggers who review or endorse products for a living, but most everyone uses testimonials in their marketing. It’s a gray area in the FTC ruling [using client testimonials for your own marketing, that is], but my motto is ‘better safe then sorry’. The FTC is most likely not going to go after the blogger if they do not fully disclose benefits — however as consumers become more aware of these new rules, they will be looking for the full disclosure. And if they don’t see it, they may end up not trusting the review. There’s no way to tell… but again, better safe then sorry.

So my advice to anyone using testimonials in their marketing — Full Disclosure is the way to go.

I would guess that 99% of the testimonials you get from clients are honest to goodness testimonials. Even if you asked for them, you are probably not offering anything in return for said testimonial. But if you are… you should say so. New FTC rule or not.

Where ever you have posted testimonials from your clients, make sure everything on there is the full, honest truth, with any benefits the client received from providing the testimonial right there in black and white. Honesty is the best policy (thanks, kindergarten, for providing me with that life lesson) and when reading a review, testimonial or endorsement knowing that the author benefited in some way from publishing that would not necessarily sway me either way — however what it will do is make me respect that business [where the product or service is from] more. And it’s more likely I will buy from someone I respect.

A good practice if you plan on soliciting testimonials from your clients (whether you are giving them something for the testimonial or not) is to ask permission from them to pass along contact info to people who want to follow up on that testimonial. When you post testimonials online, make a note that you can provide contact info — so even if “full disclosure” is not needed because nothing was received in exchange for that testimonial, your prospects can opt to verify or follow up on those testimonials… giving them peace of mind on spending $$ on your stuff and showing them that you are the real deal honest business person. It’s a win-win.

So what are your thoughts on the new FTC rule? Do you think it pertains to all online entrepreneurs? Do you disagree with full disclosure? Let me know your thoughts – either leave me a comment or shoot me an email.

Until next time!

~Victoria Potts Keale is a newbie blogger, website designer, entrepreneur extraordinaire, mom, wife, daughter, sister… well, you get the gist. She lives in her hometown of St. Louis, MO in an old haunted farmhouse with her 2 kids and drummer hubby. She has 15 tattoos and wants more. She loves 80’s music. She thinks writing bios in the 3rd person is wacky. You should email her and tell her what else to put in her bio – victoria@lynnraedesigns.com – but don’t spam her, cause she’ll get angry.

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