One of the best ways to build a reputation or following online is to teach people about your product or industry.
For example, if you sell laptop computers, you could teach people about:
-Problem Prevention
How to prevent my computer from crashing?
-Problem solving
When the keyboard stops working, what should I do?
-Evaluation
From excellent to good to bad, how can I tell the difference?
-Comparison
HP and Dell, what sets them apart?
-Common Usage
How can I use my laptop to make or edit videos?
-Life extension
How do I extend my battery life?
-Cost savings
Free software for this type of laptop?
-Troubleshoot
My screen won’t led up, what’s the first thing I should check?
Share your knowledge. I think you’d be surprised on what you get in return.
Emails aren’t free;
Search isn’t free;
It costs money to submit a resume;
Luxury is cheap;
Jobs don’t pay you;
And you get money for visiting every website?
Maybe, just maybe, the best new business opportunities come from doing exactly the opposite of rest of the world.
Wobo Library Updated, and added: ColoThin.
*Wobo is just a word I made up to call those businesses who aren’t honest with the customers.
Wobo Name(s):
ColoThin, CureColon, Colo Thin, Cure Colon, Fit Factory
The Bottom Line: Be prepared to pay $88.55 + $19.95 a month.
Continue reading Wobo Wednesday: ColoThin
I know it’s hard sometimes when the effort you put in doesn’t always yield return immediately, but you shouldn’t be discouraged. Drip, drip, drip, they all add up eventually. I think of it this way: if I am able to continue and push through in situations which most people would’ve given up, then that alone gives me an edge over most people. And that’s really what life and success are all about — gaining enough edges to put you above all your competitors.
Let’s say a beautiful woman has agreed to go out on a date with you. You made reservation at a fancy restaurant, and told her to meet you there at 7:00 pm. Except something went wrong — you messed up the dates. She waited for you for 3 hours, but you never showed. When she calls you up the next day. What’s the first thing you say? You apologize, obviously. Then you ask her to give you a second chance and she agreed.
Now question for you: for the second date, do you do everything you planned on your first date? Of course not. Because guess what? You have made a terrible first impression, and the time she spent waiting for you is gone, forever, not coming back. What you should do is everything you planned on your first date plus a little extra to make up for your mistake.
Hint: your customer service should treat every customer who calls you because of a defective product as if you are on the second date.
There are a lot of ways to communicate with people, especially with the Internet and the social media phenomenon. You can find guide on 10,000 ways to communicate with people on Twitter or Facebook. Some businesses may even set rules for communication. Tools are even invented to auto-respond, auto-friend, auto-follow, whatever.
Uncomplicated: to communicate with people, you simply need to spend your time talking to them, as humans.
I hate to break it to you. Sure, there are groundbreaking inventions, world-changing ideas, and jaw-dropping miracles, but the chance of you getting any of those is so slim that it should be ignored completely. In other words, it takes both luck and effort to become rich, except you should really forget about waiting to get lucky.
You are not rich yet because you haven’t worked hard enough, period.
If you have lived the last five year of your life with no money, you can survive the next five without it. Get it out of your system that you need money to accomplish this and accomplish that. You’ve got the formula upside down.
Make something amazing happen first, then you will be rewarded.
I had to wipe out my HDD to reinstall the OS over the weekend. Vista was getting painfully slow after using it for a year and a half, plus, I ran out of HDD space! I consider myself a pretty clean PC user: aside from those “factory default” software, I usually only install what I need. Turns out that didn’t really matter. For some reason, the system won’t stop writing to the HDD (I assumed it was for backup purposes) and last Saturday, I had a little under 8 GB of free HDD space left — the little space indicator bar on my C: drive actually turned red. So I decided to go back to XP.
Anyway, as I was working on my laptop, two unrelated questions crossed my mind.
Question #1: How does Microsoft make such a bad product in Vista and not do anything about it?
Sure, people have told me that 64 bit version of Vista is way better than my 32bit version: more stable, faster, whatever. But come on, with all the extremely smart and talented people who work at Microsoft, shouldn’t they have realized by now that Vista is crappy? I guess the inflexibility of a multi-billion dollar enterprise really shows here. Also, I think the little bit of the market share they are going to lose over Vista doesn’t compare to the cost of actually changing it and making it better. Perhaps after numerous meetings, they concluded that the most cost-efficient method was to not make any major improvements. How sad.
On a separate note, I also find it pretty amusing when I was buying my laptop, I had the option to pay extra money to downgrade to Windows XP.
Question #2: How easy would it be to upgrade/reinstall/switch PC operating systems 3 years from now?
I was surprised by how little software I needed after I wiped clean my HDD. I even made a list to be prepared: Firefox, Chrome, AVG, Jing, Picasa, MSN Messenger, Notepad++, iTunes, DVD player, all of which could be downloaded for free. Of course I had to backup some personal data on an external HDD, but that didn’t take very long either. With the help of MozBackup, I even kept all of my browsing history/bookmarks/cache/etc. I have also decided to stop using MS Office and switch to the free OpenOffice.
Things I didn’t have to worry about include: my blog and drafts (on Google Docs), my web projects, Emails, Facebook, MSN Messenger, and Twitter.
The biggest challenge was getting up-to-date drivers for my system, and that was solved by downloading Lenovo’s ThinkVantage system update software which automatically detects what’s needed and installs them.
My point is, with Google’s Chrome OS just around the corner and Apple joining the cloud computing game, within a few years, isn’t it very possible to have the option to do a fast and clean OS upgrade or re-installation with just one click of the mouse, while not having to worry about losing any of your data? Wouldn’t it be great to have your newly purchased PC act exactly like your old system, except faster and better, without you having to do anything? People could even have different profiles saved for work, home, or entertainment and use them on different systems, with connected and shared data. The possibilities are just endless.
As for now, I am happy with my blazing fast Windows XP based laplop and my newly found extra HDD space.
I was going to add a new Wobo this week, but then an email from Sandy changed my mind. I thought I’d share her comments on ASI Berry with you. The fact that these people charged Sandy’s credit card even though she called and cancelled her “membership” within the trial period sounded rather alarming to me. I had a discussion with someone last week on this post. He said that he always reads the fine print before making a purchase online, and that “it’s not a scam if you didn’t read the fine print”. But there you have it, these people can’t even be trusted to follow their own policies. What a joke!
p.s. A quick Google search reveals that ASI berry belongs in the same family as Acai Berry, so I have updated the “Acai Burn” post on WeWobo.com.
p.s.s Best of luck to Sandy for getting her money back, and thanks for the info.
From Sandy -
“I am really steamed. ASI BERRY claims to send you a trial order for .99 and then you do not receive it. The within 15 days they charge your bank account $86.42 under detoxit. ASI BERRY give you a number 866-949-0138 to call and cancel in which i did in 11 days and they still charged my bank account. The bank is filing fraud charges and they (ASI BERRY) are claiming to refund me my money but for that I will have to wail until tomorrow to check my account. The partial phone number only will show on the on-line statements but my bank gave me the entire phone number so you may let others know. 1-866-976-1123. I hope this will help to save others to what I have had to deal with. You see I check my on-line banks accounts daily. I hope others do likewise to catch issues like this right away. I really enjoy reading your daily updates. You have no idea what you have saved me already. Believe it or not I had checked for ASI BERRY since I have been getting your updates and had not seen any. You may if not already have add them to your list. BUYER BEWARE!!!!!”
Quitting is a difficult habit to break, so is slacking off. I used to do both.
I think they could be broken. Here is what you do: pick out a habit, something that requires (a little) work and (a lot of) dedication — preferably something you can do everyday. The trick is: the habit has to produce an output. Don’t start big, instead, take tiny steps at first, but start, and stick with it.
For me, that habit was running. I ran my first Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day in 2007. It was a 5k race, and possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me. The race itself wasn’t much to brag about. In fact, it wasn’t until I finished the race that I realized how easy it was. The race didn’t change; it could have been “that easy” had I decided to run it 5 years ago. The difference was that I stopped assuming everything in my head and actually gave it a try. You see, I had it in my mind before 2007 that I wasn’t able to run 5000 meters or train 3 times a week. Maybe it was because that running one mile was one of the least enjoyable activities back in my high school days, so I elected to forget about running as soon as it was no longer required. Those assumptions, even though inaccurate, were good enough “reasons” for me not to do anything.
On that note, English, both reading and writing, was my least favorite subject in school. Yet here I am, reading and writing everyday, just for fun. Go figure.
It’s true that whatever you try, the outcome is probably never going to be as good as you have hoped. But I think people often fail to realize that it is also probably not going to be as bad as you have imagined. The reality usually meets you somewhere in the middle.
One thing for sure though: even if you only achieve 50% of your goals, it still beats nothing.
I find me often losing myself in front of my PC working on my blog and other web projects; obsessed with little details in attempt to make everything as perfect as possible.
Nothing could be perfect, of course.
But it’s the feeling that I don’t look up every 5 minutes to check the clock or randomly search the Web to find something interesting; the feeling of forgetting everything else; the feeling of not being able to stop; and the feeling of knowing that I could make a difference; that I enjoy.
Have you found the thing you lose yourself in yet? More importantly, how would you know what it is, if you don’t even try?
Businesses who expect overnight success by simply joining Facebook or Twitter are bound to be disappointed.
Social media is merely a better and different way of talking with your customers.
Remember when emails first came out? They are way better than snail mail, aren’t they? But I am sure back then, businesses had doubts and resistance about using emails. After all, it involved investing time, money and resources. They wanted proof that emails would somehow bring profit, when the two aren’t really related.
I think you should treat “social media” the same way. Whether your boss likes it or not, it’s becoming part of people’s lives. You could choose to join now, or 2 years from now. Either way, people are using it to communicate. Whether you are there to participate or not won’t really make any difference, except maybe for your company.
At the end of the day, how you are sending out your messages isn’t nearly as important as the messages themselves.
When you come to my website and do not find what you are looking for, that’s not your fault; it is mine.
When you don’t believe the information I presented on my website and went on to find other solutions, I have failed you, and you did exactly the right thing.
It is also my fault if you find my writing boring or unhelpful.
Of course, I can insist that you read the fine prints or follow my rules. I can even blame you for not doing so.
The problem is: in a world where information flows at the speed of light, I might not get a second opportunity to earn your trust.
As I was reading this article on Gizmodo.com today, this sentence caught my eye:
“To make up for that cost and make the device more than just a big iPod there was, this person claimed, there was talk of making the device act as a secondary screen/touchpad for iMacs and MacBooks, much like a few of the USB screens that have come out in recent months from Chinese companies.”
It struck me how little value we get when we show our loyalties to a brand. For example, my parents are big Sony fans — they love all things Sony. The thing is, when they buy a Sony DVD player and put it next to their Sony TV, there is no real connection between the two. Aside from not having to set the “remote control codes”, the real advantage of sticking with the Sony brand is very minimal.
It’s getting more and more difficult to beat out your competitors on SPEC and features — everyone can copy everything anytime, and do it rather quickly. But if somehow, you could figure out a way to interconnect your different product lines so that the person who owns 5 pieces of your brand outperforms the persons who owns 2, it might just initiate some interesting conversations from your best customers.
Now wouldn’t that be a fun discussion for all your R&D people?
At any given moment in time, a person is only capable of paying attention to one thing. For example, you may have multiple browsers opened, but at this very moment, your attention is on me, or this post, and nothing else.
In June of 2008, Technorati indexed 112.8 million blogs. The math goes like this: if I was to spend 30 seconds on each blog for 8 hours a day, it would take me roughly 320 years to go through the entire collection once. And that’s just for blogs. What does that really mean? It simply means that if a business doesn’t have my attention, the chance of me getting to your website or you getting my money is close to zero.
I have a feeling that businesses are often confused about their competitors. They assume that their competitions only come within their specific industry, and they are very wrong. You see, every minute that I spend on reading articles on enGadget, BoingBoing or TechCrunch is a minute which I won’t spend on getting to know your company or product. Furthermore, the countless hours I spend on Facebook and Youtube are all squandered opportunities, for you, to introduce yourself to me. The thing is, you are not just competing within your industry. Your competitions are everywhere, and they work 24/7/365 to take the most important element in business away from you: attention. They are ruthless and merciless, plus they really really really don’t care about you.
Wobo Library Updated, and added: Acai Detox.
*Wobo is just a word I made up to call those businesses who aren’t honest with the customers.
Wobo Name(s):
AcaiDetox Xtreme, Acai Detox Xtreme, Detox Xtreme, AcaiBerry Detox, Acai Berry Detox, AcaiDetox, Acai Detox
The Bottom Line:
Be prepared to pay at least $87.13 for the “free trial” of AcaiBerry Detox product.
Continue reading Wobo Wednesday: Acai Detox
Everyday, I get traffic coming to this blog and WeWobo.com through search engines with phrases like “cost of force factor” or “colnx”. I have even received emails directed to me from angry readers about how ColnX refuses to give refund back regardless of how many times the customer called or emailed. Sometimes I get frustrated thinking about all these great Internet companies who claim that they care so much about our online experience, but yet refuse to do something about Internet scams.
Google is number one on my list for the reason that they are probably responsible for most of the traffic sent to those scam sites. But Yahoo isn’t off the hook either. You see, most of the people who use Yahoo as their search engine aren’t always “tech savvy”. They don’t have any clue on how the Internet operates or how to verify the authenticity of a web product. And scam sites feed off of them.
Imagine if Google allows you to vote for a scam product/website by putting a little “vote for scam” button next to their search results: every time someone is scammed, they can Google the product name, and with one click of the mouse, they can share with the world that the website isn’t being honest with their customers — kind of like a Wikipedia community, except it doesn’t need much details. You are either a scam or you are not — there usually isn’t much middle ground.
IMO, Bing is wasting a perfectly good opportunity not coming up with an Internet Scam Stopper(ISS). How good would Microsoft look if they announce something like that?
Look, we are not just another search engine. If you use us, we reduce your chance of being scammed online. In fact, the more people use us, the better our ISS works. So forget Google and start bringing your friends over!
As for those websites who agree to run ads from these scumbags: shame on you!
Three of the most ludicrous statements I have ever heard from one of my closest friends:
#1. When I encouraged him to exercise regularly, he said, “a human heart is only capable of beating so many times in a lifetime. When you exercise, you increase your heart rate, and it makes you live shorter.”
#2 Smoking makes you live longer. “My uncle lived 80 plus years and smoked for the most part. He died shortly after the doctor told him to quit.”
#3 Another one on smoking. “I smoke everyday, so my immune system works better than yours. You will get lung cancer from second hand smoking way before I do.”
That just shows the length people are willing to go to convince themselves the stuff which they want to believe.
Lesson to marketers: people buy stories, not facts. That’s why even though they appear so unreasonable and fake, stories of becoming rich overnight or losing 20 lbs of fat by not exercising are still intriguing to some people. They buy into tiny hope of getting something in return without a lot of effort, but keep ignoring the obvious fact of “if that’s the case, why isn’t everyone else doing it?”
Now should you go around and start scamming innocent people? No. But there are plenty of other stories you buy into. Things like, if you own an iPhone, you are cool; or if you graduated from Harvard, you must be a genius; or if he buys you jewelery from Tiffany’s, he must love you more. Unrelated facts somehow combine together to justify one’s actions. And there is nothing wrong with it.
Your job at marketing is to tell a story, whether you want to or not. Realizing that is step one. Step two is to come up with a story that’s compelling enough to generate some conversations among the audience.
It just occurred to me today how much I know about Zappos without having ever purchased a pair of shoes from them.
Allow me to list some of the things I heard about them: (Yes, I remembered these, and no, I didn’t Google about any of them.)
– They have 24/7 customer service.
– They have 365 day return policy, and offer free shipping both ways.
– Their standard shipping used to be 3 days. Now is 2 days. They sometimes surprise theirs customers with free upgrade to overnight delivery.
– You can drop by their office during their office hours to get a free office tour. I heard those are wild.
– Their CEO Tony Hsieh sits in the middle of the office floor, and his office doors are always open. (Or maybe it doesn’t have any doors, I don’t remember)
– Tony also teaches and encourages his employees to Twitter.
– Their marketing director, Brett, was voted the “most unlikely person to run a marathon” just recently. He is running in the Rock ‘n Roll Vegas Marathon (sponsored by Zappos) this December.
– Their customer service doesn’t use call scripts, ever.
– When you call them to check on inventory. If they don’t have your size in stock, they would check on 3 competitors’ websites for you. They don’t mind if they lose a sale, as long as you find what you are looking for.
– Here is my favorite Zappos story: A customer called to cancel an order. When being asked why, she told the Zappos employee that she had ordered those shoes for her mom. Unfortunately, her mom passed away very recently, so she won’t need these shoes anymore. She got her refund. Also, on the very next day, she received flowers from the Zappos employee sending her condolences. The flowers weren’t paid by the company.
I am not suggesting that you copy everything Zappos does. That’s not the point. The question you should ask yourself is: what is it that you do will make me remember you before I become your customer?
To be honest, I haven’t got a clue of what will happen. I just know that if I keep doing what I am doing, something is going to happen. I have no way of knowing whether it’s something better or worse — probably just different. Whatever, it still beats nothing.
That thought alone is enough to keep me going.
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