eBook of the Week: Money for Nothing

Most blog-aware marketers already read Seth's blog, so you don't need me to tell you that Seth released a new eBook called "Money for Nothing (and your clicks for free)" (PDF) that explains how to attract and retain visitors to your website.

This book isn't really groundbreaking, and it reads like one big advertisement for Squidoo. But because 1) I like Squidoo, and 2) I like Seth, I'll go ahead and plug the book anyway.

As is often the case, Seth is very good at communicating something you feel you already know so clearly that he makes you wish you were as good as he is at communicating it.

Seth says there are three keys to attracting traffic. He calls them "The three U's."

1. Useful
2. Updated
3. Unique

Like I said - Nothing groundbreaking... But he also hits on an important point near the end when he says,

Most people online are trying to solve a problem. They want to know something or find something or buy something. They want to meet someone or learn something. A useful lens solves their problem. It gives them a sense of meaning, helps them understand what’s what.

Note what they're not doing. They're not online to solve your problems. They have no desire to just "figure out" a difficult interface. It's your job to make the interface easy. As Jakob Nielsen says, most users are "selfish, lazy, and ruthless." They are not sympathetic to the behind-the-scenes backfighting that kept you from delivering. They care about the result.

It is the result, not the intent, that builds or destroys your brand. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Ryan Karpeles]

"They are not sympathetic to the behind-the-scenes backfighting that kept you from delivering. They care about the result."

Couldn't agree more with this. Anyone who creates/designs websites has dealt with this a million times. There's a ton of hashing out and tweaking that goes on outside the visitor's line of sight. But your end users don't care one bit. Like you said, all they want is a good result.

If one step in your process (e-commerce, navigation, etc.) is off, you're probably losing a great deal of people. That may be a harsh reality, but more likely it just means that the bar for excellence keeps on rising.

Good post, as usual ;-)