I tend to spend a lot of time in Facebook groups, though sometimes I have no idea why. In fairness, I have won some good business from Facebook groups and found some good suppliers I have needed myself. I have also helped others with business leads.
However, with the highs come so, so many lows. For example, I recently saw a post in a Facebook networking group where someone asked:
“I’m not getting many leads through my website. I’d like to speak to an AdWords expert.”
Now, on the face of it that may not sound stupid at all. The chap has a problem, not enough business through his website, and he’s identified a possible solution – AdWords. He’s even asking for an expert, rather than someone who can ‘have a go’ or someone who knows where he can read more about how to do it himself.
So why am I being so harsh on the question?
For the simple reason that he’s identified a problem and has arrived at a solution before speaking with an expert. I see this at Engage Web all the time when people ask me if I do Facebook Ads, or AdWords, or pop-ups, or link building, or any other thing they’ve come up with. Instead of pulling one possible solution out of thin air and asking someone to implement it, why not find out the actual cause of the problem in the first place?
AdWords is one solution out of thousands. He may not be getting leads through his website because his contact form doesn’t work. It might work, but he isn’t receiving the emails. Maybe the link to the contact form is broken (I have seen this on a website recently). Maybe the website doesn’t get any traffic. Perhaps all the content is duplicate. Maybe it’s not even being indexed by Google. Maybe the website is just rubbish.
These, and thousands more, are valid reasons why a website may not be getting any business. Simply throwing money at AdWords isn’t going to solve the problem if any of these is the cause of the issue.
It would be like walking into a hospital and shouting “I want to see a heart transplant surgeon immediately! I feel a bit sniffly”. The nursing staff would probably ask if you’d like to be checked out first, maybe diagnosed, before someone whips out your heart and replaces it with that of an unfortunate donor.
Yet when this chap posted this question in the group, did anyone else point out how he may actually want to look at the causes before he splashes money around on AdWords? Oh no! Instead the usual pack of AdWords ‘experts’ replied with cries of “Me Me Me” and how they can help. Then came the networking members tagging in people in their networking group who they think know something about AdWords.
“Jim can help, he’s a top bloke” and “Ian, I wouldn’t use anybody else” even though we’re all well aware nobody has actually used the services of Jim or Ian, they’re just fellow networking members. No, nobody pointed out what was amiss with the question. They just offered to take his money.
That’s where we’re different at Engage Web. When someone comes to us and asks if we do X, Y or Z we say yes, we do, but that may not be the best option for you. Let’s look at what you need to achieve and we’ll present the best options for you.
It’s not about winning business, or being seen as someone who can do anything. It’s about ensuring you, the business owner, gets the best solution to the problem. Give us a call today and we can discuss it with you.
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