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I am sending out some letters to new businesses to introduce myself, and I`m trying to decide what is the best format for this in general. I get so many things in the mail that have my name just form-printed on the envelope and then some flyer inside ... I really want to stay away from that. My audience is new small businesses. I thought a handwritten note on letterhead would be a nice personal touch ... but does it tell the person that my printer is broken? Does something off my printer tell the person to just toss in the trash? What kind of letter would make you want to open it and keep reading?

Always make your initial introduction to  a potential client as professional as possible.  Once you have formulated the relationship and are working on projects for that particular client, and they know your personality and you can gauge theirs, then I think it`s okay to be more casual with handwritten notes or post-its as part of your communication with them as you move along  Definitely stick to 100% professionalism to introduce yourself!  GOOD LUCK!

The higher the quality of the paper and printing, the more professional you appear. Hand-written NEVER goes out for business. Only for personal correspondence. So unless you know the home phone number for the potential client, don`t.

Include some sort of marketing materials with the letter. I would assume you`re doing so...but since you didn`t say...figured I`d mention it. :-)

I don`t particularly have "marketing materials" that work in print. Well, other than the letterhead itself, and a card.

I`m just trying to think of something new, because I get so much junk in the mail every day ... I toss all of it. I mostly assume others are doing the same. So I`m just trying to think of something new before I send out a hundred of my business cards for nothing.

It`s a tough situation, getting your name out there. Particularly when it`s for an expertise, rather than a hard product. I wonder, though; couldn`t you put together a nice, 4-color two-sided flyer that shows two design ideas for a Web site?

You could create the two single pages, capture them in a screen shot, then print them. The content of the on-screen pages would be your promotion as to what you do, how to contact you...you know, a standard landing page, but designed your way.

Then you could send that as a mailer, so people would see a "web site" but on paper. That`d be different....wouldn`t it?

I am considering dropping some ads in a goodie bag for a local event. So I want to know - do you ever look at your goodie bag when you go to an event? Do you ever use the offers? Have you had success with this kind of advertising for your own business? Please comment and multiple votes are allowed.

You can go back and vote for more than one!

The percentages don`t matter here, just comparing things to another. Like use/don`t use, toss/don`t toss, etc.

Funny coincidence here. :-) I get "Value Packs" or whatever they`re called, with coupons in an envelope. I just toss `em, routinely.

The other day I got one of these and for no reasons whatsoever, opened it up and leafed through the coupons. (I was sort of interested in reading the headlines to get a sense of how to do those.)

Along the way, I found a coupon for half-off on a 1-time print offer for single-page printing at the local Fed-Ex Kinko`s. No limit, excepting for massive printings of 500 pieces or more.

It happens that Kathy and I needed a color printout copy of a page we send along with orders. They usually cost about .89-cents a page, so this would put them down to about .39-cents...thereabouts. We took in the coupon, and ordered twice as many as we would have ordinarily purchased.

So it comes back to the old fishing analogy. You go out fishing, hoping to find a fish somewhere in all that water. You walk around, toss a lure, pitch in some bait, wait, wander, hope, and come up with millions of learned reasons why the fish aren`t biting. Then you either go home and stop at the store for dinner, or you get a bunch of fish. Why? That`s the way it works! :-)

If you can afford the cost without thinking about it, put yourself into the mailer. Even if you get one customer, would that pay you back the cost?

There`s an old saying I like to keep in mind: "If you have to ask the price, you can`t afford it." It`s kept me out of a lot of trouble, and saved me lots of aggravation in the past many years.

In my continuing quest for the ultimate blogging experience, I offer the latest installment:

`Do I Need a Blog?` - Five Questions to Ask Yourself

This actually came out of a conversation I had with another SUNner here ... basically about not putting the effort into a blog if it wasn`t the rigt move for your business.

I also found some great SUN discussions on this topic, including:
Are you blogging for your business yet?

How do I promote a blog?

How Do You Create Buzz for a Blog?

Blogging Advice Needed

Blog, blogs, blogging, blogged, blogger

Blogs as a marketing tool?

I`ve said this before in one of those threads posted by Nikole but I will
share it again.

I find my blog a great way to market my business and gain possible
customers BEFORE I even have a business. Huh? Yes, my SuN friends, I
have not even launched my web business yet as we are still designing and
coding the site. But when I do, I should already have a following of
people interested in my niche, familiar with the URL and the brand, and
hopefully excited to get involved! This is all do to the blog.

Using a blog is a free/inexpensive way to market your business before
you even have one. It works as a teaser for the upcoming business. A
standard website can do that too but a site is more of a one-time
experience compared to the continual updates of a blog (debatable, I
understand). Plus, a teaser site itself can take a little while to build while
you can instantly start a blog with services out there. You reach your
audience in a more personal way with a blog.

I was thinking for the most part, blogs seem better suited to services rather than products ... but there are several examples of products where I think they would be good too, such as generating interest before it hits the shelves and getting Google going on your site before there is a site. I have one client that is a photography musem, and I keep trying to get them to get a blog going to generate customers well before the doors finally open on the museum.

The main point I was thinking about yesterday is that blogging isn`t for everyone ... there are some people who should be doing it who aren`t, and some people who are who shouldn`t!

Thanks for the great article on your site Nikole. The How do I promote a blog? thread had a link to this great article by Guy Kawasaki. 

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/04/the_120_day_won.html

I see blogs used by many companies, including dentists. I think blogs can do the following:

-Make it easy for anyone to have an instant website that looks good without too much work or investment.

-Allow companies to appear more "personable" by having their employees share information in a more conversational way. Microsoft is a great example of this and there is a great article in Wired magazine this month (April 2007-page 142) that discusses this and their Channel 9 site (Channel 9 is can be considered a video blog).

-Make it easy to be syndicated so people can read updates with an RSS reader.

-Allow for comments (this might not be desired for some companies, but it is very powerful, nonetheless).

-Make it easy to include video into a website using embedded video created on YouTube or other service.

-Allow for polls to be taken through the use of plug-ins.

-Allow for built-in translation of the blog content through the use of plug-ins.

-It is also the perfect "news/pr page" for companies to post links to articles and interviews where their products and services have appeared.

-It`s a good place to put FAQ`s as well and I think it helps boost SEO ranking because the content will generally be more search engine friendly.

Thanks again Nikole! I think that it would be great for others to share their favorite Startup Nation posts in specific topics.

All the best,

Andrew Darlow

I have 2 clients right now who both use PayPal checkout. My personal feelings about PayPal aside ...

As a consumer, I`ve had issues with PayPal checkout because when I go to a site that uses it, I get stuck in the PayPal loop. For example, I try to just pay for something, but then PayPal recognizes my email address and makes me log in. And then if I want to pay for something that requires a card not attached to my PayPal account, I have to go through the hassle of adding a new card. And of course it gives me a few sales pitches along the way about applying for the PayPal credit card or withdrawing directly from my bank account instead. I made this process easier by making a fake email address on my server (it`s just a forward) so I can do PayPal checkout without logging in. (But who wants to make their customer do that?)

So as a consumer (not as a business owner if you use PayPal Shopping Cart/Checkout right now), what has been your experience with it?

To illustrate the seriousness of this ...

I found this PDF of a study on shopping behavior.

In it ... 28% of people who had trouble with a cart will not go back to that store, ever.
10% of people who had trouble will stop shopping online!!

I`ll post other links here as I find them ... I`m looking into finding the research that has been done on shopping experiences.

This report on Digital Window Shopping (PDF) was also great.

I use PayPal on my site and have had few customers who`ve had issues
with it. A few of them were making first time online purchases and were
weary to begin with. But I know others just did not like the system.

The biggest problem I have is that PayPal does not allow for a shipping
address that is different than a customer`s billing address. So people
have to give a shipping address elsewhere, which is not too big a deal
because they already have it in their mind to specify that. But several
customers have been confused about how to do it. I`ve tried to make the
message clear to my customers about how and most don`t have a
problem. However there are those that do.

I`ve used PayPal for several years now. Overall I don`t have a problem with
them but maybe it`s time I look at other options. What other checkouts
do you like compared to PayPal?

Personally, I do not have a problem with PayPal although there are stories about people and merchants who have a lot of issues.

It is best to think of PayPal as is a payment processing alternative.. a method to use:

1. If you do not have a merchant account or do not want to pay the monthly fees for a merchant account. Start-up ecommerce sites / businesses who are looking to keep cost to a minimum might use PayPal as an initial way to accept payments online.
2. As an additional payment method... in addition to your merchant account. Recognizing that PayPal does have a market share and people without credit cards can use PayPal for purchases.

Source of interesting stats: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=157001

Retailing stats: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=stats

~Roland

I really don`t like the whole PayPal shopping cart thing.

I am playing with options.

One is 2checkout.
Another is Google checkout.

I mean, technically ... I built the little carts, I can give checkout options. Is there any difference between selecting "VISA, MC, Discover" and "Google, PayPal, Other CC"?

But I don`t know that it`s weird if there`s little buttons on the bottom of the cart, giving 3 payment options.

PERSONALLY, I think Amazon needs to make a checkout system. Who doesn`t have an amazon account?

The real eye opener in this is the absolute need for using cookies to store carts for later purchase. I`m a straight shooter - I don`t want to log in, so I don`t want other people to log in. But it seems like many of them do window shop and come back, so saving their cart is a positive move for sales.

PayPal vs Google Checkout

Google`s Roundhouse Punch to PayPal

(The discussions on the bottom of these pages are sometimes more worth your time than the article itself, so don`t skip the comments!)

I am hoping that you all subscribe to the "no stupid questions policy". Is the checkout and the gateway a totally different subject?

Same thing.

Either you have some external company (Google, PayPal, 2CO) doing your transaction on their site and putting money in your account, or you have it happen right on your site (this is where the Gateway/merchant account comes in) and the money goes to your bank account.

Either way, you know how it works ... fees.

BTW, Deb -

75% of People Abandon Their Carts

and a huge number of people do so because they see the shipping charges and consider them to be too high! I think there`s a lesson in there for web-stores.

I think I should stop replying to myself in this thread now.

Sidebar: As to people abandoning shopping carts nearly at the end.

Damn straight. I think it`s one of THE most annoying things a site can do, to hide the prices and total charges from the customer until the very end. Those sites desever high abandonment.

I want to know how much it costs, how much is the shipping, and whatever other fees, right at the point where I can order the item. Lots of sites manage to accomplish this, so I know it`s not impossible.

I agree Craig, my shopping often ends with abandonment due to shipping fees. Can you send a link to a site that does give the shipping up front?

I always recommend to my ecommerce  clients - offer FREE shipping.

OR free shipping on purchases greater then a certain dollar amount.

It works! Build shipping charges into your pricing. There may be situations that require additional shipping charges - spell those out.

Google checkout is a good alternative. If you have an established ecommerce site with consistant sales, you should get a merchant account.

When selecting a merchant account be sure it is compatable with your ecommerce program.

~Roland

Hello Everyone,

From the merchant account provider side of the fence I`d like to offer my observations regarding 3rd party accounts like paypal vs. direct merchant accounts.  In my experience, paypal and other payment alternatives, seem to work well for start up ecommerce and low volume sites.  However, there are many issues like many have you have already brought up and I will not rediscuss what`s already been said.  Instead, I`ll give my perspective from my experience.

Typically speaking, it`s like Nikole and others have already stated.  Business don`t jump out of the gates and get a merchant account because of the fees.  Especially in the beginning when funding is tight.  However, the pricing that you get on a merchant account is tied directly with the company/representative that you deal with.  See below the type of pricing I give to my clients:

The #1 online payment gateway for merchant accounts is Authorize.net.  Authorize.net is the payment gateway and attached to that is the merchant account.

Authorize.net Online Payment Gateway with Virtual Terminal:

Application/Set Up Fees:  Waived

Visa/MC Base Rate:  2.19% (This rate includes keyed consumer card with an AVS match)

Visa/MC Non Qualified Rate:  3.19% + $0.10/transaction (This rate includes keyed consumer cards without an AVS match as well as business/corporate and international cards)

Transaction Fee:  $0.25/transaction (Includes internet transaction fee)
Interchange Pass Through Credit/Debit:  $0.00
WATS/Auth Fee:  $0.00
AVS Fee:  $0.00
Batch Fee:  $0.00
Monthly Basic Service Fee:  $8/month
Monthly Online Gateway Fee:  $5/month
Contract Term:  Cancel at any time without penalty

When looking at the pricing above, you`ll notice that I disclose all fees associated with the account unlike most companies.  Most companies do not disclose all fees associated with the transaction such as the AVS fee, Internet transaction fee, etc.  The main concern is usually the monthly fee associated with a merchant account.  In my pricing program above, if you did $0 in credit cards in any given month you`d only pay $13 for the service.  Most companies have a $5-$10 statement fee and a gateway fee of $5-$20/month and a monthly minimum of $15-$25/month.

I hope that this information helps some of you.  If you ever have any questions, please don`t hesitate to contact me.

Good topic Nikole!

NIKOLE, and CampSteve,
If you ask me Paypal is the worse checkout I`ve seen so far. But hey it`s free and that`s that.
As for 2CO, well unless you are willing to have your customer wait 15 days or until he accumulates 100.00 dollars, then it would be a good idea to use it, other than that... there`s not need for that.
CampSteve, There is a way to work with the Shipping Address collection in Paypal. Its is a module that has to be hand coded into your  shopping cart, but it can be done.
Ive done a shipping, and PayPal transaction payment gateway without having to redirect the customer to the modified Paypal Screen.
You can use paypal as the payment gateway without ever having to go to paypal. Of course you have to know two things. extensive developer language and the Paypal Variables such as Os1, So2 and so forth. Paypal gives you all the payment gateway values in the developers handbook. You can even create pass the Paypal variables to a Database by binding the PPal Variables to a Database.

Again all that can be achieved with pay pal, you just need to do your homework and study the code. As for which payment gateway to use.. Authorize.net just got bough out by Paypal, so I wouldn`t want to go there. Authorize.net is a pain in the rear end. I would suggest anyone out there to go with something like Linkpoint, its much better service and easy to use.

NIKOLE, If you ever need some Pay Pal Code, let me know.. I have tons of Scripts... Oh and By the way.. for anyone interested... There is a Dynamic Pay Pal Shopping Cart out there that was created by a third party company.

HostClick... Thank you very much... That is what I was talking about... If you know how to pass variables through the API you are in good shape.
You don`t have to redirect the customers to a Blank Paypal Check out... Develop your own... to make the shopping experince much easier for the customers

Edgar, not sure what you are talking about with 2CO ...

I use them all the time to pay for my hosting. It`s actually really simple to use, as a consumer.

yeah it is... but do you have to wait 15 days to get your funds? Unless they changed their format but two years back you had to wait a while to get your funds unless you were doing 1000 dollars a day in transactions. 

Oh, you are talking on the business side.

This thread isn`t about the business of it. It`s about the importance of the user experience in shopping, and how to make it better.

I`m talking about the consumer side.

And 15 days to payment sounds very reasonable to me, in terms of the business side.

NIKOLE,
The shopping experience is up to the programmer to develop a well thought out payment gateway API / Process.
It doesn`t matter if you are using Paypal API, Google Checkout API, or any Payment processing API.
In the end the developer is the one that provides the customer with a great shopping experience. What I mean by a great shopping experience is, Click add to cart, Check what`s in your shopping Cart, and Check out. It has to follow the 3-click rule. Add to cart (click), purchase (click) Close the browser (Click)..
If you can deliver this to your customers. That`s all you need! all payment processors work the same (with an exception of some bad ones out there)

If you think that the 3-click process is all you need, you didn`t read any of the links I provided in the beginning of all this.

It`s not about 3 clicks. It`s about user experience, and seeing something from the buyer`s perspective. And when someone (like me) tries to use something like the PayPal API and has slight difficulty, it can become a major hassle. I mean, seriously ... I had to come up with a new email address just to fool the PayPal Checkout system

NIKOLE,
There is no reason for you to create new email accounts just to fool Paypal.
NIKOLE, I don`t know how much or if you understand the how Payment gateways work or how they process. Every processor gives you a testing account. In this case it`s called the "Pay Pal Sand Box", Sand boxing is the best way to test your payments through a gateway before you set it to "live mode" and of course using a live account.
Once you have all your variables passing through the gateway, the customer won`t even know whats going on.

All the customer cares about is, that the payment gateway doesn`t fail. Like you said if you have a bad purchasing experience the customer won`t return. But if you give him a good experience from the beginning, they will return.

And yes, the three click rule is what a developer should follow, and it`s what the customer should experience. Simplicity is the key to a good shopping cart. NIKOLE, in reality the only person that knows that it`s an API would be you.

One other thing, Don`t fool try to fool a payment gateway test all variables against any number, character or symbol you are passing through. Only this way will you know if your processor is optimized for the ultimate shoppers experience.

NIKOLE, you don`t have to use Cookies... Use sessions for storing information. It makes things more secure especially if the customer is using a public computer like at the library for example. Imagine that the customer doesn`t know thier information is stored in cookies and someone comes and by coincidence gets all your info?
If you use session, you can set the session to end after 5 minutes.

Another thing there is a way for you to offer three payment gateways, and one process form. You don`t have to set three buttons for each payment gateway. You can achieve this by using Arrays, and session, and Most of all just passing variables from one form to another and at the end have a tasteful form.
Having a customer login does provide the customer with a shopping experience.

Edgar, you`re still missing the point.

I wasn`t testing PayPal as a developer.
I was USING PayPal as a CONSUMER.

Which, as a CONSUMER, the need for a fake PayPal email address (so that I could just buy something without using my PayPal account) really makes it a poor shopping experience.

This is the point of the discussion, to discuss looking at shopping as a CONSUMER so we learn to look at it from the customer`s point of view and make it a better shopping experience. And, according to the links to studies in consumer buying behavior, it is CERTAINLY more than just point-click-buy.

Reading the posts I am thinking, this might be a Men are from Mars situation. I don`t think they really care about a shopping experience--Or maybe they think they don`t.

I know that when I tried to use paypal and it was not allowing me to use my credit card I aborted the attempt. Because I was determined to purchase the service, I called and gave a credit card on the the phone. If I was purchasing a thing-a-ma-jig, I would have gone to another site.

I used Pay-Pal for EBay. I got burnt a couple times on EBay & I have moved and would need to switch banks-yada, yada. PayPal is now attached to a closed bank account. Due to my last frusterating experience, I won`t spend my time trying to check out on their system.

Edgar,

Nikole is talking about the regular PayPal.  NOT Paypal Pro.


Just to thow this out there, I can`t stand checking out with paypal, I will leave a site that requires me to checkout with Paypal. All for the exact reasons that Nikole described in her first post.  Now, PayPal pro is a whole another story, that is just like any other merchant account.

While there are a lot of people who use and enjoy PayPal, there are A LOT MORE that don`t.

NIKOLE,
I understand every point that you trying to make. What I am trying to make you understand is that, it`s up to the developer to provide the "CONSUMER" with a great shopping experience. After all the consumers are the ones that are going to make purchases.
The reason why you have to fake paypal with a different email address is because when you sign in to paypal, Firefox, Internet Explorer remembers your email address clean out your forms or History.

Another thing that I want to point out to you is that, when developing (if you don`t want for the email address filled in at the pay pal checkout.
Avoid using the <input name="email" type="text" value="email">  call it something like e_mail_add or something.

Because this is the value that it`s passed to the Pay Pal server and this is why you get your email pre-filled.
So when the "CONSUMER" buys from you, they can choose to use Pay Pal Checkout standalone feature.

It really comes down to that variable, but most developers want to help the customer by already prefilling the email address.
To some users it might be a good experience, to others it may be annoying.

Doesn`t matter which pay pal you use. everyone should sandbox their transactions

1) I don`t use Internet Explorer.
2) Heck, I don`t even use a PC.
3) It`s not remembering my email address, it`s asking for it, and then not giving me the option to checkout without using my PayPal account because that email address has a PayPal account. And of course, like I said, the CC I want to use is not on file with PayPal, and I don`t want to have it on file with PayPal, so I end up just dropping the sale.
4) This is not about sandboxes and versions ... it`s about NOT seeing this as a developer and learning to look at things from the customer`s POV. You can design the thing all you want, but if you don`t ask the customer how they shop, how they want to shop, and what they want their experience to be ... you are never learning, growing, or moving forward. I can write things the way I would want them, but why should my POV matter? I should be asking the CUSTOMER what they want and adjusting accordingly. I can fake the email address box, but what if people want to use that feature? It`s all about learning what the consumer behavior is, making a system that works for them, giving them choices, and adjusting based on feedback. This is not about buying ... it`s about making their experience with a store a positive one. VALUE-ADDED SHOPPING.

And really, I give up now.

NIKOLE, As a developer you always have to keep one thing in mind. You can`t please the 500 Million users that are on the internet world wide.

I understand what you are saying about Pay Pal and your dilemma. It`s a tough call and it`s a tough decision to make when it comes to developing.
But remember to advise your customer that: Although paypal is free not alot of people like it and they should consider using a secondary payment gateway.

As for the paypal asking you for your email address, it seems like the shopping cart button has a "BUY NOW" Button instead of an "ADD TO CART" button.
Also, whoever is running the web site need to check the box in pay pal that allows customers to use a regular CC and Pay Pal feature.
When they configure this within pay pal then you can use any credit card.
So again it goes back to the developer for not paying attention to small details and the "CONSUMER SUFFERS FOR THAT".

Here`s a resource people may want to review regarding paypal as well www.paypalwarning.com  The website is no way related to my company, in fact it is a competitor of mine who sponsors the site.  However, it is a site that lists major concerns/issues with paypal that would impact a larger business and even a start up who relies on the funds that their sales generate.

I agree with you 100% on the early termination fee.  My belief on early termination fees are the same as yours.  In a business to business service related setting, it should be more about building a partnership rather than "selling" a service.  People should keep a service because of the quality and service that they are receiving rather than being forced to stay because of a contract term.

Also, in the start up world, we all know that businesses typically fail in their 1st year.  Not something that is a positive, but it is a reality.  I think it`s ridiculous that someone would have to pay a large termination fee because their business didn`t make it.  It`s already bad enough that the business folded, then on top of that be charged some arbitrary termination fee.

Hi,

I also use paypal and have not had a problem with it...being that most of my customers have a paypal account and seem to prefer this method of payment.

 

I also use Paypal Pro which is straight forward and easy to use and the consumer does not need a Paypal account to purchase something. You have a choice with Paypal pro: process transactions on your site or redirect to the Paypal site with the option to return to your site at the end of the transaction. The fee structure is simple enough to understand and there are no hidden fee`s. Customers can use most any payment method without having to register their cards and log-in. So, I can`t vouch for standard Paypal but with Paypal Pro I have been very happy. 

I am new to ecommerce.  I have a Yahoo merchant site that uses Paypal out of convenience.  The transactions are quick; I don`t have to worry about credit card security; my money is available quickly, etc.

I didn`t think it was an issue until 2 customers made comments.  Over the last several days, I`ve been looking at my shopping card abandonment and have realized that I`m losing many sales.  I can`t say its because of Paypal, but I suspect Paypal is part of it.

Any similar experience out there?

Now this is going to sound moronic, but I personally do not purchase ANYTHING that requires a PayPal checkout ... but we`ve decided to use PayPal for our business` website.  Since we`re a soon-to-be startup, we decided to go with a payment processing solution that is easy-to-use and CHEAP!

But can someone tell us the biggest differences/benefits from using "regular" PayPal and "PayPal Pro"?   We`re not married to using PayPal since we know the day will come when we migrate to a Quickbooks solution to accommodate higher sales volumes (since it can be seamlessly integrated with our accounting software).

Thanks!!

What interests you? What would you like to learn more about here on SuN, technology-wise?

Jump in, make your vote, and add your comments below!

Multiple votes are allowed!!

I just got 2 phone calls in a row so I thought I would ask each of them. Votes were:

* Podcasting - how do I record and save this file so people can download it?
* Success stories / case studies - how did they do it?
* Affiliate programs - how do I get other people to sell my stuff?

In Step 3 of the 5 Steps to Marketing your Website: Build your Word of Mouth and Viral Marketing, we talk about social bookmarking and how you can use it to help your business. Which bookmarking sites do you use, if any? (You can vote more than once.) How do you use them to help you personally or professionally? Or are you just confused about all this social bookmarking stuff in general? Discuss here!

We have been using Stumble Upon. It is working fairly well for us, though we wouldn`t mind if the traffic from it was higher.

It`s funny.  I`m pretty into the web and exploring the technology but social bookmarking does nothing for me.  I partially don`t get it, nor do I care.  So I don`t do it.

With today`s focus on niche markets and specializations, I find that what a general populace on the web finds interesting is not what I always find interesting.  I think social bookmarking is less a way for good content to make its way to the surface of the giant web, but rather a way for the majority of the content to fall behind, whether it is good/relevant/quality content or not.

I wouldn`t mind seeing what content other designers or entrepreneurs or dog lovers "digg" and bookmark but what EVERYONE thinks, big deal.

I`ve been experimenting with it for about four months now and the way the technology is applied doesn`t help me in my business.  This is especially since people pay the influential users on sites like digg to post their information.

I was just on another site and was given the opportunity to socially "bookmark" the content below the copy, so I thought of this thread.  And so I returned to comment further on the subject.

Below the content I was reading, I was given a series of icons of which I can choose to bookmark.  This is common and we`ve all seen the row of icons.  There were 14 that I could have chosen from!  14!!!

From Delicious to Digg to Technorati to Google and several I never even heard of, they were all there competing for my click.  Let`s say I was into using social bookmarking and wanted to share this content with others.  Am I expected to click on all 14?  Even if it had, say, only 5 icons, would I be expected to even click on all of those?  No, of course not.  Just the ones I like, right?

How can I put any stock in the whole social bookmarking system if the results are spread across 14 (or more) differing services/companies?  I can only conclude that the content found on any of those sites have a high randomness factor.  The whole concept of social bookmarking is a great idea but seems to have failed in implementation, in my opinion.

Yeah, that`s the one thing I don`t do. I give about 5 choices. It takes up as much space as I`m willing to give it. If you want something else, you can figure it out yourself.

I do not use just one... so I`d vote for two or three.

Social bookmarking . . . viral marketing IS the new word of mouth advertizing.

~Roland

 

You can choose 2-3 in this poll, it`s not limited.