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If you’re a small business owner or an expanding SME, choosing web designers, web developers (they’re different), SEO’s, PPC managers, copywriters, etc, can be tough.

How do you know who to trust and who is actually being upfront and honest with you?

In fact, articles like I’m writing right now are one of the tactics a dodgy operator will use to make clients feel more at ease. Readers will think, “gee, if this guy is telling me how to choose a web designer, he must be one of the good guys”.

Articles like, “10 ways to spot a good SEO” will of course include every attribute the SEO wants to you to believe he or she possesses, while leaving out the important bits. I’m talking dodgy SEO’s of course… I’m perfectly fine with someone legitimately marketing themselves by putting their best foot forward (oh look another grey area!).

The crux of the problem is, online, its easy to look trustworthy.

How to Choose Online Services

So, you’ve got a problem, you have no expertise or related experience. You need to outsource to someone to help you but you don’t know who to trust, or who is going to give you what you need at a reasonable price (and maybe you don’t even know whats “reasonable”).

Here’s some tips on how to choose – from someone who’s been around long enough to be paranoid enough.

1. Choose a local provider. Just because you’re looking for a service that’s related to the internet doesn’t mean you have to hire someone from a different country, or even a different state. The best way to assess a person’s trustworthiness is face to face.

2. Choose based on a recommendation from someone you know in the “real world”. Not someone you met through a forum, but someone you’ve known personally and can trust.

Its easier to spot potentially terrifying relationships face to face

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/orinrobertjohn

3. Ask each service provider to show you at least 3 examples of work they’ve done… then, tell them you’d like to call one of those 3 businesses to see what they thought of your services. Don’t pre warn them you’re going to ask this. Just ask for their portfolio or for satisfied clients, and then ask for a phone number.

4. Obtain numerous quotes, talk to at least 3 different service providers and get quotes/hourly rates. If one business charges you $2,000 a month for a particular (well defined) service, and the next charges $300, you may want to investigate further.

As an example, some SEO services for large businesses might easily run into $4,000 a month for legitimate large scale link building campaigns (not 3rd world based spammers) and content creation. If you’re a SME getting quoted $4,000 a month for SEO, you better not be assigned to an account manager who works on your account, and 20 others… relegating you to getting 4 hours a month of SEO done on your site.

5. Don’t ever, EVER read & believe reviews of a product or service operator online unless you’re 99.99% sure this author is offering an unbiased opinion (no opinions are unbiased…). 99.99% of reviews online are written by someone putting a huge positive spin on something to get a cut of the sale.

Its called affiliate marketing.

Remember that whenever you type in “product/service name + review” into Google. Everything on the front page is written by an affiliate marketer looking for a cut. Seriously.

Finding something on Google doesn't make it trustworthy.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/

6. If you’re reading a sales letter in long form that has lots of big bright headlines and metaphors like “i unleashed a flood of business where before there was only a trickle” (vomit) then be wary. Of course, copywriters are probably going to have sales letters like this, but you shouldn’t read them, you should meet them in person, see their portfolio, and then call one of their clients and ask if the copywriter increased revenues. Then go and get 3 more quotes and repeat.

7. Lastly, be encouraged if you hear “I don’t know”. Or, “I’ll look into that for you”. If someone sounds like they have all the answers, they’re either the world’s best (get your wallet out), the world’s worst (they’re lying to you), or they’re trying to cover up a lack of knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with a service business that doesn’t have all the answers for you – take doctors for example. If a doctor consulted with another doctor on a particular case, you’d think it normal. Medicine is complex. The same is true for many disciplines – be encouraged if your provider tells you they will need to research something further or consult with a peer. At least you’ve found someone honest and willing to be upfront with you.

8. Learn more about the topic yourself if you can spare any time. For SEO I recommend reading Aaron Wall’s 7 day SEO primer (sign up on the right of the page), and SEOmoz.org’s beginner’s primer to SEO (you don’t need to join either to just get the basics down). For web development and design read w3schools.com and Smashing magazine. For PPC (pay per click advertising) Google’s own learning center is great. For copywriting I read copyblogger. I have never hired anyone from any of these websites, nor can I say they’re all 100% trustworthy, they’re just learning resources I recommend.

I hope some of my paranoia is rubbing off on you. Take it from an ex police officer turned marketer (could you possibly create a combination that makes someone more cynical?), the way to do business online today is to go local. Choose and meet with real (local!) people who have real clients who are open and happy to indulge your paranoia.

Meet your online geek locally.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leader_maximo/

On the other hand if you have completely trustworthy associates, mentors or friends who have had an excellent experience with someone from another country, go for it!

Disclaimer: I provide local SEO and web related services to local businesses and am highly biased.

99designs home page

The purpose of this post is really just a bit of an eye opener for those of you not aware of the site 99Designs.com 

If you’re an internet marketer, or ANY business owner who needs graphics, 99Designs provides you the opportunity work with not just one graphic designer, but potentially hundreds.

Heres how the site works.

1. Using a contest scheme, a project is posted on the site. ”Design me a new logo for my retail clothing store”, or “Make me a ‘no scammers’ button”.

2. A prize value is listed. This varies from 100 bucks to thousands, depending on the scope & quality expected.

3. Thousands of designers view your project, and have the opportunity to compete for the project.

4. Every time a designer submits an idea (or SET of ideas) they appear in the contest page for all to see. So in essence, these designers are competing directly with each other.

5. The contest runner eventually selects just one design from a raft of different designs displayed.

This is a great thing for someone who hasn’t got a hot shot designer they can trust. Rather than going through an elance like process, where you’re shown past work, you get to see exactly what you’re going to get for your money, and can compare it with other competitor’s works.

Have a look around! If only they had an affiliate program… I’d be promoting it!

Log into TweetGrid (see my last post for more about TweetGrid).

Type in your main core keywords. Lets say they’re “Knight Armor”, “Shining Armor”, “Paladin Armor”, and so on.

Find out what related conversations people are having right now (you get topical, recent and potentially “hot” negative keywords this way) that AREN’T associated with your core campaign keywords.

For example, you might be advertising display armor, but your search pulls up computer games which involve the “Paladin” class (hundreds of thousands of searches a month).

Add those words to your negative keyword list.

The same process of course can be used to find new keywords…

Are you looking into potential niches for affiliate marketing?

Have you got a product idea that you’re not sure will fly?

Head over to Tweet Grid. Select a 3 by 3 box (click on the image at the top of the home page). And then type in 9 terms that relate to your idea, niche, or business opportunity.

Tweet Grid's Title Graphic

 Simply click on any of the sizes that appear on the header image – 1×1, 1x 3, 2×2, etc… and you’ll get the appropriate grid size.

If you were researching the widget consulting industry, you might type in a variety of keywords to “listen in” on people’s twitter conversations that include that particular keyword.

So, if I type in “widget consultation” into one of my boxes, I might overhear a conversation about a negative experience involving a widget consultation, or I might see someone advertising on twitter for their own services.

Or perhaps I’d type in “widget 2.0″ and see that many users have been experiencing terrible problems with widget 2.0, and that you could fulfil a need.

I have websites in the World of Warcraft niche and routinely monitor “World of Warcraft” on Tweet Deck. Its amazing how many times you’ll hear girlfriends, wives, boyfriends and husbands bemoaning the amount of time their significant other spends on World of Warcraft. 

Or maybe you want to follow just one Tweeter’s updates, such as Barak Obama, or Jonathon Weston… *cough*. Simply enter their name into the box, and whenever anyone mentions them, or they post an update themselves, you’ll be informed.

Handy.

“Unworry“, says the new advertising and marketing campaign from SGIC.

If you remember, not too long ago SGIC’s campaign revolved around the motto, “We’re fiercly competitive”. 

I hated the old campaign, but love the new campaign.

Why?

What do you think of when you’re told a company is fiercly competitive? “Who cares” came to my mind, repeatedly. Every company is fiercly competitive… what we as consumers want to know is, “what’s in it for me?” 

SGIC’s old campaign “fiercly competitive” motto made me think, “Fiercly competitive in what regard? Prices? Shareholder ROI? Profit margins?” The terms fierce and competitive don’t fit with insurance companies, at least, not in public marketing campaigns.

We want to think that our insurance company is like a warm loving parent, there to look out for us when we cut our knee… not a fierce tiger trying to savage the competition (and maybe us).

What do you feel like when you’re given the opportunity to “unworry”, as SGIC’s new campaign promises?

• Hopeful,
• Optimistic,
• Safe, and 
• Relieved that someone else is going to handle all the concerns of your life for you. 

Its also talking about whats in it for you, not the company.

If you’re looking at creating or changing a motto for your own company, use SGIC’s newfound focus as an example of speaking the right way to your audience.

• Keep it simple
• Make it bring out specific emotions in your target audience
• Tell your market what’s different about you

Don’t know if your motto is quite “there” yet? Why not ask your customers?

When speaking, whether to a crowded room, in a podcast, or in a one on one situation, engage your listener by using vivid visual information…. I call it, “creating movies in their minds“.

I’m not talking about using arm flailing body language, and I’m not talking about using a box full of props. And boy, I’m certainly not talking about using the same old PowerPoint slides.

What am I talking about? Let me illustrate it to you… read these words carefully.

Goat.

Prince.

Thunderstorm.

Drunken brawl.

What happened when you read those words?

Did an image of the letters that make up the word “goat” appear in your mind? Or did you think of a mental image of a goat, maybe in a green grassy field?

Something like this pops into my mind!

What about “prince”? Did your mind associate that word with the letters P, r, i, n, c, and e, and “display” that in your thoughts like chalk on a blackboard? Or did you see in your mind’s eye an image of a young man draped with robes in a royal hall?

Thunderstorm – dark clouds, flashes of lightening.

Drunken brawl – last Saturday night out on the town and the local thugs duking it out.

We don’t remember groupings of letters, we associate words with images and stories in our minds.

Merely reading collections of notes put together in PowerPoint to the room is NOT increasing your listeners retention with visual information. Its called being boring, lazy and ineffective.

How can you use this information?

For one, throw out the notes written in PowerPoint. Just because some study 10 years ago showed people remember visual information better than auditory does not mean PowerPoint is the answer to your prayers… its not. Its a crutch you’ve depended on for too long, and a crutch that will eventually break and hurt you.

When speaking one to one, or even on stage, remember - people associate your words and ideas with visual images and story. Take advantage of that to make them remember your point, and remember you.

When you’re engaging your audience, here’s my difficult, long hours, hard work solution to help you chase boring, unoriginal, and ineffective slides from your life:

1. When you’re speaking, don’t use your slides to remember what you’re saying. Know your content well, or at the very least, deliver it from notes you’ve made, and deliver it with as much enthusiasm as you can muster. Just because you’re talking tax doesn’t mean you can’t talk a little horror.

2. Use your slides to show a powerful, interesting and throat grabbing “visual backup” to the point you’re making.

For example, are you talking about the economy? Sure, tell them about the percentage drop, but show them the picture of a pile of dollar bills burning. Show them an avalanche, or show them a house of cards falling down. Show them a cake and how much they don’t get to eat now. Anything but a boring graph.

3. Create stories for them to go along with. Use analogy and metaphor to create more easily related ideas and vivid visual imagery.

We’ve all heard analogy & metaphor before. “He cried like a baby”, or “Its like shooting fish in a barrel”. What does this do in our minds? It creates visual imagery and points of reference that we can all relate to.

Here’s a few of my own:

Creating visually interesting stories is like crack for your listeners mind – they can’t get enough.

Keep feeding them information based around statistical data, numbers, and figures they can’t relate to, and your audience will sour quicker than milk in the Australian sun.

Get it? Good!

Your Audience?

“Be seen as the expert in your field.”

When people see you’re the expert, they’ll trust you, and they’ll buy from you.

Good enough advice, but does it still hold water?

Does it still hold water when the “economy experts” have sent the biggest economy in the world in to a financial tailspin?

Does it still hold water when your “financial expert” has sent your 401k, superannuation, or other retirement plans so low that you’ve put retirement off for a decade?

And does it still hold water now in an age where anyone can declare themselves an instant expert on the Internet with a web site and some fancy marketing jargon & copywriting?

In some fields, where people are already battered and beaten — where people roam the virtual streets armed with “disbelief daggers” and “skepticism submachine guns” (hello Internet marketing!), the term “expert” is flung around so much it has lost all meaning.

So what do we cling to when our coveted “expert” status is slowly eroded by those around us?

Some ideas:

1. Show your human side. Some guru’s & experts seem to carry the lofty “better than thou” image of royalty with them whereever they go… and I think its hurting them. Be “real”, “human”, and show yourself. 

2. Actually return to the real world where real people walk, talk and interact. Get contacts there, and get known. There’s nothing like speaking to someone face to face for 10 minutes to show them who you are.

3. Give of yourself and your time. Helping others is a huge credibility builder. The whole human race is built on helping each other… and helping for nothing can’t be beat. I help train new speakers and market my local Toastmasters club (and they help with MY speech making skills, too!)

4. Treat your readers/prospects/clients like an old friend you haven’t seen for a while. Not too friendly, but happy, intrigued, and interested in them. Or maybe you just want to land a hug on them? See point 6.

5. Just plain don’t call yourself an expert. One of my favorite writers, Wil Wheaton (best known as the young Wesley Crusher from Star Trek, The Next Generation) calls himself, “just a guy, ya know?”. Is he popular, successful, and LOVED? Oh my yes! Do people trust him, believe him, and love to hear his every word? Yes, yes, YES.

6. In the words of my Mum, “just be yourself Jonny”…

Stop saying how much of an expert you are, and start engaging with people as only you can.

What do YOU think?