Some time ago, I attended a seminar by GetListed.org, an organization dedicated to online Local searches. Most of the other attendees were interested in marketing efforts for their own businesses. I was in a unique position because my job is to be a marketing expert for your business.

The seminar’s central metaphor was that marketing is a journey, so, when looking to get somewhere, physically or metaphorically, do you want a Chauffeur or a Road Map?

There’s a big difference between hiring someone to do all the work to get you from A to B and getting instructions so you can learn the process and figure it out by yourself. Both strategies are valid ways to get where you need to go. Unfortunately, you might get lost with a roadmap, or at least disappointed with the trip, if you actually wanted a chauffeur. On the other hand, you may be frustrated by the lack of control when someone else does all the driving for you.

To apply this metaphor to websites; the chauffeur would be an expensive service which would customize a website for you. Even with a chauffeur, you still need to be the one who tells the driver where to go. You’d (hopefully) get whatever you’d want but could pay thousands of dollars just to get the site designed, and more to keep things running. A Chauffeur is generally seen as a luxury. Even if you have the money, the expense might not be the best use of your advertising budget.

The Road Map would be a book or course on how to design and maintain a website. You take your destiny in your own hands. This can be exciting, and you can learn a lot from the process itself, but it takes time and skill, and could result in failure. If you’re already busy with the many other demands of your business, not to mention other aspects of life, maybe learning a new set of tools isn’t that appealing, especially when websites combine aesthetic, marketing, grammatical, programming, and myriad other concerns.

We’re a middle path between these two extremes. I’d say we’re like your tour guides to an online presence. We’ve been there before, we know where to go- and where not to go, we can point out what you should look for, show you some shortcuts, and help you out if you get lost. If we see you’re headed down the wrong path, we try and steer you in the right direction. We’re here to lend a hand if and when you need it.

Of course, since we’re tour guides and not chauffeurs, to get the most out of the experience, some participation is required on your part. We’ve done most of the work; I’ve even had people say we’ve done “99%” of the work. But your website works best if you take a bit of time to look at it, proofread it, and customize it a bit to yourself & your practice.

Of course, being a tour guide means working with the people on the tour. We don’t want to just shuffle you around and recite the same monotone lecture for everyone, we’d much rather learn what you want and how we can help you get it.

If you think you lean towards wanting a chauffeur, let us know and we’ll help you understand what we can (or cannot) do for you, and help explain all of the tools we put at your disposal.

For those of you looking for a road map, let us know and we’ll help you start out your journey in the right direction with some metaphoric trail mix and what other resources are out there to help get you to where you’d like to go.

If you’re not sure where you stand in this metaphor, please let us know your thoughts, questions, and interests. Our websites are customizable to suit you, let us know how we can help!

by Rich M, Directory Listings Specialist – CoachingWebsites Support
Email any questions to [email protected]