Comments on: Attract More Visitors By Going Invisible

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:32:06 +0000

Lisa,
What you told about the buttons is 100% correct.
Am a starter and I have just set up my site and I had wasted many -hours searching for a plugin for social-bookmarking. :) I realised lately that concentrating on the content which am gonna write would be more important than getting worried about how my plugin will look.
If you write something really good,Its gonna spread across to others even with out social bookmarking.(May be a little slower).
Thanks and I ve already subscribed to your post after reading your blog on chat between Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki…Thanks…

By: Janeth

Janeth — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:31:34 +0000

I don’t use them on my sites.

My content is written for the average site visitor or someone that I might be able to make a sale to. I enjoy making money with my sites, I’m sorry; it’s just in my blood.

The average site visitor has no idea why that button is there and other than distracting from my site, sending them somewhere else, confusing them and causing them to look elsewhere for a service that I provide it really does nothing else, for the average site visitor.

The guys that understand the buttons are out looking for content for their own sites are trying to learn something that they didn’t already know. These people are not going to buy from me; they are not looking for my services.

I just can’t imagine designing my site for people that are not going to spend money while at the same time confusing the people that are.

Just my two cents.

By: Yura

Yura — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:58:15 +0000

So I shouldn’t change my absolutely minimalistic text design that I created with the user in mind? Wouldn’t hurt to add more personality to it, though. Invisible design doesn’t mean that *you* need to be invisible on your site, right? :)

By: Greg Finn

Greg Finn — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:15:52 +0000

There are some “conditional ” plugins out there ( ex. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/conditional-digg-this-badge/) But I don’t know of an encompassing one that hits the main social sites and displays if at least one vote exists.

By: Tim Staines

Tim Staines — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:48:14 +0000

A couple comments:

1) Good/great content doesn’t have to cost that much. One of the best things I heard at #IMSB spoke to finding experts in the topic and commissioning them to do your writing. We all love talking or writing about what we love and we’re usually willing to talk about it for no charge. Quality writing can often come at a very reduced price if you find someone who really wants to write about the topic and maybe isn’t a full time writer. You may have to rewrite for marketing purposes, but you will already have the quality part to build on.

2) I prefer the little social media buttons (the ones that are even smaller than those that you use on this post, but have you ever heard of anyone adding the counter buttons in after the article gets Dugg, Redditted, or Sphunn? Is that cheating? Might be a way to avoid the zeros and still get the participation value . . .

By: Greg Finn

Greg Finn — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:38:30 +0000

Agreed that social buttons & badges aren’t for every site, many sites however are hitting stories regularly and these buttons can help if leveraged correctly. Something like a digg button can be optimized to help lazy people promote your stuff with your titles. So something like:

digg.com/submit?url=http://www.yoursitehere.com/currentpost&title=Really+Really+Awesome+Title+Written+For+Digg&bodytext=Totally+radical+and+bodacious+description+that+backs+up+your+title&topic=the_correct_topic_here

Would allow for your users to click the Digg button, have a kick-ass title/description inserted & the proper topic selected. It really depends on the site though, but these buttons can be a powerful tool to use if the shoe fits.

By: Joe Hall

Joe Hall — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:38:15 +0000

When I can, i do invest in high quality content. I agree with you. We are on the same page here.

Do I now get an agitating Lisa trophy?? ;-)

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:29:18 +0000

If your argument is that social media has helped average content look better and that it’s worthy of being praised then you’ve just summed up everything I hate about social media, yes. :)

I understand that many in this field aren’t content writers. They’re marketers or technical people. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in high quality writers or that mediocre content should be credited with being “above bar” when it’s just that, mediocre. That’s like saying because I write content I can hire someone to create a crappy Web site and that it’s enough.

And I’m not picking on you. I swear. You’re just making an argument that I’ve heard quite often and it drives me crazy. :)

By: Joe Hall

Joe Hall — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:21:17 +0000

I’ve got a participation trophy?? But seriously, no they shouldn’t be happy with average mediocre content. If you are a content developer, you should always work your butt off to make the best content in the world! But, my point is that its easier to get by with out doing that. Is that wrong? Probably, but i am not a content developer by trade, there for all I can do is focus on putting trust and money into those that i hire, and hope they do the best they can, if they don’t at least i know that their average is still above the bar.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:10:41 +0000

I’m a marketer and beyond the good tips that was just fun to read!