Don’t Wait for Perfection

January 17th, 2010 by Debra

Striving for perfection is a nice goal, but sometimes waiting for perfection can hold you back.

Don't wait for perfection The beauty of marketing on the Internet is that, in most cases, you can test, change, modify and update your campaigns once they go live. Having everything completely perfect prior to getting out there and being seen is no longer a necessity. It is more important to take action and become visible, even if it’s not perfect, than sit around and wait.

Recently, I’ve noticed this trend of waiting for perfection with some small business owners. The problem with this strategy is:

The longer you wait, the more chance you give your competition to be found before you, potentially stealing the thunder from something you thought was unique;
The Web changes too quickly to worry about finding small imperfections that can be fixed quickly once they are discovered;
Marketing takes time to work and waiting just lengthens the time before you will see results.

Understand that I’m not saying not to strive for excellence in your business. However, there is a difference between striving for excellence as a goal and waiting for everything to be perfect before you take action. I totally agree that you should:

Review your Web site and blog for spelling, grammar and other flaws that hurt the image of your business;
Test your forms, landing pages and interactive components to make sure they work the way you want them to;
Ensure that your brand is consistent and well designed;
Target the right market, use the right keywords and communicate the right messages in your pay-per-click advertising.

But trying to get everything “right” (whatever that is), whether it’s your Web site, social media profiles, email campaigns or your pay-per-click advertising, is costing you clients, visibility and money.

Waiting to begin marketing on the Internet so everything is perfect is futile. Get it to a point where no one but you knows it’s not “done” and go live. The longer you wait for perfection, the more the world is passing you by!

Are you waiting for perfection before you begin a marketing campaign?

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Comments

Comment from pick up lines
Time: January 19, 2010, 11:38 am

As a new blogger and webmaster myself, I’ve quickly realized the need to act swiftly when doing campaigns. Even waiting a few days can mean the difference between having a successful campaign and giving your competition the opportunity to steal your ideas. So bottom line – take action now!

Comment from Debra
Time: January 19, 2010, 4:17 pm

Absolutely – I’ve seen a great idea trumped by the competition because the business owner was taking too long to finish his web site and make it perfect.

Cheers!

Comment from Beth Charette
Time: January 21, 2010, 12:12 am

What I am finding is that in order to actually make money on the internet one has to have deep expertise in some area.

All too often, all people are sold is the How To Get People to Their Site.

After that, there is nothing for people to want there that isn’t offered in a million other places.

For example, one of my acquaintances has 100,000 unique visits to her blog every month.

Her total revenue from advertising on the blog:

$200 per month.

She is attempting to get Google and others to post ads, and also selling software that is available all over the web.

However, she is a typical college graduate (as I am) who has been taught no skill or knowledge set that is worth anything.

I can tell you about ten brands of European beer, and every score of the big ten in a major sport in the past 10 years, but that’s it.

Otherwise I sat at the feet of really useless people who had been granted tenure for advocating very bad ideas, ideas that when adopted have always led to failure.

That’s why they are protected by Ivy Walls. No one else wants to get within a mile of them.

But, we fools pay to hear what they have to say.

Anyway, back to the problem. Had I spent four years learning a skill or art or something, I might be able to help my friend, but as it is, I don’t know anything either.

I have listed my favorite hobby shop as my website.

Now there is a guy who can build almost anything, was educated at home throughout, and is about as smart a fellow as you would want to meet.

And, you know what, he doesn’t even know what teams are included in the big ten or how many million dollars per year the football coaches make.

Silly him!

Beth

ToysPeriod is a leading online shop specializing in lego sets and model railroad equipment.

Don’t Wait for Perfection

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