Get told when your customers need what you do

[wecando.biz]

We've added a new feature to our website today that I'd like to make people aware of. It is available now to everyone at http://www.wecando.biz.

The feature is called Biz Feeds and it prompts all our users, over 200 now and growing, to enter a summary of their most urgent business need. We then broadcast that Biz Need through the Biz Feeds of all contacts that person has, plus any business member with matching keywords.

An example: "Les Barrett needs someone to print some brochures" would go to all of Les's contacts at WeCanDo.BIZ, but also get sent to all our Business members who have "print" or "brochures" in their keywords. Even if you are not a contact that Les lists, you can still add him yourself or message him directly to kick things off.

This feature is free to all members and I'd love to see you try it out and hear your feedback.

Remember that the more people you are ocnnected to, the more feeds you will get. If you link to existing and prospective customers you can be sure you know when their most urgent business need is something you can help with - don't assume they'll always come to you!

I hope you manage to find some new business through this feature and please keep your thoughts and idea flowing.

IH

[fisicx]

This whole connectivity thing is still the achillies heel of the website. Supposing bob sells tropical fish and I do plastering. There is no logical business connection between us so there is no real reason why I would add bob to my contact list. Supposing then that bob need a bit of rendering doing, I don't have rendering in my keywords but do have in my description. I would never find out that bob needs some rendering doing but his accountant contact would.

Would it not be better to have a 'business needs' page that everybody can see listing all the business needs of members (ie, not a public page). If I saw someone looking for a giraffe minder and know a company that deals with tall anuimals then I could get the company to sign up and get in contact. It's a much simpler system that doesn't require an exact keyword match.

Just a thought.

[wecando.biz]

Originally Posted by fisicx

This whole connectivity thing is still the achillies heel of the website. Supposing bob sells tropical fish and I do plastering. There is no logical business connection between us so there is no real reason why I would add bob to my contact list. Supposing then that bob need a bit of rendering doing, I don't have rendering in my keywords but do have in my description. I would never find out that bob needs some rendering doing but his accountant contact would.

Would it not be better to have a 'business needs' page that everybody can see listing all the business needs of members (ie, not a public page). If I saw someone looking for a giraffe minder and know a company that deals with tall anuimals then I could get the company to sign up and get in contact. It's a much simpler system that doesn't require an exact keyword match.

Just a thought.

As always Graham, many thanks for your post.

I'd never received the connections element to be an Achilles Heel - quite the opposite, the ability to connect with someone you know and share details of the companies you trust I think our members place great value on.

What it means in a practical sense is that I can share by most urgent business needs with people I trust and they may be able to help by pointing me at others. If I search on a business I see which ones they use and are happy to endorse, which helps build confidence in those businesses. I am more likely to go with a businesss that someone I know recommends than choose one randomly off a page. And that is the value of our site over Yell, for example. Winning confidence is critical to turning an enquiry into a sale. On our site, your position in listing is based on the trust you have built, not your skills at fooling Google. And let's face it, spend what you like on promoting your business to get listed first in Google, if the company listed second was used by someone I know who endorses it, then I'll be going with number 2. There's no substitute for happy customers and word of mouth, even online.

The situation you describe could occur if you didn't have what you do in your keywords (not something I would expect from you Graham!), and/or Bob described a need in ways that do not refer to the kind of professional he wants to hook up with. All of this could happen and you two wouldn't connect. But where's the loss? In this case any one of Bob's contacts may be able to put him in touch with someone who can help that they trust. Or a plasterer that thought to put "rendering" in their keywords would get the lead. You wouldn't get it, but you'd be getting leads where someone is looking for a plasterer, plastering, walls etc. (whatever your other keywords are).

Is there more we could do ensure that people are connected when search/using keywords? Most definitely. But we don't have the resources of Google behind us to ensure we produce a relevant response no matter what is typed (coding resources, nor customers volumes to make it worthwhile, nor hardwar capacity to cope with complex queries). To our mind, if someone doesn't get a response, as long as it is easier to type another keyword in than another site's URL, and as long as the benefits are there when th eresults come (endorsements from contacts etc) then we'll probably keep them.

Keep the feedback flowing! This site and the comments of inidivuals like you Graham has been pivotal in getting us to where we are now - my thanks.

IH

[wecando.biz]

That should read "perceived" not "received" - still haven't worked out how to edit a post on here!

IH

[fisicx]

I agree with everything you say. But it still requires effort on the part of the members to make those connections. As you rightly suggest, bob might tell fred he needs a widget and fred puts him in contact with jim who sells widgets but it is far more likely that bob uses a search engine to find a widget supplier.

This is the achillies heel. The connections only happen because the members make the connections. But I'm only going to make a connection if the other member has something I need. I'm not going to make friends with a toymaker unless I want a toy. It's a great idea but too complicated which is why it won't work the way YOU want it to. As I've already suggested, you need to analyse how people use search engines and business directories. You are too reliant on precise tags and keywords, you need to be able to provide related terms, cope with spelling mistakes, offer suggestions and so on. If I spell something wrong or use a 'z' instead of an 's' then the whole system fails. Try it: 'optimization' has no results but 'optimisation' does. The connection didn't happen because of the way the site works. Your achillies heel has crippled your vision for the site.

Which brings me to the actual business needs. It's the equivalent of forum spam. On the homepage you have 4 members with business needs - every one is self promotion, they don't 'need' anything except my business. I know you can't prevent this sort of thing but it doesn't do anthing for your credibility, it just looks like a bunch of businesses using the site for a bit of free promotion.

And while I'm in a writing mood. The endorsement thing is still a pain. I found a member with a non-public endorsment but I can see that endorsement unless there is some magical link through one of my contacts. But if I'm looking for widgets and I don't have any widget related contacts then I'm never going to get to see the endorsement so can't decide if I want to buy a widget from them. Why can't I see all the endorsements?

I did click on the Add Endorsement link and discovered that out of 7 options only one of them was to add an endorsement - all the rest were about making contact, which is not what I expected when I clicked on the link. Can I suggest two links: 'Add endorsement' and 'Connect to this member'.

And finally, how can I edit my keywords? (since they seem to be quite important to making everything work).

[wecando.biz]

Many thanks for your reply Graham. Some good points and I'll answer each in turn.

Originally Posted by fisicx

I agree with everything you say. But it still requires effort on the part of the members to make those connections. As you rightly suggest, bob might tell fred he needs a widget and fred puts him in contact with jim who sells widgets but it is far more likely that bob uses a search engine to find a widget supplier.

I am someone who believes Google doesn't offer the best solution to everything. I receive calls frequently from people I know asking if I can recommend someone who... And I also make those calls myself. People value the opinions of close contacts way ahead of stuff they've read on the internet, especially if it is on the site of the company trying to sell to them! When I need something I am as likely to ask someone I know if they know anyone than I am to do a search for a random list of providers online. Importantly, the decision to purchase is likely to be influenced MORE by an endorsement from a friend than a company unknown to because they happen to be listed first in Google.

Do you disagree? I understand the business you are in but you surely don't advocate that a strong position in Google means they don't need happy customers giving them word of mouth marketing?

Originally Posted by fisicx

This is the achillies heel. The connections only happen because the members make the connections. But I'm only going to make a connection if the other member has something I need. I'm not going to make friends with a toymaker unless I want a toy.

This isn't how we expect contact networks to be built. When a member joins they will only know who they know now (if you see what I mean) and invite those contacts to network with them. They may want their existing contacts to benefit from what they have found; and hey may also want to share details of who they recommend. The aim of our site is not to network randomly in the style of MySpace. In fact you get no kudos for having 8 million "friends" -- your "value" is based on how many endorsements you have. You can add new contacts as you go along if you wish, of course.

Originally Posted by fisicx

It's a great idea but too complicated which is why it won't work the way YOU want it to. As I've already suggested, you need to analyse how people use search engines and business directories. You are too reliant on precise tags and keywords, you need to be able to provide related terms, cope with spelling mistakes, offer suggestions and so on. If I spell something wrong or use a 'z' instead of an 's' then the whole system fails. Try it: 'optimization' has no results but 'optimisation' does. The connection didn't happen because of the way the site works. Your achillies heel has crippled your vision for the site..

Let me be clear. This is not Google. If someone comes to our site and types "rendering" (random exmaple) and gets nothing they have three choices as I see it:

1) type something else that relates to that (like plasterer - I think many people do)
2) add a Biz Need so that people who do rendering come to them
3) go to another site, perhaps Google, and get 37,400,000 links on rendering, the first three of which are a book on Amazon, a wikipedia entry on graphics applications and a company in Yorkshire (I live in Berkshire)!

For all their ubiquity, I don't think search engines are that useful. We have to use them to find stuff unfortunately, but I have better things to do than search an increasing complex site, where the highest ranked answers come down to how clever someone is at foxing Google, NOT whether it is relevant to my need with details that give me the confidence to deal with them. I hate search in fact. I want to be found, not to have to search - that's too much effort and there is too much rubbish to have to wade through. If you use the search on our site, the response you get is based on business people using the same words as you to describe their business, and we show you reasons why you might want to deal with them. If you don't get that back, then type in what your need is and we'll tell people we consider relevant to come to you. You can get on with your job without needing to faff around with pages of irrelevant tripe!

Originally Posted by fisicx

Which brings me to the actual business needs. It's the equivalent of forum spam. On the homepage you have 4 members with business needs - every one is self promotion, they don't 'need' anything except my business. I know you can't prevent this sort of thing but it doesn't do anthing for your credibility, it just looks like a bunch of businesses using the site for a bit of free promotion.

Graham, what is our site if it isn't about free promotion? Where you read "spam", someone else may see a link to someone they are interested in - all delivered in less than 64 characters. You could argue that none of the businesses we present to you on our home page are relevant, but they promote clicks and they show by example how the core bits of our site work. You only see that page when you first land; when logged in you'll get Biz Needs shown only from your contacts and where the keywords match. If it isn't relevant to you or from someone you know and trust then it doesn't exist.

Originally Posted by fisicx

And while I'm in a writing mood. The endorsement thing is still a pain. I found a member with a non-public endorsment but I can see that endorsement unless there is some magical link through one of my contacts. But if I'm looking for widgets and I don't have any widget related contacts then I'm never going to get to see the endorsement so can't decide if I want to buy a widget from them. Why can't I see all the endorsements?.

Not the case I'm afraid. You will ALWAYS see the public endorsements and you will ALWAYS see the number of endorsements they have, even if you are not logged in. Logging in shows you whether any one of your contacts has endorsed that business, be it publicly or privately. We have the private option so that if a business does not want to share details of a confidential customer, they can still collect the ratings boost but the detail can be kept concealed.

Originally Posted by fisicx

I did click on the Add Endorsement link and discovered that out of 7 options only one of them was to add an endorsement - all the rest were about making contact, which is not what I expected when I clicked on the link. Can I suggest two links: 'Add endorsement' and 'Connect to this member'.

OK, but it gave you the ability to endorse them as a customer, right? It was originally as you described but our users didn't see the differences clearly enough so we acted on their feedback. All over the site you can connect with them where you see them by clicking the little fella by their name, but on the page you mention, which shows their endorsements, we refer to it as adding an endorsment.

Originally Posted by fisicx

And finally, how can I edit my keywords? (since they seem to be quite important to making everything work).

They are. You can edit them within My Profile, going down to your Company Details and clicking the Edit link. You get taken to the same place by clicking Edit Preferences in the Biz Feeds section of My Profile and scrolling down too.

The Biz Needs by the way have been very well received, with quite a high proportion of our users starting to use already it to find answers to their biggest problems. We think Biz Needs will be seen as a neat way to get people coming to you if they can help, rather than you having to go look for them, which is what traditional search offers. This is more "get found" than search, which we think will give people with problems more time to spend running their businesses than faffing around on the internet!

Great feedback on this forum, as ever. Keep it coming!

IH