marketing value Archives - Page 6 of 6 by Mark Murnahan

Building Trust Comes First in Business, But How?

I was recently referred to a businessman by a few mutually trusted acquaintances. In total, three different people have come to me suggesting that I could help this man to grow his business. Each of these three people are involved in his personal and professional life in different ways, and each carries a different level of trust. It all got me to thinking a lot about the importance of trust, and what a role it has in business relationships, personal relationships, and how they overlap.

I thought of the trust others had placed in my work and my integrity, and I thought about ways trust is conveyed to others. How to build trust is a tricky topic, at best. There are many factors involved, and it is different to each person. I do not have all the specific answers for this, but here are a few things that came to mind for me. I hope you will enjoy the food for thought.

The First Step to Selling is Trust

The way this really came to me was when the man I was referred to set aside time to meet with me. We will be meeting for the first time tomorrow morning. I asked him how much time we could set aside to visit, because I am often long winded and wanted to know what to expect. I told him that I am not a “pitch man” and that an “elevator presentation” really does not give justice to the work I do. Ironically, a lot of my job has to do with building trust, but I do that online, through branding and delivery of consistent value. In this case, I don’t have a lot of time.

He is a bit cramped for time, so I thought of ways I could present the most important facts right upfront. I considered the specific facts, figures, and projections I could make for marketing his business better. I thought of the “silver bullet” to how I can bring him success with his online marketing. I guess I could just give him the facts, and maybe he would trust those facts … real facts, real numbers, real proof. You can see why I am not a pitch man, right? Yes, I agree … I am not a salesman. He has probably heard all of that before, or if he did the right research, he could certainly ascertain facts, figures, and proof of the things I would tell him.

Once I got to thinking a little deeper about what this man really wants to hear and believe is me. If I do not have his trust, nothing I say will matter … even the best information will be pointless. I could prove how much I know about the Internet, and how I create great visibility to a company. I could show him big profit gains by having a better marketing message. I have that proof on my side, but if I relied on proof alone, it will just fly right on by and at the end of the meeting, we will have both wasted our time. So the challenge is really in how to earn just enough of his trust that he will want to know more … and believe it once I do give him the facts.

Building Trust in an Distrusting World

I started thinking about factors of building trust online. We only have seconds to earn that little bit of trust that makes people want to know more … and believe in us. If we get just a tiny piece of their trust … enough to want to know more, we may get somewhere. Otherwise, we are shot down and we have nothing to show for it. On the Internet, that generally comes with a nice professional looking website, but why? If somebody sees a great website, it is less likely that they wasted their time and money just to throw it all away by trying to rip you off. It conveys some sense of authority.

When I considered this in the offline world, it didn’t really translate so well. Sure, we know that the numbers prove that good looking people earn more money. That is true, but being good looking does not break the trust barrier. There has to be more!

Rapport: Finding Common Threads

I thought of things I know about this man. I guess we could talk about cigars. He likes cigars, too. People like people with common interests. Maybe we could talk about my auto racing … everybody likes fast cars, right? Here is in-car video of me qualifying 7th of 77 at Road America with a top speed of around 170 miles per hour … who wouldn’t like that?! No, this is going nowhere. Rapport, or finding common threads is fine. It can make somebody feel a little more comfortable, but it still does not fill the trust gap. What is the answer? I really want to know.

Honesty and Sincerity: If You Mean it They Can Tell

This is something I guess I have always really tried hard to do. I mean, if you could see the look on my face, you would really know that I mean what I say. I have always been one of those guys who will tell people my sincere thoughts over and above telling them just what they want to hear. I am simply not a schmoozer, and I have always felt like my sincerity and willingness to polarize an audience with what I really think and feel has been an asset to me. Being honest even when it is hard is something I think my father spanked into me at a very young age, and I have been very successful as a result of honesty. It has also caused a few hardships, but it is overall my greatest gift. Some people have a good gauge for honesty, but some do not, so it still does not fill the trust gap. What’s next? There has to be something … some good answer that will make the big difference in trust.

Time and Familiarity Builds Trust … You Trust Grandma, Right?

Maybe grandma is not a perfect example for you, but in general, time and familiarity builds trust. I trust my grandmother implicitly. Over time, people observe others actions and intentions, and with experience, they learn whether they can trust somebody. Time and familiarity are huge factors in trust, but in business, we often only have a moment. Busy business people often do not have time to build trust, either from the buyers’ perspective, or the sellers’ perspective. I have put off sales representatives for over a year before. In fact, one of my largest suppliers took over a year to earn my trust, but I have been a large client to them for over eight years now. Today, that is unlikely to happen, because postponing good business decisions during a recession can sink a company fast. Besides, how many companies will really take the initiative to build trust with you the way this sales rep who called me once a week for a year did?

Referrals Convey Trust

I have written about the value of referrals, and how they can help a business. They shorten the trust gap, because when somebody you trust vouches for somebody else, some of the trust is conveyed. In my case, it seems that about every time I give a business referral, I get a call from the person I referred to say thank you. I guess it happens for two reasons. I am selective, and before I will refer somebody to another business acquaintance or friend, I want to know that they are a good match. When I give a referral, I will convey a huge lot of my influence to be sure that the two parties (referral and referred) will do business together. I almost find myself a bit offended if I give a whole-heartedly earnest referral to somebody and they go elsewhere. It is because I gave a huge piece of my trust, and when my trust is wasted, I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.

I have a large collection of reference letters and kind words people have written about me over the years. I could give him a nice leather bound copy of reference letters to show I am trustworthy, but even that is not a perfect answer. There is still more to it than just this … a lot more.

What About the Jaded?

I told my wife I was thinking about and writing about trust. I asked her if she trusts me. I already knew the answer. She clearly trusts me like none other. She trusts me as a husband, father, and provider. Then I asked her how to build trust, and she said “it depends on how jaded the person is.” That makes sense, and it reminded me of something I wrote in one of my books, “Living in the Storm” in the chapter titled “Wins and Losses of Cynicism”. Perhaps we just can’t reach everybody, and some people will just distrust everything. It has to do with the individual’s experiences, and sometimes their own trustworthiness and intentions. It is a lot harder to trust somebody if you have been jaded, or do not feel trustworthy.

A Summary of Trust

I cannot tell you in a single blog article what it takes to build trust. I know, that would be great if I could. One thing I can tell you is that in my job as an Internet marketing consultant, if you are not doing things to convey trust among your marketplace, you are not looking far enough ahead. Trust is a key factor in doing business, online or offline, and the sooner you start, the better.

Building familiarity and authority within your marketplace is never a simple task, but if you never begin the process, you will not receive the benefits. Online social networking is a good start.

I did not come up with all the answers for my meeting tomorrow, but I know that his confidence and trust in me will play a vital role. I hope that my knowledge, history, integrity, and the trust conveyed by others will help.

What do you think? I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on trust. If you are a subscriber to my blog, why did you trust my opinions enough to subscribe? If you are a regular visitor, why do you come back? Does trust play a role in that? My guess is yes.

Imitation Marketing Means Imitating Marketing Failure

Trend, fad, popular, meme, hot, new, fashionable … word it however you like. Everybody wants that piece of whatever it is that works in marketing today. Companies and individuals frantically try to be on the leading edge of a wave that promises to be the “next big thing” that will bring them success. They hear how well it worked for this company or that company, and then make carefully calculated efforts to imitate that success. Perhaps they always heard it is best to imitate success, but on the flip-side of that coin is the far more likely outcome of imitating failure. I call it “imitation marketing” when people strive to imitate success, and it comes with a good side and a bad side.

Anybody who has used popular social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and the rest, has surely watched the imitation that happens every day. Somebody tweets, facebooks, or blogs about something “hot” and all of the sudden every other blogger scurries to their keyboard to blog about the same thing. If you catch on with things that are “hot” in a market, you have a greater chance of catching your 15 minutes of fame that was promised. Let’s face it, a lot of what we see each day on the internet is just the same thing, regurgitated with an alternate slant, and worded slightly different. If you look at any industry, you can see all the competitors mocking each other while only a few really stand out. Is that imitation really going to produce the results they are seeking? The odds are against it. There is a near infinitely greater chance of wasting time, energy, and money!

The Imitation Marketing Monster Eats Its Young

In this Internet age of vast information and lightening fast social media reach, we have collectively created a monster of sorts. What many people do not understand is that it is a monster that eats its young and as the cycle goes on, it eats itself.

Along with economic insecurity over the past couple years, it has become easy for people to believe they can save money by handling their own marketing. The Internet is the obvious place for this to happen, because it is easy. Anybody can put their name out there on the Internet and cross their fingers. The craze for do-it-yourself marketing on the Internet has created “marketers” out of about every living being that has a pulse, and a mouse to click with. Standing out from the crowd will take something unique, and not just “imitation marketing”. If you are up to the task, I am here to try and help you with my experience.

Whether you like this or not, you are right there in the thick of it. There is no other reason for you to read my blog than to try and know a better way to market what you offer and to become more profitable. Face it, you are here because you want more money, and you think you may pick up a tip to make that happen faster and cheaper than your competition. It is either that, or you have it in the back of your mind that you may pick up the phone and hire me to produce and implement a plan for your marketing … but that is only a tiny fraction of the people reading this. I am here to try and help you in either case, because it is what I do. I want to see you be successful.

Pay attention as I give you a surfing analogy: The waves of popular methods of Internet marketing exposure come a lot faster than ever before. By the time you see the wave, your window of opportunity to surf it to the beach has already closed. The riders of that wave were on it way out at sea, and it is moving far too fast to jump on now. If you want to surf in today’s marketing ocean, you are better off making some waves of your own.

I do not want to discourage you, and if I do, I will make it up to you with some encouragement. I am going to tell you what you are up against in your marketing, in order that you can prepare for the challenge.

Meeting the Creative Marketing Challenge

I just have to share a piece of reality in order to emphasize my point. Most of my readers are still swimming along in the vast open water and trying to stay afloat by imitating success. What they seldom realize is that by doing so they carry a higher risk of failure than hiring it out to experienced people like myself who do this all day long … for decades. They will soak up every bit of useful knowledge the vast Internet has to offer, and then try to create something more inspired and genius than all of the trained marketers who have facts, figures, creativity, and experience on their side.

Just as a simple example, consider how creative you are feeling today. Do you have it in you to write three, four, or five blog articles and marketing copy to promote your brand … or even one article? Do you have it in you to be sure what you produce is in front of hundreds of thousands of people … or even a thousand people? The right people? Can you write three books in three months (and actually have them sell) … or even one book? Can you write something and be assured that it will be listed within the top five results for the keywords you targeted less than ten minutes after you publish it … top 2,000 results? Do you have these things on your side? Well, I do, and there are others out there like me. That is what you are up against. When you get busy with your marketing, be aware that a lot of us make it a full time job, and some of us are damn good at what we do. To get ahead, you will have to be damn better.

The rampant drive for do-it-yourself marketing is one of those crazes that, like all other fads, has seen its time and is a wave that already crashed on the beach. It was a great idea, but when you are one of millions of people attempting to be the loudest, smartest, and overall best at what you do, your voice is squelched by the static. So, is there a fix? Yes! This is where I make it up to you if I discouraged you.

Stop Seeking Marketing Waves and Start Making your Own

Stop doing what they are doing. Stop trying to play follow the leader. Do something genius. If you spend your time making more waves and less time trying to catch one that is over your head, you have a lot better chance of surfing all the way to the beach. It may be easy to look at successful marketing and say “I can do that, too” but the odds are overwhelmingly against you. We trained and experienced marketers stacked the cards a long time ago as we earned our battle scars. We have been there, and we have done that. There are a lot of guys like me who spent 100 hours per week for years of our lives studying, practicing, learning, and tapping into every resource available to crush the competition of our clients. There is simply no way to beat us at our own game, so instead, you must create your own rules. Make your own waves. If you want to do it yourself, do not even try to do what everybody else is doing. You do not have the same resources as the competition, so don’t try to market as if you do. Take a serious inventory of your strategy and what resources you have at your disposal to implement that strategy. Stop trying to figure out how to do what the others are doing and get serious about what makes you different and better.

Tips for Overcoming Imitation Marketing

Try sitting in a quiet and dark room for an hour and think about what makes you different. Bring a voice recorder to take notes. Repeat this as often as you can. Read more books, blogs, and do everything you can to exercise your brain. The more you use it the more creative you will become. Read my blog. It really has a lot of great brain food to boost up your creativity. Start blogging! Read these really good reasons to blog and also read about how blogging improves intelligence. Seriously … go do it and stop trying to make excuses. This is for your benefit, after all. This is intended to help you increase your marketing talent.

Get really serious about what you are doing and stop letting yourself become comfortable. If you are going up against professional marketers, you are going to have to get serious with your marketing creativity, and it just doesn’t come naturally … it takes a lot of hard work. I get paid to make my clients successful, and if you want a piece of any market I am in, you had better brew another pot of coffee and plan to stay up all night.

Go sit in that quiet place and think really hard about how you are going to do something that nobody else is doing, and start figuring out how to make some waves. If you are not up to it, you should start getting settled with the lackluster results of “imitation marketing”, and be ready to take some heavy risks of failure. My hope for you is that you will try harder than ever, and take some of my tips. Otherwise, hire me to do the work for you and go get some rest … this marketing stuff is exhausting!

Cigar Prices Rising With Bad SEO and Social Media Marketing

Cigar prices are rising because of social media marketing and seo? I must be joking, right? No, not at all, my friends. Cigars are just one of many categories of consumer products suffering higher prices and lowered standards due to inefficient use of marketing resources. I am using cigars as an extreme example, but you can see it in many industries beyond cigars, too. While you read this, consider how it may fit into your industry as well. You may wonder how in the logic of Murnahan poor marketing decisions can make prices rise, but I will explain.

Online Cigar Stores Are Inefficient

I received a call from an online cigar store owner yesterday after he came to my website while searching for a cigar-related term. It may seem strange, because I am not in the cigar business. I am a marketing guy who just happens to like cigars. It is crazy that I have more people coming to my website searching for cigars than a lot of the companies who actually sell cigars. Then again, I get a lot of car dealers and surgical supply companies here, too.

I liked this guy who called me, and we had a great chat. We talked about his industry challenges, and how it seems that one of the biggest of them is that all the online cigar stores are battling for the best cigar prices. They fight with the cigar makers for the best prices, and then they fight to gain customers with low prices. After all, that is how you sell stuff, right? If you give them free shipping, a free cigar cutter, and lower your prices to the point all the profit is gone, it should be good for business. It seems that as an industry, online cigar stores have this impression that if they slash prices it will make them more appealing and somehow by the grace of cigar smokers it will help more people find them. They will magically find them and buy cheap cigars that leave little or no profit for the cigar store owner. I see this in a lot of different fields, where people make the mistake of giving away all their profit by trying to compete in a price battle rather than using marketing strategy to win the value war.

Oh, but wait! Don’t businesses need profit? This price battle starts to seem like a bad idea once all the profit is gone and competitors keep dropping prices, doesn’t it? After all, unless you actually have the capability to be the biggest cigar company online, you had better start figuring out how to be the best cigar company online first. Wouldn’t it make more sense to try and keep the customer churn rate low and provide better value? Doesn’t social media help to do that by building brand awareness and brand value? Oh yes, it does, but sometimes values like that can elude an entire industry … that is, until somebody steps up and pulls the rug from under them.

Online Cigar Stores Place Price Over Value

Many cigar stores will have a big inventory of cigars that sat on a shelf in a warehouse for a long time, so they offer them at a huge discount. They run a big special on that brand. They are not so concerned with quality as much as they are concerned with moving the product. This happens in many industries, such as consumer electronics, automobiles, real estate, food, clothing, and many more. Moving more product often comes with an urgency. Get it out the door so you can buy more inventory … whatever it takes. So what happens is while the frantic overstocked cigar store is playing this game of catch-up, somebody is selling the new inventory of cigars that actually yield a profit. They often tend to forget that there is also somebody out there who is making a profit. They may even be selling more of the same thing, but selling it for more money because they have proven value, and because more people know and trust their brand.

The reactive seller is an industry follower and not a leader. They are doing business as a reaction instead of a cause. They have not done what it takes to build brand-loyalty, and to develop stable and sustainable marketing numbers. They keep making the mistakes, but they do not learn from them. What they do learn from the mistakes are the wrong lessons, based on the wrong sets of numbers. They watch what everybody else is doing and try to emulate it instead of innovating. They dig their own grave this way, and often call a guy like me once the only question left is “can I afford this?” They end up with such terrible results of chasing their tail that when they actually realize a problem, they are too late to implement a solution. They are not proactive. When they are equipped to make good decisions that will sell more cigars, they do not see a need, and when they see a need, they are no longer equipped.

Online Cigar Stores Know Cigars, Not Marketing

In every business, there is a need for marketing. Better, smarter, faster, more effective marketing is what makes companies successful. Marketing is what puts their products into consumers’ hands. It is what sells cigars, and everything else … even which emergency room people go to when they are hurt or sick. Without a proper market reach, companies fail. The best market reach for companies is online. It is where people are, and you can reach them a whole lot better here than you can with a 30 second television spot; a newspaper advertisement; a Yellow Pages telephone book clip; and whether you like it or not, better than you can reach them with word of mouth alone.

Marketing on the Internet is not based on luck. You do not just put a website out there and hope for the best. Hoping people will find you and buy from your online cigar store is like hoping it will rain Nub cigars. I hope it will rain Nub cigars, too, but I am not going to my bank to deposit them just yet. The fact is that in order to create more business, it requires marketing talent, marketing creativity, and a lot of work.

I should add that the gentleman who telephoned me yesterday found me because of an article I wrote on February 2, 2009 titled “Nub Cigars by Oliva Cigar Company Fall Short” and it discussed the shortcomings of cigar marketing. It has created a lot of traffic to my blog and a few phone calls as a result of cigar related terms such as the list below and this extended list of the top 200 cigar search terms that people used to find my one little blog post. Note that only two of these searches included the words “cheap”, “cost”, or “price”.

It is a sad but funny fact that the biggest concern the caller had is how much it will cost to get the results he wants. At the same time, he did not really even know what results he wanted, or what potential he has. He just knows that he wants to sell more cigars online, and he wants to achieve his unestablished goals cheaper than anybody else. The better questions are in the cost of not doing what it takes to create more business. How many more cigars can you sell if more people know your cigar store exists and have a reason to buy from you instead of the other guys? How much is it worth to have more people coming to you instead of somebody else when they search for things like these:

nub cigars
short cigars
nub cigars for sale
best short cigars
nubs cigars
nub cigars online
oliva nub cigars
buy nub cigars
cigars nub
company produces cigars
difference between nub cigars
marketing cigars
oliva cigars nub
where to buy nub cigars
who makes nub cigars
nub cigars retailer
“short cigars”
#cigars
a website with guys and cigars?
best 4 short cigars”
cheap nub cigars
cigars
cigars “social media consultant”
… more cigar search terms

In the case of my caller, he wanted me to create a plan for him and get back to him with some figures. I know he may not understand this, but without a target, I don’t even load my gun. I need to know what I am aiming at before I just start shooting out proposals. What I sell is not an item on a shelf, but rather the smoke that comes from my brain … not my cigar.

How Does SEO and Social Media Affect Cigar Prices?

There are actually two ways that cigar prices are affected by social media and SEO. First, let us consider what happens when a company is inefficient. They could sell more cigars if they used their marketing dollars more productively. Being productive means doing things that create more sales, generate more profit, and lower their cost with the cigar manufacturer. The second way that cigar prices go up due to social media and SEO is that a cigar store that markets their brand well and generates a loyal customer base can stop fighting price battles and start winning at providing the value that customers are actually asking for. Most of the time when people say they want “cheap cigars”, what they really want is to get their money’s worth … whatever the cost.

I only plan to do business with one online cigar store, and it will not be “cheap”. I don’t offer cheap marketing, because I know the difference of Marketing Cost vs. Marketing Value. As it is, I may have to say “no” to a good number more of them before a light bulb goes on for one of them and they decide to be the next cigar tycoon.

Marketing Cost vs. Marketing Value

If you make your price the first priority in a cost to value comparison, you may want to reconsider. Cost is a fast way to get a lot of public attention, but it can also provide a negative net return. Showing a low cost has a solid place in some markets, but consider evaluating the cost and value propositions you present to your market. If you are building upon only an audience of “glancing prospects”, you may miss your best customers in the process. What I call glancing prospects are the ones who are out for cost, and that is the primary factor in their decision making. They glance in your direction and give little consideration to anything but how much it will cost. You may like these customers if you are content to offer the lowest cost, but they are also often not return customers or loyal to your brand. It is not just because you didn’t provide value, but because value is not what they were seeking. Thus, they never realized your value.

There are different kinds of buyers in any market, and there are still many who consider value over price. Even while shopping for identical products, many people will consider the value of buying it from somebody they trust or find other benefits from. It takes more effort to find value-shoppers than to find price-shoppers, but they are worth every bit of it. They will be back, and they will tell their friends.

I will use my industry as an example, but it is important to consider this in any industry. I sell marketing. In my case, value is all that really matters. Return on investment (ROI) is what makes sense to my clients. What they spend is not what matters but rather what they will receive for their money … which is more money. Profit is what my clients want, and they will do what it takes to get it. At the same time, I also attract a lot of “glancing prospects” and “lookers” without any intention of seeking value. Do you want to guess which one I consider important? That’s right … I want the ones who want the ROI and look closer to understand the value of my services.

Cheap Marketing and Low Value

Business people are cost-conscious, and more now than ever. Ironically, this often leads them to mistakes that sabotage their business efforts. As a reaction to their fears, companies will often drop their prices and subsequently drop their value. Marketing is the easiest cost to cut, but also the fastest way to reduce profit and go out of business. I watch companies all the time that neglect the value of their marketing, and try to use a cost proposition in place of a value proposition. It is a short-term cashflow bandage that becomes their undoing.

You can call me crazy, but I am smart enough to get dressed before going to the grocery store. In fact, I can be pretty downright bright, on a good day. I guess I am not smart enough to see the “wisdom” in some people’s reasoning of comparing cost above value. Some will try to weigh the cost with value, but often use completely flawed metrics for comparison. I see people all the time who do not understand how dangerous bargain hunting can be when it comes to their marketing, or with other purchases.

How Valuable is Marketing?

Marketing is what makes companies money. Marketing is how customers find companies and companies find customers. Marketing, in some manner or another, is the only way a company will earn a profit. Marketing should not have a net cost, but rather a profit gain. Marketing should be viewed as an investment, and not an expense. Seeking the lowest cost for something so value-driven seems like the absolute absence of logic. Looking for value, on the other hand, is brilliant.

Do People Really Seek Cheap Marketing?

Yes, a lot of people ask questions about the cost of marketing and rates for marketing-related services. At least that is what my website visitor logs show me. Perhaps you see the same in your industry. I am including a list of cost-related things people searched for and found my blog. Some of them are pretty amusing. People even found my blog searching to find how much it costs to join Facebook.

One of the first things a person in my field often hears is “how much will it cost?” I weed these out fast, because when cost is the question and value is secondary, usually the person asking fits into one of two categories as follows:

They do not have enough money to afford quality marketing. If they do not have the money to do things right, they will never be pleased … ever. It is the same kind of client who tries to tell the consultant what to do rather than accept the consultation they pay to receive.
They ask about cost because it is the question they know best. They assume that a lower investment comes with a lower risk, but this is really not the case. This assumption places the value equation completely backward. Without value, the cost of marketing does not matter. It is not worth it at any cost, and can often have disastrous results.

Similarly, in your line of work, you will likely find that if your prospective customers recognize the value of what you offer, they will often find a way to deal with the cost.

Marketing Value and Cost Consideration: Do You Buy Price Tags?

I have never bought a price tag, but I have purchased a lot of things with price tags on them. Sure, some people buy price tags … literal price tags. What I mean is whether you look at an item and decide that you want it and then look at the price tag, or do you look at the price tag to decide whether you want it. Think about your customers and how they may address this same question. Value-seeking customers will decide whether they want or need something, acknowledge that they want or need it, and then look at the price tag. Cost-seeking customers will look at the price tag and if the price is “right” decide whether it was something they were even interested in buying. They love to look, but they hate to part with money more than they enjoy what they receive in return. NOTE: For this customer, the “right” price is highly subjective to poor interpretation.

Cost, Rates, and Value: Lookers Are Everywhere!

Glancing prospects are very easy to lure. I can drag them in by the truckload. Just have a look at these recent searches people performed to land here at my blog, and then consider how many of these I will likely do business with. Don’t get me wrong, because I like when people ask about cost. It is a buying sign and tells me they are in the market. The fact remains that when somebody asks me about cost before understanding value, I normally tell them kindly that they are simply not ready for what I offer. What I offer is profit!

There are enough people asking about cost, but it is funny to find that a comparatively few people ask questions of value. Those are the people I want, and I hope you can see the value in this, too!

Note that my list of “What Cheap People Search For” is based on actual terms people typed into a search engine and clicked on my blog. I couldn’t make this up if I tried. You may not be as amused as I am, but somebody actually wanted to know “how much does a sheep cost” … really, a sheep. Darn, I don’t sell sheep. You can bet that if I did sell sheep, they wouldn’t be cheap sheep.