A HIPPO Internet Marketing Training blog by Corey Creed

The Jungle Map, your guide through internet marketing

Internet Marketing tips from My Hurting Rib

October 10th, 2007
1 Comment »

When I woke up this morning, my rib was still hurting. 

Why?  Almost two weeks ago, I was playing sand volleyball and I must have hurt myself after making a huge dive after the ball.  (I missed the ball, so maybe it was more of a fall than a dive.)

At any rate, it’s been hurting for almost two weeks.  That’s the point.  As my wife and coworkers will tell you, I have a very low tolerance for pain.  So I did what many of you would do.  I woke up and went straight to the Internet to find out how long this should last.

Here’s the point…

To learn more about how you should market your website, look for lessons in how YOU use the Internet YOURSELF.  Let’s start with what I did this morning.  Then we’ll analyze it a little.

After being awake for barely 5 minutes, I went to the laptop.  I went straight to WebMD.com and searched on “broken rib”.  They gave a nice explanation of how to diagnose a broken or bruised rib.  They then explained that there is nothing you can do about it.  You just have to wait six weeks for the pain to stop.  (SIX WEEKS!!)

I wanted to know more but WebMD did not say how to tell the difference between a bruised or broken rib.  They also offered no ideas for lessening the pain.  So I typed “bruised rib” into a search engine.  That led me to an interesting forum posting about a woman who was not sure if she had a bruised or broken rib and some doctor’s comments.

The end of that posting mentioned using some medicines instead of just ibuprofin.  They gave the names of two – Lodine and Relafen.  But there was no additional information about them.  So back to the search engine. 

I researched the two pain-killers briefly and thought about ordering online but the sites I saw did not make it easy, so I went to take my shower.

NOTE:  I’m sure all of us do something like this from time to time.  I don’t think what I did was very unique.

LESSONS:

  1. Initially I went to WebMD, not a search engine.  Is your site a brand?  Will people go to you before the search engine?
  2. Although I like WebMD, I left in a heartbeat.  Does your site give all the information your visitors want?  Do you keep them clicking on your site or leaving to go to a search engine?
  3. The forum was helpful.  Do you have anything interactive on your site?  Do you have user generated content?
  4. I want to buy pain relievers.  If you mention products that will help your audience, do you offer to sell them or at least provide affiliate links that they can buy from?
  5. The entire time spent on the internet was less than five minutes.  Does your website give exactly what people want quickly?

Interesting stuff.  I hope it gives you some food for thought.