When I was in Beijing a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting one of the markets that sells a wide range of goods at “too good to be true” prices.

Here’s the script of what generally happens.

I walk past a stall selling questionably-authentic designer handbags.

Seller: [LOUD] Hello Sir, want to buy a designer handbag?

Me: No thank-you.

Seller: [LOUDER] We have all the designer makes, great prices.

Me: No thank-you. I don’t want to buy any handbags.

Most sellers at this point give up and forget you exist. You’re not interested, so why waste time?

Persistent seller: [SHOUT] But come and look. Expensive brands, low prices, I give you the best deal. How much you want to pay?

Me: Stop following me. I don’t want a handbag. Do I look like I buy handbags? Look at what I’m wearing. I will never buy a handbag.

Persistent seller: [SHOUT LOUD] Okay how much you want? Tell me price and I give you best deal in China. [PUSHES CALCULATOR IN MY HAND]

Me: Go away. I don’t want any handbag at all.

[FAST FORWARD 5 MINUTES]

Me: …. I don’t want ANY bloody handbag…. why are you still following me? Please go away.

When the visitor to your website walks away without purchasing, downloading the trial or contacting you, they have most likely decided that they don’t want what you sell.

When you sell a solution to a problem, that decision is usually final.

Continuing to push the product they are no longer interested in is pointless.

It may work for choosing a vacation or ordering office supplies, but it won’t work with a solution to a problem.

So what does this have to do with Google?

Google explain their remarketing functionality as follows:

“Remarketing allows you to show ads to users who’ve previously visited your website as they browse the Web… Remarketing allows you to communicate with people who’ve previously visited key pages on your website, giving you a powerful new way to match the right people with the right message.”

The idea is that I go looking for software to monitor my websites. I come across your website, look at what you offer, then continue searching elsewhere. Remarketing allows you to reach those people again.

In theory it’s an interesting idea, but I don’t believe that it’s a good fit for software developers.

All software solves problems.

So in the above example my problem is that I don’t know when my website slows down to a crawl or crashes, until someone complains.

I go looking for a software solution, I find your product, then decide that it’s not what I’m looking for. So I move on.

Don’t emulate the crazy woman who followed me trying to sell me something I wasn’t remotely interested in.

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Every few months someone sends me their business plan and asks how we might work together. Most of them are interesting.

Yet every now and then the plan contains something along the following lines:

Vision and optimism are essential when launching a business, but so is realism.

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I’m back, I’m tired, and I’m swamped with email. Business will resume shortly.

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Last year I was invited to speak at a Digital River conference in Shanghai. Not surprisingly, I had no idea that I was going to get trapped by an Icelandic ash cloud.

Tomorrow I leave for another DR event in China, this time in Beijing.

I have no idea what the banner says, but sincerely hope it has nothing to do with volcanoes.

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Get it out there.

The great software success stories all began their public lives as buggy and quirky. But they were first.

If you’re developing something truly exciting, you need to have released it yesterday.

Being first doesn’t mean that you’ll forever dominate your market. But when the clones and blatant copies appear, you’ll have a better chance than they do. Initially. And assuming you can maintain your pace.

Perfectionism has no place in selling software.

Actually I take that back. Striving for perfection is honourable. But to be a viable business goal it needs to be tempered by realism.

It’s all about today. Make the biggest splash you can.

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I’m perpetually baffled by Facebook.

I use it and I like it, but I don’t see how they’re ever going to make enough money from their advertising to break-even, let alone make a profit.

To me it’s simple. I go to Google because I want to find something. The search results and ads that I see in Google are (mostly) relevant to what I’m looking for.

When I go to Facebook, however, it’s because I want to see what my friends are up to and engage with them. I’m not looking for a solution and I’m not looking to buy anything.

In the world of online marketing, there’s an unhealthy obsession with social media.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the next ‘new big thing in social media’ may potentially be marginally useful to your business. The important words have been highlighted for your convenience.

Take a look around. Everyone’s talking about how important Social Media is for online businesses, but show me an actual example of this in practice.

I’m not talking about the big brands. I’m not interested in how Dell, Coca Cola or McDonalds use it. I’m talking about small to medium sized businesses. People like you.

In April 2009 I offered a $100 Amazon voucher to anyone who could tell me how to use Twitter for my business.

By August 2009 I’d raised the offer to a $250 Amazon voucher.

The prize still remains unclaimed.

I hope that you’re intending to make 2011 a great year for your business. I hope you’re starting work on new ideas, new goals and new projects, instead of merely picking up where you left off.

Make 2011 a great year for your business. But don’t waste time trying to milk a dead horse.

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Broadly speaking, there are two types of people in the world. Reasonable and angry.

Reasonable people show sound judgement, make rational decisions and usually make logical decisions even when unhappy. They make good friends.

Angry people, on the other hand, lash out at the world, are prone to rash decisions and can make really bad enemies.

Here’s the key point. Reasonable people can be turned angry a lot easier than the other way round.

I recently discovered that my new PC had frozen for no apparent reason. After a little snooping, it appears that Norton Internet Security 2011 was the cuplrit.

Evidence #1:

At this point I was still reasonable. Software issues happen.

Evidence #2:

So far so good, until…

The support website was where it started to go wrong. I won’t bore you with the details, but I was soon calling a local (UK) phone number for further support.

After my call was connected to a place a very long way from the UK, I spoke with someone from whichever company Symantec outsource their support to. He sounded like he knew what he was doing, so I (grudgingly) gave him control of my PC.

The nutshell version: he was clueless. He floundered around my system with no real idea what he was doing, and at one point had to be stopped from making changes to my Windows Registry. Not a setting for Symantec software, but a general Windows security setting.

I find it genuinely terrifying to think what damage he might have caused. This is a person who repeatedly demonstrated the most appalling lack of knowledge about basic Windows procedures.

When I asked to be transferred to a supervisor, I received someone equally inept. Someone who quite literally believed that clicking Cancel was the same as clicking Okay.

Here’s where I’m going with this.

One of the overheads of selling software is providing a reasonable level of support.

People only use support when they need it, and more often than not they will be unhappy and tense when they do.

If the support you provide your customers is shoddy, they will turn from reasonable to angry, and you will lose them for life.

The moment I read a trusted review that leads me to believe there’s a better product than Norton Internet Security, I’ll buy it. And I’ll never, ever purchase from Symantec again.

See how reasonable people can turn angry?

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A search for speed up my PC on Google (predictably) produces a lot of ads featuring surprisingly happy women. In fact five out of the first ten ads I clicked:

Clearly this segment of the industry believe that deliriously happy (usually blonde) women sell software, but why?

Could it be that they’re trying to sell to women? Unlikely. A Squidoo lens on Sellling and Marketing to Women estimates that around 75% of all buying decisions today are made by women, but I find it difficult to believe that women are the main user group for this type of software.

So why use pictures of women in ads aimed at men?

Is the idea that the man’s partner is delighted that her laptop (it’s always a laptop) is finally optimised for performance? That her hard drive is defragmented, her boot time is 15% faster, and that her cookie and temp files are finally cleared? Unlikely.

So what is being communicated here.

Woman + optimised laptop = ?

I know there are still an incredible number of shows and exhibitions that use young, attractive women to help sell their goods, but isn’t the software industry a little more progressive?

Surely such an imaginative and creative industry are better than Mad Men?

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After a recent (horrible) virus experience, I’ve taken all reasonable steps to protect my system. I use Google Chrome, and use the excellent NotScripts to protect my web browsing.

One of the useful features of NotScripts is that when I get to a website, I have to allow scripts to run, and if I’m not sure about a domain, I merely click a question mark to see how Google rate it on their safe browsing diagnostic page.

It’s useful information, but badly presented:

Not suspicious: no malicious software, and no suspicious content found on the site within the last 90 days.

So why does it then tell me that malicious software includes  2 scripting exploits and 2 exploits?

Is it safe to authorise or not?

When my Norton Internet Security runs a scan, the results have a clear and obvious graphic above them:

I instantly know that everything is fine. In fact I don’t even have to read the details unless I want to.

If your website, software or emails don’t communicate efficiently, then you’re annoying your visitors, potential users and customers.

Make it crystal clear and you can’t go wrong.

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