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The Difference Between Milk And Dishwater – 30/06/2016

It doesn‘t matter what we are buying or selling. Advertising, web design, dog walking, prints…..there will always be someone out there who will do it cheaper than you. Whilst this can be annoying, the first thing to understand is that that is ok. There is always enough business for all of you so get that worry out of your head. Then realise that you will not always be everyone‘s cup of tea, that too is ok.

You yourself will have your favourite shops….perhaps you prefer Sainsburys to Asda……someone out there prefers Asda to Sainsburys to counteract you. The next thing to understand and this is always the hardest, most people don‘t actually understand what you do.

Take SEO for example as that one is a biggie that lands itself with this lack of understanding. People who decide they want SEO on their website don‘t actually properly understand what it is at first, they just know that they should have it.

I get flooded with 30-50 emails a day offering me top page of Google, SEO and website checks. Do I read them? No……but others might. This then goes 1 of 2 ways…….they either take the time to delve in and understand what good SEO is or they simply ‘buy it‘. See the relation to above? To those people, it‘s simple maths…..

Mr x offers me SEO for ranking at £50 per month.

Mr y offers me SEO for ranking at £350 per month.

Some will question why Mr x is so cheap, why is Mr y so expensive? Others will look at their budget and snap Mr Xs hand off. Mr y therefore loses out on price alone.

But, why was there such a big difference in price? Is Mr x doing you a great deal, is Mr y simply trying to line his pockets for a Caribbean cruise later in the year? You don‘t know unless you scope both out.

I‘m not a believer that more money gets you top quality every time, I am however a firm believer though that every monetary decision needs to be scoped out. Is something cheap because its second hand, a knock off, ex stock, a sideline income, portfolio increasing and most importantly is it legal and safe? On the other side, is it cheaper because they genuinely want to help you, are starting out their business, their goals aren‘t monetary based?

Don‘t assume cheap means bad.

On the other hand, why is Mr y so much more? For that extra money, do I really get anything more? What justifies being x amount times dearer? Is it because they are going to provide me with a better service, are there rules for SEO I should be following and therefore it takes more time? What‘s the method, how long does it take? What are they spending my money on?

Don‘t assume expensive means good.

I likened it the other day to buying milk. One shop is selling a pint of milk for 40p. The other down the road sells it for £1.20. It‘s milk right? All milk is the same…….you just want it for a cuppa and therefore it makes sense to save yourself some pennies, heck you could get some biscuits too! What if you get home, make that cuppa, open those biscuits, sit in the sunshine and take a sip……….ugh, it tastes disgusting. This isn‘t milk, it tastes like dishwater! You‘re left disappointed, 40p down, no tea and now you‘ve got to walk back to the other shop and spend £1.20 on a new pint. What a hassle, what a waste of time, what a waste of money!

It‘s the same in business…….are you buying milk or dishwater? The only way you‘ll know is to scope out why there is a difference in price before you buy it from anywhere. What‘s actually behind the label of that service/product?