Eyeballs are overrated

July 10, 2008 2:40 PM

In March of 2005, I set up my MySpace page.

Within a week, my website traffic TRIPLED.

Holy eyeballs, Batman!

I was pretty excited. Told everybody about it. Even bragged a bit to my colleagues, jokingly nudging them, “So, when are you gonna set up YOUR MySpace page?”

Yep. I thought I was pretty savvy.

Until, over the next few months, I noticed something.

See, notwithstanding my recent increase in traffic, I wasn’t making any additional sales.

Wasn’t receiving a significant increase in leads from potential clients.

Wasn’t seeing ANY tangible conversations from the dramatic increase in traffic.

Hmm.

And then something occurred to me:

The majority of the 300 million people on MySpace were under the age of 21.

Which meant they were NOT my target customers.
Which meant they were NOT interesting in buying anything.
Which meant they were NOT interesting in hiring me for anything.

Crap.

At which point, I learned something powerful:

Eyeballs are overrated.

See, it’s not about HOW MANY eyeballs you capture; it’s WHOSE eyeballs you capture, ask Seth Godin taught me.

Because all the traffic in the world doesn’t do you any good (except for maybe a temporary ego boost) … unless it actually converts into something worthwhile.

Maybe that means sales.
Maybe that means sales leads.
Maybe that means phone calls from the media.
Maybe that means email addresses to add to your permission asset.

Whatever your e-currency is, just make sure you remember what really matters.

It’s WHOSE, not how many.

Because eyeballs are overrated.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What else do you think is overrated?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “101 Ways to Create a Powerful Web Presence,” send an email to me, and I’ll send you the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
[email protected]

New website go live this week?