Am I in a time warp? Is it 1997?
Sitting at a coffee shop and at the table next to me are two guys talking about a web project. Vendor is attempting to sell client on buying listings on his local web directory. I have never heard of the local web directory he's talking about, which tells me it's not worth anything.
There is discussion about 'premium listings', i.e. making the business name bold, for an extra fee the listing can have a link. The vendor is quoting traffic figures that I know he's pulling out of his ass.
I am so tempted to lean over and tell the client to run, run as fast as he can.
Update: Wait, now he's talking about search engine optimization. Shoot me now!
Update 2: If the client refers other business to the directory he'll get a percentage of revenue!
Update 3: It just gets better! The directory site is not a database, just flat HTML pages so there is no searching or faceted classification. Vendor uses FrontPage to manage the site, but they did recently buy some, "Adobe software, so we can make it look more fancy."
Visitor Comments
Dootlie, dootlie, dootlie (spelling?)--I'm thinking of the Wayne's World time-warp thing
I don't know. I'm not really a techie (I rely on you and a few other friends for that), but if the client is really that stupid, let him be. However, if the client keeps asking questions, make your move and tell the salesman he's an idiot.
Posted by: Jennifer Wakefield | September 22, 2005 10:58 AM
And, soon another fool and his money are parted. It's what makes our economy what it is today.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | September 22, 2005 11:29 AM
I got an email yesterday asking for recip link exchange. The requested anchor text was the URL itself rather than any useful keywords. Talk about old skool.
Posted by: Fritz | September 23, 2005 1:16 PM