That question really sums up your entire business nicely. I read a good post called Differentiate or Die that touched on this issue, and it has set me to thinking.

To put it another way, if a customer said “John, I’m considering buying this product from you and from yourcompetitor.com. Why should I buy it from you?” What would answer the customer? Do you have compelling reason? If not, you need one (or more) – NOW!

Here are some benefits you can offer your website visitors to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This is by no means an exhaustive list – if you can come up with unique benefit you can offer your customers, you are on your way to success.

The bottom line is that if you want to get customers, you MUST offer them something that your competitor(s) don’t or can’t. In some cases, you may be selling the exact same product, so it’s even harder to differentiate yourself. But it’s still very important!

What ways do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

I’ve been tagged by Christine, so I decided that I would play the game. At least it will tell you readers a few things about me (I can’t guarantee that they will be things you wanted to know, though). I’ll be back tomorrow with a “real” post.

THE RULES:
1. Post these rules before you give your facts.
2. List 8 random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names (linking to them).
4. Leave them a comment on their blog letting them know they’ve been tagged!

So here we go… eight random facts about me:

1. I started my first business when I was 14.
2. My family did not have or use a computer until I was 15.
3. I can un-focus my eyes and rapidly wobble them.
4. I’m not squeamish about what I eat: I’ve eaten everything from octopus to racoon, and everything from fried tofu to vegetarian hamburgers made with oatmeal.
5. I almost joined the US Coast Guard Reserve, but am currently in the USCG Auxiliary.
6. I’m a musician – I play piano, hand drums, celtic whistle, and sing.
7. I hope to move to Chilliwack, British Columbia next year.
8. I have gone swimming in a pool filled with 38 degree (F) water.

OK, I’m going to tag:
TheLinkNinja
The Change Engine
Paul
Olaf
Mark Wilson

“Did you see my News Paper Ad?”
It’s now a question you can ask your clientele. Google has officially rolled out its news paper advertising interface. You will find it under the “Print Ad’s” Tab in your Google AdWords account. I have not yet personally run any Google Print Ad’s as of yet. Or for my clientele. I did go through the process to get some ad estimates for my local newspaper that has 179K circulation monday thru sat and 200K+ on sundays. The per day issue price desired from Raleigh News and Disturber…oops…I mean News and Observer is about $800 for week days and about $1,000 for sunday. The cool thing about the google interface is it allows you to place your bid for the ad spot at a percentage of the premium request cost desired from the publisher. So you can say “Im willing to pay 75% of the price the publisher is asking.” and you might just get that, if they don’t have others lined up and ready or if the other bidders are not as high as you. It’s a great set up. Very user friendly as always with Google standards. They even have a section to hook you up with ad designers to help you create the ad you want to run. You can also select the size from really small to full page. I recommend you get in there and price out your local Publisher or the publisher in your target market. Maybe even try to run one for 10% of asking price and see if you get it….You never know, Especially with it being so new. From first impression still looks like the print ads are for marketers with deep pockets.

OH YEAH! Google radio advertising is finally here. And sooo affordable. I am currently running ads for Raleigh and Charlotte NC for around $3.00 per thousand impressions (estimated). I have had Curtis media, a local radio station call on me before. With minimum commitments of $1,500.00 per week for multiple week commitments. With Google radio ads you can edit your bid’s. Get up to date estimated impressions information. How many air plays you have gotten. Pause and resume with one click. You can target time of day, Age, other demographics, music genre. I am very impressed with Google Audio ad’s. And for the price it is definitely something I will tell my clients about! My first ad got rejected for being misleading and trademark infrengement. I got it cleared up and resubmitted. My man Chris Hooked me up over @ www.provoiceusa.com with a great voice over and music. Chris is very fast, great communication, and does a great job. The google ad creation marketplace hooked me up with him. Also I will be credited back for the audio ads I do up until the end of July. Needless to say im pretty excited about it. For me and my clients!

I’m going to depart a bit from the normal topic of posts to briefly review a book I read recently. While at first glance this book is not directly related to internet entrepreneurism, I think it is related.

The book I’m referring to is Beyond The Summerland, the first book in the Binding Of The Blade series, by L.B. Graham. The books take place on the continent of Kirthanin, in a parallel universe. Most of the characters are in the book are 18-25 years old, and they are all on a mission, so the characters are easy for us young entrepreneurs to associate with.

I strongly believe that good fantasy stories should be designed to teach lessons about all areas of real life. Beyond The Summerland does exactly that. The characters are very realistic, and the book is packed with tidbits to be learned, on topics like:

• Following your calling
• Using your gifts
• Obeying the rules
• Playing fair
• Courage
• Honesty
• Love / Romance (duh, it’s about a bunch of single young people! )
• Friendship
• Betrayal
• Team building
• Leadership
• etc.

The entire series of books is written from a strongly Christian worldview, but it is written in a parallel universe, so the religion is not actually Christianity.

Beyond The Summerland seems to me to be written to appeal specially to young people, and as such young people especially can learn much from the characters. The characters in the book are vibrant, especially the hero and heroine. As I said on my personal blog, “Joraiem [the hero] I could happily emulate or have as a close friend. Wylla [the heroine] I could happily marry.”

It takes a few chapters to really get into the book,but then it gets rolling and keeps going, right up to the shocking surprise ending.

I borrowed the book from a friend, but you might be able to get the book from your local library. Enjoy your visit to the amazing land of Kirthanin, and we’ll soon be back to the world of internet business!

~Adam