What I am talking about is how to look stupid in a way that most of us can only dream of. I’m talking about spamming a group of influential WordPress community members for no good reason and expecting something good to come of it. Yes, I’m serious. No, I’m not making this up. Let me give you some context…

A while back, my good friend Carrie Dils wrote a post about an unfortunate situation with her local WordPress meetup group. She was trying to get more involved and managed to get one of the organizers to invite her to speak. Awesome, right?!

Apparently not. The main organizer of the group didn’t seem to like the idea of Carrie speaking, so she uninvited her. On the one hand, she’s the organizer and it’s her prerogative to do that. On the other, the WordPress community has always been focused on sharing, teaching, and helping people. I guess she didn’t get the memo.

The whole situation seemed insane to me, so I left a comment on the post and had a conversation with Carrie about it on Skype. After hearing more about it, I was really glad that our Tampa Bay WordPress Meetup has an outstanding organizer named Alison Foxall. Unlike the organizer of the Dallas Fort Worth group, she goes out of her way to be inclusive and make sure everyones voices are heard. Alison is a badass and she’s also an amazing WordPress designer. We’re lucky to have her.

After talking to Carrie, I figured everything that needed to be said had been said and that was pretty much the end of it. Boy was I was wrong. Earlier tonight, I, and everyone else who left a comment on Carrie’s post, received one of the strangest emails I’ve ever read. Here it is, in its entirety:

How to Look Stupid via E-Mail Spam

Hi! You commented on Carrie Dils post at http://www.carriedils.com/wordpress-community-is-not-your-competition.

I am the person being slandered in the post; thought you might like to hear my ‘side’. I sincerely doubt that Carrie will ever publish this comment I made to her post. And, although we are in the same city – Carrie has never contacted me directly.

I have been a tireless worker for WordPress and WP community since 2008. The DFW WordPress Midcities Group that I organize is the *only* WP Meetup in this area sponsored by the WordPress Foundation.

“Hi Carrie! Just found your well-written rant about me. Congrats on good use of the ancient stratagem of presenting yourself as a ‘victim’ in order to garner PR.

Fact: You were never un-invited you to speak.
Fact: Because – You were never invited to speak.

Rudy vastly over-stepped his bounds by inviting you (or anyone else) to speak; he had no authority to invite anyone to do anything. I asked Rudy to act as moderator or speaker for the Meetup and he accepted. He had no authority to invite 3rd parties; and did not ask for permission to do so.

You want to talk Truth? Contact me. But my guess is: Your victim position is working well for you; and uncovering the truth of the matter is not on your radar. And, you seem to be having so much fun gossiping about me Kind of hate to interrupt that….

Dorian”

Wait… What?! I was blown away when I read it. Aside from the fact that this happened more than six months ago, who does things like this? On what planet is sending an email to everyone who commented on a blog post and ranting like a crazy person a good idea? Would you hire someone who does things like that? I wouldn’t…

When I read Dorian’s email, I didn’t think “Hey, I’m glad she reached out and told me her side of the story”. I thought “Wow, what a complete jackass. Who is this lunatic?” If you ever find yourself in a situation similar to Dorian, do yourself a favor and don’t flip out. You won’t clear your name, you’ll only make yourself look stupid. Really stupid.

So, How Do You Avoid Looking Stupid?

I considered putting an educational spin on this post and using it as a tool for people who want to avoid looking stupid when faced with negativity online, but I’m just so flabbergasted that I don’t even know what to suggest as an alternative. Maybe someone else will have some ideas. Let me know in the comments if you would have handled the situation differently. Maybe together we can help people avoid making themselves look stupid, although I’m pretty sure it’s too late for Dorian Karthauser.

An Important Side Note:

The Dorian in question is NOT Dorian Speed. Normally this wouldn’t be worth pointing out, but Dorian is a pretty uncommon name and I wouldn’t want anyone to confuse the two. Dorian Speed is also based out of Texas and she’s nothing like the leader of the DFW Group. Just figured I’d make that crystal clear.

The post How to Look Stupid on the Internet appeared first on FAT Media.

Relationships with clients from Hell start out like any other type of relationship. You’re both excited to be together and everyone is full of happy feelings. It usually goes smooth for a week or two, but before too long you start to feel like you have a lunatic ex-girlfriend who stalks you. You start wondering what in the cosmos has caused you to deserve this. Sometimes it even makes you think “Hey, I do deserve this! I will take it and I will like it!!”

Newsflash: You Don’t Deserve It and You Don’t Have To Put Up With It

In the past, when potential clients contacted us we went through the usual song and dance that you’re probably familiar with. What’s the project, what’s your budget, and what are your goals? From there we would set the scope and get the paperwork taken care of. Once that was handled, everyone shook hands and we got down to business. This is how we’ve been doing business for years and most of the time everything works out great. Unfortunately, sometimes… things don’t work out so great.

If you haven’t experienced the fallout of a bad client relationship, consider yourself lucky. It’s not fun and it can seriously damage your reputation. In order to avoid these hellish client relationships, we’ve come up with a a system to make sure everyone will work well together. If someone doesn’t pass our test, regardless of their budget, it’s a deal-breaker. This system has worked pretty well for us thus far, so I’d like to share it with you and see what you think. Here’s how we do things:

Five Steps to Avoid Clients from Hell

Step One:  Stalk Them on Twitter

I like to start with Twitter by doing a quick review of their feed history. You should keep an open mind while doing this because we all have bad days. However, if every other tweet is about how stupid someone is, or how their bank is plotting to kill them, you need to proceed with caution. Extreme caution.

Have they gone through six developers in four months, but its not their fault? Is their feed peppered with a lot of sexist, racist, or outright insane comments? Is there an obvious pattern of complaining and passing the buck? These are huge red flags and if you’re getting a bad feeling at this point, you should probably run. Fast. On the other hand, if everything seems alright on Twitter, you can safely proceed to…

Step Two: Check the References They Gave You

What? They refused to provide references or claim they don’t have anyone’s number? If faced with this I would not work with them. There is a good reason they do not want you contacting their old developer or designer. It may have been they clashed over something silly, or they refused to pay and are hiding from them. So be weary of this as its not a good sign. Honesty is the best policy. Just ask Mom, she knows.

Step Three: Voice Chat on Skype or Over the Phone

If the first time you talk to them on the phone, you get a horrible feeling in your stomach, run as fast as you can. You know in your heart this isn’t going to end well. Just because you have had a conversation doesn’t mean you have to work with them. You always need to trust your instincts and taking to someone over the phone will give you a much better read of their personality than you can ever get via email or text chat.

Step Four: Use the Google

I’m sure you know how to use Google by now. If not, let me help you out. Do a simple background search on your potential client. Pop their name, business name, and anything else you can think of in that lovely search bar and see what turns up. Sometimes we even use background checking services such as Spokeo and BeenVerified. It might sound a little crazy, but you’d be really surprised what a quick background check can turn up about people. One client we avoided this way had a pretty interesting arrest record, but you would have never guessed it without a background check.

Step Five:  Have Coffee (In a Public Place) if You Can

If they’ve passed all your other tests and you’re almost positive you’re going to work together, a face-to-face meeting can help seal the deal. Coffee is a delicious treat for most of us and a great excuse to have a quick face-to-face meeting. Set up a meeting in a safe place, order a coffee (or tea, if you’re so inclined), and see how they treat the people around them.

Are they rude to a poor barista because they didn’t put the right amount of foam on top? Do they flip their wig over a noisy toddler at the next table? Do they just not mesh well with your personality or your business goals? If they scream over too much milk foam on a $4 cup of coffee, how do you think they’ll react when a $4,000 design isn’t using the right shade of chartreuse? Now is your last chance to get out, so be sure everything is in order before you sign on the dotted line.

Remember, It’s Your Call – Not Theirs

I enjoy my job because everyone we work with prides themselves on being good people who do things with integrity. Sadly, doing things the right way can be extremely difficult sometimes. During the past year, I have been pushed to the limits of acceptable human behavior by some of the people we have worked with. Before implementing this system, we had a number of clients who were under the impression that hiring us meant they owned us. I don’t know about where you work, but that nonsense doesn’t fly around here .

“Pre-Stalking” Can Be a Positive Thing Too!

An upside of some light internet stalking is that you may discover that your potential client is super awesome! If that’s the case, you’ll feel blessed to have the chance to work with such an amazing person or company. Plus, you might even have some good ideas for gifts to get them after the project, seeing as you know them so well now.

No matter what the outcome, or how you screen clients, you must protect yourself by doing research. You are essentially letting these people in your life, even if is just through a computer screen. You wouldn’t let a stranger in your home without some background info, so why would you do it online? Our friend Chris Lema puts it very well when he says Business is Personal.  Everyone you work with should be your friend. If you don’t like them, don’t work with them, period!

So, those are our tips for avoiding clients from Hell! I hope they’re useful to you. If you have anything to add or want to share your own experiences, please do so in the comments bellow or send me a Tweet!

The post How to Avoid Clients From Hell appeared first on FAT Media.

So, if you’ve had a look around our site at all, you’re probably wondering why we aren’t using an under construction page ourselves. Everything is half empty, there are unfinished pages in our services section, and the design isn’t even completely worked out in some areas. Frankly, it’s embarrassing. And that’s exactly why we made it live.

You see, there’s a trap that tons of developers and agencies fall into. With all the client meetings, deadlines, and a workload that never seems to get any smaller, it’s extremely easy to let your own company’s website fall by the wayside. This is when an under construction page becomes more of a problem than a tool.

Think about it. How many times have you worked with a WordPress development shop or an internet marketing agency who only had a coming soon page or a basic splash page for a website? How many times have you heard lines like this: “Well, we’re so busy with client work that our site isn’t quite there yet…”? If your experiences are anything like ours, I’m willing to bet that number is pretty high.

This is not acceptable.

Believe me, I understand about how easy it is to let your company fall to the bottom of the pile. We’re still guilty of it to this day. However, just because it’s understandable doesn’t mean you should accept it. If you run a business on the web and your site is an under construction page or a splash page I dare you to go take it down. What’s the matter? Scared? Don’t be! Check out these…

Five Reasons Why You should Take Down Your Under Construction Page Immediately

1. Motivation – This one is pretty obvious. If you’ve been coasting along for months or even years with an under construction page, you need a swift kick in the ass to get you to change it. Your under construction page is a security blanket and you need to drop it immediately. It will be uncomfortable and difficult, but that’s the goal!

2. You Can Start Blogging – One of the biggest reasons developers and agencies should avoid coming soon pages is because using them means you can’t start blogging until you’re 100% finished with your website. Think of all the traffic you’re missing out on! In the time it will take you to completely finish your website, you could have written 10, 20, maybe even 30 awesome blog posts. Have you made your site live yet?

3. Your Google Rankings Will Improve – Everyone knows that content is king. If your entire web presence is a single under construction page and some social media profiles, there’s not much hope for you on Google. Sure, you’ll probably rank for your business name… but that’s about it. Plus, with no blog posts, services pages, or any other content to speak of, how are you going to get any links after the initial launch? Nobody is going to link to your six-month-old splash page, no matter how cool it is.

4. You’ll Attract Better Clients – On top of the additional links and Google rankings you’ll obtain after making your site live, you’ll also start attracting a better class of clientele. A high value customer needs to be able to trust that your company isn’t going to fall off the face of the planet tomorrow. That’s pretty difficult for them to do when you can’t even finish your own website! Having a complete web presence adds credibility and sustainability to your brand. If you want to work with better clients, you need to wow them and trust me, a splash page isn’t going to cut it.

5. You Can Be Proud of Your Company – In my mind, this is the most important reason to dump your coming soon page. Before I started FAT Media, I was a freelance designer and developer. I had plenty of clients but I never had a website and I was always pretty ashamed of it. I avoided giving out business cards and networking with people because I was so ashamed. While this might be a little extreme, I believe that anyone who does business online feels at least some sense of shame if they haven’t devoted the necessary time to their own website. You need to be proud of what you’re doing if you ever want to be truly successful, so go rip off that band-aid and get your damn site up!

Well, I think I’ve stated a pretty good case for taking down your under construction page. Maybe you agree, maybe not. Let us know in the comments or start a conversation with us on twitter. I hope this helps other companies take the plunge and start improving their identity on the web. Stop leaning on that crutch and start improving your web presence. You won’t be sorry!

Sidenote: If your project is in the very early stages and you need an easy way to create an Under Construction Page with WordPress, check out SeedProd. There’s really no easier way to launch your site.

The post Under Construction Page – An Awesome Tool or a Needless Crutch? appeared first on FAT Media.

If you’re interesting in joining us, check out the WordCamp Orlando website.

WordCamp Orlando will be held at the Rosen School of Hospitality
9907 Universal Boulevard Orlando, FL 32819.

WordCamp Orlando 2012 will be on 1 December 2012.

The post We’re Going to WordCamp Orlando 2012! appeared first on FAT Media.