A Comedy of Errors: The Web’s Worst Mistakes Ever

In a thinly veiled attempt to appear mildly intellectual and interesting, here are two excellent quotes to get us started. The first is courtesy of Mr James Joyce, who says;

And the second (paraphrased) is attributed to a soul long since lost to history. He or she, whoever they were, said;

Put these two together and you have the perfect recipe for internet marketing success; learning from the career swallowing clangers of those who have gone before. Like Joyce hints at, mistakes are like portals to the future, because if you ignore them you can predict the future and guarantee that they’ll happen again.

In essence, the internet is a multi-national catalogue of errors, and we’d be doing history’s legion of red faced internet marketers a distinct disservice, were we to ignore the lessons within.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the worst mistakes in the industry, from a couple of its biggest players – all in the name of the wholesome ideas of ‘learning’ and ‘education’ (and simply for a bit of fun). Don’t forget, the past can give us some crucial tips to safeguard our own internet marketing future, if we only know where to look.

1. Google Gaffs

Now I have to be carefully here, because I don’t agree with senseless Google hating. But it has to be said, Google’s rise to success is a collage of beautiful mistakes. For example, back in August 2007 Google pronounced it’s very own custom search blog as spam, and promptly deleted it. This resulted in a web user commandeering the blog and posting articles himself, with no control from the search engine giant.

Sound bad? You haven’t even heard the worst of it – for reasons unknown Google chose April 1st 2004 as the date to release their Gmail product upon the world. Most marketers would be acutely aware of the negative ‘April fools’ connotations, but not Google apparently. On January 31st 2009, thanks to some sloppy coding, Google even branded every single site on the internet as potentially harmful – a bold and suicidal statement even for experts such as them.

The list of Google’s misdemeanours is rounded off nicely with a quick mention of both Google Wave and Google Buzz, remember them? No, me neither. But according to a Google search (ironically), both were social media platforms intended to challenge existing authorities in the area.

Timing

There are two useful points to be made from these gaffs, and the first is the value of timing. In a world as every changing as the internet, timing is absolutely everything. As an internet marketer, the most important thing you can do is keep your finger on the pulse, and the worst thing you can do is take it off. Read industry blogs and news, comment on forums – do anything you can to get an idea of what people in you or your client’s industry are talking about. If you find this difficult, put aside 30 minutes of each day for this kind of research.

This can help you with your timing. Once you have a feel for the industry, release articles, blogs and tweets at exactly the right moment for maximum exposure. Sure, capitalise on seasonal trends and events, but even on a daily level, timing is important.
The Google Insights tool allows you to analyse micro trends for industry activity using certain keywords; use this to find out what time of day your target audience is most active, and then market your site/product accordingly.

Keep your Feet on the Ground

When thinking about why Google have made the mistakes they have, the most probable conclusion I came to was that they had lost touch with the real world. Look at the April Fool’s day charade; Google was so caught up in the furore of the Gmail release that it forgot how the product’s release would be received by the average Joe.

If the Google machine can stall at such dizzying heights as they’ve now reached, then don’t think that your campaign, however successful, cannot falter. At its basic level, this means promoting your client or product in the terms of the layman and not neglecting ‘bread and butter’ consumers when angling for bigger, corporate fish.

2. Facebook FAILS

Facebook’s list of previous controversies reads like Zuckerberg’s hate mail; everything that could have gone wrong for the social network at any point pretty much did. Founded in the fires of ownership controversy, Facebook has been simmering there ever since.
As recently as October 2010 Facebook admitted that many of its most popular applications transmitted or had previously transmitted UID (User Identities) to third parties, including internet tracking companies and advertising firms. Data haemorrhaging like this is nothing new for the social network, which has been plagued by privacy related complaints at a governmental level for the past year.

It can teach us that, no matter how potential popular or lucrative your new product could be, rushing it onto the web before users’ basic human rights have been secured could jeopardise your entire brand. View your internet marketing campaign like a game show – never risk what you have already won (your existing brand) by going for the full million (rushing out new sites/products and marketing campaigns).

Finally, it’s clear that the bigger Facebook has become, the more people it has alienated. From the ‘Draw Mohammed’ scandal right through to the panic button affair, Facebook has learnt a lesson in sensitivity - and so can we. Remember that the more people your campaign reaches, the more chance you have of offending someone. As you experience success you should be more and more sensitive to the content of your campaign, so as not to alienate one portion of your demographic in favour of another. Research carefully and ensure you appeal to everyone who’s shown interest in your site or blog, otherwise you may offend.

I’ll leave you with one of the best quotes of them all; a fitting mantra for any internet marketer:

* Abraham Lincoln

Guest post by: Joel Tarplin is a Content Writer for Creare; specialists in SEO, web design, ecommerce, internet marketing, email marketing and video production.

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