Search engine optimisation is somewhat of an artform, and something that I’m constantly trying to learn more about. So you can imagine my curiosity when I received a vistaprint flyer in with my amazon order this morning telling me to go to www.google.co.uk and search for “vpamazon” for a deal on business cards or “vpamazon2″ for a deal on pens.
What a strange way of doing it I thought, I wonder how many results will be returned, it’s not as though they will be able to prevent other people from writing about it so it’s not going to be like a Googlewhack where you only get one result.
So imagine my surprise in finding that vistaprint haven’t even got an organic google listing for the expressions. Instead all they have is an adwords (paid for) listing. The organic search results are all people like myself blogging about it.
I’m sure that somebody out there (probably Ed) will say that they’re being clever and trying to get viral marketing by getting people (like me) to talk about their offers, I however don’t think they’ve been that clever.
Anyone who networks regularly can spot a vistaprint business card a mile off. Quite apart from the fact that they’re a non-standard size the print quality is (in my opinion) truly shocking. I made the mistake when I first started out in business all those years ago of going to vistaprint and I soon got my money back when I saw what they had produced.
These days I’ve come to learn that there are more important things than cost and that sometimes you’re better off using someone like Nifty Print for your business cards and infact letterheads and all printing. Yes it will cost you a little bit more, but I’m sure with all of the effort you put into your business, it deserves to give the right first impression.
