I'm Still a Techno-Weanie

My face is still red...

I used to say the world was divided into bankers and artists. I'll revise that. It's divided into techies and artists. People who know HTML coding and those that don't. Only thing is, in today's world it really counts to be a little of both!

So one day I decided to learn how to do a little HTML coding. After all, I can update my web site using Dreamweaver, and I can design a blog and make it look nifty, but I really don't know what I'm doing. The software makes it easy.

My associate Garland Holt, a veteran geeky and founder of Graphiquest, gave me a tutorial in basic html coding last Sunday. And a homework assignment using basic bolding, italics, and bulleted lists.

Turns out, it's really not that complicated, and I did it! So I wrote a smart-alecky paragraph in which I proclaimed I was no longer a techno-weanie, using bolded words, italics and bulleted lists. I told him he could no longer kick sand in my face.

Then, I used my shopping cart system to send him my homework message and told him he'd better watch out now, I was armed with HTML and dangerous.

Whoops! I pressed the wrong button and sent it out to my entire database. Oh yes, my clients, my affiliates, my potential clients, everybody.

I got messages that ranged from What the heck is this? Are you nuts? ...and unsubscribe.

Got about 6 unsubscribes, unusual for my list.

Then I sent an apology, and got about 40 responses that were amazing: people forgave me, laughed out loud, told me I flunked, sent me back to dummy land, and shared their stories of similar goofs.

Turns out, people sort of like it when you mess up. They can relate, or they are just glad it was me not them.

One guy told me he thought it was a cleverly disguised marketing message and I should do it again.

One person told me he was glad that I finally made a mistake...what does that mean?

Happy ending...

Go figure. I sold 10 e-books and got two new annual subscriptions to my newsletter services.

Do you think they felt sorry for me? Have I stumbled across a secret marketing ploy? Is this really good advertising for my business?

Have you even goofed like this, and were people annoyed, mad, or pleased? I'd like to hear your stories so I don't feel like such a techno-weanie again.

My friend Garland continues to send me HTML homework, but I think I'll just study it for a while before sending it over to him...

Just an artist at heart,

Patsi

Comments

[Des Walsh]

Great story. Evidently you have been spared the emails late last year from internet marketers who suddenly landed on what you have discovered, viz. that people relate better when you goof occasionally. But there were so many emails starting "Whoops!" or "I goofed!" etc that I started to treat them all as spam. If there was a moment where that kind of message as a "device" was going to work, I think it ended about Christmas 2004.
Des