When I look out at my bird feeder the scene out there often
reminds me of an online business in action.

You see, when I started feeding the birds a few months ago, everything was peaceful for a few weeks.

Only the best kind of birds showed up at the feeder.

The cardinals, chickadees, finches, nuthatches, flickers,
etc.

Then the house sparrows discovered the feeders and emptied an entire feeder in one day.

Argh!

The house sparrows are the rodents of the bird population.

In fact, it’s even permissible to shoot them because they
are considered an “invasive species” and are a threat to native birds.

But I’m no Emma Peel and don’t know how to use a gun (and my neighbors would take issue with that anyway).

So I did some research and figured out how to scare away
the house sparrows while still attracting the desirable birds.

All you have to do is hang a few strands of fishing line
from your feeders.

But before I could feel smug about my success the squirrels found my feeders.

The squirrels knocked down the feeders and made my life
miserable for a while as I tried to outwit them.

They weren’t baffled by the “baffle” on my feeder.

Duct tape with the sticky side facing out didn’t work
either.

Putting vaseline on the post has seemed to do the trick
so far.

It’s fun to watch the squirrels hop in a flower pot
after they get vaseline on their paws and furiously roll around in the dirt in a desperate attempt to wipe it off.

It reminds me of prospects who find out my rates (which are
pretty modest) and run away. :-)

Feeding the birds and outwitting squirrels is a good metaphor
for any online business.

Before I figured out how to keep the squirrels and house
sparrows away, my feeders had a ton of traffic.

There were more birds in my yard than any other yard near my house.

But traffic is overrated, as I soon discovered. If you aren’t
attracting the right prospects, all the traffic in the world doesn’t mean much.

So how do you attract them? With copy, of course.

Good copy will filter out the wrong prospects as effectively
as fishing line and vaseline.

And it will attract the right ones like the Nut ‘N Berry
seed blend the birds around here love.

See, marketing really is for the birds.

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