Where Is The Short Tail And Where Is The Long Tail In This Photo?

The following is based on a true story.

Every Saturday morning, I walk with my kids to the donut shop that is almost exactly 1 mile from my home. It's our local donut shop. They know us. We know them. The owners live in our neighborhood.

Saturday, as we were walking along our normal route, we saw a group of kids up ahead trying to attract attention to a garage sale. Some of them had signs. Some of them were just screaming at the passing cars. One was screaming, dancing and holding a sign, all at the same time. 

The short tail is always easy to identify. 

It hit me as I walked closer, that this scene was a good analogy for someone trying to capture the attention of locals on the Internet. For our analogy, the street with the cars speeding by represents the bulk of the Internet... they may or may not be local and they may or may not be looking for a garage sale. If they are looking for a garage sale, the short tail in this photo, "garage sale" will get their attention. Simple enough.

But what if each of these guys were advertising a different garage sale? That's more like the Internet, isn't it? In this case, each one of them is holding a "garage sale" sign. Each one of them is on the same corner, or the same page of a Google search result, if you will. As the Internet shopper, I have to make a choice. Which one of these guys is going to get me to come to their garage sale? The one with the best position? The biggest sign? The best looking? Let's see.

Best Ranking. Pretty Face. Wants Me To Initiate The Conversation.

Look at the first kid we came to in the photo above, let's say he's the one at the top of the Google rankings. He had a nice smile, a good sign and he made eye contact. Not bad. I waited a beat. Nothing. So, I said hi, then he said hi. That's as far as it went. That's polite, but that's not a conversation. He was depending entirely on his position and his good looks and his friendly smile to get ME to engage with him.

Great Ranking. Not Interested In Engaging At All. No Desire For Conversation.

The next kid in the photo, had a good ranking. He was number 2. But he had no desire to engage at all. He never made eye contact, even when I tried. As a result, I had no desire to initiate a conversation with him. So, I didn't. For me, he represents the vast majority of websites on the Internet. They just stand there. They put out their sign and they hope people pay attention, but they show no desire to engage in any way. I was not impressed.

Good Ranking. Wants To Be Seen And Heard. Conversation Is All About Self.

The next guy had a good position. But he had no sign. He was screaming and dancing. He was shouting at the cars that came by, "This is the best garage sale ever." (I'm not joking) He even tried some innovative catch phrases. Like this one, "This garage sale is totally extreme!" He paid no attention to us at all, his local shopper, even though I had 6 kids with me. We're hard to miss. But he was so focused on putting the attention on himself, that he failed to give US any attention. Some people might be impressed. I wasn't. 

Good Ranking. Is Paying Attention To His Local Content And Audience. Initiates A Real Conversation.

All of these guys had a good position. They were on the same corner, our analogy to the same page of the Google rankings. But one of them, not only made eye contact, he asked a question. He said, "Are you looking for some really cheap toys for your kids?" I could only smile.

The entire time walking up and through this I was thinking about the internet and this guy represented the long tail. You can't identify him in the photo. But he was the one paying attention to his neighborhood, to his "niche."  He engaged in a real conversation. And I engaged back. "I've kind of got my hands full right now," I said. "I can see that," he replied. "Wow. You've got a lot of kids." The conversation continued. "Yes, I do," I said. "What kind of toys do you have?" All kinds, board games, some old PlayStation games, Action Figures, all sorts of cool stuff. I've just outgrown them." "Well, I can't stop by right now. But maybe later we'll stop by. Thanks for asking. I really appreciate it." He showed he was paying attention, understood my needs, respected my time and was willing to engage at a personal level.

Now, imagine these are real estate websites. Which one are you?