Following best practices is not a best practice. At best, best practices are just what worked well for a number of other people, but best practices are just a shortcut. Like any shortcut, if you follow best practices, you may not end up where you want to be.
Look at it a different way. If you want to know how Seth Godin thinks, don't read his books and blog, read what he reads. Reading what Seth writes will only teach you what he thinks, not how he thinks. If you read what Seth reads, you can learn the thought process that lead to his popular books and blog.
If you want your website to be successful, don't copy other successful websites. Find out how they found the path to success. Then, you can find your own path to success.
Website conversion optimization is about finding a path to success for your website, not implementing best practices.
Last Thursday, a team asked me about best practices. I replied that I had not experienced any best practices regarding the topic, just a variety of worst practices. I told them that I was confident that I could prevent them from making the same mistakes!
ReplyDeleteHi Joseph,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great insight. While best practices aren't always applicable to everyone, worst practices are always good to avoid. It's great when you can learn from someone else's mistakes.
Sincerely,
Jared Smith