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Why is it that just because everyone else does it then you think you should do it too?

The other day I was hanging out on a small business board when someone decided to post about their plans for world domination. They had looked around the Web and found something that you don't have to look too hard to find: a huge number of websites that are trying to sell a variety of products but have absolutely terrible sales text on almost every page.

Look for yourself, you won't have to look far. They are everywhere and even here in my business we run into the problem that these sites cause not just for their owners but for many, many other small business people who want to build a successful sales presence online. Newcomers think that if everyone else is doing it then they should be doing it too.

The person who was posting about their ideas of world domination had decided that all those people with crappy sales text needed help and she would make her fortune by helping them improve their sales text. That's a noble cause and one that no doubt makes that person, and many others, feel very warm and fuzzy.

Not only are you going to make bucket loads of money but you're going to help people as well. I'm sure that person couldn't wait to saddle up their winged palomino and ride forth to deliver salvation to all those poor small business people.

But there's one slight problem with that plan. All those poor struggling small business people who need better text on their websites don't realize just how crappy their sales text really is. They think that there's not a single thing wrong with their sales text; it's perfect. It's just the same as every other small business person's sales text so how could it be so wrong?

When those guys needed text for their small business website they looked around the Web and took note of what every other guy in their industry was putting on their website. Each guy who was building their own website looked at the text others had used and decided that it must be good. Why wouldn't it be good? Everyone else was using it so they would use it too.

They didn't know what constituted good copywriting. They didn't understand the difference between features and benefits and the need for a strong call to action was never on their radar. Instead of doing a little research or hiring someone who really did know something about copywriting they decided that they would just copy what everyone else had done. They had the Me2 Syndrome.

Sadly, for the person who was going to conquer the world and help people along the way, that Me2 Syndrome tends to blind the people who suffer from it to the realities of life. So I doubt that they will make even a tiny fortune from their planned endeavors but that's not the point of today's column.

The point of today's column is how the Me2 Syndrome might be affecting you. What are you doing to grow your business simply because everyone else in this industry is doing it too?

Of course there are some things that everyone does because that is the very nature of the industry but not everything that we do here to make money is set in stone. You don't have to slavishly follow what everyone else is doing simply because everyone else is doing it. If that was the only way to make money in this business, or any other business, there would be no innovation; nothing new under the sun.

But there is innovation here and everywhere else. There are new things and new methods to be tried and it applies to every part of business whether it's here in Pornland or over there in mainstream. You don't even have to look any further than Facebook to see how the Me2 Syndrome is holding some businesses back while others are trying new things and getting far better results.

For example how many businesses are still hoping to reach out to their followers and potential customers with those tired old memes? That method is so last year and yet the good old Me2 Syndrome keeps on locking small businesses into going the meme route despite the fact that it's common knowledge that Facebook is reducing the amount of reach those posts have.

At the same time as memes are failing native video, video that is being uploaded direct to Facebook, is giving businesses who use it far more reach and exposure that memes are. But what small business is willing to try something new like videos when they see everyone else trying to get their message out via memes?

So what is the Me2 Syndrome got you locked into? What are you doing that everyone else is doing that isn't working for you? What are you afraid, or are unwilling, to try simply because no one else has tried it yet?

A couple of years ago in one of my columns either here or over on Porn Resource I wrote about flamingos; those very colorful African wading birds that tend to live in large flocks for safety. Scientists found that the birds who live on the edge of the flocks, the ones who often govern the direction in which the flock will move, are the biggest and fattest birds because they get the best food.

But they are also the ones most likely to be eaten by predators because they do live out there on the edge.

The birds in the middle of the flock, the ones who go in a certain direction because everyone else is going in the same direction, are the scrawniest ones in the flock but at least they're safe from most predators.

But who wants to be skinny and scrawny because they're suffering from Me2 Syndrome? Do you? Or would you rather be out there on the edge getting the best for yourself and leaving the rest to all those who want to follow you?