Me and the sheep

Very good observation/point and I like the story thanks. Instead of sheep outside my window, my office resides inside a bird sanctuary by definition. So I watch the birds and how they flock, how they react to the environment around them and follow each other's movements as if tied together with long elastic bands..... So to tie the two together.... We need to create the elastic effect between them, while helping the strays find the flock and connect to it, while maintaining a wind tunnel to send them where we want them...

What's another similar comparison? Perhaps with a few in mind, we might extract some more useful clues from nature to help us!

"Nice analogy," he bleated.

Baa!

I was going to register SheepCam.com and point it to my webcam. Watching those sheep running after the farmer is so funny to watch.

But SheepCam.com is already registered. I decided not to visit the site to see what's there

Cheers,

Neil

You're so right. I demonstrated some woolly thinking there.

Oh, flocking. I thought you said...

Lol... I ought to come on here more often... it cracks me up every time!

...and site visitors.

Exacto.

The sheep and cows don't want any choices. They just want the damn food and water.

You've got a great point there. However, what you are talking about is best achieved with an email list.
You can control people with the list, you just give them what you want them to see.

Absolutely correct. And I was referring to the process of building that up.

Well this is a great thread, thanks Neil, good laughs and productive thinking. Great mix.

So I wanted to point out my view about the email list. Take myself for example, with multiple websites, followers and people that learn from me etc, as well as my never ended job of researching, trying new things etc. I have... 5 email addresses I actually use, and could always make more if I decided, say, to sign up for sheep watching lists, I could setup sheep@mydomain for my sheep research, and then I'm really only looking at what I want when I want cause it's not in my mail email account, or maybe I make filters and archive and skip the inbox so I only go once a week and check for subject titles I like?

Anyways, point was... Not only do we need to provide something they want, like the water they need to survive (online in this case I suppose) but we need to make that connection in their brain, make them want it, ingrain it in their reflexes, habits and reactions. Those cows don't run to the corner when they see the tank because they grew up with animal instincts that told them about tanker trucks etc... They were born with animal instincts that drive them to water, their need, and they are brought up, taught, and trained to know what's inside the tanker.... Which part of the fence it stops at, and where the water will be when they can drink it.
So, Having said that, here's some quick pointers for the others out there....

1.) Where is your visitor's water?
2.) How do they get to it? Is it already right on their path at the start of the day? (yes it should be!)
3.) What happens when the trough runs out? Does it refill automatically?
4.) Do you only have cow feed? Only Sheep feed? If you focus on cows, don't bother with sheep supplies, but if you offer both (or more) make sure all your troughs are always full. (for example, always have regular updates to newsletter with fresh related content)
5.) Just like the animals, your visitors, followers, subscribers, etc, they need love too. The more you care for an animal, the more attention and positive energy you give it, the happier it is and the easier it is to get it to do what you want. We all know this about our dogs and our kids and everything else along those lines. BUT are YOU putting these thoughts into the context of your business?

Neil, I love analogies like this!....makes a great point about not wanting choices as well.
_____
Bruce