Secret Usability Kung Fu Death Grip!

If you've ever seen a kung-fu movie, you're probably familiar with this story: kung-fu master has a secret technique, master trains worthy student, student uses technique to gratuitously beat everyone to a pulp. The idea of a secret technique known only to a selected few has always been a popular one, promising fame and glory to whoever can unlock that secret.

Unfortunately, I see this same mentality too often in the way people run their websites and e-businesses. Otherwise rational people desperately want to believe that there are usability, SEO, and marketing secrets, and if they can just get the so-called experts to reveal those secrets, the money will flow like water.

Secrets Are Good Marketing

Secrets sell. Even the kung-fu cliché is based on real history: martial arts schools were often businesses competing for wealth and power, and protecting their "secrets" from the masses increased their allure and demand for new students. In much the same way, web professionals have learned that dangling a secret recipe in front of a prospective client can be much more lucrative than trying to explain difficult concepts and long-term strategies.

The Bullet Point Mentality

Unfortunately, we're all a bit lazy, and we tend to adopt a bullet-point mentality about things we don't understand. In other words: don't bother me with all of the gory details, just give me the bullet points. We flock to "Top 10" blog posts and "101 Tips" articles, hoping to find the secret sauce poured over a few bite-sized pieces. There's nothing wrong with trying to simplify difficult concepts, but when we reduce everything to a bulleted list, the end result can become so over-generalized and ambiguous that it's impossible to effectively apply to any given situation.

It Only Looks Like Magic

Another problem is that experience has a way of making things look easy. This is one of the hardest parts of being a consultant, in my experience. A skilled usability or SEO specialist can look at a site and spot many major problems in less than 15 minutes, leaving clients thinking that what we do is easy or just the result of some secret we aren't sharing. The reality, though, is that our gut reactions and ability to spot problems is often a result of seeing similar problems hundreds of times.

Solutions Require Effort

Perhaps the biggest problem with a secrets mentality, though, is that it really only focuses on the problem. I could probably teach someone how to spot a handful of the most common website usability problems, even with limited experience. Solving those problems, though, often requires research, testing, and a lot of hard work. Kung-fu movies conveniently skip over years of training, much like Rocky learns to box in the space of a video montage. Real life, on the other hand, can't be put on fast-forward.

Nice post (and great title!)

I think the last point is the most crucial, anyone can read up on best practice SEO (or usability) but actually implementing this on a hands-on project is the difficult part which requires experience and skill (as well as knowledge of the secret kung fu death grip!)

@Tom: Yeah, I think applying industry "secrets" is really the hard part. I remember walking away from my first SEO conference with a ton of bullet points, excited to have this treasure trove of secrets, but then when I went to apply them to a client's site, I realized many were ambiguous or even contradicted each other. There was a lot of trial-and-error and research after that to put what I learned to work.

I've experienced that unfortunate realization myself after coming across a few "top 10" lists that I found particularly juicy. Part of the problem is that many SEOs who blog/speak about the trade realize how bullet point hungry the masses are and play to that tune...which, unfortunately, just contributes to the problem. Nobody wants to hear that it's all hard work and there are no easy answers.

Dear Sir,

I came across this article while shopping online for the GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip. Upon seeing the "Kung Fu Death Grip" headline, you can imagine my excitement at the possibility of an upgrade, only to find your article on marketing secrets. ;)

Great article Pete - and how true. I can especially relate to the "bullet point" mentality. This is prevalent even in Fortune 500 companies, where CEO's make multi-million dollar decisions after feeding them your five best bullets, without having a clear understanding of the implications - short and long term. Very frustrating grasshoppa.

I remember mistakenly asking an artist how long it took him to paint this painting he was selling for over $20,000. His response: "About 15 years". His point being - even if it only took him two hours to complete it, he could never have done so without the 15 years of experience leading up to that it.

You know, Pete, there's something to be said about the old story...

A lady pulls into a repair shop around closing time. She tells the repair person that something is wrong with her car and could he please take a look and possibly fix it.

He lifts starts the car. Lifts the hood. Shuts the car off. Reaches into his pocket and pulls out a screwdriver. Turns a screw. Replaces the screwdriver, shuts the hood.

All fixed. That'll be $110.

$110!!! But, that only took just a moment! (or, as we'd say, "WTF!")

Yes, $110. $10 to turn the screw. $100 to know which screw to turn.



It kind of applies here. You remember me... I've got a young face and an oddball sense of humor. That can be a detriment at times--creeping up on 40, but looking like I'm trying to catch 30. People don't always appreciate--or value--something that they can get instantly, unless it's music or movies or something else that they need now now now!

Kind of stinks.

@Russ: It's definitely a hard balance for us knowledge workers. On the one hand, you have to put enough information out there to seem legitimate and inspire confidence, but, on the other hand, if you give too much away, you'll never get paid. That's one thing I really like about blogging and social networking; it's a way to build trust and educate prospective clients without giving our work away for nothing.