A Hobbit Hole built 20 minutes from our office in Flag Pond, TN.

The Hobbit opens a week from today.  Not only is it one of my favorite tales, I’ve grown to admire Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo.  (He is near-perfect as Dr. Watson in BBC’s Sherlock.)

If you know nothing of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, feel free to check back in later.  This post will make absolutely no sense.

I’ve been re-reading The Hobbit and LOTR lately and it occurs to me that there are some similarities between The One Ring and your website.  So kick your chair back, prop up your furry-toed feet, light a pipe-ful of Old Tobey, and let’s jump right in with un-Ent-like haste . . .

It Controls The Other Rings

You might recall that Bilbo’s ring is the one master ring that controls the others.

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

If we make the analogy that each one of your marketing spheres are rings, then you have several rings which wield commerce-producing power from different parts of the world.  You have an Email Ring (Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc.), a Facebook Ring (Social Media Fans), a Twitter Ring (Conversational Opportunities), a Google Ring (Search Traffic), a Networking Ring (Chamber of Commerce B-fasts, Professional Groups).

Your website is the one ring to which all the others are connected.  When you conduct email campaigns, you direct links to your website.  When you post on Facebook, you promote your website.  When you go to a Chamber breakfast, you hand out your cards and tell folks to check out your website.  The lesser rings may never work in conjunction with each other, but each ring is connected to The One Ring.  The One Ring holds the true power.  Destroy it and your other rings grow powerless as well.

It Can Lay Dormant For Ages

The One Ring was still hot and powerful when Isildur was killed at the Gladden Fields and it disappeared in the river Anduin.  It was many, many years before Smeagol (Gollum) found it and used it again.  Your website may have been discarded for years without any attention or real use.  But you can pick it up, shine it, and use it again.  Which leads us to . . .

When Heated, It Conveys Strong Messages

Remember when Gandalf figured out that Bilbo’s ring was The One Ring and threw it in the fire?  The inscription glowed.  Remember when Gandalf recited the inscription to the council at Rivendell?  “All trembled, and the Elves stopped their ears.”  The message on the One Ring was powerful.

When you heat up your website with frequent Blog Posts, Calls-To-Action, and Landing Pages, your website will glow with marketing messages your visitors will understand and become engaged with.  We can’t promise that all will tremble and elves will stop their pointy ears, but with great design, great writing, and great Inbound execution, you can definitely get the visitor’s attention with your message.

It Has Magical Powers

Bilbo only used The One Ring to make himself invisible, but it could do quite a bit more.  Remember that Sauron was nearly unstoppable when he wielded it.  Gandalf and Galadriel were scared of what they would turn into if they bore the ring.  It would make them TOO powerful.

Your website has magical powers as well that, when implemented correctly, can do impressive things.  It can create customers without you even being involved.  With Inbound Marketing, we talk about your website becoming a Lead Generation Machine.  Through our site, we can attract visitors from across the globe, educate them on why what we do can make their business and life better, and line up clients who are ready to do business with us with zero sales effort–all while we are sleeping.

That’s powerful.  That’s magic.

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