If you listen you will realize that we had no idea what the true topic and direction was but that it was going to be a discussion on asking better questions, helping people online and in your company and really just being a good steward to others.

The initial idea came from a Reddit thread about Sitemap XML and how someone was struggling with an issue at their job. Most if not all the answers simply said X was dumb, why would you do that, and were really not productive. (Note - here is our episode on Guide to Sitemap XML and CMS)

Some of the suggestions people gave that maybe people thought they were helping but really they weren't. Some of these answers are from other questions as well!

Just change the CMSHave the developers use the API.Sorry but If you are even considering doing X manually, then you don't know what you are doing.That CMS sucks.Why don't you just use X tool?OMG I hate X!

Now there were some good and great responses but I am just focusing on those that were less than helpful.

We Need to Give More Details

If you are asking a question online somewhere (forum, group, Twitter, anywhere!!) give information. Tell us why and what and limitations and as much as you can. Digital Marketing is a Puzzle... let us know more than just one piece to help you solve it!

The more people know the more they can consider your resources and unique circumstances around your question. The more detail the more the answers may actually help you.

What brewery should I visit?What CMS should I use?What software for X should I use?Where should I go to eat in (insert large city name here)?

We Need Ask More Questions

Instead of just spouting out that X is horrible or X is a bad solution ask questions. Ask questions to clarify why they are doing something or why they are trying to get to Point B. Ask about budget, resources, what they like, where they are - ask questions.

What brewery should I visit?Where in the city will you be?What type of beer do you like?What type of beer do you hate?How much time will you have?What CMS should I use?Are you demand gen, ecom or a publisher?What is your budget?What dev resources do you have?What is your current tech stack look like?What software for X should I use?What is your budget?What dev resources do you have?How are you at using X?Where should I go to eat in (insert large city name here)?Where in the city?What time?What kind of food do you like?What kind of food do you hate?What is your budget and reason for going?

So many questions we can ask but also so much more detail people can and should give.

/End Dave Rant.

Full Transcript

] Matt Siltala: [00:00:00] Welcome to another exciting episode of the business of digital podcast, featuring your host, Matt  and Dave roar. Hey guys, excited to have you all join us on another one of these business of digital podcast episodes, and we're as usual are going to just jump right into it. And so, uh, this is one that, uh, that, uh, that they've been wanting to jump into and.

He loves, you know, when management is wrong, actually, I don't know that that's true or not. Uh, but, uh, we are going to be jumping into, um, a discussion today related to site maps and management. And, uh, I'm going to let Dave just go ahead and jump in and start us off.

Dave Rohrer: [00:00:44] This is, it's a weird twisty. Like how did Dave get from.

What he found in red too. What the heck? Yes. I'm

Matt Siltala: [00:00:53] still trying to figure that

Dave Rohrer: [00:00:56] to the point where I thought, um, that [00:01:00] it was just completely wrong. Like I was like, these are the worst examples and the worst things. What the heck was I thinking? Like I thought I screwed up my Excel or my Google sheets, which

Matt Siltala: [00:01:10] it was just that bad.

Dave Rohrer: [00:01:12] No, it's not that bad. Um, Cause I just thought it was like me going on a rant against, you know, site maps and stuff. But what's inter