Make Money Online With Snowboardjohn

I love listening to Seth Godin.

He has powerful insights into most things Marketing and community related.

But why doesn’t he follow anyone on Twitter?

Does he already have ALL the answers? And so doesn’t need to know what other people think?

Perhaps he doesn’t want to send traffic or recognition to anyone else?

Is it because he just doesn’t have time to use the platform as it has been designed?

Or maybe he genuinely doesn’t think anyone who uses it is worth listening to?

I don’t know.

What do you think?

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I’ve been amazed at the extremely SHIT quality advice around on “how to get more blog comments” - and how to begin starting community conversations.

So in this post I’m first going to explain the different types of social structures that encourage blog comments, and then lay down an exact blueprint for getting more of the topical comments that help build awareness and word of mouth traffic about your blog (and business).

Last night I read FIFTEEN “how to get more blog comments” posts, and was disgusted to see that ALL OF THEM were COMPLETE CRAP. (Some of them were from people who should know better too.)

I actually feel that giving people rhetorical “be nice and helpful” advice is toxic - because people waste years of their lives trying to be nicer and more helpful then they already are - and never end up GETTING ANYWHERE.

So before you read on, understand that I’m NEVER going to suggest you get blog comments by:

1. Being MORE helpful.
2. Responding to any and all blog comments you get.
3. Being controversial (that’s such a vague fucking piece of advice, it’s right up there with “be more helpful”)
4. Asking for feedback (Puleez, if people don’t feel like responding, that isn’t going to change just because you ASK them to - telling people to ask for feedback is such weak advice it sickens me)

So SBJ, how DO you get more blog comments? Glad you asked!

First of all, let us examine some random blogs which already get a large VOLUME of comments:

• Shoemoney
• Bob Parsons
• Perez Hilton
• John Chow

If you visit these blogs, you will notice they get a large volume of comments. However, you may also realize these blogs get a VERY LARGE volume of traffic to go with those comments.

In fact, if you were to break down the visitor/comment ratio, you would discover that as a percentage, these blogs really don’t get many of their visitors leaving comments, or participating in community discussions.

Some do, but most don’t. My guess is it’s LESS then ONE PERCENT of visitors who leave comments.

So using these blogs as models for community conversations is actually a BAD IDEA. Also keep in mind that many of the people who leave comments on niche marketing blogs like John Chow, or Shoemoney are just doing it to try and get more exposure for their own blog and business.

And unless your blog is perceived to get a similar market reach of Chow and Shoemoney, you won’t get people motivated to leave comments on your blog to get themselves exposure - so don’t even bother trying.

No, to get topical conversations going we must understand WHAT MOTIVATES people to stand up in a crowd and say “here’s what I think!”

One of the luxuries I have as being a large list owner in several different markets is that I see the response rate for different types of messages.

I can change my message, I can play off of different emotions, and I can literally MEASURE the rate at people respond to what I send them.

An interesting thing I’ve noticed is that as a percentage, people are FAR MORE likely to respond to an email message then they are to respond to a blog post.

A blog post is very impersonal. It’s you talking from a podium to a room of people. People KNOW when they read a blog post that they are part of the crowd who is listening to you. And like a person in a crowd, they have a lot of social self consciousness to overcome when it comes to SPEAKING IN FRONT OF EVERYONE.

It’s amazing the rude “fuck off” messages people are happy to send through an email account - because the social environment allows them to act invisibly. The same person who sends “fuck off” email messages is probably extremely POLITE when the social pressure changes, but through the anonymity of an email account, that person will be as obnoxious as the social pressure they feel ALLOWS them to be.

A persons behavior is dictated by social pressure FAR MORE then most consumers are aware of. (I say consumer because it’s slang for “uneducated person who reacts to their emotions as if those emotions are REAL and follow what they FEEL unquestioningly”).

Until you are aware of the EXTENT to which your and my behavior is dictated by social pressure you will find it impossible to influence that behavior. Don’t be a naive idealist that says “people shouldn’t care what other people think” - people DO AND ALWAYS WILL care what other people think about them. It doesn’t matter why (and it’s evolutionary btw), just accept it as fact and move on to HOW do I use this to my advantage?

ADVANCED CONCEPT: It’s easier to to appeal to a persons fear then a persons self interest. People will do more to avoid pain then they will to gain pleasure. Hence it is easier to to make people internally UNCOMFORTABLE enough through a post which FORCES them to voice their thoughts - because NOT voicing them would actually cause them more misery then speaking in front of a crowd does.

Let’s look at some more blogs which get a lot of comments:

1. Standup101
2. BlueHatSEO
3. itsChrisCrocker (a youtube video blogger)

As you can see, these blogs have a very varied subject matter. But they get a LARGE PERCENTAGE of their readers RESPONDING to what they write (or communicate).

Now BlueHatSEO gets a lot of comments for different reasons then the other two - but I’ve included it because people who are very knowledgeable in their markets may be able to do what Eli does.

The comments BlueHatSEO gets are mostly clarifying questions. People want more information, and they are prepared to speak up so that they DON’T MISS OUT. They don’t want to look stupid, but Eli speaks with so much authority, in such a logical way that people are SURE he has an answer they NEED and MUST HAVE . They RISK “looking stupid” to avoid the bigger pain of MISSING OUT.

Lucy and Chris get comments for a different reason (and this reason is very accessible and replicate-able).

It’s NOT because they are controversial - it’s because they POLARIZE people’s CORE VALUES.

People have an internal set of core values - some of which they are taught, and some of them I believe they were simply born with. Their values are hardwired INSTINCTUALLY, through evolution.

Humans are empathic to others because we are pack animals. We live in large, organized, hierarchical, social structures. These social packs occur naturally because it’s how we’ve evolved as a species.

And when people have their HARDWIRED values challenged they FEEL THEY MUST RESPOND. Internally NOT responding causes them more pain and misery then speaking up in front of a crowd.

In fact, when it comes to core values, people want to share their gospel with everyone - whatever that gospel may be.

The key however (and this is where you MUST BE VERY CAREFUL) is to keep on topic. Attention for attentions sake is useless. You want organized, purposeful, useful attention.

I believe Chris Crocker will never be as financially successful as similarly infamous gay youtube video blogger William Sledd - because William Sledd has used his ability to polarize, around a TOPIC that clothing companies have a COMMERCIAL INTEREST IN.

William Sledd dishes out fashion advice in a very polarizing way - people love him or hate him. But, he keeps his focus directed squarely on FASHION. And thus garners a large conversation ABOUT FASHION - not about RANDOM CORE VALUES.

The key is to know what core values people have, and then play to those values in an ON TOPIC kind of way.

So let’s take a look at some common core value themes/polarizations, and then we’ll talk about how to use them TOPICALLY:

• HONESTY - TREACHERY
• GREEDY - ALTRUISTIC
• LOVE - HATE
• DISCIPLINE - SELF INDULGENCE
• HELP OTHERS - SOCIOPATHIC
• GET RECOGNITION - FLY UNDER THE RADAR
• UNDERDOG - ESTABLISHED CHAMPION

A powerful example of “Helping Others” was executed by Marketer Jason Moffatt a few months ago when he asked his readers to help a woman who was a fellow marketer, who had an abusive husband and had fled her home.

She was stranded in a shelter with no money. Unfortunately Jason has removed his post, but click on the link and read the comments which are still there - you will get a real feeling for what I’m talking about when you read through them.

The post received an enormous commentary both from people who wanted to help AND WHO WANTED TO VOICE THEIR CORE VALUE OF HELPING ANOTHER PERSON IN NEED.

Similarly, Buzz Marketer Dean Hunt received an enormous percentage of his visitors commentary when he tapped into peoples underdog feelings against the established champion (and big bully) Google. People don’t like dictatorial behavior and will stand up and voice their “fairness” values when an opportunity they feel strongly about presents itself.

YOU MUST GIVE YOUR READERS THAT OPPORTUNITY IF YOU WANT THEM TO RESPOND AND LEAVE COMMENTS!

But you must do it TOPICALLY.

Jason Moffatt was helping a MARKETER who other marketers could relate to.

Dean Hunt was giving the finger to Google’s treatment of small webmasters. Other small webmasters wanted to join him and voice their support for the cause.

So now you understand a few powerful ways to get blog comments… I’m going to ask you a TOUGH question:

Do you really NEED blog comments?

Here’s some well read blogs who make it impossible (or almost impossible) for you to leave them comments:

• Seth Godin
• Aaron Wall
• Ralph Tegtmeier

Of all the marketers in the world who would encourage marketing conversations - you would THINK that Seth Godin would be LEADING the pack.

But he doesn’t. He doesn’t want your comment.

Why? This is what he says.

Personally though, I only think he’s telling you half the story in that post.

He doesn’t allow comments because he is EXTERNALIZING the marketing conversation. He knows if you can’t talk about what he writes on HIS BLOG, you will have to DO IT ON YOUR OWN BLOG.

This increases his blog reach dramatically because instead of a centralized conversation on the Seth Godin blog, he gets a DECENTRALIZED conversation about the Seth Godin blog all over the internet and blogosphere!

ADVANCED CONCEPT: It’s not really about blog comments - it’s about topical community conversations that directly or indirectly involve something YOU have said. WHERE those conversations take place is dependent on your “market brand recognition” and “market celebrity”.

The more social proof you have, the more people who know who you are, the more you should EXTERNALIZE the conversations that take place around you, your blog, your business, and your brand. This has a LOGARITHMIC progression affect on your market reach. Instead of the linear progression you get from simply allowing people to comment on your blog. Perez Hilton could increase his reach enormously if he didn’t allow blog comments.

However, if you have very little recognition, small reach, and are building things up - then allow comments and a centralized community to form around you - and then decentralize the conversation.

Remember that you don’t NEED a ton of comments on every post, and that subscriber numbers and subscriber RESPONSIVENESS is a much better indicator of your post quality then comments are.

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This post is going to be a business analysis of a Standup Comedians blog, written by a very sweet girl called Lucy.

Lucy wrote to me a while back and told me how much she appreciated my blog, and asked me to come visit her blog and “tear it up” (or something to that effect).

She actually reminds me of myself when I was a young up’n'coming snowboarder. Ambitious, angry, wanting to “hit it big” by making a difference in the world.

Unfortunately, while you can make it by being Ambitious’n'Angry - I feel you are REALLY TYING YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR OWN BACK BY TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Business is about one thing: money.

Those who have not succeeded at business yet may vehemently disagree with me on that one. Likewise, those who have hit it huge may also disagree with me on that one.

But they would both be disagreeing for different reasons - and that difference is the reason why my point is so important.

Let me tell you a story about my Mom:

My Mom currently runs a very successful Consulting Business. She’s turned from an Academic Researcher and Lecturer into a great marketer and a very calculated business thinker. But she hasn’t always been as good as she is now.

A few years ago when she was starting her business she told me how much she loved being an entrepreneur - and how it was a “big adventure”. (She’s quite an adventurous person and loves to travel and do new things).

She struggled. She often did things in business that aligned with her sense of adventure. “Try this out, see how it goes, fly by the seat of my pants. ADVENTUROUS.”

She also likes helping people. Being helpful is a very high value thing to her and so she wanted to incorporate that into her business thinking and behavior. She figured: “sure I want to make money at this, but I also want it to be an adventure and really help people”.

So that’s what she did. And she struggled and fought and struggled some more. Eventually, over the years, she listened to what I’d been telling her - so much so that she reminds me of this lesson all the time and keeps me from straying off the path:

When your reason for being in business is anything other then money - you SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE the effectiveness of your business - so much so that it (or you) may NEVER end up succeeding.

This is because you are making micro decisions all the time - about: what you pay attention to, what you learn about, what your unconscious mind is problem solving and so on. These micro decisions SERIOUSLY IMPACT the net overall effect of YOU as an entrepreneur.

In poker, the only people who play in stakes where losing hurts for reasons other then making money are known as “fish”.

Maybe they do it for the “Adventure” of playing high limits - who knows? Who cares? All I know is that the probability of them beating me is almost zero - and that’s because my money motivation is so high that I know all the hand percentages off by heart. I know the chance of a pocket pair hitting trips on the flop is 7-1, and for me to call preflop and expect a long term profit I need to be getting 7-1 on my money, either by having 7 other players in the pot before I go in, or have implied pot odds of at least 7-1.

I know the minute mathematical details BECAUSE I WANT TO WIN MY OPPONENTS MONEY.

If I was motivated by FUN and ADVENTURE - I would never have the motivation to learn all the PAINFULLY BORING - but TOTALLY NECESSARY math you need to win at poker!

If I was motivated by BEING DOMINANT - I would also lose at poker. People who noticed my tendency for my ego to make my decisions would exploit me for it. They would PUNISH me for being motivated by anything other then money.

Focusing on Making $$ FORCES you to… guess what?…

BE A PROFESSIONAL.

The difference between an Amateur and Professional isn’t only that the pro gets PAID to be there - it’s that the pro’s ONLY REASON for being there is the money! Amateurs are in it for their own reasons, pro’s are in it to get paid.

This shift in mindset produces a VASTLY different result in your own life - it FOCUSES you like a LAZER on things you need to focus on to BECOME a pro at whatever you’re doing. Instead of screwing around trying to live a few of your values in business, you are focusing ONLY on things that increase your NET WORTH.

Look, I’m not saying DON’T HAVE VALUES - I’m saying - live those values outside of your business.

Getting back to Lucy I would say: focus solely on the comedy. I know you want to make a difference, and make people think after your shows - but - as a professional comedian your job is to make them laugh. That’s where the money is.

Go for the money.

In his book “Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting” Robert Mckee states that the biggest problem with up’n'coming movie script writers is that they write “anti plot, anti stories”.

What this means is that they try and write the Next Pulp Fiction, instead of writing the Next Forrest Gump.

Sure “s/he wins in the end, defeats a few problems along the way, gets the boy/girl in the end” stories are predictable - and so - screen writing students TRY NOT to write them. But Mckee points out that they’ll never be a professional writer UNTIL THEY MASTER THEM.

Mckee’s whole book is not just about convincing new screen writers that they must learn the craft of Single Protagonist hero stories - but - it’s a blueprint “how to” that reveals writing those hero stories is MUCH HARDER then it appears.

And that’s the next lesson: it’s not until you are solely motivated to make money in your business that you discover being a heartless entrepreneur like me is much harder then it appears

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Is it just me, or do the Sphinn users seem to vote up stories depending on who submitted them, instead of the actual content inside them?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for community participation and rewarding those who take the time to contribute to the community by voting for their stories. However, I’ve read several things on the front page which frankly make me scratch my head wondering why they are there in the first place.

I’m not going to link to the stories, because it’s not the authors fault these stories are getting so much exposure - and in any event I’m glad for anyone to get their hard work rewarded - even if it’s not up to my personal expectations of “important news”.

At the same time, I start to devalue resources when I begin to see collusion (either implicit or explicit) and I was regarding the Sphinn homepage as a short cut to important news, or great insight.

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Damn, I’ll probably catch some fire for this one.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve probably noticed that most “Gurus” are always talking about why you should “give away what you know” as a front end.

Unfortunately though, many people who follow this advice ultimately fail to make the model work. So I want to discuss the pitfalls you face when you give away free stuff to your market, and then, discuss some of the best ways I’ve used to overcome them.

Let’s get started.

Here’s some problems the “give it away free” model runs into:

1. Because you don’t give away an affiliate commission (like you do with a paid product) no one that HAS the power to promote has an incentive to promote you. Why would they do it? Because they are such great people they want to promote you for free? 9 times out of 10 this is not going to happen. And in the back of anyones mind who you’ve approached to get some exposure for your “free” front end, is the thought that once you get known, you will monetize WITHOUT THEM… and… you probably will.
2. Why would anyone bother reading something from someone they’ve never heard of? Unless you’re already a perceived authority in your market, the market itself will not receive your offer with much enthusiasm. They are already exposed to the “Give It Away Free” Business Model on a daily basis - and - as such they are quick to ignore free offers from “wannabes” who currently flood the internet with a lot of content (some good, some not) attempting to get people to click on their affiliate links. Your free offer has the impact of ONE MORE single person clapping at a football game.
3. It’s time consuming as fuck. Sorry for my French but writing a well put together, well edited 20 page ebook would cost upwards of $1000 USD if you outsourced it. And the chances are that even with a GOOD writer, it will still fall below expectations, and YOU will end up doing most of the work.
4. Free front end information can become outdated quickly depending on the market. You have to constantly go back through your give away and update it. Which sucks.

There are more problems than this, but these are the main ones that I’ve encountered over the last few years. The free business model sounds so sweet (and makes so much sense when you first hear about it)… but… as you’ve seen is riddled with potential problems.

I wouldn’t be much of a badass if I didn’t have some solutions for you though.

So here’s some things I’ve discovered that “offset” the above mentioned problems:

1. Give away software. Software is not like information - you don’t need any credibility to get people consuming it. It’s like giving away a Swiss Army Knife. People can see the value if you just describe what it does for them. Also, market leaders are somewhat likely to promote your free software as they actually DO NEED cool stuff to tell their market about - and you can provide them with some easy value.
2. Blog without monetization. In this market, this is obviously what I do. And I do it because it creates several opportunities for anyone who does it: A) It teaches whoever reads your blog to CONSUME what you write. B) It allows you to exchange links and traffic with similar other blogs. By not having monetization you dramatically increase the likelihood that people will link to you and refer to you. C) It gives you an opportunity to brand yourself - not something to worry about until you have a large readership - but not to be underestimated all the same.
3. Create video. People will consume video much more than they will consume a written PDF. Video is much more viral as well - I’ve got a ridiculous video on youtube that has gotten over 80,000 views and took me 3 minutes to make.
4. If you want to give away written content MAKE IT SHORT. You’ll notice the PDF’s I give away from this blog are usually between 1-3 pages and no more. I get email from people though who tell me that my 3 page PDF gave them more value then the $47 ebook they recently bought.

There’s more problems and solutions then the ones I’ve mentioned here, but I feel this is a very good start to a problem that many people unknowingly face.

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I’ve just Mind Mapped a straight forward list of actions anyone can take to get noticed and talked about more frequently.

This download is part of a series I’m doing on self promotion, and practical action steps anyone at any stage of business can take to get more word of mouth traffic:

Blog Awareness (Part 1)

Part 2 will be soon.

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(The extremely flawed Alexa stats for whatever they are worth)

It’s weird to think that since August 11, my blog seems to have gotten picked up so quickly by so many sources at once.

I haven’t spent any money on advertising either - and - all my traffic is referral traffic. Not SEO traffic. (I love traffic that doesn’t come from search engines btw).

Anyway, I want to spend a little bit a of time talking about practical business promotion. And the beauty of using the “internet” as a business building tool.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people who read my blog want to become “pro bloggers”, so, I’m going to use blog promotion as my reference point. But for those advanced entrepreneurs who read my blog, please keep in mind that blog promotion is really just a metaphor for “word of mouth” PR. And that my discussion is really about PR, not just about blog promotion.

All Business Promotion Is Imperfect

When I wrote about whoring out my headlines yesterday, I wasn’t just trying to be cute. I really do see things that way.

A lot of the topics I write about do NOT fit my market/message match perfectly. Far from it. I try and stay as close to my main message as possible - but - the fact is to get talked about (or linked to) you need to do certain things which don’t fit the main core of the message you want to get out.

For example, I write about Godaddy news events so that I can trackback to BobParsons Godaddy blog. His readers demographic is one that I target, so I want his readers to become MY READERS over time.

Here’s an incomplete list of things I do that’s worked so far, which I recommend:

• Report on current headlines that relate to your market. You might not be a news center (or want to be one) but the reality is, more people will reference you more frequently if you talk about the changes to your industry. Extra points if you can discuss the changes intelligently.
• Challenge commonly accepted dogma. While being a potential minefield, challenging dogma can be very successful if you’re very knowledgeable about your topic, and are able to present your challenge logically with references that people will accept as legitimate.
• Mix up your content production into different Media Channels. Nothing is more boring than having Rice and Beans for dinner every day of the week. Using different media (like video, audio and so on) allows people’s brain to be stimulated in different ways. It’s different strokes for different folks. (And PDF’s are easy to create and make your readers feel like they’re getting an ebook for free).
• Don’t stray too much into your personal interests. I know a lot of business owners (and blog owners) think that personal touch means “opinion on reality TV show I’m interested in”. It doesn’t mean that at all - unless the reality TV show is specifically about your market, they don’t want to know. Use personal interests in brief references to build a persona that seems real, like “I watched America’s Next Top Model Last Night, damn I’m lame because I love that show… anyway…” and go no further than that. Running polls about off topic things is pointless and ruins an opportunity to increase the relationship people COULD HAVE HAD with you and your blog (or business).

I notice people use a lot of laziness in their thinking. They allow themselves to get away with too much “because it’s a reflection of their ideals”. Listen, business is unforgiving as hell. You need to be making the most of every opportunity you have. Being harsh on yourself and your decisions.

Everything above the fold (AND below the fold) of your website needs to have a SPECIFIC REASON for being there. If it doesn’t have a valid reason, then your opportunity cost is ENORMOUS.

People write to me and complain “Why do your speak so negatively about the social media buttons at the bottom of each post? They’re tiny anyway, and I think people like them. You’re so mean. Stop being so mean about this stuff!”

Listen, I speak the way I do because I speak from experience.

Take a look at someone like Darren from Pro Blogger and you’ll notice he doesn’t waste a SINGLE ACTION on his blog. Sure he uses some social media buttons - but only TWO OF THEM. And guess what? I don’t have a single doubt in my mind he has a Digg button and a del.ico.us button because HE KNOWS AND HAS TESTED that these are the only two services his readers use. And his market of “pro blogger” are the MOST LIKELY market to be using social media - and these are the ONLY TWO he uses. Have you thought about that?

Every opportunity you squander because you accept lazy decision making to affect your business or blog, DAMAGES your ability to become more successful than you already are.

Just Say Thank You

I try and send thank you notes to every single person who links to me or mentions me - even if they don’t like or agree with what I’ve written.

Maki from DoshDosh wrote about this recently.

Sure it takes time, sure you won’t get back to everyone immediately. But try and get back to everyone EVENTUALLY. People like to feel appreciated, so appreciate them. It’ll come back to you.

And on that note, I would say be careful about being inflammatory. Sure I do it to a degree, but I’ve been marketing and promoting for a good few years now.

I read a woman the other day who was all up about “how I’ve got such a big ego” etc. etc. - however - I don’t try and be this way, I write like I speak. I’m confident, not cocky, and there’s a difference. The difference is that: if you’re confident you don’t have to force the cockiness - it just comes naturally lol

Part 2 to come…

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I was recently asked about headlines in my BlogRush post.

Karen asked me if she should describe her content in her headline, instead of crafting a headline that everyone would be interested in. So to answer her question I’ve written this analogy:

To me, the headline is the pretty girl I’ve put out on the street to make me some money (feminists every where will LOVE this analogy ;-)) - her job is to attract the rich guys driving past. But cuz I’m a super high end pimp, she’s going to be wearing Versace Couture, not fishnets with holes in them.

Her appearance will FILTER the type of men who find her attractive. She might be a bombshell, but, she won’t attract EVERYONE. In fact, her upper class appearance will most likely irk many men who know she’s out of their league. “Look at that stuck up bitch” they’ll say to each other.

How she dresses, how she does her hair, how she wears her makeup, etc. - if done well, these things will achieve two outcomes simultaneously:

1. Attract her target.
2. Repel everything that is NOT her target.

And a headline will achieve these two things in the same way. But you’ve gotta be a good pimp and dress the headline up for whoever your target audience is.

One of the things I do extensively is READ the forums/blogs of the various market I operate in. I literally write down the Jargon phrases the market is using, and also, write down the sentence/syntax that is commonly used. Doing this allows me to write like someone who is an “insider” of the market.

Nothing is more pathetic and awkward then sending your whore to a high end business function in ripped fishnets. So don’t think that you have to - you have the choice of dressing her up however you want: but only if you have the patience and dedication to learn what you must before you send her in

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