Make Money Online With Snowboardjohn

(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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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 1:50 am and is filed under Communication, How To Get Famous, Make Money Online Tip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.