Posts Tagged ‘success’
5 Reasons Why No One Pays Attention To Your Content
This is a guest post by Fit Jerk riddled with brutal, brash, unrelenting honesty. (and that’s why I love the dude!)
When you combine all the hoo-haa from the big time names in blogging (Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan etc), you start to see things differently. You start to believe in blogging. Hell, you start to believe that that YOU can blog and MAKE IT! These guys and gals pump you up, they motivate you and tell you to get your word out there and be successful.
So off you go, starting your own blog in hopes of becoming “pro” and after some time a grave realization comes up on you when you find out that… No one gives a flying poodle shit about what you have to say!
Now we obviously know why this is a problem. So I decided I’m gonna do something about this and help out the ones that are being ignored. I have taken the time to pint-point five areas in blogging where you might be weak (it could be all of them) and then provided a little cure so you can turn it into your strength. Don’t get all offended if I nail the problem in the head about you or your blog… it happens. You’ll get through it, I promise… Maybe. Let’s get on with it.
1. You suck.
I mean, plain and simple… you just suck. You couldn’t string words together into a sentence if your life depended on it. In fact, if humanity’s sole survival depended on you writing a half-decent paragraph, you’d be responsible for wiping out our entire fucking species. That’s a lot of sucking.
BUT… luckily for you, it’s not the end of the world. Why? Well first of all, humanity doesn’t depend on you (thank the lord). And second of all, if you suck, you can do something about it. You can either switch mediums to get your message across (like Gary Vaynerchuk… he is a terrible writer so he dictated his book to someone who could write and is a video blogger himself) OR you can learn how not to suck… and blow shit outta the water instead. This is what I did. I was a sucky-ass writer, so I decided to read, learn and practice till people went from “WTF is this dude?” to “This is half decent” – and to me, that was good enough to start with.
And now just look at me, I’ve made it in life! I’m all prestigious, world-famous and guest posting on… Not A Pro Blog! Damn, never mind. I still love you Jordan.
2. You fail to make an impression – people forget you.
Or to put it in other words… you’re boring as fuck. You couldn’t hold the attention span of a tied down sloth. Technically you can write, but your content reads like a math text book. It puts people to sleep and causes zero emotional excitement. I think the authors of this type of content should pay ME to read their crap. Id rather look at dull gray skies and watch King Of The Hill… at least there’s a small chance I might have a good time.
If you fall into this category, then the first thing you need to do is start living a more exciting life. I don’t give a shit if you’re an introvert… so is Darren Rowse, yet he found a way to write compelling content for the masses. So why can’t you?
Then go take some improv lessons… or better yet, tell Jordan that you’ll give him sexual favors in exchange for some comedy training. Also, reading content by other authors who are considered to be “good” or “great” isn’t a bad idea. And no, reading my shit doesn’t constitute it as being “great” content.
… Its actually constitutes as be phenomenal! 
3. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
This one is almost incurable… simply because these people can’t accept that they’re wrong and keep talking out of their asses. I mean, the truth could come and whack them on the ass with a 2×4 and they’ll just find that kinky as hell. What really bugs me is that sometimes these people don’t suck at writing and actually have a personality… but if they only did some god damn research before opening their pie hole, I wouldn’t want to punch them in the face.
But, I did say “almost”. If you happen to fall into this category… it’s OK to accept it. I forgive your ignorant ass, just move on and better yourself. Don’t keep spewing out the same nonsense over and over again, change it up. Be more real. Be thought provoking… then see how people actually pay attention to you.
4. You can’t promote for shit.
As in, if you were a club promoter… that place would be out of business faster than the Betamax. If you don’t know how to put your content in front of eyeballs, then forget it. How the hell do you expect anyone to pay attention to you? No one… NO ONE will come knocking on your door willingly. At least not at first.
You need to have a basic understanding of marketing and how to leverage eyeballs and traffic so you can get people to read your shit. If you are having trouble in this area, may I suggest my in-depth article – 4 SEO Laws Of Online Success. This article is “evergreen” which means no matter how many times Google changes their top secret search algorithm, following my tips will never go outta style. It’s like a classy black dress – party, family gathering, funeral or slutty bar night… it’ll always work.
5. You have no patience.
Ok, lets say you’re a half decent writer, you have a personality, you know what you’re talking about and you started to do some social media marketing along with a few other methods. Yet, you realize the number of people paying attention to you is almost insignificant. What’s wrong?
Nothing! You need to realize that this is NOT an overnight process. Quit your bitching, keep your chin up and keep working, networking, promoting etc. Or if you’re me, a lil bit of harassing as well – it goes a long way. In all honesty, don’t expect traction for a minimum of 6 months if you are serious about gaining something from your blogging efforts. Say it with me “MIN-NI-MUM OF SIX MONTHS”
The ONLY way you can flip your blog “overnight” is if you have like $10,000 to spend on AdWords and you promote the living shit outta your blog or site for 5 days straight – buying every possible ad space on every possible site related to your niche. Truth be told, this is not a bad strategy… but unless you know what the fuck you’re doing and/or have a proper business model in place, you will lose your money faster than Lindsay Lohan lost her virginity.
So there you have it…
Truth be told, not everyone pays attention to me either… and that’s just dandy with me. I’m more of a polarizing writer, which means I cause either black or white emotions. For example, just think of your opinion of me right now, after reading all of that. You probably hate me, or you love me… but I doubt you’re like “oh he’s ok”. And if you do think im “ok”… then screw you. Stop messing up my examples!
The point is, it’s not that hard to get people to listen to you. Specially not in today’s world with all these social applications that keep popping up. You just gotta apply the tips and be willing to put in the work.
While he has a passion for writing and oozes the entrepreneurial spirit, FJ is a Fitness Expert first, and focuses on impeccably accurate advice that is delivered it in a straight forward, No-BS style. Check out his Fitness Blog and E-Training program!
7 Things Bloggers Can Learn From Watching Dexter
I’m aware that many bloggers reading this right now don’t watch television at all. Of course not, you’re too busy writing list posts comparing your niche to a popular TV series or a movie character! If I had to suggest one show to check out, though, it would be Dexter.
The Showtime series is based around Dexter Morgan, a serial killer who works as a forensic blood spatter analyst for the police department. Harnessing the darkness inside only to kill those “who deserve it” (primarily other killers), the series shows Dexter trying to balance an everyday life with his secret identity while still appearing normal to all those around him. A very entertaining show in it’s own right, watching Dexter can also teach you a fair bit about blogging. Let’s take a look!
Be aware that the following may contain spoilers, so read at your own peril!
1. Learn the tools of your trade hiding within plain sight.
Freely comment on other’s blogs, engage people on Twitter and generally play nicely with the community. In the process though, absorb their quality content and mooch off their resources as much as possible. It’s not like you have feelings for these bloggers, so who cares if you’re just playing a rouse to get traffic and feeding your darkness?
2. Clean up all evidence of your crimes and leave no witnesses.
Turn your blog into a kill room. Moderate your comments relentlessly and delete those that can show others who you truly are. When in doubt, make your comment section nofollow and dump links on Squidoo, since no one will think of searching there.
3. Jimmy Smits is available for guest posts.
The fact that the former NYPD Blue star chose to play a supporting character for a season on a cable channel obviously shows that he’s desperate for work. Feel free to send him $15 via Paypal and I’m sure he’ll write for your blog.
4. Need help coming up with post ideas? Just talk to your dead father!
He’s the one who gave you the code to live by – the blueprint for ‘killer’ success. Keep him white listed in your spam filter though. He pops up all the time.
5. When you find someone that seems perfect, visit their house. It’s probably a facade.
Every blogger looks up to guys like Darren Rowse and Brian Clark, putting them up on a pedestal as a shining example of what they’d like to become some day. But how much do you really know about them? Visit their house on Thanksgiving and you might find them beating their wife, breaking their son’s fingers while caressing the urn holding their dead sister’s remains.
6. If you get caught lying, pretend you have a drug problem.
No one will fault you then because the blogging community cares deeply about your private life, right? Even if you do get ostracized, publicizing your demons will cause a boatload of self improvement or lifestyle design gurus to come out of the woodwork and attempt to be your savior. If they get too close for your liking, be like Dexter and pin a crime on them!
7. It’s totally okay your wife is dead. That just means you can finally blog in peace!
The Homeless Blogger’s Guide to Procrastination
The following is a guest post by Henri Junttila.
How many times have you sat in front of your computer and stared at that bright, white, evil and blank sheet of virtual paper that is Microsoft Word? Then after a while you get sick of it and try to find something else to do, such as stare at the wall, pet the dog or just do weird stuff with your material possessions (it’s not the stuff you’re thinking about).
This is what I call the homeless blogger. We all have a homeless blogger inside of us. He’s constantly shuffling, looking for that quick-fix of internet heroin (a.k.a Google Analytics and Twitter). Is a homeless blogger automatically an addict, you might ask? The pie charts say yes.
3 Ways to Procrastinate Yourself to True Freedom
There are a lot of tips I could give you, but I’m just going to share a few of them because the key to really successful blogging is learning what’s going on with your inner homeless blogger. While this may sound strange, it is something that the A-list “gurus” don’t admit, except in private ninja, underground meetings.
With that said, here are a few extra secret tips to true homelessness freedom, so don’t share and don’t retweet, because this is where the good stuff begins.
- 1. Stats. Traffic stats, twitter followers, adsense clicks and other stats are the key to procrastination. Those numbers never update, because nobody likes you, but the thrill you get from clicking refresh every 1.6 seconds is amazing.
- 2. Cats. Animals are crucial here, but one of the best ones are cats, because cats are secretly living the exact same lives humans are. The only difference is that they chase mice, we chase money. Tomato, tamato. YouTube is a place for serious education, but somehow videos of cats got up there. Don’t ask me how, some kind of inside job or conspiracy is my guess.
- 3. Blogging reports. You have to stay updated on the same stuff that keeps coming out. Read all of the blogging reports that come out, because they contain useful and important information, such as writing text on your blog. That stuff is impossible to figure out on your own, so cancel everything you’re doing (anything important at least, not the cat stuff) and read the goddamn reports.
The Deep Wrap Up Summary
If you want to be the anti-homeless blogger, you don’t necessarily have to shut down all your distractions. Distractions are a part of our lives. Let’s be honest, we all have ADD and some people have severe mental problems, but that’s okay!
The interwebs makes this all okay. Learn to embrace the distractions. I check my stats all the time. I know people say that after the first 3 months you don’t check your stats, but I check mine even more now and I’ve added YouTube cat videos to the mix. People still call me a machine, because I comment on 108 blogs and I write guest posts like this one in like 3 minutes. I do it all with distractions.
Wake Up Cloud is about helping people improve their lives not only through achieving financial freedom, but also improving their productivity, beliefs and realizing you can live a life full of passion and fulfillment. A new friend, I look forward to reading more of Henri’s self improvement ideas in 2010.
Dumb People Click On Links
The importance of e-mail list subscribers. Do you really need them?
Of course you need them! You should have known that answer already. Every internet marketer known to man has proclaimed that e-mail converts and they’re absolutely right. But no one knows why except for the talking gerbil that lives inside of John Chow’s sock drawer. Fortunately, I have been given an exclusive interview with the remarkably rich rodent and am bringing you the inside scoop!
Q: I only have 12 minutes left to write this post, so let’s cut to the chase. Why does e-mail convert?
A: It’s all because of dumb people, Jordan. All because of them. Do you realize it’s the largest demographic of people in the world?
Q: What do you mean, Harold? (that’s his name, by the way)
A: You and me, we’re smart and savvy. We know technology. We know what RSS is. We don’t use Internet Explorer. We’re regularly on Twitter and more importantly, we know when people are full of shit. Dumb people don’t, so that’s why we market to them.
Q: Yeah, I read that in the $497 two-page eReport I bought from your website.
A: You’ve done your research then… oh also, dumb people like e-mail! Can you believe that? They like it because it’s the only thing about the internet they know how to use. So why not send them a message posing as their best friend from high school? It’s even more effective when you send them vague anchor text like “click here”. Dumb people click on links.
Q: Great point, but shouldn’t targeted search engine traffic with Adwords do more for you anyways?
A: Of course, that’s a big part of our scam. But there’s only so much focus you can draw out of dumb people’s short attention span. Don’t you notice sales pages only give you the option to “buy now” and nothing else to click?
Q: Yeah, that’s definitely something I see. Is that because of dumb people?
A. Yup. Too many links.
Q: Harold, thanks for taking the time out to share your secrets of internet marketing success.
A: No problem, man. Now can you help me get this Asian guy out of my damn house?
What It Takes To Be An Overnight Failure
Chris Brogan has talked a lot on his blog about what it takes to be an overnight success. While I appreciate his candor, I think he’s only speaking to a very small demographic that has the chops to make it happen. What about the rest of us who, despite our pathetic attempts at becoming a super awesome social media uber-guru, will never reach those heights… or even 20 unique visitors to our blog? (fingers crossed!) Has Chris forgotten about the little people who exalt him as their savior while they do the complete opposite of what he says?
Well, I’ll speak for you then! For the tens of thousands of wanna-be blogging ninjas and internet rockstars. For the hundreds upon hundreds of fake experts who regurgitate fast-food content and auto-follow their way up on Twitter to boost their worthless self-esteem.
For you, the affiliate marketer who couldn’t sell a blind man a new pair of eyes. For you, the membership site wizard who sells membership site subscriptions to discuss membership sites with people looking to sell membership sites on membership sites. For you, the teenage “living the life” entrepreneurs who still rely on mom and dad’s allowance to pay hosting costs. For you, Blogspot users.
For everyone out there who still has $98.64 to go before receiving their first Adsense check. For everyone out there who networks so poorly, even Tom on MySpace isn’t your friend. For everyone out there who wants to be an overnight success, but knows deep down in their heart that they’re a failure!
Let’s show all the six-figure entrepreneurs making money online that our job takes a lot of hard work too! It’s difficult putting in 45 minutes a day in between watching every episode of Lost (again!) and working as the Clucky’s Chicken advertising mascot! It’s difficult to write about what you know when your “passion” is dropping roofies at high school house parties! It’s difficult to be an overnight success when you don’t even know that “overnight” is only one word!
I will speak for you, my children. What does it take to be an overnight failure?
An Overly Critical Review of Beyond Blogging
I know what you’re thinking: “another book about making money blogging?” Well, that’s at least what I thought when Nathan Hangen asked me if I wanted to record a video testimonial for his new product. Written with Mike CJ, the book actually surprised my cynical self as I saw it was not just another cookie cutter how-to guide that doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s beyond that!
Beyond Blogging examines the story of over a dozen A-List bloggers, thanks to a series of interviews and case studies, to bring you the truth behind what it takes to become a successful blogger. (their awesome copy, not mine.) You’ll see a lot of familiar faces featured inside the 200+ page book coming from many different avenues and perspectives: Chris Brogan, Pete Cashmore, Brian Clark, David Risley, John Chow as well as my own personal favorite influence, Gary Vaynerchuk.
Be aware though, it’s not just biographical profiles of successful bloggers. Who wants to read more boasts about how much so-and-so made last year? I sure don’t. What I do want is to pick the brain of some of the top online “rockstars” and easily extract the concepts and philosophies they’ve used in building a business out of their passion. Beyond Blogging does just that!
Typically, I’m quite harsh at reviewing most things and will nit-pick it to death, but I’m at a loss when it comes to this book. Hmm, maybe I can find something bad to say about it…. Oh, I know!
After every interview/case study, Nathan and Mike provide a traffic analysis graph of the subject’s blogs so you can get a better measurement of their impact and a track record of their success. The by-product is that you’ll likely feel even worse about your own blog in the process. “150,000 visitors a month? I haven’t even had that many in 8 years combined on 24 different blogs! I guess it’s back on the bottle for me to drink away my sorrows!”
Feel free to check out the video where Nathan Hangen and Mike CJ talk about how they co-authored the book, the process in putting it together and why you need to go Beyond Blogging.
Be aware I rarely recommend anything, but Beyond Blogging is definitely something I have no problem in putting my lack of a reputation on the line. Buy a copy when it comes out and let me know what you think!
Bathroom Readability Rating: 98/100 (since I do almost all of my book reading on the toilet)
Do Kids Have To Wait Until They Grow Up?
The mainstream media always sensationalizes news stories about child predators and pornography on the internet. They seem to urge parents to closely monitor their kid’s computer activity and put up safeguard software to be especially vigilant. Although I’m not a parent myself, I can understand their biological need to protect their offspring from potential harm – but are we doing so at the cost of shielding them from the greatest possible resource tool humankind has ever created?
We’re no longer living in a time where life’s path is cookie-cutter and easy to predict chronologically. In the “old” days, it was about going to college, scoring a great entry-level job at a top company, buying a house with white picket fences, marrying your sweetheart and having 2.5 kids before repeating the process all over again.
If you take a look at this list of young entrepreneurs making money online, it’s easily apparent that the “road less traveled” is becoming more and more standard fare than it once was. Regular blogs that I read for valuable help include Teenius, Blogussion and DaneBlogger which are all run by bloggers who can’t even buy a beer yet in this country! And they’re doing better than me! So why are parents still predominantly raising their kids with a notion that there’s only one path to success?
Looking at problems faced by young entrepreneurs online, it seems like most facets deal with adults who can’t handle the fact that kids are much smarter and savvier nowadays. Children have been given more tools to communicate, more access to information and more freedom to express themselves. Instead of shielding them from the potential pitfalls of this open stream, let’s look to embrace the technology and combine it with their likes, hobbies and passions. Even if it’s a passing flash-of-the-pan activity, you’ll be setting your children up for greater success in the future. This could give them vital experience and skills in an area that can translate well into their eventual choice of study and career.
Parents: What are you doing to get your children involved with their passions?