Blogging = survival of the fittest.
It’s seriously a jungle out there, and for newly hatched blogs, it’s even harder to survive.
But, there are a number of things you can do right away as a “hatchling” to immediately gain ground “in the wild” and transform yourself from a newbie, to what may seem like a seasoned pro.
Below is a list of things (big and small) that you can do as a newbie, so you don’t stand out as a newbie. Click to continue…
Content is King.
You’ve probably heard this statement before. If not, Wikipedia (yes, Wikipedia) illustrates the idea of “Content is King” as:
“…without original and desirable content…any media venture is likely to fail through lack of appealing content, regardless of other design factors.”
You can have the best-designed, coolest, most functional website around, but without good content, your website (or eBook, course, podcast, video production, etc.) is pretty much useless.
However, please don’t misunderstand the idea here. Design, or presentation is still absolutely necessary.
Design without content is useless, but content without design is dumb.
In other words: design matters. Click to continue…
It’s in our nature to always look at what’s not working, first.
Take for example, the report card shown below. What stands out to you?
Probably that “F”, right?
If this was your report card, even with 7 “A+” marks, you probably wouldn’t be able to get your mind off of that “F”. Of course, an “F” is a failing grade, so there’s definitely a reason to be concerned.
Now, let’s see an example of a report card that is nearly perfect and see how we feel about it:
If your son or daughter gave you this report card, you’d probably be very, very proud. However, can you not help looking at that “B+” and wonder what happened?
Again, we are attracted to what is wrong.
This is why bad news grabs our attention more than good news. It’s why missing a slam dunk is more often a big deal than making one. It’s why some ideas die, businesses fail, blogs get abandoned and why we’re so infatuated with trying to fix what is wrong, instead of first trying to understand what’s behind the things that are working for us.
So the next time you’re looking to really improve your business, blog, or whatever you do online, don’t dive right into what’s wrong. First look at what’s going well and try to understand why. You’ll be surprised to find that often the solution for what you’re trying to improve may very well be behind something that’s going well in your business already.
I can’t take credit for the little report card demo. This was a variation on something I learned in the book Switch, which I’ve been raving about lately. If you’re looking for something to read, I definitely recommend it.
Here’s to a great weekend! Cheers!
In my last post, The Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Newsletter, I detailed the why and how to get started with a newsletter for your blog or online business. I’ll have to admit that I’m quite proud of that post (with 5 hours and 4000 words invested into it), however there’s one thing that I did not touch on that is probably the most important element to understand when it comes to your newsletter: what to put in it.
That’s what I’m here to discuss today. Click to continue…
I don’t do these kinds of posts as often as I probably should, because there is a lot of killer posts out there that people cannot afford to miss reading. Here are a few notable posts (in no particular order) that I’ve recently read that have struck a chord with me and may do the same to you too. Enjoy!
Thanks everyone for your support, and have a wonderful weekend! If you’ve recently read something awesome (from a blog other than your own!) that you think would be useful to the SPI readers, please feel free to leave a link below in the comments.
Cheers!
“What’s more important to you: Quantity, or Quality?”
Your answer might be – it depends. It depends on what exactly we’re talking about, and in what context too. For example, would you rather have 50 average tasting bananas, or 1 banana that tastes better than any other banana you’ve ever had before.
If you’re stranded on a deserted island, then it really doesn’t matter what the dang banana tastes like – the more, the better! In other situations, you just want one, but you want it to taste really good. For some of you, maybe you just don’t like bananas at all.
Okay – banana analogy aside, I wanted to get a little more specific here and see what people thought about Quantity vs. Quality in regards to blog posts. Click to continue…
Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend a presentation by Chip Heath, one of the authors of one of my favorite books, Made to Stick, who is now in the middle of a nationwide tour to promote his new book, Switch. After the short presentation (which was awesome!), I stood in line like a rabid teenage pop star fan and got my free copy of Switch signed, as you can see.
Sweet!
During the lunch that followed, I ended up debriefing a friend about some of the principles in Made to Stick, which he had yet to read. One of the topics that came up, was “The Curse of Knowledge”. (Insert sinister laugh here.)
The “Curse of Knowledge” is best illustrated in a little game that you can play with a friend. Try it out: Click to continue…
I know a lot of you have been asking me about Article Marketing and what exactly it can be used for. Well, since I only do minimal amounts of Article Marketing, I’ve found someone who has much more experience to write about it for you today. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below if you still have questions unanswered. Enjoy!
This is a guest post by Henri Junttila from Wake Up Cloud.
Do you want to generate more traffic to your blog or website? Do you want to increase your subscribers, sales and fans?
It can be done, but only if you’re prepared to work hard. You’ve probably heard people say that article marketing is dead. I’m here to tell you it’s not, because I’m currently using it successfully.
There will always be people that proclaim that everything’s dead. Google Adsense is dead, blogging is dead and whatever else.
These are the people that have failed and want something to blame. Increasing traffic to your blog and website is extremely simple with article marketing, so let’s get started, shall we? Click to continue…
In my last post, I had mentioned that I wanted to tell you what my favorite infomercial was and dissect it so we can all learn about why it’s successful. Well, I decided to change things up a bit because a few nights ago, my wife and I had what was probably one of the most important conversations ever, and it’s directly related to what I do online. This message that I want to share with you, which came as a result of our discussion, is more important than any infomercial tactic, blogging tip or online business strategy that I could possibly offer.
(And in case you are wondering, the infomercial was P90X.)
The subject of our discussion was my work schedule. The problem was: I didn’t have one.
As someone who has been somewhat successful online thus far earning a passive income, I do have the ability to work less hours, and if I really wanted to, not work at all. However, having this freedom to work whenever I want has put negative thoughts in my head about adhering to an actual schedule.
Why would I want to “force” myself to a schedule and work during specific hours of the day, when I have the freedom to work whenever I want?
I now know the answer. Click to continue…
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