Know What Makes You Stand Out From the Crowd, and “Milk it”
When you’re trying to make an online presence, whether it’s on a blog, with a business, on a social network, whatever – there’s one thing you have to ask yourself about what you’re doing: what do you have to offer that makes you stand out from the crowd. Entrepreneurs that realize this, take advantage and showcase it, is what makes them become successful. In other words, they take what they know how to do and they “milk it”.
You don’t have to come up with a unique product, idea, or blog to be successful – don’t misinterpret what I’m trying to say. All you have to do is make sure there’s a reason why people should visit, read or buy from you. Do this, and you’ll get your followers, and beat your competitors.
Example: Zappos.com – Customer Service
Zappos.com, which you’ve most likely heard of already, is a web-based company that sells shoes…(wait for it)…ONLINE. Shoes online. They entered the market when there were quite a few other shoe selling websites, and honestly the thought of selling (and buying) shoes online is just weird to me. But, even so, Zappos.com is a huge success. Why? Because they figured out how to stand out from the crowd – great customer service. Some even call it “over the top” customer service, and they make sure to let people know this is what they are all about.
There are a bunch of viral stories out there about what some Zappos customer service agents have done for their customers, but I won’t get into that here. You can, however, view an interview with the founder of Zappos.com, Nick Swinmurn at StartUpNation if you’re interested in their marketing strategy.
My Example
I think what makes this blog unique and relatively successful (it’s young, and has a long way to go!) is that I give real life examples and tips about online marketing from my own experience, and I get fairly detailed about what I do. A lot of people have told me they enjoy seeing my exact numbers and reading the details about what I’ve done to increase my earnings online and plan for a successful future.
As I said, I still have a long way to go. I plan to take what I know how to do and “Milk it” even more. For example, I’m in the process of taking my eBook series and turning it into an eBook itself that I will make a part of the Smart Passive Income experience. You’ll see more details about this later – but my point is know what you’re good at, know what you have to bring to the table that others cannot (or don’t do as well), and make it your own marketing tool.
Think About It:
If you have a blog, own a website, sell anything online or are part of a social network, please ask yourself: “What am I doing that makes me stand out from the crowd?” Really ask yourself…right now.
If you know the answer, then you’d better make sure your viewers know that too. If you don’t know the answer, then you’d better figure out what it is that you want people to notice.
I Will Link to Your Blog or Website in My Next Post if…
…you comment below with why you think anyone should visit your website. That’s it! Use the comment field below and I’ll put up a link with your website and your quote in my next post. I expect quite a few comments, so…how will you stand out from the crowd?
Posted on : April 26th, 2009
Related posts:
- How Well Do These Descriptions Stand Out From The Crowd?
- Pat’s Three Laws of Business and Success: Law #2
- Ask the Readers: How to Motivate the Unmotivated
- Three Questions Every Blogger Who Wants to Make Money Online Should Ask Themselves
- Pat’s Three Laws of Business and Success: Law #3
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36 Comments (Click Here to Leave a Comment Below)
Hi Pat,
Thank you for a great blog.
I believe people visit because of our value statement. We offer a UK tax refund service at the lowest guaranteed price, as well as the largest guaranteed refund.
Our SEO rankings on Google UK help too!
Great post!
People should visit my site to learn how to live a quality lifestyle on a limited budget.
(The financial impacts of divorce brought out and magnified my already frugal leanings.)
Thanks for this opportunity, your real life examples are certainly very valuable.
I try to give my audience the same value. Aspire to Grace offers a unique mixed- category experience that is aligned with many people’s spectrum of life aspirations and experiences. On Aspire to Grace, you will find tips and examples from my own experiences about the following:
-making money & alternative income sources
-web-related topics, including blogging
-relationships & marriage
-self-development and life management
Thank you for all of your advice.
I believe people visit our blog in order to find simple ways to live life together as families. We often post about our adventures in parenting, organic gardening, frugal living, cooking, and much more. While we are still developing our blog to find our exact niche, people like to read what’s going on with our family because we are very real.
Pat -
Thank you for an excellent post and a resourceful, ever-helpful blog. People should visit my website Custom Printables (custom monograms, wedding programs, logos, invitations, etc.) because I am 100% committed to giving my clients a positive experience from beginning to end by offering the most competitive prices online, communicating along every step of the way, and ensuring I know exactly what my clients want and need.
Congratulations on your success and best wishes.
People have said they like that I post brief, easy-to-understand articles about money every morning.
I’d like to think my blog is unique because I’m chronicling my financial journey from the beginning. I’m not writing about things that I’ve already established or have been doing for years. Everything I write about is as I learn it. I’m also very detailed with my net worth and financial goals.
Currently, I’m writing a series about asset allocation, where I will go into detail about how I’m selecting the asset classes that will be a part of my investment portfolio.
Most PF blogs are aimed at married, high-earning people. My blog is different because I have a small income and am very frugal.
I’d like to think that I’m a little different from other bloggers, as I work full-time for a large corporation, and I’m over 40. I have years of experience to draw from for my posts, though I’ve kept myself current regarding technology and ideas. My blog is a mix of computer how-tos, personal finance tips, book reviews, and career advice, though i never take myself too seriously.
Although my blog is fairly new, I am trying to earn passive income while holding down a full time job in order to stay at home with my kids in the future. I hope readers can appreciate my willingness to share details about my earnings as well as things that I am learning along the way. I think the challenges of a full time working mom “moonlighting” online in the evenings are of interest to other moms who also have to work.
This is a great blog. I stumbled on it today searching about writing for Ehow, which I also just started to do!
Sara
Hi Pat – Great post!
I think that people visit my blog and end up liking my no nonsense, no BS style of writing about ways to earn income on the internet.
You’re right on target with this post. You must differentiate yourself, otherwise, you’re just a “me too” marketer.
People should visit Sensible Small Business Ideas because the focus of the site is to encourage and help people start their own enterprises. Be they full time or part time enterprises, there are ideas there for everyone. To show the way, I’ve posted multiple detailed profiles with photos and stories of individuals who have started their own enterprise. This way, people can see for themselves that average people can be successful running their own business.
Clair
I believe that this is one of the most meaningful posts by Pat.
So what makes my blog different, and similarly, what will make yours stand out?
I believe it is knowing what people are looking for. Perhaps, not as a whole, as most others bloggers will try and cover, but maybe just an essential part that for whatever reason, isn’t prominent on the internet, or that you are a real pro at.
Here is my example. I have been fighting for custody for 13 years now. I have had to do it all by myself (called “Pro Per” or “Pro Se”) without the help of an attorney. My blog is dedicated to helping other loving, caring fathers in similar situations fight a potentially winning battle while keeping the “best interests of the child” in mind, and removing them from the line of fire for their benefit. There are many websites out there that deal with divorce, child custody, and support, but there is an amazing lack of help for fathers who cannot afford lawyers to fight the already biased court system, and even less that make it simple and easy to understand. What I specialize in, there is almost no help save the custody forums where people are always asking what to do (which seeing what people are asking for the most happens to be one of the best ways to gauge whether your idea will make it, in my opinion).
It is my hope that the information that I have, found through research, trial and error, and dumb luck, can help other non custodial parents out there, and more importantly, the children involved in these hapless situations. I don’t have ANY competition at this time on the net, yet there is a big demand from forums, “ask question” type websites such as Yahoo answers, and a relatively large amount of search traffic.
I started following Pat here about a month ago, and from the few emails that we’ve exchanged, I can sincerely recommend him and this blog to anyone who wants to generate a “Smart Passive Income”! He’s sincere, down to earth, and refreshingly funny.
It was partly due to this site and him that I decided to set up my wordpress blog and begin my quest helping others. I got the domain only two weeks ago (for only $8.00 and as of now, that is all the investment that I’ve put in), and have just put a little optimized content up and links to pertinent websites. While I am building my e-book guide, my blog has Adsense ads and I use eHow.com to also supplement the income (and BTW, Pat, I just got laid off last week!). I was lucky in realizing that I had experience in the one thing most other custody and divorce “help” sites skate around and really don’t address. I used mind maps, as recommended for building not only my guide, but the core content of my blog as well.
Determining how your site is going to be different can be the hardest part. The “Hierarchy of being different” is, for me, as follows:
1. How much actual demand (people asking for the info on forums)?
2. How much can you offer to these people that they can’t find too many other places (why are they asking on forums, and not just web searching? – is the info even out there)?
3. Can you generate Passive Residual Income while helping others (and how will you accomplish it)?
Although perhaps flawed in process, it worked for me as building blocks, and hope it can help you too.
Son K
Great post, as always. Your blog constantly motivates and inspires me.
People, mostly moms, read my blog, The Best Kids Toys, because a) women love spending money, we can’t help it, b.) moms love finding out about all the best toys for their kids – because although we love to spend money, we HATE to waste it, c.) I look at lots of toys that you won’t find at your local WalMart, and d.) sometimes I beg them to read.
Hello Pat,
by the way I am German and I like to read your blog very much. You have got very impressive stories. I am a tax consultant and lawer in Germany and I have some websites and a blog concerning corporate governance, tax law and management. I know exactly where the most people fail and try to help them with my stories. My websites are as new as yours. So let`s do a good job and “milk” them
People should visit my site because THEY are the key focus of my blog. By engaging in personal development using the weekly success factors that I write about, they can change their attitude and their mindset, leading to marked improvements in their financial and social bottom line results. Because it’s weekly, it’s not too much, and it’s not too little.
Hey Pat,
You should link to my website because people can easily learn what it takes to use Twitter to make money and build a businesses by reading the Make Money Using Twitter ebook.
Neil
Hey Pat,
Thanks for the chance to get known!
As a landscaper and garden coach, I help people feel confident and excited to get outside and enjoy the process of gardening. So much garden advice is general and “sounds good” in nature – that is to say – nobody’s actually tried that shiny new idea the glossy mags are suggesting. I bring my experience in the field and translate it into easy-to-understand info for those who think they’d enjoy gardening but feel overwhelmed or unsure of where to start.
Helping to grow new gardeners is my passion.
-Genevieve
Think back to any period in history and you should be able to come up with a long list of things you could make with the tools of the time, but which were not invented until much later. Once the idea is out there, it makes the invention inevitable.
zogdo.com is dedicated to the current equivalent of those inventions, those things that, when you see them, you kick yourself for not having thought of it yourself years ago. I aspire to provide the design inspiration for the rest of us to create the inventions of tomorrow.
I subscribe to the belief that home security should be something that makes your life easier, rather than getting in your way; it should light your way.
I provide solution oriented navigation and reviews. Whether my guests are trying to discourage burglars, keep nocturnal animals from their garden and livestock, or just looking for something pretty to help them find their keys at night, My site intuitively navigates them to the right product.
I actually just launched my new photography website (with a complementary blog)…switching focus from organizing to my true passion of photography! Overall, I feel like what I can offer is a unique spin on regular portrait photography due to my first love of nature photography. I not only offer services to my local area in the form of inexpensive outdoor portraits, but I also cater to anyone and everyone in the form of nice handmade nature-themed greeting card sets and digital editing services based my growing experience in the digital darkroom. My complementary blog will serve as my regularly updated “gallery space” so to speak.
It’s hard to stand out from the crowd in the photography world, so thanks for the opportunity, Pat! I think your new eBook idea sounds great!
My online magazine for new parents (21 Months Magazine) stands out from the myriad other pregnancy, baby and parenting sites in its efficient, fact-oriented format.
There are no message boards, no overlong articles split into 5 pages to increase ad revenue, no editorial exposition at the beginning of the articles ~ just the quick but thorough answers a new parent or parent-to-be wants.
Since new fathers (read: men) are more likely to be attracted to a just-the-facts format and may feel alienated by the touchy-feely atmosphere of other baby and parenting sites, I will add special focus to articles and promotion efforts targeting new dads going forward.
Thanks for the opportunity to clarify my mission in a public forum!
Christine Taylor
Editor, 21 Months Magazine
I’ve been following your blog via my wife (Sarah H) and find your success very inspirational. I recently launched a new website, called DEAL Chasr. It’s a deals site that identifies products on Amazon.com that have had significant price drops. The way that it is unique from other deals sites is that it identifies deals more quickly so people can get in on the deals before the prices go back up.
Hi Pat,
Slacker response…coming in late!
I started a business with no money and no business know-how when I was 20. By the time I was 26, I had sold it for $1,100,000.00. Find out how I did it, and how you can grow your own business to over $1 million, at http://erica.biz .
-Erica
Oh, this turned out to be harder than I thought!
Folks should visit my blog because it’s about simple living for real people, not perfect people. In a world where everybody else is telling you to do and have more, I’m there to tell you to do less—and actually enjoy it.
My website was built to suggest the online dating market to those on the fence. The number of people I know in life who have found rewarding relationships from online dating services is staggering. Online dating is efficient; online dating is potentially rewarding; and online dating is a way to stay proactive in your effort to find love. Good luck to you!
Great idea for generating comments, connections, and for encouraging your readers to really consider the value prop offered by their sites. Hmm, I want to take this as seriously as you intended it…. so here goes.
Hi, my name is Dave Ozment and I think folks should visit my site, DoYouDaveRamsey.com because I try share information in both an entertaining and authentic manner. Much of my content is culled from my own experiences. I’m also a pretty decent fella and I thoroughly enjoy connecting with my readers via comments and readers. Hop over and learn more about me!
You should visit my site because I offer the internets only personal finance and entrepreneurship blog that actually gives you the tools and ideas for your own millionaire journey, online…and offline. I offer a well rounded view of the connected relationship between the “‘online world” and the “real world”.
Very thought provoking – I just found your site today and have been really enjoying looking it over.
I started writing just to put my experience out there with regaining control of my finances and getting out of debt (student loans in particular) but will have to give it some additional thought.
One thing that I have been writing more about lately is working through financial items as a couple. Not at all unique but given that my girlfriend is a single mother of two and shares custody with the children’s fathers I may be able to develop some new interesting content to offer there.
Anyway – thanks for the topic and your other content, it has been a pleasure to read!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Good luck on your website. I’m actually recently married and have been searching around for various tips on couples’ finances. Good stuff. Keep it up!
Cheers,
Pat
Shopping Plaza Online is the best way to find everthing you needed for your kids.
It is really true successful people find out what others have missed out.You are always out to see rather than looking inwards.Just,I have started a blog to read faces.Not picking up still…..Hope to find somebody to help increase traffic and income
Great Article!I saw great free trial offers here:http://freefree2u.com/
I do my best to stick to the basics and addressing the beginner rather than the accomplished expert.
well pointed out
[...] Flaunt your unique. In other words, know what makes you stand out from the crowd, and milk it. In order to succeed, especially online, you can’t blend in and just be another blog or [...]