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Why your email list isn’t growing as fast as you want

By Christian

question — Why aren't people signing up for your email list? Why aren't they buying what you're selling? The answer is a lot simpler than you may realize...

Building a solid email list of people who want to hear from you regularly is the single most important thing you can do as a small business owner. A targeted, responsive email list makes everything else so much easier. Wouldn’t you agree? Yet many of us struggle with how to get this done, so I want to give you a specific example from my own business.

What People Want to Hear vs What They Need to Hear

As a sales trainer, I’ve always had to tell people what they NEED to hear. If I spent all my time with clients telling them what they WANT to hear, we’d never make any progress. When it comes to getting results you simply have to do what it takes. Short cuts don’t work. We all know this, right?

I’ve spent the last few months sharing on this blog what I’ve learned about how to produce results for real. I know how to sell…been doing it online and offline for over 10 years. But importantly, the fact that I know this topic isn’t what causes people to sign up for my list. They only sign up when I tell them what they WANT to hear first. That’s how we get started. I can only tell people what they need to hear after I first tell them what they want to hear.

Here’s an interesting tidbit…I changed my opt-in forms a while back and promised a quick, simple solution to starting a profitable business blog (the most common request from my paying consulting clients so far)…my opt in rates immediately rose between 200%-1000%. Overall, an average 400% increase across the site. Consider the impact of this. I changed NOTHING about the blog or myself. I’m selling the exact same stuff I was before. All I changed was the packaging! Here are some questions to consider:

Can you see the value in this?
Would you be willing to repackage yourself as well?
Do you feel this would somehow diminish the value you offer people?
Do you believe telling people what they want to hear is dishonest?

Current Perception (NOT actual value) = Value

Would you like to see a 400% increase in your results as well? Then carefully criticize your marketing message, your headlines, your tweets, etc. Are you simply “giving valuable information”? Or are you “telling people what they want to hear”? Go back and look at what you’ve done so far, and you might be surprised at how often you’re failing to CONNECT with your audience. It’s an honest mistake. We all do it.

See…information is only valuable if it’s acted upon. And no one acts on information just because YOU know it to be effective. This is really important: they have to PERCEIVE it to be effective. Put another way…you can’t sell what’s actually going to be helpful to people. It’s silly, but it’s true. People only buy what they PERCEIVE to be valuable. See the difference? It’s huge.

So, the buyer’s CURRENT PERCEPTION is what you need to connect with. That’s why people keep buying crappy get-rich-quick products. They promise to deliver what the buyer PERCEIVES is a solution for them. But you are different. YOU are going to sell them something that actually helps them, right? But first you need to realize that your headlines and sales messages should not attempt to communicate the ACTUAL VALUE of what you’re selling! Your sales process, in order to be effective, must actually engage the buyer’s current perceptions of value.

…as a marketer you need to realize that purchases (or opt-ins to your email list) are made at the point of intersection between perceived value and communicated value…

What do your buyers want?

They want a quick fix. You don’t even need to research this. Trust me; every market is the same in this regard. They want to make more money…NOW. They want six pack abs…NOW. They want to find their dream home…NOW. And they don’t want to have to come up with a down payment (of course). You get the idea.

In other words, they want something completely ridiculous, and it’s your job to engage that desire. Notice I didn’t say it’s your job to give them what they want. This is a very important distinction. It’s simply your job to ENGAGE their current perceptions of value. You’re not selling them a piece of junk, because you’re not a scam artist, but as a marketer you need to realize that purchases (or opt-ins to your email list) are made at the point of intersection between perceived value and communicated value. In other words, your message must intersect with what they’re looking for…which is a quick fix. Unless that occurs, the buyer is not engaged, and no sale…no opt-in takes place.

Conversely, if your message DOES engage their perceived value, they can hardly help themselves. Your offer becomes so much more compelling, because you’re speaking to them directly. You’re meeting them on their turf. You’re making the extra effort to communicate to them that you actually understand what they want.

Questions

How does your marketing hold up to this criteria so far?
Are you going to go back and figure out a way to increase your conversions by 400%?
Does this “repackaging” concept not sit well with you; do you feel it’s dishonest?
Can you think of an example where you really felt you had a great offer, but it failed to connect or get the result you had hoped for?
Is there anything I can do to clarify or help you implement this concept in your business?

I honestly feel this one single concept can completely change the course of your business. I’ve seen it happen again and again. One tweak, and everything changes. I hope this article gives you some fuel for improving your marketing dramatically. As always, comment or email with your questions or concerns:-)

7L: The Seven Levels of Communication (Book Review)

By Christian

You know I don’t do reviews often. Hardly ever. However, a new book has come along that has real merit. It deserves all the exposure it can get, and YOU deserve to know about it.

A good friend Michael Maher has worked hard on The Seven Levels of Communication for over a year. Candidly, it’s a serious asset to the world of small business. I call em like I see em.

Since I had the pleasure of talking with Michael several times as he went through the process of writing this, I can give you my direct, personal impression of where this book is coming from:

Unlike many books in this genre, 7L was not written for the purpose of acquiring money or fame. It was not written to upsell something else. It was not written to fulfill a contract. Michael Maher wrote this book with passion. He wrote it as a means of contribution. He wrote it for the purpose of giving back. It’s a book of substance, written from a place of genuine authority.

The Seven Levels of Communication shares directly from Michael’s personal success in small business, and if you’re a small business owner, he’s someone you’d do well to emulate. This is a guy who walks the walk, and the reason he’s able to teach the concepts in this book with such conviction is because he knows from personal experience that they work.

This book is awesome if you want an engaging, informative read on how to grow your business in a human, social and effective way. It’s not just informative, it gives you a SYSTEM that you can put to work in your business immediately.

I originally had received an advanced copy of this book, and after I read it, I was positive it would do well. He’s released the book since then, and it’s currently climbing in Amazon. It’s #22 in it’s category right now, and I expect to see it continue to thrive.

In my conversations with some of you on Twitter and elsewhere, I’ve compared this book to Emyth, which is a classic in the small business genre. I think that comparison stands. It’s that good. The Seven Levels of Communication gives small business owners a concrete way of looking at sales and marketing from a socially-focused point of view, in a way that transcends Twitter…or whatever the “cool” social platform of the day happens to be.

You may not be familiar with Michael, because he’s a first time author. If you’re a regular reader here, you may know that my primary internet marketing niche has been real estate for the past three years, and that’s how I’ve come to know him.

Michael is an accomplished sales professional, business owner, speaker, real estate broker and team leader. This book is written from the point of view of a real estate broker, so any of my clients who are in real estate should get this book without hesitation. If you want to take your real estate business to the next level right now, this book gives specific and proven tactics for making it happen.

However, don’t let the real estate background of the author make you think this book is only applicable to real estate professionals. Nothing could be further from the truth. The principles here are valuable and can be applied directly to any business that works with people…which of course is EVERY business. In other words, if you sell stuff you should read this book. It will change the way you look at your business, and it sheds some much-needed light on how to achieve growth whether the market is up, down or sideways.

Is the economy down? Are people just not buying? Are your clients or customers full of excuses? I hear ya. 7L shows you exactly how to power through these obstacles.

There’s a lot of talk about relationship marketing, the value of relationships, the power of social media, blah, blah, blah. Michael Maher gives you a clear roadmap in this book; he shows you how to approach relationship marketing deliberately and effectively. I can tell you one thing I’ve seen first hand, Michael knows how to take action and get crazygood (that’s my word now) results, and this book is a clear example of that.

I hope you check this out; I’d love to hear what you think. Get it.

Are You Using These 3 Deceptively Easy Ways to be Exceptional in Your Business Niche?

By Christian

There are easy ways to be exceptional in your business niche. You don't have to be act like a dork or have some stupid gimmick.

It’s easy to be exceptional. We just over-complicate it. Can we agree that it’s very important to be exceptional in your niche? Building a website isn’t enough, is it? Just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. You need to be exceptional. If we’re not exceptional, why should anyone buy from us?

This article is about how to be exceptional in your niche, even if it’s highly competitive. And the answer is way, way simpler than you may realize.

Don’t be a Red Hat Realtor

There is a small real estate team in my town, and they all wear red hats. That’s their marketing angle. Red hats. Genius, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, surely people will stand up and take notice of them now, right?

Would you notice a Realtor because they wear a red hat? It’s possible, I suppose. But would you be more inclined to do BUSINESS with that Realtor due to the fact that they wear a red hat? In most cases, I’d wager (and hope!) the answer is no. The red hat is bad schtick. It represents nothing substantive. Schtick can be done well, but this is not the case with the Red Hat Realtors. It’s horrible marketing, and it’s a great illustration of where many of us go wrong more often than we’d like to admit.

Many of us seem to be convinced that we need a gimmick in order to get business. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Being exceptional is much simpler than that.

Let me know if you disagree, but I see a massively huge difference between merely getting attention and actually building influence with your customers. Given the choice, which would you prefer?

Getting lots of attention
Building real, significant influence in your niche

Let’s focus on the latter, shall we?

The Attention Myth

You may be inclined to ask about the value of getting people’s attention. Don’t we need to get people’s attention first in order to influence them? Perhaps the Red Hat Realtors are onto something after all.

It’s true that attention is more scarce than ever. But what is the solution? Bigger and bigger ads? Louder and louder ads? More and more funny looking hats? Look at Times Square in NYC. You can walk straight through some of the biggest, most expensive advertisements on the planet and in five minutes not be able to recall any of the marketing you just witnessed. I’ve done it. It is fun to walk amongst all the lights and energy, but it doesn’t make you want to actually buy anything. So why do businesses continue to spend bazillions on horrible ads that don’t work? Because they don’t know how to be exceptional.

Advertisements have gotten so loud and overbearing that everything has become a din. This isn’t a recent change. It’s old news. Yet most marketers have still failed to adapt. Here’s what we need to realize:

Just because something is scarce (i.e. attention) doesn’t mean it’s valuable.
Quiet is the new loud.
Authenticity is the new schtick (and the only schtick).
Influence is the new attention.
You don’t have to be loud to be exceptional.

You don’t need to get people’s attention at all. What you need is clout. And you get clout by being exceptional. When you’re exceptional, attention comes to you automatically. You cannot “get” people’s attention. Their attention is theirs. It’s not yours to take.

The Exceptional Mistake

Many of us at our core, don’t believe we’re exceptional. This is a costly mistake…and it’s the reason we think we need to do something gimmicky in order to stand out. You are exceptional, actually. But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be in business for very long if you don’t believe in yourself. You can get away with it for a while if you have a huge advertising budget, but even then you have to pick up the slack with actual awesomeness, or it’s all doomed.

If you don’t believe you have anything of exceptional value to offer your customers, you need to go back to the drawing board. Don’t be out there making offers you don’t believe in. I’m in earnest. If you’re not awesome, the best thing you can do is stop trying to sell anything at all and do some soul searching. Do more research. Focus on your education for a while. Meditate. Find yourself. It’s worth the time it will take, because when you find your inner-awesomeness, there will be no stopping you. This may sound pretty simplistic, but it’s really true. There are so few awesome marketers out there, you will rise to the top automatically when you truly believe in yourself.

3 Deceptively Easy Ways to be Exceptional

The most awesome ways of being exceptional are also deceptively simple. Remember, are we trying to merely garner more attention? Or is our goal to get serious clout and influence with our target audience? If your focus is the latter, then the following list is an awesome place to start. It’s not about marketing tricks. Being exceptional is simple. Soak these in and let me know what you think…

Mind Your Biznas

Properly managed businesses tend to last. Do you know how to read a balance sheet? Are you familiar with how write up a profit and loss? Fortunes are lost on genius and great ideas all the time, due to poor management. Pizazz makes millions; it also fritters them away. If you want pizazz, run a big expensive ad. See where that gets you. If you want influence, you have to build it brick by brick. Rise to the top by simply outlasting everyone else. It probably won’t take nearly as long as you think. Stay in business. If you stay in the black, you’re already better than 95% of your competition. Be present.

Now that’s pretty boring isn’t it? But give it a whirl. Work hard in your business and stick around for five years, and then come tell me you’re not one of the top contenders in your niche. I dare you. Most blogs only last a few months. We’re so impatient, so focused on finding some ninja tactic or trick to becoming an overnight sensation in our business, that we overlook the fact that we’re ALREADY in the process of completing the most crucial first step to success. The first prerequisite to success is simply remaining in business. This uber-effective, highly classified ninja tactic is underestimated by almost everyone. I encourage you to give it a second look.

Work More

If you regularly clock out along with the 9-5’ers, there are only two explanations. One, you don’t like what you’re doing, in which case you need to change gears. Two, you actually BELIEVE Frank Kern when he tells you that a successful business can be purchased in a box for $1997. I love Frank and employ Kernsian marketing tactics in my business, but you see where I’m going with this. Hard work cannot be divorced from entrepreneurship. If Frank has to work his tail off to make his millions, so do you and I.

Be Yourself

This is a tough one, isn’t it? We often think that standing out means being loud or in some ways being something we’re not. In business there is a difference between standing out and having clout. Don’t be a Red Hat Realtor. Successful marketers will tell you that clout is not intrinsically coupled with acting like a clown. The last thing you want is a lot of attention and no substance. What a horrible place to be, because not only will tons of people not be buying from you, but they’ll also be TALKING about why they’re not buying from you.

Substance and value draw a different kind of attention. They draw the kind of attention you actually want. Top marketers will also tell you that a lot of serious money is being made quietly by marketers you’ve never heard of, probably because they’re just not in your niche. And that’s fine. Don’t get cornered into thinking you need to be loud or have millions of people in your database to be successful. Being yourself is not only sufficient, it’s exceptional. When you’re authentic, you realize there is no competition after all. What a beautiful place to be.

Is This Really Enough?

Can business really be this simple? Just be yourself, work hard and manage the heck out of your business? I know I’d be crazy to tell you there are no other options, so instead I encourage you to go find me some. Find a way to forcefully grab people’s attention that will result in meaningful, sustainable profitability. I’ll wait right here.

But I won’t be holding my breath 🙂

Authenticity is the mother of all real value, and real value is not only sustainable and profitable, it’s also…well, real. What more do we need?

Are You Being Fooled by These Membership Site Myths?

By Christian

I’ve heard a lot of talk about continuity programs lately. Continuity is just another word for “membership site” of course. Let me be clear: membership sites can be highly profitable. It’s a great model to follow, and if you’re interested in building a membership site, this post is NOT meant to discourage you from doing so. But, but, but…there’s a huge “but” here; there are 2 important myths about this business model that I don’t see being addressed, so I’m gonna do it here.

Membership Site Myth #1: Membership Sites are a Great Way to Make a Lot of Money Quickly

You know how many articles I’ve read that say something like “Do the math. Just charge $50 a month and get 200 members. All of a sudden you’re making $10k a month.” Dude, nothing is quick and easy. I hope I’m not bumming you out here…my goal really is to save you some valuable time, so you can stay on track.

Don’t look at membership sites as some quick way to make cash. Yeah it’s true, if you charge $50 a month, all you have to do is get 200 members to make more money than most people on the planet. So what? It’s not any easier to sell 200 memberships for $50 a month than it is to do anything else that will make you the same amount of money.

If you want to start a membership site, you should. But it’s the same with anything…do it because that’s what you want to do. Do it for these reasons:

You want to build an ongoing, lasting and long term relationship with members who value what you have to teach.
You want to have an ongoing conversation with committed members who are willing to pay for the value you offer, instead of people who just demand everything be free.
Build a membership site because you want to use it as a smart front end to your sales funnel. Charge a very low price, creating a reasonable hurdle for people to get on board with you, and then give them huge value, and upsell them on premium, totally kickass products or services after they’re members.

Build a membership site for these reasons. It’s not quicker or easier to get rich with a membership site than it is doing anything else.

Membership Site Myth #2: Membership Sites Provide Stable, Predictable Income

When it comes to building a business, many of us are easily lulled by the promise of anything “stable and predictable”, but let’s look at the facts…membership sites are a lot of work. I want to repeat…this is not a BAD thing. Membership sites rock, but I have just seen so much misinformation about them lately that I wanted to take a minute to set the record straight.

What a lot of the top marketers out there will tell you is that a lot of the work can be outsourced, and this is true. But it’s still ongoing work that you’re accountable for completing. This is what happens with membership sites that you may not automatically consider:

Not every member pays every month. Payments don’t always go through. Credit cards are rejected. If you run a membership site, you’re also signing up for the role of bill collector.
By running a membership site, you’re not creating passive income. You will still need to create ongoing content. Yes, that content can still be resold, but that requires a new launch and more work. This can be done with a traditional product as well. Membership sites are not superior to traditional products with regards to passive income. Neither produce passive income.
Once someone becomes a member, that doesn’t mean they’ll always stay a member. Membership attrition (people dropping out) is a regular part of the membership site business. You still need to continue your marketing efforts and provide huge value to your members in order to keep your numbers up.

My solution

So if membership sites are not the magic solution, what is? Ha. You’re kidding, right? There IS no magic solution. Membership sites are awesome. My only point here is one thing: other business models are awesome too, and there is no magic bullet. For me, I am simply going to continue to focus on selling traditional products and consulting. I don’t rule out the possibility of ever running a membership site in the future, but I have no current plans to run one. The reason is not because membership sites aren’t profitable and a great business model. They can be. But I prefer my own approach, which is to simply sell products and services.

Look, I can build a site and charge members $50 a month, or I can sell a product which has all the same information and sell it for $600. That’s the same income as someone staying a member with me for an entire year, which is rare, and I get all the money up front. Which model makes more sense to you?

Yes, I need to continue to market what I do. I need to still prospect and follow up on leads. I still need to continually improve what I do, keep my offers updated and current. All of a sudden, membership sites and selling products for a fixed price seem to be very similar don’t they? They are.

Have you thought of running a membership site? Does this connect with you at all? Have you been reeled into considering a membership site business model by the lure of stable, predictable income? I know I have 🙂

Must Have WordPress Plugins For Your Business Blog

By Christian

I’ve provided a list of must have WordPress plugins before, but here’s the thing: stuff changes. New plugins become available, and some plugins stop working. It’s an ongoing process, so I wanted to provide an updated inventory on the cool WordPress plugins I recommend for your WordPress business blog.

This list is specifically for business blogs, not personal blogs. For business the rules are a bit different. You should pay attention to security and performance. You want the content you provide to engage your audience and get the response you’re looking to achieve.

Clearly, nothing is going to replace good content, listening to your audience and hard work. We’re on the same page there, right? That said, a few key plugins can definitely go a long way toward making your life easier.

Must Have WordPress Plugins

I’d love to here if you think I’ve missed anything important! And btw, these are all free. No affiliates here 🙂

Akismet: I still hear complaints about comment spam, and surprisingly there are a lot of people out there who don’t know about Akismet. For me, it rarely lets anything through. It’s blocked many thousands upon thousands of spam comments, and it continues to serve me well. This one is a no-brainer.
Contextual Related Posts: I love this plugin and have used it for quite a while now. It’s recently improved and become much more customizable. It searches keywords on your site and provides visitors a customized list of related posts, keeping your readers on your site longer. Very nice.
Google XML Sitemaps: This has been part of my arsenal from the beginning. It automatically generates, updates and submits a sitemap for you…an essential part of getting indexed rapidly and thoroughly in Google. You can create a sitemap manually of course, but why?
Login Lockdown: Has you blog ever been hacked? If not, stick around a while. It will happen. It happens to us all. One of the most common forms of attacks is a brute force attack, where a hacker randomly tries passwords until it breaks through. This plugin shuts them down cold. When it comes to securing your blog, there are a lot of things you can do, and there is a great report on it here. This plugin is an essential step in hardening your blog against attacks.
MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer: When you write new content to your blog, WordPress automatically pings search engines and directories for you, so they become aware of your new article. Cool, huh? When you edit an old post, WordPress pings em again. And if you’re the kind of person (like me) who is regularly going in and changing stuff, your blog will be pinging the directories left and right. It may sound cool, but directories are smart enough to know you’re not actually adding anything new, and abusing your ping privileges can get you banned. Few people know about this plugin, but I’m definitely an advocate for using it. It’s smart enough to know what you’re doing on your blog, so when you’re publishing something new or adding a new page, etc…it lets the search engines know. Otherwise, it stays quiet, keeping you in good graces with the search engines. I dig it, how bout you?
Redirection: When you first start out, you likely won’t need this plugin, but you should go ahead and install in now anyway. What happens when you change the name of one of your pages? Or tweak the title of one of your posts? What happens when you change the name of one of your categories? You’re creating pathways to your 404 error page, that’s what’s happening. All of the links and bookmarks people have saved as a way of revisiting your blog still point to the old URL, but you’ve changed it. Having a custom 404 page is smart, but using a plugin like Redirection lets you go in and quickly forward the old page to the new one. You can do this by manually editing your .htaccess file, but who the heck wants to learn how to do that, right? I love non-techy solutions to tech issues, don’t you?
SEO Friendly Images: Do you know what image alt tags are? Search engines can’t actually see images, you know. They just index data. This plugin gives your images relevant keywords for search engines to play with. So basically, the pictures you use on your blog may just be dead weight as far as search optimization goes, but you can change all that by using this plugin. This is especially relevant to anyone who uses a lot of images on their blog, like photographers, real estate professionals, etc. But it’s also a great little SEO tool for anyone. A nice little side benefit of this also comes into play if your content feed is going out by email. Images often get blocked when people read your articles in their email client. Instead of just seeing that ugly little red square where an image is supposed to be, this plugin can put keywords in it’s place, giving a reader an indication of what’s supposed to be there. It’s just more professional-looking in my opinion.
SEO Smart Links: Internal link structure is important for both search optimization and user experience. Giving readers plenty of links in a post gives them lots of opportunity to be as click-happy as they want to be while staying on your site, absorbing more of your grand wisdom. Put in a keyword…let’s say “subscribe”. And then tell the plugin to link that keyword to your subscribe page. Then every time the word “subscribe” comes up on your blog, it will automatically link to your subscribe page. You don’t have to manually install any links; it’s all automatic. Of course this is an oversimplified example, but you get the idea. 🙂
SexyBookmarks: This plugin gives your readers a way to quickly and easily share your articles with their friends. You like people talking about your posts and spreading them virally all over the universe, correct? Install this sucker and watch the magic. There are many solutions for installing share links on your WordPress blog of course, but this is my favorite.
Subscribe To Comments: I never ran this plugin before, but readers were specifically asking why I didn’t have any way to subscribe to comments. After you leave a comment on my blog, there is a check box where you can select to receive an email with follow up comments. It encourages your readers to come back and participate in the conversation.
TweetMeme Retweet Button: This is another new one I’m playing with, and I like it a lot. It gives you a count on how many tweets your post has received, and by clicking the icon at the top of any post, you can retweet the article.
Twitterlink Comments: I like to give as much value to commentators on my site, and one thing a lot of people seem to be using is the Twitterlink Comments feature I have installed. By filling out your Twitter name, it automatically links to your Twitter profile when you leave a comment.
W3 Total Cache: I’ve always used SuperCache in the past, and I’ve recently replaced it with W3 Total Cache. It delivers static pages to users instead of dynamically generated pages. Basically what the heck does this mean? It means your site loads faster. Visitors tend to hate clicking on a link and having to wait even a few seconds for a page to load. WordPress is awesome, but it’s NOT the fastest platform out there. I admit to still having speed issues from time to time, but this plugin has on average doubled the speed of Next Level Blogger. I switched from Supercache, because this plugin just has a lot more features and is a more comprehensive caching tool.
WP-DBManager: Maintaining regular database backups and regularly optimizing your database is an important part of maintaining your blog. This can all be done manually of course, but this plugin automates it all.

I usually recommend keeping the number of plugins you run to a minimum. I’m running more than I have before, and I’m not having any issues. I think I have a total of 20 on Next Level Blogger currently, and I’m happy with that number. After installing Headway as my blog’s theme, I was able to get rid of some other plugins that I’ve used before like All in One SEO Pack. That is a plugin I definitely recommend if you’re not using the Headway theme. It offers some very essential SEO features.

Have I missed anything you consider essential? Anything on this list that’s new to you?

There Are No Rules (OK, Maybe Just One Rule…)

By Christian

business-blogging-rules — Don't waste time getting caught up in all the "rules" of blogging. Rules are made to be broken.

The benefits of business blogging are well-documented. If you are not convinced that blogging is a powerful way to reach your audience, build awareness of your brand and generate significant sales, this is a great time for you to go through some of the archives on this blog and some of my “recommended blog tips” articles. The facts speak for themselves.

However if you are already convinced, you are probably on this site seeking great advice on how to maximize the results you see from your blog. That’s smart.

There Are No Real Rules

I’d like to submit a thought to you that may save you some time in your pursuit for the hottest blog tips. There are no real rules. OK…maybe just one small rule, and I’ll let you in on that rule in just a second. But here’s the thing about rules: many people read them and automatically feel they HAVE to follow them. This is not how successful businesses are built.

For now I just want to point out that there are SO many articles out there telling you what to do, leading you to believe they contain the “secret” you’ve been looking for, that if you were to try following all the advice out there, you’ll never go anywhere. Don’t get stuck in this trap. Here are some examples of “rules” that I don’t believe in following:

You need to post often – this is good general advice, but it’s important to know that many successful blogs only post sporadically. Scott Stratten from UnMarketing just wrote about this recently as well, after not having posted anything to his blog in 6 weeks. Some blogs publish new content several times per day. Others post once every few weeks. Your approach has much more to do with what works for your business, not what actually works for blogging in general. With regards to blogging in general, there is no rule.

You need to write long, detailed posts – there is a school of thought which dictates the highest quality posts are long, detailed, highly valuable articles posted to your blog. Some blogs such as ViperChill and many others specialize in writing longer content. Bravo…it works. But it’s important to understand…it works for them. What does that have to do with YOU? With some things, you simply need to follow your own path. Long content and short content both work. There is no real rule.

You need to write short, pithy posts – Some tools such as Blog Grader suggest that your posts should be no longer than 800 words. It even appears to use this metric as a means of grading your blog. Longer posts seem to score lower. I don’t know what the heck this is about. Everyone knows that some of the greatest resources online are very long blog posts that took the authors many hours or days to produce. They generate thousands of incoming links, because they offer huge value. Yes, short posts are quicker to read, but your audience may value longer, detailed posts on occasion. The best approach is not to follow the arbitrary advice of only writing short posts. Nothing replaces actually knowing your audience. Again, no rule.

You need to search-optimize all your content – Sorry to all the SEO pros out there, but this is just B.S. I certainly believe in the power of search optimization, and I think every blogger should take some time to learn the basics. Michael Martine’s WordPress SEO Secrets is a good place to learn what you need to know. Here’s another rockin post on blog SEO. Here’s another great article on SEO. But here’s what I’ll tell you…stop there. Absorb those resources and then get back to your life. SEO professionals could easily have you believe that your success online hangs in the balance, and if you don’t pay more attention, you’ll slide off the face of the earth without their advice. Ain’t gonna happen. Some of the biggest bloggers in the social web like Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk and many others admit they know very little about SEO and do almost nothing to “optimize” their content. What does that tell you? Is SEO important? Certainly. Is it worth hours and hours of your time? That’s up to you…but probably not. This is just another example of something which distracts many new bloggers. It’s not about learning the “trick”. There is no trick. Blogging is simple. It’s just talking to your audience. You don’t need an internet marketing PHD to get this done. Just talk to your audience.

You need a professional design – I’ve built blogs for many clients. Everyone wants their site to look cool, and that’s understandable. But it’s also essential to understand the difference between pretty and effective. My specialty is in doing what works. If you want conversions, leads and sales, I’m your guy. If you want pretty pictures, I’m probably not your guy. I submit that most new bloggers and marketers spend way too much time worrying about how their site looks. You don’t win a race by sitting in the driveway putting on a fifth layer of wax. I don’t mean to argue that design is not important. It is, but it’s so easy to spend hours and hours on trying to make your site look cool. It’s easy to get burned out on all this, and it’s such a waste, because it has nothing to do with getting results.

Of course, the list goes on. What other rules have you come across? Leave a comment and share! It’s important to take the advice of others with a grain of salt. Yes, the advice on my own blog is included. Here is the truth: there is no recipe…there is no turnkey, guaranteed, “cookie cutter” way of achieving success. Of course you already know this, don’t you? Perhaps you know this through experience. Perhaps you simply know it in your gut. But one way or another, you sense that good things take time and hard work.

Where to Spend Your Time

I believe it’s crucial to read other sites and learn about your craft. Don’t stop learning how to improve your work, but be mindful about what you’re doing with your time. Before you apply some new tool or technique to your approach, ask yourself some important questions:

“How much time is this going to take?”
“Is this something I’m going to enjoy doing?”
“Is it sustainable?”
“What benefits do I honestly believe will come of this?”
“Is the return commensurate with the expenditure of time or money?”
“Do I actually understand this technique and what it will do, or will I just be doing it because it sounds cool?”
“Can I delegate it?”

Answer these questions first, and if a tool or technique you’ve come across passes the test, then put it to use. If not, trash it.

How Much Time Do You Have To Waste?

Business owners often struggle with the return on investment from blogging. I hear this a lot… “How can I justify the use of my time?” Do you have this concern as well? Do you want to make sure you get a good return from the time you spend blogging?

Here’s the key: blogging can have a HUGE return on investment. But this is only true if you do it well. You need to do what works. Use the questions above, and they will keep you from blindly following arbitrary advice. This is what makes the difference between getting a huge return on your blog and burning out. Successful bloggers get results; they don’t follow arbitrary advice just because it sounds cool.

The One Rule To Follow

I promised one rule, and I will share it with you now. I think this one rule will serve you well as you go about the process of building your blog. Use this as your guide, and it will not only keep results coming your way, but it will also steer you clear of useless advice.

Here’s the rule: “Give first, then receive.”

Let me expand on this briefly, because a rule this simple can easily be glossed over or misunderstood.

Do you want more incoming links? Then link to other people first.
Do you want other bloggers to talk about you? Then talk about them first.
Do you want people to submit guest posts to your blog? Then submit guest posts to other blogs first.
Do you want people to comment on your blog? Then comment on other people’s blogs first.

Do you get the idea? Does this make sense? It may seem overly simplistic, but the idea stems from a foundational belief I have about blogging. I believe blogging is inherently social in nature. To attract the attention you want in the social web, you need to be active socially.

Finally, don’t be the nerdy kid in the corner

Most new bloggers spend WAY too much time on their blog. They need to spend time on other people’s blogs! Does this sound counter-intuitive? Think about it for a second. Spending all your time on your own blog is like being the nerdy kid in high school who sits in the corner and draws pictures, never looking up, never talking to anyone. He’s a genius, yes. He’s talented, yes. He has a lot to offer, no doubt. But he never actually offers it. He sits in the corner. He works endlessly refining his talent. The other kids see him, but no one really knows him.

Don’t be the nerdy kid in the corner. Share your genius with the world. That requires getting out there. Trust me on this, your design doesn’t matter, the length of your posts doesn’t matter. How often you post doesn’t matter. What matters is that you get out there, and you can do that in whatever way makes sense to you, in whatever way that works with your schedule, in whatever manner that is consistent with your goals.

You can “put yourself out there” by building links, writing content, spending time on Twitter, handing out business cards at your local brew pub or shouting the name of your blog from a high building…whatever truly, earnestly makes sense to you, your business and your customers. Just do it. Don’t sit on your hands, reading blogs and trying to find “the rules to success”, cuz there aren’t any. The rule I share with you here in this post isn’t even a blogging rule. It’s a life rule. If you rock, you will get results. I promise.

What are you going to do to get results this week?