I sent out a mailing today advertising the Vortex Marketing Group with the subject line: "You learned this in kindergarten!" In my many years as a blog reader and the short time I've spent trying to become a well-known blog publisher, I've learned that success has less to do with hits and counts and more to do with people.
Liz Strauss of Successful Blog has a great post up today discussing getting noticed and talked about in a business sense. It's a wonderful read and completely connected to my line of thinking earlier today.
The thing is, many people are willing to pay lots of money to get people to their site, get them signed up as affiliates...basically to get their readers involved in whatever it is they need their readers to become involved with so they (the blogger/affiliate marketer/podcaster) can make money. These people are following the old "You have to spend money to make money" adage. Well, cliches are cliches because they're true, but the universality of that one is waning as internet business begins to eclipse brick and mortar.
I'm a firm believer that, in the world of the web, you don't have to spend a dime to make your fortune. No, I can't prove it yet, but that's because I just launched and to succeed I need to have patience. Which brings us back to kindergarten. This time around, I'm tackling blog marketing by staying rooted in the belief that everything I need to succeed online I learned in kindergarten. To get started, here's my top three:
THREE: Treat others as you'd like to be treated
This one could also be called "you get what you give." When you first start out you need a lot of help grabbing some spotlight for your business. You need people that are going to be willing to give you a boost no matter how big their business may be. So make sure that as your business grows, you continue to help others by doing the things that helped you. Trade links and comment in other blogs. If you use surf programs to get traffic, actually read the pages and enjoy them. Don't ever forget that you were once excited when you reached the 100 hit mark, too.
TWO: Share
If you paid money for an e-book with resell rights, then, by all means, sell it. However, if you got it for free think twice before you advertise a specially marked down $37.95 sale price that will end in three minutes. Sure, you can remain anonymous on the internet and the buyer might not even know that he or she is being scammed. But is that really the type of businessperson you want to be? If you were selling that same e-book to an old lady at a garage sale, would you still mark it up and lie to her face? The anonymity of the internet has unfortunately brought out the worst in some people. It's important to be as ethical online as you are in the physical world, regardless of whether or not you're being held accountable.
ONE: Make Friends
Networking is the key to success at any type of business. The internet offers many ways to network. Many of these new methods are very different from the traditional in-person tactics business people used to collect associates in the past. But none of them are completely different. You may not be able to offer a firm handshake and good eye contact, but you can offer honest answers and fair prices.
Making friends who have the same business goals as you could quite possible be the single most important thing you can do to make your online business grow. And, like mother said, you shouldn't have to pay for your friends. There are many sites that will charge you to contact and create business buddies, but there are also many sites - like Vortex Marketing Group - that will not. Spend some time signing up for a few marketer networking sites and see where you fit in. I think you'll find that there's a community for everyone and paying a fee doesn't make them any stronger or more affective. It just makes the site owners richer.
I'm glad I found Liz's article this evening. There have been massive amounts of opportunities and information flying at me since I launched a week and a half ago. Between sign-ups and mail-outs I haven't really had the time to reflect on best practices or ethics. The article really pulled me into a nice, theoretical frame of mind. I love marketing and advertising, but sometimes I need a nice break into philosophy as well.
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