In regular day to day life, I get asked a lot of questions about marketing on the internet and blogging. A lot of the time, the questions are:
- How do you get more Twitter followers/Facebook friends?
- How do people find your blog?
- How can I increase my site traffic?
- Do you (or Can I) make money on the Internet?
Sometimes the questions are more like:
- How do you do (insert technical thing) on your site/blog?
- How do you make time for blogging?
- Why do you blog?
The first set of questions really isn’t all that interesting to me. There are lots of ways to get more traffic, friends, or whatever you think you want — and there are a zillion sites that will tell you how to get more money using the web (be wary). But until you know why you need more friends, visitors or followers, it really doesn’t matter. Lots of people don’t really know why they want more, they’ve just have a belief system that tells them that more is better.
The second set of questions is much more interesting to me. These questions come more from a perspective of “how can I improve” than from a “what’s in it for me” perspective. Only you can figure out what you want — even if it takes a while — but if you’re online only because it’s going to somehow magically start putting money in your pocket, you’ll be disappointed. When you know what you’re trying to accomplish and you believe in it, you can start moving forward.
When you know
When you really know what your goals are, you’ll realize that the first questions aren’t the right questions. You’ll stop asking, “How can I get a lot more followers?” You’ll start asking, “How can I ensure that my readers are happy?” or “What can I give my true fans for supporting me from the beginning?” You’ll stop worrying so much about website traffic for the sake of the numbers and spend more time engaging, creating and improving.
There’s no secret sauce for success in any business except what you make yourself. What I have done in the past probably won’t work exactly for you. I can’t simply copy Seth or Brian and suddenly have the same level of success, because we’re coming from different places with different perspectives. You can learn from the best and apply it in your efforts, but the end result it yours.
Reality check
Overnight successes rarely happen overnight. It’s going to take some time, so buckle in and enjoy the ride.
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