We’ve all seen it – the high traffic, massive list blog with its clockwork pre-launch, opening the doors to its latest and greatest offering – and selling thousands of dollars worth of business in just a few hours.
It’s exciting and inspring to watch but, if we’re honest, just a little bit daunting too.
Because, what about the little guy? The hardworking, new to the game entrepreneur?
Maybe that’s you?
What would it take for you to believe that you could create awesome in just a few hours?
In the last 22 hours I’ve watched that awesome unfold. Regular readers may have heard the news last week about an exciting project I’ve been involved with. 22 hours ago that project went live.
And as you may have guessed from the headline, in the last 22 hours that project has raised a little over $3840.
But here’s the kicker – the blog and team behind the project is just 6 months old and made up of relative newcomers.
No A-list blogging celebrities. No millionaire spouses with PR firms. No half-naked photo shoots. (Phew 
)
Just a handful of hardworking bloggers with a fire in their belly and the hard work and belief that anything was possible.
And if we can do it, so can you. But before I tell you the 5 secrets of our success, why not click here and check out what we’ve been up to. Go ahead. Click here. I’ll wait.
That simple page, at the time of writing, has raised $3849.50 Here’s what made it possible:
At risk of sounding all woo-woo and tree hugging, this one will get. Without belief in what you are doing, why you are doing it and your ability to do it, you will fail. Every. Single. Time. Don’t get me wrong, we all have wobbly days and times when we doubt ourselves but ultimately, you need to believe you’re going to nail it.
Believing you can do it is different to knowing you can do it. There are no guarantees in this life. You might give it your all and still fall flat on your face. But without the belief you can do it, you won’t even get the chance to try.
Did you see the sales page for that project? (If you skipped it, click here to look now.) We made the decision to donate a total no-brainer. If someone visited that page and had the money to give, they gave. The bundle of goodies on offer is huge (and with the promise of a choice of high-value bonus items, the whole deal became time sensitive. Wait until later and your bonus of choice may have already been snagged.)
You can do the same with your next big thing. Offer your readers something so awesome, they know they will kick themselves if they say no. Think outside the box about how it works for you and your blog (and if you want to dig in deeper, read Goddess Leonie’s Problogger post How to Create an Instant Yes)
It doesn’t matter if you think you’ve learned all the tricks of the trade and have bootstraps worthy of Seth Godin fame, if you want to nail this in style you need to get help. The customer love fundraiser was made up of copy writers, marketing experts, visionaries, strategists and wordpress geeks. All playing to their strengths and with the ability to defer to the better judgement of others.
Even if you’re running a solo adventure, you can still get advice and input from others. If there are things you know you’d be better served delegating, don’t be afraid to outsource.
Have no budget to hire outside help? We’ve all been there baby.
Think creatively about how you approach people. I’m not suggesting you contact a firm of $5000 a time web designers and try and talk your way into a deal. At best they’ll probably just ignore you. However, find an up and coming hot new thing and offer to partner with them, a share of the profits and the chance for excellent exposure and suddenly you’re back in the game.
I really shouldn’t be sat here writing this, 23 hours into the launch. Emails to people donating products asking them to contact their lists shouldn’t have been sent several hours after we went live. The reason why the big guns come out the gates strong is their planning. It’s called pre-launch for a reason.
This is one of those ‘secrets of success’ where I know we could have done better. To be fair, we organised this whole shebang in just a couple of weeks, responding quickly and decisively to a very real need. But that speed has its drawbacks.
If you want your next big thing to be a rip-roaring success, you’ve got to get the planning in place. And yes, I know it can be boring and just a little bit dull, but get all the pieces of the jigsaw in place and that win you’re after is looking much more like a reality.
Yes, this seems to fly in the face of planning. Why bother planning at all if the unexpected is standing by to hurl itself at you at will? Expecting the unexpected is about flexibility and building time into your launch to put out fires.
Stuff will crop up. You will hit publish on a sales page and forget to paste in the code for the ‘buy now’ button. You will mis-spell one of your contributors names. You will have links that don’t work and others that open in the same window (thereby sending your precious buyers away from your page.) It happens.
It’s how you deal with the unexpected that will make or break your launch.
And now it’s your turn. Have you launched something special recently? What did you learn from the experience?
P.S. Seeing as 100% of the money is going to direct to the relief effort in Japan, it would seem remiss of me not to give you one more sneaky peek of that sales page. Click here to get involved.
P.P.S. Scroll right to the bottom of that page to check out other ways you can help us spread the word. Thank you. 
It’s a Friday night. You’re sat with your significant other, talking about what to have for dinner. You discuss pizza. The local Dominos has a special offer on and it’d make a lovely treat for the weekend.
Don’t worry he says. I’ll go and get us something. I need to pop in and get some more beers anyway.
Half an hour later your hunter-gatherer returns. You sniff the air. No pizza.
Fear not! He tells you of a special deal on frozen pizza. It’s called The Ultimate Takeaway Pizza and it was a fraction of the cost of Dominos. Sorted!
Yes, it means you’ll have to put the oven on but still, it’s a bargain.
So you do your thing and make a little side salad as the pizza slowly cooks. You hear your tummy rumble and wish it would cook quicker but at last, it’s ready and you serve it on a large wooden board.
You carefully carry The Ultimate Takeaway Pizza (complete with packaging that’s designed to look just like an actual takeaway box) and prepare to enjoy this feast with your hungry loved one.
You both take a slice and as you bite into it you notice that the tomato sauce has a rather peculiar spicy tang to it. That’s not what a tomato sauce is meant to taste like. But you don’t say anything, after all, this is meant to be The Ultimate Takeaway Pizza. Perhaps your taste-buds are having a siesta?
You put a brave face on and chase the pizza round the plate with a piece of limp lettuce but it’s no good you decide. This pizza is not nice! Worse still, it definitely isn’t the ultimate pizza, takeaway or otherwise. Next time you’ll be going to Dominos. Mr Goodfella has lost you.
The moral of the story? If you’re going to promise the earth, you’d better make sure you can deliver.
Stop wasting words on telling your customer how fantastic you are. Show them! Do it! Be the brilliant, awesome, talented small business owner that you are. Dazzle by being you but please, please, please, no more hype. Ditch the descriptive passages. There are no awards for this sugar. If you let your customer down they won’t be coming back.
Craft your compelling offer, describe it, introduce your customer to other happy customers. And then deliver.
And then? Rinse and repeat. You’re only as awesome as your last customer.
We all know that content is the life blood to a successful blog. As a blog owner I am sure you will agree that producing quality content is one of the most challenging and time consuming activities.
In addition to this blog, I own a career advice blog and I just purchased an investment blog so my time is very limited. I have been thinking of ways that I can maximize the content that I am producing on my blogs. I am sure you all are already doing the basics after you publish a post. If your routine is anything like mine you probably send a tweet, add to Facebook and Amplify. You may take it one step further and add your link to some social bookmarking sites like Blog Engage or Digg. In this post I want to highlight some additional ways to leverage and utilize your blog content in an effort to drive more traffic to your blog. Here are five ways that I have been using my content beyond just publishing it on my own blog.
Article Marketing- Almost everytime I write a blog post, I will rewrite the content in original articles and submit to several article marketing sites. Ezine Articles is now in the top 10 reffering sites for two of my blogs. When I am finished writing this post, I will repurpose the content and create at least 2 new articles to submit to EA.
Guest Post- Similar to article marketing I have been trying to use existing content from recent posts as a foundation for writing article for guest posting on offer blogs. It is essential to make sure the guest posts are original and not too similar to the content on your own blog. For example, after I am finished writing this post I will start writing a guest post on this theme but with a different spin. I am thinking about something like, “Top 5 Content Syndication Sites for Bloggers”.
Linkedin Discussions – Linkedin Groups has been awesome source of targeted traffic for my blogs for about a year now. Last month it got even better as Linkedin as made their Groups “open” and are now indexed by search engines. When I am done with this post, I will start a discussion on several blogging Groups that I am a part of and include a link back to my blog. I will start the discussion by asking what other people do to leverage their existing content.
Alternate forms of Media – A simple and effective way to maximize your content is to convert your written words into audio podcasts and videos. I am in the process of creating a series of videos on interviewing tips on my career blog.
Document Sharing Sites – This is an area that I recently discovered and seems to be a valuable resource for bloggers. Take a look at Yudu - the leading self publishing system that will help get your content noticed and drive traffic back to your site.
Let’s learn together – What are you doing to maximize your blog content and drive traffic to your blog beyond just Twitter and Facebook?
You’ve heard it all before.
Twitter is great for building an audience for your business. If you want your customers to adore you, you’ve got to be on Twitter.
“Twitter is to 2009 what Facebook was to 2007.” Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it’s 2011 already. Twitter is flooded with people trying persuade other people to buy into them in just 140 characters.
And you wonder, is it really still possible to stand out from the crowd? Can you be heard above the noise and even if you can, is that really what it’s all about?
Or are you just another idiot who’s bought into a dream?
Are you really talking to future customers or is it all just recycled money? One guy peddling how-to stuff to a would-be marketer who, in turn, sells it to his mate?
Here’s the truth: Yes and no. How’s that for transparancy?!
Twitter is an awesome way to talk to new people, to get to know your audience and build that much cited ‘brand awareness’. But you’ve gotta stop tweeting like an idiot!
Here are my personal top 5 pet peeves (let’s call them tweeves, go on, I dare you!) Come and share yours in the comments.
You know what it’s like. You’re busy. You don’t have time to always follow everything. So you have a quick glance at your replies to see who’s been kind enough to re-tweet your stuff.
You might have a few virtual high-fives from some friends, a question from someone who knows you’re the go-to guy or gal and then, slap bang in the middle of it all … a random question from a follower with a link at the end.
What’s that about?! So you click it, only to find yourself on some lame affiliate promotion or other. Did that improve your day? Or maybe it made you feel all warm and fuzzy about the person who sent you on that random goose chase?
No, I didn’t think so!
We’ve all done it. We’ve read a conversation between two well known tweeters and then, because we wanted to get our name under their radar, we’ve joined in the conversation by asking a question.
Conversation is awesome. One of the best tips I heard about @replies was from Mark Davidson. He suggested including the @ at the end of the sentence instead of the start to encourage more people to join in.
That’s a fabulous idea. I’m all in favour of talking instead of blasting ads at people. But. Join in a conversation halfway with a really stupid question and you know what, you’ll just look like a twit!
(I felt Tim Brownson breathing down my neck as I wrote that. He said that there are no stupid questions. If you’d seen what I saw in my Twitter stream three days ago Tim, even you’d be disagreeing with yourself right now!)
Twitter’s about page will tell you it’s about sharing information. And who am I to argue with Twitter?!
But if every one of the 95 million bits of information let loose on the platform every day are just links and headlines then it becomes nothing more than a glorified self-updating free paper.
Twitter is about conversation. If it weren’t then they wouldn’t have invented that rather nifty @ function. But this isn’t the nineteenth century. There’s a reason why the post brought by your mailman is known as ‘snail mail’ on the ‘net. Send someone an @ reply on Twitter and, unless you’re super famous, people will kinda expect you to reply,
I’m not suggesting that you live in your Twitter feed but replying to an @ tweet several days after it was sent just isn’t cool. Ignore people’s messages to you and you’ll just look like an idiot!
Twitter linked to Facebook linked to You Tube linked to the moon linked to …
Yes, you need to be seen to be everywhere and being able to link accounts to different places is excellent.
But.
You really must be aware of what you’re linking where. I’m not suggesting you keep a list or anything but be aware of what gets tweeted automatically on your behalf when you take action somewhere else.
Did you know that every time you favourite a video on You Tube, you’ll tell your whole Twitter stream what you’re up to? Link your Facebook account up and your status will be updated too. That might not ordinarily be a problem but if you go on a You Tube fest (like one person I follow on Twitter did recently) take it from me, your followers will not thank you for it.
No one will care that you’re a rock star blogger. Send out tweets via YouTube at the rate of 15 an hour and you will look like an idiot too!
Love them or loathe them, everyone has an opinion about the much maligned automatic direct message. Personally I think they’re a slur on human kind but maybe that’s just me? Worse though is receiving an auto DM from someone who isn’t following you back.
This happened to me earlier in the week. One of my friends (who shall remain nameless) has two twitter accounts. I started following his business one and received a very friendly (but obviously automatically sent) DM. So I fit reply and prepared to tease him mercilessly. Except. My DM wouldn’t send because he wasn’t following me back yet.
Cue major frustration from me. I didn’t unfollow him. He’s a mate. But just wait til I next get him on the phone!
Seriously though, automatic DMs are the bane of the earth. I’m yet to read one that doesn’t make me want to stick my fingers in my own eyes just so I don’t have to look at it! Please, please, please, don’t do it!
Because honestly, if you were stood at the bus stop and saw someone interesting looking, would you walk up to them, give them a copy of your latest free ebook and ask them to sign your diary? I didn’t think so.
Just because this is online baby doesn’t mean it’s any less real. Those creatures you call followers? You’re not the leader of a cult. Those are human beings. Real people with real thoughts, feelings and opinions.
There’s no online life and offline life, it’s all Life. It’s all real.
So how about we start fighting for real relationships in this real life of ours? How about we start using Twitter to build relationships, to nurture respect and to allow people to be heard and feel valued?
How about we all just get real?
If you are looking for more Twitter followers – I personally recommend TweetAdder – click on the banner below to learn more:
I had a polite disagreement with a man on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago. He told me that, as a Christian, I shouldn’t be celebrating Jesus’s birthday on a day that was once given over to pagan festivities. I agreed to disagree saying that, for me at least, it’s about what’s in my heart rather than a date on a calendar. Besides, I love Christmas! I love the food, the presents, the fun and games with family, the lights and glitter, the magic. It’s fabulous!
This year though, for the first time ever, I decided not to send Christmas cards. It all started after I realised just how many of my friends online I wouldn’t be able to get cards to. The solution there was easy: start a Christmas party blog and enjoy the whole season with my friends. But what about family and friends around the country who, shock horror, don’t read my blog?
I suggested to the BFG that I write us a family newsletter to send out in the new year in lieu of cards, maybe include a few Christmas photos and some words of wisdom about the year ahead. He vetoed that idea saying that people who wanted or needed to know our news would hear it.
That’s probably true but then I got to thinking: What would happen if we all wrote next year’s newsletter today?
If you were around last week you’ll have read already about the power in writing stuff down but today I’d like us to take it a step further. I know you’re busy. Aside from all the usual to-do lists of running your own business, this is the season of good-will and that can only mean one thing – your diary just got even fuller! But busy stuff aside, I challenge you this week to find an hour, just 60 precious minutes. Turn off all distractions, phone, email, twitter, family members … get yourself some quality alone time. And then write next year’s newsletter.
I can hear what you’re thinking. Yes, it will feel a bit weird and yes, you’re going to write it with actual words and stuff. Instead of just mentally thinking about what you’d write, actually do it. Seriously. I’m writing mine this week and I really don’t have time either.
We’ve both agreed already that writing stuff down is amazing. It unleashes your wonderful brain to do awesome stuff. But sometimes our big dream writing can get a bit wooly can’t it? We tend to fudge over the details and paint a very blurry picture. I dare to suggest that if you take time to write that newsletter it will not only crystallize your thinking but you’ll find yourself learning about ambitions that you didn’t even know were there.
But don’t just make it about your business. Real family newsletters are a mix of work and pleasure. Think about your family life, the place where you live, the people you spend time with. You’re writing the dream 12 months and that includes the stuff that makes you smile and the people who have your heart.
What you choose to do with your newsletter once you’ve written it is up to you. For it to be most effective though you’d be wise to share it with someone you trust but that’s kind of scary isn’t it? What if 12 months from now you find things turned out differently to what you said they would? Or what if, heaven forbid, they laugh at you? What if the sky falls down?!
No seriously, what is the very worst that will happen? Find yourself a good friend or loved one who you trust and who you know has only your best interests at heart and give them a copy. It will feel terrifying (I just had an email back from my best friend saying yes, he’d read it. I’m nervous already and I’ve not even written it yet!) but by sharing it with someone else it will also start to feel more real. More real means more attainable.
If you were really brave you could publish it as a post on your blog or website. Talk about accountability eh? But that would really take some gumption. This sensitive soul will be sharing hers with just one person thank you very much. The key isn’t who reads it. More important is that you actually take time to write it. Promise yourself right now that you’ll see 2010 out with a bang and start writing an amazing new year.
Come on, who’s with me?
As a Web-based startup that handles task management for tens of thousands of individuals and businesses, Producteev has a very unique bird’s-eye view on how workers manage their tasks and workflow.
Though our main aim is to help streamline the task creation and completion process, having access to so much data allows us to compile some very interesting statistics on workflow management and concrete observations.
After parsing hundreds of thousands of created tasks from active users, we came across some pretty interesting information that may shed new light on the digital workforce and how we all might be a little more productive in the future.
The “average” active user of Producteev created some 27.2 tasks a month, averaging out to about 4.5 tasks per day. However, as with all averages, Producteev had a wide variety of members ranging from extremely heavy users and more casual ones.
But while the addition of 4.5 tasks per day might seem to be a healthy clip for an average, only about half of those tasks were completed. This means that the average user creates more than two tasks every day that they fail to complete, possibly creating a snowball effect if it is allowed to continue.
However, some of the tasks involved were probably completed without actually marking them as complete.
By far the biggest day for task creation was Wednesday, with some 20.08% of all tasks being created on that day. The next most popular day was Sunday, likely as workers prepare for the coming week, with some 19.25% of all tasks being created on that day. The rest of the days all had less than 13% of task creation with Friday being the lowest at 11.25%.
However, as great as Wednesday was for setting up new tasks, it wasn’t quite as good for completing them. Thursday was actually the biggest day for completing tasks with 19.56% of all task completions happening on that day and Monday/Tuesday were in a virtual dead heat for second with over 17% each. The worst day was Saturday, which saw 6.73% of all tasks being completed.
This information was in stark contrast though as to when people were most interested in their tasks. Logins to Producteev were highest on Monday and Tuesday, 22.95% and 20.40% respectively. The week largely tapered off until Saturday, which saw only 5.83% of all logins.
What this means is that, while interest was highest on Monday and Tuesday most of the work of assigning tasks was being done on Wednesday and most task completion was taking place on Thursday. This means that, while interest was high early in the week, the middle was when users actually assigned work and shortly after that was the time when they completed the tasks.
While these are not absolutes, they can definitely show patterns of productivity behavior.
Finally, though it’s clear that having a mobile workforce is a good thing, it does appear that many are using their iPhones as a means to work on the weekend. iPhone users were about 50% more likely to log in and create tasks on the weekends. Weekend task creation was 35.93% of all iPhone task creation and only 23.87% of all tasks created via the Web interface.
This may be a sign that mobile workers are having a more difficult time unplugging on weekends and may need to take a break once in a while to keep their productivity in high level.
Still, as mentioned above, all of these results are average and certainly don’t apply to every individual or company. We plan to keep examining these behaviors and hope to find more interesting patterns in the future.
This was a blog post by Lior who is a marketing consultant at an online task management startup called Producteev.
