Recently, I have started getting a lot of emails from people; asking me a version of the same great question.
Here’s the question:
Jim, I hear that you don’t use any form of paid advertising or link exchanges – yet your posts often get dozens and dozens of comments. According to alexa.com (or whoever), this new blog gets lots of traffic. How are you doing this?
So, what’s my ‘secret’ then?
My secret is simple. It’s all down to Equality and Attraction!
Equality
I provide marketing material for people just like me; small business owners and those who work in sales / marketing. If I know what I am doing, you should fit into that group too. We are all totally equal here. I don’t buy into that Internet celebrity or marketing guru bullshit. I’m just a normal person who happens to run a successful marketing business. I have the marketing answers you need and I work hard to get as many of them to you, in as clear and interesting a way as possible. I don’t have a tribe; I have a network of friends and great contacts.
This is a level playing field, where you and I are part of the same marketing community.
Guess what? That means when you email me, I always email you back. When you comment on this blog – if your comment requires or requests an answer, I give one, always. If I like your work, your blog or your product, I promote it for free – you won’t even know most of the time, until you check your stats, sales (or Twitter follow numbers!)
My readers seem to like my guru-free approach to delivering the marketing information they need and helping them succeed.
As a result, you recommend this blog, my RSS feed and my newsletter to your contacts.
You are the reason a 3 month old blog is attracting so much attention. You are the reason I don’t need any paid advertising. You are also the reason I continue to do this; even though I have been financially secure for life since I was 29 years old (I’m 43 now).
That’s despite starting off in life broke; with no connections, the son of immigrants and covered in scars and even a gunshot wound from a violent childhood in the slums. I’m proud to say that I earned my money selling millions of pounds and dollars worth of ‘goods and services’ – NOT selling books or seminars on ‘how to sell!‘
Although my primary focus is always on giving, I have already generated thousands of pounds / dollars worth of sales for my business, from this new blog. I did over £7,500 worth of business from enquiries here in the first 10 days alone. If you have a website or blog and you would like to attract more business or leads, here’s how I do it.
Attraction
My work is all about attracting sales and enquiries - not chasing them.
Why?
Simple – people hate being pestered by salespeople! They hate being pursued by overzealous networkers (online and offline.) They hate having unwanted advertising thrust upon them.
People LOVE to buy things but they HATE being sold to!
Here’s how people often get it wrong
This morning, I decided to help my Twitter followers build their follower numbers and get some traffic to their blogs. I asked them to send me the URL of their blog. Then, I sent another message out to around 4,500 people – with a link to all the blogs that had been sent to me.
What do you think happened?
Within minutes a couple of people decided to send THEIR blog over and over again; so their blog address appeared multiple times in the link I sent! I received over a dozen messages from people telling me they had blocked these users and some had even advised their followers to block them as well.
That’s because people hate being pushed, pestered, chased or pursued. Whenever someone tries to use these tactics to generate sales, they come up against resistance. What a hard way to generate new business!
People come to this blog looking for free marketing ideas, strategies and information. They come here to connect with people and ask questions through the comments section. So, that’s what I provide. I don’t ‘push’ anything. In fact, there is only ONE page on this entire blog where you can learn about my marketing services.
You attract sales, leads and referrals by being attractive. In the online world, this means making your site or blog as valuable to your ideal profile of client / customer as possible. You do this by focusing on delivering quality and quantity. It requires a mindset, where you are prepared to give high quality information away for free; not just the watered down free stuff you see on most websites or in free ebooks!
If you keep all the good stuff back for your paying clients, how is a prospective client going to know how brilliant you are?
You need to make your blog or website an Aladdin’s cave. This means, when your prospective clients or customers arrive, they need to believe they have just stumbled upon a goldmine of great information.
If you sell widgets, make YOUR site or blog THEE place to find out everything they need to know about widgets! If you sell a service (like I do), use your blog or site to showcase your expertise. Show you really know your subject, answer people’s questions and position yourself in their mind as an expert in your field.
Of course, we are not only attracted to people, groups, blogs and sites that offer great value – we love to SHARE them with our friends and contacts too.
I always advise people to take a look at their marketing and decide if it is genuinely attractive to prospective clients / customers or not. If you are not sure or you just want to make your marketing even more attractive, ask yourself the Aladdin’s cave question, which I touched upon earlier.
“Would someone visiting my website or blog immediately think they have just stumbled upon a goldmine of great information?”
If the answer is no, look for as many ways as possible to add massive value!
Of course leaving the readership wanting to know more after each visit seems to work well for you. I learned something but not everything. Today.
Matt,
Is it possible to learn ‘everything’ from one post?
Jim,
Thanks for being open, honest and direct about what you’re doing and why. You’re setting an excellent example for something that should be obvious.
Nice to find a marketing expert whose not self obsessed. You can see from any post here that its all about giving content and helping.
You go to other blogs and hear the guys talk about how the want followers not fans, then they act like film stars.
I contacted Jim through Twitter with a marketing question last week and the man actually called my office with the answer.
He never tried to sell me anything, just wanted to help.
I might start a blog just to give this guy the credit he deserves, coz i know he’s doing this for other people too!
Elaine,
Thanks for your kind words.
Lance,
There are a lot of marketing blogs / sites / experts out there and many are truly excellent.
Sandy,
I’m glad you found the call useful. Thank you for being kind enough to mention it here – That means a lot to me
Fantastic post. I would like to add something if I may?
What about those people who post negative stuff or argue in the comments section of blogs?
They make an ass of themselves or get abusive & then there’s a link to their website so everyone can see who the idiot is. WTF?!?!?
Jeez!!! I can’t compete with a gunshot wound story, Jim! ;D
Excellent post, as always.
Olivier,
Trust me; that’s a very ‘clean’ version of the first 17 years of my life!
Glad you enjoyed the post – thanks for stopping by!
Thanks Jim.
A refreshing read and really useful.
thx again for a great blog and for useful information for those of us aiming for sustainable quality blogging
Nicola,
Thanks for stopping by the blog and taking time to comment.
Char,
Glad you liked the post – thanks for the comment!
Hi,
This is a good lesson for today. Although this is the way I feel also, there are sometimes when I can’t help it and push things a little to far.
Thank you
Toma,
Thanks for your comment.
Pushing things ‘too far’ is something you really need to avoid. People just don’t like being pushed.
hi,
my name is mike, just found your site, very interesting post, it help to “open up” to other approaches for your blog or site,
mikerambling.com
Mike,
Glad you like the blog – thanks for stopping by!
Great post. Particularly liked the concept of attraction – One element of attraction is confidence. If you know your message is valuable, and simply put it out there, people will find it.
When you are not sure people will want it you are more likely to push it out there.
My advice, spend more time focusing on your content and less on pushing it out there.
Lorraine,
You make 2 excellent points!
Confidence
Confidence is contagious. When we feel confident about what we are doing, other people are more likely to feel confident about us, our product or our service.
Content
I come from the mindset that you should only post something, when you have something of value to say. That’s how I have built this blog and how I plan to continue. Quality first THEN quantity.
There are very good SEO reasons for a blogger to post something every day – to use ‘guest bloggers’ – anything – just to get more content ‘out there’ for Google. It’s not my style, but only because I choose to write for humans – not for Google.
I would really appreciate some comments from SEO professionals, to explain the advantages of regular postings to my readers!
“I would really appreciate some comments from SEO professionals, to explain the advantages of regular postings to my readers!”
There are only advantages if…
“I come from the mindset that you should only post something, when you have something of value to say.”
That says it all. Stick with that philosophy and you won’t need to worry about SEO or whatever its called.
PageOneResults,
Thanks for being kind enough to share your knowledge here (I really appreciate it!)
I wasn’t actually asking for myself – I was asking for my readers; many of whom find it hard to attract search engine traffic.
I have just bookmarked your site http://www.seoconsultants.com/ and will take a look later.
Wow, this is great advice especially since I have just started to learn about marketing and blogging. I have signed up for your newsletter, and plan to use most (if not all) of the advice!
Thanks!
I’m no SEO expert but I do study it alot. What you say both in this post and others on your site makes an immense amount of sense. I believe when you take the “pay it forward” approach to blogging and life you will end up getting much more than you give.
Extremely hot topic. I enjoyed a lot. The “uninterested in selling” is a great strategy.
Jim, I thoroughly enjoyed your post and share your philosophy of sharing. The reason why many people don’t do this is, I think, a headache from pre-internet sales and marketing methods where information was harder to obtain because of geography and limited social networks.
With the ever increasing power of the internet the power of choice is firmly in the consumer… and if they can’t find information on which to base a judgement on you then they can easily find someone else. Quite why businesses don’t realise this and adopt more openness is a mystery.
Ben,
Thanks for the comment, you make a great point.
Rodrigo,
Thanks for your comment.
I have never used the term “uninterested in selling” – It’s about being VERY interested in selling, but making those sales by attracting them rather than pestering people.
Nesh,
I think you make a great point! A lot of businesses seem to handle information like they did before the Internet became mainstream.
Jim, This is a great post and really sums up my philosophy all along with regards to educating my clients or potential clients, but not my peers (competitors). I am mostly grateful to all of you who have done this for me because Giraffe Web would not be where it is today without the help of my peers here on the internet.
Judy,
That’s very kind of you, thanks.
Good luck with Giraffe Web
http://www.giraffeweb.net/
Hi Jim, great post as always!
“I would really appreciate some comments from SEO professionals, to explain the advantages of regular postings to my readers!”
The reason for posting regularly is quite simple: Google likes fresh content.
Nobody wants to read information that is out of date so Google won’t push people towards it. But if you’re constantly providing fresh content then Google will be happy to direct people to your site (hence a higher listing in the search results).
Also, quite apart from SEO benefit, generating regular content helps build up your website into something that people will come to visit.
Look at this site – it’s a goldmine of information that is regularly updated and it’s attracting loads of people – most of whom continue to return to the site.
Write great content and write often – then enjoy the rewards!
Gregor
Hello Gregor,
I’m glad you commented, thanks (I know Gregor BTW)
You make some good points, as always!
You can find out more at http://www.massmediadesign.co.uk/SEO
It’s all about the content! I started at this new company in July their SEO was on a few select words and they had very little content, they had a blog that had 1 entry from February of last year on it! I got them posting to a blog, built a community, put together more content pages and now we’re revamping the site to have even more helpful content for our potential customers.
Before they were doing the hard sell, now we’re talking about what’s in it for the customer. Not about our features or why our product is better then this one. It’s about how this product can help the customer, what we can do for you and giving them as much content about it as possible.
Traffic is up by 150% in general and although they still pay for Google Ads the % of traffic coming from those ads is down by 50% and their costs are down by 70% because of diversifying and using social media and content to get their message out there!
Chrystie
Chrystie,
Wow – what an interesting insight – thanks!
The comments in this post and in the blog in general, are what I personally love most about the blog!
Much respect Jim. Thanks for bringing this to the table.
What makes a good site is quality unique content in a specific niche. Content that is compelling and based on an extraction of the site owners testing and collection of data from reputable sources will bring back visitors. If someone establishes themselves as an authority on a particular subject, be it for goods or services, their traffic and presence on the web will grow exponentially.
The key is determining how to build a site and what turns to make on the road map to web domination.
Your trusted SEO Specialist and friend,
Brian McDowell
Brian,
Thanks for the comment and your positive words regarding the blog.
You make some great points!
Thanks for keeping it real Jim. I’m just a regular gals wanting to contribute to lives. That’s why being a VA suits me.
I too attract the right people…just like you!
So what do you think the majority of VA’s miss out on?
Nimble Assistant,
Thanks for the comment.
I don’t think there is a particular problem with V.A marketing – I assume their challenges are pretty much the same as any other B2B service provider.
Unless you know other wise?
I think both equality and attraction are very important.
Blogging (and the web in general) definitely puts us all on a level playing field and rightly so.
And while you may not think you have a tribe, you do.
Tribe doesn’t have to be an ugly word…it’s just a way of describing a group of people interacting together, usually around some common interest or goal.
Tim,
Good to hear from you!
I’m not one for buzzwords, hence my issue with calling groups of people a ‘tribe.’
You make a good point though – thanks!
Hello, Jim.
I just came over here from Twitter — I thought you said this was about SEO? I see what you’re talking about with network marketing, but you really haven’t addressed SEO at all.
If input is what you’re looking for (as seems possible from the comments), then as a copywriter I’d have to say that well-written static content, good keyword density, and regular and effective blogging are what you need for good SEO standings. Clean URLs are also important — it looks like you’ve got that going for you already. Outside links, as well, which are generated pretty effectively by commenting on other people’s blogs, and, if they are so generous, getting linked to in the body of their posts.
I’ve been directly working with three different sites on SEO for the last two months, and I’m happy to say they’re doing spectacularly well. One is an established URL whose site just got completely updated; they saw more traffic in the one week after updating all the text than in the previous year. The other is brand new, and was just officially announced yesterday. I’m excited to see what will happen there.
Heidi
Heidi,
Thanks for the comment – You make a few interesting points!
However, you are incorrect in your opening. I sent a ‘tweet,’ asking if SEO experts ‘would like to comment at the end of this post’ – I didn’t say the post was about SEO. The comment at the end of the post, which I was referring to was this:
Because you replied to the tweet several hours after it was sent, you may have missed it – along with the SEO answers kindly provided above. Thanks Heidi.
Very insightful. Thank you.
Jim,
I appreciate your Philosophy of Attraction. It is obviously working for you. I am interested in creating a presence out in the Web World,and making people aware of what we do. We are a non-profit without something to sell, but we do provide a service, and we help facilitate giving to other charities. What would be your take on our somewhat unique position in SM? I am blogging regularly and have seen positive results in the short time I have been doing so.
Thanks as always for a great post. The comments also give food for thought.
Cheers! Virginia
Virginia,
You ask a great question – thank you!
Firstly, you get people like me to realise the value in what you are doing – so we freely promote your blog / organization for you to our readers.
You can take a look at what Virginia’s organization do here:
http://blog.cars4causes.net/index.php/about-cars-4-causes/
See
There are many, many things you should be doing to further develop your presence on the web, too many to cover here.
You are welcome to email me via the contact page above with your contact number and I will happily give you a call.
Hope this helps Virginia.
Great post, gave me a lot of things to think about. I need to work on articles, etc to add to my website to position myself as more of an expert, and will be launching a blog to help build a community around my products. I’ve just started on Twitter (that’s how I came to find out about your blog) and hopefully will continue making positive connections and by helping others & building relationships rather than looking for sales, I think the law of attraction will just start bringing in the sales as well. Thanks again!
Alyssa,
Thanks for stopping by the blog. Relationships are important, which is why the content of what you ‘put out there’ is so important.
This is the first post on your blog I have had the pleasure of reading and I subscribed before I was done reading the post. I’m glad to have found your blog (through Twitter) and look forward to learning from you.
Dawn,
Thank you for your extremely positive feedback!
Your comment also clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of what I was writing about in the post…
You said that you had already subscribed (thanks!) to this blog, before you even finished reading the first article.
You also said that you found out about this blog via Twitter – not via Google, Yahoo etc. You found it via social media.
I will be checking your blog out later – thanks again for the comment Dawn!
Hello,
I just wanted to tell you that I found your blog so very interesting. You have a fresh approach that is simple and makes sense, but seems to be beyond most “advertisers” I like your personal approach and your sincerity. I look forward to reading more and learning more from you…Thank you
Cheri,
Thanks for your comment. You are very kind
Wow! How refreshing it is to read your philosophy, Jim. I can tell from your site you’re really practicing what you preach by giving value. I’m going to be a regular follower because you’ve attracted me!
Cheers!
David
David,
Thanks for that!
It’s really important to be consistent in what you say AND what you do.
I had an email only this morning from a blogger, who has been trying to get a simple question answered by an ‘internet marketing guru.’
The guru blogs about giving and the need to contribute – yet all he did when asked a simple question was send out booking information for one of his seminars!
Jim,
I see you contributing in a very practical way, and for free. Awesome, I’m modeling my blog plan after you.
Thanks again,
David
Thanks for the great advice Jim.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said, “People LOVE to buy things but they HATE being sold to!”
Giving your reader something of value and requiring nothing in return is the best sales pitch you can give.
Wendy at The Computer Lady
Follow me on Twitter
Jin,
Thanks for all your useful articles and tips. Your answers to comments are often just as helpful and well worth following.
Nicola
Jim:
I’m posting a second comment to your blog as you requested on Twitter… looking forward to hearing details about the Twitter auto-follow feature you’re implementing with your blog.
I almost used a different email address, not sure if you are using the URL or the Email to try to match folks…
Nicola,
You are extremely kind – thanks!
Dale,
It’s not a Twitter auto-follow feature.
I have just made it so that when you post a comment here on my blog, the link in your name (below your comment on the screen) will be a ‘do-follow’ link.
So, unlike most blogs, when you comment here, the link back to YOUR blog or site will have SEO benefits to you.
I’m told it is going to attract a lot of spam, but I want to try it out first; as a way of rewarding people like you, who are kind enough to comment here.
The comments are, as Nicola says, often the most useful part of a blog – and I 100% appreciate ALL the people who comment here.
Let’s see
Jim,
I love your honesty. There are not enough business people like you in the world! I try hard to follow your practice with my own business. I work with a partner who I sometimes think doesnt see things from the same perspective but we are trying hard to work on it.
I am proud to be a follower of you on twitter and a regular reader of your blog.
Best Regards,
Magda
Magda,
Thanks – It’s always great to get feedback, especially positive:)
Thanks for taking the time to comment and for following me on Twitter.
Love your brain, I’ll definitely be back for more.
Jim, I couldn’t agree more with your comments. I learned how to market from a “Guru” who angered more people than he helped. Repeatedly I offered marketing ideas designed to build trust with his prospects (such as giving good content away free, reducing prices to make it more approachable to more people, etc.) and repeatedly he reminded me that his company made millions and he worked for me.
Needless to say, I left so I could start my own business. I currently do not charge for ANYTHING except one-on-one consulting and copywriting services. I don’t believe in selling e-books loaded with fluff or dozens of CDs that rehash old ideas.
We are all trying to build our business in one way or another. The best way to do that is to support one another, not through manipulation and conceit.
Thanks for providing valuable content on your blog. I hope people will view my blog with equal reverence.
Hi Jim
I really like your attitude!!
Eileen
Hi, Jim-
I really like your blog- and your attitude. It is a shame how many people see the Internet as this tiny little place with such a finite amount of traffic. Glad to see you don’t feel that way. I am a true believer in attracting business as well- the kind of business I want. I am a freelance writer and have a little blog or two of my own. Like everyone, I want to earn a living- and I sure won’t complain if its a very comfortable living, but I don’t think I need to do that at anyone else’s expense. I signed up for your newsletter and look forward to reading your ebook.
You know me on Twitter as TeresaWrites4U. I follow you there as well. Best wishes to you, Jim. You’ll see more of me here!
This is a great post. I found you on Twitter, btw. As an artist in business for about 30 years I have a love hate relationship with marketing. I’ve read tons of books, gone to seminars and workshops, know a lot about what I could, should and would be doing….and yet there’s something in me that’s resistant to the whole idea of marketing. I know it’s necessary, I know it’s not evil, and yet I read stories about people spamming social networks, spamming their email lists and so on and so on and I don’t want to be lumped in their pile, I guess.
Somewhere there’s an inbetween and I’m hoping to find it soon. My blog is 2 years old, averages somewhere around 50 readers a day and is fun but not as good as it could be. I got lazy about linking…
Reading this encourages me to get back in the saddle again. Thanks for the pep talk
Jim, as someone who JUST plunged into social media marketing (like 3 weeks ago) the information you offer in invaluable for a newbie like me. I have to say, I will be using your strategies to help promote my blog Creative Wisdom as well. With only 36 hits to date, it can use all the help it can get! I will also be linking to many of your posts on my blog as my blog’s focus is similar to yours, but niched to business owners who need to learn how to navigate the waters of buying printing and graphic design. Again, thanks for all you do!
I love how you explained social media in an easy to understand way. I will definitely point people here to get their questions answered. I’m all for the attraction marketing movement and less chasing and searching out clients.
I also like your no bullshit approach, so refreshing!
Hi! I definitely love your blogs. I gained a lot of insight from reading them, especially now that I am really looking for sources on improving our sales and marketing. Thank you!