All New CommentMILK Version 1.0Do Not Be Afraid to Go to the People - Day 15 of COWpetition
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In our last post (What Do You Digg Your Heels in On) we posed a couple questions in regards to an incident with an elderly lady at Home Depot and the response has been pretty good. Obviously with the two questions we had there are no wrong answers because it is all up to interpretation of the situation and each view point was surely a valid one.
For us, the important issue that we saw to be taken from this was something that relates to fear and ignorance and is something that stops a lot of us in our tracks from getting in on things before it is too late and prevents us from going from good results to exceptional results
An example of this within the MMO (Make MOOney Online) business is the “Tag & Ping” strategy that was introduced a couple years ago. We recall a few people bashing it and saying it was short term and was not going to last long. We knew of people predicting 3 months of life and that was it. These people looked at it like the previous strategy of “Blog & Ping” and immediately categorized it as the same and labeled it without even understanding anything about it. Well here we are 2 years later and this strategy has given birth to some amazing marketing strategies and in itself is still very effective, of course there have been tweaks and changes.
Why did people dig their heels in and fight it?
Maybe they did not trust the person they heard it from, maybe they were burnt before by a previous strategy and did not trust this one or maybe the process sounded too complicated and they were afraid to try it. We could keep going with reasons but the bottom line was something got stuck in their head and made them resistent to it without even having a clue what the process was about.
The end result?
It was not the end of the world but it was a missed opportunity. Some still stay away from it calling it black hat and yet others are still afraid of it. Anything to do with the word “Web 2.0″ and they curl up in a ball and shiver.
Get to the Point Cow!
If you want to grow your business, if you want to be a leader in this industry… you can NOT live on rumors, assumptions and fear. Look at the comments in this blog alone, things like…
- “those products are a scam”
- “that strategy does not work”
- “those techniques dont work or they would not be selling them”
That is nothing but FEAR and or IGNORANCE speaking. We can guarantee that 90% of the people that leave those comments, have never tried the product or strategy they are bashing and are not making a dime in profit online… they have either been burnt once, bought something and made assumptions about it right away and never bothered to follow through on it or they heard from someone that these products or strategies are junk.
Often we hear of people who refer to posts at places like digitalpoint or the warrior forum, and these posts they refer to are a complete joke… someone, who has no business talking about the subject because they do not even have a successful business online, starts mouthing off about something and because they have 1000+ posts, they are immediately thought of as an authority. Sorry but no they are not… if they had a successful online business they would not have time to waste in places like that.
Now do not get me wrong, there are a lot of people we respect in those forums but very and we do mean very few. Unless you can see for yourself the results that person has, do NOT listen to them.
One of the things we talk about around here is “theory”… we absolutely despise marketers who thrive on theory. It amazes us that even students of ours who pay us for help, totally ignore the advice we are giving them because they say that is not what so and so says. It is completely insane… they have not even bothered to try what we are showing them and yet they dig their heels in the ground and refuse to listen because of a theory from someone that they think is an authority and something that person has said has made them afraid.
The only way we were able to grow ourselves a successful business was by trying new “scary” things… by stepping out of our comfort zone and most important of all, by not letting theory distract us but actually following through on things and seeing for ourselves what works and what does not work. We will never and we mean never, tell someone that something does not work unless we have tried it and know first hand.
OK, so is this really about the elderly lady at Home Depot?
Not entirely… it is actually a mixture of things, the lady at Home Depot just kind of put it all together for us and really made us look at this. Some of the comments as of late have been biting at us a tiny bit and then a few days ago a comment about not buying that FaceBook and web 2 marketing actually works and then the Home Depot incident… it all came together.
WOW… this was only going to be a short intro into todays lesson but it just kept going and going… sorry about that. 
So how in the world can this tie into the Video Games Reviews blog that we built for the COWpetition and “Getting the Word Out”?
It comes down to this…
We Are Not Afraid of:
- Trying Something New
- Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone
- Being Told No
The story of Colonol Saunders of KFC is very inspiring. As an old man, he went to hundreds and hundreds of restaurants, trying to get them to buy into his idea… 99.9% of them said no… but all it took was the one that said YES!
With your business are you making ignorant assumptions, are you missing opportunities because you are intimidated by something, are you afraid to try something new?
If you want your blog or business to grow you need to drop your assumptions right now and step out of your comfort zone. If you want to get the word out then you need to be like Colonol Saunders and start knocking on peoples doors… and do NOT be afraid that they will say no. This is where the rubber truly hits the road for those that want to build a business and those that are just doing it for a hobbie.
With GamerzReviewz.com we listed every single blog, forum and website we could think of and or find that had an influence on the market. We then contacted many of them directly by email and phone to request a partnership. Some requests were for links, some where for advertisements in emails and some were for sponsorship of prizes. The point is however, that if we really wanted to get people talking about our blog, then we could not rely soley on general sites… we NEEDED to go right to where the people where that we were targeting.
The end result… 95% of the people said no or did not respond at all… but 5% said yes and the cool thing was that out of that 5% we got HUGE and we do mean HUGE exposure.
So what did we say to these people?
Sorry but this post is way too long already… come back tomorrow and we will tell you and explain the results. Then after that we are going to get into some really cool Web 2.0 strategies using a really powerful tool that has gotten us some “sick” results. This is a paid tool but we said we were going to be sharing everything we used and so we are going to talk about it. This tool in fact was a major influence in a large chunk of our taffic and we will be showing you where the traffic is coming from and how this tool helped.
Hope you enjoyed this post (ramble) and look forward to your comments.
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Wow this post inspired me
! Well done… I very much agree with you about the people who have fear to try new strategies. I’ve tried everything I could and then I shared my experiences with my readers, giving them the turns off/on of the experiment…
I will be back tomorrow to see the next post
Mr. Javos last blog post..Do You Most Want To Learn About….?
Fear is the thing that holds us back… You can’t say something doesn’t work until you’ve actually tried it.
I’ve found that stuff I think won’t work in my niche sometimes works brilliantly… I don’t discount anything until I’ve run a test.
Cheers Ian
Getting Ahead In Life
GettingAheadInLifes last blog post..The Internet Marketing Center And Derek Gehl Make Me Mad
I think it’s ridiculous when people dismiss methods as ineffective without even trying them. Most of these methods take all of, what, 5 or 10 minutes to try? If you try them and they don’t work, then try again. Try again. If they don’t work after a third try, you’ve only wasted 15 to 30 minutes and THEN you can open your mouth and say they don’t work AND you’ll have the facts to back it up!
This blog is SOOOO much better now than it was prior to the sale. Keep it coming and nice article.
Thank you sooooo much
Hey John, wicked post as always
Can’t wait to hear about the web 2 tool that got you “sick” results! Lol
Also…is there anyway you’ll be covering tag and ping in this blog? Or is there any other place you know of where I can learn how to do it well?
I’m currently working on a niche blog…and your blog here has truly helped me get something super valuable. Yes your content and everything is great and helpful…but here’s the biggest thing I’ve learnt from this blog…
…”stickiness”!!
I’m faaar from a newbie…and the stuff you share in this competition is mostly stuff I know and do…yet I keep coming back to your site everyday. And that’s when it hit me - you’ve got the most important thing from me…my attention.
With so much competition the hardest thing to do nowadays is not to make a sale or generate a lead..but to get and KEEP your prospects attention…and create a bond.
I’m not coming to this blog…reading a post..because I’m necessarily learning anything new…I come back because the way you “communicate” your knowledge makes me think “…hey let’s hear what John’s got to say or share today”. So now you don’t need to write killer headlines or anything to get my attention…you’ve already “got it”.
I’ve recently changed the way I approach my niches and my existing subscribers/visitors…I’m mainly just focusing on how to get and KEEP their attention. If that remains in the fore front of your mind….it’s completely natural now to think about them and create real value in their lives. I actually think it’s impossible to lose if you think like this.
My stickiness on my sites is on the major increase. I had an average of 50secs “visitor time” according to Analytics….now it’s hovering at the 4 min mark!
This way of thinking has been marinating in my mind for a while now…but observing my own behavior of coming to your blog regularly and actually spending time to friggin comment…dude, I never do that! I got businesses to run man…no time to spend on forums and commenting on blogs…but hey when it comes naturally…it’s fun!
Geeez…what a long post. I need to stop doing this shit!
Wow another blog post of its own
Loving that you are seeing things improve and yes we will be showing a version of tag and ping that we use
John,
Great post as usual. I agree with Abhhick–your approach and writing style is what keeps me coming back. I am learning new things as well as re-learning (or should I say unlearning and learning the right way) things I’ve heard before. You definitely have my attention as I too am applying what you teach and getting great results.
Sometimes, for me, it’s less about being afraid to try new things as it is figuring out my priorities. I want to incorporate as much as I can that works but sometimes feel that I am running out of daylight every day. The social media thing works well but it’s pretty time consuming. So, in the spirit of the general philosophy I spout on my blog for female entrepreneurs, I am outsourcing. I have to multiply my efforts and make my business scalable to truly accomplish the success I desire. That’s the only way I find I can do it.
Thanks for all the great info–please share more about the ins and outs of tag and ping. I don’t have a clue and I guess I need to have one!
Together, we are stronger.
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman
Vicki Flaughers last blog post..Do You Believe in a Magic Entrepreneur Formula?
COW, awesome post as usual- I was wondering, what would the folks say (the Joint Venture’s) that I contact if I don’t have tons of prizes to give away or to back up my site? In my different niches, most have an affiliate program, so there comes into play the IRRESISTABLE OFFER
I wonder what I could do though…
lawton chiless last blog post..Watch Darth Vader Research How To Sell New Products!
think outside the box. Ask if they have something they would like to offer and they will get added exposure, give them free advertising of higher value in exchange… things like that.
I think the person running this site is kind of ignorant. You mentioned in your column about the Home Depot incident that the woman was about 60. Then you continue to diminish her value by calling her an “old lady”. You have equally ignorant, ageist folks rambling on about her having an opinion days later on here. With many of your customers coming from that “old lady’s” age group, you aren’t very smart! I wouldn’t buy anything you offer because if it as lame as your blog, it wouldn’t be worth anything. By the way, I am against the labor force cutting self-serve kiosks too. When I was at Home Depot and they started using those, you didn’t even have to sign anything to use a credit card. Any person could pick up your credit card and use it at a kiosk. Keep that kind of world if you want, but not everyone will make enough money on the internet to replace a good job. Most of you gurus tout your wealth, then end up asking for money for some health problem, etc. Few of you can back up your earnings, and fewer yet do it without bad business practices or blatant rip-offs, Now whine for traffic…go on…talk amongst yourselves…
You know, you are actually right on one thing in your comment… that was a bit disrepectful of us to talk about the lady the way we did. It was not the intention and for that we apologize to anyone that took it that way.
Now as for your comment about us being ok with people losing jobs, we are pretty sure you completely missed the point of the post but we will take credit for that because obviously it was worded that way to have you interpret it that way.
As for…
What they heck are you talking about here… who is whining for traffic… who is ripping anyone off????
Oh and if you want proof of my earnings, let me know that.. we are more than willing to share anything.
Anyway thanks for stopping by and posting
Thanks COW. i don’t think you are ripping anyone off. Weird poster…
lawton chiless last blog post..Tips For Success: Do Something Wild That No One Else Can Do
Holy Cow that was a long ass post!
Think Like An SOBs last blog post..Free Credit Reports Review Landing Page
Hey johncow:
I would like to follow along and create a site of my own using the techniques here and on court’s site and grizz’s site, but I am having a little trouble getting started.
I have a project that I’m going to do. A member of my family sings traditional country. He has 4 albums released, has received many awards, been played on the radio, etc, but is still pretty much unknown. I’m going to build him a website, and I’d like to use the knowledge I’ve been gathering from you guys, but I’m not really sure how to get started on getting traffic to a site like this in what seems to be a pretty competitive market.
Do you have any ideas that could help me or push me in the right direction?