John Cow dot Com » networking

The Art of Making a Deal Online

Jason Katzenback — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:28:12 +0000

After spending quite a few years online, you tend to learn a few things about the internet- such as marketing, networking, and of course, making money. I have done my fair share of it all. My favorite activity, believe it or not, is making deals with people online. Why do I enjoy it? Well, who doesn’t love to negotiate? Haggling is a great way for both parties to get what they want under their own terms and standards. One of the best aspects of negotiating is that you do not have to be wealthy in order to get what you want; you simply need to drive a good bargain.

Although it can be fun, there are some rules to making the deal. Let’s face it- you may not know who is on the other side of the computer screen. You need to watch out for scammers, liars, and crooks. Unfortunately, I have had my fair share of dealings with these folks. I’m sure that I’m not alone in loving to negotiate and barter for goods and services. So, I’d like to take a minute to share some tips based on my own experiences with any like-minded individuals out there. When you want to conduct a deal, you should:

1) If you want to strike a deal with someone you met in an online community, the first step is to check their status within that community. Even if you’re a little familiar with the person, it’s also best to seek out some objective opinions before making your final decision. If you have never met this individual before, then ask them for some references; an honest person won’t mind taking a few steps to reassure you.

2) Get to know the person you are interesting in making a deal with. Visit their website or blog. Comment and contact them if you have any questions with anything that they are currently doing. Research is the key to forming an opinion of this individual; remember, you may want to conduct business with them again in the future.

3) Nobody wants to get the short end of the stick, so make sure that your deal is fair for all parties involved. Do not ask for too much and make sure you offer something just as valuable in return. I always make sure that I have something to offer someone, even if they do not want anything in return. It’s all about playing fair and sharing. If you can do both, then not only will they want to work with you again, but it will also leave them with a positive impression of you. They will remember you as being trustworthy and for caring about the person that you are negotiating with.

4) Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and jump the gun. Before you contact another party with your proposal, make a checklist so that you won’t forget any pertinent details. You’ll want to let this person know who you are, a little bit about your background, what you’re looking for, and what you are able to offer in return. Once you’ve reached out to this person, don’t pester them for a response. Wait a suitable amount of time before attempting a follow up. Nobody likes to feel harassed; it can definitely ruin any potential deal.

All kinds of people make deals online and everyday: Internet Marketers and Affiliate Marketers have Joint Ventures, Bloggers ask for Reviews and Guest Posting, and even Work At Home Moms trade products or services. Just remember to keep it honest and fair in the process. Not only will you build a new relationship, but it will be win-win for you both.
Jackie
http://www.jackiesbizblog.com

schMooooze Your Way to More Exposure

Jason Katzenback — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:56:42 +0000

I don’t know about you, but sometimes learning the simpler aspects of something is the hardest part of the learning process for me. Take networking, for example. As a new blogger, I found myself with a pretty steep learning curve since I started my blog. My blog is in a very competitive niche, the “make money online” niche. Sure, I had read John Chow’s blog and many others for about a year prior to deciding to dive in to blogging. I read about their strategies, I read about the money they were raking in and thought that all I would have to do to be successful was start writing.

Now it’s been 3 and a half months since my blog went live and things are looking up. I’ve done some guest posts on TylerCruz.com and now here at the Cow’s place. I’m doing my best to learn from others who are more successful than me and have learned a few lessons along the way but the one cliché that is just as true in blogging as it is in the business world is the old “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. In short, it doesn’t matter how well you write or how novel your ideas are, but it’s about who can help you get the most exposure to your blog at the smallest cost.

It’s Not (Only) What You Know

Blogging on the topic of “make money online” has been very personally rewarding. I feel as though I have learned a whole lot about what it takes to create a blog that actually makes money and is able to evolve over time by growing its readership and adding income streams. Learning strategies like how to successfully run a contest, how to write reviews, and how to sell ad space have added to my knowledge arsenal and I am now able to talk shop with the best of them. I also think that I learn even more by making posts on my blog about these topics. When I regurgitate what I know, I do a little more fact checking before pushing the “publish” button to make sure that nobody laughs at me (too much). However, no matter how exciting or insightful my posts are, they are worthless if nobody is reading them. It’s like the old saying goes “if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around, does it make any sound”? What good is an excellent post with tons of helpful information if nobody is gaining from it? What good is me spending an hour or more on one post if nobody is every going to see it? This is where networking comes in.

It’s WHO (Moo?) You Know

Getting over the initial resistance and reaching the point where your blog has some momentum takes a lot of effort. From my part, it required being active in places like the forums at Digital Point and getting to know some bloggers like Tyler Cruz and Gyutae Park from Winning the Web. It’s also required me becoming active in others’ blogs by making comments and letting people know that “hey, I’m here too”! Networking has played a huge part in the life of my blog and I think that it will continue to do so. If you’re unsure how to network, here are 5 tips to get you started:

Be active in other blogs. This is a simple and fun way to participate in the current events of your niche. I’m sure you read other blogs, so why not post helpful comments that help you to stand out as an authority on a subject? Don’t just be a flamer, but actually try to help and participate in the discussion. Once people see that you’re actively participating in these blogs, they’ll be more likely to check out your blog in return.
Participate in your niche’s community. You community is probably full of resources. Do you know them? Do you know the biggest hangout for people who are interested in the same things that you are? Do you talk with members f the community? Do you give helpful information to those in need? If you’ve answered “no” to any of these questions, then you need to bring your game up a notch! Start looking for the places to go and become active!
Meet bloggers in your niche. If you’ve done steps 1 & 2, you’ll probably already be familiar with others who are blogging about your niche. Now that you know who they are, drop them a line to say “hello” and tell them who you are. Chances are that they’ve already seen your screen name around and will be happy to get to know you. Once you’ve opened up a line of communication, you’ll be able to start working on projects together and be able to promote one another’s site.
Learn all that you can about who is who. The “who is who” list is an important one. Once you know the top cats of your game, you should learn all about them. Not in a stalking kind of way, but in a “how did they get to be so successful?” kind of way. Learn about their strategies, learn about their networking communities, and try to do the same. Think of yourself as a virtual James Bond; be the part and know the part! If the people on top of their game are doing a certain thing, you should probably follow their lead. If they are hanging out at certain forums, you should probably be there listening to their advice.
Do guest posts! After you’ve met others, become active in your community, become aware of what others are doing and know what the trends are in your niche, it’s time to go all out! Guest posting has been great for my blog as it’s widened my site’s reach and helped me to gain confidence in blogging. By guest posting, not only do you help out a blogger in need but you also get to share your ideas with blogs that are bigger than yours. This is a win-win!

Nick is a 20-something full time grad student and full time IT guy. Specializing in Information Architecture, he often dabbles in online projects. His latest project, a blog at http://www.learnhow2earn.com, is a blog that details his online money making experiences. Like what he has to say? Check him out and drop a comment!

The Last Drop For Entrecard

Jason Katzenback — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:01:28 +0000

We’ve had the entrecard (EC) widget on our blog for a while now and never really actively participated in their booming community. If you’re familiar with their forums, you’ll know there’s a select group of EC power-users. They seem to wake up, and go to bed with nothing but EC on their mind. Their blog’s are filled with post after post on how to increase your EC traffic, how to optimize it for your blog, how to network with the community,Top droppers MeMes, etc etc. That’s all great, but we think some are getting a little carried away with it all, unknowingly destroying the system.

Here’s the thing: The whole purpose behind EC is to get noticed in the blogosphere because your 125×125 ad gets displayed on other blogs that have signed up with EC. Obviously if your card is featured on a huge blog like Problogger (who gets sponsored by EC) or JohnChow, you’re bound get get a nice bump in traffic for those 24 hours. Currently the cost for these two blogs is 330 and 260. So why on earth would someone waste over 400 credits to get featured on a blog that has 21 RSS subscribers? You wouldn’t if you have your head screwed on the right way!

We’re not saying your blog is bad or crap, we’re just saying there’s no justification for such a high price, having compared the stats with the other blogs. It’s like us starting to ask $900 for a review, while you can go and get one for half that amount on JohnChow.com. We’d set ourselves up the bomb!

Now this is where the problem lies. The EC powerusers are so keen on getting becoming popular within the ranks of the community, that they are working hard in chain dropping their cards on all EC blogs each day, just to accumulate more credits and inflating their own advertising prices. Emails keep getting send around, asking for drops, reccomendations and whatever else it is that will get you popular on the categories pages.
Its really not doing any good for anyone. The blogs that get their cards dropped on are experiencing an increase in bounce rates. The bloggers that stops dropping quickly vanish into thin air. The bloggers that keep dropping, is happily inflating their own advertising cost. And for what? Just to get featured in the top 3 on their respective categories?

Bouncerates through the roof.

Unfortunately the current system “Effort=Reward” has become unusable since it has been encouraging this form of ‘gaming the system’ and the end result causes a distorted view of how popular a blog really is on the outside world. If you think you’re paying 400 credits to get featured on a popular blog, therefor getting high exposure to the blogosphere and receiving a bump in traffic, think again. You’ve just wasted your hard earned credits on a blog that might look popular inside the EC community, but isn’t all that popular outside the community – where it matters if you’re looking for traffic.

The only way to stop this is to alter the script so it won’t add to your ‘popularity’ when you’re dropping cards. Getting more popular because cards are getting dropped on your blog is a natural and organic type of growth, which would be a more accurate reflection of the popularity of a blog in the place where it really matters – the blogosphere. Until the EC team can find a way to prevent blog inflation from happening, we’re dropping EC.

(PS We’re waiting for Becky’s ‘told you so!’ comment).