I used to think being “right” was a big deal.

I had to say the right thing, dress the right way, know the right people, read the right books, live in the right neighborhood, go to the right school. It wasn’t because I wanted to, exactly, but because I thought it was a prerequisite for success.

If you want other people to respect you, then you have to look and sound a certain way, right? Makes sense, if conformity is all you’ve ever been taught.

What no one tells you is the cost. Yes, conformity gains you a certain type of approval from others, but it comes at the cost of losing your sense of self.

You have to systematically search out everything that’s a little bit “off” about you and bury it as deep as you can. You know that you can’t get rid of it — it’s a part of you, after all — but maybe you can hide it so deep that no one will ever see it, so that a world that only respects the “right” will never realize how “wrong” you really are.

Maybe, just maybe, you can fool everyone until you’re in a position of power and no one’s opinion matters anymore. Then you can be free. Right?

Umm… no.

The Power of Misfits

The people we pay attention to aren’t the masters of doing what’s “right;” they’re the misfits who have the courage to be wrong. They take whatever everyone else is doing in their industry and turn it inside out.

It’s not just about differentiation; it’s about perverting the norm, destroying sacred traditions, and screwing with the way people think. It’s about doing, saying, or living something that’s so completely unexpected that people can’t help but pay attention.

It’s about realizing that most people spend their lives breathing stale, recycled air, and then spending the remainder of your life finding and opening windows to make that air new again.

• Who would’ve thought a movie that told a story backwards would become a cult classic that people would talk about for decades? But that’s what Christopher Nolan did with Memento.
• Who would’ve thought paintings consisting of nothing more than splattered paint would sell for millions of dollars? But that’s what Jackson Pollock did with his art.
• Who would’ve thought a Jewish guy from the UK would become famous by playing an anti-Semitic, socially-retarded Kazakh? But that’s what Sacha Baron Cohen did with Borat.

The one trait they all have in common: the courage to be wrong.

The Fallacy of Right and Wrong

By saying “wrong,” I’m not saying you should pander for attention, make lewd jokes, or otherwise do something bad. What I’m saying is you need to realize “right” and “wrong” exist only between quotation marks. Every day, the world decides their definition, and every day, we have the opportunity to influence what that definition becomes.

Revolutionaries don’t just burn the rules. They write new ones. In destroying the standard, they create the standard. It’s creative destruction at its finest.

Will some people dislike you? Sure, that’s the way it works. Real leaders are willing, even eager, to be disliked and even hated, not because it makes them feel important, but because they know it’s the price of change, and no one can pay that price but them.

Do you have that kind of courage?

If not, it pays to find it. No one pays attention to a coward for very long.

And if all you do is what’s “right,” then a coward is exactly what you become.

About the Author: Jon Morrow is Associate Editor of Copyblogger and Cofounder of Partnering Profits. Get more from Jon on Twitter.

What Is Twitter?

To start with, we are going to define what twitter is. Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Twitter is therefore is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others' updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to other users - known as followers - who have subscribed to them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees. 

Getting  started on twitter. 

Here are the eight easy to follow steps that will help you get started on twitter.

1) Create your free twitter account.

This is obviously the first step. So now proceed to twitter.com.If you are intending to use twitter to build your brand or business, I would suggest that the name of the brand or business you intend to promote be your username. You can also choose a username that signifies the main benefit your product or business offers. You want to claim this before your competitor does. If this is not the case, then you can your firstnamelastname-so that your name remains your personal brand on twitter. Remember that the user name is what people will see with an "@" symbol in front of it. 

 Once you are through with, your URL will be http://twitter.com/USERNAME.

2) Personalize your twitter account.

This we can do by adding a photo of your own or the logo of your business. To do this to go Settings => Picture. Please don’t add the picture of your cat or your dog or a cartoon you like unless that symbolizes the business you are involved in. Add a photograph of yourself that shows your face. Be professional, your twitter account again is your personal and or business brand. I don’t follow anyone who does not have a photo of themselves – I have heard that others don’t as well.

3) Biography 

Next we are going to fill out our bio-which is the personal information we want our followers to access. 

This can be done again using Settings => Account. The field for one-line bio is half way down. This is important so that when others find you, they can get to know you better by understanding your interests. Here is my bio – Product Management and social media enthusiast

4) See if your friends are on Twitter.

After you fill out basic info, you'll be prompted to look for friends in your Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail or AOL accounts so you can begin following them if they're already on the service.

5) Twitter's suggestions. 

Twitter will suggest some people for you to follow as well. Check to see if anyone of them is relevant. This will be determined by your interests.

6) Post some tweets  

If you have a blog, you can automate the process using the tweet me plugin for wordpress though there are tools you can use. (More on these in my subsequent posts). If you do not have a blog, post links to interesting articles you find that are relevant to your interests (professional, hobbies etc.) and one that you think will be useful to others who have similar interests, post them as a tweet.

7) Start looking for followers.

Regardless of how many people you found through e-mail search and Twitter's suggestions, start looking around for people you might find interesting. Use search.twitter.com. For example, if you train dogs, search for dog training.You will find tweets from a bunch of people with similar interests. Click on their photographs and then click the Follow button. Some of them will follow you back and some of them won’t. Don’t take it personally if some of them don’t.

There are other proven tactics that will automatically grow your twitter followers that I will be discussing here.

  Give, give, give…

Share your knowledge, share articles that will be useful to your followers. Give, give, give. If you find interesting articles posted by people who you follow, Retweet them. The syntax is RT@USERNAME and their tweet – where USERNAME is the name of the person whose tweet you are retweeting. For example, if you want to retweet one of my posts, it would look like.

Derrick Van Dyke is giving away his list-building software for free at http://TwitterListBuilder.c...5:04 PM Jun 25th from web..

If someone asks a question via their tweet (for example, I am having problems with gmail – anyone having the same?) and you want to reply to this person, the syntax would be

@USERNAME – No my gmail works fine – where USERNAME is the name of the person whose tweet you are replying to.

9) Be Ethical.

No flame wars, no name calling, no swear words (OK, it is fine to use WTF once in a while but I would avoid it). Post everything in a professional manner. Two litmus tests – would your future employer like to see what you have posted and still give you a job? Would your family be ashamed to read what you have posted?

Getting started is the toughest part, after that you will learn as you go and figure out how to use Twitter the way it works best for you. Good luck.

May be  you want to make sure you check out the twitter terms of service to avoid getting banned

If you have any questions, follow me on Twitter and tweet the questions to me using the syntax in #8. I am learning as I go myself, so if you find other interesting tips, please tweet them as well.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

If you have not claimed your free download then do so here.The complete money making system that has taken my online income to the next level.

Twitter has been a hot debate topic among online marketers over the last year. Is it a total time suck, or a marketing tool you can’t live without? Honestly, it depends on how you use it…

Everyone seems to use Twitter differently. The interesting thing is just how defensive people tend to get over their personal opinion of Twitter – be it the best way to use it, or their decision not to use it at all.

So what’s the big deal – and how should you be using Twitter in your marketing strategy? Twitter happens to be the #1 traffic referrer to my blog, and has maintained that position consistently for well over a year. I’ll share some tips with you that have proven to work very well for me, along with my thoughts on some of the more controversial topics regarding Twitter…

Follow / Following / Unfollow

This seems to be the topic of most debates, and one where people often adopt an opinion that ultimately only affects them or their personal Twitter experience.

These opinions include: unfollowing anyone that won’t follow them back, or chooses to unfollow them at some point. Refusing to follow someone based on the number of people they are following (or not), etc.

Follow - Twitter is similar to your RSS or Feed Reader. Who you follow is basically who – or what information – you subscribe to. If you’re using Twitter for marketing purposes then you want to follow the market leaders in your niche, and the news sources in your niche, as a means of staying up to date on current events and hot topics.

Who cares if they follow you back? Seriously. The point of following is to get the news and updates that you prefer. Period.

Twitter can be used in any number of ways, but for Twitter Marketing you should follow: market leaders, competitors, bloggers, speakers, authors, etc in your niche.

The cool thing about Twitter is that you can not only follow specific people, but you can also follow specific topics. I use TweetDeck which allows me to create groups (people I want to follow more closely) as well as searches – for topics/keywords I want to follow. You should follow keywords such as your name, brand, product name, main keyword, etc.

Part of my follow strategy also includes my Replies tab. This is where tweets arrive from people who have talked to me or talked about me – that have included “@lynnterry” in their tweet. This is actually where I spend the majority of my time with Twitter, because it allows me to engage in conversations – regardless of whether I am actually ‘following’ that person or not.

(To the people that complain or protest that I don’t follow them, I always encourage them to test me – if they speak to me directly or tweet me a question, I respond. And that, in my opinion, is just as good as “following”)

Here is a breakdown of how I use Twitter:

• The main timeline is where I scan for news, updates & general content.
• My group is a more focused timeline that I keep a closer eye on, to keep my finger on the pulse of specific people.
• My search is where I do ongoing market research. I keep an eye here too for new people to follow or conversations to join.
• My Replies tab is where my conversations & interactions are happening.

Following - For starters, I do not waste time checking out who is following me. In fact, I turned off email notifications because I found it pointless and distracting. Your focus should be on building a very specific following on Twitter, not on each individual person who is following you.

This may seem “harsh” but I consider it someone’s personal choice to follow me. I don’t actually engage with that person unless they choose to tweet me directly, or respond to one of my tweets.

You want to treat “building your following” like you treat “building your list”. (You wouldn’t go check out every single person that signed up for your newsletter, would you?) See the Twitter Marketing Strategy section below.

Unfollow - Some people will unfollow anyone that won’t follow them, or who unfollows them. I’ve even seen people attempt to “bully” others by threatening to unfollow them. This is just plain silly in my opinion.

You should unfollow anyone you no longer want to follow. Simple as that. For me it might be a blogger or marketer that is consistently off topic and doesn’t send out updates relevant to my ‘feed’. It’s not personal.

Some set up rules or criteria for their follow/following/unfollow strategy that, in my opinion, are too strict and only spite them – they certainly don’t affect anyone else. Many people have said that they check out the bio for certain detail, make sure that person filled out a specific location, look at the follower/following ratio, etc.

It’s not about “grading” a person on their ability to set up a profile to MY specs. It’s about getting the news & updates that I want – period. There are certain people I want to follow, eavesdrop on, connect with, or receive updates from. In the end, the only real criteria should be what you want in your timeline… and what YOU need to accomplish YOUR (very specific) goal with Twitter.

Twitter Marketing Strategy

Please tell me you have one. If you don’t have a specific goal or strategy, then Twitter will surely become a “total time suck” for you.

To be honest, it appears that most people join Twitter because “someone said they should” or because “it’s the hottest thing in internet marketing right now” – but have ZERO strategy behind their investment.

The first step to creating your Twitter Marketing Strategy is to know your purpose. What do you hope to accomplish, or how do you intend to use Twitter in your overall marketing plan?

“Know how you want to be known, what you want to be known for, and who you want to know you.” Define your target market, and your offer, and creating a strong message-to-market match.

Step One is to fill in the blanks: I am known for ___ . I am the expert on ___ . People follow me for ___ . If you can’t answer these questions, stop everything you’re doing and work on that first.

Now that you know who you are and what people expect from you, go back and analyze your Twitter activity. Do your tweets reflect your goals, consistently address your topic, and attract your ideal follower?

Get in the mindset of your follower. Why did they follow you? If it’s not to receive updates about the topic of your product, website or blog… then you are not attracting your target market. If they did follow you specifically for those updates, and you don’t deliver, then you are letting them down.

Building a following on Twitter should be viewed much the same as building an email list. You definitely want to consider quality over quantity, in both cases. The more focused your topic & readership, the more productive you can be – and the higher your click-through and conversion rates will be.

Marketing is not spam. Sharing resources and links is not spam. Think about it for a moment. If you follow Michel Fortin, you are probably expecting tweets about Copywriting and Sales Copy. If you follow John Reese, you are probably expecting tweets about Internet Marketing and Traffic Secrets. Why are people following you, and do you deliver?

Stop here, open this link in a new window, and read this:
Apology Marketing (is stupid!)

Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s move on to actually using Twitter…

Your goal should be to tweet useful updates that are of specific interest to your followers. Twitter is a place where you can be more personable, and even more personal, but you want to maintain your professional character and your integrity at all times.

A good exercise is to take a moment when you sit down at your desk, and ask: Why do they follow me? This is a good question to start with before you email your list, or write a new post for your blog as well. Get in the mind of your ideal reader (ie follower) and connect with their expectations.

Then… deliver.

There is also more to Twitter than just tweeting links and using it to get traffic. As I mentioned earlier, I have a very specific ‘follow strategy’ and this allows me to:

• Mine Twitter for content & useful links. My timeline is a goldmine of resources that I can share with my readers, on my blog and in my newsletter as well as on Twitter.
• Evaluate a potential JV Partner or VA for integrity, consistency, etc. Twitter is a great way to get a ‘feel’ for a person you may want to work with.
• Stay up to date on change or news in my industry. Twitter is where you hear it first!
• Keep my ear to the ground for conversations about me, about my products or about my websites. It’s a great way to get unsolicited feedback, learn points you can improve on, and understand your market better.
• Listen to the conversations for potential blog topics. What is my market interested in at the moment, what questions are they asking, what topics engage them?

Twitter is an amazing market research tool, as well as marketing tool.

ENGAGE your followers

In addition to filtering news, information and conversations in your niche, and providing useful updates about your topic or product/service, Twitter is a great way to engage your target market in productive conversations.

Here are just a few ideas that I’ve seen work incredibly well:

Host a contest on Twitter. For examples, search “twitter contest” at Google.

Encourage your followers to ‘tweet you’ questions, favorite links/resources, tips or personal experiences about your topic. If you have a blog, this is a great way to craft new and interesting posts. Compile the tips and share them in a post. Or compile the questions into a topical FAQ, and answer each question in detail. Once published, thank your followers and give them the link to check out the results.

Use Twitter to really engage your target market in conversation about your topic. What do they need, what do they love, what really frustrates them? Ask! They’ll appreciate your genuine interest, and you’ll gain incredibly valuable feedback that will help you better serve them.

Best,

Enjoy this post? Follow me on Twitter @lynnterry and sign up for my free weekly newsletter: Learn Internet Marketing. Want to share this post with your friends? Send this tweet:

Reading: Twitter Marketing: What’s Your Strategy? http://www.clicknewz.com/1953/ by @lynnterry

Related Posts:

• Getting Creative With Twitter
• Twitter: Are you IN or OUT?
• 40 Twitter Tips in 140 Characters or Less
• Twitter Networking 101
• Tweeting Outside The IM Niche
• One Question (example of productive tweeting)

What a wild three-and-a-half years, huh?

Copyblogger started out as a way for me to demonstrate what I knew and could do in order to collaborate on new media projects with others.

Now it’s the hub of a business enterprise that supports three families, two single guys, one single mom, and a host of domesticated animals.

And we’re just getting started. Of course, that means having a clear picture of where we want to go is pretty essential.

Guidance from the Wise Bald One

I’m not going to pretend that Seth Godin and I are best buddies who hang out on weekends and major holidays. But if there’s anyone I’d point to as a mentor, it’s him.

For years that came solely from his books, which in many cases was more than enough. In the last couple of years, however, Seth has been very generous with his time and wisdom when I needed guidance.

A couple of months ago, an email from Seth arrived with some unsolicited advice. Actually, it wasn’t advice, but a question:

What kind of tribe are you building?

Over the last 8 months, we’ve been experimenting with stretching the bounds of what Copyblogger covered, reviewed, and recommended. I think Seth thought we had gone off track, or lost the path. In hindsight, maybe he was right.

At first, I was annoyed. Then, I started giving it a great deal of thought. Finally, Sonia and I started to talk about it . . . a lot.

The result was what’s become known as the Two Tribes post. And that turned out to be a defining moment.

The Intersection of Pragmatism and Progress

Sonia and I are both students of online marketing. Not any one particular kind of online marketing, mind you, other than marketing that works.

That doesn’t mean we adopt things as is. The key to effective marketing is to be context appropriate, regardless of the tactic or strategy. So we’re very good at creative adaptation when it comes to taking, for example, an effective tactic that is being used in a sleazy manner, and making it non-sleazy. Or seeing a touchy-feely social media concept that makes sense, and tweaking it so it can actually convert prospects into customers.

To put this in context, Copyblogger has always been extremely selective about what we recommend to you in terms of paid offers. We had to be convinced through our own direct experience with the product or service that it had value and worked.

Products or tools have needed to be extremely useful. We’ve only recommended products that made it easy to make your money back, within a realistic timeframe and with skills that we are confident you already possess.

We didn’t necessarily care how those products or tools were marketed. We figured you’d just creatively adapt the tactics or strategies in a context-appropriate way.

That’s not enough any more. From this point forward, we’re only going to recommend and promote products that truly embody what we stand for.

It’s all about the Third Tribe.

What Does the Third Tribe Stand For?

We seek to combine the practical, solid techniques of the Internet Marketing so-called “gurus” and the ethical, content-focused, high-quality approach of the blogging world. It’s what we call the Third Tribe, and you’re going to be hearing a lot more about it in the coming months.

In practical terms, it means you’ll be seeing many more Copyblogger products, and far fewer from other people. My greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that we strive to make our in-house projects like Teaching Sells and Thesis not just good enough . . . but as good as we possibly can (and that’s an ongoing process).

One of the best ways to ensure that standard is to do more product development ourselves. So that’s what we’ll do.

If we do make an outside recommendation, it will be for someone who “gets it.” They may not be household names . . . yet. But they’re creating solid tools that work for real people, without hype and nonsense.

Copyblogger products will be created for smart businesspeople (even if you’re not too sure of your business skills yet), not naive “business opportunity” seekers who are constantly looking for the newest magic pill.

They’ll be products for people who take action, not dreamers who think about making millions overnight. The money really does roll in while you sleep with the right online business model . . . but only after you put in the time and hard work to get to that point.

Anyone who tells you differently can’t be trusted.

Over the past few years, Copyblogger has grown thanks to a very high standard for the free content we produce, and that’s not going to change. It’s just that we feel that an even higher standard applies to things you pay for.

Thought you might like to know. Especially since without you, there’d be no reason for us.

Thanks for everything: past, present, and future.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

As he did in life, Michael Jackson continues to break records in his death…

The death of superstar Micheal Jackson is turning out to be one of the biggest phenomenons that is illustrating the power of online and mobile communication throughout the world and is really fascinating from an Internet marketing perspective.

On a personal note…

Let me say that I am truly saddened by this news. As my regular readers know, I came to this country from the former USSR in 1975 as a young child and Off The Wall was the first album I ever owned, yes in full on vinyl.

His music was my first introduction to American pop and dance culture and coming from the USSR with both of my parents being classical concert pianists this was certainly a change of pace.

That album and the many great songs that came after hold a lot of great memories for me and brought me lots of joy throughout the years.

It is truly amazing the kind of impact he had on people all over the world. I suspect that we will learn that his early death could have been avoided, as with the many celebrities who came before him and I really hope that he can find some peace in death that he could not find in life.

The unprecedented impact of Michael Jackson’s death on the Internet:

The news of Michael Jackson’s death had an incredible impact on the Internet with record breaking traffic and search volumes that actually shut down Google for about 26 minutes on Thursday afternoon because they thought they were being attacked.

Google Trends labeled Thursday’s searches for “michael jackson died” as “volcanic.”

Thursday was also a record-breaking day for Yahoo when their story, “Michael Jackson rushed to hospital,” received 800,000 clicks in 10 minutes, which made it its highest-clicked story ever.

Yahoo revealed that Yahoo News set an all-time record with 16.4 million visitors, beating the old record of 15.1 million set last election day. The four million visitors between 3-4 pm also set an hourly record.

Twitter reported 5,000 Jackson-related tweets per minute on Thursday afternoon.

Facebook reported status updates in triple numbers on Thursday afternoon.

AOL, whose AIM messaging service was knocked offline for 40 minutes Thursday, stated “Today was a seminal moment in Internet history. We’ve never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth.”

The massive search volumes also affected, Bing, as well as mobile communications which saw an unprecendeted amount of text and communications volumes as well.

From an Internet marketing prespective this is quite fascinating and shows the power and speed of information distribution that is the Internet.

I was watching to see who had the story posted first, as thousands of bloggers, both in news and celebrity fields took to their keyboards to spread the news.

TMZ.com broke the story first, with CNN and local news channels following closely behind, but apparently Wikipedia still won out over everyone, including Twitter and poor Google (:-)) that struggled to revive after the massive search volumes.

Here is an interesting post by SEO Moz, that lists the exact time line of the developing news online:

A Bad Day for Search Engines: How News of Michael Jackson’s Death Traveled Across the Web

And Google’s official blog posted an explanation of their downtime and a search volume graph that really illustrates the spike in searches best at: Outpouring of Searches for the Late Micheal Jackson

On a lighter note…

Don’t we all wish to have at least 5% of that kind of traffic???? Incredible really.

If you love the content buy me a coffee.

Copyright 2009 JR’s Internet Marketing Strategies. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only, if you are reading this on a website other than your feed reader then the copyright has been violated. Visit JR’s Internet Marketing Strategies for more great content.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Rosalind Gardner. I’ve confessed a number of times that I got my own start as a super affiliate by reading her Super Affiliate Handbook. It’s the very first “ebook” that I ever bought online, and still to this day the best investment I ever made in my ebiz.

This weekend I was watching one of her videos, which is a sneak peek inside several of her affiliate accounts – and just had to share this with you:

Is that inspiring, or what?

In this next video, Rosalind explains what Affiliate Marketing is “in a nutshell”. It’s a quick video – less than 4 minutes – where she explains the model that allows her to earn those big affiliate commission payments:

What I love about Rosalind is that she practices what she teaches. Before she ever wrote the book on it, she was a successful super-affiliate herself. Most of the people that try to teach you how to make money online, have never sold a product online themselves outside of the Internet Marketing niche.

Rosalind focuses on pay-per-click (PPC) as her primary marketing method, but once I got started with my affiliate sites I decided to focus on SEO instead. I do still use PPC occasionally, but prefer to get my affiliate sites ranked well in the major search engines for a steady flow of free traffic. Ideally you should learn and use both methods – because both do have their place in your marketing strategy.

Enjoy the videos!

Best,

p.s. In the second video you’ll notice that Rosalind’s affiliate link example follows my advice in this post: Best Placement For Affiliate Links or Banners. That’s no coincidence – as I said, I learned from the best

Welp, it’s time once again to log out of WordPress and turn out the lights.

Once again, blogging is dead.

Seems at least once a year, a flurry of discussion erupts around the imminent demise of blogging. And then the rest of us shrug our shoulders, grab some coffee, and get back to creating content that further solidifies our web presence.

Don’t get me wrong… as always, change is definitely happening. But it doesn’t mean blogging is dead this time around anymore than it has every other time this discussion pops up.

Reports of Blogging’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Like the last time I addressed this topic, the basic argument is that the rapid growth of Facebook and Twitter has dampened the urge to blog. Since social networking is much easier than creating long-form content, why bother blogging?

Chris Brogan delivered the immediate logical response—that while snack-sized social networking content has its place, from a marketing standpoint it only works in conjunction with longer, more thoughtful content. And while blogging veteran Steve Rubel worries about long-form content in a short-attention-span world, he’ll continue to blog—because he knows he has valuable ideas to share that don’t fit in 140 characters.

The impact of Facebook and Twitter is a powerful trend that shouldn’t be dismissed (in fact, content creators should be using at least one of them). But the story remains the same: people who mainly want to socialize, share links, and post pictures of their cat should be using social networks instead of blogging, and that’s exactly what’s happening.

Those of us with different aspirations continue to blog, and smartly use social networking sites to promote our content while adding value in those venues. Whether you’re trying to build an online business, market your stuff, or promote a cause, those who seek maximum influence know that creating valuable longer content is the way to go.

Charles Arthur of the Guardian pins this donkey of a discussion on the tail:

People are still reading blogs, and other content. But for the creation of amateur content, their heyday for the wider population has, I think, already passed. The short head of blogging thrives. Its long tail, though, has lapsed into desuetude.

So, are you in the short head (or “short tail”) of blogging?

What’s the Short Tail of Blogging?

When people think of the “short tail” of blogs, they generally think of the large blogs that reside in the Technorati Top 100. The blogs that are really new media versions of traditional publications, but have a lot of unique social media characteristics that set them apart from mainstream media (at least for now).

I think that definition of the short tail is short sighted.

Big blogs that rely on a CPM advertising model are naturally prominent, because they have to attract massive amounts of traffic to make any real money. But there are plenty of business-oriented blogs that drive significant revenue without massive traffic, because they use content to attract prospects and convert them into new customers. Software, training, freelance services, real estate, wine, art and more are sold thanks to the power of attraction, trust, and conversion that blogs possess (when done well).

Those who recognize the decline in casual blogging also admit the power serious blogging retains:

It’s also essential to remember that unlike the transient nature of Twitter and the great walled garden of Facebook, blog posts are effectively conversations that are eternally visible through Google, meaning they have more inherent value to brands.

In the broadest sense, a “brand” is anyone with a message with a point beyond what you’re having for lunch. If that sounds like you, better stick with the blogging.

Even if you never call it that.

It’s Content Marketing, Right?

Here at Copyblogger, we’ve been teaching the intersection of content and copywriting for three-and-a-half years. We started well before the term “content marketing” came into vogue, and yet content has been the driving force behind online marketing since the inception of the web.

Content marketing is really what this is all about. Blogging (in the sense of the software and the best practices that help content spread and community grow) is simply the centerpiece of the effective and efficient practice of online content marketing.

So forget blogging as a movement, if you’d like. But keep the content marketing rolling.

UPDATE: Steve Rubel has apparently changed his mind. This is a bold move for even a social media pioneer with a large existing following (and a job). So I’m afraid it would be a colossal mistake for a business trying to actually attract customers to mimic this approach.

Image by Hugh.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

Another PR update so soon…

Okay well it seems that a June Google Page Rank update is underway right now, which is weird since the last one was just last month, but all my newer PRO sites went to PR1 or PR2, and 2 PR2 sites went to PR3 and other bloggers are posting the same updates on their sites.

And, this explains the shake up in the SERPS that I talked about the other day.

I do not think the update is done, because a couple of my sites went to PR2 which they surely did not deserve due to very few links, I’m not complaining but I think that it will go down.

Again for the newbies to this business, the toolbar PR is mainly useful for our own egos

and link building.

the real PR (the one that matters) is updated daily behind the scenes of the Google Algorithm.

The SERPS, traffic and sales is what really matters, but it’s always fun when the update comes around.

SERP Update:
Just checked the SERPS and they are still all over the place with odd page 1 results and several of my sites, though given an increased PR falling radically, so most likely they are not stable yet.

Do you guys see PR updates on your sites as well?

If you love the content buy me a coffee.

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“Hey man, spare some change?”

Rain or shine, the professional panhandler works a busy corner every day in my neighborhood. He sets up shop right by the ATM, on the theory that people who have just withdrawn a hundred bucks are more likely to give him a dollar or two.

The location is good, but prospecting is tough. Day in, day out, he sits on a stoop, asking people for a couple of bucks. He sees it as a numbers game – 98% of the people who pass by will say no or just ignore him, but if he asks enough people, a few will pony up.

Is panhandling effective?

Strictly speaking, I guess you could say it works . . . but most of us would agree that asking random people for money isn’t a great career choice. You have to deal with continuous rejection, your income is wildly unpredictable, and you get wet when it rains.

Too Many Marketers are Like Panhandlers

“Hey man, spare some change? Check out this great offer I’ve got . . . it’s just what you need, you’ll love it, really.”

On an intuitive level, most of us understand that it’s better to deliver our message to the right people. We know that we shouldn’t panhandle – but then we go out and do the opposite of what we know is right.

We model ourselves on the salesman who goes door-to-door hawking vacuum cleaners. Sure, he might sell a couple by the end of the day, but do we really want to be that guy?

I call this approach evangelism. The goal is to change someone’s mind and convince them to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do.

Why Evangelism Doesn’t Work

Most of us have deeply-held beliefs about everything from religion to politics to what kind of sandwich we like to eat for lunch. You probably aren’t going to change my mind about almost anything, and I’m probably not going to change yours.

So let’s not try to sell unwanted vacuum cleaners to each other.

The alternative to evangelism is recruitment. Instead of knocking on doors or begging for spare change, recruitment is all about opening your own doors to the people who are already naturally predisposed to your message.

Instead of needing to be sold, these people are dying to hear what you have for them.

At its best, recruitment involves welcoming a select group of people and challenging them to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

When people feel simultaneously welcomed into a group and challenged to go above and beyond their current limits, you’ve got a group that’s eager for your attention.

I call this a small army of remarkable people. Seth calls it a tribe, Gretchen calls them super-fans, Sonia calls them a village.

Regardless of terminology, these are the people you want in your group. You can think of them as your basic church choir. And preaching to the choir is a good thing.

“Come if You’re a Good Fit” Instead of “Come As You Are”

Recruitment also requires the gentle filtering out of people who aren’t a good fit for what you offer.

Wish them well . . . then wish them to go somewhere else. Most people won’t pitch a dollar in the panhandler’s bucket, and most people probably aren’t suited to what you have to offer.

That’s okay. Ignore the atheists outside the church. Rise above the noise, recruit a choir of your own, and start preaching.

Here’s wishing you well in your next sermon.

About the Author: Chris Guillebeau preaches to a choir of remarkable people at the Art of Nonconformity site. His 279 Days to Overnight Success manifesto offers a free case study of how to build a career in new media. Follow Chris on Twitter @chrisguillebeau.

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