Famous? Dirt Poor?
In a recent conversation, a client made the following observation.
So many businesses seem confused about how to use the Internet. They appear to know their own product or service, but they don’t have clients or customers. They built it, and no one came. Has no one found the right model?
Some folks think the answer is to get famous. . . .
A strong personal brand and passion for your niche teamed is what makes a blog a powerful New Media marketing tool. That’s what will build trust, rapport, and reputation equity. Once you have those things, it’s a relatively straight forward process to turn those assets into profit. — Tribal Seduction
I’m with Tim Bourquin’s observations about that.
Twitter, blogs, podcasts and new media in general have created a wave of “famous†people – people with a “wealth†of attention and inbound links, but can’t pay their bills at the end of the month. Worse yet, some seem to think that if you do find a way to make your living successfuly, you’ve “sold out†and are no longer true to your audience. That’s a shame and it needs to change.
The “link†and “attention†may be the currency of the Internet, but until someone can show me how to pay my mortgage by linking to my bank once a month, that just doesn’t fly with me.
Internet famous isn’t “Oprah famous” . . . not even close . . . and the Internet forgets quickly.
When I asked Internet Rockstar, Guy Kawasaki, about what bloggers should know about blogging as business, he said.
The truth is that it’s very difficult to monetize a blog. I have a fairly popular one and sell less than $100,000 of advertising per year on it. It serves other purposes though for my activities as a venture capitalist, author, and speaker.
So to some extent, a blog can help with the overall branding and marketing of a company, but it’s a leap of faith.
A blog by itself isn’t a business. A product without customers won’t sell.
What do you see when you look at online businesses?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!
Hey, you are great. you got lots of idea.
Hi Liz – I see a lot of people pretending to be famous when they’re not, as you mentioned. And I see others who have worked hard, been passionate about their business and given customers exactly what they want. It’s not difficult to work out which are the most successful.
As for my blog – I make v little from it. It’s definitely more of a building brand me exercise. But as you mentioned – that’s still a long shot, so you’ve got to enjoy blogging too.
Aloha Liz. Thanks for the pull quote reference. Great topic!
I agree with Guy somewhwat. But Guy Kawasaki is who he is. People will follow/read/listen/watch him no matter what he does (unless he somehow screws up the momentum he’s already built.) He doesn’t need “fame.”
And although the average entrepreneur, business owner or marketer doesn’t need fame in the common use of the word either — they DO need to be famous with their Tribe.
“Famous” defined in Tribal Seduction terms simply means combining problem solving with entertainment in a way that attracts attention, connects with your audience, and converts them into raving fans.
Can that be done with just a blog? Like I shared in the post you mention above — you’ve got an uphill battle on icy ground! But a New Media powered site (blog + conversion tools) IS the hub of all your online marketing.
Hi Cath!
I started my blog simply to keep up the discipline of writing. The rest was a steady progression. Some steps harder than others, all of the ones that worked took a plan of some sort.
I agree. If you pay attention, you can tell who’s meeting their goals and who’s spinning their wheels. 🙂
Hi JP,
I think the fame part is the fairly straightforward part of the process. It’s the tuning that asset into profits that most people haven’t figured out how to do with success. 😉
My husband heard a guy say in the 1990s, “The only law of the future will be Internet law.” I assume the man meant that everything we do, every transaction we make, every part of our lives will eventually be Internet-based in some way, and so any law of note will be also based on those interactions. The Internet may seem so much a part of our lives now, but hey, my mom still remembers riding horses to school, outdoor plumbing, and the Oklahoma dust bowl. I remember my husband teaching small businesses in Colorado what the Internet was about when 90 percent of the U.S. had never heard of “www.” So much is being thrown into the Internet that it will become formulaic soon enough. Enjoy the moment.
Hi SpaceAgeSage,
I’m with you there! So much discovery going on. I’m looking back over the last two years with long for the old days already . . . in many ways. Things were simpler when there were only 12 million bloggers. 🙂
Information is taking over my mind in a big way.
Liz…. your words… at least I think it was you that said, ‘your blog is not your business’ make the most sense to me. It’s a tool… Oh yeah, you said it again above. 🙂
Hi Dave!
That’s the idea that fueled SOBCon08. It seems that folks need to clearly draw the line on how a blog fits into a business plan.
I so agree that a blog is a tool — like a computer or a telephone. 🙂
Liz, I’ve been thinking about it also…
“Don’t think hierarchy, think journey” This is the quote that I remind myself. Easy to say, not easy to do..
Priority is important, why do we blog right now? For me, my priority is my personal growth. Comparing makes me wanna be much more popular than who I am right now… so I’ll take it as journey of my personal growth.
Recently I also took step to reduce my article frequency, partly because I want to focus on growing my competence as well, in both blogging and my day job.
Money wise, it comes later =) Recently I got one reader that is asking for a paid review of her internet marketing business in my blog. Honestly, it’s so unbelievable, with only around 100 readers I have. I can’t specify any price to her as I don’t know how much should I charge, I’ll just do my best for the review, and ask her to donate as how much as she find the review.
That’s a really a great opportunity I have to thank that reader. Do your best, give, and your blessing will come. That might be the principle of investment. And blogging is your investment.
As any other investment, you may lose, but you won’t if you take what you experience in blogging. Take it as what you have become through blogging and not what you get through blogging.
That’s my two-cents.
Robert
Liz – that is a great point. I’ve found blogging forces me to write. Not doing it is easy when nobody else knows about it.
It is obvious you are passionate about what you do – it shows through in your posts.
Hi Liz – first and foremost – you are wonderful. I just read the transcript of your speech from WordCamp Dallas – really brilliant.
I have my own blog – http://www.writingroads.com/blog, and I am also part of a great kid’s organization for the environment and I write their blog – http://www.bonobokids.com/blog (The Bonobo Challenge). Our goal with the kid’s site is to inspire, start a conversation, guide, listen to and highlight what kids are doing. We are also trying to bring them into our interactive site, hoping they will buy our beautiful book (all profits going to Jane Goodall’s youth org, Roots and Shoots, and to the Bonobo Conservation Initiative).
Our blog is important because many people don’t know about bonobos – so the blog is a way to reach out to what they do know and care about – the environment, endangered species, et al.
Also, I know that you were/are in publishing so don’t freak, but we self-published to have total control and more money to give back – so we need to sell the book on our site. (Dang those nasty wholesalers!)
My point: besides the internet fame and the empty blogger pockets – I still believe that the cream rises to the top, that the internet is a wonderful tool for sharing information, that blogs inspire conversation and, let’s hope, action.
Thanks for listening and for all that you do,
Julie
Hi Robert!
I know. All we can do is our best. But that sure seems to pay off with high returns. 🙂
Hi Cath!
Having an audience changes so much about writing. It adds new layer on learning about communicating. It’s almost addictive for me. 🙂
You’re right. It seems like it’s harder not to show up when someone else knows.
Julie!
Your site, your quest, and your execution of both are wonderful. Self-publishing is a great way to go! I also believe that great people stand out, but I don’t necessarility belive that a great heart and talent will get us to something that pays the rent.
We need to have a plan and a certain amount of passion/determination for that. Looks like you know exactly what I’m talking about. 🙂