In this post, I show you a better and more effective way to build your online audience and client base.
I also have a special announcement that I make at the end of this post, but let’s jump right into the online biz
revelation that I witnessed this year.
Here’s what I personally discovered :
- The competition for eyeballs (aka getting attention) is extremely high.
- They are tons of sites and blogs who want to “make it big” in your market.
- Everyone who wants to build a thriving and profitable online presence needs to build their audience from scratch…
or not ?
When you’re not already a bigshot today, the strive for attention and customers can
get really challenging, not to say punch-your-face-with-a-Koala-style-frustrating.
But there’s hope on the horizon, smiling at you like the sun’s lost son.
Enter the audience stealer.
The most time effective way to increase your readership and customer base.
Woozaa !
Premise :
Instead of trying to get all the people coming to your site directly, which requires
endless work and persistence, you tap into a thriving online outlet and snatch up
your audience from there.
Huh ?
Let me explain. The majority of my blog traffic, and more importantly my sales, came
from digital outlets that featured me/or my work :
- an interview by BlogcastFM media mastermind Srinivas Rao earned my thousands of dollars (through guide sales and high-quality clients)
- my slideshows on Slideshare brought me product sales, new readers and customers
- my monthly contribution post to Grow increased my readership and let to more clients
It’s fair to say that around 70%-80% of my income this year came from indirect resources,
meaning outlets different than my blog.
If that’s not setting an Oompa Loompa on surprise fire, then I don’t know what can.
But why is getting you/your work featured on other sites so powerful ?
Think about it.
There are already so many established platforms and media sites out there who already built an incredibly big and dedicated audience. Instead of trying to replicate their years of hard-ass work yourself, you can simply tap into their audience and steer a big chunk back to your site !
This approach is super-effective, because you…
- tap into different markets (thus increasing your reach)
- attract a highly-targeted crowd (who dig your specific content)
- get extra Google link ranking juice and reputation, because you’re a featured and linked on name brands
Now how the hell can YOU do that practically for yourself ? How in the Sauerkraut’s name of the holy Wiener can you steal audiences from established platforms ?
I’m glad my brain assumes that you ask that question, that’s why I unlock
my tips and tricks here for you…
3 ways to steal audiences effectively
Create fun to consume and easy to share project-based work.
(aka make your work media-friendly)
Andrew Kim’s impressive design portfolio on http://www.minimallyminimal.com/ created quite the ruckus online.
He’s done incredible concept and redesign work on Coca Cola, Microsoft, Honda etc., which he shared openly in a respective one page concept presentation, easy to consume and easy to share.
This caught the attention of various renowned media outlets, such as Mashable, Y Combinator, Tech Crunch and Fast Company,
allowing him to get MASS attention and high-quality client work.
Lesson : If you are in the creation department, such as illustration, (web)design and film/music making, consider producing highly shareable online pages that news media outlets can include
in their articles. You will gain access to insanely big audiences and work opportunities.
Create specific content on and publish on a platform that’s specifically build for that kind of content.
Wowzee, what a mouthful. But here’s what I mean :
Take Slideshare, which is a popular slideshow sharing platform. I luv it. No seriously, I do.
If it was a woman I’d do some naughty, NSFW gigs with it. But for now, I stick to creating visual presentations. In summer 2012 I uploaded my first presentation ever, just for the fun of it.
It gathered over 65,000 views in a short amount of time, bringing me mucho attention and sales.
I almost fell off my chair, pissing all over myself in surprise, because of the unexpected impact.
In the following weeks, I decided to create more slideshows, which lead to more client work and biz opportunities.
Would I have gained the same amount of attention and work by simply posting the slideshows on my blog alone ?
No. Because their platform has a built-in audience that’s FOCUSED on that kind of content.
Or look at my buddies Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant who unleashed an offbeat indie-publishing podcast. They built quite a large fan base in a fairly short amount of time (1-2 months), simply by tapping into iTunes’ incredibly big podcast market and focusing on a specific niche, in their case, self-publishing. Despite their incredibly irreverent charm, they’d never be able to
attract that fan base on their respective sites alone.
Note: when you create specific content on other platforms, MAKE SURE you link back to your home base, aka your blog or website. And when I mean “link”, I don’t only mean the weblink, but including your site reference as well. Mention your website and URL in your work, especially at the end of your content, so people visit your home base where you can turn them into customers or email-list subscribers.
Lesson: Find a popular platform that thrives on a specific kind of content-creation, whether that’s
slide design (Slideshow), podcasting (iTunes) or video (Youtube, Vimeo) and then produce hiqh quality, unique content for it that attracts their audience.
Fill in the gaps
There are lots of huge personal and media blogs out there that entertain their own, big-ass audiences. A grrreat way for you to tap into their market is to contribute content (e.g. a guest post) by looking into what kind of content they offer and what kind of content they LACK.
So that YOU, the awesome content hero, can FILL that gap with your own content and style. When Mark Schaefer from Grow approached me, he already had a bunch of cool writers that contributed to his immensely successful marketing biz site. But what he missed were some cool graphics and visuals, namely cartoons, spiced with a passionate and unique writing flavor.
So, exactamente what I had to offer. I approached him and pitched him my style and how it could enrich his site, and whoopsie-doopsie, turned into a paid contributor to his platform.
Lesson : Find a gap on a big-ass blog and fill it with your unique style.
You enrich their platform by heaps, and get mass attention and reputation in return, which can lead to subscribers and customers. Win win all the way, baby Sue !
Conclusion time
Yesss, your blog or site is the MAIN platform, your HOME baby. But there are other outlets out there, with wayyyy bigger audiences than yours.
It would be FOOLISH not to tap into their market and steal their audiences so you can grow YOURS…
Now BTW – I have just released a build-your-online-presence multimedia course with my
buddy Srinivas Rao from Blogcast FM. You learn how to build a successful online platform from scratch, including how to get your voice heard online, how to stand out and attract the customers you need to thrive.
Click here to find out more !
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