When we first started blogging, it was fun.
Then we got serious about it…time to make some moola…and it got a little less fun.
And then we learned about posting to all of the article directories, and getting back links, and spinning articles (a task I will avoid at just about any cost – cool software or not), and blogging got a lot more chore-like and lot less glamorous.
I love to write. I love expressing myself ‘on paper.’ My words never come out so ‘eloquently’ when I’m having a one-on-one conversation as they do when I’m writing, especially when I get to write about stuff I really like.
But the times I got to write about what I really like got less and less, and the ‘informational and educational’ stuff of value that I was required to crank out day after day, according to the sure-fire strategy we were following, was getting more and more tedious and detestable.
I was beginning to develop a real distaste for blogging.
In plain English, I was starting to hate it. Number #1, I was writing about stuff that made me sound like an authority on other people’s sutff, not on my own stuff.
And #2, it was boring and dry and nobody really wanted to read it anyway!
Can anybody relate?
I’m sure you’re familiar with the strategy. Position yourself as a leader and an authority in your niche by studying and copying what the super-successful people are doing. Study a technique or strategy, put your own little twist on it, put it to work for yourself, and then write about it.
It’s actually great in theory. Lot’s of great stuff to write about. Except it’s not YOUR stuff. It’s someone else’s stuff.
Just keeping it real folks.
See, I’m gonna share a little secret with you that you may have actually figured out for yourself already, but maybe you just haven’t wanted to believe it yet.
And no, you won’t have to put in your name and email to get this secret either. It’s absolutely free just for ‘listening’ to me rant about this stuff.
So here it is. Do you really want to know how most of these big dogs got to be big dogs, and why you can’t seem to ever get to where they are, no matter how many of their strategies you try? And no matter how many video courses you opt into, or how many training courses, ebooks or programs your buy or join?
Here’s their secret. Try to follow me here. They get started just like you or me. They start buying courses and joining programs and marketing systems and attending training webinars trying to find the secret to getting massive traffic to their stuff.
Of course, none of what they learn is brining in more than a couple of leads a day because 5000 other people are now using the same ‘secret strategy’ that they learned, and it’s just not so hot anymore.
But then they happen to stumble upon some little tweak that takes one of the strategies they learned to a whole new level. And they finally start seeing some real success in getting traffic and making sales.
And then they make their own report or course or video series on this new and improved lead generation strategy, and this is where the big numbers start rolling in with people opting in to get their strategy.
And if they’re smart, they ride on this success, because now, they’ve got a pretty dang big list, and they’re starting to look like a REAL authority in their niche, and so now EVERYTHING they put out there attracts attention, and makes them look like an even bigger authority.
The snowball affect – that pretty well sums it up.
And how do we know all of this? Because we bought into this whole ‘hey, do what I’m doing, and you’ll get lots of traffic too’ thing. And the more of us that buy into it, the bigger their lists get. And the more stuff they sell. And the more broke and frustrated you become.
So how does the average blogger, the average internet marketer, the ordinary network marketer ever make it to that level? How do they get to be big dogs?
Well it sure ain’t by following after all of these strategies the big dogs are using. You’ll just keep getting the same kind of results over and over, until you accidentally stumble on your own tweak or you give up trying.
(I say ‘accidentally, but the truth is it comes from being more and more aware and more in tune with what’s going on with marketing in your niche until you finally ‘see’ something you never noticed before that was there all the time.)
So what DO you do? Well after discovering this big ‘secret’, we made the choice to keep on blogging and to start just keeping it real. Doesn’t sound very dramatic or glamorous, does it? Well the truth is, it isn’t. It’s also 11 o’clock at night, and I’m getting a little stupid with my writing…but at least it’s real.
So what will that do for you? Look, start writing about stuff that you like, that you care about. Write about stuff that stumps you in your marketing. Write about what’s working for you and what’s not.
Just keep it real. Make it interesting. Don’t put people to sleep and don’t blow smoke up their butts, pretending to be something you aren’t. Be just a little outrageous if you’ve got it in you.
Just do it consistently. It doesn’t have to be profound. It just has to be real. And you WILL start attracting people to you who have stuff in common with you, who are facing some of the same problems, who are looking for the same answers.
You’ll get some serious die-hard fans who love you because you’re the most real thing they’ve found in a cyber world full of gurus, posers and wannabes.
Of course, you still have to get started with people reading your stuff until it starts taking off. But that’s part of the growing process. You know facebook and twitter are great places to share your latest posts. And if they’re real and a little outrageous, they just might go viral. And man, you’re off and running!
Start thinking for yourself and stop letting others do the thinking for you. If you don’t, you’ll always be just another little dog barking at cars instead of chewin’ on a steak in your own doggie mansion.
Just remember fellow bloggers…KEEP IT REAL!
P.S. Chart your own course and set your own sails, but don’t miss out on harnessing the power of the fleet.
