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- 27 Awesome Ways to Get People to Listen to You
This guest post is by Nick Thacker of livehacked.com.
I've been creating stuff lately—blog posts, articles, tweets, videos, ebooks, etc.—and I realized something:
The biggest struggle I've had during it all was getting people to listen.
While blogging and submitting articles, leaving tons of comments, and submitting guest posts, can garner an initial positive result, it's tough to keep at it. I wanted to share a few ways I've found to really get people to listen.
How to get people to care, listen, and take action
1. Ask
I can think of no better way, and no way that's led to more open doors, than simply asking people to do something. Sure, it takes guts—but that's why you're different. You have the guts—go ask!
2. Advertise
If you want a measurable and controllable result, give advertising a shot. It may not be perfect for your niche, but chances are there's at least something you can advertise in some way. Most pros say to give it at least six months, too, so if you don't have the funds, this may not work. Check out Project Wonderful for dirt-cheap ads that have gotten me results in the past.
3. Guest post
We all know this one, so there's no use recounting all of its benefits here. Suffice it to say there have been many successful blogs that have used this strategy almost exclusively to get attention.
4. Share
Almost anything can be shared—blog posts (as in guest posting), ideas, network leads, products, etc. Which leads me to:
5. Joint ventures
JVs are great for getting your message out to huge lists of people, for the price of sharing your profits with another marketer. Check out the Warrior Forum for an entire board dedicated to JV opportunities.
6. Create a video
ProBlogger.com has been writing a lot more on using video content lately, and I know I've done a few trailers for my own book as well—with much success.
7. Create an infographic
Neil Patel of QuickSprout has used infographics, sent to major blogs and news sites to use exclusively (for a backlink, of course!), and it's gotten him plenty of great traffic—and lots of attention, as well. Take time to create a graphic that's compelling and telling for your market, and see where it goes!
8. Write an ebook
Just about every blogger has, or aspires to create, an eBook. These days, having an ebook is almost expected—where's yours?
9. Self-publish a book
Having a "real" book tends to lend credibility to our efforts—being able to have a print copy of someone's work in hand really does "feel" different than an electronic copy. Check out Amazon's KDP Select program, Lulu, and CreateSpace for more.
10. SEO
I like to think of SEO as one of those "slow-drip" strategies to get attention—it takes time to build, but it's almost essential in competitive industries. I recommend Glen's post over at ViperChill.com if you're doing SEO on WordPress.
11. Use the 80/20 rule
Pareto's law states, "…For many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes." To use this in your own marketing, try to promote other people 80% of the time, and your own work 20%. This establishes you as a connector and sharer of helpful content, not as a spammer.
12. Build a platform
Essentially, all of these tips can help you build a platform, but if you focus on actively building a brand, slowly but surely, chances are you'll stick around longer—and people will pay more attention to you!
13. Leave more comments
Leaving more comments on blogs you read regularly does two major things: it gives you a link back to your site (no matter what your stance on "rel=nofollow" is), and it starts a conversation with the site owner or author of the post. Trust me when I say many blog owners will recognize their repeat commenters—be one of them!
14. Leave better comments
We've all heard the rule: leave lots of comments, and people will visit your site! Well, yes and no—they'll see you quite often, but unless you really make a concerted effort (read: spend more than 30 seconds) on crafting and submitting a thoughtful, value-adding comment, people won't care about you or your cool blog.
15. Write epic content
Corbett Barr, author of ThinkTraffic, says we need to write "more epic stuff" (I'll let you click through to his exact words…). I've said we need to write "more epicly" (because I love epic, made-up adverbs, I guess), and it's true. Gone are the days of 500-word-or-less posts giving generic and thoughtless advice. Take time to craft your work, edit it, and then expound on your thoughts some more. Add in images, pictures, infographics, and more. Then edit and do it again. Then you're ready to hit Submit.
16. Article marketing
Article marketing seems to have fallen off a bit after the infamous Google updates, but sites like E-zine Articles and GoArticles certainly are not going anywhere. Use them to further promote your work—your off-site SEO can greatly benefit from some well-crafted, useful content. Don't go overboard, and be sure to maintain your consistently great writing style—remember: the Internet is forever!
17. Write pillar posts
The first time I'd ever heard of a "Pillar" post was right here at ProBlogger. It makes perfect sense, too—if I visit your website, right now, what articles are going to serve as my "Start Here" roadmap through your muse/meme/world? Guide me like I'm a first-time visitor to your market, and tell me—through general, broad-form Pillar Posts what I can expect to find on your site. Here's an example of one I wrote on social media for writers.
18. Start a newsletter
If you plan to be online for an extended period of time, you should really consider growing an email list of subscribers, and sending them an enewsletter regularly. Newsletters have been proven to bring in more authority traffic and ready buyers than most other marketing methods, because you've already qualified them as leads.
19. Start a podcast
I'll admit—this is one area I haven't tried out yet. But podcasting is not something that's going to go away anytime soon, either, and if you're a bit more technically inclined (or if you own a Mac), you can start podcasting almost immediately. Some of my favorite authors run very successful podcasts. And I hear that ProBlogger will be running a post on the topic in the next couple of weeks…
20. Write more
This one's simple: let your writing be its own platform. The more saturation throughout your market you have, the more opportunity there is for people to find you.
21. Blog less
Maybe getting more attention needs less of your attention? Follow blogs like ZenHabits and Lifehack.org to get your head in the game. Minimalize, simplify, and relax: those of us working 80+ hour weeks probably don't want to! Focus your energy on those things that really matter. Remember the Pareto principle.
22. Do something ridiculous
I like to think Tim Ferriss is so well-liked because of the fact that he does things not many of us do. If you set out to do something spectacular, you'd better believe we want to hear about it! Even better: do a video blog journaling your experience.
23. Be controversial
The idea that all press is good press may not be entirely true, but there's something to be said for being staunchly defendant of a topic. Instead of posing neutral concepts, get on one side or the other. People may hate the post, but they'll come back for more.
24. Send follow-up emails
This is something I've started doing more and more, recently—almost to the point of being annoying. Follow my blog, I'll send an email. Say yes to my guest post idea, I'll shoot you a thanks. Buy something from me—you got it! A "thank you" email is on its way. Doing this is just giving a little bit of personal attention to your network, and they will reciprocate.
25. Add value everywhere
Forget this tip at your peril. No one likes a conceited or arrogant person, and online it seems that anonymity has made this even easier. Figure out how to help one person, in one small way, every day. Then help them.
26. Sell something
When people have something to sell, I'm usually more apt to think of them in higher esteem. Even if the product looks terrible—hey, they went through all the trouble to create it, right? (I might not ever buy it, but they do carry more authority because of it…)
27. Do something for free
And the best one of all: even though we won't always admit it, "free" is sometimes expected. This behavior isn't justified, but it exists. Cater to the expectations of your market by offering something to them for free. Your blog doesn't count.
Maybe you've tried every single one of these ideas—in that case, I'd love for you to comment and let us know how they went! But I'm sure there are many, many other things you all can think of to add to this list. So, let's get to it: leave a comment with more ideas, and we'll keep the list going. Maybe one day I'll turn it into an awesome infographic!
Nick Thacker is a blogger, writer, and author of fiction thriller novels. He likes to hack his life to be more productive, live better, and write the best he can. You can check out his site at LiveHacked.com, or subscribe to the LiveHacked.com newsletter here.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
27 Awesome Ways to Get People to Listen to You
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This guest post is by James Chartrand of Damn Fine Words.
There are eight million posts out there about how to write a great headline. Copyblogger's written about half of them. I've written a few myself.
But you know what none of us tell you? What to do after the headline.
You know, the actual “content” part.
It’s not enough to create killer headlines or spectacular introductions. It's not enough to write compelling content (and we don't tell you how to do that either). It's not enough to use storytelling. The only way to get your blog posts read, shared and revisited means writing great content.
Which really means you need to know how to write a stellar paragraph.
I know: paragraphs aren't sexy
Catchy headlines sounds sexy. Storytelling sounds sexy. Paragraphs? They sound about as sexy as gramma's underwear. They’re not a technique or a tool. They’re just plain old-fashioned grammar school stuff.
Here’s what you need to know about what a fantastic paragraph can do for you:
Your readers will take in every single word you write.
Not just the words in the bullet points. Not just the numbered lists. Not just the headlines or the sub-headers. They won’t skim looking for “the good stuff.”
It’s all good stuff. They’ll want every single word.
Here's a thought: Online readers are notorious for skimming and scanning, running through the bullet points. But do you know why their eyes are wandering? Do you know why they skip through your posts?
It’s because they weren’t interested in the paragraphs.
The content in your paragraphs? Readers figure those are just filler. And in many cases for many, many bloggers… sadly, filler it is.Readers read … if it's worth their time
A lot of bloggers assume that skimming and scanning is just the way things are. Nothing they can do about it – people are lazy. Too busy. So they don’t bother putting effort into crafting carefully written paragraphs the way they do their headlines and bullet points, because no one’s going to read the content anyway.
But, as Georgina pointed out earlier today, not all readers scan the content—and that's important to remember.
Everyone has a favorite blogger whose posts they read religiously. I've got one. You’ve got one. You get excited when you see a new post go live because you love the way this blogger writes. You share the posts. You read older posts from the archives. You link to these posts.
Good paragraphs make that happen.
You’re not reading your favorite blogger's posts for the headline, the bullet points, or the nugget of brand-new secret insider knowledge. Who's ever said, "Oooh, Darren just put up a new post – I gotta go read this; his bullet points are so hot!"
Come on.
You read for the words, and you would never consider any of the content to be “filler,” no matter how long that post ran.
That means your beloved blogger probably writes a killer paragraph.
Starting to sound a little sexier? You bet it is—who doesn’t want to be one of those bloggers whose readers hang on their every word?
No one, that’s who. So let’s get you started.
Good paragraphs leave no sentence behind
You've probably heard this adage: the purpose of the first sentence is to get the reader to read the second sentence. The second sentence is to get them to read the third sentence, and so on.
Most bloggers forget to pay attention after the fourth or fifth sentence, which means that by sentence 36, they aren't doing a thing to keep their reader hooked and moving along.
So they leave sentence 36 in the post because they think it doesn’t matter that much. (And hey, it's good filler.)
It matters. Every single sentence matters. If you have a sentence in your paragraph that isn't actively getting people to read the next one, chop it out. It’s doing nothing for you—or for your paragraph.
Good paragraphs form a chain of thought
You could obey the above rule without actually creating a paragraph. You could just snag a handful of Problogger's best headlines and stick ‘em in a post, and that would satisfy the “get the reader to read the next sentence” rule.
The problem comes when the second sentence has nothing to do with the first sentence. Watch as I display this technique: Is your tribe holding you down? You could increase your blog subscription rate by 254%. Eminem can teach you how to become a writing and marketing machine. Let’s talk 50 can’t-fail techniques for finding great blog topics.
Those are some of Copyblogger’s most popular headlines, and they're undeniably compelling. But they don’t relate to one another, so midway through, the reader's wondering about the follow-up. Eventually, he gets frustrated trying to figure out the point.
Frustrated isn't good. Every sentence in a paragraph should refer back to the one before.And if it’s a new paragraph, it should refer back to the last sentence of the previous one. Your very first paragraph should refer to your headline. Your headline introduces the post idea, which means everything you write afterward depends on that one idea—so you need to make a chain of thought to back it up.
How do you know when to end one paragraph and start the next? Well . . .
Good paragraphs know when to end
Every paragraph should last long enough to make one single point.
Some paragraphs—like the one before—only need one sentence to make the intended point. Others, like this one, need a few sentences to discuss the point fully and explain several ways of looking at it. You might need to expand upon your thoughts or give examples to drive the point home.
When your point is made, move on to the next point. Which, obeying the Rule #2, should relate back to the point that came before it, move on to make its own point, and end when that point is fully explained.
Nerdy, I know. But sexy? You bet. Sexy bloggers know sexy writing, and there's nothing sexier than a well-crafted paragraph like that.
Now, a lot of people try to string together several points in a single paragraph. That's never effective. Paragraphs help give readers visual cues on how to organize their thoughts. When they see a paragraph, they know it's going to give them a certain amount of information on a certain point.
But if you give them three different (and often unrelated) points in a single paragraph, it forces readers to try and figure out where the distincts are between those points.
That’s work. And people hate it when reading content is work.
If you don’t want your readers just looking for the bullet points, keep your paragraphs easy to process and let them end when the point is concluded.
Don’t neglect your paragraphs
You’ve learned to write snappy headlines that get readers to come to your site and craft bullet points that draw their eye. Now it’s time to pay attention to the rest of your content.
Great paragraphs are the way to do it.
Got more ideas on what makes for a great paragraph? Shout out in the comments! And if you haven’t already, check out ProBlogger’s Anatomy of a Better Blog Post, for more specific post-writing techniques.
James Chartrand is the leading copywriter teaching people how to improve their writing skills at Damn Fine Words. It's one of the best online writing courses for business owners and bloggers ready to boost their business success… through compelling words that get results.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
How to Write a Great Paragraph
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