“3 Steps to Living an Authentic Life Online” plus 1 more

3 Steps to Living an Authentic Life Online

Posted: 04 Oct 2012 01:04 PM PDT

This guest post is by Geoff Talbot of SevenSentences.com.

Whether you like it not, social media is taking over Internet.

Research tells us that one in five of every minutes spent online is currently being spent on a social media channel. Business has always been about getting the attention of customers. That’s why the newspaper salesman used to peruse the busy city sidewalks, shouting at the top of their voices “Read all about it! Read all about it! Read all about it!”

The time and place may have changed, but the heart behind the messages that are being shouted at the minions who walk by is still the same.

Businesses, attention hungry artists and entrepreneurs who are building their own platforms are standing on the social sidewalks of cyberspace shouting at the top of their voices. “Look at me! You want this! You need this! Come buy from me.”

The problem is the people on the sidewalk aren’t stopping anymore, there is too much noise, too many interruptions, they’re just covering their ears and walking as fast as they can.

How can an authentic artist, a good business person, or a brilliant entrepreneur actually get traction in this noisy world?

Here are my three secrets for creating an authentic web presence.

1. Leave the sidewalk

You will never get any healthy attention on the sidewalk. It’s time to stop selling, it’s time to go into your storehouse and pull the curtains across the windows and lock the doors. You need to breathe clean air for a while. Some people would call this a social media detox; I think of it more as simply deciding not to swim in shark-infested water.

What is your storehouse?

Your storehouse is your authentic center; it’s who you really are, it's the reason you went into business, picked up that musical instrument, or came up with that product line in the first place.

Breathe and remember.

The dog eat dog, rabidly competitive world of cyberspace can cause a person to forget their humanity; it caninizes them.

Sometimes we spend so much time on the sidewalk, we forget to look after our storehouse and it gets pretty messy inside. This kind of social media strategy, which focuses more on the market, more than it does on the product and the services you are offering will always end in burn out and decay.

No one else will tell you this BUT I think for the sake of your soul, you need to keep the doors locked until you’ve rediscovered the “real reason why.” The why is always greater than dollars, it's above status and far out reaches any amount of social significance; the thing that captivated your heart in the first place?

What was it?

Almost certainly it will involve at least one of the following…

a deep desire to connect with other people in a positive way
a heart for justice or a desire to improve thing.
a profound love of creativity.

When you are alone in the quiet of your storehouse, drink deeply from the ancient river of your inspiration. Let the fresh waters wash over you and heal you from the rampant busyness of the sidewalk. Relax; you will know when it’s time to unlock the door.

2. Inviting others in

When you are refreshed and ready, your storehouse although now beautifully in order; it will begin to feel strangely empty, even though it is in fact full. That burning desire to share all you have with others will begin to grow inside you again, until you find it is almost impossible to resist. Yes it is time to re-engage, but it would be foolish to venture out onto the wintery sidewalks of cyberspace again.

What do I suggest?

Go into the kitchen and take your finest cut of lamb out of your refrigerator. Cook that lamb. Let rich aroma of that beautiful meat satiate every corner of your storehouse. Stoke up your fire in the hearth; warm your storehouse to the point of total comfort. Now go to the front door, open it and let the warmth and the rich essence of who you really are spill out onto the sidewalk.

You don’t need to shout anymore, your authenticity, the smell, the warmth of your genuine self, will do all the talking for you. In the cold, wild, attention-grabbing world of cyberspace, you have created a safe haven and a place of nourishment.

The tired, angry, frustrated and cold souls busily marching down the social media sidewalks are desperately in need of what you have to offer. One by one they come in, to escape, to breathe, to get warm again and to gain nourishment and strength. Your website, your business, your product or your song, is so pure in its authenticity that it is just what they needed, it’s literally saving their souls.

Perhaps this is real reason you went into business or picked up that instrument in the first place; to feed the hungry, to bring health to the sick, to be a friend to the lonely?

3. The best messages are whispered between friends

But how will people know if you don’t tell them?

The temptation to shout and move back out onto the sidewalk is very strong BUT shouting nearly always forces a person to cower, step back, or put their hands over their hands. There are very few people who can shout effectively, and why would you want too, when there is a much better way.

The best messages are almost always whispered amongst friends.

It’s the private conversations in cyberspace that will really; truly dictate the success of your business or career.

When you feed people, when you connect with them on a level that goes deeper than simply a product, a business or a song they simply cannot help BUT share their experience with others. And this is the true and democratizing power of social media; not that it connects strangers with strangers; but that it connects friends and that enables friends to share truly good things with each other.

So what does this all mean?

What are the practical implications here?

When there is a lot of shouting, people long for quietness. When there is a lot of incessant selling, people long for generosity. So be authentic and genuine, but also be judicious and intimate. Don’t give pearls to pigs or they will trample what is truly good into the manure of the sty.

In today's brave new world, perhaps the best way of spreading your message is to insist on keeping it a secret.

Geoff Talbot is a social media consultant based in Portland, Oregon and the creator of SevenSentences.com, an online community for creative people.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

3 Steps to Living an Authentic Life Online

How Free Ice Water Turned into a $10M/Year Business (And What it Means for You)

Posted: 04 Oct 2012 07:09 AM PDT

This guest post is by Greg Miliates of www.StartMyConsultingBusiness.com.

In 1931, during the depths of the Great Depression, Ted Hustead opened a store in a tiny South Dakota town, population: 326, virtually all of whom were penniless. Over the following decades, Hustead grew his store into a $10 million empire, now famous throughout the world, still with one location in that nowhere South Dakota town which has, at last count, 766 people.

His secret?

Free ice water.

What does this have to do with running a blog and earning money online? Just about everything. But more on that in a minute.

A bad beginning and a big breakthrough

From the beginning, Ted barely made enough to scrape by. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl had wiped out most of the families in town, and there was no relief in sight–certainly nothing that might help Ted’s business.

Nearly five years after opening his store, Ted, his wife, and son–and now they had new baby daughter–were no better off than when they’d first opened their store. To earn a little extra cash, Ted even resorted to studying veterinary medicine so he could help farmers with sick livestock.

But Ted’s luck changed on a hot day in July 1936.

Ted’s wife kept hearing cars roar through town on nearby Route 16 en route to Mount Rushmore some 60 miles away. On scorching, dusty summer days, she thought those travelers might want a cool drink, and told Ted that they should offer free ice water to travelers. Ted put up a few signs along the road, and by the time he got back to the store, his wife was scrambling to keep up with all the new customers, serving up ice water, ice cream, and whatever else people wanted.

Fast-forward to today, and during the peak summer season, Ted’s store can get 20,000 customers a day.

From ice water to a world-famous, million-dollar enterprise

Ted and his wife built up from those first days of free ice water, learning what else their customers wanted, and adding onto their store to accommodate their customers. Their store—the world-famous Wall Drug, still with just one location in the tiny town of Wall, South Dakota—now sprawls over 75,000 square feet. Over the years, Ted added a restaurant, gift shop, clothing store, theatre, an Old West frontier town, chapel, and even an 80-foot dinosaur.

But how did he do it?

Now, unless you have a boatload of cash–which Ted didn’t–how did he scrape up enough money to build that kind of enterprise? And how did do you get 20,000 people a day to go out of their way—literally in the middle of nowhere—to come spend money at your store?

Remember those signs along Route 16 on that hot, dusty day back in 1936? That was the key. After the Husteads saw the signs bring in customers, it was a matter of “rinse and repeat.”

But Ted didn’t stop with just a few road signs. He decided to go big—on a massive scale. If you’ve ever driven through South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, or within several hundred miles of Wall Drug, you’ve seen signs for Ted’s store. Chances are, you’ve also seen lots of cars with Wall Drug bumper stickers too.

Strung out along thousands of miles of interstate highways, state routes, and other roads, there are hundreds, probably thousands, of billboards for Wall Drug, offering everything from free ice water, to a hot meal, cowboy boots, gemstones, a frontier town—even a roaring T. rex and the opportunity to pan for gold.

What Wall Drug means to you

That’s all great for Wall Drug, but what about your blog? Well, the free ice was a bribe. Everything else is an upsell. But there’s more to it.

Those first road signs back in the summer of 1936? Essentially, Wall Drug was able to bring in customers by tapping into marketing channels. Ted’s wife realized there was a steady stream of prospective customers hurtling past on Route 16; Ted just needed to give people a reason to stop by their store. And on a long, hot, dusty drive across the prairie, free ice water was it.

Tapping into your marketing channels—for example, by putting up billboards on virtually any road in the region—lets people know you exist.

The next crucial piece is giving people what they want—which can be different from what they need. People don’t need to see an 80-foot dinosaur replica. But what parent is going to turn down that request after being cooped up in a car and enduring hours of pleading for it? Damn right. The kids can see the darn dinosaur, and everybody can get a hot meal and stretch their legs.

How to magnetically pull people in

Educating prospective customers that you have something they want is necessary, but sometimes isn’t enough. Certainly not enough to create an empire in the middle of nowhere.

You need a little something to push people over the edge—to compel them not just to come to you, but to buy from you.

How? Emotional marketing.

For Wall Drug, curiosity and social proof—along with the desire to be part of a tribe—are powerful emotional triggers. There are other emotional triggers—like fear, jealousy, prestige—but curiosity and the need to belong are strong positive emotional triggers.

Back to all those Wall Drug billboards. Something strange happens as you drive along for those hundreds of miles, heading toward the national parks and other sights in the region like Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, or Devil’s Tower. As you keep seeing all those Wall Drug billboards—even if you don’t need anything they’re offering—you get curious. You think, “What the heck’s the big deal about Wall Drug? Why so many billboards?”

And when you finally get to Wall Drug—and you surely do—you see tons of people crowded into the store, some sporting hats, T-shirts, and other paraphernalia promoting Wall Drug. If you’re a savvy marketer, you realize that Wall Drug has created massive social proof—and its own tribe of fans. It’s the brick-and-mortar equivalent of Justin Beiber’s Facebook page.

How you can copy Wall Drug’s strategies in your own business

Now that you understand how Wall Drug got so successful, let’s apply those ideas to your blog.

Tap into your marketing channels: Ted put signs on Route 16, then expanded to other roads and the interstate highways. Find channels where your prospects are, and be there to educate and entice them. What’s your Route 16?
Understand your prospective customers: Know what they want, and let them know you have it. Road-weary travelers and families want a cool drink, a meal, and something memorable. Offer your bribe—free ice water, an ebook, a video—to get people in the door. Being part of a tribe (“I’ve been to Wall Drug”) is icing on the cake, and gets others to do your marketing for you.
Build buzz, engineer social proof, and create intrigue that magnetically draws prospects to you: Being everywhere and having other customers promote you creates social proof. Your prospects will also be curious what they’re missing out on enough to seek you out and join your tribe.
Adapt and offer additional products and services to meet customers’ needs and wants: Ted added a restaurant, entertainment for kids and adults, an art gallery, and souvenirs so people could show they’re part of the tribe. How can you give visitors what they want and generate revenue at the same time? Though lots of bloggers make money through advertising, some savvy bloggers realize that consulting can be very lucrative, and offer consulting services as another way to monetize their blog. If you aren’t offering consulting, you’re losing out on a potentially significant revenue stream. Look for other ways to meet customers’ needs and wants that also create revenue.

Next, answer the following questions, then experiment with implementing your answers to see what works best in your niche.

What are your marketing channels?
What are your prospects’ wants and needs?
How can you make people curious, create buzz, and build social proof for your site?
What other ways can you fulfill your prospects’ wants and needs? What other products or services could you offer?

Ted Hustead built Wall Drug into a large and successful business—in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere—by using strategies that you can apply to your site. Understanding how he did it gives you a blueprint to follow.

Greg Miliates started a consulting business in 2007, quadrupled his former day-job salary, and ditched his day job along the way. His blog (www.StartMyConsultingBusiness.com) shows you how consulting can change your life, and gives specific tactics, strategies, and tools for starting and running a successful consulting business on the cheap.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How Free Ice Water Turned into a $10M/Year Business (And What it Means for You)