April 17, 2012 186 Comments

Earning Attention

Radar

When I post something new to this blog, I make the effort to go onto Twitter and ask a question that leads back to the post. I also do some things to get people’s attention via Google+. It’s become part of what every media maker does. Most people who run blogs say something to the effect of “I don’t know what I did to get more traffic before Twitter came along.”

I try my best to create useful information that helps business professionals and those seeking to grow their own capabilities. When I post this information to those outposts, it’s with the intent of being useful and catching someone’s attention. But I also don’t do a lot to try and shove any posts hard into anyone’s face. I just push it out, see if it has legs, and let it go from there. Even if I’m trying to sell something, I’m never about the hard sell. I just hope.

I see more and more people asking for attention. More and more people ask me for retweets and reposts and shares. More and more people ask me to amplify their media. Not their “very important” stuff, not their “trying to cure cancer” stuff. Just their “post that I really want people to read” stuff.

Asking for Retweets Isn’t Marketing

These requests for retweets and reshares fall into two categories: desperation and nice-to-have. I’ve just started to outright ignore the desperate. If you’re counting on me to save you with retweets, you’re not quite marketing, are you? If it’s nice-to-have, I’ve taken to thinking about whether you’ve talked to me socially in any capacity except to ask me for something in the last several months. That lets me ignore another whole swath of requests.

But There’s Just More to This

This feels a bit like a whining/complaining post. It is, a little bit. I’m really sick of “friends” seeing me as a force amplifier and not someone you want to actually interact with. But that’s not the bigger point.

What makes any of this sustainable marketing and business generating if it all relies on this hand-sharing effort? If the media isn’t finding its way to the right eyes just on its own, then how is anyone selling this as really effective and important marketing? Wouldn’t effective marketing be the kind of marketing that doesn’t require you to leg-hump people for shares and retweets?

Thank the sweet zombie that I’m not in tech blogging. I get the pitches, because people somehow don’t really read my blog, but instead send form letters about how they really love what I write, and could I cover their amazing start-up that is going to really turn the Klout/Kred thing on its head? But dear lordy, every time I see that pitch, I’ll see a story that’s almost a copy and paste of the junk that came with the pitch show up as a blog post somewhere else. Hint: I stopped reading the major tech blogs months and months ago. Hint2: I get the best stories from you, so I don’t have to read them to stay up.

Media isn’t sustainable marketing material if it requires begging to keep it fed.

Is This Worth It?

Some of you have noticed that I stopped blogging daily. Know why? Because Julien Smith asked me if it was worth it. He asked me what would change if I blogged once a week or so. Answer: absolutely nothing. Subscribers stay. You comment on the ones you like. You share the ones you think are useful to you. Business comes sometimes. It doesn’t other times. It’s just what it is.

Do I fuss over everything? No. Not even a little.

But What If You’re Starting Out?

If you’re starting out, you need a little more traction. You have to try and find more eyes. Sure, I get that. But do you get them by leg humping and begging, or do you get them by writing really great stuff, by showing up and participating where really great communities exist, by writing really useful guest posts on sites that are brethren to your own material? It’s B, not A.

If we want to earn people’s attention, it’s not through begging for tweets and retweets and shares. It’s through creating information that’s useful, that others can benefit from, and that will grow the space beyond just our own needs. That’s what will earn attention.

How I Earned My Attention, and Keep Earning It

People pay attention to me for the following reasons:

  • I write useful things you can use for your own purposes.
  • I share mostly positive opinions about what might help in the future. (Sorry this post isn’t as positive.)
  • I seek to do something more than talk about what everyone else is talking about.
  • I intend for small and large businesses to use this information for their own needs.
  • I write like I care about you (because I do).

Nowhere in there do I say that I earn attention by begging. Nowhere in there do I say I earn attention by pestering people beyond a few quick posts to the outposts. It’s all the basics: write useful stuff. Share useful stuff. Care about the people you hope to reach. Repeat.

It took me 8 years to get my first 100 readers.

Earn it.

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  • Camilla Kyndesen

    To be honest, I thought this was a very positive post. It certainly inspired me to find ways to earn attention for my own blog. Thanks :)

  • http://twitter.com/Peachfront Peach Front

    Gosh.  It took you 8 years to get 100 readers?  It didn’t take me that long in the 1980s, and I was writing about pet birds!  At some point,  and way before most of a decade had passed you by, you should have been  asking yourself what YOU’RE doing wrong, because 100 readers is OK for my hobby site on Peachfront Conures but it’s ridiculous if you are truly offering something of value that you’re trying to sell for money.   Beggars and users are going nowhere, sure, that’s obvious.  But you’re humping my leg just as much when you mumble truisms about writing something useful.  Everybody who has ever sold anything to a traditional publisher has by definition written something useful.  You took a wrong detour somewhere.  Tell us where, so other people don’t waste almost a decade of their limited human lifespan wandering about in the dark.  Now THAT would be useful.  I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I don’t see how you can give advice in the same post where it’s obvious that you really, really went wrong somewhere and apparently don’t really know where.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      Slow learner, Peach. I was writing for myself. 

      People waste their time with or without me, but my summary would be the learnings from that time. 

  • http://my168project.com/ Matches Malone

    Of course, most of us don’t have eight years… ;)

    Seriously, I guess the next step would be to get to a place where I’m asked to guest post on other sites, and I’m sure I’ve read something here or elsewhere on how to do that, however, I’m not remembering where. Or, how.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      Next is OFFERING to guest post. You can’t wait around for that. : ) 

      • http://my168project.com/ Matches Malone

         This goes to the problem of where to offer to guest post, as we’ve previously discussed ;)

  • Jarod Billingslea

    So even the Great Chris Brogan was a failure himself, too… Awesome post :).

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      I intend to steal this from a recent William Shatner interview: I’m in the business of failure. 

  • http://delightfulrepast.com/ Jean | Delightful Repast

    I’m glad you’ve stopped posting daily–for BOTH our sakes! I can’t imagine reading anyone’s blog every single day, let alone posting to my blog every day. I started my comfort food blog a little more than two years ago and have only ever posted once a week, other than getting the first half dozen or so posts up right away. Doable for me AND doable for my readers. Love your blog; I’ve learned so much from it! 

  • http://www.lagrangemedical.com/ Sayeed @ Immediate Care

    You do care. This reminds me of an article that talks about businesses accessing employees Facebooks. Does it really matter what I am interested in to a company? Not really. People follow and stay aware of sites they want to because there is that give and take. Offer me something that helps me and lets talk about it. I don’t want things shoved down my throat just because I am interested in a topic. So I am not going to be the desperate person asking for reshares either.

  • http://twitter.com/greentamarind Lena

    Chris, I linked back to your post from the newsletter I received about your life story. You referenced back to the 8 years and 100 subscribers—as well as what defines success. I have to laugh because it’s so appropriate to where I am at right now. Every point you made is correct, and helped me to get centered again on my purpose and focus. When I start to get frustrated, I become myopic. I lose sight of my big vision, the vision that helps carry me through the icky parts and frustrating parts. The big vision lifts me above and keeps me positive and focused. If I lose sight of vision I become cranky and helpful to no one. Then I can’t be an inspiration to the people that I am trying to help! Encouraging them in their efforts and work is what I signed up to do. If I am cranky I am not very inspirational nor can I find good solutions, and then I risk undermining their efforts as well as my own. I am finding the combination between patience and pushing forward in the faith and belief that I was called to do what I am doing, I am here to help my people. I am not couch surfing, tho I have been on the brink of losing my apartment for some time now. That has been resolved. However, the only living room furniture I have is a teeny couch which the two dogs claimed. It’s dog worthy, so I don’t really care, it is somewhat amusing to me. I stopped getting my nails done, the result of which means nibbling on them while read and learn and grow (hard thinker!). Sometimes I feel bad about my cuticles and kind of scrubby, but hey—I am surrounded by people who love me and who are rooting for me. As long as they have my hand to hold, and I can give them squeezes,  then they don’t care if my  nails are perfect.  Today I declared my independence and cut my own hair. I do a good job, people complimented me on it when I used to do it for myself. I wanted to color it, have my special lady hair stuff, be pampered. But that is so far out of my reach right now! I was not feeling like I present professionally, and I dearly want to.  But I grabbed the clippers, the scissors, and am now sportin’ a shorter, sassier do. I ran out of medication, but it’s not life support medication. I can find a way to get that need met, as my needs have been getting met. I also feel bad sometimes about the bills mounting up and the things I feel I’ve left undone. Sometimes I don’t want to try. But just when I feel that the most, or become fearful that I will somehow ruin my efforts and undermine myself—-someone like you comes along and says something so timely and needful that  I remember: I am not alone, I am doing worthy work, I will continue to do that, I will earn my place, I have dignity and integrity, sometimes it’s ok to fight (but don’t lash out!!), and I can rest assured that no matter what, I can give myself a damn fine hairstyle when I’ve a mind to. Thank you Chris for being present! 

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      Now that’s a really interesting perspective! I love how nail biting related to all of this. Great read (albeit a little dense without paragraph formatting). ; ) 

  • http://www.donnamaria.com/ Donna Maria Coles Johnson

    I’m quite sure I don’t get nearly the number of these kids of request as you do, but I get my fair share. I sympathize with the requestors. Getting attention today is very different than it was 12 years ago when I started my business. I like this post because it’s honest without being mean-spirited. We have to tell it like it is. We have that responsibility, as the people who’ve been at this for a while. I’m glad you tell the truth. Thanks for that.

  • Felice

    I am new to Twitter and didn’t understand the Retweet culture; I found myself looking for the people with the original thoughts (like yourself).  Thank you for helping me understand.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      I still don’t get it. : ) 

  • http://www.blogging24h.com/546/how-to-start-a-blog/ How to start a Blog

    8 years to get your first 100 readers? you are very patience, that’s what worth to me to learn from you :)

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      It wasn’t even patience. I was stupid, number 1. And I didn’t write for anyone but me. #2. 

  • KonradofLaguna

    Relevance, timing and wit, my friend !

    Brevity is the SOUL of wit !

    ~ William Shakespeare 

  • http://www.bethstilborn.com/ Beth Stilborn

    Excellent post. I can’t imagine asking to be retweeted! I so appreciate your admonishment to earn the attention. Thank you.

    • http://www.bethstilborn.com/ Beth Stilborn

       P.S. I find it strangely ironic that as I was reading through the excellent comments on this post, an email came in from a blog I follow, with the words “Please RT” in the post title. Guess what? I didn’t.

      • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

        Funny that, eh? 

  • http://www.vmrcommunications.com/ Hugh Macken

    Chris – This is actually a really interesting topic – and a challenging post. I like that. And I believe you’re absolutely right. And my apologies to you as I, for one, am guilty of asking for RTs from you…and others for that matter…and this is a good reminder to pull back big time on doing so. In a way it’s sort of disrespecting the time of another person, a bit self-centered and yes, lazy.  Thanks for the reminder to really making a solid effort to earn attention rather than begging for it.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      You’re not the target of it, Hugh. YOu’re mild on the scale of it. : ) And you’re also someone who’s trying and working hard daily. I see that. 

      • http://www.vmrcommunications.com/ Hugh Macken

        Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that!

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  • Samantha

    Hey Chris, Marcus Sheridan suggested we take a look at your blog. I have to say it was certainly worth my time. Your post is candid and insightful! I am not looking for the RTs they come when you have something worthy to say. But, always open to new friends. Hope you have an outstanding day! Samantha

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      Marcus is one of the best people alive. Nicest, most genuine, and if you’re a friend of his, then you’ve come to the right place. : ) 

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  • http://twitter.com/LaniVoivod Lani Voivod *A-Ha!*

    “Wouldn’t effective marketing be the kind of marketing that doesn’t require you to leg-hump people for shares and retweets?” 

    Seriously, this is now officially one of my favorite marketing quotes of all time. Thank you for being you, Chris. :)

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      You’re fun, Lani. THanks for the kind words. : ) 

  • jeffyablon

    Great post, Chris.  But I have a problem with one point, and much to my chagrin it’s the one Julien made.

    Without comment as to the math that takes over when someone has the volume of traffic you have (as opposed to what the rest of us get), remember that serving your existing subscribers isn’t the entire name of this game. It’s also about finding new ones, AND (sorry) keeping Google convinced that you’re continuing to generate content worth indexing.

    I’m pretty sure that at a simple level—and again, relative to your position in the scheme of things—what Julien said has merit. But big picture, he’s wrong. More equals … more.

    And the longer this Internet doohickey is around and driving all of our lives as it does, the more I’m certain that will be correct.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      More equals more if you’re trying to satisfy Google. It’s a question of how you intend to build your business. 

      • jeffyablon

        That’s half of it (OK, probably more than half, but only one of the two points I made). The other point is that unless you have a business that neither needs nor wants any more new clients, you need to be constantly mining for more. And it’s at that point that “satisfying Google” starts sounding a lot less icky.

        And remember: the hardest thing to do in business, BAR NONE, is attract new clients.

        I’m all for doing the math this way: if you are posting five times a week instead of once you are spending five times the money (time=money) doing so; thus, you need to be OK with what you’re spending on … well, let’s call it marketing.

        From my perspective, if I spend 8 hours a week (let’s call that 1/7 of my work week, or 14% of my budget) on marketing, that’s high for an established business but low for a growing one. OTOH, if I spend 1.5 hours a week on marketing, (2.something %), I’m not spending enough, no matter how large or well established my business is.

        Seriously; by most metrics, for most businesses, one post per week just isn’t enough.

        • http://www.estebankolsky.com Esteban Kolsky

          you actually brought up the key theme here: if you need to find new clients, then the more (valuable, of course) the better.  if you are at a point in your biz where you don’t need to bring in new clients – then blogging at intervals actually works better — it gives you more time to talk about really important things, with research behind it, and with well-reasoned and thought out – vetted ideas.

          at least in my experience

          • jeffyablon

            Thanks, Esteban. We seem to be coming from basically the same place. I guess the only issue remaining is finding the right formula!

        • http://melissacooley.com/ Melissa Cooley

          But what’s going to do a better job of bringing in new clients? Putting out blog posts every day or having clients rave to their network about the awesome work you did for them? I’d venture to guess that the testimonials earned will give more bang for the buck.

          • jeffyablon

            Melissa, there’s no question that referrals are the best kind of marketing, period. But that’s not in question.

            The issues are about what I mentioned earlier (keep hunting . . . keep hunting . . .) and the very thought that you are ever “done” with that task. If you need to hunt, you need to hunt well (insert elephant gun/deer metaphor here).

            I think the disconnect here is about Chris, a guy whose dance card is beyond full and who gets approached BECAUSE HE’S CHRIS, advising his readers who WISH they were Chris to hunt less. And Julien, a very smart guy, gave Chris advice that IS likely to hold true for HIM for the foreseeable future. But for people still hunting? I’m sorry, it’s bad advice.

            I’ll cop to the fact that if you’re putting out garbage, five times a week is about five times worse than once. But if you’re trying to create activity and you believe one message weekly is enough, you’re likely deluding yourself.

          • http://melissacooley.com/ Melissa Cooley

            Forgive my confusion, but when you talk about the importance of a daily online presence to find new clients, it sounds like you are saying that it trumps other methods.
             
            Chris said, “It’s a question of how you intend to build your business.” Right, and what’s going to have a better ROI — creating great online content every day, or going out, meeting people IRL, and doing great things offline? Given the constraints of time, it’s not always possible to do both. Or if someone chooses to do both, it all may end up being half-assed. Or other aspects of life that are treasured may end up on the chopping block  because of the drive to do both.

            Creating great content does get people talking, but what’s the conversion rate from passive reader to purchasing client? Doing great things offline also gets people talking, but because it gives people something more tangible than words on a screen, they are more likely to act on purchasing from the one who did great things, as well as promoting him/her.

          • jeffyablon

            Melissa, your point is well taken, and one I agree with: by all means, stop thinking your web site is magical, and get out in the world to do your “stuff”.

            That is the point, right?

            And of course, limited resources require decisions and time is the most limited and limiting resource of all.

            My thoughts and comments were simpler than that, and based on a reaction to the idea that “one is as good as five”, as Chris reported Julien Smith had made him think about. FOR MOST PEOPLE, with most people’s goals, that simply isn’t true.

            But that’s not a thought that gets delivered or means anything in a vacuum. Larger companies spend a smaller percentage of a greater budget on marketing in general than smaller companies do—a MUCH smaller percentage. And none of this means anything without the context of who’s making the decisions and with what budget they’re working (money or time based; makes no difference).

            MY PERSPECTIVE is that most of Chris’ readers are thinking in terms of what they deliver online; I may be mistaken. If the message you hear is that Chris is not just a marketing guru but also a life coach—or if that perceived lifecoach part of him is what resonates for you—then PLEASE get offline and be a real person. But if you see Chris as a marketing guy giving marketing advice, I think your time budget is better spent multiplying your online efforts by five. Or at least by three.

    • http://www.vmrcommunications.com/ Hugh Macken

      Jeff – Given your SEO expertise, I’d be curious to know more on your take as to why you feel posting slightly less frequently would negatively impact Chris from an SEO standpoint. First off, is that in fact what you’re suggesting? If so, couldn’t one make a good argument that Chris could be enhancing user experience by potentially increasing time on site, increasing comment depth and decreasing bounce rate? I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know google’s secret sauce for evaluating UE (which is according to Google critical for SEO) but I’m thinking maybe what Chris is doing could result in better UE thus enhancing the blog’s search visibility. But I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks!

      • jeffyablon

        Hugh, thanks for asking. I’ll try to make it brief, because HOO BOY could I go on and on over this topic.

        I completely agree with the sadly-too-vague tenet about improving user experience, and I think it’s completely possible that if you bombard your readers … especially those who subscribe and therefore are receiving push messages … you risk ticking them off. Of course, that leaves you at the old-school publisher’s dilemma; do I do a Daily? a Weekly? a Monthly? What do my readers want from me?

        On the other hand, it’s naive to believe that a terribly large portion of your readership is waiting beside their virtual mailbox for your next missive to arrive. Even if you’re Chris Brogan, a large number of your subscribers are going to receive what you send out at a time when what you send qualifies as some kind of “interruption”. You know how I KNOW that’s true? I get open rates approaching 20% for stuff I send out, from an all-opt-in list. And people ADMIRE that rate. Think about it.

        So your job as a content provider is to put out good content, and have the sense to just intuit what the right amount is. I think that’s what Julien was alluding to when he asked Chris what he was gaining at 5x versus 1x. And I think Chris, given his specific and somewhat unique business goals (as I’M interpreting them) is probably not selling any more of his services at 5x, so … great.

        But the rest of us aren’t Chris. The rest of us are looking for more and more and more prospects/clients/customers/readers/viewers. And volume absolutely counts in SEO.

        That said, you bring up a point that makes my head explode: time on site.

        Assume your UE is good—as in, visitors are comfortable with your visual presentation and can intuit navigational issues without scratching their heads. Yeah I know, assuming that is dangerous. Play with me anyway. “time on site” is a funky beast. So is “average page views”. If you want longer, more engaged visits, isn’t one metric for generating those the presence of a higher volume of content?

        Most of the studies I’ve seen, as well as anecdotal evidence from my own experience and that of the people I’ve interviewed, suggests that long pieces or multi-page pieces are a bad idea. The sweet spot seems to be in the 600-800 word article length. 300 is too short (and Google will spit on anything under 200), and 1500 is too long because it’s the rare reader who has that attention span.

        Writing 700 quality words five times a week isn’t easy. But in my opinion if you generate that amount of content just once a week you’re unlikely to grow your base by search means.

        Which leaves us back at the issue of whether what applies to Chris Brogan applies to mere mortals. I say it doesn’t.

        Whew. So much for keeping it brief.

      • jeffyablon

        Hugh, thanks for asking. I’ll try to make it brief, because HOO BOY could I go on and on over this topic.

        I completely agree with the sadly-too-vague tenet about improving user experience, and I think it’s completely possible that if you bombard your readers … especially those who subscribe and therefore are receiving push messages … you risk ticking them off. Of course, that leaves you at the old-school publisher’s dilemma; do I do a Daily? a Weekly? a Monthly? What do my readers want from me?

        On the other hand, it’s naive to believe that a terribly large portion of your readership is waiting beside their virtual mailbox for your next missive to arrive. Even if you’re Chris Brogan, a large number of your subscribers are going to receive what you send out at a time when what you send qualifies as some kind of “interruption”. You know how I KNOW that’s true? I get open rates approaching 20% for stuff I send out, from an all-opt-in list. And people ADMIRE that rate. Think about it.

        So your job as a content provider is to put out good content, and have the sense to just intuit what the right amount is. I think that’s what Julien was alluding to when he asked Chris what he was gaining at 5x versus 1x. And I think Chris, given his specific and somewhat unique business goals (as I’M interpreting them) is probably not selling any more of his services at 5x, so … great.

        But the rest of us aren’t Chris. The rest of us are looking for more and more and more prospects/clients/customers/readers/viewers. And volume absolutely counts in SEO.

        That said, you bring up a point that makes my head explode: time on site.

        Assume your UE is good—as in, visitors are comfortable with your visual presentation and can intuit navigational issues without scratching their heads. Yeah I know, assuming that is dangerous. Play with me anyway. “time on site” is a funky beast. So is “average page views”. If you want longer, more engaged visits, isn’t one metric for generating those the presence of a higher volume of content?

        Most of the studies I’ve seen, as well as anecdotal evidence from my own experience and that of the people I’ve interviewed, suggests that long pieces or multi-page pieces are a bad idea. The sweet spot seems to be in the 600-800 word article length. 300 is too short (and Google will spit on anything under 200), and 1500 is too long because it’s the rare reader who has that attention span.

        Writing 700 quality words five times a week isn’t easy. But in my opinion if you generate that amount of content just once a week you’re unlikely to grow your base by search means.

        Which leaves us back at the issue of whether what applies to Chris Brogan applies to mere mortals. I say it doesn’t.

        Whew. So much for keeping it brief.

  • http://twitter.com/RichardKrawczyk Richard M Krawczyk

    Great post, Chris! Has your traffic gone down now that you are no longer blogging everyday?

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  • jeffyablon

    Chris, you used the phrase “writing for yourself” on several of your replies here. An interesting distinction vis a vis what “works”.

    A bunch of years ago, when I was doing an honest-to-goodness terrestrial radio program, I received a call from a guy who just wanted to tell me that the thing he liked the most about my little show is that a listener could tell that I was entertaining myself first and foremost and that everybody who was along for the ride was … along for the ride.

    I thought about that a lot. I still do. And I believe that if you aren’t speaking your mind you don’t have anything to say.

    Now of course, turning that into a marketing message is tricky, isn’t it? It’s like T-Mobile finally taking that no-longer-looks-like-a-little-girl actress out of the pink dress and putting her in motorcycle leathers, which just happened yesterday. Good move? We’ll see.

    If the message is “I’m a brand”, you NEED to write for yourself. If it’s “I can help YOU”, that doesn’t work, except on a pure empathy-based and hard-to-sell level.

    I find this especially fascinating given that it’s you.

    People who think of you as a marketing consultant will respond with “right on, brother!”. People who think of you as a personality … and let’s remember based on how you got here that many (most?) of your peeps see you that way, won’t get it.

    I think ultimately this all comes down to understanding how you’re perceived and either embracing it or changing it. And yeah, volume is still a part of that.

  • http://twitter.com/GetBillG Bill Gibeault

    I read quite a few comments on your post.  Maybe the headlines should have been “Stop Leg-Humping and Earn Attention”.  :):)  Maybe the real problem is that too many people want instant success and get rich quick schemes and don’t want to work hard to achieve.  

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  • http://www.jeromeibuyan.blogspot.com/ Jerome Ibuyan

    first time to comment in your site but been reading it few days before. Your words are really empowering especially for beginners like me. This post IMHO is not a whining, hehe this is reality. Learn to build a good relationship first before anything else.

  • John@PGISelfDirected

    I am a first time visitor to your site but I instantly became a fan when I checked out this post.  Some people tend to bite more than they can chew when it comes to web marketing (myself included). We get so caught up with our goals that we lose our way sooner or later. Keep up the good work! You’ve already got a regular visitor right here.

  • Plam

    I totally agree with you, Chris. Everyone is looking for short cuts to getting 
    more customers,  better jobs, higher turnover, more and more and more of everything. Well, face it – there are no major short cuts. Trying to cheat the system all the time will not bring you much closer to achieving your goals. 
    I thank you for sharing it took you 8 years to get your first 100 subscribers. Every time I wonder if I should take a short cut or put on my blog a story I don’t really like , I will remind myself of your story and I will only do the things which feel right. 
    Keep up the good work, Chris :-)

  • http://exciramedia.com/ Shannon Steffen

    Brilliant, Chris!

    The main point is: “Media isn’t sustainable marketing material if it requires begging to keep it fed.”

    This goes hand-in-hand with automatic schedulers and you’re blog post has perfect timing as I was just looking at my Buffer and wondering – did I schedule these because they are really good and helpful to others or because I just wanted to make sure Buffer was fed?

    Performing an act like that makes you realize how much information is out there and how people want to feed the monster because it is out there. No real engagement. No real wisdom. No real humans.

    That’s why I like Google+ so much. There’s no automation so you have to be picky about what you share because it takes a few more moments of your time. It’s the pause that has one ask whether they are sharing information or wisdom.

    There is a Druid quote that I live by: “Information is abundant. Wisdom is scarce.”

    It’s time to move into the latter.

  • http://www.johnstonsearch.com/blog Brian Kevin Johnston

    Cha-Ching!!!

  • http://twitter.com/Official_Almas Almas

    I loved this post. In the XFactor and instant gratification culture, people want it now without doing the hardwork. 

  • http://www.jakeoliveronline.com/ oliver online

    Aiming for attention or just being known to the public is always our aim for our own business.Social media’s or network marketing is mostly being used by the business site owner’s naturally to draw attention to the public eye. 

  • http://www.inspiredgiftgiving.com/ Marquita Herald

    Whew – enjoyed the post Chris and really loved the smart and thoughtful comments! Oh, and I have to add my kudos for the “leg humping” quote – that one is burned into my brain. It is so refreshing  to read real opinions rather than one size fits all “do this or fail” pitches!

    I’ve tested feedback and traffic for my own blog and settled on three new posts a week as the right schedule for me. The other thing I track is how many new subscribers I get with each new article – there’s always peaks and valleys – but on average if I get a dozen or so new subscribers with each article I’m a happy camper. That may be tiny potatoes from some here, but for someone not in network marketing/MLM or social media marketing it’s pretty good.

  • Sandra Tedford

    Great post Chris. Thanks for being honest about why it pays to be genuine in building relationships and engaging others online.

  • http://www.callummahoney.com Callum Mahoney

    Used to look forward to the daily posts, but I certainly see why once you reach a particular threshold your efforts really should be put elsewhere.  Thanks for the insight.

  • Elaine Fogel

    No wonder you’ve reduced your posting frequency, Chris. It probably takes you all day to monitor and reply to comments! :)

  • http://www.roundpeg.biz Roundpeg

    I probably read you more regularly now that you post less often.   I know it is strange, but when I have 5 or six posts cued up in my reader, I assume I will get to them eventually, but when there is only one, I read it. 

    And I think you are right, when we share good content, we get traffic, tweets and RT’s.  

  • David Chism

    I don’t comment often as it was a little hard to keep up. One of my favorite post, Chris. Thanks for being real. 

  • Darlene Hildebrandt

    I actually PREFER weekly posts over daily.  I think you’d put more thought into what you’re going to say if it’s just once a week, and of the blogs that I follow if they all posted daily I’d never keep up to any of them and would probably stop reading some of all of them. 

    Thanks Chris, totally agree!

  • http://twitter.com/jeffkorhan Jeff Korhan

    Thoughtful piece. Thanks for the permission to blog less – yes, we do notice things.  My traffic has actually increased, and I feel better about what I’m publishing because more thought goes into it.  

    Happy weekend. 

  • http://www.danieldecker.net/ Daniel Decker

    Well said and I love the “leg-hump people for shares and retweets.” LoL (for real laughed out loud).

    • peggyduncan

      Me too. That’s a new one.

  • peggyduncan

    Outstanding. And that goes for us little bloggers too…tired of getting those form letters in email saying “Hi Peggy, I love your blog.” … without saying anything specific about it.

    And I never understood why people tried to blog every day, and am glad to see I’ve been right all along. I blog when I think of something useful to talk about, and am making my posts richer with how-to videos.

  • http://twitter.com/MaryKayLofurno Mary Kay Lofurno

    I think there is a lot to be said for understanding what “frequency” works best for your audience. 

    I think you can turn people away with too much information, even if its good.  I am not going to name names but one of our industry cohorts/companies has a blog that posts 3 times a day or more.    These folks are not like SES or Search Engine Land, they are a software company SaaS app company.

    The thing is, its not light reading.  For the most part, its very useful but they are running head on into others who are doing the same thing. 

    Its turning me away little by little. 

  • Chris Picanzo

    Great stuff Chris! You are right on point, if an article is good it will be found and shared in that circle. If you have to beg or hump a leg for that matter lol just to have it shared or re-tweeted than obviously it’s not such a great article. As far as posting every day I always cringe because my schedule doesn’t quite allow me to do that but now I’m seeing that as a good thing :) I look forward to your next post or email.

  • http://alwayswellwithin.com/ Sandra / Always Well Within

    It’s such a relief to hear this about humping for sharing and posting daily.  I get so overwhelmed by bloggers who post daily.  I prefer in-depth content weekly over daily posts any day.

  • louisblythe

    Great post mate! You make simple look easy! And simple is hard as hell!

    8 years for your first 100 readers!

    How on earth did you stick that out?

    A bunch of reasons I am sure.

    Just keep doing what you are doing!

    You would have to be my most valuable resource on the net.

    Thanks for giving me perspective!

  • Barbsbargains

    This blog opened my eyes to a lot of things that I am doing wrong. Love your attitude. 

  • http://embroideryfashionsboutique.ecrater.com/ Elena

    Lately I have been reading a lot of Do It Yourself blogs.  Frankly, they are getting quite redundant.   However, I do like it when the blogger responds to a question.  

  • JFarshtey

    This is valuable information for those of us just starting out in the world of social media. Nothing happens overnight. It takes persistence, dedication, and passion about what you do to convince others that you are genuine about your cause.  I am a relative novice at social media and this article is quite useful to me. Having people “like” your page isn’t what creates loyal followers. As you mentioned in your post, it takes patience and conviction in what you are doing to create authenticity.

  • Pingback: Community Management & WOM | Pearltrees

  • http://twitter.com/awoo23 andrew woo

    This post has given me clarity on how to get attention. i thought all i had to do was contact some ppl in the media and thats it. this post reminded me that i got into my business to help other ppl. i should focus back on that.

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