One Way You Might Be Turning Off Your Readers

The other day I bought two audiobooks by Robert Greene.

The first book, The 48 Laws of Power, mildly assaulted my sense of right and wrong and what I think is acceptable behavior. The other one, The 33 Strategies of War, excited me and left me feeling inspired.

On the way to work this morning it occurred to me that the Laws and Strategies outlined weren’t really all that different. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I realized there is a great deal of overlap between them. That got me to thinking…

Given the large degree of of overlap, why would one book make my stomach turn a bit while the other one inspired me and kept me enthralled?

I think there is a valuable lesson squeezed into the answer. Here is my take on it:

Power, and the quest for it, has a social stigma attached to it. People who actively seek more power (usually by taking it from others) are widely thought of as self-centered, cold, cut throat, egotistical, and narcissistic. For me, the word Power, when used in “control” sense, has a negative connotation.

War, and warriors, on the other hand, often have a semi-romantic connotation. We glorify successful warriors in our history books. Dying in battle is an honorable death. Warrior is almost synonymous with “manly.” And, because our history books and movies often position us as the victors, we also tend to associate a sense of pride to being adept warriors. For me, the word War, in this context, has a positive connotation.

In essence, I started listening to each audiobook with existing prejudices towards each concept. Those prejudices dictated the frame I viewed the very same information through - both positively and negatively.

If you’re anything like me, it’s likely, from time to time, you forget to pay attention to the emotional weight your words might carry. We often don’t put a great deal of thought into the emotional impact of our words; instead we tend to focus on the meaning of the words we choose.

If you’re in marketing or sales this can be a costly mistake.

Take a few minutes this week to read through your sales copy, or to recite your sales pitch, looking for words that might have some unintentionally negative emotional impact.

Those few minutes spent playing ’seek and replace’ could end up resulting in the easiest boost in conversion you’ll ever see.

’til next time,

Sean

P.S. Both books are great. If you haven’t read them, pick up a copy. They make great “bathroom readers.”

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Often Overlooked, Always More Profitable

I’m always amazed by internet marketers, teaching internet marketing, who miss the marketing boat.

I unsubscribed to several marketing related membership sites today. I’d been with all of them for extended periods and, other than slow content production, I really didn’t have a problem with them.

It is important to note I wasn’t leaving angry.

There are several lessons in what happened today, after I unsubscribed, but for the sake of brevity, I’m only gonna talk about one of them.

This will only take a minute, anyway.

Here’s what happened:

I decided to cancel some recurring payment memberships billed through PayPal.

I went to PayPal and found the relevant subscriptions. Then I clicked on “Cancel Membership” and this is what happened…

>>insert long silence here<<

Yeah, exactly, nothing happened. I got freakin’ crickets.

Sure, I received notification from PayPal saying the memberships had been canceled, but I didn’t receive a single email from ANY of the marketers/businesses in question.

• I didn’t get a pointless “We’re sorry to see you go” Good Bye Email.

• I didn’t get a “Please take a second to tell us why you’re leaving” Exit Survey.

• I didn’t get a “Wait! You can have X bonus if you’ll give us another try” Bribe Offer.

And I damn sure didn’t get an email doing all three of those things.

**FAIL**

Nope, they just let me, and my money, slip away.

Sad. So, so sad.

Now, obviously, I could tie this into my previous post on reducing attrition, but it’s a bit soon for that. No, instead, we’re gonna touch on Points of Contact.

These marketers failed to maximize all of their touch points.

I doubt if they went through the trouble to sit down and map out every single point of contact with their customers. If so, they wouldn’t have let me get away so easily. I doubt they would have just idly watched my money walk away. No, they would have used this opportunity to try to either get useful information out of me or talk me into staying a member.

But they didn’t.

And you don’t have to make that mistake.

You CAN sit down and map out every pre-sale and post-sale point of contact with your customers. You CAN figure out ways to optimize every single one of those occasions. You CAN increase your revenues, your retention rate, and the size of the checks you cash by analyzing and optimizing your POCs.

You just have to put a little thought into it.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Redefining Continuity Programs

After the recent ‘Matt Bacak retirement offer’ fiasco, there has been a lot of discussion around the concepts of continuity programs vs. forced continuity vs. hidden forced continuity.

I’ve noticed that many people – marketers included – have different ideas what each of those actually mean. The discussion usually starts with talking about the negatives of “hidden forced continuity” but soon becomes encompassed in the general envelope of “continuity.”

But there are very distinct – and important – differences between them.

Here, let me explain…

I asked the following question on twitter this morning:

“What is YOUR definition of A) Continuity Program and B) Forced Continuity?”

While I received many different answers, I think Andy Erickson ( @andy_erickson ) responded with the most succinct, and most popular, one:

“A) continuity = recurring charge until you cancel. B) Forced = you cannot order w/o being enrolled in continuity”

I agree with these definitions… for the most part.

Before I can tell you where my thoughts differ, I should probably expand on those definitions first.

A great example of a typical continuity program is your local print newspaper.

You can pick up a newspaper in any convenience store without having to subscribe – you can get the product without being “forced” into subscribing. You can, however, opt to subscribe instead.

An excellent example of “forced continuity” (as defined above) is the uber-popular infomercial phenom – the acne medication Pro-Active.

You cannot purchase Pro-Active without automatically being enrolled in a continuity program. You have to actively opt-out later. (Side note: Pro-Active is very clear about this in their infomercials. You know damn well what you’re getting into - there is nothing shady or unethical about it.)

Of course, “Hidden Forced Continuity” is extremely rare… because it is also illegal.

Granted, there are some marketers try to take the “not entirely obvious continuity program” route and skirt the limits of the law. The “continuity aspect” of their offer isn’t exactly hidden, but it isn’t exactly clear either. That practice pretty much sucks ass in my book.

The more I think about it, the more I feel the phrases “continuity program” and “forced continuity program” are inaccurate. More accurate terms would be “opt-in continuity program” and “opt-out continuity program”, because that is the primary difference between them.

Okay, so now that we’ve cleared up the definitions of the various types of “continuity offers”, I’d like to revisit the concept of “forced continuity.”

In a previous post I talked about “forced continuity” . Let me just expand on that here, ok?

The phrase Forced Continuity applies in two different situations:

A) A situation where, upon implementing or integrating a product into your business (or life), the cost of leaving soon become exorbitant when compared to the cost of staying.

B) Upon purchasing a product or service you’re obligated by contract to recurring costs for services.

Here are some good examples of forced continuity that fit those definitions:

Google Apps: There is an annual recurring fee, and once you’ve integrated your business into the system (email and collaboration), it becomes a total pain in the ass to leave. It has become part of the way you do business. The cost of leaving is both financial and “intangible.”

Hosting Companies: I don’t think this one really requires any explanation. Anyone who has attempted to migrate from one hosting company to another knows the pain, cost, and frustration involved in this. Unless you’re getting totally hosed, or the support sucks to the point of being criminal, it is often cheaper and less frustrating to just stick with them.

Software with “service agreements”: In the PetroChem industry it is not uncommon for a company to develop a very valuable piece of software they practically give away for free… but the client must agree – for a defined length of time - to use trained personnel from the company supplying the software.

Software with “Support Agreements”: It isn’t uncommon for someone to develop a killer script and then charge a minimal monthly “support service fee” to keep the software running up to par… and by default; your business.

Products with “Maintenance Agreements”: A good example would be copy machines. You buy a copier and sign a maintenance contract with the supplier. Often times, to incentivize the maintenance contract, you lose your warranty if anyone OTHER than the supplier performs the maintenance.

Cell Phone Contracts: Grrrrrr. KILL, KILL, KILL. Need I say more?

Anyway, I’m sure, with the examples I’ve provided above, you can see the differences in “opt-in continuity”, “opt-out continuity”, and “forced continuity.”

While ‘opt-in’ and ‘opt-out’ are great models, there is no question that ‘forced’ is, by far, the best model.

Designing your product or service to become a fundamental part of the purchasers business or life is smart - very smart.

Designing a front end product that lends itself to requiring ongoing support is also smart – very smart.

If you design your business/product this way, and the offering tons of free (or inexpensive) integration support, you’re essentially forcing your customers to continue doing business with you for a long time to come.

That model is so much better than constantly trying to find new customers or clients, isn’t it?

And, with forced continuity, as long as you continue to deliver quality services or products, and don’t getting cocky or sloppy, you’ll barely have to worry about attrition at all.

Stable recurring income kicks ass.

Thanks for reading.

Please share your thoughts, ideas, comments, or how much you hate me in the comments below.

Sean

UPDATE:

After writing this, I had the pleasure of reading Dr. Mani’s blog post titled ‘Forced Continuity - Great Concept Stupid Implementation’.

In his post Dr. Mani talks about another recent “Hidden Forced Continuity” occurrence involving Joel Comm (one I was unaware of.)

Dr. Mani is much more eloquent than I am, and his post is a great read - go check it out.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

GEICO, Tony Blake, and Reducing Attrition.

It was 7PM when the phone rang.

“Hello. May I speak to Sean Marler, please?”

“Yeah, this is Sean.”

“Mr. Marler, my name is Penny. I’m with GEIKO and, as a matter of courtesy, I’m calling to let you know your insurance lapsed on the 5th”

“Really? But the payments are automated…”

“Well, Mr. Marler, your policy was for a 6 month period. You have to renew the policy manually at the end of the 6 months. I can take care of that right now, if you’d like.”

Awwww. Penny and GEICO are so sweet and helpful, aren’t they? I mean, come on, they even gave me a ‘courtesy call’, right?

Ummm, no, they didn’t. A ‘courtesy call’ would have come 4 days BEFORE my policy expired - NOT 4 days AFTER the expiration date. Nope, no matter how they position it, this was a ’sales call’.

Positioning it as a courtesy probably works wonders in creating a feeling of good will with customers. It immediately breaks down the “telemarketer” wall of resistance.

Smart.

The bigger picture is where the real lesson is, though. This was more than a sales call… This was part of an Attrition Mitigation Program. This was a slice of a full-blown system designed to keep paying customers as paying customers - a system designed to make it easier for customers to stay than to leave. It removes the customer’s need to think or take any significant action.

Obviously, their system has a few kinks, but still…

Smart. Very smart.

Online, you almost never see companies actively employing an Attrition Mitigation Program. You see it employed even less when the “product” is free.

Products where the customers are more accurately defined as ‘users’ or ‘members’ would still benefit greatly from a system to reduce attrition.

Here is an example: Several weeks ago I registered to participate on Tony Blake’s new internet marketing forum. So far, the forum has great content and is growing rapidly. But, you know what? I damn near forgot about it the moment I left the site.

I’ve received a couple emails informing me that Tony has posted a new Vlog - but not much more than that, really. Consequently, I’ve visited the forum very little. Hmm, now that I think about it, “very little” is probably an over-statement.

But, what if…

What if I received weekly emails with the titles and excerpts of the “most thumbed up” posts of the week?

What if I received a “spontaneous” email giving me a heads up about an interesting or heated debate taking place?

Or, what if Tony showcased the author of the most instructive or useful post of the week? What if he actively championed frequent posters?

What if Tony enthusiastically encouraged members to vote of the best posts? And rewarded activity?

What if he did all of that in a couple of weekly emails, as well as on the forum proper?

I can answer ALL of those “what ifs” in one short sentence:

Tony would probably have a hell of a lot more member interaction, a stronger relationship with the members, greatly increased chances of WOM, and, ultimately, end up significantly reducing attrition.

The forum (and the associated social network) is one of Tony’s platforms for reaching and engaging his target audience. It might even be his primary platform.

Developing and implementing a system to keep more people coming back more often is essential.

So, I ask you, what can you do in your business, or on your website, to keep the folks that matter from straying?

What system can you implement to keep your customers/members engaged with you?

Think about it.

Do something about it.


Sean.

P.S. Don’t worry about Tony. He’s a smart cookie and is totally on top of things. I just wanted to give him shit.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Anatomy of a Phucktard: Don’t be this guy.

I clicked on the “More Details” link and felt my stomach turn when I saw the landing page. Deception had reared its ugly head and was staring me down.

A few days ago I was browsing through a few categories on Craigslist when I came across an interesting ad. Unlike most of the others, this one sported an active link promising more relevant information. Here is a screen shot for ya:

 

Even though the link smacks on “marketer”, the ad seems innocent enough, right?

Imagine what went through my head when I click the link and ended up here:

 

 

If you imagined complete disgust and utter disappointment you would have imagined correctly.

A keyword word stuffed AdSense page. Not a single shred of “information” on the entire page.

Sickening.

Shame on the Phucktard for spamming craigslist like this. He’s (or she) is the reason Internet Marketer and Scum Sucking Con-Artist are typically used synonymously.

Sacrificing longevity and integrity for a quick 5 cents in revenue.

Yeah, I’d say this Phucktard is about as “out of touch” as Rosie O’Donnell. Dumber than a box of rocks.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only Phucktard out there. They’re prevalent in the social media space and are ruining it for everyone - marketers, users, and consumers alike.

Oh yeah, here is a funny thing about the ad above…

20 minutes later the link was disabled.

It seems craigslist has automated systems in place to protect its users from marketers - links get disabled quickly.

But obviously not fast enough - I clicked through. And probably hundreds of others did, too. And, to top it off, the spam post, or something very similar to it, gets posted about every two hours. Yeah, even with “protection” in place, this Phucktard is making some change.

But here’s the thing…

Craigslist, or any other such site, shouldn’t have to implement protective measures. They shouldn’t have to protect their users from “us” internet marketers. We should have enough respect for the marketplace that they don’t have to guard against us. But, phucktards like the one spamming craigslist screw the whole system up.

So, my little bit of marketing advice is this:

Don’t be a Phucktard. Respect your market. Respect the media your market uses. And, most importantly, respect yourself. Integrity and Respect are the basis you should be marketing on. Not deception and greed.

Respect.

Sean Marler

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

What Google taught me today… and how you can use it, too.

I’m not sure what happened. Everything was working fine.

I took a nap, woke up, and logged back on and…

Nothing.

Gmail kept sending me back to the log-on page.

WTF?

Then, because I’m a persistent bastard, Gmail finally allowed me to log on… and then immediately kicked me off again. It gave me a message saying I’m already logged-in with this browser.

Again, WTF?

So, I went through the normal troubleshooting procedure - shut down one extension at a time until I find the culprit.

It turned out to be the Better Gmail extension.

That sucks. I had that baby tweeked, too. My Gmail interface was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

And now it is apparently crap.

Once I disabled the extension I was able to log into my account. Maybe because I was looking, or maybe because it was brand spankin’ new, I noticed a new option in the upper right of my screen:

“Old Version”

WTF?

I didn’t ask for a new version.

Oh lucky me - I’m beta testing Gmail 2.0.

Normally, I’d get the same “ooh, ooh, ooh, I get to be first!” techno-high everyone else gets at the mention of “beta”, but not today.

Until Google gets is right, I want my Better Gmail back.

I know it ain’t gonna happen though. The best I can hope for is that someone comes out with a fix soon.

Ok, I’m over it. Really, I am.

So, Better Gmail aside, there has to be a marketing lesson in here somewhere, right?

Yeah, there is. Probably many. But, my current irritation and inherent cynicism lead me to but one lesson for the day:

If you’re gonna mess with the system/product/relationship it would behoove you to wait until your users/customers/clients are so deeply ingrained that it’ll be an complete pain-in-the-ass for them to take their business elsewhere.

And, if you can, design your entire operation around the idea of a “forced commitment.”

It has worked like gangbusters for Microsoft and Google; it’ll work for you too.

Think about it. Seriously.

How can you design (or re-design) your business to “force” your customers in to a long-term relationship with you?

The answer is your key to increasing your stability and Long-Term Customer Value.

A big thanks to Google for reminding me of this little pearl of wisdom today.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Bill Gates Can Kiss My Ass

I’m pissed.

I’m aggravated.

I’m completely inept at effectively manipulating CSS or any other code for that matter.

A week or so ago I put together a blog for my father. No biggie, right? Yeah, well, all was fine until I started jacking with code. Everything was great - exactly what I wanted - in Firefox. But, it turned out IE interpreted things a bit differently. The site was a mess and completely unreadable in Internet Explorer.

Oops. My bad.

Because I wasn’t really sure what I’d done, I went ahead and deleted the whole theme I’d started with. I could handle starting over… I mean, it was my fault, right?

So, after looking around a bit, I decided to go with the latest version of this theme - cutline. It’s has a smooth design and offered some key usability features. Basically it looked idiot proof.

I uploaded the theme and installed my various tracking scripts. Then I did the obligatory check and found everything appeared correct in both browsers. Ding Ding - off to the races.

Well 4 posts and over 2000 views later I discovered one tiny little problem…

Here, take a look for yourself (click on the thumbnail):

Nice, huh?

The damn “submit” button doesn’t display in IE. And guess what… about 88% of those 2000 visitors viewed the thing in IE.

AGGGGG! *&^%*%(&**!!!!

This is definitely no bueno. And, needless to say, I’m not happy about it. And, to be honest, I have no idea how to fix it either. I’m totally clueless.

I’m fairly sure it wasn’t my fault this time. And, I’m fairly sure the smart folks who put this theme together didn’t screw it up either.

No, this is all Bill Gates fault.

And you know what I’m gonna do about it? huh? Well I’ll tell ya what I’m gonna do about it! I’m gonna whine and complain and throw a text based temper tantrum.

Oh yeah, besides that stuff, I’m gonna try to find someone who knows how to fix the problem -and I’m not talking ’sniper’ folks. I’m sure rent-a-coder is full of folks that can fix it in minutes. I hope. Sigh.

The lesson in all of this is pretty clear: Conduct a complete function test on all aspects of your site before you go live with it… a quick ‘once over’ for visual errors ain’t gonna cut it.

Ouch. Lesson learned.

I’m out. Talk to ya later.

Sean

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

An Apology

Last night, on a whim, I decided to check the SPAM folder for an email account I don’t monitor. I use the account frequently, but all of the mail is forwarded to another account - a very private account.

Well, it turns out I had several blog comments awaiting moderation… in the SPAM folder.

For those of you that commented and were wondering why your comments never posted; that’s why.

Sorry about that. I’m changing the email addy for comments to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Sean

P.S. Several new blog posts will be up in the next few days. They are written, but I’m waiting on a green light to use a quote or two. I think you’ll find the posts useful. Well, I hope so. lol

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This Happens When Good Companies Tell Little Lies…

The other day I was reading a post on a popular web design blog. While looking around the site I came across an endorsement for a hosting company. Because I’m interested in finding decent hosting for an upcoming site, I clicked on the link. This company was everything I was looking for - it was damn near perfect. Well, that is, until I got to the final order page.

The site offered hosting for $9.95 a month, with no set up fee. This graphic was taken right off their page.

As a matter of fact, this pricing claim was made on every page I visited… from the landing page through the entire ordering process.

Honestly, it’s a great deal considering everything you get with the package. And, I would have happily paid more.

But then I hit the final step in ordering - confirming the total amount right before finalizing the deal - and it all fell apart.

On the “total to be billed today” page it gave a total for the entire year.

WTF?

Not once did I see any indication that this hosting service was billed annually. Every price related item on the site inferred it was a monthly thing. I mean, look at the graphic above… does that give you the impression you’re required to pay annually?

No, I didn’t think so.

I immediately closed the window and cussed at my computer. I was pissed.

It’s not that I can’t afford the annual fee. I would have still bought this service based off the the endorsement that brought me there…

It was the fact that they deceived me right up until the payment was being made.

THAT little lie pissed me off to the point that I’ll NEVER do business with them. And that included all the other company names they do business under.

If they are willing to screw with me at the very beginning of our “relationship”, I’d hate to see how things go later down the line.

No, thank you.

I’m certain I’m not the only person who has bailed out on the order page in disgust.

People pick up on little incongruencies in sales copy, and if they are bad enough, it will turn your prospect off… forever.

It’s definitely something to think about when you’re proofing your copy before going live with it. Take a minute and check for any inconsistencies. It could make a world of difference in the way you are perceived by your prospects.

How would you, as a consumer, have dealt with this?

Would that little “trick” send you packing? Or, would you have purchased the hosting service from them anyway?

Share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The Power of Collaborative Thinking

Last night I went to my monthly Mastermind meeting.

Because the Mastermind concept is so powerful, and often misused, I thought I’d share our process and some of last night’s results with you.

You don’t mind, do you?

Great, I didn’t think so. Ok, lets get started then.

One of our members, Cesar, owns a brick and mortar business. He offers industry specific pre-certification training to Spanish speaking immigrants.

Until yesterday we only knew Cesar hoped to bring a portion of his business online. But we didn’t really have an understanding as to WHY he wanted to do this. We assumed, for the most part, that he was looking to leverage technology to teach more people simultaneously.

We thought that goal was his primary motivation… that is, until I started digging a little deeper.

It turns out getting his course online, and consequently growing his business, IS one of his goals. But, it wouldn’t solve the problem he suffers from today - the problem that is currently stifling the growth of his business and causing him a great deal of stress.

This is what we found out:

Cesar spends an exorbitant amount of time answering the phone and explaining his program to prospects. And, to make things worse, only 1 in 10 of the callers actually convert to clients. That’s right, about 90% of his time on the phone is spent talking to people who are not interested in his program.

Constantly dealing with uninformed prospects robs him of the time he needs to work with his clients. But, conversely, ignoring those prospects ultimately results in a lack of clients.

Not good.

It seems Cesar was stuck in a catch 22 and he couldn’t see a way around the problem.

Why?

Well, I think it’s because…

A) He was too close to the problem.

B) His exposure to certain technologies was limited.

That being said, let’s move on….

So, after Cesar told us how this problem was really affecting his business, Todd, another member of our group, stepped in with a suggestion.

Todd works in - and is currently launching a start-up in - the telecommunications industry. The solution was immediately obvious to him.

He suggested Cesar use a “recorded messaging” service to pre-qualify and screen his prospects.

Instead of incoming calls being routed directly to his office, Todd suggesteed Cesar direct calls to a recorded message.

The brief message would explain (sell) his service and address the questions he normally answers on almost every incoming call. The prospects who remain interested after listening to the message just leave their contact information and Cesar calls them back.

After that, any additional questions that continually creep up are added to the recorded message to increase its effectiveness.

This will lead to Cesar talking only to those who are actually interested in what he has to offer. The number of people he deals with daily will drop and his conversion rate will sky-rocket.

But, most importantly, he’ll have much more time to serve his existing clients… and all of the new ones.

A simple, efficient, and effective solution to a problem that’s been plaguing Cesar for some time.

Hell yeah.

That’s the power of bringing a small group of folks from different industries, and backgrounds, to the same table.

Because of our differences, experiences and focus, each of us views the same problem from a different perspective. As a result, we each come up with a different possible solutions. Working with those suggestions we can mix, match and blend them into a viable solution for just about any problem put on the table.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot…

There was an unexpected side effect of this meeting, too.

Because my brain and attention were already focused on Cesar’s business, I went home and started outlining a  follow-up system to further increase his conversion rate. With this system he’ll be able to capture some of the “ones that got away” and fence sitters.

And then, today, still inspired, I mapped out a split-testing plan for both the recorded messages and the print ads which bring in the calls. If implemented, this should also have a significant impact on the growth of Cesar’s business.

And to think, this all came together because of a little collaborative thinking.

Powerful stuff, don’t you think?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Why Your Content Sucks

(Alternately Titled: Why Social Sites Are Giving You The Boot)

I’ve recently spent some time reading the “quality content” some of my fellow Thirty Day Challenge members are posting up at various Web 2.0 sites.

I’ve found that, in most cases, even when the writing is decent, the quality leaves something to be desired. OK, you caught me, in some cases, the content leaves a lot to be desired.

Most of them mean well. I think they honestly believe they’re offering up valuable content.

But, unfortunately, there is a problem. And, it’s a problem they most likely won’t be able to see because they’re approaching things from the wrong perspective.

Let me explain…

When you’re writing content - for any purpose - your focus should be 100% on the reader.

You’ve gotta write for your readers. You’re supposed to be writing for their benefit. You’re writing should aim to improve their day in some small way.

If you write with that intent you’re readers will honestly appreciate your content. And then, if you’re lucky, they’ll happily share it with others.

But, sadly, most of the content I’ve been reading isn’t focused on your readers. On a very perceptible level it’s focused on your affiliate products. Or it’s focused on your SER.

Your content is obviously focused on your success.

I’ve got news for you… your readers know when your focus is on you.

And, believe me, they don’t appreciate it.

They will judge you harshly.

And then…

Well, they’ll just pass around that ‘harsh judgment’ exactly like they would’ve passed around your great content.

Your efforts - and their time - wasted. What a shame.

If you focus on your readers when you write you’ll have happy and grateful folks wanting to come back for more. They’ll show you their appreciation by talking about you to their online friends (and possibly buying from you).

If you focus on yourself, your product, or your finances when you write…

You’re screwed.

So, what now then?

Take a few minutes to really think about how you can give your readers some entertaining information. Some content that will ultimately improve their day. Then just write it for them… write it because you like them as much as you like yourself. Give it to them because they are important to you. Create your content with their happiness in mind…

Then all you have to do is give it to them. You can think of it as your gift to them.

Give it to them with the sole intent of improving their day.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Good luck.

Sean

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!