how to build an audience in 743 difficult steps
DESCRIPTION
The biggest question every writer asks when they start publishing online is, "How do I get people to read my stuff?" There are many answers to this question, and these answers are usually now referred to as "content marketing". Proposed methods run the gamut of SEO and Marketing advice, from back-linking and infographic making to the perfect way to write headlines ("People love lists!"). I've treaded close to these methods a few times in my darkest hours of need — the many times I'd vowed to just give up and stop writing because really, what's the use. But somehow the love of the web and the blogging format kept me going. And over the years I've made some discoveries about what it takes to build an audience, and why I think it's better to stay away from the easy ways and choose the difficult ways instead. In this talk I'll share some of that philosophy, and how a struggling blog with an insignificant number of readers has become not only a source of great joy and expression for me, but also a source of non-insignificant income. This isn't a talk about how to get to 1 million page views a month. It's a talk about how to make *your* page views count.TRANSCRIPT
How to build an audiencein 743 difficult steps
@RianVDM
Step 1Pick a URL that
no one can pronounce
Okaylet’sbackup
Whyblog?
The
artof
publicthinking
“The process of writing exposes your own ignorance and half-baked assumptions”
— Clive Thompson
Source: The art of public thinking
The
newresume
Nothing will impress more than an individual who has taken the time to craft and
share their perspectives about either the industry that they serve or what inspires them.
— Mitch Joel
Source: The new resume
Let’s buildan
audience!
The lureof theeasy
will get you
“If you share, all I ask is that you credit the
source. I can send visitors to your site
as a thank-you if you would like.”
“are you sell link ads at insert article ??”
“I currently have a client interested in placing
simple text link ads on sites like yours.”
“I would primarily be sending you paid content
for publishing on your site…”
Why are we so unwilling to work
hard for the things that we
want?
A
differentway
Thelong
wayhard
stupid
Source: Frank Chimero
“Just because we're a casual restaurant, doesn't mean we don't hold ourselves to fine
dining standards. We try to do things the right way. That
usually means doing things the long, hard, stupid way.”
— David Chang, Momofuku restaurant
Source: David Chang gets a cameo
The hard way brings
The easy way bringsLearning how to play the part without substance or continued growth
An endless cycle of growth, learning and mastery
Okay, fine.But
what does itmean?
How to build an audiencein 743 difficult steps
How to build an audiencethe long, hard, stupid
way
Lesson
1
💩
nobodywants to
read your
Nobody — not even your dog or your mother — has the slightest interest in your commercial
for Rice Krispies or Delco batteries or Preparation H. Nor does anybody care about
your one-act play, your Facebook page or your new sesame chicken joint at Canal and
Tchopotoulis. !
It isn’t that people are mean or cruel. They’re just busy.
!
Nobody wants to read your shit.
Source: The Most Important Writing Lesson I Ever Learned
— Steven Pressfield
Thisis
liberating
Writing is a transaction
Time &
attention
Something worthy
Reader You
If we are going to ask people, in the form of our products, in the form of the things we make, to spend their heartbeats on us, on our ideas, how can we be
sure, far more sure than we are now, that they spend those
heartbeats wisely?— Paul Ford
Source: 10 Timeframes
Lesson
2
somethings aren’tworthy 💎
“Yahoo tests more than 45,000 combinations of
headlines and images every five minutes on
its home page.”
Source: The attention economy
— Tom Chatfield
1,000 words938 comments
300 words + 200 word excerpt>7,000 comments Source: Transfer of Value
“Once they are swallowed by the HuffPo’s clever traffic-
generation machine, the same journalistic item will make
tens or hundred times better traffic-wise.”
Source: Transfer of Value
— Frédéric Filloux
Obsession
Voice
💎x =
Source: Merlin Mann & John Gruber at SXSW
This is why I prefer to
follow people rather than topics…while I know what to expect 90% of
the time, I look forward to that 10% which I’d never have predicted, but
which I still enjoy reading.
— Callum J Hacket
Source: Reading the unexpected
Lesson
3
Writingis one thing
Publishingis a whole different thing
📰
Publishanyway
(It’s the only way you’re going to get better at it)
“There is no avoiding the deliberate
strain of real improvement.”
— Cal Newport
Source: The Father of Deliberate Practice Disowns Flow
So, how’sthat
working outfor you?
Slowly going up and to the right
Average monthlypage views
Who your
readers are
Butit also turns out
>How many
readers you have
But perhapsmost importantly…
So…
Find your obsessionFind your voicePublish more
(and do it the hard way)
“The danger of creating a path instead of following one is far
more important than the feeling you get resting at the apex.”
— AJ Leon
It’s going tomake you happy
