A revolutionary new marketing strategy: Write Email. Click Send.
Last Updated August 13th, 2013

Yesterday I shared the 80/20 rule to building a blog audience of people who are ready to buy what you sell.

(If you missed it – a big myth about building a blog that attracts customers is that you need to create an endless stream of content. In reality, that’s a waste a time. Instead you’ve got to promote what you’ve already got).

The natural NEXT question is then, “Well smarty pants: How do I promote my content?”

How to Promote Your Blog (and Business) in 2014

Even though there is one full module dedicated to this in my online training, Start Your Blog Right, I am going to stand by what I said yesterday:

“The right way to sell in 2014 is to give away the house… and sell the backyard.”

Today, I’m giving you the house. I’m going to share a brand new video where I’ll reveal reveal a “revolutionary” promotional strategy that will help you start building your blog audience today.

(Yes, I used two reveals because it’s that magical ;-D)

I call it “revolutionary” (with quotation marks) because when you hear what it is, you’ll kind of feel like “Wait a second, I knew that…”

But you know what they say about hindsight. It’s 20/20.

The truth is, if you knew – and actually implemented – what I’m going to share with you today, you wouldn’t struggle for readers.

So watch the video:

Then, when you’re done with the video, keep reading…

“Why” you ask?

I can literally provide you with the “keys to the kingdom” when it comes to building a blog, but if you don’t get out of your own way, you won’t know how to open the door.

You see, there are myths people believe about building a blog, and they suffer the consequences because of it.

But these “issues” can be EASILY corrected… especially when you’ve got Derek “The Lighthouse” Halpern guiding your ship back to land.

(I’m cracking myself up with these analogies today. If you can’t have fun writing, why do it? :-D).

Myth #1: It’s All About “Timing” Your Content

Yesterday, someone left a comment that said, “My number 1 problem is that I have a hard time coming up with content, and then when I put out what I think it really good content I don’t get much traffic. I post my links on Twitter (via buffer so it’s timed well) and I get some traffic, but it doesn’t convert to people signing up on my e-mail list.”

What’s the problem here?

Well, when you build a blog “my way,” the way where you create less and promote more, you don’t need much content. You just need what you think is great content.

But here’s the deal: “Timing” your content on Twitter is stupid.

And relying on YOUR Twitter account is the world’s DUMBEST thing you can do.

Here’s why:

If you’re updating your Twitter account, a twitter account with no followers (or worse, a Twitter account that has 10,000 followers… only because you first followed 10,000 people), you’re not going to get any traffic.

Heck, I’ve got friends with more than 100,000 Twitter followers, and when they share a link, they’ll send 8 visitors.

EIGHT.

People on Twitter don’t care about you… even if they’re real people.

If you think your 2,000 followers (the ones you got by following 2,000 people) care about you, you’re sorely mistaken.

And if you think timing your content will change that, I’m sorry to say, “No.”

The only real way to get traffic is to find people who have the audience you want… and convince those people to send people your way.

How do you do it?

Write an email. Click send.

Of course there are other proven promotional strategies that I reveal inside Start Your Blog Right, but you’ll hear more about later.

Myth #2: Your Existing Readers Will Do Promotional Work For You

When I hear people say this, I want to *face palm* so hard that I literally dent my skull.

The EASIEST way to build a blog that attracts leads and makes sales relies on this simple idea:

Find people who have the audience you want… and convince them to send some of their people your way.

Now you COULD rely on your existing readers (however big or small) to do the work for you, but to that, I’ll have to chuckle.

When I started Social Triggers back in 2011, there were people who had blogs with 10,000 or 15,000 subscribers.

Since then, many of those same people relied on their existing readers to do the promotional work for them… and that’s it.

Where are they now?

They might have saw some growth 2 years later.

Me?

I went from 0 to more than 115,000 people.

It wasn’t luck, either.

I had a proven strategy — much of what I lay out inside Start Your Blog Right — but it all hinged off this one key principle:

Find people who have the audience you want… and convince them to send some of their people your way.

While other people relied on their existing audience, I went out into the world and earned every single new reader myself.

I didn’t rely on anyone else other than myself…

…and that’s what YOU need to do.

Stop relying on something you don’t directly control (like your existing readers).

Instead, go find new readers.

How?

Watch the video above, 🙂

Myth #3: I need to write about what I do to attract customers

This always makes me laugh. I’ll tell you why.

There are too many people who think, “because I’m a Freelance writer, I need to write about freelance writing.”

They think, “Because I’m selling art, I need to write about art.”

Wrong.

You need to write content that attracts your ideal customer, and that’s it.

Then, you need to make sure the content you write leverages proven psychological principles so that your readers will spread your content to your ideal customers.

(I talk about those specific content creation strategies inside Module 3 which you’ll hear about tomorrow).

But for now, you’re probably wondering, “Okay, what type of content attracts my ideal customer?”

That’s easy.

You need to write content that solves a problem in your ideal customer’s life… and they’ll seek you out.

Example:

“Well Derek, I sell art. What can I talk about? Selling art doesn’t solve problems.”

I want you to think harder. MUCH harder.

Art itself, isn’t a solution. But why are people buying art?

Maybe because they want to make their home feel like home? Maybe because they don’t want their friends to make fun of their living room when they come over for a house party?

Sounds ridiculous, but here’s the deal:

You sell art so people can decorate their house.

That means, if you want to write content that attracts your ideal customer, you can write a blog post like “7 simple ways to decorate your living room.”

Art might be one of those tips, or it might not. The bottom line? If people are looking to decorate any room, at some point, they’ll be thinking about buying art.

(Trust me on this. I Just threw a house party in my new apartment in NYC this past weekend, and people said, “Derek, you really need some art on the walls…”)

Myth #4: TIME is my problem

I’m not going to lie to you: Building a blog that builds your business IS time consuming.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely.

To me, having a popular blog is one of the ONLY things that I believe all people need. Whether you’re building a business, or building a career, a popular blog is a sure-fire way to ensure that you’ll always be in demand.

But the truth is, building a blog is a lot more time consuming when you’re looking to “figure it all out” on your own.

Let me explain. I’m not saying this to brag, but I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. A lot of time to learn new marketing strategies, test them, and package it up into usable bits so people can benefit from them.

This is my business after all.

But you know what?

I don’t reinvent the wheel every time.

When I’m looking to learn how to do something specific. Something that I know someone else has already solved, I pay a premium to take the shortcut. I rarely start at “square one.”
Because even with the time, I can’t afford to waste time “figuring things out” on my own. I like to leap-frog right into the top spot, and start from there.

That’s the solution to the “I don’t have enough time” problem.

But still, you might think, “TIME IS STILL MY PROBLEM.”

And you know what? At that point, I still don’t believe time is your issue. Priorities are your issue.

When I started my first blog, I lost sleep to get it going. I canceled hanging out with friends. I skipped watching my favorite tv shows. I made sacrifices because my priority was building a blog.

And if you believe a blog can build your business, it’s time to make it a priority.

It’s time to face up to the reality. 😉

Now here’s what I want you to do next…

I want you to leave a comment below telling me what you think about this simple promotional strategy…

…and the fact that I just debunked the biggest myths about building a blog.

I’ll read every comment.