Gettin’ My Hustle On: How To Gain Advantages Over the Competition

Yours truly is making guest appearances all over the internet, and I thought I would share with you all the power of doing and not just talking about what you want to do.

Guest posting on other websites has been around for a while now, but still so few people take advantage of it. For those who do not know about the phenomenon, it is basically placing your content on another blogger or website owner’s website for increased exposure and possibly increased traffic to your site. This is especially helpful in the early days of blogging, but can help to maintain your credibility down the road as well. What ytou want is exposure, and guest blogging fits the bill perfectly

I’ve taken the plunge and have a couple of posts out there floating around. Hopefully these stats on my most recent post will persuade some of you to put your fingers to the keyboard to get more exposure for yourselves and start making some money!

Website hosting my guest post: www.icanmakebigmoneyonline.com
Google PageRank: 4
Technorati ranking (as of 7/30/07): 5148 (Top 10k designation)
Technorati Authority: 593
Alexa Rating: 102,952
Online Since: July 11, 2005

My guest post can be found here: http://www.canimakebigmoneyonline.com/index.php/20070729-smoke-and-mirrors/

They say that seeing is believing, so I hope I can inspire some of you out there with my words and actions!

Hustle Tips: 7 Steps To Proper Networking

Some view networking as a necessary evil: something that must be done in order to tell the world about you, your product and/or your service. However, this is only partly true. I used to hate networking with a passion, seeing it as a way to suck up to people you don’t even know, probably don’t like, and having to laugh at jokes that should have never been told — ever! Pardon me, as I ‘keep it real’ in this installment, because I want to help those of you out there who are very apprehensive about networking, and thereby go about it the wrong way in most instances.

Here are some general rules to maximize your networking experience:

1) Be genuine. Almost nothing is worse than talking to a person whose only purpose is to push their agenda. Have a genuine interesting in getting to know people, and what they do. Even though you may not utilize their services, you may know of others who can. Playing ‘matchmaker’ has the benefit of getting people what they want, having them remembering who to go to for almost anything (center of attention), and getting more business as people want to help the one that helped them.

2) Remember names. This tip is so good and so solid, but it’s also one that many people pass up. Remembering names is the most personal thing you can do when meeting new people. It makes the other person feel validated, and you make yourself stand out because few others do the same thing. Also, it definitely helps when it’s time for introductions, as you don’t have to try creative ways to remember their name (looking at a name tag, asking other people, asking for their business card, etc.). I saw this in action just yesterday when the host of a party I attended forgot my name, but actually introduced me to some very influential people because I remembered their name.

3) Don’t just pass out business cards. Being king or queen of distribution at a networking party is not cool at all. You don’t add any kind of value to he function, and you end up wasting money because most of the cards will end up in the trash at the party or later on when the attendees get home. Why? Because you have not made a personal connection with the people you gave a business card to! Take 2-3 minutes to ask a few questions about the other person, and 9 times out of 10 they will ask for your information in return, automatically.
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Hustle to the Extreme: The Other Side of Promotions

Be careful what you ask for.

Being a product of your own success has it’s drawbacks. Many webmasters use different tactics to get people to visit their websites, especially in their infancy. Some use the traditional ways of advertising, such as banner ads, text links or an opt-in e-mail campaign. Others use social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Digg, or del.cio.us. As of late, many owners have started using contests to see how much readership they can bring in.

Now my rule of thumb on contests is that your site should have a healthy flow of traffic before you begin one, or else no one will know about it, and you’ll end up having to pay out of your pocket more heavily (versus having site revenues from frequent visitors help defray the costs of the promotion). However, if they are thought out well enough, a contest can be exactly the PR necessary to create a buzz in the online community. Sometimes you can get better results than even the social networking sites can give you — and best of all — you create free advertisers out of your visitors. Now who doesn’t want hundreds of people advertising your site for you?

There are however, some drawbacks to a really good promotion. Similar to an all-you-can-eat buffet for the homeless, a popular contest can also bring with it lots of headache and unintended consequences. One such contest was a “Top Commentator” contest held over at the website of John Cow dot Com. The rules were simple: be the top commentator for the month, and you would win a nice prize. On the surface it sounded great — it would increase participation on the site and almost ensure a flow of repeat visitors. However, the other side of that coin would be the flood of comments from anyone willing to win at almost any cost. Yours truly was swept away by this promotion, and enjoyed a nice 5-10 post lead from the next guy before the contest even started. However, in the spirit of competition, the contest quickly took a turn for the worst, with contenders one and two leaving comments like there was no tomorrow. Although I feel as though my comments were on topic (oh yeah, I’m different than the others, lol), some could have been consolidated in an effort to not flood the site.

So let this be a lesson to all of you webmasters who wish to delve into the world of website promotion: think out your plan all the way through, and be sure to mention any and all applicable rules at the beginning, so as to not cause any confusion later on. I don’t recommend the “Top Commentator” contest, unless it is a way for you to personally recognize someone who does bring good value to your site and your users agree. But for what it’s worth, Mr. Cow has enjoyed a steady rise to the top from his thoughtful ways of promoting. I wish him and everyone else out there the best in your efforts.