This post title is a little extreme but there’s a good reason for that. I’ve just finished reading 279 days to overnight success by Chris Guillebeau. His six steps to world domination are actually a part of an earlier manifesto document but I think they are key and worth bringing to your attention here.
- Create a compelling story and be remarkable. There’s so much content and news and blogs and tweets to read and keep track of every day (every hour, every minute) that if a story is not compelling and remarkable then you probably won’t plan to come back to it. If it is then the writer is moving towards getting noticed online.
- Clearly answer the “reason why”. Why should I read this? Why is this person an expert? Why should I care what they have to say? Why should I come back to this site? These questions and others like them will be in your readers’ minds and you should make an effort to answer them.
- Prioritise marketing and writing over everything else. Obviously writing good content is important for your audience (see item 1 above) and in a way your writing has to fit in with your marketing. Think about how you are marketing your company/site and if you’re not sure they you probably aren’t doing it very well. Marketing should be a priority for any company.
- Be bigger than you really are. The great thing about the web is that it does allow one to project a certain image. What image do you project online? Whether you’re aware of it or not you are projecting a certain image through your website. Ensure that the image is bigger than you. Good design definitely helps in this respect. Professional advice in this area can help you to ensure you project the best image and get noticed online.
- Build long-lasting relationships. Doing business with people is often largely about your relationship with them. Corporate CRM database applications were built because enterprises know that even if they have several million customers the still have to keep building relationships with them. Have a system to help you build relationships and don’t just pretend to care.
- Carefully introduce products and services. This may not be relevant to all businesses but switching from being a purely information site to selling products or services can scare off your audience. Prepare them for it, give them the reason why (see 2 above) and stick to your core area of competence.
There’s a lot more to it and I suggest you read the full PDF document to learn from Chris’ experience over the past year.