Once again, my chicken scratches from Blogworld…
Rohit Bhargava, Timothy Ferriss (4 Hour Work Week), Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park)
Q. Linkin Park – how named?
A. Not a park in Chicago. Changed spelling to get URL. Knew it was important to have a home on the Internet.
Q. How were bloggers helpful in the success of book (4 hr workweek)?
A. Knew he had limited set of options as a first time author. Bet on bloggers. Pays more to be interested than interesting. Didn’t pitch bloggers, just got drunk w/them. If you’re vulnerable and open about shortcomings people are more open to help you. Not a trick or method, just good idea. Never actively asked for a review by bloggers. Did offer to do q & a or guest posts.
Q. How important is it NOT to be an asshole (b/c you could be one?)
A. Mike: Bigger assholes get more press, but he doesn’t believe any press is good press. You need to build your brand in a real way. Put up what you think is authentic and interesting. If the fan comes and experiences a consistent feeling for what you promised you’ll be building community.
Ferris: You don’t want to be the best in your category, you want to create a new category. What are you associated with. Ferris didn’t want to be compared to time management authors, so created “lifestyle design.”
Don’t be an asshole b/c you meet the same people on the way down as you met on the way up. Being nice to unimportant people can be incredibly important.
Nice doesn’t = passive. You can be cordial but direct.
Q. Karmic Marketing – things come back to you.
A. Ferris: Who reads your blog is often more important than how many. There’s income from you blog $, but then there’s non-$ income from a blog, i.e., relationships, experiences, etc. Didn’t trademark “lifestyle design.” Wanted to build a movement.
Shinoda: The fan is not below you. By engaging mashup and crowdsourcing you can get some thing better. You have to have a certain humility to appreciate that.
Q. What kind of tracking do you do?
Ferris: Total anaylitic whore. GA, CrazyEgg, etc. Use all the tools, but not all # are created equal. Bounce rate, top referrers, time on site, page views are the ones he looks at most often. Fine line between asshole and being direct. If you deliver your honest opinion…you should talk to your readers like you talk to your friends after a couple of drinks. Tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. Can’t try to avoid offending everyone. Being an asshole leads to transient, angry audience w/no loyalty.
Shinoda: Be comfortable with what you’re doing every step of the way.
Books to read:
- Category 1 – Joe Callaway?
- 22 immutable laws of branding
- Blue Ocean Strategy
Drug Dealing for Fun and Profit—original title for 4 hour work week.
Google ad words, tested title. Found best combination of words for title. Tested artwok on covers as well.
What matters is not how many people don’t get it…only how many that do. Write what you are passionate about, not what you think the readers want to read. Write about who you are, real important things to you…not your readers.
Ferris doesn’t write in a vacuum. He writes from the heart but gets feedback from community.
Shinoda: change your band name to whatever.com. You need the .com.
What is the ONE Thing…(Tim)—look at the 80/20 analysis. Find 20% of activities and people…stress causers…eliminate as much static as possible. Practice asking for what you want and telling people. Build up comfort level. Tell people what you don’t like. Get used to that feeling.
Ferris: social media is #1 way to engage people globally. Archimedes lever for doing whatever he wants.
