For what it is worth, here’s some of the lessons I’ve learned from blogging –

1. If you want your blog to be read, you have to be controversial.  Vanilla posts get regulated to the bottom of the stack very quickly.  If you try and please everyone and write a very nice and cute post about “why can’t we all get along” no one reads it, even fewer comment (even to get 25 points) and it is never shared.  Even if it has great information, if it isn’t edgy or offensive to someone won’t get the readership or Google juice to make it worth writing.  Write something that alienates some and you will start building a following.

2. People like pictures and visuals.  I have gone back and updated the look and feel of some of my first posts and the response rate is 10-1, with the exact same copy, with posts with pictures vs those without.

3. Blogging works.  Every time I put something or someone in my blog, the Google juice is immediate (ok within 45-60 minutes) and so are web traffic and phone calls to both my website and theirs.

4. People like bullet lists.  You can rant in story form and get away with it but information needs to be in bite sized chunks and highlighted.

5. Blogging brings more business than national advertising.  I get 50-1 inquires running the exact same ad in a blog forum as in a national ad to my core audience.  Yes, 50 to 1.  Blogging requires me to be interesting, learn to write, and be consistent.   National ads require me to spend lots of money.  Based on the numbers to get the same level of leads I need to multiply the national ad budget by 50 if I want the same results as my blog.  I’m not saying there is no place for print advertising, just that I don’t recommend picking up stock in newspapers or magazines.

6. Give it away.  There are no secrets.  They are all out there; the only unique thing you bring is insight, personality and perspective (with that said, please don’t steal someone else’s insight, personality and perspective). Quit hording good ideas and share them with the community.  First, it is a good thing to do and second, it will increase your business.  That includes withholding your comment.  If you have something to contribute, contribute, even if it is a word of encouragement.  

Carpe diem,

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I do a lot of networking, so naturally, I hear a LOT of ‘Sound Bites’. Some are great, some are good, some are not so good, and some are simply awful.

What’s really weird is that some of the not-so-good ‘Sound Bites’ could be great, but they are delivered poorly.  Poor delivery can kill a great ‘Sound Bite’ especially if you’re in a long line of folks introducing themselves.

I’ve heard people commit every verbal crime you can imagine against perfectly good ‘Sound Bites’, and then wonder why they aren’t getting a good reaction. (Because sometimes they DO get a reaction - but they don’t like it.)

Here’s a clue: If you mumble, whisper, slur, shorten, rewrite on the fly, or recite it so quickly that it- sounds-like-one-long-word-with-no-inflection-or- point-of-interest, even the greatest ‘Sound Bites’ is going to tank.

And if your ‘Sound Bites’ is the least bit threatening, or frightening (believe me, it happens), you will not get the type of positive response you want. The response you want is “I want that,” not “Oh Heaven help me!”

So when you’re at a meeting, and you are the 47th person to introduce yourself as the host jumps from person to person at the giant networking meeting, SMILE. Speak up. Inject some life, some interest, and some intensity into your ‘Sound Bites’.

Sure, they’ve all heard it before, but today might be the day they hear what they want to hear, so say it like you mean it, for all to hear and remember. And don’t forget to add a little pizzazz to your ‘Sound Bites’, especially if you want to stand out.

Speaking of standing out, last week I was at one of those huge networking events in which the self-introductions were seemingly endless. Of all the 70-some introductions that I heard, only one really stood out.

It’s not often that I am bowled over by an introduction, but that day, I was WOW’d, as was the crowd at that meeting. It happened like this:

One guy stood up to take the mic from the host, and after a brief glance at the floor, he raised his head and looked around the room.

“A duck walks into a bar,” he said, followed by the briefest of pauses, during which a tremendous burst of laughter gurgled up from the crowd.  And the bartender said, “I’m John Gaynor with AFLAC insurance,” he continued…

Now, I am pretty sure he said more here, but I didn’t hear it because the laughter turned into a standing ovation.

The lesson here is tha7 if you really want people to HEAR you, you have to get their attention first. And in the company of a lot of ‘Sound Bites’, you have to do something to make yours stand out.

When I sat down with John one morning soon after that meeting, he told me that he made up that intro on the spot, because he just didn’t want to say the same old thing one more time.  He has a great new ‘Sound Bites’ now, which is “I help working families protect their income,” but I hope he continues to introduce it with his comedic flair, because he certainly got the attention of every person in that room.

Now you don’t have to create a great comedic routine to draw attention to your introduction, but you don’t have to bore yourself (and your listeners) to tears, either.  Have some fun and play with it (just don’t change your message or you’ll confuse folks).  You’ll find you get more attention if you inject a little “you” in your introduction.

Carpe diem,

You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate’s elite delivered to your computer,

To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via email

To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via RSS reader