Bowling Balls, Postcards and How to be a better Networker

Quick question.....

When was the last time you worked on something to improve your business?  This could be adding comments or other websites to increase traffic funnels, honing & tightening the SEO on your blog, creating content, answering emails,ect...ect... Chances are most of you will say something to the effect of an hour ago, yesterday, about to do it in a minute.  

Now another question....

When was the last time you helped someone unconditionally with what they were doing? I'm not talking about you recommending them to buy your latest and greatest product.  I'm not talking about any "if" clauses in your engagement with that someone.

I'm also not talking about tweeting, digging a post, sphinning them up to the top, a random citation on their blog, ect.  All that stuff is nice but it ain't heroic and let's be honest...it doesn't really take a lot of time or conviction on your part. The impression you leave is bigger when the gift you give is born from your own hard work and efforts (ie...gift marketing)

I am talking where you actually go in there and do the dirty work...if they owned a restaurant, you would be the dishwasher.

I imagine that I can hear virtual crickets in cyberspace if I were to ask this to a large group of internet marketers, network marketers, or any kind of marketer.  And yet service is exactly what marketing really is.

The official definition of Marketing from AMA- Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

A few more questions and then I will get on where the heck I am going with this.....

What would you do if you discovered that someone was adding link funnels to your website? I am not just talking about the link love type of stuff where you link to someone on your site.  That's too easy and everyone does that.

What if you put in a day's effort finding and building links for one of their pages?

What if you wrote a series of ezine articles that got them traffic? What if you used one of them snazzy link building tools that you use for yourself when you are building links?

What if you went on a commenting frenzy and commented on 100 other people's blogs with smart carefully thought out comments linked to their site, which brought them an extra 300 visitors?

What if you made a concerted effort to get them ranked for a long tail keyword?

What do you think that their impression of you would be?

Do you think they would definitely appreciate it?

Do you think that they would be more likely to help you in the future?

Do you think that they would go out of their way to help you succeed?

If you want to get someone's attention, you don't send them a postcard...you send them a bowling ball

That was a Dan Kennedy quote that has stuck with me for several years now. And the reason is that when most link build and attempt to use others to do it for them, they send what I consider to be the virtual post card.  Usually this is in the form of a link (which I definitely appreciate, so link freely please)......

The problem with this strategy, barring that the one sending the link isn't well known already (let's face it, a link from Joe Blow's website isn't going to feel as good as a link from A-list superstar), is that everyone does this.

 And if you agreed with me on my article on creating value with scarcity, then you would know that everyone doing the same thing doesn't create value.....

Giving a link/recommending a product/ having a webinar = postcard

Giving several links and getting them ranked, giving them more targeted traffic or improving their site/ ie. moving them closer to their goal = Bowling Ball

The reason why I even mention this

There is a more less than giving reason why I am saying this though.  In my last post, your best back links are right in front of your face, I kind of flippantly stated that while most search out new backlinks (which are typically the lowest form of backlinks, value wise) to drop their name on, they ignore the most important backlinks; the backlinks they already have.

And I posed the what if you could boost the pagerank rating of all the sites that link to you to a PR2, would it be better to have a few stronger backlinks than hundreds..thousands of weak one and done backlinks question.

I know what you are thinking....that would mean massive amounts of content (and work) to create, right?  Not so fast...in my next newsletter, I am going to show you how to take what you have and quickly and effortlessly turn it into 5 times the amount to use for creating backlinks...

Now from a "what's-in-it-for-me" standpoint, I think that it is very clear the benefits of all your links being of the PR2+ variety for you. But I think that the residual benefit can't be understated either.... When you are building up those links linking to you, you are in effect building up the website itself that is linking to you.  You are creating a very big impression on the owner of that site.

In plain as day terms, you are helping the website accomplish what they are hoping to accomplish. You are sending them a bowling ball, not a postcard.

Which brings us full circle.....(read my list of questions at the beginning)

The Power of Reciprocation

In a recent article, Tamar Weinberg asked the question How do you recommend people grab your attention to the usual group of A-listers. And as usual, most of the answers came in the typical Wal-Mart generic responses that you would expect them to answer.

Here are some of the answers.  Tell me if it takes you one step closer to figuring out how to contact a supposed influencer...

• Keep the message short and to the point...
• Know who I am and what my site is about...
• Talk and Write about things that interest me...
• (and so on and so forth....)

Seth Godin was probably the only A-list marketer that said anything that you could actually use.  And his statement just happens to fit in with what I am talking about here....

Marketers should make great products that loyal readers or long-time friends or trusted colleagues choose to tell me about!

People do things for other people for three reasons (generally):

1. They are hoping for something to happen in the future and/or attempting to reach out to that person to further their journey..
2. The content and/or product was just that good  and this compels them to talk about it (doesn't happen as much as it should)..
3. They are reciprocating because the person or product did something that was so remarkable for them that it warranted them to talk about it out of appreciation....

Do you see where I am going with this?

So, let's put this into perspective here for someone who blogs.  If you have a website that has remarkable content, a fairly loyal readership that is radically in your corner, then the chances of your content spreading throughout the internet and building a full head of steam becomes not a question of if it will happen, but when.

But the issue that most struggling internet marketers (and bloggers) have is getting their loyal readership to cite them (after all citations breed citations) on a regular basis to their social circle. And the best way that you can possibly get where you want to be is to help others (and I mean really help) get closer to where they want to be.

And the impact that you create on someone is a matter of how close they feel you are moving them to their goal.

The crux of this is that if you help others, they will not only help you, many will go out of their way to help you.....in other words, reciprocation becomes a done deal.... But the real kicker is that the reason why most don't reciprocate all boils down to the value you are giving...in other words, the choice is yours- Bowling balls or postcards. Which will it be?

Send enough Bowling Balls Out and You Will Create Your Own Army of Promoters

You adsense folks probably can't appreciate this post.  And I am sure that those of you who aren't in the internet marketing/make money online market are probably wondering how this would fit in with your niche.  The answer is that every niche has their own bowling ball as well as the same old same old "postcards" that you can waylay someone with.....

And back to how to attract the attention of an influencer question that Tamar posed to all the A-list group of marketers.....if enough people are talking about you or if you begin encroaching on their corner of the universe, you better believe that you will have not only their attention but also their interest.....

So what's it going to be?

Are you going to Send a Bowling Ball or a Postcard?

Sounds like a no-brainer to me......

(Now go and re-read the questions I posed at the beginning of this rant...)