The question comes up a lot: “If you were starting over with this project, what would you do differently?”
In my case, I probably wouldn’t put the domain on chrisguillebeau.com. If you have chrisg.com, that works—but Chris Garrett got to that one first, and for some reason, a lot of people have a hard time with Guillebeau. Oh well.
I would try to have a better understanding of my readers from the beginning, instead of waiting 6-12 months to figure it out. And I would have an agenda and a clear message of what kind of change I was trying to create.
But the more important question is self-reflective: how can you start something?
My advice is to find a few leaders you respect, go back to the very beginning of their project and see what they did as they grew. This is easy to do with blogs and online platforms, even if you don’t care about being a blogger yourself. You will almost always see an evolution as they figure things out and gain their footing. With that in mind, here’s what I’d do if I were starting today.
I would pay $10 for a domain, get a cheap hosting account, and use WordPress for my blog.
I would post on a regular schedule, even if the schedule was only once a week—in other words, I would prefer consistent attempts at creativity to sporadic bouts of genius.
Every day I would ask questions of those around me and try to be helpful.
I would follow back everyone who follows me on Twitter, unless they gave me a reason not to.
I would start a Facebook Page early on and make a big push for it. (Personally I like Twitter better, but I find Facebook “fans” to be more active than the average Twitter user.) However, you also want to be careful –a page with 10 fans doesn’t look so good.
Unless the project was in a tech-heavy industry, I would focus on email instead of RSS, since most regular people have no idea how RSS works, and even the people who use RSS often get behind on reading their feeds. Therefore, I would develop some kind of content that is only sent to my email list, and gently encourage readers to join the email list.
I would then set a goal: every day I want x new readers on the list. I would ignore most other metrics in pursuit of that goal. (According to this theory, traffic that comes and goes is much less important than subscribers who join and stay.)
I would think about monetization (i.e., getting paid) from the beginning. It’s OK to evolve carefully and organically, but you want to have some idea of how you’ll actually make money if that is part of the goal. The best time to introduce paid products or services is after you’ve gained some initial influence but before the project is widely known. Do it too early and you won’t make any money because no one cares. Do it too late and the transition may be awkward, because the community isn’t expecting it.
Mistakes are normal and expected, so I wouldn’t worry about never making them; I would just try not to make the same mistake over and over. In fact, I would tell my community about the mistakes whenever possible, because they like to know what doesn’t work as much as what does work.
I would pursue a lot of different ideas, leveraging the ones that worked and moving on from the ones that didn’t. (Trying to improve your weaknesses instead of capitalizing on strengths is usually a losing battle.)
But mostly, I would focus almost exclusively on two things:
1) Creating something worth talking about
2) Getting the word out to more people
As explained here, some people are good at the craft but not good at the talk. While that may be preferable to the other way around (being good at talking but not about work), it’s better to do both. “Building relationships” is in danger of joining “be authentic” in the category of overused social media advice—but if you can really build relationships and focus on how you are actually helping people, that’s how your project will become successful.
So every day, I would focus on exactly that—creating something worth talking about, and then trying to get the word out wherever I could. Everything else is irrelevant, or at least subservient to those two strategies.
If you do that every day, then every day the work will get better and you’ll get better at promoting it. And sooner or later, momentum will kick in and you’ll be along for the ride with everyone else.
What if it’s “too late?”
One more note: on book tour I’ve been hearing from a lot of people with ideas for projects. They often wonder: Am I too late? I wish I had done this earlier. Someone else is already doing something similar.
Well, I wish I had started earlier too. I thought the marketplace was saturated and I had no idea if what I wanted to do was actually unique. But despite the uncertainty, I’m glad I finally managed to take a leap. These things have a funny way of growing once you move from thinking to action.
So now the question is… when are you starting? Because it’s not too late.
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Image: LonelyRadio
November 5, 2010
Kimmoy
Hey Chris,
I asked you about personal branding when you were here in DC on tour and I asked that because I felt stuck. I found myself being stuck into a niche that was too limiting and it didn’t feel authentic anymore. I didn’t really think about my agenda and was just following tactics I couldn’t keep up with (i.e. posting daily, being on social sites for hours on end, etc.)
Now I’m ready to start over and go forward with an agenda along with worthwhile content to support that. I hope to get started this weekend!
November 5, 2010
matt gordon
i agree with your content based starting over protocol. i have just started a blog about food and information. the aim is to help people expand their horizon but also for them to become creative themselves.
i want to attract the most loyal following and dont really give a damn if people dont like me. it is an arrogant attitude, but i know it is the best for my psychological well being
November 5, 2010
Anne
Thanks Chris for your very timely and sound post. I am looking to revitalise my blog and establish a routine for social networking and I found your enlightened post to be just the thing to get me going and stop procrastinating.
November 5, 2010
Christine McDougall
Chris this is a great post…thanks for your very thoughtful open and considered sharing…
Mostly thanks for your continued generosity of heart.
Looking forward to meeting you when you finally make it to Oz.
warmly,Christine
November 5, 2010
Ande Waggener
The most powerful message you share, I think, is that it doesn’t matter if the market is saturated. I’ve been allowed myself to stall in the past because I thought others had beat me to it and were doing it so well there wasn’t room for me. Then I started paying attention to industries like music and athletes and books (the biggie for me, becuase I’m an author), and I see that however glutted the market is, there’s always room for one more. Because if we are true to our authenticity, OUR version of the old theme will be new. Even though I know this, I like hearing it over and over, and you always say it with just the right hint of challenge that lands like a nice, firm kick in the butt.
Thanks!
November 5, 2010
Masa
Chris, I learnt how to spell your name by looking at the domain name of the AONC site every time I visit here. This domain name even helped me go even further and I ended up becoming very good at spotting the name “Chris Guillebeau” in written materials.
OK, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but the domain name did help me become familiar with your name for sure. I don’t think it wouldn’t have worked so well if you used “chrisg” instead of “chrisguillebeau”, because there are a number of people whose name could be written as “Chris G”.
November 6, 2010
Dwayne Thompson
Thank you for this post. I am new internet marketer by way of plenty mistakes from which I learned. I am passionate about internet marketing therefore there are never failures, just lesson learned. I will take your plan of action to heart. I think it will prove a value exercise. I am not a blogger that part will be challenging. Thanks again
November 6, 2010
RalfLippold
Keeping in constant conversation and dialog
with potential customers, friends, even enemies,
to find out about their assumptions, emotions,
wishes, problems and how this connects with
the passionate vision you have in mind.
November 6, 2010
Steven
Great tips for some of us small fries Chris.
I’m glad to know that I am already following some of these already. I try to post 2-3 posts a week, even if they aren’t “genius” or “top notch” quality. I figure that they will always improve over time.
I’ve also recently kept track of more metrics, like average time on site, and how many newsletter subscribers I get a day.
I completely agree that it is never too late. Those who say that are just excuse-makers.
November 7, 2010
Stephanie
Thanks for sharing those valuable lessons, Chris! I especially like your goal of following everyone who follows you on Twitter. I know I was particularly stoked to see you following me shortly after I’d started following you- I was inspired to start Tweeting more afterward. Many thanks to you!
November 8, 2010
Dante Willerton
Getting things right from the word go is probably one of the most paralyzing things for most people so it’s nice to see you pen your own little how to list. Many people who possess the perfectionist gene will sit back and over-analyze every aspect of their new project to the point that the project never actually gets off the ground. Then it may not be too late, but the desire to move the project forward has certainly died. Focusing on the few crucial steps to getting out there such as the ones you mentioned seems like a good way to at least ensure a project is given a real opportunity to get off the runway.
November 8, 2010
Peter Paluska
Always a pleasure.I enjoyed the candid nature of the post, and the extremely practical nature of the “advice” therein. I agree that consistency is king, holding to a regular blogging schedule, and keeping the message all-of-a-piece as much as possible.
Getting started is hard enough, but starting over, at least “re-assessing” your projects on a regular basis is maybe just as valuable in sustaining your online publishing pursuits.
Thanks again!
November 15, 2010
boaz
Wow, thanks. For me this has been one of your best posts – many points that feel very useful and to the point. Some of them really made me go ‘wow’ and inspired me to write down some ideas of my own.
Being at a time when I’m trying to define my business and build my website, this feels really valueable. And I already wonder what it would look like if you did another post like this in another 5 years…
November 18, 2010
Gonzalo
They often wonder: Am I too late? I wish I had done this earlier. Someone else is already doing something similar. — My biggest resistence, man if i did this a year ago i would be ahead”‘ key and helpful blog for me as I push forward, thanks for the push & assurance to let it fly