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This reminds me of the Shock and Awe campaign of the second Gulf War. Did that actually succeed or fail? I am not really sure. But anyway, it does truly shock me at how quickly we could transform a whole country with a few high-powered explosives. In the marketing world, that shock and awe would be a keynote speech by Steve Jobs of Apple.

Apple seems to have the ability to keep the lid on upcoming projects so well that when projects are launched, people are blown away by what is unveiled (pardon the pun).

But is it sustainable to keep shocking the same audience over and over again? Or do they come to expect it and grow numb to the antics.

Ultimately, I think that being original and interesting is far better. Yesterday, I wrote a post about something that I discombobulated with. Discombobulated is a word I always look forward to using in a sentence. That post was probably a lot more interesting to read than the normal mumble jumble I usually publish.

Could it be that I have been going against my own advice and writing to the middle ground, the boring area? Did I start writing to the middle where the majority is, and not to the fridge that I so often recommend? Why on earth would I do THIS!? Mediocrity is to blame. It took over, and the blog became dull. Maybe it was never exciting to begin with. AHA! Insert theme music from 2001 Space Odyssey here.

So with that in mind. I will try my best not to run a shock and awe campaign but to write the way I would for myself. I hope you all can be entertained and learn something at the same time. Because marketing should be fun, where else can you tell a story and get paid this well?

A large percentage of new bloggers want to make it big, to have a blog that tons of people visit and money pouring in. The truth is this rarely happens, and if your goal is to make money online, getting tons of people to your site is the wrong way to go about it.

I will probably get booed off the blogosphere for stating the obvious and so many people are ready to defend social media successes, but rarely do any of those defending it actually make money from the traffic that sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon deliver.

I won’t lie to you and say that if you make the front page of Digg you won’t get a ton of traffic, because you will. But did you know that most of Digg’s front page stories are generated by just a handful of people? The rest of the stories are generated by everyone else who is using the site. (Grip time) The traffic from these sites rarely comment, subscribe, buy, share or hang around.

When I first started blogging I used to think that social traffic was the end all and be all of blogging and that having good stats was better than anything. But if your goal is to make money, go where the money is and where you need to go in order to get paid. Provide for or target the people who are looking for a solution to their problems. Digg users aren’t looking for something in particular, they are looking for something random or weird that they can entertain themselves with for a few minutes while they kill time at work. They aren’t going to sign up for an affiliate program or buy a book. They are simply wasting time and floating from one thing to the next.

Making money online more often than not requires you to do and talk about the things that social traffic sites shy away from. This would be the niche blog or abstract art dealer site. By catering to the people who are looking for specific things like a service or collectibles you will find there is money to be made.

Before you persecute me saying you can convert that massive social media traffic, I will admit that many people can convert that traffic and have perfected the monetization of mass traffic flow. In the end, for me, if comes down to the amount of time spent achieving that goal and if that can sustain itself. If you stop for one week pressing, shouting, friending, digging, stumbling and so on, your business will wither. But if you set up a site that generates nice and consistent traffic and money you now have a business model. Don’t forget that a lead in the hand is worth more than a thousand fly by.

*For the record I have obtained mass traffic including having a number of posts hit the Buzz page on StumbleUpon, netting upwards of 35,000 page views per article. So it is possible, but simply unsustainable in the long run.

*Inspired by Vic and Grizz

This is where the person has something they are passionate about and just loves sharing that subject with others. People can easily in time become an authority on that subject and generate a huge following.

Blogging for opportunity

This is when a blogger is using his or her blog as a tool for a different means such as name recognition or networking. You might be using your blog as a leveraging device to help you meet your goals either in business, personal or finance.

Blogging for money

There is no shortage of MMO (make money online) blogs and more are created every day. These are the people who want to sell ad space, a product, service or even the blog. Blogging for profit has become a pretty big business and the short cut to that would be to throw money at it and save time, such as buying an existing blog. This also falls under the paid to blog area.

Blogging for branding

This is a way of quality control on information that you or your business release. This is also how to interact with your customers in a direct fashion, giving people the inside scoop on new products or services.

Why do you blog? What is your goal for blogging?

Over the last month give or take I have been running a test for this blog to determine what kind of traffic and visitors I would receive if I put the least amount of effort into running my blog.

I did 11 posts over the past 30 days, just about averaging 1 post every 3 days for the non-math majors. Along with minimal posts, I quit buying Entrecard ads or promoting in any other way. I noticed a little down tick in traffic and comments as fewer posts are appearing but has been pretty consistent since, with about 330 unique visits per day and 600ish page views.

If you notice that little up tick towards the end of the chart, that was a result of my last post with the help of a Wordpress plugin called Auto Social Poster (not an affiliate link). What you can do is have you post submitted to various different bookmarking sites at the time of posting. The plugin isn’t free, but I would highly recommend it if you are running a Wordpress Blog.

I found that instead of posting and promoting, I can focus more on posting and know that promotion is being done. I will now run another experiment here to determine whether posting daily versus every three days with the aid of ASP will result in more traffic. I will continue to not buy any ads on Entrecard in order to preserve the experiment. Instead, I will be giving away all of the credits I accumulate to this month’s the top commenter (horse race can be viewed to the right the side bar —-> ).

On one more note, I have begun to use a mailing list. The purpose of the list is to provide only marketing ideas and marketing strategies to subscribers. I will not spam you or try to sell you anything. It is simply for the people serious in receiving free marketing ideas and using them anyway you see fit. To subscribe, fill in your email to the right sidebar and hit submit.

I got a comment recently from Jacqueline who mentioned that she had no problem marketing other people’s products and services but lacked in marketing her own. Since I am actually planning on talking about this subject with local business owners, I figured I might as well start practicing here.

Personal or business blog.

Blogs are a huge tool in marketing you or your product. People are waking up to this fact every day. The last I heard, and I am sure it’s higher now, 175,000 new blogs are started every day. That is a huge number, but when compared to the 2-3 billion people using the Internet, it is a drop in the bucket.

A blog is a tool as much as it is a platform for you to share with others. The best part about a blog is the way you can share your thoughts, experiences, business ideas and products. 10 years ago when you had a product idea you would send out questionnaires or fliers to ask what people’s needs were and what they wanted in a product. Now you can pretty much Google whatever you are looking for and find a forum, message board, Yahoo answers or videos talking about your subject. In a matter of a few minutes you can get a good pulse of what people’s needs and wants are. With a blog, you could add a poll or ask for responses to get your answer.

Just like the winner always writes the history books, so does a blogger. You can present yourself however you want, including being completely anonymous. I would highly recommend being a real person that others can relate to as the preferred method of communicating. You can always paint the picture however you want when it comes to you or your business, but down the road someone might call you out on it if you are not truthful.

A place to connect to others.
One of the best ways to market your product is to generate leads and sales without having to pay for advertising. This is done a lot easier online and especially in the blogosphere. Frequently, I offer to give back to my readers because I appreciate when they link to my blog and tell others about me without being asked. This is why I will in return post links, give free things away, subscribe to others RSS, answer question or anything else I can make time for (I wish I could do more).

There is a big sense of reciprocity online and among fellow bloggers that says, “I will scratch your back if you scratch mine.” This is of course equal to the amount of time and effort you put into your online persona. All of this connectivity and networking comes to play when you develop a product or idea you would like to share (sell) with others.

Steve Pavlina’s blog was the first blog I ever read. I learned a lot from his blog on personal development that eventually lead me to quit my job and start my own business. Recently, he wrote a book and it is set to release next month. He offered to give everyone a free copy of his new book a month ahead of time in return for a review. Steve is not asking people to sugar coat the book but to be truthful and honest in their assessments. You can even include your own Amazon affiliate link, possibly profiting from a free book that very few people have read. I signed up and am waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail. I volunteered to review his book because I believe it will have some great content that I can share with others. I will also gladly post the review here, because I have received a lot of value from his posts and feel it is the least I can do. Talk about a great marketing idea. Steve is probably going to spend $0 on marketing simply because he connected with his audience and added value to their lives.

Establish trust.

As you begin and maintain your relationship online and off line, you build a level of trust that is in essence like a line of credit. Your patrons and visitors subconsciously extend you a line of personal credit on the assumption you will continue doing what you have established. Everything we do as a friend, employee, consumer, producer and individual is based on assumptions, (thank you Bill for the explanation).

We all make assumptions that a product will be on time, that we can get gas at the gas station, that when a friend tells us something we can count on it. Assumptions are what lead and build up trust. Sometimes we assume too much and we learn the hard way or visa versa. As you build your trust and network, people will assume that you will do what you say and say what you do (that is if you are doing it right). When I place an ad on my site for a product or share with you a new service I launch, I assume you have enough trust in me to at least check that product out. You on the other hand assume that I won’t screw you by presenting a product as something it is not.

Like jugglers on a tightrope, things can go wrong in a hurry with trust and assumptions. The key is to be open and truthful. In the end, that will carry you through even when you make mistakes. The one think I have learned the most about working online is when a mistake is made it is far, FAR, better to admit fault and make amends than to try and lie or sugar coat something (everyone makes mistakes, we are all human). When it is all said and done, things are quickly forgotten when addressed properly.

Instill confidence.

You are on the mission to instill confidence in yourself and others. When the proper level of confidence is reached, you have opened a door to reap what you sow. It is not to be said that at that point it is ok to take advantage of people, but you can successfully sell services and products under the assumption you are doing it openly. There is no set rule of where that line of confidence is, only that there is a point where enough exchange has gone on to prove yourself to others.

The best comparison I know would be the business of White’s Boots. For years this company has stood behind their product 110%. At anytime you can go in and get your boot resoled for practically no cost and know it will last another 5-10 years. I know some retired people that have had the same boots since they were in their teens. You know what? I can promise you that they have told their friends and family about their love for those boots and the service that stands behind them.

Be their solution.

Because of the nature of a blog, people are able to open the doors of communication like never before. You can Google blogs by CEO’s and see that many of the heads of huge international companies are taking up blogging. If you come across one of those blogs and feel like sharing your thoughts about a product or service, you can. You don’t have to contend with any security guards or annoying secretary (not that all are annoying). You could go to the comment section and leave your thoughts knowing that someone important will probably read it.

If that important person is you, what a great opportunity to allow the rivers of word of mouth marketing to flow. Let’s say my confidence in a product was shaken. If I shared my disappointment with the CEO of that company, and in turn the CEO offered to remedy that experience, I would probably use that product for life knowing that they really did care about me. After all, the end user is the bottom line in business.

I hope that this gave a loose sense of ways to market yourself online. There is no cut and clear path to determine what successful online marketing is, it depends on what you want. All said and done, blogging is a great way to market yourself personally and a great tool to give, share and better those you would like to work for.