Traffic doesn’t matter. People matter.

by NotAProBlog.

Traffic is what most folks go after when they go online. This seems to be true of businesses as well as individuals. What they miss is that traffic comes second. People should come first.

The short path to success is focusing efforts to build people to people relationships. Invest in your cyber neighbors. Help them be successful. Dividends will pay almost immediately.

Namecheap, my favorite domain name service, is hosting another Twitter contest.

Want a free domain name? NameCheap is having a holiday domain name extravaganza – our second – and you are invited to participate. The object is simple Simply follow us on Twitter and participate in our trivia game. We’ll ask a new question on the hour every hour. Eight winners will be chosen for every question. That’s right, we’re giving away 8 domain names every hour.

But it doesn’t stop there. We’re giving away prizes to the individuals who answer the most questions over the course of the competition. Five winners will win the brand new Barnes & Noble nook† which will allow you to access over 1 million book titles in digital format in the palm of your hand. The nook allows you to store as many as 1,500 ebooks on its 2 GB of internal storage.

Last time Namecheep tweeted questions and gathered up the replies. You have to be quick though; there were many folks following this.

Namecheap provides the full guidelines to the contest. It’s fairly simple to play and the prizes are great. You can take the first step by following @namecheap on Twitter.

     Whispers make the world go round, not just shouting.  Why? It’s because a whisper is personal and direct. Communication on that level really works.

Often this is lost in the online world. Everyone is shouting these days.  We’ve gone into broadcast mode more than even communicating directly to an audience of listeners.  It’s like trying to use a shotgun to hit a bullseye. Oh you might get it, but not with the full force of what you want to say.

How can we improve? What’s the best way to focus our effort?  Start whispering!

Whispering online is about communicating with your network.  Whispers can be direct, such as direct messages in Twitter, or small audience, such as posting a pertinent picture to a Flickr group.

Another great way is via your blog and your friends’ blogs.  Focusing your posts to talk to with a smaller group often results in a more conversational opportunity and more dedicated listeners.  Also, commenting on your friends and associates blogs is a great attention getter.

Enthusiasm is important as well.  It’s not enough to tell folks there’s gold in them there hills, but you have to say it like you mean it.

What can you do today?  Get your passion out and exercise it.  I’d like to help you spread your idea, your blog post, your cause.

Drop me a line.  Leave me a comment here about what you want to share about yourself or your work, and let me join your whisper network.  Too shy to post here?  Drop me a DM on Twitter, or call me(636-486-4723) and tell me how I can promote you.  It’ll be fun and interesting for us both.

You’ve just written a world saving blog post or book or both. It’s got to reach the world in short order. How are you going to convince your friends to talk about it to their connections and networks? Is bribery the answer? Offer them some participation prizes? We know that only provides temporary buzz.

It’s war out there. People in your network of friends and business associates are under a constant barrage of information. They’ve seen dozens of blog posts, new books, and freshly launched businesses. Chances are they are weary of it all. What’s a person to do?

Contacts need to become comrades in arms. Their energy and focus on your needs to be such that’d they are willing to help you put the war paint on. When that happens, they’ll be talking up you, your work and more without any prompting.

War paint? Yep. What I found out when working to get to SOBCon08 was more was accomplished by getting folks along side than pushing them to push others. Oh, I did my share of that, but what really worked was bringing my contacts to fight along side for me.

How to get them there is really the question? It’s partially about having something great to say, but it’s equally about sharing your story and making them a part of it.

What really sells people, especially folks like me, is getting involved in the story. What gets me talking about Apple and their products? Oh, good products for sure, but there are lots of good to great products out there. For me it’s the story. I can tell about my Mac conversion; I can talk about how excited Apple is about the users; I can’t help myself.

With my contacts, it’s hard not to share their stories when they share them with me and invite me to be involved. That’s crucial. You can’t just have a story to tell, but it’s got to be one that folks can join in on.

Cancer survivor stories might move us, but how much more moving when told by someone that you know, or someone that asks you to come along side, and lets you know how much it’s appreciated. A story where you get to be part of it.

If you’re paying attention, you’ll realize it’s not really about the book, or the blog post so much. It’s about who you are and how your contacts are part of that. The more involved you can help them to be, the more they are going to want to share on their own.

Honesty and transparency are key. If you’re going to ask folks to get involved, and give you their trust, get them to be part of and share our story, then be up front with them. Ask for their help, tell them the truth, and share the joy of your success.

Do you have cohorts willing to help you put the war paint on and face the world? Are you working on building those types of relationships? Waiting for your best seller to happen? How about getting your support team together while you wait. They are vital to your success.

Want to come along side me? Your support and encouragement is always welcome. Want me along side for you? Tell me your story and get me on board. We’ll go face the world together.