Many articles on small business success tell you to “connect with your customers” – and in particular, to write blogs. So you write a bunch, post them on your website, and hear nothing but crickets. Why is that?
I am guessing that it is because you’ve become what I call a “tips doctor.”
This is a term I coined years ago, when a physician who wrote a weight loss book convinced me to subscribe to his email newsletter. Every day, he would send me tips about weight loss. Sprinkle this spice on your food and you’ll lose weight! Eat this snack and you’ll lose weight! Eliminate foods that start with vowels and you’ll lose weight! (OK, I am making some of these up.)
Eventually it struck me that even though I actually followed a lot of these tips, I still didn’t lose any weight. Why? Because most of them pithered back and forth without addressing the real deal: I had to EAT LESS and EXERCISE MORE. So eventually I unsubscribed and bought an exercise bike.
Which leads me back to your blog. The Internet is crawling with advice nowadays. But most of it is tips doctor stuff. It sounds good on paper, but it doesn’t really get the reader anywhere. Try an experiment sometime and see if you agree with me:
- Try searching for blogs on how to start a business, read the first 10 or so, and then tell me if you are any more ready to quit your day job.
- Try learning how to sell products online by reading blogs about it. (I just read one whose incisive advice included things like “use social engagement,” “get more traffic,” and “don’t let bad days get you down.” Oookay.)
- Try improving your mental health by reading blog tips on happiness.
See?
Of course, the high art of this genre involves how to get wealthier. Find articles on “how so-and-so made a million dollars,” even in the largest publications, and I’ll bet most of them really tell you THAT they made a million dollars, not HOW you could have done it yourself.
You don’t realize it, but with the best of intentions, you are probably a tips doctor. You write pleasant articles designed to help people, but when you subtract out (a) obvious advice people know already, (b) luck, and (c) things that most people can’t or won’t apply, you are often left with a pile of sawdust.
So how do you get out of this trap? It’s easy. Go big or go home. Write high-content blogs that are all meat. Teach people things they never knew before, that change their lives. Leave it all on the field. And then watch people start to spread your word and seek you out.
A good place to start is with many of the contributors to *this* blog. They are successful because they “get” high content. Follow their lead, and you will too.
Good luck!
