Summary:
In this episode of the Help Start My Site podcast, we discuss how to deal with negative people who attack you and your business. We also discuss how virtual reality will impact the future of marketing, and how using video can increase conversions.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- How to deal with negative people that attack or bash you.
- How virtual reality will impact the future of marketing.
- How to use videos to increase conversions when promoting products.
- Why brands are now posting more on Facebook than they are on Instagram.
- And finally, some of the top articles I recommend checking out this week!
Links And Resources:
Review of The Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business, Finance, and Life!
9 Email Hacks Guaranteed To Increase Engagement
Here’s A Great Strategic Plan For Overcoming Challenge
11 Steps To Create A Successful Webinar
James McAllister ~ The Blogger, Author, Investor, and Entrepreneur!
How To Make Money Online With A Niche Website
What To Expect From Me This Year – Courses, A Podcast, And More!
Transcript:
Hello everybody and wow, I’m already having a ton of fun podcasting which is why I’m publishing episode 2 here and now alongside episode one. Episode one really only served as a brief introduction to me and the podcast, and I wanted to give you guys a real episode of the show so you’d be able to see what it’s actually like. So without any further ado, here’s episode two.
Today, we’re going to be talking about dealing with negative people, both in your blog and your business life. Later we’re going to dive into some really exciting topics like Google’s new move towards virtual reality, and how it’s going to affect your business in the future. For all of the show notes in today’s episode, visit [this page.]
So: dealing with negative people. As soon you as you begin attracting attention with your business, they are bound to show up. They’ll leave nasty comments on your blog, send you nasty emails, or bash you on social media. Honestly, they have nothing better to do than waste their time trying to put you down.
Sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time. The more successful you get, the more hate filled people you attract. It really is inevitable. You’ve got to wonder, what causes these people to lash out us the way they do? What actually has them so upset? Heck, how did they even find us in the first place?
Honestly, we usually aren’t really sure. Some people are simply jealous. Others seek entertainment by trying to get some sort of reaction after you. In any case, it’s pretty pathetic.
Now, this topic actually came to me because I was heavily bashed this week on one of my friend’s websites, who was kind enough to review my book, “The Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business, Finance, and Life.” The troll hid behind his computer, bashing both me and the book without even reading it, claiming that I have no credentials to be giving any financial advice whatsoever. Now, if he would’ve actually read the book, he would’ve known my story and realized that I’ve been very successful doing what I do, and I am certainly in a position to give out advice.
You know, I welcome criticism with open arms, but I always defend my viewpoint, especially when facts are being criticized. Sure, we can argue about opinions all day long, but I don’t let people get away with telling me that their opinions are more credible than facts. I’m a realistic sort of guy. We debated for a while and it eventually ended when I found out who the person was – a family member of my girlfriend’s.
Here’s where things get interesting. My girlfriend was upset that her own relative would go to such an extensive length to bad-mouth me that she told her mother, who then posted a lengthy Facebook status about how immature it was. I wake up at about noon to over 20 Facebook notifications and a huge full blown argument is going on between the two sides of her family. Apparently I’m a “ignorant little twit who has no idea how life really is.” It’s absolutely hilarious; I’ll post a picture of the conversation in the show notes.
Anyway, it just goes to show you that people really will bash you for no reason. I talked to this guy for like 5 minutes at a family get together over a year ago, and he cared so much about my personal success that he took time out of his day to come out from his cave and attack me. If similar events aren’t already happening to you, they will be soon. But is that really a bad thing?
I don’t really think so to be honest. The truth is, you can’t please everyone in business, nor should you try to. There will be people that disagree with you and your ideas. There will be people that will disagree with you so much, they will go out of their way to make sure you know it. And then there are people who are so jealous of your success that they cannot help but try to put you down. That’s OK.
What’s important is that you focus on appealing to the right person. Cater your business to your ideal customer. Write for your target visitor. You will naturally retain the sort of people you are looking to attract, and the people that aren’t meant to connect with you will leave on their own. This is the way it should be, and the way you’ll find the most amount of success. Because the truth is, if you try to appeal to everybody, you’ll end up appealing to nobody at all.
Unfortunately, this still doesn’t answer the question on how to actually deal with the negative people you come in contact with. The best thing you can do depends completely on the situation. You’ve got to find a good balance between being a pushover and sucking up to your visitor and standing your ground.
Obviously, you don’t want to combat violence with more violence. If somebody shows up on your blog criticizing you or your ideas, it really isn’t a great idea to criticize them back. Do not defend yourself and attack the other person, or you’re no better than them. Instead, criticize the ideas if they differ from yours, and explain to the commenter why they’re wrong. Even if they don’t end up agreeing with you (which they often won’t) it at least proves to the rest of your audience that you actually do believe in your ideas, and are willing to defend them.
At the same time, it’s important not to be too closed-minded, especially if you’re arguing on opinions. Facts are set in stone. You can’t argue against those. Opinions are completely different, and we are all entitled to having our own. I feel that it’s extremely important to acknowledge other people’s opinions, even if they are completely different than yours. Again, instead of yelling at them telling them why they’re opinion is wrong, explain why you disagree.
You want to convey to your audience that you are the one in charge of the conversation without looking like you have some huge ego. Remain professional, because you are after all running a business. Get emotional, sure, but remember why you wrote what you did in the first place.
So again, if you aren’t already receiving hate messages, prepare for it. If you aren’t making SOMEBODY mad, you’re doing something wrong. That’s the way I look at it anyway.
Moving on, let’s look into some interesting news for this week, and see how we can use it to our advantage.
Starting out, Google has begun to allow 360 degree video to be published on YouTube for those with the cameras to support it. This is huge, because virtual reality headsets are coming onto the market this year and they are going to change everything, and boy do I mean everything!
In case you’re not familiar with virtual reality headsets, they are essentially headsets that you can put onto your head that make it seem like you’re really in a different place. They have two screens that cover your entire field of vision, really immersing you within that world. They also fully track your head, so when you look to the left for example, the camera turns to the left within the application. I haven’t actually had the chance to use one of these headsets yet myself, but I know with absolute certainty that they are going to be a huge game changer.
The thing is that virtual reality is going to have a huge effect on every aspect on our lives. When people think virtual reality, they think of video games. The truth is, video games are only one small part of virtual reality’s potential. Could you imagine what you could do if you could instantly appear in any imaginable situation, with such realism that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between what’s real and what isn’t? Because that’s exactly what’s coming.
As marketers, this is going to be huge. Imagine giving a webinar in a virtual classroom where you could literally see your students in front of you, and they could look up at you while talking amongst themselves. This is actually happening. Virtual reality is planned to be used from everything to doctors’ appointments to virtual college courses. As developers are able to create applications for more areas, we as marketers and business owners may just end up working this into our marketing strategy somehow. Honestly, I can see this being just as big as the smartphone was 10 years ago. It’s going to change everything.
In other news, Invodo released a report this week stating that on average, online shoppers are 1.6x more likely to make a purchase for a product after viewing a video of the product in action. This analysis covered more than 100 different industries, which ranged from a 1.2x increase to a 3.3x increase in conversions after viewing a video of the product at hand.
Now, this tells us pretty clearly that if you’re ignoring video in your marketing strategy, you’re making a huge mistake. When promoting a product, are you letting the potential customer actually see it? If not, well, you should be!
Now obviously, this isn’t going to work for intellectual property such as books or video courses. I mean, could you imagine watching a video of some guy reading a book? Oh my goodness… but if you’re working in other industries it’s pretty clear how beneficial showcasing the product can be.
Let’s say for example that you ran a blog promoting guitars. You reviewed various guitars, talking about them, how they play, what styles of music they’re good for, so on and so forth. You place pictures of the guitar on your site and link them to Amazon so you can try to earn your commission. However, nowhere on the page do you have a video where people can actually hear what the guitar sounds like.
Do you think for one moment that people will actually click through to Amazon and buy the guitar then and there without ever hearing it? Heck no. They’re going to hit the back button, look for a review that actually does have a video, and that guy will get the commission.
Think about the average online guitar shopper. If they’re looking to buy a guitar online, than that means the guitar probably isn’t available in a store near them. If it was, they’d go to the store and buy it there, where they could actually play it beforehand. When they’re shopping online, they have to go with the limited information that’s available to them.
Even if you’re not promoting something like a guitar, showcasing the product in a video improves the credibility of your review and makes it more likely the person will decide to buy then and there. In a world where the next website is just a click away, that’s extremely important. Always use video when possible. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be your video, just grab one off of YouTube and embed it on your page. Something is better than nothing after all, right?
Finally, the last piece of news I want to discuss this week involves Instagram. Brands are now posting more on Instagram than they are on Facebook. Are you?
Research firm L2 reports that the 250 brands it tracked posted an average of 9.3 times a week on Instagram, while only posting 8.8 times a week on Facebook. One year earlier, the same brands were posting an average of 11.1 times a week on Facebook and 7.5 times a week on Instagram. That’s pretty clear evidence that there is change happening.
When you think about it, it makes sense. Facebook has made it harder for page owners to get in front of their fans, requiring the owners of their pages to pay to promote their post if they want to get access to their entire audience. And let me tell you, it isn’t exactly cheap either.
Instagram on the other hand will let every one of your followers see every one of your posts. Are you taking advantage of that?
Honestly, Instagram can be a great marketing tool if you’re in a niche that’s well suited to it. Business or finance probably wouldn’t benefit that much from Instagram marketing, but markets like fashion or photography can attract a huge following on the platform incredibly easy. If you watermark your images and advertise your site in the description, you may be able to pull thousands of visitors a day to your site from Instagram alone. That is pretty incredible.
Moving on, I’d like to give a shout out to a few notable articles this week from around the web that I should think you should check out. Again, links to the show notes with all of these links will be available on [this page].
The first article is called “9 Email Hacks Guaranteed To Increase Engagement”, and it’s available on Wishpond.com’s blog. As the title suggests, this article shares a bunch of actionable tips to help improve the engagement with your email subscribers through your emails. I have to admit, some of the advice within this article is pretty brilliant, some of which I have never even thought of myself. By applying the tips, you’re guaranteed to increase the number of click-throughs your emails receive.
Secondly we have an article from Addicted2Success.com called, “Here’s A Great Strategic Plan For Overcoming Challenge.” This article teaches you how to deal with challenges not just in business, but in life as well. Each and every one of us has challenges, but if we are able to deal with them effectively, they become less of an issue. Check this one out!
Third, we have a guest post from my friend Erik Emanuelli on InspireToThrive.com called 11 steps to create a successful webinar. Webinars are difficult for beginners to launch, and this guide will make it easier for you.
Fourth, I wanted to give a shout out to my friend Enstine Muki of EnstineMuki.com who featured me on his website this past week. His article is called “James McAllister, The Blogger, Author, Investor, and Entrepreneur” and is a great read if you want to learn more about me and my story.
Finally, on FEInternational.com, we have “How To Make Money Online With A Niche Website.” In this article, many different experts give their greatest tip for niche website success, and there is a lot of great advice there.
Also, before I forget, if you haven’t already checked out the post on HelpStartMySite.com this week, you may want to do that. In that post I talk a bit about what my future plans for this year, and it’s actually where I introduced this podcast for the first time. It’s a good read, and if you enjoy this podcast you’ll love everything else I’m going to release this year!
That’s all we have time for in today’s episode. Honestly, I’m sure as I get more comfortable behind the microphone the episodes will get longer and longer, but I want to cut this one off early because I’m not one to drag things out. I appreciate you taking the time to tune into today’s show, and I can’t wait to see you at the next one.
Until then, make sure to pay me a visit on my blog, HelpStartMySite.com, and sign up for my free email newsletter if you haven’t already. See you there!
Conclusion:
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Thanks for tuning in, and I hope to see you at the next episode!