Why Every “Twitter Tips” Article You’ve Ever Read is Essentially Worthless (or Worse)

There is a time for basic information. Everyone needs to know what an RSS feed is, how commenting works on blogs, that guest posting is sometimes a viable strategy for gaining visitors and that WordPress is probably your best choice of content management system. You should also know when Twitter is important and that you can use a Facebook page to spread your message.

Unfortunately, that information alone is essentially worthless (or worse) when it comes to actually building an audience. It is what I like to call just part of the cost of admission.

Knowing all the basics and $2.25 will buy you cup of coffee but not much more.

Great writing and great content are also just the cost of admission. There are millions of blogs and websites out there. You are likely competing for readers and customers (whether you like it or admit it or not) with hundreds or thousands of other sites. You need outstanding content to stand out.

And that’s where the typical basic information fails you. All the generic social media and blogging information in the world won’t help you achieve what you’re hoping to. Knowing Google Analytics inside and out won’t do a damn thing to actually build your audience.

If you subscribe to typical strategies, you’ll end up with typical results, and typical means failure online.

When I resolved to write epic shit, I immediately knew the most important thing I had to do. Writing epic shit to me means helping you build a real, thriving audience that can become the foundation of a successful business or important project. Producing epic stuff means saying what matters, giving you the information that can change your business and your life and doing everything I can to make sure I’m crystal clear about it.

How to Actually Build a Popular Site

The information you need to hear to really build traffic to your site, to build a group of raving fans who will support you and tell everyone they know about you, that information has nothing to do with Google Analytics or WordPress or RSS or any of the rest of the basics. The basics won’t lead to the results you need.

You need to hear that writing epic shit is how you really succeed. You need to hear that differentiation is the cornerstone of successful marketing. You need to know that being persistent is more important than being clever.

You need to hear that your site is probably not worth most people’s time in its current form, and THAT is why you don’t have enough visitors. It’s not because you didn’t tweet enough last week, sorry.

This is my commitment to you: this site is where you will hear the sometimes painful but absolutely essential information you need to know to build a real, thriving audience of true fans.

You won’t read about the same generic social media tips here because those are already being written about on 10,000+ other sites. Traffic-building advice is a dime a dozen. Useful, unique, effective audience-building advice is rare. That’s what we’re aiming for here.

If you need the basics or want to read the latest social media industry gossip, start with those other sites (here are some of the most popular: ProBlogger, Social Media Examiner, TopRank Blog and Brian Solis). It’s cool, I started there too. Most successful people I know started there also, before realizing they needed to learn much more powerful strategies to succeed outside of the social media industry.

You should learn everything you need to know from those sites in a month or less. Don’t get stuck there though; learn the essentials and move on. In fact, if you spend too much time there, it will hurt your chances of succeeding because you’ll be distracted from doing what really matters.

Then, when you’re ready to embark on the real journey, the process of learning to create things that actually impact people and learning to recruit an army of followers who want you to succeed almost more than even you do, come back here and I’ll set you straight.

There’s just one thing I have to ask of you to make this work. There is a reason so many sites publish the same generic information. Humans are naturally inclined to look for quick fixes and silver bullets. Writing about the same basic (but low-value) information works because you can write headlines like “how Twitter will build your business overnight.” We all know that isn’t possible, but the mere hope that a quick fix like that actually exists compels people to share those empty promises like crazy.

The false promise of those sites is that what they’ve done to grow their audiences will also work to grow yours. Those sites have giant audiences because either they were started years ago when writing mediocre content five days a week was good enough to attract tons of visitors or because they write about the social media industry itself, neither of which is useful to you.

I could grow my audience faster by teaching that generic stuff and constantly writing about social media, but it definitely wouldn’t help grow your audience faster. And only when I really help you will we both accomplish our goals.

The knowledge we’re talking about here takes a little more thought (and a whole lot more hard work) to put to use, but the upside is huge. I want to teach you what it takes to build a real business or even a top 10,000 site, not just a hobby or passing fad.

This is where you come in. I promise to only give you straight talk about what will actually help you build your audience, but in exchange I need your help spreading the word about what we’re doing here. Yes, I’ll write catchy headlines and promote what we publish, but the kind of stuff we’re discussing here doesn’t spread like wildfire as much as the typical “Twitter Tips” garbage.

This isn’t for everybody, and if you’re not ready to join us, that’s fine. If you are in, you can help by doing any or all of the following:

1. Share this post with a friend (click the Twitter or Facebook buttons below)
2. Subscribe for free updates (email or RSS, your choice)

Finally, leave a comment on this post below and tell me what you think. This is the start of something new. Here is your chance to join.