Internet Marketing

The Terrifying Prospect of Pitching

Despite coding Roster Brain in language I hadn’t used extensively, on a platform I hadn’t used before, with a database larger than I’ve ever managed, and more dynamic features than I’ve ever put into a site, I was most concerned with the marketing aspects of the project.

I figure the sports fan who would appreciate Roster Brain spends their internet time on message boards and reading sports blogs/news. To get in front of these audiences, it means I either need to post on a bunch of forums or get featured on sports blogs somehow. Since spamming forums that I don’t regularly participate in is not likely to go well, it means I really need to pitch to sports bloggers.

The trouble is that any kind of direct marketing seems intrusive and I don’t like to be the guy filling up email boxes with unwanted messages. Admit it – when you get an email that’s obviously just trying to get you to do something, you delete it immediately and develop a negative impression of the brand.

Because of this, I’ve defined some rules to keep my cold messages from annoying people:

Messages are either very brief or customized
Messages are not pushy
Messages are only sent to website owners with posted contact information

Either the person is interested or they’re not. Since there are about a million sports blogs, I don’t really have to worry about contacting bloggers several times and agitating anyone. I am keeping a list of bloggers I contact so that I don’t accidentally hit anyone with the same message multiple times…this also lets me follow up later with any leads that seem promising, but didn’t materialize.

Fighting pitch anxiety

I’ve always been easily immobilized by anxiety and sending out the first few of these pitch emails was certainly subject to anxiety. I intended to send them out the day after launching, but it took me a week and half to work up to it. I was fighting the same nerves and uncertainty I had when launching, but managed to finally work through it. After all, who cares if a no-name blogger doesn’t like my website?

The rush of success

So I only sent out about 10 emails yesterday and did not receive a single reply. However, I did see on the analytics that a couple of people checked out the link I sent, which is a good sign. An even better sign though, MLB Trade Rumors, a blog I contacted, included a link to Roster Brain on a weekly Bloggers Weigh In post.

I got so excited to see some new traffic flowing in from that link, that it completely invalidates any anxiety I had about sending out the emails in the first place. I guess that’s the rush of success that propels salesmen forward. Sure this is only a small victory in a marathon of promotion, but it’s a huge first step and definitely gives me some marketing momentum moving forward.

My Side Business and Massive Action August

Until now, I’ve been pretty quiet about what type of business I’m actually working on. Partly because it’s a tiered model of attack (and therefore can sound quite lame if I explain it wrong), but also because I’ve been too busy to really draw it out.

I mentioned back in April, that I made just over $14 that month. Well, I’m really excited because this month I will end up right near $50. I always said that if I could make $1 online, then I could make $10. And if I could make $10, then I could make $100. What’s really cool is that it is proving to be true.

So what am I actually doing? Building websites and ranking them using search engine optimization. I signed up for The Keyword Academy in the middle of March and have been steadily plugging away ever since. TKA is basically a membership site that breaks down all of the internet marketing clutter online and delivers to the point guidance and advice on how to rank a website.

They’re not made for Adsense sites though, as the goal is to add quality to the search results through information. Although it is recommended to monetize with Adsense, there are a bunch of ways to make money without it once you get traffic to your site.

Unfortunately, it is a front end loaded model. You have to put in a bunch of work at the beginning to get a site ranked. Once it is ranked, however, it is much easier to keep it there. This makes the beginning stages a bit of a struggle and causes a lot of people to quit. The people who succeed are those who revel in the little victories and push through until they’re past the initial undertaking. I fully intend to be one of the successful folks.

Although I have been seeing good results from what I’ve been doing, I need to step it up a notch. I know I will be even more motivated when I start to see bigger numbers, so I’m going to force the issue. The founders of TKA always say that the best way to move forward is with massive, reckless action. I’ve read a lot of threads on their forums from advanced members taking massive, reckless action and seeing amazing results.

August is my reckless and massive action month. In addition to my current link building campaigns for my current sites, I’m going to setup 30 new niche sites. I picked out my niches with a detailed selection process and purchased my new domains accordingly. I’m amped up and ready to go.

This will be quite a task, but I’m not giving myself the option to fail. After all, you’ll never steal second with your foot on first.

Allmendinger EnterprisesChoose Your Own Adventure