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What lesson in blogging can be learned from a snob?

May 19th, 2007 by Gina Gaudio-Graves

I recently wrote a post entitled “Snobbiness=Sales?” In that post, I talked about a conversation I had recently with my partner, Henry Gold.

Every word of that post was the TRUTH.

That was a real conversation.

It actually took place.

And, it actually happened JUST LIKE I said it did.

A few days ago, Henry Gold decided to blog about this very same conversation.

That blog post contains a VERY INTERESTING lesson in blogging for those who study it carefully. I guarantee you that if you follow this lesson, your blog posts will get you MUCH better results.

Bear with me for a minute as I share a little of the background with you before I show you that lesson.

If you read Henry’s blog post, it makes it sound like I was the one telling HIM about snobbiness.

Henry even makes it sound like I was calling a lot of high powered marketers snobs including Mark Joyner, Terry Dean, Gary Halbert, and Henry himself.

Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but that is NOT how it happened at all. Not only did I never do a study about whether snobbiness drives sales, but I never suggested that Henry was a snob either.

What I did tell Henry was that many marketers thought that he was arrogant. And, as far as the other marketers are concerned, well … I have never met any of them other than Terry Dean and he is anything BUT a snob.

What really happened during that conversation?

Actually, it was Henry who TOLD ME that HE was a snob! He went on to tell me that I needed to become a snob too if I was ever going to be truly successful.

That was the one part of the conversation that Henry related correctly in his blog post. Henry goes on to describe himself to his readers and then asks their opinion as to whether or not he is really a snob.

What happened after I wrote my initial blog post, “Snobbiness = Sales?” and what happened after Henry wrote this last post, is where the lesson comes in.

You see, until I wrote that post, I had been struggling to get even a single comment on my blog. And, my click-thrus were abysmally low as well.

Even Henry’s blog wasn’t doing as well as it had in the past. He was getting only 2 or 3 comments per post.

After I wrote my post, though, I got a bunch of comments. Heck, even Terry Dean himself commented on my blog! My click-thrus went way up too.

On Henry’s blog, that single post brought in a whopping 26 posts so far.

What is it about these two blog posts that caused so many people to comment on them? That got so many more people than usual to click-thru to other pages?

More importantly …

What can YOU do to recreate these blog posts for yourself and increase the number of comments YOU get on your blog? Increase the click-thrus that you get on your blog?

There are several different elements in both of these posts that combined together to produce these fantastic results:

Both posts relate a story. That story is told by relating a conversation and drawing the reader into the conversation.

Both posts pose a question to the reader. In fact, they both ask several questions and, after each one, go on to give short, punchy answers.

Both posts tell the reader what they must do to be successful! Both posts do this not by directly laying out the lesson, but by sharing something about the writer with the reader.

Both posts directly ask the reader a question about the writer. In my blog, I ask the question, “So am I condemning myself to a life of being poor because of it?” Henry asks, “Give me your thoughts! I want to know what you think of Henry Gold as well.”

So, theoretically, if you follow this formula, you should get the same results too, right?

WRONG!

Why not?

It’s a not just HOW YOU WRITE IT but it is also in WHAT YOU WRITE.

If you desire these results for yourself, then you, too, must do so with a success mindset. And, you cannot simply want success, you must NEED SUCCESS.

Until you can do this for yourself, you are condemning yourself to few, if any, results from your blogging.

So, how can you get a success mindset? How can you shift from wanting success to needing success?

Recently, I discovered a book that I am using myself to help me do exactly that. You’ll find it at:

http://www.askggg.com/snob

Let me give you a word of warning though …

This book is called “Why S.O.B.’s Succeed and Nice People Fail In Any Business”. I think that you can tell by the title that this book is pretty much a roadmap for becoming a “snob” as Henry would say.

I’m not going to follow all of the advice in this book as I just can’t imagine becoming a true S.O.B. myself. But, as Terry Dean mentioned in his comment on my blog:

What you have to be is self-confident and willing to be controversial. Write your real opinions and don’t hold back because so-and-so won’t like it. If you’re not willing to offend in some way, you’re simply not going to be noticed.

This book is helping me to see exactly what I have to do to become controversial in my self-confidence.

In fact, the discussion of creating a “System for Ideas” is probably one of the most brilliant suggestions I’ve read in awhile. I mean, have you ever heard of someone creating an Idea System?

Since I systematize everything in my business, that was right up my alley!

This book is less than $10 and will really help you to become a “snob”. If you then take the 5 tips from above, your blog posts will get you the results you desire! You’ll find the book at:

http://www.askggg.com/snob

To Your Abundant Online Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves

Founder, JVSuite.com

Founder, elliances.org