A Fashion Blogger’s Guide to using “Nofollow” Links
When to use nofollow (according to Google):
Untrusted content:
If you can’t or don’t want to vouch for the content of pages you link to from your site — for example, untrusted user comments or guestbook entries — you should nofollow those links.
Paid links:
Google partially bases search results on the analysis of those sites that link to it. In order to prevent paid links from influencing search results and negatively impacting users, we urge webmasters use nofollow on such links.
Buying or selling links that pass PageRank:
This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link
Ultimately, the “spirit” of Google’s guidelines is to prevent webmasters running amok with link schemes,
bogus directory sites, and all around crappy websites, therefore, keeping the internet devoted to high-quality content.
But once you start monetizing your blog and getting pitches & emails from companies who want to feed off of your PageRank, you have to be hyper-aware of Google’s guidelines. The consequence of taking guest posts, text links and sponsored content and not using nofollow on the links is that your page rank could be penalized by Google, and you could end up not indexed, and absent from search until you get it sorted out.
My response to that is never mind Google…what about your readers? We use nofollow, etc., so as not to be penalized by Google, but what about our readers? Shouldn’t we care about them more? And not want to be penalized by THEM by their going somewhere else?
Our readers should be FIRST in our minds, always, and if we write and produce content for THEM, then what’s to worry? If all they see is sponsored content, text link/anchor text heavy posts, and “un-natural” linking, what’s to keep them returning to your site?
Please understand, I’m not an expert on this; I can only speak to what I’ve done, and how I’ve handled links in the 10+ years I’ve been doing this. And here’s the thing, I WANT to pass page rank on to the sites I link to. I BELIEVE in the products I talk about, the stores I feature, and the items I review. I’m happy to have my blog act as an “endorsement” for whatever I link to, because I would never link to or recommend anything I wouldn’t be willing to try myself, or have tried already.
(I have only ever used the nofollow tag a few times in the content on my blog, and I decided I would never again post content or take text links that I’d have to use nofollow. But that’s just me. I do not use the nofollow tag on links to items I’ve received to review – because if I didn’t want to endorse the product, I wouldn’t link to it!! – although I think according to Google you should)
Then again, I have no idea what my Page Rank is, or if it’s worth anything at all, but the idea behind Google’s guidelines is that blogs/sites should be protective of their Page Rank and not “pass” it on to links they can’t vouch for. Well, if you can’t vouch for a link, why would you include it in your content to begin? Am I wrong?
When I receive emails pitching guest posts or text link advertisements I automatically delete them based on just skimming the content.
I don’t know, when I receive emails pitching guest posts or text link advertisements I automatically delete them based on just skimming the content. (But then again, I also delete emails where my name is spelled wrong and that include bad grammar, so I’m pretty brutal…). I moderate all my comments and check the links to make sure they’re something I can recommend clicking.
Maybe I’m safe from Google penalizing me, or maybe I’m not, but I’m okay with that. I do get a lot of search engine traffic, so I would be genuinely hurt if that disappeared altogether, but I don’t *think* I’m doing anything to jeopardize that. But then again, I’m no expert; I only do what I think is right for my blog and my readers.
11 Ways to Stay Focused This Summer (Even Though You'd Rather Be at the Beach)
Nevermind the fact that for many startups, summer is a slower season overall -- it's also a time when many of your employees will have weekend weddings, pool parties and travel plans on their minds. (Chances are, so will you.)
Here are 11 fun ways to keep your employees focused, without cutting into needed down time during the warmer months.
1. Practice Makes Perfect
My team is my team because they are motivated individuals with their own set of skills and assets, but sometimes we all get senioritis. I try to keep them motivated by switching gears in the summer and encouraging them to feed their brain with books that apply to their role within the company, or online courses that will enhance their work ethic when we get back into the grind come fall.
-- Rob Fulton, Matikis
2. Replace Yourself With a Temporary PM
I hire a project manager or promote them internally for just the summer months. I know I'd rather be at the pool, grilling something or mixing up a pitcher, and I know my team wants to as well. I pay for work done, not time spent. The project manager isn't a babysitter: He or she expedites, cross-checks and gets things moving so we can be pool bound!
-- Maren Hogan, Red Branch Media
3. No More Friday or Monday Deadlines
We recognize that summer months mean lots of weddings, camping trips and parties. As such, we don't schedule meetings or deadlines on Friday afternoons or Monday early mornings. It keeps people focused during the week, while allowing them to enjoy time with friends and family without guilt or distraction.
-- Emily Eldridge Holdman, PeopleKit
4. Host a Company BBQ
The employees get excited, and it pumps them up. They get to enjoy the summer and not feel like they're stuck inside the whole time. Barbecues are also fun, easy, inexpensive, and can happen frequently without interrupting productivity.
-- Ty Morse, Songwhale
5. Extend Weekday Hours, Take Half-Day Fridays
Everyone loves summer. It's no surprise that it's a time when people want to go outside, relax, and have fun. In order to accomplish this while still keeping our team productive, we extend our hours Monday-Thursday and then let everyone out of the office at 1 p.m. every Friday. Works like a charm!
-- Windsor Hanger, Her Campus Media
6. Attend Concerts and Festivals
I tend to take the troops out to events in order to obtain a fresh perspective on the consumer marketplace. As marketers, it's important to see what is trending and how certain demographics are responding to particular environments. At a large concert or festival, you often are exposed to many types of people interested in many different types of things.
-- Logan Lenz, Endagon
7. Do Weekend Brunch
My team loves brunch, and in New York brunch is a weekend tradition that is still going strong. If I'm going to ask my team to work on a Saturday -- which we sometimes do -- why not do it over great eggs, toast and mimosas? That way we can be productive in a relaxed environment, and the job isn't taking away from some of our favorite weekend pastimes.
-- Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.
8. Focus on Deadlines, Not Hours Worked
It can be hard to expect people to work a conventional schedule straight through the summer. That's why I emphasize getting a project completed by a certain date but stay flexible about when people have to put in their hours. If someone can complete a task from their laptop while lying on a beach somewhere, it's all the same to me as long as they turn in quality work.
-- Shawn Porat, Fortune Cookie Advertising
9. Get Outside and Sweat
Get outside for some physical team activity or organize a sports game. It's beautiful out.
-- Phil Dumontet, DASHED
10. Take a Mid-Year Team Retreat
Summer isn't a particularly busy time for most of our clients, so we use the season to host a mid-year retreat. We all get away to a fun city and spend time time together focused on strategy and idea generation. Fewer client deadlines also makes summer a great time to work on certain projects, which can be done on more flexible schedules.
-- Mary Ellen Slayter, Reputation Capital
11. Offer Work-From-Home Fridays
This summer, we're giving our employees a choice on how to use their "Summer Fridays." Last year, we only let employees leave work early. This year, employees can either leave the office early OR work from home the whole day on Friday. Giving employees the option to work from home a little this summer makes them happier, more loyal, and arguably more productive.
7 things you can (legally) steal from successful companies
One thing that never gets old in business is knowing your customer – and that’s because of how often we get it wrong. Too often we rely on our narrow worldview to inform us of who we think would use our product or service.
Data-gathering from scratch is a daunting prospect. The good news is that with a little research, you’ll find that a lot of this data has been gathered for you.
You just need to know where to look. Often times it’s not very far from your competitors.
The essence of innovation and the foundation of many start-ups are to imitate and adapt from existing concepts. New ideas are mostly incremental improvements of past ideas, just as we as a biological species have evolved improvements over centuries. We at Twoodo are trying to make team collaboration tools a little bit better, for example.
One thing that never gets old in business is knowing your customer – and that’s because of how often we get it wrong. Too often we rely on our narrow worldview to inform us of who we think would use our product or service.
Data-gathering from scratch is a daunting prospect. The good news is that with a little research, you’ll find that a lot of this data has been gathered for you.
You just need to know where to look. Often times it’s not very far from your competitors.
1. Borrow their Twitter followers
Unless you’ve entered a “blue ocean market,” it’s likely that there are at least 10 other more successful companies doing what you are trying to do right now.
But that’s OK! That means there are ten companies with curated lists of people interested in your kind of service.
This is where the hijacking of open social platforms come in. Twitter is a famous example. Just click on the “followers” list of your competitor’s company and you have a list of Twitter handles worth getting to know.
If you just want to get a list of the top influencers of an account, use this tool to generate the data. If you want more comprehensive data on your competitors’ followers you can use this tool. It is important to make connections with influencers early on so they can be evangelists for your brand.
Similarly, on Google+ you can go to a page and click to see who the followers of a brand are. It’s pretty easy to link up with them, and once you are, G+ allows you to send email notifications to them of your updates or shared news.
I’m not suggesting you should contact them to spam them or tell them your service is better. But starting a conversation and finding out why they love or are frustrated by your competitors is a great way to find vital information. You’d be surprised at how many people are willing to share their experiences.
Here’s a cool article on how to growth hack Google Plus if you want to harness its full growing potential!
2. Spy on their feature requests
Want to make sure that your new app doesn’t fall into the same traps as your competitors once did? Check out their “feature request” lists and past FAQs to get an idea of what users/customers are finding challenging.
Do this by simply going to your preferred search engine and typing “COMPANY feature request.”
You can create an improved business by avoiding the mistakes made by your competitor in the past, and also try to get ahead by offering features that users are requesting (but have not been developed yet). Totally legit and totally serving the user.
3. Win over their haters
It’s as simple as typing “I hate XXX” into Topsy and seeing who hates the company and why. This is also a good way of discovering features people hate/love/want and incorporating the info into your business.
Grab their Twitter handle and offer them your far superior service! Careful not to become their next punching bag!
4. Take advantage of their inability to be everywhere
This won’t pose much of a challenge in North America, where English and Spanish covers pretty much the whole population. However, step outside of that bubble into Europe, Africa and Asia and you’ll find that an almost-copycat service done in a local language is niche enough to make you a sweet business.
Here’s an early example:
Tuenti launched in Spain as the Spanish social network when Facebook was only just allowing 13-year-old school kids on in the USA.
Spain has a population of (give or take) 50 million – more than enough people for the founders to enjoy a good income. This proves that, if nothing else, you can use language as your niche.
5. …and their inability to do everything
Mergers and acquisitions anyone? This is another area where your research on the FAQs and feature requests is useful.
Build a company or develop features fulfilling a need that the your large competitors have. Then, negotiate a partnership or buy each other out.
A famous examples is eBay buying PayPal and iBazar (a European online marketplace), therefore acquiring a payments system plus a continent worth of customers that it could convert to eBay users.
You will have to be fast on your feet if you decide to take this route, in case the company in mind is large enough to build a solution itself.
6. Borrow their demographic data
Data on visitors and customers is being generated in gigantic quantities. And it’s not limited to websites – there are startups developing ways to use street cameras to analyze who goes into shops.
Although much of this data is hidden or protected by law, there are some tidbits available online that can give you some insights into your target market. For example, if you are targeting US women then not being on Pinterest is crazy. Pinterest has an audience of 80 percent women, and 20 percent of all American women are on it.
There are other kinds of data available to assist in building your information about potential users, if you persevere on the search engines. If you are a game company, it is interesting to know that people who play Candy Crush do it from 6 to 9 PM and on Sundays.
This is important for your marketing efforts and for your live customer support. Here’s one way of finding out about the users of your competitors:
Choose a social networking platform (we’ll use G+ here)
Go to the page of your competitor
Click on the “have them in circles” number on the right
Check out the list of fans, complete with contact details, geographic location, email (often), hobbies, and tons of awesome qualitative customer info
A recent experiment I did with Facebook also brought some interesting results. I joined an interest group (Arduino boards), and clicked “add friend” on all the members that had the option available (which was plenty).
Quite a lot added me back after a quick message to check that I was a legit person. Once I had connected with a large enough sample from the group, I was able to find such data as age, gender, location, industry and so on.
This is gold when you are trying to figure out who your ideal customer is.
7. Hijack their search engine rankings
If you do a Google search for your keywords you’ll probably see a bunch of competitors on the first page results. If they’re on the first page then they must be doing something right with their backlink strategy. Imagine how powerful it would be if your site had the same backlinks as not only the first result but every single one of the top 10 results!
This is possible with a few steps and a bit of elbow grease. The good news is that you can see precisely the backlink strategy these competitors are using.
It’s possible to find all the websites, blogs, forums or online magazines your competitors are getting their links from. Once you’ve got that list it’s up to you to get busy and replicate them by commenting on the same blog posts, asking for guest posts from the same blogs, posting on the same forums and so on.
Matthew Woodward has created a complete comprehensive guide to this growth hack. You’ll soon be appearing in the top 10 results for your targeted keywords – and apparently it can even survive Google’s algorithm updates.
This is long-term SEO with a strong foundation – a useful habit to begin with early.
Is there anything I shouldn’t steal (I mean, borrow)?
Being “inspired by” or “adopting features of” other businesses is common practice. It’s costly and difficult to fight legal battles against anyone who decides to take your idea and run with it. Patent laws are not equally enforced around the world and it’s pretty hard to keep your secret sauce secret on the internet.
Even giants like Samsung and Apple are not above such controversy. Uber has allegedly poached drivers from competitors by calling up and canceling cabs (thus acquiring the driver’s number) and then offering them a job with them.
How wrong was this? I’m not sure. Marketplace ethics are a grey area.
This simple negotiating technique ensures that you get paid what you and your product are worth.
The first time I used this negotiating technique, I made $18,000 in seven seconds. Since then, I've used the technique about 20 times, increasing my lifetime income by at least $250,000.
Here's the trick: Keep your mouth shut.
The first time I did this was when I was offered a job at a Fortune 100 high tech firm. Here's how the telephone negotiation went:
HR Person: "The starting salary is $80,000."
Me: [7 seconds of very uncomfortable silence]
HR Person: "How does $83,000 sound?"
Me: That's fine for now.
Since I worked for that company for six years, that extra $3,000 turned into $18,000. Just for keeping silent for seven short seconds.
The reason this works is that people (like this HR person) often come into a final negotiation with a price range. Typically, they'll open with a number in the lower range.
When you just say nothing, though, it puts the other person in a panic:
"Did I insult him?"
"Was the number way too low?"
"Why isn't he saying anything?"
Eventually, the other person will up the offer to the higher number, if only to end the silence.
Is this manipulative? I guess so. But, frankly, I was worth the extra $3,000 and more. And it was in their budget.
I've used a modified version of this technique when selling my services as a ghostwriter. As with any B2B sales situation, the initial conversation consists of swapping ideas and devising an approach that's attractive to the buyer.
Eventually, though, the conversation gets around to how much I'm going to charge. When price comes up, I say something like: "What would be your budget for this?" or "What makes sense to you?"
And then I keep my mouth shut.
In almost every case, the client offers me more money than I was envisioning. In one case, I was quoted a figure 10 times higher than what I expected. Needless to say, I agreed.
Put simply, when it comes to selling, silence is truly golden.
1. Success is always a group effort. There is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. Even if you overcome hundreds of obstacles, you are still beholden to the team you're working with. In addition, we are all standing on the shoulders of giants--the people who created the infrastructure that makes business possible.
2. Work is to be savored. The ability to make a difference in other people's lives is a gift precious beyond price. The only way to make that difference is through expending personal effort, which is the textbook definition of "work." Remember: the ultimate failure in work and in life is to be idle and useless.
3. Anger is an expression of helplessness. People become angry not as the result of outside events or the actions of other people, but because they're frustrated at their own inability to change themselves and their emotional state. Put another way, a screaming boss is just a screaming baby writ large.
4. Every action creates an opposite and equal reaction. This law of physics also applies to people. The more you try to control, the more resistance you create; aggressive managers create passive-aggressive employees. True leaders redirect and guide rather than push or pull.
5. Information is the enemy of insight. The essence of a problem, solution or opportunity is usually hidden in plain sight surrounded by wads of undigested and unnecessary data. Half the battle is eliminating the noise. Rule of thumb: simplify, simplify, simplify.
6. Other people usually mean well. People do the best they can with the resources they've got. Those who possess minimal emotional and mental resources can do very silly things, but their intentions are almost always good. Harnessing those good intentions is always more effective than telling people that they're wrong.
7. Best-case and worst-case scenarios never happen. Everything is a continuum between what you'd like to have happen and what you dread might happen. Understanding this saves you from disappointment if things go sour and frees you to be delighted when things go well.
8. Sharing something creates more of it. Sharing happiness and positivity creates more happiness and more positivity. Similarly, sharing misery and negativity also creates more of both. So take heed when you speak because you're creating whatever comes out of your mouth.
9. Nobody's perfect and neither is any organization. Just as you must forgive, understand, and work with the limitations of the people you meet, you must forgive, understand, and work with the limitations of your corporation, division, or team. Expecting perfection is a certain recipe for disappointment.
Een boodschap mist te vaak urgentie. Een spreker staat er als dweil bij en spreekt op vrijblijvende toon. Wees dwingend. Als spreker moet je van te voren goed weten wat je publiek anders moet gaan doen. Je moet daar zelf in geloven. Schroom niet je publiek aan te spreken met ‘doe dit’ en ‘doe dat’.
2. Altijd concreet zijn
Strooi niet met woorden als synergie, integrale aanpak of 'holistische benadering'. Die woorden zeggen niets. Houd abstracte terminologie beperkt tot maximaal twintig procent van je verhaal. Een ruggensteuntje om concreter te praten: begin zinnen met ‘stelt u eens voor’. Het dwingt je om zintuiglijke beschrijvingen te maken. Zo krijgen luisteraars je verhaal op hun netvlies.
3. Laat je boodschap landen
Je staat zelfverzekerd op het podium, maar gaat veel te snel. Mensen hebben tijd nodig om te kunnen verbeelden. Veel ondernemers kijken over de hoofden van hun publiek heen. Zo hebben ze niet in de gaten dat hun tempo te hoog ligt. Aanleren: je over het podium bewegen en om de paar zinnen een ander persoon aankijken. Dat helpt je een passend tempo te vinden.
4. Durf te dromen
Zet een stip op de horizon. Spreek je verbeelding aan en wees niet te bescheiden. Waar staan we met ons bedrijf over twintig jaar? Stel: je bent fietsfabrikant. Fout antwoord: ‘Ook in de toekomst leuke dingen blijven maken’. Tikkeltje gewaagd, maar vele malen beter: ‘Een fiets op de markt hebben waarmee je in een half uur van Amsterdam naar Parijs fietst.’
5. Blijf niet hangen
Veel sprekers beloven een vergezicht, maar blijven in hun verhaal nodeloos lang steken bij het verleden en heden. Als je aankondigt het over de toekomst te gaan hebben, behandel het verleden en het nu dan ook echt kort.
10 Tips for Designing Your Own Logo, Even If You Don’t Know How
While most bloggers don’t have millions to invest in their logos (although some sources say some bloggers might), I’m here to help you design your own. Aside from having designed logos for my three blogs, I was also a graphic designer in my previous life and studied typography in college. Here are the basics…
Identify What Your Brand is About
What is your brand about? What’s your “thing?” What’s your niche? We’ve covered these topics before on IFB, and it’s something you should lock down before starting your logo. Are you a personal style blogger? A fashion news? Vintage? What are your values? Are you luxury or budget? Who is your market? Is it preppy or urban? Write down what your brand is about and keep this in mind for the next step.
Research Logos You Like
Make a inspiration board (real or virtual) of EVERY logo you have ever seen that you love. It could be the FedEx logo, whatever, hey, I love the hidden arrow. Even the iconic IBM logo may fit your fancy. Chances are it could be something elegant and fashion related like Vogue’s logo, or Chanel, Louis Vuitton. Maybe it’s whimsical like Free People’s or Anthropologie, whatever, collect every. logo. you. like.
Research Your Niche, What is The Visual Language?
What do all the logos for the other blogs in your niche look like? What about the logos for the brands that are aligned with what your blog is about? Often times, visual themes pop up. Think about fashion magazine logos, how they all look similar, all caps, serifed fonts. Newspapers tend to use black-letter type like the New York Times. These themes are subliminal message that the brands belong to a certain niche and have particular values.
Warning: This is just the research part, just because all the logos in your blog’s niche look a certain way is not a reason for you to follow suit.
Experiment with Different Fonts
(My sketches for the Eat, Sleep, Denim redesign)
I always type my logo, then see it in as many different fonts as I can get my hands on. Well, fonts I like anyway. That way I can see how each font communicates my blog’s name. You can find tons of free fonts on Font Squirrel, or if you are looking for more established fonts like Helvetica or Didot (Vogue uses this font for it’s logo) try Adobe or MyFonts.
Don’t Be Too Literal
(Ug.. Really? Are there shoes under that bed?)
One trap people fall into is the “literal trap” (figuratively speaking). Say their blog is about shoes, and the blog name is “Shoes Under My Bed” So they have a logo that’s shoes under a bed. The logo for “Shoes Under My Bed” can be a script font or sans serif, or display font whatever, but the WORDS “shoes” and “under my bed” already put a visual picture in our head. We don’t need to see the text AND see an illustration of shoes under a bed. If we saw just a picture of shoes under a bed, would we get that the blog is called “Shoes Under My Bed” probably not. There’s too much room for interpretation. I could go on about this, so the moral to this random story is don’t be too literal with your logo.
(I WISH those shoes were under my bed!)
Work in Black & White First, THEN Add Color
Back in the day before digital where color is ALWAYS an option, logos had to look good in black and white so if you needed to submit your logo to a print publication or use it for marketing material and you didn’t have a budget for color (more expensive) you had to have a logo that looked good in black and white. Nowadays, especially in digital, color is always available, do you know anyone with a monitor that doesn’t have color?
That said, it’s still a good idea to at least work in black and white. Why? You get an idea of the contrast, your logo isn’t dependent on color. And if you do happen to need it printed in black and white, it doesn’t lose impact.
Test in Different Formats
Does your logo look as good in a Twitter icon as it does on your header? Can you make an icon that looks enough like your logo that someone who finds you on Twitter isn’t shocked when the visit your website? Blow it up as big as you can, and see how small you can make your logo and test if it still holds up. You’ll need to have a flexible logo especially as a blogger!
If you don’t have the skills, keep it simple. If you do have the skills, why are you reading this? Kidding! Even simplicity takes skill… sometimes even more skill than a complex logo. Think about Nike, how simple that logo is. Or Chanel. Less is more!
When in Doubt, Use Helvetica
What do Fendi, JCPenny, Target, Crate&Barrell, NARS, American Apparel and Numero Magazine all have in common? HELVETICA.
Helvetica is probably the world’s most used font for logos. Why? Because it’s very, very hard to fuck up. Yeah, I said it. You can’t fuck up Helvetica. Helvetica, Helvetica Neue or Univers does cost money, $29-$693 depending on the package you get. For those who see cost and not value, know that free fonts do not always have all the characters, ligatures and weights you need, nor are they always properly spaced or proportioned. Buying a good version of Helvetica will enable you to have a simple, professional looking logo, even if you don’t have skills.
Have Fun!
You can always tell when someone had fun creating a logo, and when they thought it was a huge headache. So put aside any insecurities and play! Experiment, and take as long as you need, we’re not going anywhere.
Most startup projects fail because they never even get off the ground. Ideas stay in the brainstorming phase on the back of napkins and never make it to the actually-talking-to-prospective-customers phase, which is the critical moment when a startup takes its first breaths of life.
There are usually a litany of excuses that go along with the premature death of a startup idea: I don’t have a technical cofounder so how will I build my product? How will I have time to work on this with work or school? What if someone just steals my idea? Nonsense.
Let’s get a few things straight.
• You don’t need a technical cofounder to start talking to prospective customers about your idea. In fact, what good is someone who talks to computers and writes code all day going to be in talking to people.Talking to people is your job; get used to it.
• There is never a “good time” to start working on your startup. You can wait for things to ease up at work or to be done with school and before you know it you’re married with kids, sitting in a cubicle talking to your coworkers about how you once had this great idea. Lame.
• No one cares about your idea. Literally no one, except maybe you, cares about your idea.Your belief that someone is going to steal your idea is an illusion based upon the bias of your own perspective. Besides, ideas are completely worthless. Execution is what matters.
Running a startup is kinda like climbing without a rope.
Since your first ideas will probably suck anyway, use them as a vehicle for learning how to execute. Climbing the steep learning curve of modern, digital entrepreneurship is what’s going to turn you into a full-stack marketer that’s a force to be reckoned with. The further you climb, the more skills you acquire for dealing with challenging situations and traversing uncharted territory. And the failure you’ll encounter along the way will innoculate you against the idea that failure signals finality; failure is just table stakes for getting into the game.
The only way to learn to climb is to start. There is no other way.
So cut the rope.
The full-stack marketer doesn’t wait for anyone’s permission to get started. There isn’t time for that. So he breaks certain rules to put himself into a position where his startup can take shape and grow. Here are four rules you should get comfortable with breaking if you want to convert your ideas into realities.
#1. The first rule to be broken: be ready to talk to customers about a product that does not yet exist. Spending time with your idea on your own in a vacuum will not take you very far because it’s not based on anything other than speculation; this is why talking to real people about your idea is critical. Getting relevant feedback on your idea takes a bit of showmanship because you have to create the illusion that the product either currently exists or is about to.
In order to do this, you’ll need to have something to show them—ideally a semi-functional, well designed front-end that is interactive, but at a minimum some screenshots that you’ve spent hours in Photoshop or Illustrator trying to perfect. Hell, use Microsoft Paint if it’s going to get the job done. Wireframes are an absolute last resort because they put the kibosh on the magic trick of making something that doesn’t exist appear out of thin air (if you really can’t push pixels,Balsamiq is a great tool for sketching out your ideas).
Photoshop is your friend. Get to know it.If you are building an iOS app, learning how to build a front-end in Xcode is a helpful skill.
#2. The second rule to be broken: get customers to sign up for a product that does not yet exist. This may seem the same as the first broken rule, but it’s not because you are actually testing whether or not people would sign up for your product. In order to do this you need to build an elegantly simple landing page with the following ingredients: 1) a halfway decent domain that’s not my-enterprisy-tool.biz 2) a nicely designed logo that establishes your company’s brand 3) a screenshot of your app in the context of the appropriate device 4) one or two lines of product positioning (for example, Medium’s is “A better place to read and write things that matter ” 5) a simple email form to simulate a sign up (if you ask for too much information in the form, you will lower your conversion rate, so stick to the basics).
Simplicity is king in this case. Mattan Griffel’s blog post on the “The Minimal Homepage” is probably the single clearest articulation of why minimal copy, large background images and a singular call-to-action will convert best. The great thing about the exercise of building a landing page and driving traffic to it is that you are killing two birds with one stone. In addition to testing your concept’s demand, you are deploying a range of distribution tactics and building out the plumbing for a distribution infrastructure that will retain value as you move towards an eventual launch. There are some simple hacks you’ll want in your back pocket for this phase:
• Run ads to test use cases and positioning. A great hack for determining whether people care about your idea or not is to run Facebook ads with different use case copy as a proxy for determining relative interest. For example, if you are unsure whether your hypothetical product’s value proposition is “Hire a midget to run your errands” or “Uber for clowns”, run both ads and see which one has a lower cost-per-click.
• Drive traffic and start a newsletter. Get a free email marketing account—MailChimp is the best. As you drive traffic to your site, start collecting these email addresses into a mailing list. Many startups make the mistake of not building up their email list early. Don’t.
• Build social media channels. This one should be obvious but in many cases people don’t do it because they want to stay “in stealth mode” (stupidity) or they don’t know what to say. Set up Twitter and Facebook accounts for your brand and start building some of the same relationships online that you have been offline. Sean Percival lays this all out very well on the 500 startups blog in his post “Getting Early Social Media Followers”. A growing social media following can help build some social proof and momentum around your new concept that will help convert more sign ups.
#3. The third rule to be broken: recruit an army of prospective customers to help you iterate on a product that does not yet exist.Capturing the sign up isn’t the end of your test, its just the beginning. Once you have the customer’s email address, personally email them (I use my gmail address so it’s more personal) and ask questions about how specifically they would use your product. Or include some more screenshots of your app to ask about the usability of the design. Accumulate all this feedback into a spreadsheet and keep a running account of all customer communication. This is probably the single most important asset you will build pre-code.
A Google doc is great in this case because then you can share customer feedback with the right people. You want multiple sets of eyes on it.
By pulling a group of early adopters into the the design process and giving them a stake in the product’s development, you are essentially crowdsourcing the first product management role in your company, hiring a bunch of mini-product managers to assist you in the nascent stages of your product’s incubation. As you iterate, you can continue going back to the well to have them validate or invalidate your assumptions. The best part is that, unlike someone on your team who has a financial stake in the success of the company and has drank a ton of the company Koolaid, your crowdsourced team of mini-PMs’ only stake in the product is its inherent usefulness, so you are more likely to get honest, unvarnished feedback.
Keeping the conversation going with prospective customers is one of the single most important things you can do to continue learning. As Ryan Hoover mentioned in his recent post “Blog-First Startups”, there are an entire crop of recently successful startups like Mattermark that started as blog posts and got traction because the ideas they contained resonated with real people.
#4. The fourth rule to be broken: find a full-stack developer to partner with you on a product that does not yet exist. Now that you’ve tested your assumptions about your product with real people, you’ve either determined that there is an appetite for your product or there isn’t. If you’ve determined that you are pursuing something people want, it’s time to find a full-stack developer that can help you turn this early-stage concept and customer base into a real company by delivering a functional, minimum viable product.
No one thing mentioned above will be sufficient for getting you to the point where your idea is ready to be built, but together they get you to the point where you are ready to start writing some code. Convincing a full-stack developer to join your cause isn’t going to be easy. It never is—even under the best of circumstances. But if you’ve absolutely crushed the three breakable rules above, it’s going to be far easier than if you hadn’t because you will have saved your eventual cofounder from writing thousands of lines of wasted code.
If a prospective cofounder isn't convinced by your work, don’t worry about it—they aren’t the right fit anyway. The person who joins you on this journey is going to need a passion for the problem you are tackling to get through the inevitable tough times. They are also going to need enough humility to recognize that they need your full-stack marketing skills just as much as you need their full-stack development skills.
And entrepreneurial humility is a two way street. Without the partnership of your full-stack developer, all you have is a batch of .PSDs, a few spreadsheets, a worthless website and a bunch of emails piling up in your gmail account.
So when you do find that right person, give them half the company, get in the arena and don’t look back.
How to See Your Startup Through The Eyes of Investors
The approach convinced VCs who gave $62 million to help fund the startup.
If you want to raise venture capital, the first thing you must do is see your startup through the eyes of potential investors. Here are five tips that will help you connect with those investors:
1. Identify the right audience because each investor has different likes and dislikes. You should research potential investors before you talk with them so that your company fits the stage -- early, middle or late -- and the industry that the investor prefers.
2. Get an introduction through a trusted source. You should seek an introduction through the CEO of a potential investor's current or former portfolio companies.
3. Have a brief PowerPoint deck that tells a story in non-technical terms. Your deck should address your venture's team, market opportunity, need for the product and its value to the customer, its position relative to the competition, how much capital you'll need to build the company, and a financial plan.
4. Be intellectually honest rather than answer every question. You should quickly admit you don't know rather than try to bluff.
5. Adapt to feedback. You should listen to feedback, absorb its intent and revise your pitch accordingly.
In order for this flurry of activity to have meaning, you will have to answer two fundamental questions the right way:
Are you a great startup CEO?
VCs spend time with a few dozen entrepreneurs who display the right characteristics. If you are energetic, inspirational, smart, hardworking, honest and magnetic, meaning people want to help you, then you have some of the right characteristics.
But you also need to be tireless in pursuit of market share. Great startup CEOs are driven, relentless, have a vision and want to disrupt a market.
Before you ask them to write you a check, spend enough time with potential investors to show them -- based on your experiences in college, sports or family life -- that you have all these traits.
How do you plan to disrupt a big market?
If you can prove to an investor that you are a great CEO, you're about half way there. Your next challenge is to make the case that you can build a startup that will get big fast so they can generate a return on their investment.
To do that, you will need to convince a VC that your venture targets a strong market with a valuable product. It follows logically, that a combination of these two factors could mean your product will gain share rapidly in a fast-growing market -- and that would give the VC a return on investment.
What is a strong market? It is big and growing fast or ready for a new product that will generate a rapid spike in demand. Doing that means finding customers that have a history of adopting new technologies quickly who your startup can reach without spending too much money.
And like Rethink Robotics demonstrates, a valuable product is based on unique insight, difficult for competitors to replicate, maintains intellectual property rights and delivers clear value to the customer.
To assess whether your venture has what it takes, ask yourself whether you have a vision for how your startup's market will evolve. If you can convince the investor that the answer to both questions is yes, they will be eager to invest.
If you’re raising investment for a start-up, changing careers, or moving to a new city, then you owe it to yourself to have coffee with 50 people before making the jump.
Setting the goal of having coffee with 50 people forces you to be clear about your goals. Making the goal public, one person at a time, also makes it much stronger. Having 50 coffees is good because then you have to commit to the specific move that you want to make. You’ll also get input from smart and interesting people.
50 people could change your life
I first came across the idea in the book, What Colour is Your Parachute?. More recently, Mark Suster put a number on it in his article, Why You Need to Take 50 Coffee Meetings. Until then, I’d just aimed for as many coffees as needed until I had gathered enough input to act on. Now I aim for 50 because it simplifies the process, makes the goal concrete, and is large enough to be a stretch target.
Megan Gebhart became a bit of an Internet celeb and travelled the world meeting new people for the 52 Cup Project. She was inspired by a quote from Charlie Jones: “You will be the same person in five years as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
The hidden insight in the 50 coffees idea is that the biggest changes in your life will only happen through the people that you meet and conversations you have. Human beings create and convey meaning through stories and conversations. If you change the conversations that you’re a part of, then your life changes automatically.
Who to get coffee with
This isn’t 50 coffees with complete strangers. The coffees will be mostly with friends and existing acquaintances. You know that favorite former colleague you keep meaning to catch up with? Now is the time.
Mutual introductions are good. Think one degree of separation. Ask your friends, investors, clients, and colleagues if they know anyone interesting you should meet.
Having coffee with a purpose but without an ulterior motive has made me more confident about meeting new people. I still get nervous about asking someone new for coffee, but I’ve met great people and made some real friends.
50 coffees are worth it
I had 50 coffees when I left law for design. I did it again when I moved to London, and most recently when I published a book. The 50 coffees idea has worked so well for me in the past for these reasons:
My best ideas always come up during a heated conversation. My brain seems to be wired up to my mouth--not always a good thing--but it means that I think better when I’ve got a smart conversation partner to debate with. (Caffeine is great fuel for conspiracy.) For any big life change, there are people out there who have already done what I’m thinking of doing. I can get more from their anecdotes than any book, blog, or article.
To get more input, I try to meet people who have very different backgrounds than mine. I'm not talking about generic catch-up coffees and awkward first-time meetings with sales prospects. Instead, I'm looking for a focused debate with an intelligent peer. The best coffee discussions are about an idea you’re both interested in, or where the other person can give you input on something they like discussing.
Make the most of the coffee
The focus on a real project or issue is what makes this coffee different from just catching up. Instead, you’ll be conspiring, debating, and swapping stories. Being specific about what you want to talk about will make the coffee feel much more valuable. Here's what I've learned:
Be intentional and focused. Keep the coffee under 20 minutes. I usually meet people at their office and use the walk to and from the cafe to get the conversation going.
Be honest about what you want. Tell the other person upfront that you want their input on a big move.
Don’t ask for anything. Let the conversation be the value. No selling, no pitching, no interviewing. The other person’s time, advice and story is all that you can ask for in a short coffee meeting like this.
Think ahead. Formulate five to ten questions in your head that would be interesting for the other person to answer and that would help you triangulate your problem.
Take notes. A general chit-chat will be lost in the sands of time. For your 50 coffees, you should be taking notes because it shows you’re there for a reason and it’ll help you find common themes. Bring a small Moleskine notebook.
A small tickle can be good before asking someone to coffee. Stef and Paul from the start-up foundry Makeshift add people to a Twitter list like, “We should meet” or “Would like to chat." You can do simple things like follow the other person on Twitter or favorite their tweets. Don’t overdo it and add the other person on LinkedIn before even meeting them--that's a bit too forward. Still, it's nice to make some sort of connection in advance.
TIP: Don't waste people's time
Having coffee is contrary to a lot of the popular start-up buzz. Many investors and consultants are sick of getting coffees with strangers who waste their time. Rob and Sal from FounderCentric and LeanCamp invented Startup Burger Nights to avoid coffee meetings, and I know of several London investors who use the “just grab me at Silicon Drinkabout” line to dodge coffee.
These days it's hip to be unavailable, which is fair enough, but your 50 coffees shouldn’t be the type of banal, time-wasting catch-up that people avoid. You should make the experience fun, easy, and productive.
TechStars mentoring coffee
Coffee meetings are easier in a connected context like the start-up ecosystem, but you can meet anyone if you ask politely. My trick is to watch the other person’s drink. When they finish their coffee, the meeting is over. The theory is that if they’re enjoying the discussion, they’ll be too engaged to drink their coffee. We all reach for our glass in a moment of awkward silence or when we’re bored. Their coffee cup is your hourglass.
TIP: Never steal time
If the other person gives people advice for a living (think consultants and creatives), then don’t ask them for advice on your problem. Instead, just absorb their way of approaching it. Ask for war stories of interesting projects. Ask about how they got started. Let them talk about what they’re interested in.
How to get coffee with anyone
There are lots of ways to ask someone for a coffee, but I like to keep it simple:
Pick a good place. Think from their perspective and offer to meet at a high-quality independent cafe close to their office. I’m lucky because my blogging for The Coffee Hunter takes me to cafes all over London. You can use FourSquare to find a good place that’s close to their office.
Make it a good time. Some people like to do quick meetings in the morning to get them fired up. Others prefer a regular morning coffee or quick lunch. The Brits like "stopping for just one" on the way home from work, and that can be a good time to meet people. The most important thing is that it suits them.
Be interesting. Figure out what they are working on or would be interested in discussing. Put that in the first email.
Be direct. Put the invitation in the first line of the email. The preamble stuff is nice, but don’t bury the lede.
Tip: Travel for coffee
People crave novelty, so ask for coffee with a local when you travel. I’m now in London and would love to have coffee with someone who has just arrived from New Zealand. Likewise, when I was in New Zealand, I would have been happy to hear from someone who had just arrived from London. Even if you're on vacation, you can always put on your nice jeans and T-shirt to ask a local for coffee.
My next 50 coffees
My next move is to get back into consulting with companies in innovation and social media. I’ve loved working with start-ups in London, and will continue to work with the start-up scene through Converge and the Innovation Warehouse. But now it’s time for the next phase of my career. I’ll be reporting back on the coffees that I have along the way.
Increase Your Blog Revenue: Upsell and Package Your Services
If you haven’t put together your media kit yet, this would be a good time to get yours together. In your media kit, you should have a list of your services. What types of work can you do for your potential clients and advertisers?
Banner Ads
Social Media Promotion: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored Video
Event Promotion (both live and digital)
Event Production (both live and digital)
Photography
Styling
Design
Giveaways
Competitions
Dedicated Newsletters
Product Endorsements
E-Books
Workshops
Webinars
Ok, that’s what I could think of in a short brainstorm. Whatever your “special sauce” is, you can probably put that on your list of services. Each blogger is different.
Step 2: Put the services you want to sell in your media kit
Write out descriptions of your services, and if you have case studies, include examples of past partnerships (and their results) in your media kit. It doesn’t have to be thorough, just a one liner of the services, and bullet points of what it includes.
This is as much for you as it is for your clients. It also helps you to have a list of deliverables for your clients to see, it makes them feel like they are getting more value if they can see how much work goes into your services.
Step 3: When you make contact with your client, get them on the phone.
You can decide to send your media kit in the beginning or get them on the phone first. I don’t have a hard and fast rule for this, but I can usually tell in an email if a potential advertiser is serious. Usually if I think they are serious and it is a good fit, I get them on the phone first. If I think they don’t understand the site and may not be a good fit, I send them the media kit first and let them decide.
Either way, before I work with anyone, I get them on the phone before I work with them. There is so much that can be lost in email, and getting someone on the phone, or better yet, meet in person… is a good way to get a feel for the person you are working with. Also, it gives you an opportunity to get to the heart of what they need, and how you can meet their needs.
Step 4: Listen to your client’s needs
Always listen for the NEEDS, not the services.
Sometimes a client, will come with an idea of what they think they want you to do, say… they want a “dedicated newsletter” but actually they want to promote a contest. Instead of sending a dedicated newsletter, you know your readers would love the contest, meet their needs by suggesting to run the contest on your blog. Always go back to how you can meet your client’s goal.
Step 5: Suggest services that meet your clients needs
Now you know what your client’s needs are, suggest what would work best to connect your audience with their goals. However that looks for your particular blog.
If your client has a budget, sometimes they are upfront about it in the beginning, and sometimes they want you propose your services and costs first. Usually if that happens, I send them the media kit with price points, so they can know what to expect.
Step 6: Give your client different price options
This is where upselling comes in. When you propose your partnership, you can give different price scenarios. Even if they say the budget is X, give them room to move. In your proposals, give them choices, for example:
Package A:
Sponsored Post
$X
Package B:
Sponsored Post
Daily Twitter Promotion for one week
Banner Ad for one month
$XX
Package C:
Sponsored Post
Daily Twitter Promotion for one week
Banner Ad for one month
Dedicated Newsletter
Facebook Competition
Video Ad on Homepage
$XXX
This way you can sell in more of your services (and increase your revenue) by creating packages for your clients. Sometimes I play around with the prices to where I think the client will come in. Say, I want them to take “Package B” I make the price for a “Package A” not that much lower, so “Package B” is a better value.
Bonus Tip:
Always, always, always, make packages a better value than services purchased alone.
Step 7: Wrap up with a report
When you are done with your project, put together a report for your client. I like to make mine pretty with screen shots in a presentation, but you can just include bullet points with a list of your services and numbers corresponding, for example: Twitter click throughs via bit.ly: XXX
Reports can be great not only for your clients, but also for your case studies, assessing the value of your services, and case studies to manage expectations for your future clients.
10 Questions to Ask if You Want to Create a Winning Business Plan
The stodgy business plan--that multipage printed document that entrepreneurs used to hand out at meetings with venture capitalists--has gone the way of the typewriter and Rolodex. These days, entrepreneurs are expected to lay out their strategies in slick Power Point presentations, complete with colorful pictures and informative charts.
But while it's true that the format of the business plan has changed, the substance most certainly hasn't. If you're headed out to raise capital for your company, you'll still need to address key issues about the size of your market, the experience of your team, and your long-term financial goals. In the wake of the financial crisis, persuading potential financiers that your plan has legs will be especially challenging.
1. Have I proven that I'm filling an unmet need in the market?
As the economy still struggles to turn around, entrepreneurs are under pressure to gauge the strength of their market--in detail--before they go out and raise capital. Try test marketing your product on a small scale so you can realistically forecast how much you can sell in the future, suggests Edward Hess, professor and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
"Entrepreneurial funding is moving away from formal business plans to having to prove that customers are actually going to buy what you're trying to sell," Hess says.
2. How will I acquire and retain customers?
You'll also need to prove that your idea isn't a fad.
"Understanding how customers are going to be found, acquired and retained is critical," says Alison Berkley Wagonfeld, operating partner for Emergence Capital Markets in San Mateo, Calif. "Some companies might say, ‘We're going to buy search words,' but once they get somebody to their website, how are they going to sell them a product?"
3. Why am I better than the competition, both current and future?
If you have direct competitors, you'll need to devote several slides to depicting exactly how you plan to differentiate yourself. If you have no competitors, you need to explain that, too, Wagonfeld says.
"It's always great to think you have no competitors, but the flipside to that is why has no one else found this opportunity?" Wagonfeld says. "You may have a different expertise or a unique technology," but you have to explain why you think you can retain that competitive advantage.
4. What's the story behind my financial forecasts?
One common mistake entrepreneurs make in their business plans is to project that they will capture a certain percentage of the overall market for their product without fully explaining how they intend to do that, says Mark Steranka, director of planning and policy for Moss Adams' Consulting Group in Seattle.
"You can't just play a numbers game," Steranka says. "What will the key decisions be along the way? What will the key strategies be? You need to do a stellar job of really explaining how you're going to get from point A to point B."
5. What elements of this plan can I depict visually?
The rise of Power Point as the format of choice is forcing entrepreneurs to make their pitches with fewer words and more pictures. Some parts of your business easily lend themselves to graphic presentations, such as financial forecasts that can be shown in bar charts. But you might also consider using graphics, photos, and illustrations to demonstrate how your product works or how it differs from the competition.
6. Should I recruit a few key advisors?
Bryan Pearce, venture capital advisory group leader for Ernst & Young in Boston, says every startup should assemble an advisory board--a small group of industry leaders who can complement your skill sets and help you formulate your plan.
"An advisory board doesn't carry the legal weight of a formal board of directors, but it can be very helpful to the founding team in advising them on how to get the company going," Pearce says. The makeup of your advisory board should be included in your business plan, too. "If good people are willing to lend their names and help to get you going that speaks volumes about the potential of the business idea."
7. How am I going to spend my investors' money?
With the economy still sputtering, potential investors are going to want details about how you plan to stretch their dollars, Pearce says. Emphasize your strategy for holding down your cash-burn rate, and spell out exactly what you expect your costs to be for the first year or two.
8. Does my staffing fit the current state of my business?
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking they need to have all the key managers in place before they go out and raise funding, but that's not necessarily true. If your product is in the prototype phase, for example, you don't need a director of sales and a full sales force just yet. You should describe your plans for hiring those people, and include them in your cost estimates, but you'll want to show that you're taking a conservative approach with your funding and not over-staffing your company beyond your current operating needs.
9. What's the exit plan for the business?
Potential buyers will want to know how they're going to earn a return on their investment. If you hope to take your company public someday, your business plan should point to examples of other companies in your industry that have done so successfully.
If you think your company is a good candidate for an acquisition, try to strike up partnerships with potential acquirers, and include those names in your business plan, Pearce advises. "It's always good to have an understanding of who potential buyers might be, and to show that you're starting to create relationships with them," he says.
10. What is my personal exit plan?
If you're a 45-year-old founder with a dream of retiring at 55, don't be embarrassed to reveal that in your business plan. Potential investors will want to know that you've defined your personal goals and aligned your company with them, Steranka says. For example, if you don't plan to stay with the business for the long haul, your business plan should include a succession strategy--a specific strategy for developing talent within your organization, so the transition to a new leader is seamless.
"Investors want to know the truth," Steranka says. "While transparency up-front could turn away a potential investor, it's going to attract the right investor."
You know when you sit down to write your quarterly newsletter and you really don’t have a clue of what to say?
So what is wrong with this scenario? If so many people do it this way, you mustn’t be too far off right?
Wrong. Your customers want answers to their problems.
In the B2B space, most companies have the same issues:
They want sales and marketing ideas
They want to improve productivity of the operation and the team
They want to understand and make use of their data
They need help planning and forecasting
They want to keep their existing customers as well as add new ones
Your newsletter is only a part of your touch point process. There are many other ways you touch your customer, on the telephone, direct mail, in person and via your marketing campaigns but your newsletter is a very important and influential part of it.
If your customers love what you send them each time, they find it useful and relevant to them without needing to spend a whole lot of time reading it, then they won’t unsubscribe. People only unsubscribe if they are not getting value or usefulness from it.
Next time you send out your newsletter, before you hit send, run it past your internal barometer. Does it solve any of your customer’s problems? If it does, hit send, if it doesn’t, start again.
