Building a community that you own of like-minded individuals is a great desire for every creator but getting that community built is where most creators get stuck. the internet has many users who would like to hear your unique insights into various topics, but getting their attention can be discouraging if you follow the wrong strategy.
Why I choose this path less travelled
A lot of creators choose the path of creating content and waiting for the SEO gods to push their content to the top of search engines if it's written or cross their fingers that their videos will go viral on YouTube and gain them a following.
This strategy worked for years and built many internet empires but sadly it was on the sand, when the winds of algorithm core updates came beginning in 2023 most empires lost over 80% traffic in a day and sadly for most of them it has never bounced back.
I was also hit with the algorithm changes like many others and I experienced the pain of publishing well-researched and unique content only for it to fall flat. I have read many horror stories on Reddit of companies that had to lay off staff because sales slumped due to ranking changes. I won't get much into this as this is not the topic of this post but if you want to build a business relying on search engine traffic just know that most of what you read on the internet already doesn’t work.
The Constant Change of mindset
I already knew about email marketing for years but I always pushed it forward as a future project as I saw the friction involved in building a list as compared to publishing and ranking with no effort. after losing search engine traffic overnight I knew I had to revert to the feared email because I had control over my audience. I created a landing page on my LinkedIn and X and encouraged people to sign up for my newsletter but months later crickets.
I kept wondering why no one was signing up for my email list it was not until I realized one of the cardinal traits of human beings, people are not willing to give out their personal information with nothing in return.
I took my 4 exam materials on Google Cloud certifications published earlier and created a post in a Cloud certification Reddit community belong in and In the backend, I had already set Aweber my email provider with an autoresponder to send out the exam material as a PDF to anyone who subscribed to my list. And I remember publishing at night before going to bed and when I woke up I had already gained 60 subscribers in less than 10 hours.
I had made a compelling post on Reddit that had urgency in it as I had learnt earlier if you don’t put the need for urgency people are reluctant to act, that is why most sales you see have words like for this day only, in the next few hours and this goes down. etc… These trigger words just take advantage of another of human nature's traits.
When there is no urgency reluctance sets in
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Key takeaways
There are three things I want you as the reader to grasp as they will mean success to you.
1 AI has changed the Internet- Google with its reactionary behaviour to ChatGPT introduced a lot of core updates that wiped many Internet businesses from the face of the web and since AI is here to stay I don’t think It will change anytime soon, so writing and posting with the hope of ranking is already starting a race with your legs tied their no chance you are winning.
- Search for your community with all your might-as I have written I already know that if I had published that Reddit post in the wrong group or to my few x or LinkedIn followers it would have fallen flat. there are thousands of FB, and Reddit groups with like-minded people who will immediately see the value in what you say if you engage them there is no friction only wins.
- Build an email list. Don’t be a latecomer as I am starting an email list as a last resort I wish I would have started earlier but wishes are just horses am glad I have started this journey and it is showing signs of being a beautiful one. Go ahead and get started.
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