Life Say Articles

Do you know this story?

A scorpion needs to cross the river. He asks a friendly-looking frog to carry him across.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” asks the frog. “You’re a scorpion. You’ll sting and kill me.”

“No I won’t,” says the scorpion. “That would be completely against my self interest. If I sting you, I’ll fall in the river and drown.”

The frog sees the sense in this and agrees to carry the scorpion across the river. Halfway across, the scorpion stings him.

“Why did you do that?” asks the dying frog.

“I’m a scorpion,” answers the drowning scorpion. “It’s my nature.”

Who are you asking to take you across the river?

This painful little story illustrates something we’ve all seen, but sometimes forget.

Lie down with dogs and you’ll get fleas. Do business with scorpions, and you’ll get stung.

For some reason, until recently, most practical information about how to succeed in online business has come from scorpions.

People who see prospective customers as prey to be hunted. People who teach unethical shortcuts. People who preach games and systems, not value and relationships.

Some of the scorpions have interesting things to say. Some of them are even brilliant. And many of them can teach you good techniques.

But they’re scorpions. And you don’t want to find yourself at their mercy when you’re halfway across the river.

Things are changing . . . fast

Have you noticed? Something fascinating is happening in the world of Internet marketing.

Maybe it’s the widespread adoption of social media that’s made the difference. When everyone can Facebook, Twitter, and blog, all of a sudden it’s very hard for the scorpions to pretend to be good guys. The shortcuts get revealed. The light gets turned on to show the little (and large) deceptions.

The flip side is, now it’s easier than ever for great stuff to get found. If you’re glorious, people start talking about you. Word of mouth becomes “word of click.” And the good guys start finishing first.

Copyblogger was an outlier from the beginning. Brian taught his readers how to combine direct response marketing (a tool that was too good to leave to the scorpions) with content and social media to deliver amazing value to potential customers.

And there were certainly others. Chris Brogan devoting himself to his audience for 11 years to create his “overnight success,” built on integrity and connection. Darren Rowse, unofficial Nicest Fellow in the Blogosphere, showing up tirelessly to create value for his readers and help them become “probloggers” in their own right.

The ranks started to swell. We’ve been lucky enough to have many of them write for us in the past year or two. Naomi Dunford. Dave Navarro. Chris Garrett. Johnny B. Truant. Laura Roeder. James Chartrand.

These are people who don’t choose to be (or hang out with) scorpions. People who went back to just offering real solutions, developing fantastic relationships with their customers, and building solid businesses around that.

The Third Tribe is coming

Almost a year ago, this “new” (actually old) way of doing business started to be known as the Third Tribe. We had no use for the scorpions, but we didn’t want to be the clueless frog, either. We wanted to make a good living and be decent people. And we rejected (ok, I’ll be honest, mocked) anyone who tried to tell us we couldn’t.

We knew better. We were doing it. And it was working – third tribe marketing is effective.

Brian and I instantly saw that this intersection was the future of Copyblogger. And, in fact, that it was the future for the smartest online entrepreneurs — the ones who wanted to build the most interesting, most profitable businesses.

So for the past few months, Brian and I, along with some clever co-conspirators, have been building something for you. A place for the Third Tribe to come together. To share ideas and inspiration. To educate ourselves about marketing and business techniques — effective techniques that respect our audiences and preserve our relationships. To grow farther and faster than any of us could alone.

If you’re already subscribed to the free Copyblogger newsletter, Internet Marketing for Smart People, you can relax. You’re going to be getting all of the details in the next few days.

If not, you may want to fix that now. Our newsletter readers will be the very first to hear about the new project, and have a chance to take advantage of a ludicrous sweet offer.

If you’re curious about it (or frankly, if you’d just like to take advantage of a free 20-lesson course on what smart Internet marketers are doing in 2010), click here to sign up for the newsletter. It’s free, it’s got good stuff, and it’s where you’ll be able to find out all about the new Third Tribe project.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and a co-founder of Inside the Third Tribe.

Many of you began blogging to get more business. I’m sorry to tell you that many of you are doing the exact opposite.

Your blog isn’t getting you more business — it’s actually sending business away.

How did that happen?

A blog is supposed to create more interest in what you do or what you sell. It’s supposed to bring you more credibility, more readers. It’s supposed to show off your expertise. All that should be great for business. Where did it all go wrong?

You forgot that you have a business first and a blog second.

What do you do for business?

You’d be shocked at how many blogs don’t have an answer to the question, “What do you do?” readily available. The blog itself has a clearly defined subject, lots of rockin’ content, and plenty of people commenting on posts.

That’s all great, but the whole point of having a business blog was to get people interested in the product or service you sell. And that information often isn’t easy to find. Sometimes, it isn’t anywhere to be seen.

It’s not in your tagline. It’s not in your About section. It’s not in a big shiny button where site visitors can’t possibly miss it.

You may have fifty million visitors a day. But if very few of them have any idea that your blog is there for more than providing them with free information and entertainment, your blog is ruining your business.

Let me restate the obvious: you are business blogging. That means your awesome content must be delivered in the context of your business goals.

Remind me again: what do you do?

Let’s say that some new guy shows up on your blog. Maybe he got the link from a friend on Twitter, or maybe he was just goofing around on Google. He reads your post. He likes it.

He leaves.

It’s simple: he got what he came for. He found your post and read it. He may also need the services you provide. In fact, there’s a very good chance he does, because he was looking for information within your expertise. If he showed up wanting to know about 10 ways to prevent a bad stain job, and you provide wood staining services, he may very well want to chuck the idea of doing it himself and hire you instead.

But he didn’t arrive at your blog looking for someone to hire. He came for the information. And he got it.

Very often, people don’t see what’s obvious to you. You know you’re blogging for business. You know that you’re for hire. But that site visitor? He doesn’t think of that at all. You have to put the idea in his head.

And a very, very good place to do that is at the end of that useful post he just read. Finish every single post with a little nudge toward hiring you. “If you’ve got a project too delicate for you to screw up, contact me today. I’ll quote you on a perfect, professional job — no screw-ups, guaranteed.”

Your readers come around for your advice and your insight, and that’s great for your blog. But if you don’t remind them regularly that you have something more to offer than just information, they won’t think of hiring or buying from you.

And that is really, really lousy for your business.

Go make sure your blog readers know what you do for business. Three times over.

About the Author: For more great tips and an insightful blog on freelancing, head on over to Men with Pens, where you’ll get all the success advice you need. And guess what? You can even hire the team to help you rock your business to success.

Multi-tasking drivers are busy people. They’re busy texting, emailing, calling or tweeting. They’re also busy killing and maiming thousands of Americans because they place more importance on trivial exchanges with pals miles away than on paying attention to the road ahead.

Such multi-taskers are as bad as drunk drivers, studies show. Indeed, with their erratic behavior and slowed reaction times it’s hard to tell the difference. But since so many more distracted drivers than drunk drivers ramble our roads, the yakkers and texters are making one difference, all right: They’re becoming America’s new No. 1 traffic threat.

Harvard researchers have found that 2,600 Americans die and 570,000 more are injured in a year’s worth of traffic accidents because of one thing: distracted driving. Yet as bad as it is, it will only get worse, because the computer and auto industries are placing profits above safety. Astonishingly, given the carnage so far, they’ll soon sell computer screens on car dashboards.

Intel Corporation and Google are leading the charge, planning front-seat computer screens under the guise of “progress.” Let’s see: Getting more Americans killed and maimed is progress? Terrorists might agree, but reasonable Americans would not.

Unveiled at the Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., these devices will include 10-inch screens above a car’s gear shift featuring Web pages, 3D maps and high-definition videos. The New York Times says such “infotainment” systems will reach the market later this year.

Audi has an in-dash computer planned for the fall – and will try to salve its conscience by having this appear when the system activates: “Please only use the online services when traffic conditions allow you to do so safely.” Relying on drivers’ discretion and common sense hasn’t worked so far. What makes Audi think this will be different – especially after a consumer pays money for the in-dash computer?

Audi and Ford say they’ll have built-in constraints to ease Americans’ transition to driving while web-surfing. For one, access to certain functions will be reduced when a car is in motion. But the distracting screen will still beckon – like the personal laptops which caused airline pilots to overshoot their destination by 150 miles.

If you or a family member is harmed by a distracted driver, Jim S. Adler & Associates will get their attention — via a car accident lawsuit.

Jim S. Adler & Associates is a longtime Texas personal injury law firm with offices in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Channelview. The law firm offers a free case review and represents victims of auto, car, SUV, truck, motorcycle, bus and other traffic accidents.