3 HN users recommended this talk3 months2010–2011score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters recommend it as an energetic, unscripted talk on creating for the long term and hustling.
Gary Vaynerchuk's keynote at RailsConf 2010 in Baltimore. The Wine Library TV founder talks about building a business and audience through genuine effort and caring about customers.
“Go watch Gary Vaynerchuk's talk at RailsConf 2010” (HN, 2011)
Just read his book cover to cover, its only 130 pages, he has motivated me to get off my ass and do something. It is really easy to fall into the typical social conventions and not do something because "I don't feel like it". Check out a great talk on creating for the long term at RAILSCONF: [this video]
Borrow other people's traffic. Specifically, guest blog everywhere you can, and set up an affiliate program. If you don't want a public affiliate program, that's fine - only open it to certain referrers. For instance, give bloggers with large audiences who you'd like to target a discount code they can share with their readers. Email/tweet at Smashing Magazine - they're nice folks and I bet they'd mention this, even if just in a tweet. Edit: I see now that you have been guest blogging. Do it more! It's not just about the traffic you see in the next day - it's also a long term link-building strategy. Also, don't get down about "only" 5.5k uniques. That means FIVE AND A HALF THOUSAND HUMANS were interested enough to visit your site! Go watch Gary Vaynerchuk's talk at RailsConf 2010: [this video] He talks a lot about caring about your customers/audience/whoever (or, as he puts it, "giving a fuck"). Maybe you could put in some sort of "Not totally convinced? Enter your email here to learn more from the founder" mechanism, and then personally email those people, get to know them, and convince them to buy (if it's a good fit). Sure, that's not scaleable, but why not do it right now while your traffic is "low"?
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