Martin Koss – thinking out loud…

Building your foundations. Sowing your seeds. Planting your roots. If you don’t do the ground work, forget to do the hard work that goes into preparing for the future – how can you expect to succeed in anything – and that includes all things ‘social’ and all things relating to your Internet Marketing.

Building solid foundations for the future.

When I first started doing Internet Marketing for clients my ‘tag line’ was “To The Top Of Google – Naturally” – which basically meant no black hat crap, no scamming or trickery to force a website into the first page of the search engine results and no buying links etc., just hard work, ethical practices and more hard work… Building the foundations for the future.

I’m a big believer in things happening ‘naturally’ and that there is little value in forcing things to happen. With SEO it makes perfect sense to be indexed and ranked based on content that adds clear value and information for the ‘searcher’ and to be listed for relevant phrases.

With all things ‘Social’ you must plant your roots.

“Build your list” they all say. Doesn’t matter how you do it – just build your list. Without a list you have no business.

Really? Oh dear. Let me grab my coat and lock my office door then because if that’s true I should have no business.

I have a list, a small list but a list nonetheless. My list is a list of people I have got to know. People who I talk to, exchange ideas with, participate in conversations with and, in many cases, collaborate with on various projects. These relationships didn’t happen by simply clicking “follow” or “become a fan”, they evolved out of one-on-one dialogue – just like any valued relationship.

I’m not saying that “following” or “becoming a fan” is a complete and utter waste of time but I think 90% or more of it is. Like; why does a dress maker in Thailand follow me and expect me to reciprocate the follow? Why would a veterinary surgeon in Norway want to be friends with me or a carpenter from Bogota expect me to become a lifelong fan?

I’m never going to buy a bridal gown or take up an interest in haberdashery, waist-bands and shoulder-pads.

Although I love animals I have little interest in what causes equine coughs or fixing anything small and furry and I certainly don’t envy anyone with a passion for neutering the poor little buggers.

As for becoming best buddies with a carpenter or cabinet maker. Why? I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to correctly use  hand tools such as chisels, planes etc., or how to make a dove-tail joint (what’s wrong with glue and nails) or what the difference is between a dado rail and an architrave (and even how to spell it).

Sow the seeds of solid relationships.

The thing is – so few of the people who are addicted to the “Follow” button, can’t ignore the calling of the “Become a Fan” button and refuse to resist the inviting “Friend” option – you know the ones – they send out friend requests and become a fan of everything under the sun – they haven’t an ounce of interest in the person or business they think they are “connecting” with.

No. They are doing it for one reason: building their own numbers in the hope it will boost their own online social status (willy waving) – no reason at all. You’ve got no build relationships – they don’t just happen.

This is not connecting. This is not forming relationships. This is not business building and I don’t consider it ‘building the list’. I call it a load of &%$@o*!s.

Do you want solid lifelong connections?

Do you want real friendships to evolve out of your ‘social networking’?

Do you want to boost business opportunities?

The starting point, just like any success, is

- sowing your seeds

- planting your roots

- laying solid foundations…

So stop wasting your time in the numbers game – you ain’t gonna win – and start

Making REAL Connections with REAL People!

See – there is no magic formula – it’s just people connecting with people.

Oh yes: Thanks Lynn for the title; The “Without Roots” idea came out in a conversation yesterday with a real person…

 

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