Success & Motivation

August 9, 2010 by 1 Comment

Mark Cuban is an American entrepreneur. He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA basketball team, owner of Landmark Theatres, and Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network in America.

He is also an extremely rich man and a very successful business man.

So you know what? When mark was 24 he was jobless, lived in a house that was probably condemned for destruction with 5 other friends and dreamed of running his own business one day but had no idea what or when to start or even if he could actually do it. That actually sounds like someone ‘normal’, like you and I right?

Mark Cuban has a VERY interesting series of articles he titled “Success and Motivation” that give you his story of what it was like starting his first business. Please have a look at it, you will be motivated to succeed.

Filed Under: Internet Culture Tagged With:

How To Be Successful

October 12, 2009 by 4 Comments

About two months ago, we started a little project to try and work with some of our readers and try help them earn their very first Shilling online. Of course this program is Biashara 30. Well, B30 is now coming to a close and I want to take this opportunity to share the biggest lesson that I learn over the duration fo B30.

First, let me digress. B30 was fairly successful. We only let in 10 people and, unfortunately, some of the people we let in did not find time to participate in B30. The rest were very active, and the B30 training website bears witness to this. By far, the star of B30 was Maria Maina. She came to B30 being a big newbie on the internet but as I write she is launching an ebook shop whose first offering is an ebook that was written by Maria herself. In addition, she is a raging success at online freelancing.

How did she do it? In her own words, “Don’t flake out and everything you do will achieve some success.”

I agree with Maina. If you want to do something, and succeed at it then you have to do it, and do it well. You have to put in the energy, focus and do the work. There is no shortcut, really.

Going back to B30, Maria stood out from the rest – she actually really did everything that we talked about, and flooded our inboxes with questions. What about the rest of the B30 participants? No one put as much effort as Maria……likewise, no one is enjoying the success that Maria is enjoying.

If you want to do something, and succeed at doing it then you simply must work at it. Find time and work at it; and work at it again, and again until you accomplish your goals.

N/B: If you’re looking to get into the next B30 then be warned….everything that you achieve is absolutely up to you and to the amount of time and effort that you put into the project.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,

How To Build A Successful Website

July 5, 2009 by 8 Comments

I’m sure you’ve heard of them too, haven’t you? You know, those kids making millions on the net…. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all just finally get how this internet thing works? Then we’d all be making millions like they do.

Usually, “those kids” have a website, or a “place” if you will, where their millions are made. All websites are essentially the same since they are viewed or accessed through a “browser” (of whatever kind). But yet, of these sites, some are more successful than others. Why? Of course a website has to be pleasing to the eye and usable in that it doesn’t annoy visitors at first sight (or click).

But, most websites are pleasing to the eye and usable yet some are still more successful than others. Why?

The success of a website can be defined as the degree to which a site accomplishes its intended goals. So if you created your website to, say, make you money, then it would be termed as successful if and when it made you money. If you made it so that you can show your friends your wedding photos then it would be successful if your friends are able to view the wedding photos. The success of any website is tied to its intended use/goals.

Not all websites are created for the same purpose and, therefore, their success or failure cannot be measured by the same yardstick. So before you set out to make a successful site, you must define what you mean by “success” and then figure out a way to measure whether or not the site is successful.

The success of websites is specific to each site but what is needed to make a successful website is universal. Yes, I’m trying to say that all successful websites are made the same way. How? The success of any website is dependent on two things:

  1. Content
  2. Marketing

Content – What do your site’s visitors come to do there? By content I mean the value given to the site’s visitors/users. Do they come to learn? To interact? To be entertained? Whatever it is, it has to be good.

Successful sites are built on the foundation of providing value to the site’s users. Why should I visit your site? What can I find on your site that I cannot find anywhere else? Look, I have my emails, facebook, myspace, football news and that new site that everyone is talking about – I don’t have time to give you my attention! You have to provide something of value to me so that I can make the time to have a look at your website. And if it is not good enough I will leave in a second.

I have to say that not just any valuable content will do. I’ve seen sites built on nothing but freely available beautiful/interesting/entertaining/funny/etc content. This won’t do. Your site has to be unique. If I can find it anywhere else, why should I come to you? You have to build a purple cow.

Marketing – A site could have the most interesting, enlightening, entertaining, etc, information in the world but if no one knows that it exists no one will visit it.

A while back, it used to be that “if you build it, they will find it”. Not anymore. There are millions of websites. Think of it as a vast library and your site is some tiny book on the top shelf at the back of the library. It could be the best book ever but no one will read it if they don’t know its there.

Therefore, you cannot just build a beautiful, usable, entertaining website. You have to market it too.

How do you market your website? There must be hundreds of ways to do this and I’m sure I cannot list them all. But, I believe that “marketing” isn’t the same as advertising. Marketing isn’t what you do when your site is ready just to bring in visitors. Marketing has to be in-built from the inception of the idea. Build something remarkable, something unique, something that people will tell their friends about excitedly.

Yeah I’m really actually repeating what I said – that you need to build a purple cow. See, these two things: content and marketing, they have a connection. The first step of marketing your website is to build/provide remarkable, useful, amazing, entertaining, valuable content.

Useful resources:
Netiquette.
Purple cow.
Tens of articles on blog promotion.
17 Ways to promote your blog.
37 Ways to promote your site.
10 Ways not to promote your site.
Top 10 SEO tips.
SEO training made easy.

Photo by @dakno.

Filed Under: Tips Hacking and Reviews Tagged With: ,