The biggest question every writer asks when they start publishing online is, "How do I get people to read my stuff?" There are many answers to this question, and these answers are usually now referred to as "content marketing". Proposed methods run the gamut of SEO and Marketing advice, from back-linking and infographic making to the perfect way to write headlines ("People love lists!"). I've treaded close to these methods a few times in my darkest hours of need — the many times I'd vowed to just give up and stop writing because really, what's the use. But somehow the love of the web and the blogging format kept me going. And over the years I've made some discoveries about what it takes to build an audience, and why I think it's better to stay away from the easy ways and choose the difficult ways instead. In this talk I'll share some of that philosophy, and how a struggling blog with an insignificant number of readers has become not only a source of great joy and expression for me, but also a source of non-insignificant income. This isn't a talk about how to get to 1 million page views a month. It's a talk about how to make *your* page views count.

1. How to build an audience
in 743 difficult steps

2. @RianVDM

3. Step 1
Pick a URL that
no one can pronounce

4. Okay
let’s
back
up

5. Why
blog?

6. The
art
of
public
thinking

7. “The process of writing
exposes your own ignorance
and half-baked assumptions”
— Clive Thompson
Source: The art of public thinking

8. The
new
resume

9. Nothing will impress more
than an individual who has
taken the time to craft and
share their perspectives about
either the industry that they
serve or what inspires them.
— Mitch Joel
Source: The new resume

10. Let’san
build
audience!

14. The lure
of the
easy
will get you

15. “If you share, all I ask
is that you credit the
source. I can send
visitors to your site
as a thank-you if you
would like.”

16. “are you sell link
ads at insert article ??”

17. “I currently have a client
interested in placing
simple text link ads on
sites like yours.”

18. “I would primarily be
sending you paid content
for publishing on your
site…”

20. Source: How to get more Facebook likes

22. Why are we so
unwilling to work
hard for the
things that we
want?

23. A
different
way

24. The
longhard
stupid
way
Source: Frank Chimero

25. “Just because we're a casual
restaurant, doesn't mean we
don't hold ourselves to fine
dining standards. We try to do
things the right way. That
usually means doing things
the long, hard, stupid way.”
— David Chang, Momofuku restaurant
Source: David Chang gets a cameo

26. The hard way brings
An endless cycle of growth,
learning and mastery
The easy way brings
Learning how to play the
part without substance or
continued growth

27. Okay, fine.
But
what does it
mean?

28. How to build an audience
in 743 difficult steps

29. How to build an audience
the long, hard, stupid
way

30. Lesson
1

31. nobody
wants to
read your 💩

32. Nobody — not even your dog or your mother —
has the slightest interest in your commercial
for Rice Krispies or Delco batteries or
Preparation H. Nor does anybody care about
your one-act play, your Facebook page or your
new sesame chicken joint at Canal and
Tchopotoulis.
!
It isn’t that people are mean or cruel. They’re
just busy.
!
Nobody wants to read your shit.
— Steven Pressfield
Source: The Most Important Writing Lesson I Ever Learned

33. This
is
liberating

34. Writing is a transaction
Reader
Time
&
attention
You
Something
worthy

35. If we are going to ask people, in
the form of our products, in the
form of the things we make, to
spend their heartbeats on us,
on our ideas, how can we be
sure, far more sure than we are
now, that they spend those
heartbeats wisely?
— Paul Ford
Source: 10 Timeframes

36. Lesson
2

37. some
things aren’t
worthy 💎

40. “Yahoo tests more than
45,000 combinations of
headlines and images
every five minutes on
its home page.”
— Tom Chatfield
Source: The attention economy

41. 1,000 words
938 comments
300 words + 200 word excerpt
>7,000 comments
Source: Transfer of Value

42. “Once they are swallowed by
the HuffPo’s clever trafficgeneration machine, the same
journalistic item will make
tens or hundred times better
traffic-wise.”
— Frédéric Filloux
Source: Transfer of Value

43. Obsession

44. Voice

45. x
=
💎
Source: Merlin Mann & John Gruber at SXSW

46. This is why I prefer to
follow people
rather than topics
…while I know what to expect 90% of
the time, I look forward to that 10%
which I’d never have predicted, but
which I still enjoy reading.
— Callum J Hacket
Source: Reading the unexpected

48. Lesson
3

49. Writing
is one thing
Publishing
is a whole different thing
📰

51. Publish
anyway
(It’s the only way
you’re going to get
better at it)

52. “There is no
avoiding the
deliberate
strain of real
improvement.”
— Cal Newport
Source: The Father of Deliberate Practice Disowns Flow

53. So, how’s
that
working out
for you?

54. Average monthly
page views
Slowly
going up
and to the
right

55. But
it also turns out
Who
your
readers
are
>
How
many
readers
you have

58. But perhaps
most importantly…

59. So…

60. Find your obsession
Find your voice
Publish more

61. (and do it the hard way)

62. “The danger of creating a path
instead of following one is far
more important than the feeling
you get resting at the apex.”
— AJ Leon

63. It’s going to
make you happy

64. Thanks!
Connect on
Twitter at @RianVDM