Standing out in a crowded internet :: Jun 2009

Standing out in a crowded internet

Volume 3, Number 06  |  June 2009

The internet giveth (lots of cool stuff to look at, information at your fingertips, something new around every corner) and the internet taketh away: namely, the time and attention of the people you're trying to reach via the internet, to all that good stuff I just listed above.

Getting people to give you their attention on the internet is harder than it was even three years ago, but it's not impossible. Here's what I've learned about getting the right kind of attention.

Be more awesome than the next gal. Or, watch you who watch, as I like to say, and spend some time analyzing what's drawing your attention to that short video on YouTube instead of this one, to one must-read blog or newsletter, to that one particular person in the room. Sure, sometimes it's because the person/blog/video is a trainwreck and rubbernecking seems baked into the human condition, but what makes something a favorite you return to, or want to pass along? There's gold in that analysis.

Be awesome more of the time. Practice--lots of it--makes for awesome. But even 10 minutes per day will get you there eventually (or can kickstart things, period). See what time you can steal from other people being awesome (TV?) or not (TV?) and apply it toward increasing and expressing your own fabulosity.

Be around people who increase your awesome quotient. I joke a lot about the amount of time I spend horsing around on the internet, but I spend the bulk of it reading about and learning from and talking to people who are much smarter than me or know stuff I don't or, preferably, both.

That's how I find out what a (great) employer calls a great cover letter (thanks to Ben & Kernspiracy for the link, or examples of performers using social media well & wisely (thank you, Bonnie), or 90% of what I share here and/or on StumbleUpon, Facebook and delicious (Thank you, internet!)

Here's where I differ, for better or worse, from most people advocating for focus: popular wisdom says to focus externally, on niche; I think you should focus internally, on what really floats your boat, before you worry about who to float it by.

The simplest way of ferreting out what truly moves you is making lists of stuff you like, and paying attention to patterns that show up. You can do it online at Listography or on your own with pen & paper (or their nifty book, Listography, which gently prods you into divining your interests). I'm also forever praising Julia Cameron and her Artist Way tools (morning pages, especially); if you're a little more left-brain, Steven Covey's 7 Habits and Now Discover Your Strengths are also useful.

Musician Jonathan Coulton has built a comfy career on the model, as have Terra Naomi and Christine Kane. My friend, Chris Guillebeau, a serial entrepreneur and world traveler who's made the transition to full-time writer (and who gave away an excellent book on exactly how he managed that) talked to a whole slew of mostly fine artists to talk about how they did it. (That one you do have to pay for, but knowing Chris, it's worth it. And it's guaranteed, besides.)

Not an "artist"? Not a problem. Chris Brogan was a crazy-maniac giver-away-er of his best information on social media for years before he become the brand name he is now; the irony is that giving it away helped him build a community around his interests which helped him divine his true and specific niche: building community with new tools and time-tested practices. Mignon Fogarty turned an appetite for good grammar into an empire because she was intent on the former, not the latter.

Jason Kottke, Heather Armstrong and John Gruber all have careers based on writing about their respective interests, each of which evolved into something bigger and, we can only presume, better for them. 

Yes, most of these people got on the web early and many are crackerjack writers. But interest and focus count for more than you might think, and everyone gets better at writing (or talking, or performing) by doing more of it.

Do what you do really well, let the internet do what it does really well--making things proliferate for nothing--and you're on the way to showing the world your particular flavor of fabulosity. Awesome.