Conrad Hees’ Blog

Archive: Self-Marketing

Are You Missing Out On Your Biggest Self-Marketing Opportunity Ever?

Posted on January 06th, 2008 by Conrad in Self-Marketing

Photograph by Jack Dorsey

In our current environment, everyone is looking to get ahead, and everyone is trying to push their own personal brand up to the next level.

Yet many of us (myself included until recently) are letting our most precious and powerful self-marketing tool slip under our noses. We are not taking advantage of one of the most crucial vehicles for self-promotion that we have, and simultaneously putting ourselves at risk to be taken advantage of in the future.

So, have you figured out what I’m talking about yet?

The internet is growing exponentially year after year. Very soon, everyone in all the major, developed countries will be online.

Therefore, does it not make sense that for you, as a person, your greatest self-marketing tool is your own personal domain name?

I’m not talking about just any domain name, I am talking about yourname.com. Do you realize how important it is to own?

If you do, great. I hope that you are action-oriented enough to have bought it already. If you do not realize how important owning your own personal domain name is, then this article will show you exactly why you are taking a major risk with your future if you do not buy it immediately.

Playing with Fire

It had never occurred to me until a few months ago that I should buy www.conradhees.com. It was something that I, just like many others, simply did not think about. But as soon as I realized why it was imperative that I bought it, I logged on and snapped it up immediately.

I am lucky it was still available. Will you be so lucky?

There are many reasons, both good and bad, about why you must buy your name as a domain right now. Some of them are:

GOOD REASONS TO BUY YOUR PERSONAL DOMAIN NAME:

- It is a GREAT self-marketing tool. Your name is your biggest brand. It is the only name that you are stuck with FOR LIFE. Don’t you want to control your personal brand name’s biggest online counterpart?

- You can shape the world’s perception of you. You can use it to put up a blog, a website, or even just a short biography of yourself. Think of it as an online resume’ that the entire world will have instant access to. Don’t you want to control the things that everyone will know about you?

Putting up a personal website will allow you to shape the world’s perception of you by allowing you to display all of your most positive, impressive attributes. This can be a huge advantage for anyone.

- Soon, the number one tool people will use to find out about you will be Googling your name. Prospective employers, business partners, friends, and even enemies: all of these people will be using Google at one time or another to find out information about you. Don’t you want the number one search result ( yourname.com) to give them positive information?

‘BAD’ REASONS TO BUY YOUR PERSONAL DOMAIN NAME:

- If you don’t, someone else will. Have you tried to buy a domain name recently? ALL of the good names are taken, as well as most of the bad ones, too. How long do you think it will be until people start to buy up other peoples’ personal domain names? My bet is that it is already happening.

- If someone does buy yourname.com, how do you feel about buying it from them? Having to buy your own name from someone else? Scary thought, isn’t it? Don’t wait until it happens to you.

- Or worse, what if someone keeps it and uses it for something stupid, vile, or negative? Then, when people Google you, they will really get a good impression, won’t they!?!

-How many other people do you think have your full name? Chances are, there are dozens of people who have the same name as you right now, but there is only one domain name available, with a limited number of extensions. Don’t you want to be the one to own yours?

All of these points are extremely valid, and I could probably list several more. The overwhelming point is: what are you waiting for?

Overcoming Short-Sightedness

Even after reading all of the points I just made about why you should buy your own name as a domain, I know that many of you may be saying to yourself, “It’s not necessary, I’ll never use it.”

My argument for you in that respect is that thinking that you will not use it now is a very short-sighted perspective. You have no idea what you might do in the future, and needing your own name for a domain is a very real possibility. Do you really want to risk one of the negative consequences listed above happening to you, just because you don’t want to pay $7 for a domain name?

You have many years ahead of you, and many things are possible in the future. Buying your own domain name right now could be the most significant investment that you could ever make for yourself, and for your future.

Never trust your judgment about what you may need in the future. The truth is, you simply don’t know. Why take chances?

Get Out That To-Do List……

After writing this, I am fully aware that I may come off as if I am selling domain names on commission for one of the big companies. Maybe I should sell this article as a sales letter, eh?

Seriously, though, the only reason why I am pushing this so hard is because I feel that many people do not understand the severity of the situation. I would not want any of my readers to have to go through the pain of having to pay another person their hard earned money for their own domain name, simply because they were unaware of how important owning theirs really was.

So please, for your own sake, don’t wait. Put getting your own domain name up at the top of your to-do list. I promise that at some point down the line, you’ll be glad you did.

I will leave you with this quote, because it sums up my message perfectly:

“Do it now, because sooner or later, you’ll either be saying, “I wish I had” or “I’m glad I did.”

-Unknown

What do you think about getting your own name as a domain? If you have a comment or story, please add it in the comments section! We’d love to hear from you!

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The 7 Questions Each New Visitor Asks Themselves When Deciding Whether or Not to Subscribe

Posted on January 02nd, 2008 by Conrad in Blog Marketing, Self-Marketing

Photograph by -bast-

Have you ever wondered exactly what thought process a new visitor goes through when deciding whether or not to subscribe to a blog?

As I clicked around the blogosphere recently, looking for a few new sites to add to my feedreader, I noticed a mental pattern showing up that was happening in my mind effortlessly each time I arrived at a new site.

I noticed that as I looked at a new blog, there were several questions that I would ask myself automatically as I pondered whether to subscribe or not. As I became aware of this series of questions, it occurred to me that every other reader was likely asking themselves the same exact things when deciding if they were willing to subscribe to a new blog.

Then, it suddenly came to me: if I can identify exactly what questions a new reader asks themselves when deciding to subscribe, and then give them the ‘answer’ that they want from me, I will be able to convert a much higher percentage of new visitors into subscribers. Then, I naturally wanted to help my readers do the same, so I decided to write a post about it.

The purpose of this post is to help you understand exactly what a new visitor is asking themselves when deciding if they should subscribe to your blog, and how to answer those questions in a way that will help them decide in your favor.

The Burning Question

As bloggers and marketers, almost nothing can be more important to us than figuring out exactly how to get new visitors to commit to a relationship with our blogs.

Since it is free to subscribe to a blog feed, it should be relatively easy to get new subscribers, right?

Wrong.

The truth is that it is not free to subscribe to a new blog feed. In fact, it is far from it.

The reality is that each time we subscribe to a new feed, we are making an investment of our time and attention. And as smart and productive people, we expect a return on our investment.

In the new Attention Age, we are so flooded with information, that we must be more and more discerning about what content we choose to invest our time and attention in.

Therefore, the main question that precedes all others in a potential subscriber’s mind is: Read the rest of this entry »

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Why You’re Nobody Until You Have a Blog

Posted on December 31st, 2007 by Conrad in Blog Marketing, Self-Marketing, Success

Kind of a harsh title, isn’t it?

While of course we all have a lot of value without having to own a blog, the purpose of this article is to show you why no one will be able to see that value until you get with the program and start blogging.

High Expectations

As human beings, we are all governed by certain laws of the mind which limit us in various ways. One of those laws is that once we are conditioned to expect something, especially from ourselves and others, we tend to tune out all those who do not meet those expectations.

Look at it this way. Ten years ago, a cell phone was a luxury item, and very few people had one. Then, as cell phones became more readily available, more and more people began to get them. About five years ago, it was still acceptable to have a house phone line and use that for all of your calls, but the majority of people had cell phones by the early 2000’s.

Now, as 2008 comes upon us, everyone has a cell phone. I know 10 year olds with cell phones. I myself, as well as most of my young friends who are living on their own now, have opted not to even get a house line, and we strictly use our cell phones for our calls.

The point is this: in our current day and age, I think it is safe to say that you are considered a weirdo if you do not own a cell phone.

Isn’t that a strange phenomenon? Something that was considered rare and unnecessary ( and this can be applied to computers, business websites, etc.) only a short time ago, is now considered an absolute must-have for everyone in our culture. Now, we expect everyone to have a cell phone, every business to have a website, and so on……and if you do not have these things, you will be considered out of date, out of touch, and basically, less relevant in our current environment.

How This All Applies to Blogging:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Modeling: How to Speed Up Your Success By 1000% or More

Posted on December 19th, 2007 by Conrad in Productivity, Self-Marketing, Success

Photograph by Ulises Jorge

No, this is not an article on how to quickly become America’s Next Top Model. All of you search-engine visitors hoping for modeling tips, please click ‘Back’ right now.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I want to talk to you about the other type of modeling; the type of modeling that can realistically allow you to perform up to or more than 1000% better than you would have without it. Read the rest of this entry »

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How to Make Others View You In a Positive Light

Posted on December 19th, 2007 by Conrad in Relationships, Self-Marketing

Photograph by Amnemona

We all know the type of people who walk into a room and instantly raise the energy level. They get people talking and laughing, make others smile, and can easily get people to open up. These people are uplifting wherever they go, and always seem to get a great response from others, even people they barely know.

Conversely, we all know a person who can dampen others’ spirits just by being around them. When they enter a room, people clam up, become quiet and defensive, or are scared to speak for fear of criticism or ridicule. These people have few close friends, and are actually avoided by others because of their judgemental, gloomy, or aggressive demeanor.

Oftentimes, these two very opposite types of people are actually not very different at all. The main difference between them is often that the former understands a key rule in self-marketing, and the latter suffers because of ignorance of the same key rule. In this article, I will explain the vital self-marketing principle that I am referring to, and I will outline the three main ways that you can immediately work this law to your advantage in your professional and personal lives. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Top 5 Reasons Why Getting In Shape Is Crucial for Your Career

Posted on December 18th, 2007 by Conrad in Fitness and Health, Self-Marketing

Like it or not, your level of fitness is affecting your career.

Whether in a good way or a bad way, the people who are in charge of your future at your current place of employment are being influenced both subconsciously and consciously by your outward physical appearance. Their opinions of you are being directly impacted by your number one self-marketing tool: your body.

Although I hate to write articles like this because I fear they may come off as being incredibly shallow, the fact remains that one of the main focuses of this blog is self-marketing. I would not being doing my job of informing you how to better succeed in marketing yourself to the world if I didn’t tell you the hard facts about how your physical appearance is crucial to your success in our modern environment.

Trust me: your boss is taking the size of your gut into consideration when he decides whether to promote you or the guy in the next cubicle. Read on to find out just how critical becoming fit is to your professional well-being. Read the rest of this entry »

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Anatomy of a Self-Improvement Hit: 4 Genius Marketing Principles from “The Secret”

Posted on November 25th, 2007 by Conrad in Marketing, Self-Marketing

Photograph by Gigi Elmes

Being readers of self-development material, I am sure that most of you have heard about the popular book, “The Secret”. Many of you have probably read it or watched the DVD. Love it or hate it, just about everybody has an opinion on this self-development phenomenon that has topped the bestseller lists for over a year now.

Regardless of what anybody thinks, one thing is certain; Rhonda Byrne, creator of “The Secret”, is an absolute marketing genius.

She managed to take a subject that she knew little about, a subject that thousands of books have been written on, only a few with great success, and recreate it as if it was a brand new concept. She then proceeded to turn it into a pop-culture phenomenon. Even Rhonda herself admits that she only found out about the law of attraction a short while before she decided to write a book and do a movie about it!

Certainly, we can all learn a few things about marketing and self-promotion from the success of “The Secret”. Whether we want to learn how to market our blogs better, market our businesses better, or market ourselves more effectively, utilizing just a few core principles will help us immensely.

Here, I outline the four main principles of marketing that Rhonda Byrne used to create a self-development mega hit, and how you can use these principles to your advantage as well. Read the rest of this entry »

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How Bill Clinton Got the Whole World to Forget That He Cheated in the White House

Posted on November 18th, 2007 by Conrad in Relationships, Self-Marketing, Success

Photograph by Marcn
Recently, I sat down and read a very in depth interview with Bill Clinton in Rolling Stone magazine. As I sat there, looking at the pictures of a dewy-eyed Bill, hands clasped as he looked on at his wife speak at a political rally, or Bill and family eating a lunch of PB & J’s and chips in their modest kitchen shortly before he was elected President, and read our former leader’s eloquent and carefully worded responses to the interviewer’s questions, something dawned on me that I have heard many others say for years: Bill Clinton is one of the greatest self-marketers of our time.