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Community Before Cash - The AJ Vaynerchuk Interview
Over the past year, bloggers and entrepreneurs have studied Gary Vaynerchuk so they too could build killer online businesses and maybe even become famous.
AJ Vaynerchuk has been studying Gary since he was a little boy. Now AJ is using many of the social media techniques that his brother developed to build PleaseDressMe, a tshirt search engine. I interviewed him to see how those techniques could be used to grow a startup.
Here’s some of what I learned. (Download the full interview for much more.)
Community Before Cash - I asked AJ over and over about making money and being rich. He clearly has a business model for PleaseDressMe and revenues are coming in, but he kept telling me that cash is not his focus right now. It’s all about building the community.
Answer Every Email - Years ago I sent Seth Godin an email and got an instant response. I couldn’t believe it. He’s a guy who’s running business and has a large fan-base and he responded to my email right away. It was a personal touch and it won me over. Gary has given speeches about responding to every email. Now AJ does the same thing at PleaseDressMe. Test him if you want.
(Listen to this interview that I did with Mark Hurst to learn how to rip through your emails quickly.)
Make It Sharable - The first time I went on PleaseDressme, there wasn’t much on the site–but every single tshirt had a “share this” button. If you want people to talk about your site, you need to make it easy for them to share it. I don’t know why bigger sites like the GAP don’t have “share” buttons on their clothes.
Use Every Social Site - Did you see the video I did with Ted Murphy? He said the same thing. Let your audience talk to you on any site they want. AJ tried doing live videos on ustream and his customers gave him an idea for selling more tshirts.
Give Bribes Gifts - AJ gives people a chance to win free tshirts if they become fans of PleaseDressMe on Facebook or if they message his site on Twitter or if they participate in his community in some other way. We talked about this technique a little at the Mixergy Viral Forum. It seems to be an under-appreciated, but powerful catalist for community-building.
Shock Customers With Service - AJ links to tshirt sites that don’t pay him a referal fee. If you can’t find a shirt on his site, he might Google it for you and send you a link to another site. He shocks people with customer service. Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com’s CEO, told me how he built a billion dollar company on this kind of customer service.
Right click to download the FULL interview
How to Increase Conversions - The Olivier Chaine Interview
To learn how to increase conversions, I spoke with Olivier Chaine, the CEO of Magnify360. I knew he’d make a great teacher because his company is in the business of increasing conversion rates. Magnify360 offers a software-as-a-service platform which enables Web sites to adapt in real-time to the behaviors of individual visitors
Download the full interview to hear more, but these are some of my notes from the conversation.
You know so much more than you realize
Olivier showed me that even if a user has never been to your web site, you can still predict what will appeal to her. You can tell, for example, if she uses a Mac or PC. If she uses a Mac, you might make your page look more cutting edge. If she uses a PC, you might make your landing page look more official.
Other things you can easy know include: time of day, where your user is, and what she did just before she came to your site. If you take each of those factors into account, you can deliver the perfect pitch to each user and increase your conversion rate.
Why should anyone do anything?
You need to give people a compelling reason to take the action you want, or they won’t do it. I asked Olivier to look at CauseCast.org and tell me what they could to increase conversions. After complimenting them on their use of celebrities and user testimonials, he noticed the registration process and wondered why anyone should register. He suggested they give a strong, clear reason to join and more people will register.
Check out how goodreads does that on their homepage.
You want people to tell you all that?!
Another way to increase conversions is to ask fewer questions. We looked at qtask.com. Olivier loved their use of images, but when he saw the registration form, he said it might overwhelm users. Also, the optional fields aren’t clearly marked “optional” so the form seems even longer.
Do you know any ways to increase conversions? Add them to the comments!
Right click here to download the interview
5 Steps to Becoming a Networking Superstar - The Peter Pham Interview
If you want to know the value of having a good network, take a look at what it’s done for Peter Pham’s new company, BillShrink:
- Networking helped him find a co-founder who is a former venture capitalist.
- Networking helped him land a top creative director without having to pay a recruiting fee.
- Networking helped him get an adviser who successfully sold a startup in the industry Peter wants to dominate.
- Networking helped him get his business funded.
Here are 5 of the steps he took to become a networking superstar. (Listen to the full interview for more.)
Go where they are - To get hooked into the web startup community, Peter went to tech events. He met his co-founder at the very first event he went to, the TechCrunch party in Michael Arrington’s house.
Once isn’t enough - Even the shiest networker can start building contacts by consistenly going to similar events. People start to recognize you and relationships naturally develop.
Everyone knows the host - After going as a guest to a few events, Peter switched roles and started hosting his own dinners. When you’re a guest, you get to meet a few people at an event, but the host gets to know everyone.
Tap their lists - To broaden his guest list, he co-hosted his dinners with two other connections: Mike Jones, CEO of userplane and Keith Richman, CEO of Break.com
Watch it grow - Word started to spread about his small dinners and people started asking for invitations. So Peter and his co-hosts created bigger events. The most recent one had over 150 guests. There’s even a web site, now betasouth.org. It’s a “.org” because the goal to make connections, not profits.
What are your networking tip? Add them to the comments.
Right click to download this interview
How To Grow An Email Mailing List - The Justin Premick Interview
When you signed up for Facebook or Twitter, did you start using it right away? Or were you like me and only started becoming an active user after getting a few emails for the company to remind you that you have an account and helping you get acquainted with it?
I’ve noticed that many of the most successful online companies–and many well-known bloggers–understand how to use email well. To learn what they know, I interviewed Justin Premick, a teach at aweber, an email software company.
Here’s some of what I learned about growing a mailing list:
Understand why: Most people don’t understand the power of email marketing so they don’t make growing their list a priority. If you have a good mailing list, you can ensure that you’ll reach your audience–if you don’t, you never know if a user liked your site but never came because because he forgot about it.
I don’t even see it! One reason that users don’t join mailing lists is that they don’t even see where the registration process is. During our interview, Justin and I went hunting for an email registration form and we couldn’t find it.
“Why should I?” Most people don’t say, “I want more email.” They say, “why should I register?” So you have to give them an incentive to join your list. When Justin looked at my site, he said I didn’t give people enough of an incentive to register and suggested I offer special interviews just to people who register.
Location, location, location: Justin told me that one thing successful list growers do is put their registration processes in multiple locations.
Do you know any other ways to grow a mailing list?
Right click here to download the full interview!
How “Talk Like A Pirate Day” Became A Sensation - Interview With The Founders
Ahoy, me hearty!
Have you noticed how every September 19, people around the world start talking like pirates and web sites start writing like pirates? It’s called “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” and it’s gotten so big that it was even celebrated on the International Space Station.
I wanted to find out where it started and how it spread, so I could learn how ideas take off. That’s why I interviewed the two founders, John “Ol’ Chumbucket” Baur and Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers. Here’s what I learned from them.
Random & fun: This was the most disturbing aspect for me. I like to think that everything can be planned. If you listen to my interview, you’ll hear me constantly ask for the techniques the two founders used to grow their movement (that’s what I do). And they keep telling me there was no business plan. It just happened.
Simple publicity: The only formal publicity they did was email humor columnist Dave Barry. They told him how one day on a raquet ball court they started talking like pirates and that their friends thought it was so cool that they too started talking like pirates. They asked Barry to run with it and he did.
What trademark? I think a key reason that Talk Like a Pirate Day spread is that Baur and Summers allowed anyone to run with it, no limits. You can sell tshirts, call yourself “the official” this or that of Talk Like a Pirate Day, or do whatever you want with the concept without asking their permission. That opens people up to creativity and helps the idea spread virally.
You can be uptight: Another reason the “holiday” spread so fast is that anyone can do it. You just have to toss an “Ahoy!” or “me heart!” into your conversation and that’s it.
Why do you think “Talk Like a Pirate Day” spread so widely?
Right click to download the full interview!
How Domainers Profit - The Susan Smith Interview
You ever go to a web address and see a page full of links? Those links are all ads and the pages are owned by “domainers.” To learn how that business works and how anyone can profit from it, I talked with Susan Smith of DomainSponsor.
Here are some of the things I learned from her. (Download the interview for more.)
The easy days are over - In 1996, Scott Day bought watermelon.com for $3,000 and a crate of watermelons. He went on to build a domain empire that included bed.com, dress.com, and even GeorgeBush.com Today, the easy-to-get names are gone.
You have some already - Chances are good you already own some domains and aren’t doing anything with them. Try running ads on them and see how profitable they are. Maybe you bought PartySupplies.com with a plan to build a party supply empire one day. Until you get around to it, use that domain. If you send it to Susan, she’ll run ads for you and help you figure out how profitable it is.
You can contact Susan here: ssmith[at]domainsponsor.com
Don’t Tase Me Bro - New words, concepts and ideas keep popping up into the language. When you hear a phrase that you think will stick around buy that phrase as a domain name. (DontTaseMeBro.com is already taken.)
Did I miss something? If you have any other lessons from domainers, add them to the comments.
Right click to download the interview
Why Your Site Isn’t Viral. - The Dan Olsen Interview
To help me better understand how to make a site viral, a good friend introduced me to Dan Olsen. Dan led product management for Quicken and Friendster. Then, he launched Olsen Solutions, where he helped build online products for companies like box.net, Xing, and TrustedID. Now he’s CEO & Founder of YourVersion.com.
Based on our conversation, here are some reasons your site might not be viral:
You’re asking too many questions.
Dan says many sites lose users because their registration forms ask too many questions. What’s your name? When where you born? What’s your pet’s name? Etc.
If they can’t get past your endless questions, your users will never want to tell their friends about your site.
You’re not thinking holistically.
Many people create a web site and then try to figure out how to make it viral. Viral isn’t a feature. It’s either part of the core purpose of your product, or it feels awkward and it doesn’t work.
Your product just isn’t meant to be viral.
Dan says that not all products are viral. If your site isn’t meant to be viral, think of another marketing method. Viral isn’t the only way to grow.
You’re not making it easy enough.
You can’t expect your site to be viral and then hide the features that help your uses spread the word. Put your viral tools (like an “invite a friend” link) where users can see them and they’ll be more likely to be used.
Why do YOU think some sites aren’t viral?
Right click to download this interview!
“Mario, I F-cking Hate You.” How To Build Community. - The Davy Rothbart Interview
It started when Davy found a note that someone mistakenly put on his car. The note said, “Mario, I f-cking hate you. You said you had to work. Then why’s your car HERE at HER place?? You’re a f-cking LIAR. I hate you I fucking hate you. –Amber PS page me later.” (See the note.)
Since then, Davy’s been combining what he and his community find into FOUND Magazine, a community art project. Since the project couldn’t exist without the community, I knew Davy could teach me how to build an online community.
Here are a few things Davy taught me. (Listen to the interview to hear more.)
Get out of your house - I tend to think of building communities as something that happens remotely. But Davy built his community by touring–and meeting people in person. Organizing a tour was one of the first things he did when he started. At first, only 4 to 12 people might show up for a reading, but now his audiences are in the hundreds.
The cycle of life - Communities thrive on a giving cycle. At FOUND Magazine, the community sends Davy what it finds. Then he posts what they send him. And that encourages others to send him more finds.
Email is still important - Davy keeps building up his email list. He says that his friends’ bands are often reluctant to ask people to join their mailing list, but he actively asks people to join because he knows how powerful a good list can be.
Ask - Davy is about to go on a European tour with FOUND Magazine. He can plan it remotely because he asks for and gets support from his community.
Where’s the profit - While he says he doesn’t want to profit from his community, Davy gets other benefits because of his community. Because of the growing “FOUND Magazine family” this book of his stories got published. He also got to be a guest on Letterman, travel the world and other benefits.
What can you teach us about building a community?
Right click & download this interview!
5 Ways to Create Good Content - The Chris Bechtel Interview
How do you create good content?
Many of the people I interview on Mixergy say what they’re teaching me depends on having good content. (For example: Scoble, Hunt, and Shah.)
To learn how to create good content, I interviewed Chris Bechtel of iPressroom, a company that helps organizations like Target, the LA Opera, and Trend Micro create and publish content online.
Here are 5 things he told me. (Listen to the interview to hear more.)
Expose - The most valuable idea I learned from the call is that we don’t have to keep coming up with good content. Chris says we need to find ways to expose what’s already there. Keep finding out what your community knows and look for ways to expose it. An easy way to do that is to take a video camera to a conference, interview people, and post them on your site.
UBU - Chris told me that you have to be yourself online or you’ll end up embarrassed the way Wal-Mart was after it was discovered that the pair of “average Americans” who wrote about crossing the country and staying at Wal-Marts ended up being shills.
Are you still reading this? - Most people don’t read past the headlines, so Chris emphasized the importance of writing good titles. Here’s a good place to learn how to write headlines.
“Oh baby I like it raw” - As you know from a past Mixergy interview, even polished politicians are learning that audiences connect better with raw, unpolished content online. Scoble does that really well with the Qik interviews he does on his cell phone, says Chris.
Extra! Extra! - Chris says we should tie our content to the latest news. If everyone’s talking about the Super Bowl, find a way to join the conversation with your content. You can hear how Michael Dorausch does that for his chiropractic business in this interview I did with him.
Do you have any suggestions for how to produce good content?
Right click to download the FULL interview.
6 Business Lessons I Learned from Donald Trump’s Apprentice Winner - The Kelly Perdew Interview
I didn’t interview him because he won the Apprentice’s second season and got to work for Donald Trump. I interviewed Kelly Perdew because people who work for him or heard him speak since he became CEO of RotoHog.com kept telling me that he’s someone “you gotta meet.”
After talking to him, I can see there’s something very ordered and determined about the way he thinks about business. It’s inspiring. (Even our interview was easy to edit, because he never went back on an answer or went off on tangents.)
Here are some of the notes I took while we spoke.
Ranger School - Kelly almost didn’t finish Ranger School because of what happened on a 12-mile, forced march. It was during an especially grueling part of the program when he was being deprived of food and sleep. His leg was cramping and he couldn’t keep carrying his 80 pound rucksack, but he was required to finish the march. That’s when his Ranger Buddy took Kelly’s rucksack–in addition to his own–and helped Kelly finish the march. He now has an intense sense of teamwork.
Commander’s intent - In the military, you can’t predict every possibility, so you can’t give step-by-step orders. Commander’s Intent explains the purpose and goal, but gives soldiers some leeway to achieve them. The same technique could be used in an unpredictable business.
But plan - After hearing Kelly describe Commander’s Intent, I asked him if that meant that planning was old fashioned. (It’s a question I’ve had every since I interviewed Rosalind about how she built her company.) He said he wouldn’t have won the Apprentice if he hadn’t set specific plans for every member of his team. He told me that we needed to set plans, but to give people some flexibly to achieve them.
That’s not a risk! - Imagine having your card rejected at the grocery store because your failing business is draining all your cash. That’s what happened to Kelly. So I asked him why he would ever go back to startups after that. He said, startups aren’t risky to him–the real risk is being stuck in a safe, but dead-end life. We need to redefine risk.
Got a mentor? - When his first business failed, Kelly says he hung on to it for about 6 months longer than he should have because he didn’t want to let people down. If he had good mentors and advisers, they would have helped him see the reality of the situation–and kept him from throwing good money after bad.
Trump’s fights - Ever notice how Donald Trump’s public fights happened just before the start of a new season of the Apprentice? It’s not a coincidence. After working with Trump for a year, Kelly says he learned the importance of using the media.
What are some of the most important business lessons you learned?
(Thank you Nathan Winters, Henry Chung, Rohit Jain & Allison Ross)
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Recent Interviews
