Success Saturday: Have a Personality, Your Personality
Before we get into this week’s Success Saturday, here’s a bit more on Tuesday’s money thoughts. In it, I mentioned how saving just $5 a week starting 10 years ago would give you an extra $2,500.00 in your pocket today. Now, the sooner you start saving, the better off you will be. Unfortunately, most of us don’t stick to such plans until later in life. Then, we advise people younger than us what they should be doing and then they don’t listen and the cycle repeats itself.
Anyway, if you’re like 21 or something, you might want to read this article (found by way of CO-ED Magazine). Never mind “might”–just read it! But, if you’re over the age of 35, you’re just going to want to skip it. It will only make you depressed.
In any case, let’s segue to our main topic today, which is having a personality. And, by personality, I’m referring to your blog or eCommerce site or even your bricks & mortar store; whatever it is you have.
And, the CO-ED Magazine link makes a perfect segue too. If you take a look at the site, which is obviously for the college crowd if you haven’t picked up on that already, you’ll see a fair amount of articles on sports and music and stuff like saving money and then you’ll see a lots of posts of just pictures of barely dressed women. And, the latter is pretty much the dominant feature.
They clearly target a particular audience and that sort of thing is the thing that their audience wants to see. And, really, it not so much a personality that brings the viewers; it’s the scantily-clad women. For example, if you want to bring in the college kids to your site (or young men or dirty old men or whatever), is that something you would feel comfortable doing? Would you feel okay about yourself if you have to post pictures of Kristen Bell in Her Underwear or Sexy Time at the Gym in order to bring in those crowds? (Mind you, don’t click on those links if you are offended by such images.)
If you’re okay with that, then maybe that’s the way for you to go. But, bear in mind, of course, that just posting pictures isn’t going to bring in the crowds. You still have to have quality content, and that includes quality photos. If you can’t get hold of fresh photos of scantily clad women, you’re going to have problems. And, if you resort to “borrowing” (i.e., copyright infringement) from other sites, karma will catch up with you eventually. So, you’ll either have to work hard at finding and getting those kinds of pictures, or you’re going to need something more.
And, if you’re not okay with posting such pictures on your site, or having such “sexy” kinds of content, you’re going to need to find some other way of reaching out to the college crowd or whatever audience you’re trying to grab.
The way in both cases is to have a personality for your site.
And, it has to be a personality you are comfortable with. If posting nearly-naked photos of women isn’t your thing, don’t go that route. If you do, you will quite possibly fail. If you’re not comfortable doing it, you’re going to have a natural resistance to doing it. You won’t find the best pictures because you’re not comfortable looking. You won’t update often because you’ll latch on to any excuse not to work on the site. You won’t take the best shots because (if you’re the photographer) you won’t be comfortable asking the model to pose this way or that. And, you’ll have trouble promoting the site because you’ll be embarrassed to tell your friends and family about it.
So, whatever you do, you have to project a site personality that you can live with and be comfortable with. “Be yourself” is important advice here. You can tweak your voice and online personality, and some can do that to a greater extent than others, but you have to be able to feel comfortable doing it. Otherwise, things just won’t work out for you.
The same goes for the content you write. Don’t write about things you’re not comfortable with. And, if you must write about something you’re not completely comfortable with, do it in such a way that reflects your personality and values.
If you want to appeal to the college kids, you don’t necessarily have to have half-naked girls on your site. Young adults do actually have other interests! Think about your audience and don’t look at what may appear to be the easiest ways to bring eyeballs to your site. It may take more research, but it will be well worth it to you. You’ll be better able to achieve success if you pursue it in such a way that matches your personality and values!
We’ll look at personality more next Saturday!
How old are you & why are you always reading magazines for college kids?
If I find out you are in college still- you are going to give me a Mrs. Robinson complex… ha ha.
I wouldn’t say “always.” You have to keep an eye on what others are doing to learn how to grab them while they’re younger. And, it can be rather depressing. Do college students really have that few interests? we should worry about our world’s future… Then again, maybe they are going for a mass audience appeal and don’t necessarily reflect the full range of interests of college-aged citizens.
Let’s go with the latter. You can sleep easier at night.
And, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa whoa whoa. Whoa whoa whoa.
The only reason I come to your site is for the half-naked girls. But not the guys in underwear.
I thought it was for the fairies.
I was looking through this month’s edition of High Times (I’ve been subscribing to that
and Hit Parader for 20 years) to find some new ideas. Hmmm…maybe I’ll just post some
nude female model pics instead. Let me go look in my neighbor’s window and snap a few:)
I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Sticking cameras into other people’s private areas and posting them on the Internet is the exclusive domain of Google Earth. Mess with Google and you’ll get booted out of everything good online.
Young adults have interests other than half naked girls? Not any that I’ve met…
I hear some of them are interested in half naked boys…
[...] week, I wrote about having a personality for your website or blog. The focus in that post was on doing things with which you are comfortable. It’s difficult to [...]