Some thoughts on Fame and Glory via the Internet

In getting at least three major projects off the ground, and trying to keep four regular clients happy while I do so, I've been doing alot of thinking about promoting. Especially how to promote using the internet.

Like many things in life, internet success is simple but not easy. I’ve read a dozen or so articles about the most used formula for internet success. Many have used it. Quite frankly, anyone can duplicate it.

1) Find something you love. That is, something you love to the point of mental illness.

2) Create a vehicle (blog, webpage, podcast, etc) where you can express this love.

3) Set up a schedule as to when you will post updates.

4) Follow it religiously, making sure each new post/page/episode is the best it can be.

5) Talk to people who love what you love, and mention the work you're doing through your vehicle when appropriate.

6) Wait 18 – 24 months.

Julie Powell of “Julie and Julia” fame used that formula. So do my favorite movie sites Spill.com and Rotten Tomatoes. When Brunching Shuttlecocks stopped doing it, it stopped being one of the most popular sites in the world.

That’s another thing about the internet. You can’t stop when you’re tired, or hope the momentum you need will eventually come. There’s no such thing as resting on your laurels.

It’s easy to blame your readers when an internet venture stalls or outright crashes. (And trust me, I've seen more than one mod do just that...) But it’s how consistently YOU produce YOUR content that will make or break you.

And that's one thing the internet has in common with 'real world' ventures.

It doesn’t matter how cool the concept is. If it only stays a concept, it has failed.

That’s something Potential Social Media Moguls - and absentminded bloggers like Yours Truly - need to keep in mind.

Always room for beer...

When I was in college, and hanging out with those groups of friends who will make a conscious effort not to contact each other after graduation, I remember a joke popping up.

A science professor is explaining something – I believe it was atomic weight – and in order to show how much material can be packed into a defined amount of space, he pulls out a large glass vase.

First he fills the vase with large, round, smooth river rocks. He packs as many rocks as he can into the space, and then asks his students if he can fit anything else in there. They tell him no.

Then the professor pulls out a bag of gravel and pours it into the vase. While the entire bag cannot be poured in, there is enough space between the stones that most of it makes it in. Then the professor asks once again if the students think anything else can get in there. The no this time is uncertain, but still unanimous.

Then the professor pulls out a bag of sand. Again, the entire bag doesn’t make it in, but enough does to prove that there is still space within the jar. The professor explains that the students should be conscious of the open space within ‘solid’ objects. That some objects can take more than they expect before they reach a full capacity like the vase has now.

One of the students, who wears his baseball cap at odd angles and is seen more often in the downtown bars than in class, suddenly raises his hand. He says loudly and clearly that isn’t true. Astonished that a student who barely made an effort before is suddenly interested enough to test this theory, the professor asks him why.

The student then goes up to the front of the class, pulls a can of beer from his backpack and proceeds to pour the contents into the vase. He manages to get the entire can into the vase.

“No matter how tightly your life is packed,” he says with a smart-alec grin, “there’s always room for beer.”

What can I say? It was funny in college.