I have realized I have been blowing it. Even though I have managed to make a very good living for many years working for myself online I realize now I could have been doing much better. I could have mastered Zen marketing. Simple sells. I recently ran across a blog called Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. From it’s 6000 Alexa ranking and over 200,000 subscribers it looks like I am late to the party.
I was not only blown away by the mind/life simplifying content of the blog but by his Zen marketing plan for his books and blog. The design of his blog is ultra light and clean. There are no ads on his blog at all. No popups. Just pure simple easy to read content. How does he make money? He sells his original books on minimalist living. From the looks of things minimalism is selling quite well thank you.
The focus of his site reminds me of Google, the most successful online company. Ultra simple design leading people to ultra focused and powerful marketing concepts.
My sites, on the other hand, look like they are run by one of the stars of “Hoarders” television program. Compared to Zen Habits my sites lack focus, are cluttered, and junky. I want to change. I want to go Zen. But how? Here are just a few characteristics of his blog that perhaps we can apply to our own marketing efforts to become more Zen in our marketing:
1. Deliver, quality, focused and original content. This is where everything starts. I do not care if you have a zillion links back to your site. If you content is junk the traffic is next to meaningless. The best way to cut down on advertising costs is to have such good content that everybody naturally wants to come back and refer others. There is no point in promoting crappy content. It is a complete waste of time. Take your time, breathe (Zen!), and get it right.
2. Have a simple focused marketing plan and stick with it. Zen Habits does not try to sell a hundred different products. I do not think he even does joint ventures. He just provides great content and sells his original ebooks and he sells a lot of them. That is it. It is quite a relief to read a blog which is not cluttered with every type of advertising and pop up imaginable.
3. Clean, easy to read, uncluttered web design. Zen Habits blog has just a white background, just one simple elegant small logo, and easy to read large black type which is well centered. The sidebar at the top just has simple one or two word hyperlinks such as “Books”, “About”.”Archives”, “Start Here.” He does not scream at you. He clearly but gently guides the reader. It is very tempting to be constantly adding new bells and whistles to your web design. Come to think of it we complicate our lives on a daily basis hence the popularity of Zen Habits and storage units.
4. Consistency. I think this is the characteristic which separates the top bloggers from the rest. They post everyday, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. Posting quality original focused content is not only the best seo but the best way to actually create an audience that will return over and over to your website. Each post naturally has keywords which give your potential fans another way to find you through search. But once they find you the content has to be engaging otherwise they will not come back, and they will not ultimately purchase what you offer.
5. Always ask yourself “How can I make this simpler? How can I make this clearer?” After writing this post I decided to eliminate the Sharebar floating bar which floated up and down the left side of the blog screaming “share me!” It worked but it was distracting. I do not want people to be annoyed when they come to my blog I want them to enjoy the experience. I want them to come back. If they like my content they can easily share it on the social media sites with the other social media icons I have embedded more discretely throughout the blog.
6. Think long term. This is the opposite of what is so popular in the internet marketing world. Just check out the most popular products under marketing on Clickbank. They are all about the latest trick to make money easy and quick. The problem with these programs, other than the fact that they do not work, is that they waste your most precious asset, your time. Why not commit to writing one quality blog post per day for one year? I guarantee you that you will be further ahead at the end of the year than if you just jumped from one latest trick to another for one year.
I have not been a Zen Marketer. I realize I have lots of work to do to simplify and unclutter my marketing efforts. I would love to hear from you on this subject. I encourage you to check out Leo Babuta’s wonderful blog on simplifying your life. Thank you, Matthew Meyer.
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Hey Matt! Truly amazing article! I agree with all 6 of your steps. I do however have to work on being more consistent with my blogging schedule
Hi Joshua. Me too. I am going to try to do my blog post first thing every morning. Just one then move on to the rest of the things I need to do. I notice my traffic starts to build if I post everyday. Good luck. Matt.
Joshua, when I was 26 (before the internet!) I started a musical booking agency in South Florida. I did really well and make a nice bit of money. What did I do? I bought a big house on the water. That is when things started going downhill. Women etc. When I look back one of my biggest mistakes it was living beyond my means. If I had just invested conservatively and stayed in that nice one bedroom apartment I started in or similar I would have saved millions and had a happier less stressful time of things. It is not a bad idea for young people to learn about more minimalistic living. It really frees you up in many ways.
A very simple and valuable blog.
hi Matthew
Well a great article and i can understand your take on the Zen ,miminallist approach to
his blog
However your in a different area of internet marketing and I like your blog just as it is and you need to have cretain ads pushing your other areas of business
regards peter mcgrath
Good point Peter. My Zen might not be his/your Zen. I do believe,however, we can benefit from trying to make our blog/websites more focused and less cluttered without going to the extremes of someone selling books on minimalism lol! Thanks. Matt.
That is a good point. What would you think about little niche sites or a product review site? At some point you have to have some sort of monitization, unless you have your own product or service. I like Joey Kissimme’s blog. He has good clean content and almost no ads. He sends out great content and then when there is a good product that is worth it. He emails it out and make money that way.
Hi Barry, product review sites seem to work however, it the point of the review is just to sell the product people can sense this. You might have real review and make your money other ways than selling the product you are reviewing.
Good point, best of all is to think long term, that´s it…
………..aaah yes, but ****TRUE Zen**** would simply say the subject of marketing was irrelevant and those involved were laboring under an illusion……….
We still live in this world so the trick is to learn how to do so without losing yourself so we cannot completely check out quite yet. Thanks for the comment.
Awesome information – I could not agree more – every site I visit as you say – is super busy – I will definately take some of these suggesstions & apply them to my site …
Thank You
Glad the info could help Walter. Good luck. Matt.
Nice article Mathew.
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Great post! You’re right, usually simple is better. I have visited quite a few blogs that have so many blinking ads, very annoying! I usually don’t stay there very long, makes me feel like I’m bring pushed into buying something.