I’m going to let you in on a little secret.
I don’t always feel comfortable around people I don’t know.
Some might even call me shy. But if you ask my friends if I’m shy they’d probably laugh you out of the building.
Why? Because I’m comfortable around them. Probably a little too comfortable.
Have you experienced the same thing?
Loose and free with friends? Quiet and timid with strangers?
This has carried over to the online world as well.
When posting on my blog, I’m extremely comfortable. But when I start posting content on other sites in the form of blog comments, articles, videos and even forum comments I start to go back into my shell.
Well recently I broke out in a major way, with great results.
And I hope I can inspire you to break out of your online shell as well.
Here are 2 ways you can break out of your shell and increase your traffic at the same time. As you start to see the results from these techniques, that shell is going to disappear rather quickly.
It did for me!
Step 1. Each time you publish a blog post on your site create a short video and publish it to Youtube or distribute it to even more sites with something like TubeMogul.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Here’s a simple script I might use.
“Hi I’m Eric Transue from Eric Transue dot com. I just published a post on my blog where I discuss 2 ways you can break out of your online shell. I think you are going to like it. Click on the link in the description box or join me at Eric Transue dot com and let know what you think about it. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.”
Make sure to put a link back to your post in the description box for the video. You can also use software like Sceenflow for Mac or Camtasia to display your URL as an overlay in your video.
Step 2. Start guest blogging. I’m sure you have some great content in you. You already post some of it on your blog don’t you? Why not get it out there in front of a larger audience?
I recently had this post published on ProBlogger.net. And I got quite a bit of traffic from it. I also got a nice response in the comments section.
I don’t control the comments on that site so I had to be ready for anything. I was out of my comfort zone. But once I saw the positive feedback, the traffic, and the new subscribers to my list I was happy I broke out of the normal comfort zone of my blog.
If you haven’t tried guest posting yet – I really think you should give it a shot. I got turned down by the first blog I submitted my post to. But that didn’t stop me. Don’t let it stop you either!
Some of the best results I’ve seen with my site have been when I did things that got me out of my comfort zone.
Do something this week that gets you out of yours.
What’s the worst that can happen? More traffic? More subscribers? You learn something new?
Sounds pretty awesome doesn’t it?
Have you stepped out of your online comfort zone lately or plan on doing so soon?
Let me know about it in the comments section below.
