Truth About Blog Comments and Likes

It’s tempting to look at a guy like Tim Ferriss and think, “Wow, he gets a lot of blog comments. That must be my goal, too!”

But you’d be wrong.

Earlier this week on our Virtual Mastermind site, we had our best Hot Seat session ever.  In a follow up question, one member asked:

Q: First Craig, a big thanks for the hot seat session with T and I this past Wednesday. Really fascinating and actionable advice that completely lit a fire under our butts. Gave us lots of “a-ha” moments on all the mistakes we’ve been making.

Followup question for you, or for anyone generally: We’ve always assumed that one of the metrics of success was how many comments a blog post received or how many readers  actually “liked” the post, shared on Facebook, re-tweeted, etc.

Our assumption has been that these were rough indicators of how engaged users were with your content.

But looking at your ttfatloss.com site (as well as several other successful Internet  arketing  sites) we were surprised by the lack of user comments.

Are comments, likes, tweets, etc. important to pay attention to, or should we be spending time elsewhere. – C

My Answer:
All that matters, in terms of business, is how much money you make.

We get a lot of votes, likes, and comments on ETR blog posts…but none of that really matters.

That is not a buyer-behavior statistic.

Focus on: Leads, sales, follow up sales, customer satisfaction.

Now that said…

You know that I believe in the Power of Great Content.

For over a decade I have been creating great content in the fitness, internet marketing, and personal development markets.

My goal is to get better and better everyday, and to build up a massive following of loyal fans, all thanks to great content.

But I can’t be getting hung up on worrying about Likes and Comments.

After all, I’ve yet to work with a bank that accepts either of these as deposits. As far as I know, banks still only take the real moniezz.

I teach and encourage the “Great Content” method to everyone.

And one guy has taken it to extremes.

The end result?

He’s living the life of his dreams.

All thanks to delivering his powerful content on the Internet, of course.

Today he gets over 10,000 people to his website everyday.

But back in 2006, he could barely type 10 words a minute with the 1-finger method.

Fortunately, my friend, the original Renegade, Jason Ferruggia, is relentless. When he sees something he wants, he goes after it. Back in ’06 he started taking a little advice from me, and the rest is history.

Here’s an interview we did back in the summer of 2011 that explains his path to success.

You’ll discover how to build a tribe – simply by being cool – that will allow you to build the business and life of your dreams.

You’ll meet one Renegade who now lives in his dream location, by the beach in Santa Monica, and inspires tens of thousands of readers every month with incredible content.

And while Jay creates good content and gets lots of comments, he also knows what really matters.

So the big lesson for you – aside from what Jay will teach you today on how to build a tribe – is this:

For RESULTS…Never stop learning. Treat your business like the most important science experiment ever performed.

Test & track everything.

Record your open rates, sales numbers, and customer responses to every communication you send out. Identify what works best. Monitor your business to know more about it.

Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.

Focus on what really matters,

Craig Ballantyne

“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” – Jerry Rice