Within the blogging world, there is a common saying that, “Content is King!” I believe, however, that this statement is not entirely true. Content is VERY important, but CONNECTIONS are King. You can have great content, but if you don’t have anyone coming to your website, the content will not be seen. This follows the old adage that it is not about what you know but who you know.
Connections Are King
So why do I feel connections are king?
Connections are king because they consume and spread your content. When I write a post on Leadership Done Right it can do really well or really poorly. If I share it with my friends, they read it and share it with their friends. If, however, I write a post and don’t share it with anyone, it usually doesn’t do well. To give you an example, the posts that I share with my network get 90% more views than those that I just write and don’t share on my social networks. Why is that? It is because once a post is shared, others share and spread the word about my post as well.
Connections are king because they give you recommendations and you listen. We hear ads and recommendations for all sorts of products, websites, etc. on the radio, TV, web, and through other forms of media. How often do you take those recommendations? Well in most cases, you are probably slow to listen to them because you know they are just trying to sell you something. If, however, you receive a recommendation from one of your connections, you are much more likely to listen.
The website Business Networking did a survey of more than 3,000 people in the business world regarding customer referrals. “We found that fewer than 5 percent got no business from referrals, and more than half of the respondents said they got more than 70 percent of their business from word-of-mouth or referrals!” When your connections give you recommendations, you are much more likely to listen to them because you trust their opinion.
Connections are king because they recommend you to others. Just as you get recommendations from others, others will give positive or negative recommendations about you to their friends. When you are good to your connections, they will praise you to their friends. When you are bad to others, they will tell friends in disgust. Your goal should be to create connections with those around you so that they will tell others about you.
How To Create Connections
So how do you create connections with others?
Write excellent content. Connections are king, but content is VERY important. You need to write content that is worth sharing. Before, during, and after I write each post I ask myself, “Would I spend my valuable time reading this post?” If the answer is “no” then I rewrite the post to make it worth reading. Your content needs to be content worth sharing, so people will share it.
Share other people’s content. By sharing other’s content, you help others out. In turn, they are more likely to help you out. In addition, your connections will also be grateful for the content you share. If you share good content, they will be much more likely to read your content in the future and pass it on.
Be kind to others. Be kind in every interaction that you have with your connections and audience. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Do what you can to help others in your industry. Don’t make rude or mean remarks towards others. Follow the golden rule of, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” When you are kind to others, you will build trust and a positive reputation.
There are also other things you can do to create connections like writing a guest post, individually reaching out members of your audience, starting an email newsletter, or commenting on another person’s website. As you do each of those things, you are reaching out and making a personal connection with others.
Ultimately, you can have great content, but when you don’t connect with your audience you limit your success. Your connections will help you be successful on your website or with your business.
Why have connections been important to you and your business or website? Have connections helped you to be more successful? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!
I just mentioned this topic to a group of University of Kansas Architecture students visiting my office. They were asking about resumes and how they could get “in” and i suggested that they need to work on their relationships and networks. Sharing articles, blogs, is a great method for that in addition to their professional accounts on Linkedin etc. I also let them know to follow up with the presenters that they see speak, as very rarely does anyone do that. We’ll see out of the 15 students, how many follow up with me 🙂
Thank you for sharing your experience Dave! I am really curious to see how it will pan out with the students. I think you have to have quality work, a good reputation, and have produced good content, but without the personal network developed through connections you won’t be nearly as successful.
I think it was Michael Hyatt who put it this way. “Content is King, but connections are queen, and the queen rules the castle! Thanks for the tips on connecting and Happy New Year!”
Patrick,
Thank you for sharing this quote. That is a very interesting way of looking at this. Happy New Year!