In late February 2006, I decided to catch on to the phenomenon which was occurring on the net whereby a person details goings on and musings in their life or in their specified niche. 2006 was to become a big year for blogging and I caught on and decided to create my own site.
This original blog hosted on a Blogger domain ended up after 5 months having a community of 20 or so casual readers.
In short, the reason for this, was that my blog was normal. There was nothing special about it; from the repeated content which you could find on other more established sites to the bog-standard template with no logo, my site looked like millions of others floating around on the ’sphere which were merely average and had nothing remarkable about them.
Fast forward about a year later and checkout the awesome growth graph which I have managed to rack-up:
As most bloggers will tell you, RSS Stats are their most prized possession and most of us look to increase the numbers of people who are reading articles through their feedreader. Therefore when I reached my highest subscribership levels ever a few days back (at an evil 666) I was over-the-moon to see that I had finally manage to create a closely knit community around this site.
Now there are a great deal of reasons why this blog has experienced the slow but positive growth over the past months, but that’s a story for another post. What I wanted to show you here, is the power of being different.
I’ve just finished reading Seth Godin’s bestseller called “Purple Cow” (UKers
Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.
The book, whilst only 137 pages long, was an excellent read and really got down to detail about how you can stand out from the crowd. Seth Godin talks about how the old form of growing a successful company is dead now. Before, the big shots like Procter & Gamble would spend millions on TV, Radio and Newspaper Advertising in order to get the word out about their product.
The problem with this today (much like the ever-growing blogosphere), is that there are now so many ads, and so many similar products, that people simply aren’t interested and prefer sticking with their own “trusted” brand to see them through. So how do you make people want to buy your product or service, or start reading your blog instead?
As Seth puts it, and how you probably guessed by the title, you need to be a Purple Cow. This isn’t as potty as it seems. Instead of being a normal, brown dairy cow, don’t be afraid to be different with your product. Many examples are used in the book, for example the French baker who refused to sell baguettes and the brilliance of Krispy Kremes to give out free donuts when a certain sign is lit up.
To relate this again to the world of blogging, try and go to the extremes. JohnCow took his site to the extreme by parodying the extremely popular JohnChow (who I’m sure loved every minute of it!). This, in a slightly ironic way, show’s the use of a Purple Cow - and resulted in a lot of linkbacks and a quick RSS growth as well as distinct word of mouth.
I managed to be different through blogging by doing a couple of simple things. Firstly, I wrote content and articles that people wanted to read. And secondly, I had a custom design created for me which helped me to distinguish myself from a crowd who all had the same batch of themes. Another useful thing which helped to build my community from 275 readers in May to 666 readers a couple of days ago, was to inject a bit of my personality into the site. By making it a priority to email back all those who had got in touch and to try and respond to comments if possible, I encouraged repeat readers and enforced the sense of togetherness that I’m really hoping to boost.
So, is being a Purple Cow sustainable?
In the modern business world, Seth explains how the remarkable product can soon become boring and you’ll be left milking the cow for all its worth and not moving forward. On the contrary, I believe that the blogosphere is different. Because one visitor can read and subscribe to hundreds of blogs, you can still continue to be the same Purple Cow that you were once before.
Examine your site and ask yourself why it isn’t performing how it should be. Look at the big boys and see how they’re conducting business; try writing viral copy to get the name out about your site, try changing or altering the design of your blog, or try creating a newsletter whereby regular users can get a daily, weekly or monthly update about your site. In short, don’t be scared to be different. There’s no such thing as failing, as you’re always getting to learn something new in the process of creating that next big concept, product or website idea.
As for Seth Godin’s Purple Cow Book (UKers
- Subscribe to our RSS feed for instant updates!
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28 responses so far ↓
1 Deron Sizemore // Aug 6, 2007 at 1:35 am
Nice Article Adnan, and congratulations on breaking the 600 mark. That’s really something to be proud of. I’ve heard a lot about the Purple Cow and am planning to check it out.
Here’s to the next 600 subscribers. Good Luck!
2 Graham Lutz, The Young Capitalist // Aug 6, 2007 at 4:39 am
So I am definitely getting “The Purple Cow.” Good to hear you’re doing so well, Adnan! Keep it up!
3 Rashid // Aug 6, 2007 at 5:59 am
Adnan,
This is pretty interesting, and as Graham said you’ve made me want read “TPC”.
But I would like to hear more about the major milestones you consider you have achieved over the past year.
Has submitting to social sites like digg and delicious helped? What about certain posts that have been more useful to your readers than others?
4 Jarkko Laine // Aug 6, 2007 at 9:46 am
Not trying to copy Graham or anything, but I’ll put the book on my Amazon shopping cart waiting for my next book buying batch as well!
Great work, Adnan!
5 Matt Jones // Aug 6, 2007 at 10:26 am
Congrats on getting so many subscribers, that is really great.
6 adnan // Aug 6, 2007 at 11:13 am
Hey guys - thanks for all your kind comments:
@ Deron - cheers buddy! Purple Cow is a great book - it’s short but jam-packed full of info.
@ Graham - Haha glad I’ve convinced you to get Purple Cow. I’m checking out Seth’s other books now because it seems like he’s written a few scorchers!
@ Rashid - Thanks for dropping by for the first time ;). Hmm your question would definitely make a good post. In short, there are so many milestones which I feel I have achieved - for example getting Dugg with the 101 blogging resources article. I can’t really tell which posts have been more useful than others, some readers react differently to some posts than to others.
There are other things which I am particularly proud of which havn’t necessarily been recorded. For one, the rate at which I receive comments on posts is really breathtaking and a nice community is definitely something that I’ve wanted - cos you guys are all so great!
@ Jarkko - lol, thanks buddy.
@ Matt - thanks also.
7 pearl // Aug 6, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I love reading Seth Godin’s works. My all time favorites so far have been The Dip and I hadn’t bought The Purple Cow - guess thats next on my list! Congrats on getting close to your 1000 subscribers goal
8 Michael Martin // Aug 6, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I never realised that you’d started out on Blogger. Congrats on the success after changing.
9 adnan // Aug 6, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Pearl - yeah Seth is a bit of a marketing genius. I havn’t read The Dip but I havn’t really felt like quitting that much yet either! Def go and get Purple Cow - its relevant to pretty much any niche.
Lol thanks Michael.
10 Leonid Shalimov // Aug 6, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Congratulations on this. Impressive, always respect your writing Adnan, good job again.
11 What The Heck Is RSS? | John Cow dot Com // Aug 6, 2007 at 4:37 pm
[...] just wrote an interesting article about RSS; “How I Increased RSS Subscribers By 142% By Being A Purple Cow“, if you still feel hungry after this [...]
12 Becky @ PreBlogging // Aug 6, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Just saw your mention on John Cow … good article. I will be coming back later to read some more and learn !
Thanks,
Becks
13 Matthew Blancarte // Aug 6, 2007 at 9:37 pm
I am a huge fan of Seth Godin. He has a lot of great perspectives and ideas on how to better market anything. I like your blog btw this is my first visit.
14 adnan // Aug 6, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Hey guys.
Thanks Leonid
Cashbulge has been growing at a phenomenal rate so congrats to you on some awesome progress.
Hehe thanks Becky and it was nice of John to link me up! I’ve read your article too and it was a great read!
Thanks Matthew and good to have you on-board! Yeah I subscribe to Seth’s blog which is always jam-packed full of info. Look forward to seeing you more around here!
15 Glen Allsopp // Aug 6, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Writing great posts on your experiences, and probably getting a lot of affiliate through amazon sales from this post means people understand you have a good marketing / money making brain
Thats why you have over 600 feed subscribers
16 Josh Mullineaux // Aug 6, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Seth Godin has a lot of great insights into the world of marketing. I do however agree that in the blogosphere there is still room for more ’similar’ purple cows.
17 Rashid // Aug 7, 2007 at 3:22 am
Thanks for the reply!
So extrapolating your date, in essence blogging about blogging over the long run, has increased your ability to blog and make more money to have more stuff to blog about!
ha, its a cycle. I like it
p.s Can You Unsubscribe Me to Comments Please, I’m unable to do it myself
Best,
Rashid
18 Wallace // Aug 7, 2007 at 4:59 am
Blogtrepreneur, Blogging Tips and Cash Quest have similar amount of feed subscribers.
it is interesting…
19 adnan // Aug 7, 2007 at 10:58 am
@ Glen - lol you’d be surprised. I just checked my Amazon Associates account this morning and it said that I had racked up a total of 2 clicks altogether. Great stuff lol. But thanks for the kind words.
Hey Josh thanks for dropping by too! Yeah there’s so many average blogs out there, many of which fail to make it into their first month, their 6th month and only a fraction of them make it past their first year. If you can do this alone, then you’re most likely already making it.
No problem Rashid - and you’re right. In essence it is sort of a Catch 22 situation when you begin blogging. As you experience more of the ’sphere there is more to write about! And I’ve unsubscribed you from the post too!
And finally @ Wallace - I’m really not sure what’s that interesting about it…
Hehe thanks for your comments!
20 Becky @ PreBlogging // Aug 7, 2007 at 11:36 am
Thanks for the kind comments adnan, I think I will be getting that book once my next affiliate voucher for Amazon comes through.
If you have any other book recommendations do let me know, as I have to do something with them !
21 adnan // Aug 7, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Hehe no probs Becky and yeah def get the book (don’t forget to use my Affiliate link lol).
As for other recommendations, well I’m reading Freakonomics
and The Undercover Economist
at the moment because I’m hoping to study Economics at University. I’ve also bought a book on XHTML and CSS
which is worth the read for bloggers.
22 Pearl // Aug 7, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Oh you haven’t read some of my entries adnan
I’ve already come to a halt feels like … but the dip talks about why we should actually quit some of the things =) Strategic Quitting is good - is the msg….
rest assured ill use that aff link of yours…
PS: what do you think of coComments? I actually just signed up with them and installed FF plugin
23 Steven Snell // Aug 9, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Adnan,
Congratulations on the growth. Keep up the good work.
24 Weekly Links << Vandelay Website Design // Aug 10, 2007 at 4:06 am
[...] How I Increased RSS Subscribers by 142% by Being a Purple Cow from Blogtrepreneur. [...]
25 Hoobin Money Online // Aug 11, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I love this book too. It’s seem like Seth manage to put a basic marketing positioning for a new angle, it’s a good read.
By the way, I see you have pretty statistic photo for your RSS reader, is that from feedburner?
26 GroundFloorSEO.com | Top SEO Blogs & Bloggers » What The Heck Is RSS? // Aug 12, 2007 at 2:48 am
[...] just wrote an interesting article about RSS; “How I Increased RSS Subscribers By 142% By Being A Purple Cow“, and Becky tells a bit more about FeedBurner in this article if you still feel hungry after [...]
27 Making Money the Easy Way // Sep 17, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Keep up the great work and congrats on the RSS Subscribers
28 Pinny Cohen // Dec 21, 2007 at 5:39 am
First timer here on your blog, but I like what I see, and this was a great article. I wish you would have gone into more detail on exactly what you did to get more subscribers though, or lessons you learned along the way.
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