DerekHalpernExposed:Getyourblogorstartup

$100,000+innationalmediacoverageforfree
This is an expert guide to getting $100,000+ in free media coverage for your blog or business.

It is based on a private interview I did with Derek Halpern of Social Triggers (plus many hours of
research),andincludestwoofDereksmasterstrategiesplusdozensofbonustipsfrom
influential entrepreneurs. If you are serious about getting loads of attention for your project, this is
a must read.

But heads up: this article is long and extremely detailed. It took 32 hours to write. It will take you
15 minutes to read. Here is the PDF version, and here is the ePub.

If you came from HackerNews I recommend you save this guide and schedule 30 minutes to read
it later. For visitors from Reddit, here is the tl;dr Ifyoudontspend80%ofyoureffortpromoting
your business, you are going to have a bad time.

I know you may be skeptical aboutthe$100Kinfreepublicity,soletsstartwiththefacts.

Derek Halpern and Social Triggers

DereksbusinessadvicehasbeenfeaturedonCopyblogger,AffiliateSummit,creativeLIVE, and
most recently in a 52 minute 27 second video series on entrepreneur.com (9 million visitors per
month value? Easily $100,000.)

His blog, Social Triggers, is ranked 8,340 on Alexa worldwide, 3,170 in the US, and in the top
8000 most visited sites in 6 other countries. It is read by over 100,000 people each month, has
120,000 subscribers, and 33,556 Twitter followers. Derek also has a raving fan base on
Facebook, with his average post getting hundreds of shares, likes, and comments. ProBlogger
called him one of the top bloggers to watch in 2012.

TheSocialTriggerspodcastrecentlyhit#1inthebusinesssectiononiTunes(aheadofMotley
Fool, Oprah, Ted Talks, Harvard Business Review, and the Wall Street Journal).

Derekspremiumtrainingcourse,Blog That Converts, has 1000+ students. The most impressive

part? He started Social Triggers just 2.5 years ago.

Before founding ST, Derek built up his expertise bringing millions of visitors to a variety of
websites. He is also the marketing guy for DIYthemes Thesis.

Okay, dude has got street cred. Letstakeacloserlookathowhehacksthemediatogetfree

national coverage.

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Table of Contents DerekHalpernsGuidetoFreeMediaCoverage
1. Part 1: The Foundation
o One simple rule that will earn you massive traffic
o The biggest barrier to promotion and what Tom Hanks has to say about it
o 7 specific examples of overcoming this common barrier
o The keystone skill that separates top bloggers from everyone else.
2. Part 2: The Strategies
o How to get massive coverage for free by hacking your competition.
o 3 case studiesabouttheDraftingTechniqueincludingaword-for-word script
($100 value)
o The proven formula for unleashing viral content (with academic research)
o Dereks12CommandmentsofNaturalControversy
3. Part 3: The Conclusion
o Summing it all up and a list of uncommon promotion techniques

Foundation: do you know this 80/20 rule?

Itsonyoutocreate[yourbestcontent],leverageprovenpsychologicalprinciplestomakesureit
spreads, and then PROMOTE THE HECK OUT OF IT.
- Derek Halpern, on the 80/20 rule for building a blog audience

AsecretfuelofSocialTriggersrocket-powered growth is Dereks80/20ruleforbuildingan

audience.

CationBot:Idontalwaysincludepiegraphsin my posts, but when I do they look like pacman.

Here is his logic:

1. If you spend time writing a piece of content, and that content only gets 1,000 readers,
chances are there are one million other people in the world who can benefit from what
you wrote.
2. Itssmartertofindanother10,000peopletoconsumewhatyouvealreadycreatedas
opposed to creating more.

And it sounds pretty simple just spend 20% of your time creating amazing content, and then
80% on promotion. But there are two key things you need to know.

First: this DOES not mean you get to slack on content creation. Derek puts five days of prep work
into creating one episode of his video series Social Triggers TV. Ramit Sethi spends 12 to 18
hours on a single blog post. Once I interviewed a guy that wrote his entire book over a weekend.

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Hedidntsellverymanycopies.Tim Ferriss cut 250 pages out of 4-Hour Chef, published the
remaining 672, and it was a New York Times Best Seller. You can choose which sandbox you
want to play in.

Second:weveallseenthatscammyinternetguruthathasmagictacticsforexplosivetraffic.
Youllgoviral!Justdothisonething!Itsnotgoingtohappen.ThatswhyDerekteachesproven
psychological principles. If you have these and put in the time and effort, you will get results.
From March 2011 to April 2012 Derek published an average of 2.54 blog posts per month, and
earned nearly 27,000 subscribers. Do that.

IfyouarereadytolearnDereksmasterstrategiesforfreemediacoverage,youcanskipahead.
But if you want to go a little more in depth, take a closer look at the Psychology of Self Promotion.

The Psychology of Self Promotion: Be like Tom Hanks

Alotofpeoplearentcomfortablewithself-promotion (we feel like imposters). But if you have
somethinggreattoshare,itstotallyokay.ThatswhyyouwanttobeaTomHanksnotaNicki
Manaj.

Back in 2008, Tom Hanks went on The Late Show With David Letterman to promote his movie
CharlieWilsonsWar.Checkoutthecliphere.Thisishowitwent

TH:IdidntrealizeitwaslegaltoplaybaseballonTheMallinWashington, D.C.

DL:Idontthinkyoucandothat!

TH:Ididntwantto,butIwaspreparedtodroptheH-bomb if any cops [pulled up]

DL: What do you mean?

TH: Well the H-bomb Dave, the H-bomb Lookofficer,ImTomHanks.Igettodo

whateverIwant.

Basically,TomHanksknowsheisthemanandisntafraidtosayit.Also,TILthatHanksfilms
have grossed over $8.5 billion, making him the highest all-time box office star.

Compare this to Nicki Manaj, who claims to be on her way to a billion, but actually made $15.5
million in 2012.

Promotewhatyouvegot
No doubt it helps that Hanks has multiple Golden Globe Awards and Academy Awards to back up
his brags, but we all need to start somewhere. As you accumulate small victories, showcase
these. Here are a few examples:

When Derek first got started with Social Triggers he talked about getting 1 million visitors
to one of his sites in a single day. Now he lists off his impressive set of speaking
engagements, and promotes his hour long video feature on Entrepreneur.com.
Maneesh went to Stanford, published 4 books (including an international bestseller),
founded an NGO, built a zero-hour workweek business that was featuredonTimFerriss
blog, was interviewed on Arise.TV (broadcasted to 60 million people) etc.
In the early days of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi created authority with his
Stanford education. Then he started making TV appearances. Then his book became a

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 New York Times Bestseller. Then Fortune Magazine wrote a 6 page feature about him.
Then Forbes included him in a list of top money gurus, with his photo right next to Warren
Buffett.
Neil Patel started promoting his early successes. Being a top 100 blog on Technorati,
andatopinfluenceronthewebaccordingtoWallStreetJournal.NowEntrepreneur
Magazine says he is one of the top entrepreneurs in the world, President Obama has
recognized Neil as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30, and he has
been awarded a Congressional Recognition.
Michael Ellsberg uses his day job (writer for Forbes) for credibility, as well as specific
achievementslikehisEye Gazing PartiesbeingfeaturedinmajormediaandevenTim
Ferriss4-Hour Workweek. No doubt when his next book becomes a NYT Bestseller he
will promote himself with that, but for now he lists off a major achievement of his book
Education of Millionaires: being sold into 8+ countries.
David Kadavy is author of the #18 Amazon Best-Seller, Design For Hackers.
After one of his projects was featured in the Globe and Mail (national newspaper in
Canada), Richard Garand wrote about it on his blog.

These stories of Derek, Maneesh, Ramit, Neil, Michael, David and Richard show that self-
promotion is totally okay. You just need to know what stage you are at.

So where are all the promoters?

Online,youonlyhaveasecondtograbsomeonesattention.Andduringthatsecond,people
make snap judgments about your, your business, and your website. Before. They. Read. Your.
Content.
- DerekHalpern,onwhycontentisntking

Oneoftheleadingreasonswedontpromoteourworkiswebelievewejustneedtocreategreat
content and that the masses will follow, or that if you have the right product idea the market will
comeknockingatyourdoor.Thisisperpetuatedbythemyththatcontentisking a myth that
Derek debunks in this post.

Now,sometimescontentreallydoespropelaprojectonitsown.Hereareacoupleofexamples:

1. Sometimes Kickstarter projects just seem to catch fire, like 3Doodler:TheWorldsFirst

3D Printing Pen, that was featured across the web and raised $2,344,134.
2. Friends of mine in Beijing opened a Korean BBQ restaurant on a quiet side street. They
have great food, quality service and a cool atmosphere. But they never promoted it.
Slowly people started to come, and then the media started running stories about their
business. After 6 months they consistently had hour long line-ups every single night.

Butsometimesagreatideajustisntenough,oryouarentreachingyourtruepotential.

1. There is a pirate ship in Peurto Vallarta, Mexico that you can party on for the night. You
go sailing out with a bunch of pirates. There are sword fights, lasso wranglers, dudes
throwingfirearound,prettygooddinner,andanopenbar.Itsagreatconceptandalotof
fun, but if you just stuck a pirate ship in the port people are going to think you are a
nutbar. So 90% of their business comes from relationships hotels that promote their
business to guests for a fee.
2. Back to my friends in Beijing. When they opened their second restaurant they learned to
promote and had line-ups after 3 months. Now they are working on strategies to make it
happen in 1 month. The end goal? Line-ups from day 1.

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Itspossiblethatyourcontent/product/ideacouldcatchfire but would you rather be an anomaly
or ensure your own success?

* * * IMPORTANT MENTAL NOTE * * *

Derek says promotion is an iterative skill that you will improve over time. When you first start you
might be terrible (though with the strategies in this article you should still get above average
results). A month from now you will be better. After a year of consistent effort you will be better
than 99% of people. Commit to long term results.

Alright,nowletsdigintothemeat specific strategies for promoting yourself.

Keystone skill: connect with anyone

Connecting with people and networking seems like such a basic thing, but this is a keystone skill.
AlargepartofDerekssuccessisusingthisskilltogetfeaturedonmedialikeEntrepreneur.com,
Copyblogger, and Affiliate Summit and also to connect with people like Ramit Sethi, Andrew
Warner, James Altucher, Chris Brogan, Pat Flynn, David Risley, Corbet Barr and Marie Forleo.

Derek published a free 9 page PDF called How to Email Influential People And Get Responses
Fast, with an accompanying post here. The PDF includes word for word scripts and more
importantly thepsychologyofwhyitworks.Iveusedthesesameprinciplestoconnectwith
people like Derek, Andrew Mason (Co-founder, Former-CEO, Groupon), the CEO of a $1 billion+
revenue food service company, and many top bloggers.

Maneesh also has a guide for networking with influential people (itsthatimportant!).

BTW: I love connecting with people and featuring their projects in my work. Just send a quick
intro to malexis@gmail.com.

Alright, time for the strategies.

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Strategy #1: The Drafting Technique
IdecidedtoapplythedraftingtechniqueasyousuggestedandIwanttosharemyresults

This has now given me the the amazing opportunity to get my name and brand out there in front
of the entire country and also in front of the millions of expats who read their newspaper online
everydayAllIcansayiswow!!!
Vanessa,SocialTriggersreaderonherresultswiththeDraftingTechnique(cutout the middle
part)

What is the Drafting Technique?

The Drafting Technique is a flagship strategy over at Social Triggers.Itsawaytogetmajorpress

for your startup, small business or website without connections or a PR firm totally DIY.

As a starter for understanding this technique, take a look at the name. Drafting is a skill that top
athletes like cyclists, race car drivers and speed skaters use to get better results with less effort. If
youveeverwatchedLanceArmstrongintheTourdeFrance,onedudeisupfrontbreakingthe
wind, and the other cyclists are riding in his slipstream to reduce drag from wind, etc.

Now think of this in marketing. Being the first to contact a major media outlet is tough maybe
theydontknowaboutyourproductorservice,soyouhavetoeducatethem.Maybeyoudont
even know who to contact. But if your competitor gets featured first, e.g., in a newspaper, you
know you can contact the authorofthecolumnandtheywillunderstandyou.Nowyouve
reduced the drag (who to contact, education), and can slide in with way less effort. The next
section will show you how.

How to Draft like a pro

Draftingisabouthoppingintoyourcompetitors slipstream. If they get featured somewhere, you
try to get featured there too.
Derek Halpern, summing up the Drafting Technique

Derek has a 4-step process for you to get started drafting:

Step 1: List off 5-15competitors.Thesedonthavetobedirectcompetition just people that are

in the same world as you. E.g., If you sell front-pocket wallets, you can find other companies that
sellmodernmensaccessories.

Step 2: Search for any media mentions they have (including features, links, etc.). On Google you
can write link:www.socialtriggers.com andseealltheincominglinkstothatsite(ifthisdoesnt
work for your site, try taking out the www).

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Drafting Tip #1: Doesntmatterwhosfirst.The trick is to find someone who was already
covered,anddraftbehindthem.Whenweseeacompetitorfeaturedinthemedia,itsnaturalto
think,theopportunityisgone.TheyvealreadyreportedaboutX.Imtoolate.Butthisisactually
just a mental barrier to getting started. Instead, think about how you can add a unique perspective
to the conversation.

Step 3: Find the contact info for the blogger/reporter/journalist.

Step 4: Instead of just reaching out and asking for links, make a value-focused pitch.

How to make a value-focused pitch

Dereksayswhenyouarelookingtogetfeaturedinthemedia,Itsnotaboutyouoryour
company.Itsaboutprovidingthereporterwithanincentivetocoveryourcompany.Andthis
doesntmeanbuyinglinks!Instead, you need to give them a story a unique/new idea, or new
developments to an existing story.

To find your angle, carefully analyze the story about your competition. Find any gaps or errors
if you are an expert in your niche this should be easy. Once you have your story idea, write and
send your email.

Drafting Tip #2: WithDrafting,youdonthavetowriteaboutwhatshotrightnow.Instead,you

writeaboutwhatreportersorbloggershaveahistoryofwritingabout.Draftingsuccessfully
doesntrequire you to be talking about the story of the day. Seek out reporters/bloggers that write
about your niche. If you are a tech startup, find writers that cover that. If you are a relationship
expert, there are countless columns in newspapers and magazines.

HeresatipthatIalwayskeepinmindwhenemailingsomeonenew:KEEPITSHORT
assume that people are good intentioned but lazy.

Youcanwriteyourown,oruseDereksoutline:

Hey Name,

Isawyouwroteabout[inserttopic].Well,Ivegotsome[insert unique story angle] that

answerstheconcernsyouraisedinyouroriginalarticle.Heresthearticle:

[insert link to article here].

Yourebusybutyoullfindthisastheperfectanswerto[inserttheconcerntheyraised].

- Derek

Final step: click send :- )

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CaseStudies:Howthese3bloggersusedDereksDrafting
Technique to get featured in major media
Pro Tip: case studies are one of the most powerful tools available to a marketer. Not only do they
establish credibility for the business, Dereksadviceworks,buttheyarealsousefulfora)
establishingsocialproof,thisadviceworksforpeoplelikeme,andb)showingavarietyof
applicationscenarios,thisishowitcouldworkforabusinesslikemine.

That last point is key. A lot of advice gets passed around online over and over again with very
fewpeopletakingactionandgettingresults(Derekcallsthistheechochamber.Saysomething
unique that gets people actual results and your business will stand out!)

SoletslookathowafewSocialTriggersreadersappliedtheDraftingTechnique

Example 1: Jadah used the Drafting Technique to bring 4,148+

readers to her parenting blog
Jadah runs a parenting advice blog called Family Sponge. Her and her blogging partner Jen write
about child rearing, diet, design, sustainable living, etc. After writing an article about life without a
TV, Jadah leveraged the Topic Drafting Technique to bring 4,148+ new visitors to her site.

From Jadah:

Iagreethatconnectingwithyourcompetitorsisahugehelp.Isentasimpleemailtoa
blogIadmire(itsinasimilargenreasmyblog).Iincludedalinktoanarticleon our blog
that I thought her readers might benefit from: http://familysponge.com/parenting/tv/ The
blog owner actually read it and shared the link in one of her posts which brought us 1,211
views on our site to that specific article on the day it was posted with consistent 400+
referrers from her site days after. We had another big blog share with the same article
weeks earlier on another site bringing us 1,737 views on that one article the first day. We
actually back linked one of her posts in our post. Sometimes people get afraid to leak out
to other blogs, but I find it as a way to share resources and ideas. I want to build an
honest community and give credit where credit is due. But not sure how it will pay off in
the long run. Our blog has been running lessthan3months,andImthankfulforthe
articles I read here for inspiration and action steps.

A few things to note:

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 1. Notice that being featured on each of the host blogs happened weeks apart. There is no
time limit on the Drafting Technique. If your content is relevant, you can promote it days,
weeks, months or even years after you write it.
2. Didyouseehermentionfear?Sometimespeoplegetafraidtoleakouttootherblogs.
Linking to another blogger or business in your niche is an easy way to add value to them
and open yourself up to reciprocity.
3. Traffic spikes are actually a really good thing. Derek says Social Triggers was built on
traffic spikes because even if you just catch a few hundred subscribers each time, the
numbers accumulate. Ramit Sethi told me something similar in another interview:
featuresonmajormediasitesresultinastaircaselikepatternforyourwebtraffic.

Free Bonus: the word-for-word email script Jadah used to reach out to
influential blogs

I followed up with Jadah for more details about her success. She was kind enough to share the
EXACT email she used to reach out to influential blogs in her niche. Copy below.

From: Jadah Sellner <####@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 5:43 PM
Subject: Blog crush + Life without TV
To: gabrielle@####.com

Bonjour Gabrielle,

Your blog is fabulous. I adore your family photos

and your writing style.

I subscribe to your blog, and drool over your

images and fascinating stories.

Idontsubscribetomanyblogs,butyouand
zenhabits.net are invited to my inbox.

I just wanted to share a post that may benefit

your readers from a site a mommy friend and I
partner on together.

http://familysponge.com/parenting/tv/

With the New Year, I thought it might be nice to

inspire families to unplug a little bit.

I am also available to provide any assistance

that may help you out. I know balancing a family
and maintaining a successful blog can be time
consuming. I would be open to writing or sharing
something that may be helpful to your readers.

Warmest regards,

Jadah

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 www.familysponge.com

P.S., We have a blog crush on you. Your

site rocks!

More notes:

1. NoticethisisdifferentthanDereksemailcopyabove thatstotallyokay!Success
comes from the fundamental principles you apply, not by stressing over word choice.
2. Jadah sent her email January 4, and the target blog linked to her February 3. Sometimes
yourresultswillbeinstant(Ivehadpeoplerespondback within 10 minutes and say,
loveit,canwepostthistomorrow?),butsometimesyouneedpatienceand
perseverance.
3. Also, when you send emails do you think about the width of your text? The narrow
formatting of the email above may actually increase responses. Derek wrote about how
to do these tests over on the Thesis Statement.

JadahhassinceusedDerekstechniquestogrowasecond blog with 700,000+ visitors per

month. But if you are more interested in boosting your credibility/authority than web traffic, check
out the next example.

Example 2: Sean drafted his way into a national magazine

Just a quick example. Sean Mysel is another Social Triggers
reader who used the Drafting Technique to land coverage in a
nationalgolfmagazineintheUK.Hereshowhedidit:

This works brilliantly! I used this exact technique to get

ongoing press coverage for the oldest, most wide read golf
magazine in the UK. They needed help figuring out a brief
drought season and how to take care of courses, I offered
to give them some ideas.

Pro-tip: Think of both online AND offline media outlets for your promotional work. By getting
featured in a major publication like a magazine or newspaper you can earn a great credibility
badge and place their logo on your site.

Example 3: Rachel got featured both online and offline in an

award-winning photo magazine
Sometimes you can actually double up on your efforts. By targeting media outlets that publish
both online and offline you can get the credibility boosting power of being in print, with the link
boosting power of being online.

UsedthecompetitorsdrafttogetafeatureinPDNMagazinesDecember 2012 issue

(online and print edition) with a link to our site.

Very nice :- )

If you have any questions about the Drafting Technique, let us know in the comments below.

Andfornow,letslookatanotheroneofDereksmediastrategies

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Strategy #2: Natural Controversy
Ifpeoplearegoingtohateyou,theyregoingtohateyou.

Youcantreallystopit.

Andwhenyoupresentbalancedargumentsforthesakeofbeingbalancedyoureactually
hurting your chances of finding the people who truly resonatewithwhateveryouretryingtoget
them to do.
Derek Halpern, on why you should be controversial

How controversy = traffic

Derekhasasimpleequationforgettingmassivetraffictoyourwebsite

Outrage + Controversy = Massive Traffic

Alright, two parts.Letsbreakitdown

Master Outrage

Mastering outrage is all about understanding the emotional triggers of your audience, and pulling
those levers in the right way.

AsTimFerrisssays,studythetopstoriesatDiggorMSN.comandyoullnoticeapattern: the top

storiesallpolarizepeople.Ifyoumakeitthreatenpeoples3Bsbehavior, belief, or belongings
you get a huge virus-likedispersion.

AndasDereksays,peoplegotogreatlengthstoleteveryoneknowhowmadtheyare.

So if you want to threaten behavior:

writeablogpostlikewhyyourmorning routine isactuallymakingyoufat

postaYouTubevideoaboutthethreethingsyoushouldhavedoneinCollege
askFacebookbreastfeedingorbottlefeeding?

And if you want to threaten belief:

writeablogpostlikewhy Content is King is a myth

postaYouTubevideoabouthowartschoolisabigfatwasteofmoney
Tweetthat99%ofbeeractuallytastesterrible

And if you want to threaten belongings:

Dothisorriskforeclosure
Thehiddencostsonyourcablebill
Investorsareabouttolose50%onthisonecommonstock

Ifyouarentsurewhatwilloutrageyouraudience,trytesting.Sendasnippettoasmallsegment
of one of your lists (email, Facebook, Twitter) and gauge the reaction.

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Andonceyouvecausedoutrage

Master Controversy

Mastering controversy is about harnessing both sides of an argument.

With the examples above, each is going to have supporters that take different sides.

Writers believe content is king designers believe the design is moreimportant(itsthe

first impression!)
BreastfeedingleadstohigherIQ!vs.Itsnotproven!Einstenwasbottlefed!
Etc.

Butyoucantrelyonthesegroupstoseekyouout.

Instead go to their home turf blogs, forums, and other places that they congregate.

1. First, reach out to the people that will disagree with you. Send a quick email with the link.
Watch as the outrage/comments roll in.
2. Then, reach out to the people that will support you. Again, comments, dialogue, and
shares.

Here is email copy you can use to contact each side.

Hey Name,

I saw you wrote about [insert topic]. I know [insert unique story angle] is something your
audiencefeelsstronglyabout,andIdidsomeresearchthatmightsurprisethem.Heres
the article:

[insert link to article here].

Whatsinterestingishow[usefulpointaboutyourarticle].

Derek

Repeat as necessary, and then let the traffic flow.

By making people take a stance, you are going to gain loyal followers.

But there is a risk of using this technique. You can actually be TOO controversial (or sputter and
diebecauseyouarentcontroversialenough).

How to be the right amount of controversial 99% of the time

With great power comes great responsibility.
Stan Lee (via Spiderman), Franklin D Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and possibly first by
Francois-Marie Arouet (aka Voltaire)

Even though controversy is a powerful tool for driving traffic, it does have limitations. There are
ways of communicating and promoting controversial topics that work and there are those that

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have a net negative effect by offending your most loyal fans. Derek actually warns against
publicly taking strong stances on topics like politics, gender, religion, etc.

Itseemsvagueatfirst,becontroversialwithoutbeingtoocontroversial,butitturnsoutthere
might actually be a right level of controversy for bloggers and businesses.

A 2012 academic paper published by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
discussed how online marketers can manipulate controversy to achieve results like increased
comments or traffic. Here are a few major takeaways:

1. Contrarytopopularbelief,controversydoesntalwaysincreasediscussion.
2. Moving from low to moderate levels of controversy increases the number of comments an
article receives additional increases result in less comments.
3. Exception: If you allow online commenters to be anonymous, the are willing to discuss
more controversial topics.
4. Less controversial stuff is more likely to be shared with weaker ties (i.e., acquaintances),
and so is more likely to diffuse through a social network or in Newspeak, if you want
your posts to be shared by the Ministry of Twitter then low level controversy is doubleplus
good.

Thebasicmechanicsofcontroversyareprettysimple:whilecontroversyincreasesconversation
by making topics more interesting to talk about, it simultaneously decreases conversation by
making people feel uncomfortable talking about these topics.

So the art is in understanding what makes your audience tick, and not going beyond their limit.
My friend Gregory Ciotti calls engaging in this low level controversy the Toilet Paper Strategy.

I recommend you read the entire academic study. It answers questions like:

How does online controversy compare to offline?

Doesknowledgemattermorethaninterest?

Of course sometimes even when you have zero-intent of being controversial, it still creeps in.
This morning I was reading an article about air pollution in China (it is literally off the charts). One
ofthefirstcommenterswrote,ThisistheAmericatheLibertariansandcorporationswant.Okay
WTF?

Good Guy Internet Commenter

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Good Guy Internet Commenter [FIXED]

Tohelpkeepyouontrack,Ivecreatedalistofrulestofollow:Dereks12Commandmentsof
Natural Controversy.

Dereks12CommandmentsofNaturalControversy
1. Rally the people you inspire. Find the topics and emotional triggers they care about.
2. Building an audience is more about exclusion than inclusion,sodontworryabout
offending outsiders.
3. Never piss off your loyal fans and friends. You CAN polarize people in the wrong
direction.
4. Instead, piss off the people you want to exile from your community. Ifpeopleare
goingtohateyou,theyaregoingtohateyou.
5. Youdonthavetobeopinionatedabouteverything. This is a big one. One of the
common barriers to using Natural Controversy is butIdontfeelreallystronglyabout
thingslikeX.Thisiseasytoovercome.SomeoneonceaskedDerek,Whydoyou
alwayshavesuchstrongopinionsoneverything?Hereplied,ItsnotthatIhavestrong
opinionsoneverything,itsthatIonlytalkaboutthingsIhavestrongopinionson.
6. Dontcreateproblemsfornoreason. Being controversial just to try to drive traffic, or
worse without a goal is a no-no. Instead, only use this technique when you truly
supportwhatyouresaying.
7. Be confident and people will believe in you. Always maintain your position unless
someone provides new data that makes you change your mind. Don Moore, a researcher
atCarnegieMellonUniversityinPittsburgh,demonstratedthatconsumerstendtopick
advice from those who express more confidence that they have the right answer (Moore,
2009).
8. Stay out of conversations related to politics, gender, religion, etc. These topics are
a little too polarizing for the average blogger. Studies show that above a certain level
controversyactuallydecreasesdiscussion.Instead,optimizeforlowlevelcontroversy.
Obvious exceptions: you run a political blog or church.
9. Find the common enemy. Derek says every group of people has a common enemy.
Yougottafindoutwhothatenemyis,andthenuseoutrage+controversyagainstthem.
10. Question the 3 Bs. This one is borrowed from Tim Ferriss. Threaten the 3 Bs (behavior,
belief, belongings) and traffic follows.
11. All controversies burn bridges. IdontmindburningbridgesthatIdontwant to leave
up.
12. Controversy is like chess itseasytolearnhowtomovethepieces,butitshardto
learnhowtoplaylikeagrandmaster.AKA:thisallmaysoundprettybasic,butits
actually quite hard to pull off.

Andhereistheprettyversion

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rightclick+saveastodownload

Warning: Natural controversy is a powerful technique you can use to drive traffic to your website.
However Derek warns that if done poorly it can have a negative effect (like pissing off your loyal
fans). Also, you may get into trouble by failing to support your opinion (e.g., with data or other
research), or failing to address the major counter arguments to your point-of-view.

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Here are a few more examples of controversy in action:

Andrew Warner used controversy to build up the viewer base at Mixergy. When a
Techcrunch intern was accused of taking bribes, Andrew reached out to get his story.
RememberDereksrule this is not just about being controversial hedidan
interviewwithmebecauseheknewthatIwouldlisten,insteadofsandbagginghim.
Sometimes just providing a new viewpoint is enough to provide value to your fans (this
also turned out to be one ofMixergysbigtrafficdays).
When I interviewed Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion, he told me about how he jumps on
controversial topics (that he has a genuine opinion about) to get more traffic. e.g., When
pro-blogger Chris Brogan deleted all his Twitter followers, it caused a small uproar.
Marcus voiced his opinion on his blog. See the mega-comments for how well Marcus
rallies his readers around ideas.
Once you become an expert, you know when you can bend or even break the
rules. Ramit Sethi masterfully executed a gender series back in mid-2012.Heresthe
starter post: Aconfessionaboutgenderandmoney, and even better How Much Should
You Spend On An Engagement Ring.
Mybrothersparty rock band is made up of reformed heavy-metal dudes. They name all
of their songs after girls. They produced a fun music video and got slammed by a major
heavy-metal blog for being sell-outs. The result? Over 100,000 views for their video.
I wrote the first issue of Blueprint Entrepreneur. As part of my research, I asked Quora,
Programmers,whatdoyouthinkwhenyouhearIjustneedatechco-founder? A rage
storm followed 45 comments, 23,120 views andmarkedasoneofthebest
conversationsonlinebyoneofthemods.Allbecausethequestionstruckanemotional
chord.
re: burning bridges. Back when I was interviewing top bloggers for Writerviews, I went to
Man Vs. Debt to reach out to Adam Baker. His most recent post was called, TheCostof
aDeadOsamaBinLaden. I found the parody title and tone of the post distasteful, so I
never reached out (this is painful for me to admit because generally I favour learning
opportunities.Also,P.S:evennowImlinkingtothiscontroversialpost).ButlikeDerek
says,Ipersonallydontmind[burning]bridgesthatIdontwant toleaveup.
A thread on Reddit re: controversy, BLEW UP, getting 13,000+ comments in 5 hours and
actually crashing Reddit. Check it out here: What extremely controversial thing(s) do you
honestlybelieve,butdonttalkabouttoavoidtheargument?

Conclusion:Ifyoudontspend80%ofyoureffortpromotingyour
business, you are going to have a bad time
There is a lot of terrible adviceoutthere:youhavetoblogeveryday,andsimilar.Butitsnot
abouthowmuchcontentyouproduce,andpastacertainlevelitsnotreallyaboutthequality
either.

What matters is the marketing and promotion you do for your product or business and when
you master high level strategies like the Drafting Technique and Natural Controversy, you set
yourself up for explosive growth.

Thestrategiesinthisarticlearejusttwowaystopromoteyourbusiness.Iftheyarenttherightfit
foryou,thatstotally okay, try one of these instead:

When Laura Roeder spokeatSXSW,afantoldherItsmydreamtogiveatalkat

SXSW.Turnsoutthatfan had never even applied. If you want to speak at events, ask.
BTW: Laura is a social media expert shestartedfollowingDereks80/20ruleand
increased her traffic too.

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 Ramit Sethi builds relationships with journalists by being a source if they need stats he
is able to source and provide numbers quickly.
Thepublicrespondstoprecedentsandsuperlatives. Elon Musk (Founder of Paypal,
Tesla Motors, SpaceX)
Danny Iny of Fire Pole Marketing wrote 80+ quality guest posts in less than a year (he
told me about his system in this interview).
Chris Guillebeau talks about how you can grow a following by creating a compelling story
and building flagship content.
Tim Ferriss teaches how to get national media coverage by creating a reel, knowing your
topic, and pitching properly.

Remember, spend just 20% of your time/effort on creation and the other 80% on promotion, and
you will see terrific results. BTW: Derek says this also means that you get to repeat your BEST
stuff everywhere you go thatsa$1millioninsight.

Last thing: an article like this is a lot of effort to research, draft, write, revise, etc. You can do us a
huge favour by leaving a comment below. Let us know:

1. What are you struggling with in your blog or business?

2. Whathaveyoutriedforpromotion?Whatworked?Whatdidnt?

Maneesh, Derek, and I will review every comment thanks!

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