There are lots of blogs out there that instruct on the best ways to write more effectively or how to tweak your sites for best search engine results. Some folks even go really hardcore and instruct you on a variety of methods to build your site.
Very few people, if any, will tell you the easy stuff. The low hanging fruit. The slam dunks. Sure, it’s unlikely that the following tactics alone will catapult you into a position of being the next media mogul. However, these simple tricks are things that anyone can do, but yet very few people actually employ. As a result, you can gain guerrilla tactics that will place you in an advantageous position over the other guy.
Check it out.
Use your Domain Name as Your WiFi Network Name
Yes indeed. A sneaky, yet effective technique that broadcasts your network to everyone within 802.11 range. That is, if you don’t turn your SSID broadcast option off.
The trick here is that anyone within range of your wifi access point, many of whom are unlikely technically savvy, will see your domain name in their access list and it will spark curiosity. “What on earth is technosailor.com? It looks like a website”
Of course, they will look and who knows if you’ll have a visitor for life. (/me waves at neighbors who just clicked through).
Attract Blackberry Users
It’s not a secret among Blackberry users that Blackberries attract other Blackberries. Try this trick on for size. Next time you go out pubbing, check that Blackberry often. Chances are someone is going to comment on it. When they do, don’t just answer with a humdrum “Yeah I’m checking my email”, or, “I need to stay in touch with whats going on at work.” Instead, tell them that you are looking at your site on the Blackberry browser to make sure it works on a mobile device.
Tangent: Make sure it actually does render properly on a Blackberry so that you have something worth looking at.
Buy a Shirt
Schwag is great, but your schwag is even better. Especially if it looks good. If you’re a schwag wearer (I am!), you can probably testify to the fact that people do actually notice what you’re wearing. The most commented on schwag I wear is my new Mesh Conference tee shirt from RightSleeve.com. People look at the shirt and love to ask what “Mesh: Connect, Share, Inspire” means. Of course I tell them.
Imagine how much a shirt with your website with some appropriately cryptic slogan would do to encourage conversation in line at Starbucks.
Of course, slightly less convincing is getting branded boxer shorts like Mike Arrington of Techcrunch got at Mesh (left).
Ask Someone About Themself
One thing my good friend Mark Evans taught me when he started at b5media was to ask questions. It usedf to annoy me, but it turns out there was method to his madness. He told me that, as a journalist, it’s important to ask questions because people love to talk about themselves. By asking leading questions, people open up and begin to just talk.
Sooner or later, the questioning will inevitably turn back to you and give you an opportunity to share what you do, how you do it, why you do it, etc.
These are just four techniques. There’s literally thousands of ways you can promote you or your blog without using common practices suggested all the time. Naturally, using common practices probably have more reach and will be more far reachingly successful. But these are some low lying fruit that anyone can employ.
What about you? Do you have techniques such as these?