5 Things #Xfactor can teach you about business

The XFactor is one of those TV shows I cannot stand, yet I watch, not as much as most – in fact I just watch for the auditions and see the failures and which are chosen to go through. For a mind numbing show with an awful non talented group of people there have been a few things I think we can learn from such a show.

XFactor is a business deal clean and simple – its a TV production designed to entertain and draw in viewers, ad revenue and produce factory made “talented” artists to throw into the music world and reap the benefits of what that brings.

Watching the occasional episode I have come up with five business tips that we can extract from such a show

You dont have to be the most talented or intelligent person in order to be successful – of course you have to work hard – until you bleed out of your f*cking eyeballs in some cases. If you have a power house behind you (a brand, network or something a like) then making moves, getting through those doors and progressing can really help. Work hard, network and learn as much as you can.
If you fail (or get kicked out of the competition) that is not the end of the world – you could always be brought back, come back next year, try harder or go it alone – you do not NEED XFactor to be successful. You don’t need the accelerator, mentor, educational piece of paper in order to succeed. Even if you fail, drop out or quit – you can always try again.
The work doesn’t end when you have got the record contract, or turned a profit – thats just the start. You have a long way to go – hours in the studio, recording, producing, promoting – working, networking, fine tuning the business. When the cameras turn off, when the business breaks even – it doesn’t mean you can rest.
Judges or mentors are a good thing – they can really help to guide you, give advice, open doors and generally be there for you in any shape or form you need them without there being TOO much bias involved. Find a mentor – learn from them, let them show you the roads that are available to be taken – you don’t have to take them – but listen to the advice. Mentors are a great asset to entrepreneurs – mentor groups/networking events are a great place to start.
The songs/products/ideas that are chosen for you by your mentor/judge or those you choose yourself – do not necessarily have to be or reflect where you end up/want to get to. You might start singing Gaga – but end up a rap star – just as you may start doing cupcakes and end up selling high price jewellery. Just remember – Nintendo started out making cards back in 1889 – now they are an entertainment/gaming company.

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By Sean Price – November 12, 2011

Five Tips For Building A Natural Link Building Profile

Link building is rarely an easy task, and it’s often tempting to rush and take short cuts; below are five tips which have been compiled to help build a natural link profile:

Link building top five tips

1. Gain links from a variety of sources
Putting “all your eggs in one basket” when link building only takes an unfriendly algorithm update to demolish all those painstaking months of work. Obtaining links from a variety of sources is a more natural way to build your link profile in addition to being steadier and more secure.

2. Use a combination of follow and no-follow
More aggressive SEO tactics are likely to dismiss no-follow links as they don’t pass on link juice to the targeted site. These links from sites (social media sites for example) can be a great way to drive traffic, encourage recommendations and increase brand awareness. No follows are included in many of the available link-analysis tools link counts; they still provide value – if not link juice. There is a chance too that search engines may look on sites with few or no no-follows with suspicion, and we all know how much the search engines hate links being gained specifically for optimisation purposes.

3. Build links consistently over time
We all know there are tools out there to gain thousands of incoming links in one hit – we also know the majority of these links are likely to be “spammy” and of low quality. It’s natural to build links overtime; as we forge connections through social media or new clients, it is inevitable to then build links through recommendations, testimonials and new content sharing. As well as looking for variety, look for consistency and remember – the link building is never done!

4. Look to get links from sites relevant to your industry
The search engines are all about relevancy – why would they rank a non-relevant site in the SERP’s? Users are trying to find what they need; linking sites relevant to what your site is about can give more credibility, adding extra weight to your relevancy ranking. As you build industry contacts, your links will grow.

5. Link to different pages of your site
It’s unnatural to have every link point to the home page of your site. In reference in particular to larger sites that more likely to cover a bigger variety of topics within their pages, there will be topics covered on different pages that may warrant different links. Of course some pages such as contact and the deeper pages don’t provide much value in relevancy if linked to, however topical pages are often relevant and can complement your link profile.

These five tips will help you create a natural link building profile. Remembering links can take a while to do their work, having patience and the foresight to assess where links will be coming from are also valuable attributes when optimising your site’s link status.

Charlotte Waller of SEO Gemini

Charlotte Waller specialises in small business SEO; visit her site for more information and articles.

Posted in Business, search engine optimization (SEO).

Tagged with seo.

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By Sean Price – November 4, 2011

Being scared shitless

Some people fear turning 30, others think they are going to up and die at 40 – many fear the age of retirement – I myself (don’t ask me why) have always feared a certain age, its coming up in the next two weeks. In the run up to most birthdays and in particular this one I usually get rather reflective and think about life so far, achievements to date, failures, moments of joy and fear. In the mean time I have gone back to 3 articles of particular interest to me that I find to be very helpful and worth seeing.

First of all is Cranking by Merlin Mann of 43 Folders fame – http://www.43folders.com/2011/04/22/cranking which is a very emotional story of how life can throw you twists and turns – very much worth while reading.

Following that – its all your fault by James Altucher http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/05/its-your-fault/ this is one I tend to read and re-read over and over along with all of his other blog posts that have a real meaning to the different aspects of ups and downs in life.

Finally one to watch – Scared Shitless again by Merlin Mann http://www.43folders.com/2011/03/28/scared-shitless (video included below) – no description needed – just watch.