The Availability Effect: Cherish Your Small Audience
“I need more traffic.” “I want more views on my website.” “I want a larger audience.” These are phrases I see a lot online. They are understandable wishes from bloggers and website owners, but why is everyone in such a hurry? Well the quick answer is the fame or fortune. And in that case, I see your point. You want to strike that internet gold and be set for life. I really don’t blame you.
But really, why is it so important to have that LARGE audience. With a large audience, you get more clicks. Hmm… Well I understand that. But that sounds funny to me, more clicks. I think that’s where the problem lies. When you get that big audience you start focusing on statistics rather than individuals. Instead of Johnny Appleseed and Ms. Mary Mack bought my product, you think wow 10% of my audience bought my product.
You see the difference? You start to lose touch with your audience and start to think more strategically. Which is good…in some ways. With that big audience, you start to run your business more automatically. Customer service and your own engagement with the individual goes down. With that larger audience, percentage-wise, less people will buy your product.
The Availability Effect
With a small audience, you can actually sell more. This is with something I call “the availability effect”. You are more available to each of your individual readers! That is something you have over a Pat Flynn sized internet business. (NOT PUTTING DOWN PAT AT ALL, HE’S ACTUALLY AWESOME WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE) With the availability effect on your side, you can build a community of loyal followers and customers.
Cherishing Your Small Audience
You need to cherish your small audience while you have it! The first 100 loyal followers are the most important. They will spread the word and more then likely buy your products. So you need to cater to their needs the best you can. Make sure these people are happy!
Cherish them by:
- Responding to their Comments
- Responding to their Emails
- Making Posts that Thank Them
- Listen to their feedback and act upon it
By cherishing your base following, that will help you grow the bigger audience. They will be so happy with you that they can’t help but share your content and spread the word about your blog. And even if it takes a while for that audience to grow, you will still have that small following that are your own personal “zombies” (lack of better term, sorry to my zombies!). Only instead of killing you, they will help you… Yeah, okay, I understand the term wasn’t the best. But I think my point is made.
I cherish my own small audience of zombies! [embedtweet text="(Tweet this)" tweet= "I cherish my own small audience of zombies! http://bit.ly/JeHNda via @SimplyLBusiness"]
If you are my “zombie”, please contact me through the contact form! I would love to chat and help you in any way I can. Besides, I usually respond to emails during school. Save me from my classes! Feel free to comment below as well, I read every single comment and respond to almost all of them!
