How To Stand Out In The Online World Of Average
Jan

As bloggers, Internet marketers,ย and online entrepreneurs, our platform is our websites. Everything we do revolves around the images we portray and the messages we send to the public.
If our goal is to create a profitable business, we need to make sure our message is strong and clear. Without those things, we will surely become just another statistic in the sea of information known as the WWW.
The Internet today is the most competitive space ever known to man and if we are to succeed, we need to be extraordinary!
Just take a look at the magnitude of the Internet. According to Pingdom.com, at the end of 2010, there were:
- 1.97 billion Internet users
- 255 million websites online
- 152 million blogs
Think about this for a moment. If you have a blog, even an awesome one, you still have to find a way to grab the attention of Internet users when there are 151,999,999 other bloggers who are trying to do the same exact thing as you are.
Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to stand out from all the averageness (not a word, but it sounds good) out there.
But first, we need to look at what’s out there.
The Average Joe
How many websites have you visited and then instantly forgotten as soon as you left? I’ll bet a ton. There was nothing there of real interest there and you probably will never return.
The average blogger puts minimal effort into actually creating a valuable resource and most of them are just noise. Signing up for a free WordPress or Blogger account, posting a few sub par articles, and maybe throwing up some AdSense ads is NOT blogging! Nor is it creating anything of value to anyone.
Basically, it’s just a waste of bandwidth.
If you don’t know how to create a website worth remembering, do your homework. There are thousands upon thousands of hours of free video content that will teach you anything and everything you need to know about building a great site.
Just remember, we all have one shot at making a lasting impression on a new visitor and if we fail to do so, there is a very strong possibility that they will never come back.
Seriously, how can we possibly expect to compete with hundreds of millions of others when we do nothing to stand out? It’s simple-we wont!
The good news is that there really is no limit as to how great you can make your site. The only limit is your own imagination.
So why is it that most of us fail to be unique?
Standing Out From The Rest
If we are ever going to establish ourselves as an authority in our industry, we must learn how to be unique.
And that doesn’t mean just buying a premium WordPress theme and calling it a day. I learned this lesson from Nick at SiteSketch101, who said my site design was overused and under amazing. Ouch! That opened my eyes and prompted me to seek another design, which is the one I use now.
Being unique can be achieved a number of different ways.
Here are 5 things that will help you stand out from the blah of the blogosphere:
1) Find an under served topic and dominate it. Many niches, like the “make money online” ,”weight loss”, and “personal growth” are completely saturated. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful in these niches of course, because people do it every day.
What I’m talking about is a topic that has a lot of interest, yet few are talking about. If you can find that market and become an expert, you not only will be able to become an expert in that field, but may end up with a thriving business as well.
2) Have an opinion. If you blog about fitness, which is a topic notorious for attracting pinheads who love to regurgitate the same information over and over, you need to have a STRONG opinion about some aspect of it.
Take a look at Leigh Peele, who is very passionate about health and fitness and is VERY opinionated about her ideas on fat loss and healthy eating. Her sometimes abrasive tone turns some people off, but her followers greatly outweigh the critics. Needless to say, she is highly successful.
If you don’t have a unique or very strong opinion about your subject, then consider finding something else to write about. The world does not need another blogger who blogs just to blog.
3) Clean up your site. This just annoys me to no end. If you are a WordPress user, there is NO reason you should have a cheap looking site. There are thousands of free themes to suit almost any taste, and all you have to do is dig a little to find them.
If you want to have a more professional look, I would suggest buying a domain name and get a self hosted website. I would also suggest looking into purchasing a premium there.
You will usually find that the premium themes have much more back end flexibility and customization options and have support from the designers as well. Believe me, this is well worth the money. Trying to customize your site can be a huge pain in the ass and when you can get ahold of someone who can help you immediately, it’s worth every penny.
4) Do something amazing! Bloggers are getting more and more creative every day and therefore we need to be even more creative. If you can find something that many people are already doing and then do it far better, then you should go for it.
If you don’t go that route, then you should try to find a hook. A hook can be a challenge, a declaration, a contest, a fundraiser, or something that makes a bold statement. It’s something that will draw people in and make them want to follow you.
5) Be incredibly useful. Most blogs are not useful. In fact, many are just plain rubbish. I’m not saying this to build myself up at all, I just happen to think that there is a lot of crap online.
If you really want to set yourself apart from everyone else, offer insane amounts of value to your readers. Whatever your topic is, you need to crush it Gary Vaynerchuk style.
If all you can think about is making money or how much traffic you’re getting, then you have little chance of succeeding. Offer the absolute best possible content you can, and if it truly is great, people will tell you.
What are your thoughts on this? What can people do to make their blogs stand out?
I would love to hear your feedback!

Lori Gosselin
Hi Steve,
I certainly don’t want my blog to be “just a waste of bandwidth.” LOL. Thanks for your great post! I’m new at it and still in the process of finding my recipe for a good blog, delivered in my voice! It’s not as easy as you all make it look!
Have a good one!
Lori
P.S. Scratch “good blog” and insert “Awesome blog”. Thanks!
Steve
Lori,
I actually just spent a few minutes on your blog and I like the unique angle you have. Having an interactive blog makes a lot of sense as people really do embrace the whole community idea. Also, your design is rather pleasant and calming.
Thanks for the comment and hope to see you around!
Matt Trostle
Steve, you’re freakin’ killin it man! You’re absolutely right, having a strong opinion, might I add educated opinion, is key to building your followers. Godin talks about it in Tribes and just read an article from Mars Dorian talking about it.
For the longest time I was a bit afraid to speak my mind online for fear of being blown out. But, thanks to you fearless ones, I’m building up the courage to say, “Fuck it!” ๐
Oh, I don’t know what your site looked like before, but it rocks now dude! Simple yet elegant, and the graphics are amazing. I notice on your post titles if it wraps the second line is smaller. I check your CSS and still can’t figure it out. How the heck do you do it?
Steve
Thanks Matt!
You’re right. Having a strong opinion is key, but it certainly works better when someone knows what the hell they are talking about!
Good for you for speaking your mind, that’s what we need. We don’t need another lame ass blog talking about shit nobody cares about.
The theme is working well, I really like it. As far at the CSS, that’s mostly greek to me. I had my web designer change the fonts of the post title and I have no idea what the style sheet look like. Do you think it works or would it look better if it was all the same font size?
Matt Trostle
I think it works man! I’m sure someone will disagree, but I think it’s cool. I’ll have to ask Michael how he did it! ๐
Steve
Thanks Matt.
Dino Dogan
Hey Steve, do you think people try too hard trying to be better than everyone else in their niche?
What Im asking is, wouldnt a better strategy be NOT to be better than anyone else at what you do, but rather be the ONLY one that does what you do.
Just my 2 cents ๐
Keep you shit tight and dont contribute to the echo chamber is always good advice..even if it is little echoy lol just bustin you chops bro, loved the article ๐
Steve
Dino,
I don’t think people try too hard to outdo their competition because most bloggers are lazy. They may think they are doing things better, but most blogs are them same old thing.
I’m not saying I’m doing anything great here, I’m just saying that I think most bloggers don’t put in enough effort to rise above the rest. Hence why most bloggers will never make more than a few dollars.
As far as being a pioneer, that’s a great idea if you can figure out what people want and aren’t getting.
Steven
Great points made Steve. I am pretty (okay, very) new at all this. Did you end up buying a WP theme? I have found a few that I like, but can’t seem to decide. I really like yours and how clean it looks. Do you have a theme recommendation?
Thanks,
Steven
Steve
Steven,
I did buy a theme I found on Theme Forest and had a number of customizations done (not by me). I would suggest WooTHemes, Press75 or Headway Themes. All are good and relatively easy with customizations on the back end. WooThemes has a lot of great looking themes and they are probably the easiest to work with. Let me know what you decide.
Keshav
I think a blog has to look simple and easy to navigate through. Too many bells and whistles puts me off.
I do have my own domain and recently brought some hosting space. The transformation is pending for a long time – I’ve been lazy about it.
I have two questions
1) If I move to my own domain, what happens to all the visits/site stats of my “.wordpress.com”. Can I leverage that?
2)Is it easier to buy a premium theme and have them setup everything for me?
Maybe I should do my homework before I ask you. But Hey! I still did ๐
I love your blog’s look (Amazing pics for each post). Any info to get me started would be great. Thanks!
Matt Trostle
Hey Keshav,
I would definitely move to hosting your own. There are just too many limitations to the .com version of Wordpres that you’ll probably outgrow it anyway.
If you’re just using the traffic stats from WordPress, you’ll probably lose it. You should be using Google Analytics anyway, it’s free.
I think premium theme frameworks are the way to go. I use Studiopress Genesis for all my sites. They look really good out of the box and the code is highly optimized for fast loading and SEO.
There are several other really good theme frameworks out there though. Look for one that feels right for you.
Steve
Keshav,
It looks like Matt beat me to answering your questions. I’ve been slow to respond because my area got crushed with snow and I’ve benn digging my way out..
If you are serious about turning your blog into a business, I would definitely use a self hosted site through WordPress.org.
As far as I know, you will lose the stats associated with your current blog. There may be a way to keep them, but not 100% sure.
Buying a premium theme will give you the flexibility and the ability to use plugins (which you NEED), but nobody will do it for you. I hired a web designer to make the modification to my site (after trying to figure it out and failing).
You will however have the online support of whatever premuim theme you buy, which is very handy.
Let me know what you decide.
Ryan Renfrew @LifestyleDesign
What uuuup Steve?
I believe its vital important to have and voice your opinion. This is an age of personalisation, conection, interaction. No one wants to read a sterile, undiscript textbook style post – thats why text books exist.
bLAZE yOUR tRAIL
Steve
Ryan,
What’s up brother?? You hit it on the head. If we wanted to read textbooks, we would just go to the library…
Harriet`
I like that picture of the umbrellas you have there, it really makes the title of the blog stand out.
And I really like that you’ve included a picture from Dodgeball. I used to absolutley hate that film, my little brother had it playing every day for 3 months and he knew it word for word. But now I like the message behind it, its kinda cool to see the underdog coming through!
Steve
Harriet,
I try to use interesting pictures that correlate well with the message I am trying to get across. Glad to see I reintroduced you to the Dodgeball movie :). I personally find it hilarious..
Patricia@lavender
Hi Steve
My upgrade was done by a techie friend and I use Headway. Really pleased with the result as it makes my site look more professional but hopefully still inviting.
It is so important to stand out from the crowd. This can take a little time getting to be known. Being consistent with publishing quality content and interacting with others vis Twitter, blog commenting helps too.
Learning from others but still keeping your own voice is important. I visit a lot of blogs and the ones I keep going back to have quality content and the blog owner is expressing themselves in a way that I find engaging.
Patricia Perth Australia
Steve
Headway seems to be getting a lot of attention and it looks like for good reason.
Standing out is not an easy thing. There are soooo many good blogs, but fortunately, there are still many more average ones.
Great point about keeping (or finding) your own voice. Not enough bloggers really embrace this notion and subsequently will fall into the average joe trap.
Jay
Good article Steve. I was a budding writer in high school, so there’s still a nagging interest in getting back into writing. I created a shell of a blog in Blogger just to get started, but I won’t be actually doing anything in earnest until I’m ready and have something worthwhile to contribute. Seems like everything I’m considering now is in the research mode, but i know i have to ‘pull the trigger’ at some point and move out! thanks
Steve
Jay,
Let me know when you are ready to get at it. I will be glad to offer up any help I can.
Good for you for not just adding to the noise of the blogosphere and waiting until you feel you can really offer something significant.
Mathy
Hey Steve,
quick question what is a good average for the number of comment you can get on a blog if you are very active with it? How long did it take you to get at least 10 regular comments?
Mathy
Steve
Mathy,
Everyone’s opinion of how many comments are enough will be different. Personally, I like to have at least 20 per post. Some get less and some get more. It’s going to be slow for the first few months, so don’t get discouraged by a lack of participation.
Also, you need to remember that on average only about 1% of your readers will leave comments. So if you have barely any traffic, your comments will be very low or non existent.
If you write great stuff and ask for feedback, you’re much more likely to see those comments roll in.
Mathy
Dear Steve,
thank you for your tip I’ve taken your advice on board and just after I finish speaking to you I got 4 comments in the space of 2 hours which is good from where I’m coming from. My traffic as also increased from 118-171 people reading my page. On Tuesday 7th I had 41 people view my blog. That’s the highest I’ve had in one day. And to engage my audience, I put my first poll.
Steve
Good to hear it Mathy! If it’s working, keep it up. I still owe you an email too ๐
Prof KRG
This is my first time to your blog (I think), and I love the concept. I also really like your theme and the widgets you’re using. It’s clean and easy to navigate.
You were able to articulate the components of a good blog and how to stand out very well. It really made me consider whether I’m successful at doing these things on my own blog. I’m not too sure that I don’t just blend in with the rest.
I would love for you to take a look at my blog and tell me what you think! It’s http://www.profkrg.com.
Steve
Hi Kenna,
Glad you found my blog and are enjoying it! I did take a look at your blog and have sent you an email with some suggestions.
Marรญa
Thanks for this useful tips!
I’m new in this, I started my blog two months ago, so I’m still figuring out how to put it out there and find the way to stand out.
Your post comes in handy in this purpose! ๐
Steve
Maria,
Glad to hear that this was useful. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!
By the way, I like the idea of your blog….
Placid
Hi Steve ! Howยดs it going ?
I never get tired reading about advice in your blog.
Iยดve been looked at all material and learning English a lot.
Congrats and thanks for all.
Prince
You are spot on Steve! That very ‘averageness’ can be summed up by this phrase I use on being different “The world has seen ALL THAT;it craves for a DIFFERENT FLAVOUR”. I totally agree with you . “Be OPINIONATED” is my life’s philosophy.
I just downloaded the INTERVIEW podcast about Trunk calling the ‘crap out of you’. I am looking forward to listening to it.
You rock dude!
P.S: The reason why I subscribed to your blog is because; you call ‘CRAP’ crap. No BS that I love; and I can relate with you.
Cheers!
Prince
Steve
Thanks Prince, I appreciate the kind words. I’m pretty sure I don’t call it “crap” but hey, if you want to keep it clean, be my guest ๐
Hope you enjoy the interview and I actually wrote a book about it. You’ll get it free if you join the email list..