As bloggers, Internet marketers, 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

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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

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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!

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