Recently, I’ve been pretty active on the Problogger.com forum. I’ve met some great people on the forum and learned a lot. One person I’ve met on the forum is, FitJerk. He has a style that is completely his own. He is raw and ruthless, but it has definitely made him stand out. He has a brand on the forum.
Not everyone may agree with his brand, but he does have one. In my opinion, you must always keep an open mind in how you brand yourself. This interview will shine a little light on that idea. The following interview does have some adult language, but I wanted to keep it unedited in order to give you the full experience that is FitJerk.
1. Who are you and what do you do online?
What… you don’t know who I am? Insanity! Well I’m FJ and am passionately involved with fitness and health. As far as my topic is concerned there’s really only 3 things you need to know.
- I won’t take your shit. I don’t accept the guilt of those who chose to be mediocre in life because I don’t have time to waste on people who aren’t willing. Those who want to work with me are usually the ones that want success REAL bad. They WANT to be in shape and they are willing to put in the work. For those that like to fluff around and make excuses… there are plenty of trainers who will kiss your ass for the sake of a cheque. I ain’t one of em.
- I’m results oriented. Useless theories, unproven techniques and ridiculous gadgets and gear are OUT. I only prescribe and recommend shit that’s proven to deliver results. I make sure I walk my talk and stay in shape year round… I feel credibility has value. I’m sure others agree.
- I have a bizarre sense of humor. I can get intense, in your face or joke about something random, whatever comes to my head first. You’re either offended and bitch about it or your cracking up. At least, those are the two types of responses I’ve gotten from my content. Doesn’t matter tho, I can’t change who I am and I don’t expect to please everyone.
As for online. Well I have my own self published ebook called Flawless Fitness and I run my blog over at FitJerk’s Fitness Blog. I’m pretty active there so those looking for an open-uncensored place to share/read about fitness info are welcome to come hang.
2. Can you tell us a little about your online marketing strategy?
No doubt, let’s start with the blog. The first concept is freedom. I NEVER censor anyone’s comment on my blog. You can quite literally, come to the blog and be like “F*** YOU FJ, I DISAGREE”. Whatever, I’m ok with that. I’m tired of this pussy shit where every little piece of info is ‘censored’. It’s hindering people form truly expressing themselves. I’m not saying dropping f-bombs is the way to express yourself but at times when you do… ain’t nothing wrong with that. Just remember that I WILL respond.
The second part is involvement. I reply to every comment & email I get. I mean, a dude came over, read your shit and felt compelled to take a few minutes to express his opinion and/or ask a question. Only a fucking retard would ignore this type of person, if only for the fact that he COULD be your potential customer if you think about it. Content is king, but your audience is what makes you huge… if you don’t get that, you’ll never be a business person. Go work a j.o.b.
As for the book. Well my strategy is simple, I link it up where I can and funnel the traffic I get from my blog to promote it. And I also have a few affiliates who promote it for me. Simple. The blog is like my home, and those that are interested know what to do if they want to find out about the book. Value sells itself. It’s not rocket science.
3. How does SEO and social media fit into that strategy?
As far as SEO is concerned I’ve realize there are these 4 laws that everyone is usually bound to:
- Web Traffic Cannot Be Created Out Of Nothing Nor Destroyed… It Must Be Leveraged In One Form Or Another.
- Traffic = Money
- Traffic Is Attracted To Value, Therefore Content Is King & Links Are The Queen.
- Understand The Search Engine, But Think Like A Free Man (Or woman)
The explanation or the “why” behind these laws can be read about on my blog, its a deep article. But I basically run my business based on these 4 laws. I came up with them after looking at the commonalities behind the big online businesses and after doing some of my OWN testing.
Another thing… social media IS the fucking strategy. You don’t say “oh let’s encorporate social media into our business and spend X amount of time on it”. That’s idiotic. Social Media IS where you should be spending MOST of your time to make connections/partnerships and customer relations since that’s where the BIGGEST CHUNK of people are at! I mean, would you rather goto a party thrown by the hottest DJ in town? Or to the one thrown by the owner of the local pub? It’s about being where the people are and then actually interacting with them.
4. What has been the most valuable piece or idea in your marketing strategy?
Making yourself viral-worthy. “If you’re pumping out good shit, people will follow”. If you know where that quote is from, bonus points for you. But honestly, that is SO vital. You can spend $10,000 and throw half a million page hits to your blog or website but if your content resembles the pile of crap left by a warpig then no one is going to stick around or talk about you.
You should be able to make money of a site that gets 1000 visits per month. That’s how sticky it should be. Now I’m not talking about a considerable income but if out of 1000 people, you’re not making SOME cash, then a red flag should go up.
5. What are a few common mistakes people make when marketing themselves online?
1. They aren’t brandable, therefore they aren’t memorable. Did you know that “fitjerk” is one of my top 10 keywords that brings in traffic? And how fucking targeted do you think that traffic is? Hmm. So think about it. Apple.com doesn’t get a shit load of visitors only from people who search for “laptop” or “mp3 player”. They get visitors from those that type in “ipod” “apple” “Macintosh” “Steve Jobs” or “iphone”. The MADE UP these keywords and now it’s performing for them. If this doesn’t prove the power of branding to you than you’re a complete moron.
2. They are boring as hell. They might be GREAT when it comes to their subject matter but when it comes right down to explaining it or putting it forward in an entertaining way, the fail hardcore. Millions of people don’t love the show Family Guy because it has redeeming knowledge for people to learn. They love it because it’s ENTERTAINING. So what happens if you can mix entertainment with true value? Fucking magic baby.
3. They suck. Plain and simple. These people might have the drive the worth ethic and even the passion behind their subject matter but they just plain SUCK. The internet is a double edged sword… you can reach a MASSIVE audience if you’re good, but on the flipside, if you suck, no one will even know you exist. BUT… this is a good position to be in because if you have the drive, you have a good foundation, so the good news is that you can get better. Invest in yourself, read some shit, train yourself, take courses learn how to be more valuable then try again. As long as you don’t quit and keep hammering away, you’ll eventually make it.
Well that’s all I got for you now. Peace out.
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October 21st, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Damn, everywhere I look FitJerk is there! Nice job FJ. And thanks for the interview Kyle. FitJerk is definitely motivating me to “kick it up a notch” on my own site by trying to be more entertaining.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I could use to make things a little more entertaining sometimes as well. If I can’t be, at least I can interview people like FJ and let them bring some excitement.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:49 pm
He is a breath of fresh air, eh? I think those of us who aren’t as forward, want to be, so we admire that quality. Over at PB, I asked him if he was from NYC. I went to a school with a few NYCers who talked just like him…they were fun and you always knew where they stood and where you stood with them.