When being taught how important an avatar is to a business, the only thing I was able to think about was the movie. After getting the image of James Cameron's blue creatures out of my mind, I still felt like I was in the twilight zone; not because I didn't understand, but because I hadn't thought of defining a target market in this way before. 

An avatar is an ideal customer or a fictional representation of a desired person. For anything you do in life, you can create an avatar of the specific target or beneficiary of your work or an activity. By creating a story for a fictional person you wish to serve, you can focus on serving their needs, which will resonate with a very real group of people you can sell to or please.

Let's take a look at an avatar example for this article. 

James is a 26-year-old professional who has worked in a financial institution for the past four years. He's sick of working in the corporate world and has dabbled with several startups and business ideas over the past few years. He's looking for that one sign he should quit his job and seeking the perfect idea for a business to start.

He spends most of his workday reading online and searching for ways to end his day-to-day torture at his current job. James doesn't have a family yet and wants to have a career or business he loves before settling down. 

If I was writing articles to attract the James' of the world, here are a few draft article titles: 

- Time to Quit: 10 Signs You Should Leave Your Job for a Startup

- 8 Business Ideas to Start While Working a Full-time Job

- How to Ensure You Have Enough Money to Survive When Starting a Business

That's great Mike, but is an avatar really that important? Can't I just create an awesome product and people will love it and buy it without having to define a specific person to sell it to?

Possibly, but would you want to approach dating without knowing the qualities you want in a man or woman? How will you know if you've found the right one if you don't even know what they look like, their characteristics or their values? In an Entrepreneur on Fire blog post, Who is your avatar?, the importance of an avatar is summed up nicely. "You can’t start and continue to grow a successful business where you do X, Y and Z if you don’t know who you’re doing all of that for."

If you define who you are serving specifically, you can then target them directly and serve that specific target better than anyone else. For skeptics of targeting such a specific market, consider that author Stephen King writes books for one specific person only -- his wife, Tabitha King. Even by targeting every book and idea he brings to life with his craft to her, he captures a wide audience because many people share interests and characteristics. His die-hard fans love his work so much; they share with their friends, family, and network. This all started by defining an avatar and delivering amazing value to that specific person. 

If only all of us could satisfy our significant others to that degree! 

Using The Tip: You probably know who you want to help or work with, but creating a descriptive profile (avatar) will enable you to hone in on who you're serving and help you accomplish your goals. Start creating your avatar by defining the group of people you want to serve.

For example, with my business TrepRep, I want to work with young entrepreneurs and startups. These entrepreneurs either have funding or enough revenue and consistent business to hire a writer or marketer to help grow their business. I can assume that this person is most likely 25-35, comes from a middle-class family, is technology savvy, has some college education if not a college degree, is single, and is a male. 

The characteristics of your avatar do not eliminate potential customers outside of those traits, but they help you identify your most likely customer. I will work with an 80-year-old female entrepreneur who lacks technical knowledge if there's a good fit, but the likelihood of a customer of this type is far less likely. 

Now, take the extra step and create a story for your specific customer like the example of James above. After coming up with the story for your avatar, post it where it can remind you of your target market of one. Target your marketing, website content, products and messaging to that specific profile. Not only will you blow away customers who fit that profile, you'll satisfy many others as well. 

Was this helpful? If so, please share! 

Additional Resources: Who is your avatar? (Entrepreneur on Fire), 

The Tips to Get Ahead Series is a 10-part series highlighting the best tips and pieces of advice from my years of interviewing and working with influential business leaders and entrepreneurs. Do you have an amazing tip for others? Share in the comments below, or email me at [email protected]. 

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Michael Luchies is the Founder of TrepRep, Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Illinois State University, Co-Host of the Entrepreneurs on Campus Radio Show, and Co-Host of theTrepidemic Podcast. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Michael is publishing 365 times in 2015. To find out why, read the first post of the year here! 

Over the last several years, I've had the opportunity to interview well over 150 entrepreneurs and business leaders. I've made connections that have led to jobs and freelance clients, learned tips and the traits of successful founders, and have been able to develop my network around entrepreneurs, media members and others. 

Interviews are conducted for a wide array of reasons, but have you ever considered of how they can benefit you and your career or business?

We've all dreamed about being on the cover of a magazine like Forbes or Entrepreneur, but while you're waiting for that call from a big publication for your photo shoot and feature story, try conducting interviews with others to your advantage. Let's take a quick look at how two other people have used interviews to their advantage. 

ONE (Creators of the After School App) Co-founder and COO Cory Levy began interviewing entrepreneurs he admired at the age of 15. He reached out through Facebook messages and was able to land short interviews with some of the world's top entrepreneurs. From those interviews, he got feedback on his business ideas, built new relationships and was able to get some of those entrepreneurs to join his business as advisors. Read Cory's article on three questions he asked Twitter CEODick Costolo. 

Before Micky Deming started working in an entrepreneurial environment with Kahuna Accounting and TREPX, he was a journalist and editor for a local newspaper. Interviewing was something he was both comfortable with and good at, but previous interviews were conducted as a part of a story that would be printed.

Micky still conducts interviews, but they're for a different story and purpose -- to grow businesses. Micky utilizes customers and industry experts to give him information to use for marketing, sales, development, and other aspects of the business. He still writes his fair share of content, but these interviews have been vital to the growth and success Kahuna Accounting has had over the past two years. 

Using The Tip: Before you setup an interview, define your goals. Whether you're trying to land a hard-to-get job, find investment for your startup or find more customers, the people you'll interview and what you'll ask them will vary. 

After determining your goal, outline questions that will help get you the best information possible and start inside your network when looking for people to interview. Do you know someone who has the job you want? Has a friend of yours landed an investment from venture capitalists? Interview them, and then ask if they know of others you could speak with as well. 

Use the answers and connections you make from the interviews to get information and leads that can help you get ahead. 

Was this helpful? If so, please share! 

The Tips to Get Ahead Series is a 10-part series highlighting the best tips and pieces of advice from my years of interviewing and working with influential business leaders and entrepreneurs. Do you have an amazing tip for others? Share in the comments below, or email me at [email protected]. 

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Michael Luchies is the Founder of TrepRep, Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Illinois State University, Co-Host of the Entrepreneurs on Campus Radio Show, and Co-Host of theTrepidemic Podcast. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Michael is publishing 365 times in 2015. To find out why, read the first post of the year here! 

I strongly believe in providing value to others without intending to get anything back in return. It amazes me how dumbfounded people are at the idea of someone wanting to help them without getting anything in return. 

Well, there is a very easy way anyone can provide immense value to others while receiving a great reward in return. 

The value you can provide is introducing two people who can gain value from each other. The reward you receive in return may be hard to define and varies depending on the circumstances, but at the very least, you become someone of value to both parties if the introduction is a success. Becoming someone of value means that people will listen to you when you need them to, willing to repay a favor, and will recommend you over others who don't provide the same amount of value. 

Working for four years at a nonprofit organization that worked with young entrepreneurs helped me to realize the power of networking and introductions. While organizing the National Conferences for the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (CEO), I saw how getting the right speaker or the casting director from ABC's Shark Tank to attend could impact the futures of student entrepreneurs. It was still up to both parties to make the most of an introduction for real value to materialize, but sometimes, all it takes is an introduction. 

Over the past few months, my life has changed because of introductions other people have made for me. Once I learned how to ask the simple question of "is there anyone you know who I should meet?" after providing value to someone, the results were truly amazing. I have new clients, new leads, new connections, and new friends from simple email introductions. 

The first tip in this series is a simple one, but one of the most valuable tips I could possibly give others that's just as easy as it is powerful. 

Using The Tip: Identify five people in your network. Write a short list of what you think they have to offer others and what they may need from others. Then, come up with others in your network who either offer something the other person needs or something they have to offer. After each successful connection, ask each party if the connection was helpful and if they know of anyone that you should meet. They will be happy to return the favor, and you will be providing value while getting value back. 

Was this helpful? If so, please share! 

The Tips to Get Ahead Series is a 10-part series highlighting the best tips and pieces of advice from my years of interviewing and working with influential business leaders and entrepreneurs. Do you have an amazing tip for others? Share in the comments below, or email me at [email protected]. 

--

Michael Luchies is the Founder of TrepRep, Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Illinois State University, Co-Host of the Entrepreneurs on Campus Radio Show, and Co-Host of theTrepidemic Podcast. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Michael is publishing 365 times in 2015. To find out why, read the first post of the year here! 

“Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurs can’t do it all by themselves.”

Being your own boss can be a difficult and lonely journey. Without employees or co-workers able to take some of the load off of your shoulders, you take on all of the stress, work, and pressure.To help grow your business and alleviate the loneliness and stress; surrounding yourself with others is a necessity. One of the way entrepreneurs can achieve this is with communities for entrepreneurs and mastermind groups. 

Micky Deming is the Director of Marketing for the Kahuna Accounting Group and is leading TREPX, an entrepreneurial community that is helping entrepreneurs grow, and go from amateur to pro. TREPX is designed to give service-based entrepreneurs support, tools, and a community of entrepreneurs that understand what they're going through. They focus on four areas of business -- operations and logistics, business development, accounting and finance, and capital and funding. 

“The more we surround ourselves with others who compliment what we can do, the more we benefit,” says Micky, who has benefited from entrepreneurial communities over the past few years while building Kahuna Accounting from the ground up. Despite the countless hours of work and effort he's put into the business, he knows that it can't be done without the help of others. “You have to rely on others to achieve the things you want to do.” 

Relying on others is hard even for entrepreneurs who realize they need help to grow. Turning to mentors, advisors and communities for guidance and support is a way to get help, but the success of the business will still rely on the hard work and vision of the entrepreneur. “The community is a way to align yourself with others who are going along their own trajectory as well. A community is never meant to replace the work and the growth that you put into it.”

It can be hard to judge the value of a community due to a lack of organization and clearly defined goals. The furthest most communities go to engage members is to have occasional in-person meetups. Micky stated that the TREPX community believes in three core activities; "learn, live, share."

Learn - The community provides education and resources to teach entrepreneurs about different aspects of business and what they need to know in order to grow their business. They also provide external experts to teach the group anything from marketing to accounting. 

Live - Learning doesn't do much if it isn't applied. "It’s a noisy world out there and there are constantly things being put in our faces,” says Micky. By connecting and learning with others in a community setting, members can hold each other accountable and share their successes and struggles. The community also provides tools to help members take action on new strategies and to organize their business and track financials.

Share - Sharing is about giving back. "As you go through your journey, you want to contribute to the success of others." One way Micky and others share to the community is through an iTunes podcast that features successful entrepreneurs with a heart for giving back to others.

Communities can provide value, but it's up to members to find ways to extract that value and to make sure they're also providing value back to the community. Asked about how entrepreneurs can be sure to gain value from these types of communities, Micky said to ask a lot of questions and have conversations with others. By being active and contributing, valuable opportunities often present themselves. “Be honest. Don’t try to act like you have everything figured out. Lay it all out on the table. Provide the same ear for them."

Micky identified three ways these conversations can add value to an entrepreneur: 

1. They help you clarify what you have going on. 
2. They help you learn that you’re not alone. 
3. Opportunities to provide and receive value will present themselves. Even if the person you're speaking with doesn't have the answer to solve your problem, they may know someone that does. 

Micky concluded our conversations with two pieces of advice for entrepreneurs based on his experience. 

• “Take your financials seriously. Look at them and ask if you know where you stand today and where you should be six months from now.”

• “Give your elevator speech to someone today. Don’t sell to them, but share your vision for what you’re working on and where you’re going.”

What have you gained from online or physical communities? Interested in TREPX? Visit Trepxgroup.com for more information. 

Imagine walking into a Macy's department store in search of a new outfit. As soon as you enter through the door, you see clothes on the floor, improperly marked shelves, unreadable price tags, and no organization whatsoever. Not only are you going to leave the store without an outfit, you're never going to return. 

Does your website look like a department store in chaos? 

Many website issues can give visitors an incentive to leave, but there's nothing more important than the content on your website. Not only does it serve as your greatest search engine tool, it's what helps guide users to a desire action. Regardless of the template or images you use for your site, the content on your website is what will determine if someone will make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or leave to go to a different store.

While working on website content over the past several years, I've recognized many common trends that push customers away instead of pulling them in. Here are seven ways website content can scare your visitors away. 

Formatting --

• Issues

Your text paints a picture of your business, products, and services. It helps visitors understand what you have to offer them and why they should get it from you. 

Formatting copy on a website is easy, but it's often screwed up. From alternating font styles to bullet points that don't properly align; formatting mistakes makes consuming your content difficult and will result in your audience not believing in your ability to pay attention to detail -- something that's critical in a service business. Keep a simple and consistent format for your website content. 

Lack of a Call to Action

Your content has a reason for existing (at least it should). Don't be afraid to point customers in the right direction of what they should do next. Should they share this blog post with people who would also find it valuable? Should they sign up for your newsletter? Are they ready to purchase your product? Make recommendations on your website using carefully and cleverly placed calls to action. 

Ur Grammer is Bad

Online content has turned everyone into a grammar cop. It's hard to find an article without critics in the comment section ripping apart both the writer and publication for a couple of errors. 

Website copy needs to be thoroughly examined and updated to attract your target market and to avoid errors. Errors stick out like a sore thumb and are hard to erase from our minds. 

Overly Promotional 

Lacking a call to action causes people to leave your site, but so does begging. Too many calls to action or blatantly overly promotional content is similar to you personally approaching every person you meet and asking them to buy something out of your briefcase. Sales copy can work extremely well depending on your target market and what your goals are, but it needs to be used very carefully. If your audience isn't looking to be sold to, you need to avoid promotional copy and carefully lead them through the sales funnel. 

Find your call to action sweet spot (mix of asking without being obtrusive) and always err on the side of caution rather than pushing overly promotional content on your home page. 

Outdated 

Having outdated content is just as bad as having grammar errors or images that don't load. If you haven't posted a blog for six months, you should remove your blog or get to writing. People will think you're no longer in business or you don't care enough to keep things current. Update your pages regularly. 

It’s Focused Only on Optimization

If you write for robots, don’t expect humans to like your writing. Clever writers find ways to work in keywords, but stuffing your pages is a good way to offend your audience. What good is getting people to your site if they hate what they find? 

Video-Only 

Web use is shifting to mobile phones, and content is being transformed into video, but written content is still king (for now). Nobody likes being forced to watch advertisements or listen to a video when reading is more convenient. Offer several forms of content for your audience to choose from, but make sure to cater to the primary preference of your target market. 

Do you need help with your website content? Contact Michael Luchies at[email protected] to schedule a free strategy call. 

There's no debating that content is one of your most powerful tools when building or promoting a business online. According to a HubSpot survey, 62% of all businesses surveyed (over 900) have blogs, which is up significantly from 48% in 2009. 

Despite the growth in content marketing, there are still a lot of uncertainties when it comes to strategy, metrics, promotion, and the consistency in which a business should publish blog posts and other types of content. 

On the first of this year, I announced that I would publish at least one original article every day of the year on LinkedIn. I knew it would be a difficult challenge, but the information I planned to gather, lessons I would learn along the way, and the audience I hoped to build was worth the commitment. While I don't recommend businesses or entrepreneurs publish everyday posts, there are benefits to doing so. Here are seven reasons to blog daily. 

Drastically Improve Your Writing Quality 

"Miss one day of practice, I notice; miss two, the critics notice; miss three, the audience notices" 

Although I wrote for clients on a daily basis long before my writing challenge, I often went weeks without publishing for myself. I felt like I was losing my own voice as a writer and wasn't doing enough to improve my writing.

Doing something every day is bound to push your limits and improve whatever it is you're working on. Not only have I decreased the time it takes to write, my errors have decreased (I use Grammarly to track), and pageviews have increased, which all lead me to believe I have improved as a writer.  

Experiment and Perfect Different Strategies and Topics

Writing every day will push you to the limit, but you will test out a lot more than just your will power. 

I've been able to test multiple marketing strategies, write about over one hundred topics, and find out what resonates with my audience and what tests well on LinkedIn. Explore and tinker with your content efforts until it's right. The only way to find out what works is to test. Get testing!

See Your Social Media Following Rise Quickly

Daily content puts your personal and business brand in the spotlight every 24 hours. Your content is bound to gain you additional followers on social media. With still more than half of the year to go, here are how my accounts have grown over the past 150 days. 

LinkedIn Followers: 1,062 (January, 1) - 2,421 (May 27)

Twitter Followers: 561 (January 1) - 850 (May 27)

Website Views: 669/month (December) - 1,751/month (April)

Build New Relationships 

An unexpected result of writing every day has been the new relationships I've built as a direct result of my challenge. I've been asked to speak at events, featured on four podcasts, contributed to two books, and have met many awesome people. 

Increase Engagement in Your Network

In addition to meeting new people, creating new content can help uncover old connections that you've been trying to reconnect with.

If an article you publish can benefit someone in your network, send it to them in an email and ask for their feedback. Just sharing your content in your network will help strengthen relationships you already have and get people more interested and engaged in what you're doing. 

Ramp Up SEO Efforts 

There are a lot of faulty SEO practices, but publishing quality content is still the best way to build your online presence. By writing about topics your audience cares about, you'll attract new visitors who are searching for those topics. Having hundreds of searchable blog posts will increase the likelihood that you will be found in the deep blue sea of online content. 

Properly Measure Results 

Launching an effective content marketing plan depends on being able to track metrics. Any metric worth tracking needs a lot of data to be measured. Publishing every day will provide daily statistics, show trends, and help you discover what works and what doesn't. You'll be able to see what times of the day work best to reach your consumers, what titles they like best and how they share and interact with your content. 

You don't have to publish everyday to get enough data, but you can't write two posts a month for a few months and expect to have enough information to properly create an effective content marketing plan for the future. 

Writing a blog every day isn't for everyone, but it does have its benefits. Consider how your consistency affects your audience and the goals you are trying to achieve when planning your content strategy. How often do you blog and why? Are you looking to build your brand with content? Contact Michael Luchies [email protected] to schedule a free strategy call. 

“The simple press release should have died years ago. In my mind they’re dead already." -- PR executive Frank DeMaria.

May 14, 2015 – NORMAL, Illinois – Michael Luchies announces he dislikes press releases due to their lack of value and void of relevance. 

Entrepreneur Magazine's Small Business Encyclopedia defines a press release as, "A public relations announcement issued to the news media and other targeted publications for the purpose of letting the public know of company developments." Developed from my years of writing press releases as an entrepreneur and writer, I have a slightly different definition of a press release.

An attempt to gain attention and media coverage by sharing self-promotional, outdated information to people who don't care about it.

The chances of you having read a press release top to bottom are probably less than the chances that you've published one. They've been a powerful tool for marketers and public relations companies for decades, but as our preferences shift and the technology we use improves our access to information, press releases are becoming the VCR of online media. Some people still use them, but there are much better ways to watch a movie (or to get your news out to people who actually want to hear about it). 

Press releases lack personality, and they fail to connect with the reader. They're written as if a computer were the intended audience (and in certain cases it might be). With important news reaching us just seconds after it happens through Twitter, Facebook, and online news outlets, is information shared to us days or even weeks after it happens still relevant?

If your goal is to entice a media member to share the information to their network or write a follow-up piece on your company, good luck getting them to even open the email. In Is It Finally Time to Bid Adieu to the Press Release?, Dan Lyons recalls his time as a Newsweek reporter and the constant barrage of press releases. 

Every morning, I’d find 50 or so messages in that Newsweek account, almost all of them press releases, virtually all of them things I did not care about. I’d glance through the subject lines and then zap them all (I’m pretty sure every other reporter does essentially the same thing).Getting media coverage is about relationship building. While spending two years as the Interview Editor for Under30CEO, I never once accepted an interview request because of a press release. I was sent dozens, but they rarely gave me the information I cared about -- the founders.

Press releases share information about sales, earnings, new CEOs, new locations, or something else that the company feels is newsworthy. They rarely cover the interesting aspects of companies that people can connect with. Instead of engaging readers, they shoot information at us hoping something will stick. Although they are trying to build their brand image with these efforts, I believe it often has the reverse effect, at least on those that see and read these hard to digest pages of information. 

I am not recommending that any company stops creating content to promote their business, but I am suggesting that there are far better ways to get information out to news outlets, customers, and the public in an engaging and valuable way. 

What To Do Instead: 

• Start a blog on your company website to share stories about your business.  
• Create a newsletter to share regular updates. 
• Focus on adding value to current and potential customers instead of just throwing information at them without any value (tips, advice, 10 ways to XYZ). 
• Build relationships with media outlets and reporters that will cover your company when you have something to share that is newsworthy. 
• Create whitepapers and case studies that people within your industry will gain value from. 

Opposing View: The Top 10 Reasons to Send a Press Release (PR Newswire)

Not sure how to create valuable content to promote your business? I can help you increase sales by connecting you with your audience through writing amazing content. Interested in finding out how? Simply comment "Message me Michael" in the comments below, or email me at [email protected]. 

Nothing matches the energy and opportunity of an in-person event. From the potential to meet people to collaborate with to the chance to learn from and meet leaders you look up to, there's no worthy substitution for a well-planned physical conference. The only thing I enjoy more than attending valuable in-person events is sharing what I learned with others.

Today, I went with my wife to the Big Ten Conference’s headquarters in Rosemont (near Chicago), Illinois for the 2015 STRENGTH Conference hosted by The Thought Board. A dozen speakers and panelists shared their insight and expertise on how to exhibit strong leadership, financial management, corporate culture, marketing, processes, and public relations. Here are six things I learned during the event. 

• Make Your Customer the Superhero

M3 Learning's Tom Latourette used the brilliant video short It's Not About the Nail to show how salesmen (the man in the video), often try too hard to fix the problem they perceive instead of focusing on what the customer is saying. “Maybe our job isn’t to fix the problem; maybe our job is to make the other person the superhero.” When selling, put assumptions aside and cater to the stated needs of the potential customer. It's about their pain, not your solution. 

• The Importance of Being a Bilingual Salesperson

Sales pitches have to be altered to speak to the person we're selling to, but what happens when they speak a different language? No, I'm not talking about someone speaking French when you're speaking Spanish, but it can be just as difficult to sell to someone when you don't properly know how to speak to what motivates them to buy.

Tom provided the common scenario of a man needing to talk to his wife before making a purchase. While the salesperson was able to guide the man through the different stages of the process, it starts over completely when the man tries to explain it to his wife. It's like someone translating a language without really understanding how to do it. Offering to translate (speak to the wife) and learning how to sell in any language (to executives, secretaries, etc.) can help keep the sales process moving in the right direction. 

• The Two Goals of Brands

Erin Walter and Jamie Pritscher of Nuphoriq, a creative marketing agency with a niche in catering, spoke on strengthening your brand. Erin pointed out that the two goals of brands are strong brand recognition and top of mind awareness. While I spend hours each week branding my business and I do have branding goals, not once have I thought of these specific goals as the desired result. 

• “When you have a strong brand it makes your job easier as a company.”

Selling is easy when people already know what you offer and trust your brand. After several iterations and years of working on their brand, the Nuphoriq team landed on the right strategy when positioning their services and expertise that worked immediately. Asked by an attendee how to know if their brand needs a different/better position or strategy, Jamie said, “see if it feels right to you. We kept looking at it and thinking it’s just not right...You don’t know for sure until it works."

• “Processes allow you to deliver creativity to the customer.” - Larry Walter

Creativity is vital to all organizations, but it can be hurtful if the proper processes aren't in place. COO of Tasty Catering Larry Walter shared how employees have creative freedom to put their own touch on their job, but only within structured processes that the employees have a hand in creating. For example, an employee could decide to cook certain foods before others and box items differently, but if their changes lower the temperature that chicken is cooked at, this will break a process that could result in food that isn't safe to eat. 

• PR Can't Compensate for Weak Marketing Practices

Julie Baron of Communication Works presented on how public relations can help businesses grow. My favorite takeaway from her talk was her thoughts on companies trying to cover up bad practices with press releases and twisting the truth. "PR is not about spinning," said Julie. 

What's the most valuable lesson you've ever learned from an in-person event? Please share in the comments below. 

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Michael Luchies is the Founder of TrepRep, Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Illinois State University, TEW 2 contributor, Co-Host of the Entrepreneurs on Campus Radio Show, Co-Host of theTrepidemic Podcast, and writer of all things entrepreneurship. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Michael is publishing 365 times in 2015. To find out why, read the first post of the year here!

I announced my quest to publish 365 days in a row on January 1. 120 days into this journey, I now realize how naive I was when setting this goal. The last four months have been challenging, but very rewarding.

Instead of just sharing the statistics from the last month of publishing, which I can provide upon request, I decided to share the lessons I've learned so far. Before jumping into what I've learned, here are the specifics of my challenge. 

The Specifics

• I publish at least one new and unique article each day on LinkedIn. 
• Articles are selectively republished on MichaelLuchies.com and other sites depending on popularity and the overall focus of the article. I have also republished on Commercery.com, TheLaunchLife.com, Whatif360.com, andTrepRep.com. 
• Articles are promoted on my LinkedIn page, Twitter page, and Facebook fan page.

Lessons Learned 

Quality Still Trumps Quantity: Great content is more effective for your content marketing efforts than just producing a lot of content. I strive for quality in every single one of my articles, but writing every day doesn't guarantee results. For example, my most successful article of April received over a third of the total page views I got in the entire month out of 30 articles. I could've accomplished the same impact with three articles of this quality and popularity that I did with 30 articles. 

Concentrating solely on a couple of articles doesn't automatically provide favorable results either, but spending time perfecting posts instead of quickly writing new ones is the better strategy. 

Engagement, Not Content, is King: When a dumb picture of a cute kitten gets thousands of shares on social media, it's clear that being able to attract and engage an audience, even through simple tactics like using cute kittens, is important. Regardless of how great an article is, if it's not properly marketed and engaging to your target market, no one will read it. 

Several of my favorite posts from the last month had less than 50 views while simple interview highlight pieces accounted for three of my most successful five articles of the month. The interview articles were shared by the people I interviewed; engaging their networks as well as my own. You can spend hours writing the best article of your life, but if you fail to think of the reader, what they want, and how to reach them, you won't have an audience to share your brilliance with. 

Stubbornness and Goal Setting Can Defeat Procrastination: When stressed and anxious, it can be hard to focus on your goals. When things get hectic, I often procrastinate on things that I should be focusing on. It's much easier to make excuses and give up when times get tough, but I've been too stubborn to quit and have used my end goal as motivation to keep this journey alive even when it looks like I'm destined to fail.

I spent four hours today sick, and it's 11:30 at night, but this is something I really want, and I can't give up just because I'm not feeling well. In April, I came down with Shingles, and I'm sure that there will be other challenges down the road. If there's something you really want to achieve, set your goal and refuse to give up. For me, keeping myself accountable on a daily basis has been the key. 

It's More Rewarding When You Help Others: Before writing my first article of the year, I came up with around 100 article topics to write about. As time went by, I decided to include other people in my journey through interviews, highlighting businesses and people, and by finding ways to help others with my writing instead of just going with my planned topics. Not only have these articles been my best and most engaging, I've been able to build stronger relationships with the people I've written about. 

Whatever your goals in life are, look for as many ways to help others as possible. Not only will this help others and make you feel better about what you're working on, others will want to help you and you'll achieve your goals faster. 

Thank you for reading! What would you like to know about my blogging journey so far?

Michael Luchies is the Founder of TrepRep, Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Illinois State University, Co-Host of the Entrepreneurs on Campus Radio Show,Trepidemic Co-Creator and Co-Host, TEW 2 contributor, and writer of all things entrepreneurship. Connect with Michael on Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook andTwitter. Michael is publishing 365 times in 2015. To find out why, read the first post of the year here!