Why Common Knowledge Kills Success

Picture this:

A hot prospect stumbles across your blog…

… pulls up a recent post…

… starts to read it…

… stops midway through…

… leaves your site…

… and never returns again!

An unfortunate, costly event? YES, but…

It Happens All the Time

What can you do about it? PLENTY! (Just keep reading.)

In a recent post on my blog, I listed six types of content that immunizes your website from the sad story above… six types of content that sucks your prospects in, instead of sending them away.

Briefly, here they are:

1. Counter-intuitive content — an approach to solving a problem that runs counter to conventional thinking.

2. Complex made simple — where you take something that seems complex, then break it apart and make it simple to understand and use.

3. A unique process — where you solve a problem or challenge your prospects face with a process you developed that’s easy to execute.

4. Paradigm shift on the problem — where you share a new perspective that gets your prospects looking at their problem in a new and different way.

5. A powerful tool — where you give your prospects a tool that transforms something that was difficult into something easy.

6. Fast shortcuts to time-intensive activities – this is where you take an important task or activity that usually takes considerable time to complete and make it push-button to finish.

Several of my readers asked me to expand on content strategy #1 — Counter-Intuitive Content. So here goes…

First, let’s define counter-intuitive content:

Counter-intuitive content expresses an idea that doesn’t seem likely to be true. Often, it contradicts common wisdom, conventional thinking, or common sense.

Still unsure? Here are some examples…

• Give your best ideas away for free to get rich…
• Do less to achieve more…
• Self-help can ruin your life…
• Fail more to succeed…
• Learning more tactics will make you fail faster…
• Send fewer e-mails to make more sales…

Do you notice how each of these examples stirs up your curiosity?

They stimulate the little voice in your head to say…

“SAY WHAT?”

And that’s the reason counter-intuitive ideas are so powerful. They provoke your readers to want more.

Let’s contrast that with an idea that isn’t counter-intuitive: Persistence, discipline, and hard work lead to success.

Ho-hum. That’s common knowledge, right? So repeating it is unnecessary and won’t have a WOW effect on your readers.

In fact, common knowledge bores your readers into bailing on your content and your site… often permanently.

But if common knowledge says one thing and your content proves the opposite…

Your idea is counter-intuitive. It’s original. And…

It’s More Valuable!

Okay.

So how do you go about creating counter-intuitive content?

Glad you asked. Here’s how…

Step 1. Make a list of the common problems and goals of your prospects…

Step 2. List as many conventional, common-wisdom solutions as you can — next to each of those problems and goals…

Step 3. Brainstorm ideas that contradict the solutions you came up with in Step 2…

Step 4. Highlight the ideas (from Step 3) that you believe are true or could be true in certain situations…

Step 5. Circle the ideas you can back up with your own experience or the experience of others…

Step 6. Pick the idea that you feel like riffing on.

That’s it. It’s a simple process. But make no mistake, it…

Boosts Readership…
Multiplies Traffic, and…
Increases Your Influence.

Easy-peezy, right?

Well, one more important point.

In order for your counter-intuitive content to work, you need more than just the idea.

You need to back up that idea with enough evidence, logic, and persuasion to make your readers believe it’s true. Which is why I told you to circle the ideas you can back up with experience or the experience of others (Step 5). Because if you don’t back up your idea… all you have is a clever headline and an unresolved promise.

And don’t make the mistake of thinking that what I just shared with you is only for your blog. In fact, it can be used on your website, in your e-mails and presentations, and practically anywhere else that communication occurs.

But one of the best things to populate with counter-intuitive ideas is your information products. Because it gets your customers excited… and referring others to you in droves.

[Ed. Note: Using counter-intuitive content on your website, blog, and in e-mail messages is a must for online entrepreneurs who want to generate interest about their products. But “out there” ideas alone aren’t enough. As Rich Schefren explains in his essay today, you have to back up those ideas with proof.

At Early to Rise’s 5 Days in July Internet Business Building Conference, you won’t just build an online business from scratch in only five days. You’ll learn techniques like the one above… and much, much more. You’ll learn to look at your growing business with a critical eye and come up with strategies for overcoming the obstacles that might be standing in the way of your success.

Rich Schefren’s businesses have done over $35 million in sales. A renowned business strategist, Rich coaches many of today’s top Internet gurus and service providers on streamlining their businesses while exploding their profits. Learn more at www.StrategicProfits.com.]