A share appeared in my LinkedIn feed titled “10 Simple Steps to Building Trust and Getting Readers to Take Action”. I read the article but couldn’t believe what I saw. The author based none of his steps on actual results, didn’t follow his own advice and stated things that were just plain wrong.
For example, when someone makes a pronouncement like his opening “Getting exposure to your blog or website is the number one ingredient for a successful business.” I look for reasons to agree or disagree. He gives none. Lacking any input from him I would disagree by arguing something like “making sure your customer gets what you promised is the number one ingredient for a successful business”. I can give you many, many examples of successful businesses that get no exposure to either a blog or a website whatsoever. That means his “is the number one ingredient” might really be “can, in some cases, be a useful ingredient”. He should have followed that up with “… and here’s why” but he didn’t so we really learned nothing.
In light of his opening statement I began to look for what it is that he might know about “successful business”. It appears to be nothing at all. He identifies himself to be a student. He doesn’t have a business.
This post might be less distasteful if he could have said anything in the first person so that it was clear his points were personal opinions and were not based on facts either observed or researched. Instead he keeps to the third person impersonal which is a voice that is meaningless unless some kind of reasons for making the statements are listed. There are none.
As for following his own advice, his point “Use the Same Profile Picture on all Social Media Sites” is laughable since his Twitter portrait is different from his blog portrait. Ever hear the old saying about practicing what you preach?
Since he is emphatic about responding to negative comments “Learn that Criticism is to be Accepted Not Disputed” I tried to post my opinion to his blog. He did not approve my post as submitted.
If his points weren’t so elementary and disjointed he might be seen as explaining some, but not all, of the elements of personal branding. As I don’t need to explain to you branding is one of the most important aspects of your online presence. Since he didn’t mention branding at all he should not be given that much credit.
Social media is big news. Many people are looking for answers. There are no answers in this post. It should not be trusted.