How to Be Successful Online, Part Two
This post is the follow-up to How to Be Successful Online. As you all know, the basis of the first post was my answer to the following question. I want to design WordPress themes, how can I become known?
4) Be innovative, and take chances
This is something that I cannot stress enough – I know from past experience just how powerful this tip can be. So many of us (myself included) have a tendancy to want to “mimic” those who are doing something successful. It’s admirable to want to be the next pro blogger like Darren Rowse, or to establish a technology blog like Michael Arrington. That will sometimes work, I suppose, but in my opinion it is far better to pioneer a concept, than to be a follower of one that already exists.
Back in August 2007, I was asked to design a custom WordPress theme for a real estate agent in Boston. After a few days, I finally came up with a design that I thought would have really worked for him – unfortunately, he had something else in mind. But that was okay, because we were able to work something out and I came up with a different design, and he was delighted with it. So what happened to that design that I was so proud of, that didn’t make the cutting room floor?
It started something new and exciting in the WordPress community. Something that I consider Revolutionary, in fact.
That’s right, you heard me correct. The very first Revolution theme was a reject. At first, I was totally bummed, because I thought that the theme I created pushed the limits a bit with WordPress, and took it to a level that it really hadn’t been taken to before.
But after days of moping over this, I woke up one morning and decided to lay it all out on the line, and wrote this post. Now I can’t say for sure if this was the first time a WordPress theme was called premium, but what I do know is at the time, premium WordPress themes as we know them now did not exist.
My point here is this. Be innovative and take chances – if I hadn’t, there would be a lot of WordPress sites that don’t look the way they do now.
5) Put customer service on the top of your priority list
I cannot stress this enough. Years ago I learned this lesson when I was the manager of a local convenient store – and that experience will be something I never forget. I used to see customers on a daily basis, and I made it a point to get to know them – to learn their names, to know what they did, and to do little things for them that mattered.
For as long as I am working in a business that deals with customers, I will do my best to put them first. I know that people want to be taken care of, and I’m very happy to do it. True, it gets to a point where it’s really difficult to answer every email or every post in a support forum – but I feel that it is my duty to make sure that people who spend money on Revolution are given the very best.
So my advice here is this – put customers first. Make sure that they are happy with the product, even if it means taking weeks to update an existing product, rather than continue to develop new ones. (i.e. My recent onslaught of Revolution 3.0 updates to existing customers.) In addition to that, it’s very important to set up an infrastructure for your business to accommodate your client base.
The best example I can give is my Revolution support forums. When I launched this on November 25, 2007, I figured that I’d get a few posts a day that I could easily handle and answer myself. It started out that way, but quickly this became a situation I needed to figure out – as the forum quickly grew into a community of Revolution users much larger than I had imagined. 34,000+ posts later…
I saw the amount of unanswered posts grow, I knew that I needed to address the problem, rather than ignore it.
So I decided to setup a team of moderator/designers who were willing to help out in return for referred customization work. And although Revolution users may not be responded to personally by me, their questions and the support they were hoping for when they first purchased a theme is stronger than ever.
The bottom line, as I see it, is this – happy customers can be a huge marketing tool. They spread the word about you and your services and they refer others to your site. In other words, they can really help build your business for you. As long as you are willing to put them first, and to make them feel special.
So that about does it – those are 5 things that I learned while establishing my business and things that really worked for me. Not all business models are the same, but I believe that these tips are ones that can apply to any business. I wish you the best of luck as you establish yourself, and remind you to keep these things in mind!
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* Now that all of the Revolution theme updates have been released, I have major plans moving forward. I will hopefully have some very exciting news to announce at the end of this week, and cannot wait to post about it. I normally don’t like prefacing my news in advance, but this is so big that I’m having a hard time holding it it. Stay tuned…
Afternoon Brian, thanks for part 2!
It’s interesting reading what you have to say, especially when you talked about your first client not liking what you created them first time.
What I’m trying to get at is, would there be a Revolution Theme brand or not?! Definately an interesting question on my behalf, but there again, maybe you would have come up with a new kind of brand Brian?…
All I can do is wish you even more success with the Revolution brand for now, and into the future. You can only become stronger!
(OH and I look forward to this news at the end of the week, I wonder what it could be about! Guess time I think! LOL)
Now all I really need to find out is how you managed to grab BrianGardner.com from some guy like you **hinted** about in another post!
Enough from me though.
Thanks
Mark
Mark, hard to say if Revolution would have ever been developed if he had accepted. I might just be still doing custom WordPress themes. Who knows? In regards to the domain name, doing a WHOIS search and contacting the owner was the first step – then I bartered with a custom theme if he ever needed it.
Kinda funny to say on the phone, “Hey Brian Gardner, this is Brian Gardner…”
Furthermore, regarding the news at the end of the week… a few more things need to be setup and in place before any formal announcement is made. What I can say is that it’s not just another theme release.
Brian,
I really enjoyed both of these posts. I had run into some of your free themes in the past so I had been following your blog at the time. These posts were a nice trip down memory lane and offer some important lessons to everyone. Turn “failure” into an overwhelming success.
You did the smart thing by negotiating for your name. My name isn’t nearly as common, but it is very important for anyone online to have. I own my wife and both kids names so they will have them when they are ready to use them in 15 years!
As far as the new project, if you need any help, input, testing, or whatever, you know how to reach me!
Kyle, thanks for the offer – you will probably end up helping me by posting on your site about this, as it will be something I’m hoping/guessing the whole WP community will be talking about!
This post was great, Brian! Keep up the awesome work – and I wish you continues success!
P.S. I am also a Christian – I just thought I’d let you know…it’s always good to know fellow Christians on the web!
Matt, thanks as well – as stated by me in many comments, I love meeting other Christians online!
Thanks for sharing Brian. OH I remember when I first seen the first Revolution theme just like yesterday. I would come to your site and look at it over and over and over and took that step, and I have no regrets what so ever. I love working with them and then some. I have designed what four blogs now and if I had my way would open more and more just so I could work and play with the Revolution Themes!!
Brian….
I have to give you mad props. I’ve used your word press themes on 4 sites!
Thanks for all you’ve created. You obviously have some strong talents and – I – for one, sure appreciate the chance to use your wordpress themes.
Great post!
The first part was pretty funny to me. Many of the clients I get I try to show them new “out of the box” customizations I can do for the revolution themes and they always want it to look more like the stock version.
People are in love with the Rev themes. I should say people are just in love with your themes period… I get people e-mailing me all the time with questions about your other themes. Still a ton of people using Whitespace, Blue Zinfandel, and Vertigo. Chris over at floatrightmedia had a really cool customized version of your Revolution blog theme on his other site.
I think the community attracted to the Revolution themes is pretty cool. Brings people together from all backgrounds. From big land brokers to stay at home moms, it’s awesome.
Susan, you know how much I appreciate the themes that you come out with – definitely flavored for the ladies, but nonetheless fantastic work.
Chucky, thanks as well – would love to see which sites and themes you are using.
Josh, yes, the community around Revolution is very diverse – from people across the pond, to the Caribbean, to down under. It’s awesome to see the wide variety of sites being built with the theme, as indicated by the showcase.
Brian:
Thank you for Part 2 of your post. Your story is an inspiration to me because everyday I get tons of emails from web business owners calling themselves gurus and experts and it’s clear all they really want is my money.
You are different – not pushy, willing to share, honest about your successes and failures, and accessible to your customers.
You have a rare combination of design talent, a creative and innovative mind for business, and a personality that draws people in. Keep that style going and who knows what you can accomplish?
To your success . . . Steve B
Hey Brian,
This is great writing about the steps yo took to get to where you are now. And I am always amazed to see the changes you make to your site. This one is very nice. I had to look at it a while before deciding but I love the simplicity of it. I look forward to the rest of the story…
I once heard a very successful and rather well-known leader answer as to how he had made such great decisions along the way. His response was that for everything he had attempted successfully, there were at least twenty failures. You gotta take risks! Cool posts.
Brian,
I have followed you for a long time. You know that! Your words are direct and to the point. I can still remeber when you wrote the post about launching the revolution theme and I couldn’t find my wallet fast enough!
Can’t wait to hear whats going on at the end of the week. You know if you need any help for testing, imput, or anything, you know how to get a hold of me!
P.S. I guess should I be holding my wallet at the end of the week … LOL
Darin
Looking forward to the big announcement, I think I might have to hide my wallet / credit card..haha.. Although, my http://www.mathewpacker.com blog needs a major re-design at the moment.
Thanks for adding some inspiration to my day, Brian! You are absolutely right! You can’t see the world, from inside of a box, so you’ve got to make the climb and and hoist yourself over the top…where the world outside awaits. (ok, that’s the end of my philosophy)
Just thought I’d add two cents from another web junkie from southern New England. Congratulations on your success, Brian! Your templates are gorgeous! Keep up the great work!
Hi Brian,
Very interesting to read your thoughts on web success etc.
By the way, love your new theme! I’m sure you could Revolutionise this and be on to another winner!
Ade.
Brian – Your first Revolution theme converted me to a WordPress fan, from a loyal vBulletin and vBadvanced fan.
We’ve been playing with all your themes and we love the way they’re laid out and how easy they are to customize.
We’re glad you quit your day job and took the leap in the entrepreneur’s world. Keep the momentum going -
you’re on a roll!
Great How-to series…Thanks
What a great story! I really enjoyed reading both part one and two, thanks for the inspiring words!
I have fun reading it. some of them are actually some quite common knowledge on marketing.
but when the inventor of revolution theme who said so, it then inspired me a lot.