How to Win a Zero-Sum Game: What to Do if Competitors Won’t Link to You

How to Win a Zero-Sum Game: What to Do if Competitors Won’t Link to You

Reader Comments (21)

  1. I’ve encountered this very same problem in my own ventures, and that one simple question “who else has the audience I want” is worth its weight in gold!

    Time to step back, take a look at what’s happening in the bigger picture in my industry, and look for the outlying elements who also serve my target audience. Sometimes, we get so bogged down in the details and trying to claw our way through our small corner of the jungle that we forget there are other parts to it.

    Excellent post, as always, Sonia!

    • If you can’t find other bloggers who would accept your blog post then by all means have the great people in the industry guest in yours. As for me I run a podcast and I always invite people from varied niches who can be good examples for online businesses. This is my connection to those other people.

  2. Yes!

    It’s all about being determined enough to keep asking how you can get in front of more people. If people keep turning you down, you just keep going, because eventually you’ll find that window to sneak in through, and there’ll be cake.

    Lots of cake.

  3. I don’t find this as insightful than the last post. The concept of second customer isn’t something I have seen before, while I have read plenty of posts that talk about the zero-sum game and how important it is to not think of fellow bloggers as competitors.

    However, the advice on trying other topics seem interesting.

    • They all work together, IMO. And since I see enough people bump up against “but none of the other [name your topic] bloggers will link to me,” I thought it was probably worth addressing.

  4. Very true Sonia. “Co-opetition” is definitely the way to get ahead in this information economy. But when even that fails (as it sometimes does in more old-fashioned industries – for example I have a client in printing), I’ve found great success in just changing the game. For example, in an environment full of business coaches and consultants, I’m in the Business Rehab industry.

    • Redefining and/or specialization is a great tactic. My massage therapist focuses on headaches, for example. It’s not what I go to her for, but it gives her a speciality that lets her stand out in the sea of massage therapists in my town.

      My business coach is the “Traction Coach,” and for awhile there I was the marketer for people who hate marketing. 🙂

  5. Another great post, Sonia. The mindset you’re talking about reminds me a lot of the kind you need for joint ventures. Really loving this series. Thanks for the time you’re putting into it!

  6. I am slowly getting on the bandwagon when it comes to the importance of guest posting, now that I’m taking my crochet blog more seriously (started out as a hobby blog). Cooperation or “coopetition” (cute) is the name of the game in the information age. People don’t often realize that helping others is a great way to help yourself, and guest posting is one way to achieve this. Thanks for sharing the tip on moving out of one’s area of expertise to find places to do it.

  7. Sonia – Did I detect a little Phineas and Ferb influence in the “Yes, yes they would” line above? I seem to remember that you are a fan, too. I find opportunities to go all P&F on people all the time, and it never ceases to amuse me.

    Great post, btw. 🙂

  8. Thanks for putting this together. I appreciate your work.

    Louie, “the giddy twelve year old” ?

  9. Hi Sonia! Excellent post and great knowledge you have shared.. Really feel worthy reading this post.

    Thanks for sharing great information… 🙂

  10. Sonia,
    Again great post about working on laterals instead of straight ahead. Many of us get stuck on going forward and sideways can often get us furhter.

    Thanks

  11. The biggest takeaway from this for me was “Don’t agree to play by rules that don’t suit you.” That’s a concept that simply cannot be reinforced enough.

  12. Yeah, i totally agree with you Sonia.

    It’s really in vain if we are targeting websites that accept guest posts but are not related with the topic we’re covering on our blog. Eventually, if our post gets published, the readers will not likely be interested to check out our blog because they simply don’t have the same interest with our blog’s topic. And that would be such a huge loss whereas we have worked our butt off on that guest post.

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