I was thinking this week about why some people get noticed online while others, every bit as talented, don’t.
It’s rarely because they’re better.
It’s because they’re easier to find.
I learned that the hard way.
You can write the best book in the world or create a brilliant course, but if nobody knows it exists, it can’t help anyone.
Visibility matters.
Not in the “look at me” sense that puts so many of us off. In the sense of making it easy for the right people to discover you and decide whether you’re someone worth learning from.
The good news is that you don’t need a huge following.
You just need to keep showing up.
Here’s how.
1. Build a home online
Social media is rented land. Your website and your email list are yours.
Whether it’s a blog, a simple site or a newsletter, make sure there’s one place people can always find you.
2. Publish regularly
You don’t need to post five times a day.
Once a week is plenty, if you stick to it.
One useful article a week is fifty-two by the end of the year. That’s fifty-two chances for someone to stumble across your work.
3. Write books
You knew this was coming.
Books do far more than earn royalties. They introduce you to readers you’ve never met, and those readers follow the trail back to your website, your newsletter and everything else you make.
4. Be helpful
Answer the questions people are actually asking, and share what you’ve learned along the way.
People remember the person who helped them long after they’ve forgotten the person who tried to sell them something.
5. Go where your audience already is
Don’t wait to be discovered.
Pitch yourself for podcasts and guest articles, and join the conversations already happening in the groups and forums your readers use.
Contribute first. Promote later, if at all.
6. Find out what people actually want
One of the biggest mistakes creators make is spending weeks building something nobody asked for.
Do a little digging first. What are people searching for? What are they stuck on?
The answers are usually hiding in plain sight.
7. Turn one idea into ten
Don’t let a good piece of content die after one outing.
A newsletter becomes a blog post. A blog post becomes a video. A video becomes a week of social posts.
One good idea should earn its keep.
8. Keep going
This is the part most people miss.
Visibility isn’t built in a weekend. It’s built one article, one email, one conversation at a time.
Some days it feels as though nobody is listening. Keep going anyway.
You never know which piece of work will be the one that changes everything.
HARO (Help a Reporter Out) https://www.helpareporter.com/
Yes, it’s back. The original “get quoted by journalists” service shut down in 2024 and relaunched last year as a free daily email. Journalists tell you what they need and you reply if you can help. One good quote in the right article can do more for you than a month of posting.
Source of Sources https://sourceofsources.com/
Built by Peter Shankman, the man who created HARO in the first place. Same idea, completely free, and a different pool of journalists, so it’s worth being on both.
Featured https://featured.com/
Answer short expert questions and get placed in articles across a network of publications, usually with a link back to you. The free tier is enough to get started.
MatchMaker.fm https://www.matchmaker.fm/
A dating site, essentially, but for podcasts. Hosts looking for guests, guests looking for shows. If “go on more podcasts” has been sitting on your list for a while, this removes most of the excuses.
Listen Notes https://www.listennotes.com/
A search engine for podcasts. Type in your topic and you’ll find every show that covers it. Handy when you’re deciding which programmes to pitch.
Exploding Topics https://explodingtopics.com/
Shows you what’s starting to trend before it’s obvious. Useful for spotting the subjects your audience will be searching for next month, not last year.
AnswerSocrates https://answersocrates.com/
If you’ve hit the limits on AnswerThePublic, this does much the same job without them. Real questions real people are typing into Google, sorted by topic.
SparkToro https://sparktoro.com/
Tells you where your audience spends its time – which websites they visit, which podcasts they listen to, who they follow. The free account is limited but worth having for point 5 above.
Google Alerts https://www.google.com/alerts
The oldest tool on this list and still underused. Set an alert for your name, your book titles and your topic. You’ll know the moment someone mentions you and a quick thank-you to whoever did goes a surprisingly long way.
And if you’ve got about twelve minutes this week, watch this.
How Craving Attention Makes You Less Creative by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Yes, that Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He’s spent his whole life getting attention and his argument is that chasing it is exactly what kills good work. The magic happens when you stop trying to get attention and start paying it. One of the best things I’ve watched on this subject.
Which brings me to one final thought.
Don’t worry about becoming famous.
Focus on becoming findable.
Help people, keep publishing, keep turning up.
Do that often enough and people begin to remember your name.
And that’s when good things start to happen.
P.S. Today is the final day to pick up Book Bingo at the launch price if you’ve been meaning to take a look.