I saw Fight Club years after it was launched. I did the same with Matrix and another few blockbusters. I’m not into hype. I like to see a popular movie after it loses the “fashionable” thing. I don’t know why I do this, it’s just a fact. Anyway, Fight Club was a fantastic experience. Few movies had the power to change my life the way Fight Club did.
10 years fast forward and I find Tyler Durden in the most surprising place I ever thought I’ll find him: the blogosphere. It seems like every niche has a blog post which features Tyler Durden somehow. If you’re looking for finances, there must be a blog post about what Tyler Durden will do with his checking accounts. If you’re into fashion, you’ll surely find a post about how Tyler wears his Converses. And if you’re into personal development, prepare to read a whole book made of posts about how Tyler Durden manage his goals, creates his motivation and find inspiration. Tyler Durden is the guardain angel of the personal development niche.
Since today is Sunday in my part of the world and since I’m in a quite ironical attitude lately, I thought it would be a good thing to write a guide about how to use Tyler Durden to attract traffic to your blog. Apparently, at the end of this post you’ll be empowered with a new knowledge and ready to use Tyler Durden as your best traffic tool. Of course, this post should be an example by itself, to keep the irony running.
1. Tyler Durden Must Go in the Blog Post Title
Fundamental. If you’re not using Tyler in the blog post, you’re loosing tons of potential SEO traffic. At the moment of writing this post, there were little over 1.500.000 results returned when you search for Tyler Durden on Google. Pretty good, knowing that the people who are searching for this are usually people in a pretty good mood for change. A good audience if your blog post is trying to make a point.
2. Use a Quote from Fight Club
Or maybe two. RIse the stake to three, if you’re really into playing with your readers minds. A quote from the movie will not only put you in a very selected crowd of people already initiated in the secret teachings of Chuck Palahniuk but will show to our readers that you know how to use the <blockquote> tag in your wordpress install. That, my friend, is a very precious asset.
3. Be Vague
Don’t let too much of what you’re trying to tell become obvious in the post. If you can, avoid to make clear sentences altogether. If you’re talking about personal development, just point that Tyler Durden is “the man”. You know, the “Man”. Nothing more. Build expectations. Let your readers wonder after finishing your post what the hell you wanted to say when you quoted:
The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.
4. Let Them Know You Had an Imaginary Friend Too
But don’t be too precise on that. Giving too much details about how he used to dress could lead to a plethora of surprisingly detailed comments on how other people’s imaginary friends used to dress too. You could end up with a fashion debate and this is NOT what you want to build. Your point is to build traffic, right? So, be inciting and let them know that they may be talking with your alter ego right now. Tell them you’re writing under hypnosis.
5. Make a Low Introduction
Talk for a while about some boring stuff. Something personal, like how often you go to the movies. Then shift course and serve them a huge incentive, something that will make them feel really, really special because they read your blog. Out of nowhere, stick this quote in the middle of the post:
You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your fucking khakis. You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.
They’ll love you for that.
6. Paint a Glamorous Universe
Whatever your niche is about, when you’re writing a post which involves Tyler Durden do describe the most elegant and magnificent universe you can imagine. Them, out of the blue, use this quote:
All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.
They’ll all assume you’re really talking about Tyler Durden in this quote, and not about yourself.
7. Make a Strong End
When somebody will finish to count to ten, I’ll wake up from this highly dangerous induced state of modified consciousness. In about 2 days this blog post will self destroy. The only witnesses of what I’ve wrote will be you, my readers. So, be sure to keep my message running,. Save this post to Delicious, promote it on Digg. Don’t let the shadow of .. 7.. this strange era to suffocate my .. 8 .. desire to change ..9.. ..10!
Dragos, another great post. A lot of wisdom is concealed here, and not even too deeply:-)
And good to discover someone else with a similar zany sense of humour!
.-= Arvind Devalia´s last blog ..Be Special to Find the Special One =-.
Hilarious…both that it works and that you’ve created a post about creating a post!
.-= Robert´s last blog ..Keeping up with the Lifestyle Joneses =-.
Yeah, creating a post about how to create a post is always hilarious, IMHO 🙂
Hi Dragos, I loved it! Nice change.
.-= Stephen – Rat Race Trap´s last blog ..How To Be Rich and Happy =-.
Glad you liked it 🙂 Tyler Durden is the Man, isn’t he?
ohh….i forgot….I love love love the new look and layout of the blog. Very calming greens 🙂
.-= Zeenat {Positive Provocations}´s last blog ..Lavish Love =-.
Thanks for the nice words about the layout, it was time for a change 🙂 And for the genius part, I’ll leave this to Mr. Palahniuk 🙂
What fun this was to read 🙂
I truly truly enjoyed it…more so because I loved the eclectic feel to the movie “fight club”. And then you use it here…youre genius MR. !!!
.-= Zeenat {Positive Provocations}´s last blog ..Lavish Love =-.
Loved it. made me smile. thank you!
.-= Ada Demirgian´s last blog ..7 greÅŸeli pe care le fac femeile măritate cu un gamer =-.
Glad I made you smiled 🙂
Nice post, Dragos. It’s always a good sign when someone can make fun of themselves in public a little bit. Funny thing is, some of the tips are useful even though they sound like a joke.
.-= Corbett Barr´s last blog ..How to Build Bridges with New Friends by Getting Funky =-.
Thanks for the nice words. Yes, I consider making fun a fundamental activity, especially making fun of yourself, from time to time. If you take yourself too seriously, something happens which really forces you to take yourself too seriously, if you know what I mean.
As for the tips, I tried to mix usefulness with pleasure 😉
Haha:) that was funny, loved this post:)
.-= Lana – DreamFollowers Blog´s last blog ..How To Stop Making Decisions Based On Fear =-.
Glad you did, Lana 🙂
I can agree 100% with you 😉 Nice article !
.-= Hypnosissleep´s last blog ..Cat-hypnosis : does hypnosis work ? =-.
Great post. I love fight club, it was a great example to use. I like the new layout of your blog, and I have updated your info in my blogroll. Thanks for sharing…
There is a great site called “What would Tyler Durden Do?” http://www.wwtdd.com/ It always has some eye-catching posts.
.-= Jonathan | EnlightenYourDay.com´s last blog ..Inspiring FNL Speech =-.
Thanks for the nice word and for pointing out to that site. I knew it before and it was one of the reasons for this post.
Funnnny! 🙂 I have a Tyler Durden post and so far iy’s one of the most popular ones: http://www.ideaswithakick.com/self-improvement-is-masturbation/
But this TD niche is getting to crowded. I think I’m gonna switch to Terminator quotes. 🙂
Eduard
.-= Ideas With A Kick´s last blog ..Q: How do I look? A: Like everybody else =-.
Terminator is the Man! 🙂
Hahaha, okay, I love this post.
.-= Colin Wright´s last blog ..Free eBook: How to Be Remarkable =-.
Good. 🙂
Want to really blow someones mind?
Try including 17 QUOTES! That’s right…
http://manvsdebt.com/tyler-durdens-guide-to-personal-finance/
😉
.-= Baker´s last blog ..Personal Update: Friday Series, Questions for Courtney, & Karol Gadja =-.
I could bet my last 5 dollars that you would be in the first 5 guys to comment on this article. 🙂
Hope your blogging burnout is over now. Talking about liquids, I could recommend you a Romanian one, called tzuika. Maybe I’ll bring you some when I’ll be in Auckland next time. Have a great week, Adam!