This is a true story and please don't laugh too hard because it'll hurt my feelings. But a good chuckle is OK.

A couple of nights ago I stayed up way past my bedtime to answer some subscribers' question. (Yes, I do it myself and no one but me sees your messages.)

One of the questions sent was - "What should my USP be?"

I stared at this question for several minutes - not trying to come up with a good answer. But rather, trying to figure out what the question was.

In my defense, it had been 21 hours since I'd gotten any sleep and several body parts were telling me I should lay down. But did I listen? No, I wanted to get that 1 last question answered.

So, I stared at this question wondering what the heck was a USP.

I finally gave up and replied with the question - "What's a USP?"

Boy, did I feel dumb when the sender replied with - "Unique Selling Position."

So today you get 2 tips for the price of 1.

Tip Number 1: When you're too tired to work your business properly, go to bed.

Tip Number 2: What your Unique Selling Position should be:

First let me tell you what your USP is not:

* It's not your logo

* It's not your slogan or branding phrase

* It's not you trying to please everyone everywhere

* It's not you modeling your business the way someone else did.

So if your USP is not all of the above - what is it?

Your Unique Selling Position should be what makes you different from all your competition.

And as simple as the phrase sounds, it's 1 of the hardest things most internet markets have to define.

Here are some things to help you find your USP:

1. Have those who know you best list your best qualities like: good sense of humor, explains things well or knows a lot of trivia, etc. Incorporate 1 or more of these qualities into your business.

2. Have everyone who is involved in your business write down every reason someone would want to do business with you and then remove all the reasons that are true for your competition. What's left is what makes your Unique Selling Position.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Last night I was investigating the "pixel advertising" craze and visited at least 25 or more sites that offer it. Of all those sites, only 2 stick in my mind as sites I would revisit if I was in their targeted niche, "pixel advertising" and here's why:

* Both sites had a well defined primary niche that wasn't "pixel advertising":1 site was for people who like crossword puzzles and the other was for teens.

* Both sites had incorporated this secondary niche in a unique manner that screamed - "Buy an ad." (The crossword puzzle site had made a crossword puzzle on the pixel ad grid and letters were uncovered as you clicked on the different ads. The teen site had reduced the size of the pixel grid so that it appeared next to their site's secondary headline like a picture.)

* By incorporating their secondary niche with the first in a unique way, they had a definite USP for "pixel advertising" and that's what I was searching for.

While I can't tell you how well these 2 sites defined the USP for their primary niche, I can tell you they did a fantastic job for their second and it's one that makes money. They sell a lot of pixels.

The bottom line is:

To define your USP you must know your business, know what your customers want and know yourself. After you combine all this information and remove what your competition has to offer, you'll have created your own Unique Selling Position.