The BS Business of Blogging
Posted by Peter James | Posted in Balanced Life, Business Success Tips | Posted on 28-01-2009
Tagged Under : blog, blogging, build your subscriber list, Business Success Tips, entrepreneur, secrets of success, self development, self improvement, social media
Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.
Every Wednesday is Personal Development in Business…
I am a blogger.
These days, that makes you stand out about as much as saying you are from New York. Seems everyone and anyone has a blog, and that is cool with me. To be honest, I feel like my intelligence has increased tremendously since I started reading so many blogs. I guess I have been able to absorb many different view points that I was unaware of before.
However, being a blogger has become almost a dirty word. It’s like a few years ago when I used to tell friends I was doing mortgages. You just got this look like, ‘my rate is fine, what are you after my money?’. Well, this time, it’s not the money (at least at first), but the subscribers we all lust after.
I will not mention any names, mostly because I have been guilty of ‘trying to build my subscriber list’ as well, but I have seen some crazy attempts to gain subscribers on other blogger’s sites. There are annoying pop-up boxes, free e-books that you have to sign up to seven newsletters to get, and also the famed, very personal, auto-responders.
‘Thank you for commenting on my site, blah blah blah.’
I seem to get that annoying auto responder every time I comment on some sites. Now, this is not to say that these methods do not work. I am sure they do on some level, but I am wondering at what cost? It seems the push to gain traffic has become an all out war of social networking, gimmicks, and just plain BS. So I ask, what happened to ‘Content is King’?
The Origins of Blogging
I got into blogging cause I love to write. It took me 3 months to figure out how to get people to even find my site. What attracted me to blogging, was the ability to give real, down-to-earth advice, all the while keeping a log of the lessons I learned along the way. Inspired by these thoughts, I curiously checked out a little about the origins of blogging on Wikipedia…
The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists,journalists, or journalers. Justin Hall, who began personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers,[57] as is Jerry Pournelle.[citation needed] Dave Winer’s Scripting News is also credited with being one of the oldest and longest running weblogs.[58][59] Another early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person’s personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site in 1994. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to as sousveillance, and such journals were also used as evidence in legal matters.
In 1993, Dr. Glen Barry invented blogging, defined as web based commentary, linking to other articles. The “Forest Protection Blog” (originally entitled “Gaia’s Forest Conservation Archives”) at http://forests.org/blog/ was also the first political blog, as Dr. Barry campaigned there for forest protection and documented these efforts as his Ph.D. project[60]. The blog initially used the gopher protocol, and has been on the web continuously since Jan. 1995, making it the web’s first and longest continuously running blog. Prior to this, Dr. Barry provided forest conservation materials via email and bulletin board since 1989. The work has since evolved into the world’s largest environmental portals.
Early blogs were simply manually updated components of common Web sites. However, the evolution of tools to facilitate the production and maintenance of Web articles posted in reverse chronological order made the publishing process feasible to a much larger, less technical, population. Ultimately, this resulted in the distinct class of online publishing that produces blogs we recognize today.
Giving a voice to the common person is what attracted me to blogging. To me, just like Dr. Barry did, the ability for people to strike up a cause that others on the net can rally around is blogging’s greatest aspect. In a world filled with politically controlled media, and financially strapped corporate big wigs, blogging has been the breath of fresh air we can rely on for real talk and honest opinions.
That is, until it became the latest trend.
Now, it seems many bloggers are like the juice-head, Alpha Male in a skin-tight wife-beater at the beach, scouring the blogosphere for any attention and flexing their subscriber list like vein-ridden biceps, not too mention sweating anyone with a bigger list.
‘Hey I love that body of work. I’ll share yours if you’ll share mine?’
It seems everyone has the same agenda. It can even be difficult to tell if a compliment is sincere anymore. Do they really like my stuff, or do they just need another Digg? Not every blogger is like this of course, but I would say off the top of my head the majority of them are. Shit, I was even like that until I got fed up with the BS.
Building Traffic is What a Blog is All About
Now, I know the goal is to build traffic, and you have to do what you can to get ahead, but are we really that desperate to reach our goal? I would imagine the combination of good content, patience, and personal networking would be enough. Am I wrong?
The people who made it big in blogging certainly did not do it the gimmicky way. The John Chow’s, Steve Pavlina’s and Leo Babatua’s of this world carved a niche for themselves and provided CONTENT that caused people to want to subscribe. You may say John Chow is the king of gimmicks, but that is the niche he carved. At least he invents the gimmicks. Readers happily gave their email address to these blogs because they did not want to miss what these bloggers had to say, and looked forward to what appeared in their inbox or feedreader.
I even read about a blogger who researched what topics were popular online in order to write an ebook. While that is very smart marketing, my question is, how can you write an ebook about something you are not an expert in or passionate about?
Let’s Discuss
My goal of this post is not to tell every blogger how they should handle their site or to seem like I am a better person than the rest. Let me make it clear, I AM NOT a better person. Just like each of you, I am trying to do what I think is in my best interest. I just feel that its in any blogger’s best interest to be personable, and not so business oriented. Am I wrong?
I’m also writing this cause this is honestly how I feel being part of this community. I was wondering exactly how everyone else feels as well. I don’t care if you are a blogger, reader, passer-by or whoever. Your opinions all are certainly valued the same.
So let’s start a discussion. Why did you get into blogging (or reading blogs), and how do you feel about the recent trends of the business side of it?
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Frankly, I wasn’t really sure why I should add my voice, but I was reading a lot of blogs and figured that it would be an interesting experiment to put my thoughts down for public consumption (no matter how measly my readership is.)
It has forced me to think a little more about context, process, and less on results.
[...] about Internet Marketing Experts as of January 28, 2009 The BS Business of Blogging – yinvsyang.com 01/28/2009 photo creditArticle by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.Every [...]
@Sam
I have had a similar experience. Obviously, blogging has a lot to do with social networking, but what do you think about the eagerness (or overeagerness) to earn subscribers?
It’s not just evident in bloggin, this is the society we live in today. The phoney plastic smile, thats donned on people, “OHHH HI How are you ? I am so glad your doing fine!” While you know for sure they couldn’t give a shit about what you are doing.
I am in the music business, it strikes me odd in a business where creative collaboration is so necessary, people are so self absorbed. Most people don’t listen, they HEAR you until your finished speaking which allows them to now speak. And everyone loves hearing themselves speak.
This is something I struggle with. I hate auto-responders thanking you for commenting, or thanking you for following them on Twitter. And I hate spammy comments (meaning maybe they’re not spam per se, but they don’t add much). I think this is all so phony, and hopefully it’s not effective.
On the other hand, sometimes it’s extremely helpful to be a little less of a blogger and a little more of a marketer. I wish I didn’t have to use a pop-up to get people to sign up for my newsletter, but it just helps so much. Darren Rowse found when he switched from a subscription form in the top of his sidebar to a pop-up, he went from 40 new subscribers a day to 350 a day. And very few people complained.
I guess it comes down to balance; doing a little marketing without being obnoxious or phony.
@Hunter
I think the concept of balance is a great point. It makes perfect sense to me. I personally do not like the pop-ups, no matter how effective. However, I think it definitely depends on the goals of your site, and the amount of traffic you receive as well. I can’t argue with results like you mentioned. Have you had similar results with the pop-up?
I became a blogger because I love to write. I love to share what I know, or what I think I know. I also think it’s pretty fun to be popular, and it seems like tracking page views fills my need for popularity. But mostly, I just have a lot of things that I need to get out there for people to read. I hate the social networking. I hate trying to get subscribers. I don’t want to waste my time on Digg, when I can be writing my own masterpieces (or that’s what I like to call them, anyway). I just want to write.
Yeah man, well said! I think we’re all getting caught up in the “push push” “results results” thing. Before I learned about increasing subscribers on Problogger, I was just happy writing articles about stuff I enjoyed. I’ve personally decided to move away from writing so much social media heavy stuff. My latest post was very personal, and might not be a good fit for social media. But that’s fine by me!
As for giving away ebooks to get subscribers, I think that’s just one way to provide your message. I know that I’ve signed up for newsletters/blogs just to read the ebook, and that I’ve gotten so much in return. If it hadn’t been for the “free” thing, I would have moved on & forgotten about it. So sometimes if you want to make sure your voice is heard, you need to make it sticky. Just my thoughts.
Like Hunter said, it’s all about balance, which includes marketing.
@ Peter, when I started my newsletter, I used a pop-up from the very beginning. I never had a normal subscription form, so I have nothing to compare the pop-up results to.
@Nathalie
I totally agree. I had the same refreshing feeling when I stopped worrying about who was reading and how many comments I had. I think time and faith will put us where we all belong. I love the concept about making your voice sticky. Great point.
@Hunter
Ok thx. I was curious if you noticed any significant results.
You touched on so many points that are both the positives and negatives of blogging. While I want to be successful if I take the personal touch out of my blogging it completely defeats my purpose and goal. I blog most often because it gives me a way to share the information I am always learning to help others. In turn I learn so much from others through comments. They let me know when if I have a cool idea or if I should rethink my approach.
Like others I don’t like the auto-responses and spam comments. If I comment on a blog and the author never responds in comments I stop visiting, unless the content is exceptional. If I comment it means I mean what I say and enjoyed the post. It’s a business, but we need to remember we are still dealing with real, human beings with feelings behind the computer screen.
Thanks for the thought provoking post.
This posts heattttttin up!
@Rachael
I think you are on the right path…i’ll have to check out some of those masterpieces
@Lori
Great insight. I love the personal growth I see from blogging, and I hope the thought is mutual with my readers. Nothing better than having an entire community to put you right back in your place!
@Peter,
I agree ‘time and faith’ will place us where we’re supposed to be.
I just starting blogging recently because friends, family, and co-workers often ask me how I found serenity and such a positive outlook on life. (my journey getting here was brutal, addiction, depression) I love to write and express my ideas, mainly through music but have found blogging to be very spiritual for me. It’s a way to explore myself in the open, and I believe I’m as sick as my secrets.
I’m not trying to impress anyone, just help someone through my experience if that’s possible. Would I like a lot of subscribers, sure. But for me I must constantly weigh what I’m doing against my ego. Sure I would love to make enough money off blogging to quite my day job. For me it’s about helping people and if I’m suppose to do that more, then time and faith will reveal that to me (thanks Peter). I also plan on writing a book staring in June (right… sure, isn’t everyone) which I plan on giving away… so blogging is good practice for that. I guess it’s all really exploratory for myself, growing up in public and sharing what I learn along the way. There’s a lot of great people out there helping us all, and I don’t get to keep anything unless I give it away.
Thanks for everyone’s contribution here!
@Peter, where do you write? (your url is reimagineit.com)
@Jared
Love your attitude on life, so I guess you got some good advice from your friends and fam. Good luck with your book.
BTW….Reimagine is my web/video company. This is my blog. I’m the head writer here and wrote this article
I’ve given up on the results, results, results thing. I write with everything I have on every single post, and I’ve done it without missing a single day in the last six months. Yet I’ve never had one single post go viral. Zero success on StumbleUpon. Zero success on Digg. My kind of content is not the sort that is rewarded. I don’t play the commenting game anymore because when I’m commenting I’m not writing and too many comments feel so insincere to me. Just today I uploaded the Seth Godin plugin that asks people to subscribe. I’ve been putting it off for a long time, but the bottom line is, I’ve been working on my site for free for six months. I do my best with every post. I have no adsense or ads of any kind. I should be able to put up a pop up (which disappears after the first visit) without feeling guilty.
Too bad I feel guilty anyway.
@Writer Dad
Don’t feel guilty about anything. With the reasons you listed, it’s no wonder you are one of my favorite bloggers. I think patience and doing what we love will bring us to a better place over time. It’s just a matter of staying the course of who we are no matter how tempting someone else’s path may look now & again.
I also believe that maybe all we are after is success, and right now it seems those with the most subscribers are the most successful. But that may change. For example, my site does not pick up too many subscribers. I may see 10 new ones a month, and so on. However, since I started leaving my twitter a short time ago, I almost have more followers there than subscribers on my site. So I think the way someone was building email lists to make money a short time ago may be morphing into something else right before our eyes. Either way, doing what many others have done before you only dilutes the effectiveness of that approach. Instead try hacking out your own path. I believe it’s originality that is the honey all these reader bees are really after, whether they know it or not