I have had an interesting few days in terms of my blogging life. See, as the year was coming to a close, I thought about the last year (the first full year) that I’ve spent blogging here. I kept thinking to myself, “OK, what do I need to do to take this blog to the next level? What do I need to do to make it clear I’m taking it up a notch?”
The more I thought about this, the more sort of down I got. There are a lot of things I *could* do here. I thought about the blogs I most enjoy reading…could I try to write extremely detailed and brilliant posts like Brian Solis and Olivier Blanchard? Well, I could try. Could I try to do a lot of research so that I could write really strong actionable posts like Jay Baer and Mark Schaefer? I could try. Could I focus more on PR and add in a bit more zestiness like Gini Dietrich? I could try.
But these people are already doing “them,” and they’re doing “them” a lot better than I ever could. So modeling my blog after other people I admire didn’t really seem like a good idea.
So what then? Maybe I needed to change my voice. Maybe I needed to format things more strictly.
I just kept feeling more and more lost. My voice is my voice. This is how I write (as I finally found out). I didn’t want to change that just so I could “ship” something differently.
What it really came down to is that I was wondering how to make my blog grow faster. I admit it. I wanted to start 2012 with a bang that would shock the world, somehow. I wanted to launch something different, something new, something never before tried. And I had some ideas, too. I even worked on them.
When it comes right down to it, though, my blog is my blog. I don’t want to write like other people write. I don’t want to cover the stuff that will get me found more often in Google searches, per se. I just want to talk to you about stuff that I think might help you out. And I know that there are people who read these blogs who think that’s a pretty lame thing to focus on. And I know there are people who think that being nice is playing it too safe. If that’s the way I find controversy, well, so be it.
The lure of breaking out big is pretty strong this time of year. All of the lists of “Bloggers to watch” are coming out, and even if you make one you wonder why you didn’t make another. People are launching new things and it’s really tempting to try to do the same thing just so you can feel like you’re keeping up. But if you alter your voice and your blog’s mission just because there’s pressure to do it, you’re really endangering everything you’ve been working for. At that point, your blog is no longer yours. It belongs to the people who will carry it around and make it big. What you were infusing into it, the real you, your real goals, will waft away on vapors of hope and prayers for some measure of success.
Yes, I admit it. I thought about changing everything because I got a little impatient. But I wanted to share this with you not to make me look like a turd (who wants to do that) but rather to say that you always have a choice. You can always opt to go ahead and sell your soul, whatever that entails. But you can also always choose to stick to your guns, stick to the tortoise way, and see what happens. I like the tortoise way, upon further reflection. You get to watch and see a lot more than the hare does, and you sleep better, too.
If you’ve ever been tempted to throw everything away so that you can do something “new,” or if you’re feeling the pressure now to change everything because you want to be in a different (your perception: better) position this time next year, I humbly submit that it isn’t worth it. I’d much rather build momentum as I have been, slowly but surely and as myself, than to gain a lot of sudden attention based on stuff I don’t really believe in.
What do you think? Have you ever faced this bloggy conundrum?
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sokabs/2668156039/ via Creative Commons
You write well, and I can’t understand why you would want to “change”. It’s unfortunate that many voices like yours weren’t there at the start. You’re as capable of giving good sensible advice as those you mention, the difference between the “famous” and not so famous seems to be more tenure, not value.
Do what you will, I read your posts for the points you make. But then what do I know, I’m only in material handling not the Scobleizer.
@ToyotaEquipment I think you’re plenty smart, Kyle. In fact, I know this to be the case 🙂
Thanks for your comment. When it comes right down to it, I don’t really know why I would want to change either. It was an odd realization that I was kind of grasping at straws for reasons I didn’t really understand. It took me a day of working on something new to realize, “Nope, this isn’t what I want to do.” Time well spent, I guess 🙂
Margie,
I LOVE the way you put things in the light. You are NOT, Gini, Mark, Jay, Oliver or Brian. You are NOT even Jill Shmoe. You are the Mighty Marjorie! I believe in slow and steady but I also understand how it feels to know you have MORE inside you and the great long road to travel in life (Let’s MOVE it!! YIPEE!).
I like the fact that there are folks that I know (to any degree) that will stand their land, not ride the fences of the politically correct and foolish. I will stay my path as well. It may not be smooth traveling yet, but I’ve got rugged gear and high endurance. I am also asking for help more.
Here is one I haven’t read much on, speaking of this business. HOW do you find the demographic that is appropriate and fitting with the “niche”-thingy? Can you write some wisdom on that? I still feel like that trout thrown ashore.
~Amber-Lee
@girlygrizzly That’s a great question, and my answer is that I have no idea. One of my big concerns about my blog continues to be the “musings” part. I take to heart the idea that someone should be able to come to your blog site and instantaneously understand what it is they will learn from you. I think that is far from the truth for me and my blog. I’m all over the darned place.
My niche, I suppose, is just people who I get along with, even if it’s just for one post. One reason I opted not to change everything is that doing what I’ve been doing got me talking to folks like all who have commented here, including you. I’d be a plumb idiot of a person if I dumped all of that. So…you’re my niche. You tell me how it happened and we’ll both know 🙂
You know what, Margie, if you were to change just to meet some foolish goals, I would be disappointed. I have looked to you for advice and answers before pretty much anyone else for a while now, and I just don’t see that being “you”. In fact, we used some of your Yoda-like (NO PUN INTENDED) wisdom in the restructure of our blog. We are going to be growing slowly and using our space to make a difference, whether in our own back yard or halfway around the world.
I can’t speak on behalf of your stats, Margie, but I can speak on your ability to touch people’s lives. You just do you. If you need a fellow turtle to walk the race with, you got one. 🙂
@BrandonPDuncan What a sweet comment, BD. Truthfully, I’d have been disappointed in myself too, which is why I decided that what I was thinking was not a good path to be on. Luckily my gut is good for something other than wanting cookies 🙂
@margieclayman
OH! COOKIES!!! 😉
Reading through your comments, it appears that everyone loves you. But, as you have set your own bar so high with some of the wonderful (and time consuming) posts you have done on here, I could definitely see why you feel like you need a new challenge.
In the military, they have issues with that also. Soldiers come back from a deployment where they were on a 24/7/365 adrenaline high. Once back, they couldn’t satisfy that lingering, weird, “something isn’t normal” feeling. They ended up doing dumb stuff to catch that tense feeling again. Most of them didn’t even know they had a problem.
Maybe you should just step back and really look at your work. I’ve never seen or heard anyone say that you needed something to make it worthy. ;D
Keep up the good work Margie. In February I’ll have been blogging for a year at my first and still only blog. I used to read all kinds of stuff on how to do this or that, but I kind of like the slow route too. I’ll always remember you were the first person to say something to me at my first #Blogchat!
@thefarmerslife Aw, thanks. I love it when remembering a first conversation is mutual. Jay up there was one of the first people to talk to me, and I’ll never forget that. I’m happy I was able to be that person for you 🙂 You rock!
This is something I struggle with too. What I really want is to be taken seriously as a writer and a blogger. I want to grow my blog and do whatever is necessary to do that.
I miss most lists but I realize they may be looking for something different than what I put out.
If other folks get chosen for lists that I feel are not as good, then I just need to accept it and not change. I know those people will never like what I have to say anyway.
I am also realizing that what others say is right – comments are no indication of success, Just because something gets a lot of comments does not mean it is good. I forget this often.
I am glad you wrote this Margie. I feel the same way a lot of days.
@NancyD68 I think you and I are kind of in the same category, Nancy Dee. We write from the heart in the hopes that doing so will help other folks out. That is not really a “hot” category to be in. We don’t use swear words or call people out. We don’t stir controversy except by complete accident. We are like the super cool indie band – our followers are as loyal as can be, but we are just enough off the radar not to be considered mainstream. I’m pretty okay with that, now that I think about it. I hope you are too 🙂 It’s cozy over here.
Margie, First of all, Happy New Year m’dear! XO
This isn’t a blog issue, this is a compare yourself to others issue. Oscar Wilde was right – be yourself, everyone else is taken. Anyone who has been publishing their musings for any amount of time can easily be tempted by popularity, wondering how “they” did it, how “they” got to be on the Power 150 and how “they” have that big number in their reader counter “they” put on “their” wall in the form of a check me out widget.
IT DOES NOT MATTER. IT REALLY DOESN’T.
No client or prospect has ever asked me how many readers I have or for a list of my top five highest Post Rank posts of all time. No one. None. Zero. Clients and prospects care about my ability to help them grow their business and as a 3rd generation Clayman, you know that only too well! If we lose the school yard comparison game, we will have a much better time helping the thousands/millions of companies that need our help.
Be Margie, we like the only one that there is on this planet so keep being her fabulous self.
@KnealeMann Aw, thanks, Kneale. I really appreciate this.
Most of the time I don’t care about comments either. I don’t know what reaction I was hoping for when these thoughts were going through my head. That was a clue that I was going off course. I just felt that I needed to “take it up a notch” somehow. What did that mean? For me I thought it meant doing something completely different, but upon further reflection, I think it just means continuing to hone my craft, think of new ways to write about stuff I like talking about here, and letting it go from there.
Thanks again!
Margie,
I understand the dilemma. I recently started my own personal blog in which I write about pretty much anything I want. It’s me in the raw. I also have my business blog that caters to my audience–the people I am trying to reach professionally. For now, it’s working pretty well, but it does feel kind of weird trying to maintain authenticity and simultaneously having two different blogs. I feel like a divided self sometimes, as my own personal voice escapes into all the writing I do.
But your blog, Margie, is awesome. Keep doing what your doing. This here is a Margie fan!
@dougricesmbiz Well this here is a Doug fan, so that works out pretty well! 🙂
It is tricky – one thing I was wondering is if I should write more about marketing here because, well, that’s my job and that’s ultimately why I started blogging here. But there are people who write about marketing in ways that I can’t really compare to. When I write about marketing it’s still more about my observations on things or ideas that might help people out. Is that the expectation of an agency woman? No idea. But, ciest la vie. Hopefully it works for folks like you 🙂
First, do NOT change your voice. I love that you used the word, “turd.” Second, as corny as the saying is, “Build it and they will come” is sorta true. The only suggestion I might add is to break out of your comfort zone now and again. I just wrote my second column that was “political” and it is getting more attention – as did my first – than my usual ones. Stretching that way may improve my writing and readership though I’m not going to change my voice.
Rather than think of copying others, why not just be inspired by good ideas? For instance, a blogger I admire is a HUGE believer is sub-headings. I’ve tried to incorporate them in my columns and I think it adds something that may have been missing (given the 800-1000 word length of my columns) so it was a good addition without compromising my “voice.”
Asking yourself these questions already means you’re going to make things better and grow more…
@BruceSallan Thanks, Bruce. I do on occasion read a post that requires me to write a blog post – sometimes I just do that in the comment section accidentally, too. I am long-winded, shall we say 🙂
Getting out of my comfort zone. Yes. That’s a constant tricky issue for me. Like I said to Doug, I am in the online world not just as me but also as a person who works for my family’s agency. Even though this is not our agency’s blog, I feel a responsibility to avoid saying anything that might alienate existing or potential clients. That means that I tend to stray from things like politics and religion even though I LOVE talking about them. That’s where my online presence has always been tricky…I’m out here as me, but I’m also an unofficial representative of a business, and I take that part very seriously.
If it makes you feel any better, I have the exact same discussions with myself all the time.
I’ve come to two important conclusions regarding blogging:
First, you’ll never win. Somebody will always have more, better, bigger, awesome. That drives me crazy, because I’m super competitive, but you have to get to the point where you’re happy based on whatever scorecard is important to you. I’m not suggesting you be complacent, because you are a star in the making and still have a ton of room to grow. But the natural ceiling will come someday, and that has to be okay on some level.
Second, if you’re going to approach or break through that ceiling without driving yourself mad, you have to stop looking at the blog as a thing, and instead look at it as a part of what you do and who you are on the broadest possible scale. There is massive opportunity cost associated with blogging, and you have to have a clear head about that.
The only ways I can grow my blog substantially at this point are to blog more frequently like Brogan, run a lot more guest posts like Falls, or go super tactical like Social Fresh and Social Media Examiner. At present, I’m not willing to do any of those things. The first two options take away from family, sleep, speaking, book writing, and other important commitments. The last one doesn’t help me much as a consultant, because I don’t do tactical consulting.
The more you think about the blog as a means to an end, rather than as an end unto itself, the better you’ll be holistically, and the happier you’ll be about where your blog is at any given moment.
@JayBaer …enjoyed this comment a bunch Jay, and appreciate your honesty.
As I was reading your words, these thoughts came to mind:
‘At one point are we satisfied? What is our ultimate goal?’
Personally, I work very hard on solely focusing on my own goals, metrics, etc. I love watching super freaks like you, Brogan, SME, etc. It’s fun, but the longer I’m in this, the more I realize we are all so very different, and trying to be like the other (as you and Margie have stated) is fruitless.
I would ask this though of you Margie, because upon reading this article, I really wanted to know your personal definition of success with your blog. Is it a book? A big crowd? Money? I think the ‘why’ means everything when discussing this topic.
For whatever reason, I landed on a few of those ‘list’ posts this past week. I wasn’t thinking about them, didn’t expect them, and don’t feel any different having been on them (I’ll be posting about this on my next blog post). But what has really concerned me the most since being on these lists are the emails I’ve gotten of people wanting to know how to get on such a list come next year.
My initial responses have always been the same:
Did you start your blog to get on these lists? And why the heck are you blogging anyway?
I’m honored, truly, to be mentioned with awesome people..anytime, anywhere. But ‘lists’ aren’t my goals. Rankings don’t mean squat to me either. And I think it’s because I’ve got a clear vision of my definition of success and how the blog relates to and facilitates that.
Just my thoughts. But again, thanks Jay and Margie for you awesome thoughts here, as it’s a topic that has been on my mind quite a bit these past few days as well.
Marcus
@Marcus_Sheridan Great comment Marcus. You deserve all the lists you’re on, because you epitomize one of the key avenues to blogging success: be useful. Lack of takeaways is a big problem for many business bloggers, and you have that one licked!
Here’s exactly how I measure success of my blog. The overall process is: Social Networks > Blog > Speaking Gigs > Clients
So, I care about these metrics:
– New Visits
– Keywords Driving Traffic (are they ones I care about?)
– Driving Traffic to Speaking Site
– Newsletter Sign Ups
– Avg. Length of Stay
– Total Engagement (PostRank is my favorite for that)
Notice I didn’t list total traffic, comments, or other metrics which tilt toward vanity. Do I look at my AdAge ranking and stuff like that? Do I notice when I’m not on a list I think I should have be on? Of course, I’m human and competitive. But ultimately, I care about math more than ego, because math is what changes your life.
And, I play my own game. I know for a fact that Falls’ blog does almost double the traffic I do on my blog. Does that make me mad? Kinda. But, he blogs more often, has been doing it longer, and writes more practical stuff than I’ve been doing lately. But most importantly, I love Jason. He’s one of my closest social media friends. I WANT him to succeed, in the way I want you to succeed, and Margie, and a lot of other people.
So in reality, one of the ways I measure the success of my blog (and my business, as 14 of my former employees have now started their own companies), is “Did I have an impact with this blog in improving the lives of readers, guest posters, and collaborators?” if you can say yes to that, the public lists become pretty unimportant, because you’re creating your own list of awesome people who you can count on, and who can count on you.
@JayBaer@Marcus_Sheridan Fascinating additions to the conversation here, wonderful gentlemen.
I had a great enlightening moment about 6 months into my blogging experience which I try to hold on to when I am fighting with my blog. At the time, I was getting (usually) under 100 visits a day…sometimes under 50, which was SO depressing. But then one day I looked at a post on a particularly low traffic day. I had a fair amount of comments and a fair amount of retweets. Even though about 100 people had visited that day, I had 25 actions of some kind on the post. That told me that even though I wasn’t getting a lot of visitors, the ones who came were reading, reacting, and sharing.
I still try to hold on to that. I guess it’s just the marathon syndrome for me. I am running (or walking) at my own pace and just intend to finish with my head held high, but gosh darn it, some of those folks passing me really are running fast, and I want to know their secret.
AND I think some of them are using performance enhancing tools 😉 That really ticks me off.
@Marcus_Sheridan What is success for me? I’m already there, if you want to know the truth. Look at this conversation going on! What more could a writer want? I have people who visit my blog pretty regularly, and I visit theirs, and we talk about great stuff.
I just get a little jealous sometimes, I guess, of the people who seem to be sparking up towards the sky in terms of notoriety. Sometimes I feel like quality content is not really what gets you there. I think it’s a lot of game-playing and stuff that i don’t really believe in. That makes me sad. But I guess I have to make peace with it, cuz I’m certainly not going to change, nor is the world at large 🙂
Besides, I have REALLY good company.
I look forward to reading that post of yours. You’re an inspirational fellow 🙂
@margieclayman@Marcus_Sheridan And further more, you have Jay Baer and Marcus Sheridan following you and commenting on your posts! Good Lord, woman!! What more do you want?! Oh wait…now am I the jealous one…?
@MimiMeredith I’m a very, VERY fortunate woman 🙂 Plus you’re here!!
@margieclayman@Marcus_Sheridan Margie – if you have clearly established goals in mind for the blog, the jealousy will dissipate (I think). If your goal is engagement and providing a community where we can all learn from each other, then the number of lists or the size and scope of the community matter not – in fact, growing beyond a certain size may negatively impact that goal.
Even if you THINK you have your goals clarified in your head, I would strongly encourage you to WRITE THEM DOWN and post them somewhere visible. Doing so will help you bounce all your ideas against those goals to ensure they are being served in the end.
My two cents.
@Marcus_Sheridan@JayBaer You know, Marcus, the only person/place that has ever listed me was @margieclayman and I am just fine with that because of the time is had to have taken to put those posts together. It’s uncanny.
It’s funny that you mention the emails you received about the lists. Early last year, right after I started blogging, I was put on a Twitter list by Stan from @Pushingsocial and was ecstatic about it. The sad thing is it was a rotating list of people he watched on and off. I didn’t know. When I fell off the list, I asked him if I had done something stupid or wrong. He was cool about it, but looking back, I am embarrassed that I even reacted like that. It’s just a damn list!
I chalk it up as a learning mistake, but the bottom line is that I didn’t have my goals set and latched on to anyone/anything that paid attention. You an Jay make some pretty good points about doing what’s right for you. Kudos.
@BrandonPDuncan I did the same thing when I first started on Twitter. I talked to a person I really admired and he responded back and I got on his “conversationalist” list. I was like, “Holy crap, he wants to keep conversing with me!!” Then I fell off and I thought, “Well, ok. We didn’t talk anymore after that, so I guess that makes sense.” Then I found out it was all automated, and that’s when lists stopped meaning as much to me 🙂
@JayBaer Does that make me feel any better? Uh, heck yeah!
Although it does raise the interesting question, as Marcus notes. When do we say, “OK, I’m done here!”? I guess if you’re ambitious/competitive, the road never ends so long as there are people whom you perceive as out-running you.
From where I sit, it’s hard to believe there is anyone whom you feel is competition. There are of course people who read my stuff who are probably thinking the way I did a year ago. My LORD if I could get 80 visits a day I’d be praising all things holy.
Really, the fact that changing everything passed through my mind kind of scares me. It shows me that the temptation is there, lingering in my head. But then again, I *didn’t* change everything, so maybe I won’t be tempted again. I hope not.
Thanks for stopping by, Jay. I appreciate it and, of course, you are awesome 🙂
First and foremost, I don’t think there is anything wrong with your ‘strategy’ or ‘voice’ at all. You’re Margie and that’s most important. You have a very unique and fun way of writing and most important of all – you’re you and people love you for that. Sure, there may be room for improvement but I think the worse is when you give in a lose your own voice. Really, you’ve been an inspiration and you’ve been awesome 🙂 If anyone needs to have a site reboot, that probably would be me. Not you.
@janwong Nah, you don’t need to reboot. You’re awesome as is too. I’m thankful to know you 🙂
Hey Margie from where I sit you seem to be doing really well. You bring a sense of humanity and compassion to this space like no other. I like how you use your influence (and over your protests I argue it is substantial) for good. You sincerely do what you can to serve and help others, that is pretty “break out” stuff to me. There is a lot to be said for being authentic, transparent, and helpful. You embody these and other traits. Having the opportunity to work with you this past year was a real treat. Thanks for all you do. Oh and thanks for introducing me to @r_jc this year meeting him IRL was another highlight.
Best wishes for a breakout 2012.
@SMSJOE@r_jc Well, you are two of my faves. It seemed logical that I should introduce you although I’m still TICKED I wasn’t there, too 🙂
Thanks Joe. Your neverending kindness continues to be a daily bright spot for me. 🙂
Margie, I think we all feel this pressure in multiple aspects of our lives, frequently. the first of the year is harder because we want to feel like we are making a significant step forward. In our hearts, we’d all like to be the “next big thing.” And that may happen.
I love your voice. It really helps me see things more clearly when people who write like they talk. It feels genuine. It feels human.
But if there is one thing that I have learned from you it is that, I should speak in my own voice, listen to my own heart and gut, even if that means that only 5 people tweeted the post that day. Or only 2 people left a comment, and I wasn’t sure those weren’t bots 😉
The other life and blog lesson that I have taken to heart is, never stop searching and questioning, but…
Stay in your lane. 🙂
@martinamcgowan
@Doc_1 I seem to need that line a lot these days. Interesting…that has me thinking 🙂
I still believe our guts are our greatest compasses. Like I said, I’m glad mine proved useful for something other than asking for cookies. After this holiday season I was beginning to lose hope 🙂
@margieclayman We all have our ups and downs, our periodicity. That’s why we have our guts, and each other as sounding boards and support.
#youmatter, a lot to us.
I don’t think there is a blogger out there that hasn’t thought this same thing. It can be frustrating to try to had to deliver good content and have to wait so long for your numbers to rise. Some people take off so quickly and I can’t figure out the formula. But, like you said, I wouldn’t want to change myself just to get numbers anyway. I’m trying to do all the “right” things but fit them into my life and my comfort level. Especially when I blog about health and spiritual balance: I’ve got to live what I write! Which often means going at a slow, steady pace. Thanks for this article!
@DalaiLina Glad you liked it! Yes, it can be frustrating. For all of our brains knowing that it’s a “Marathon, not a dash,” it’s still awfully hard not to look around sometimes and say, “Hey…wait, how did you get ahead of me?” But in the end, as so many have said here better than I – that’s not the stuff that matters.
Thanks for your comment! 🙂
Interesting post Margie. I have pondered this question a lot myself. I started my blog last year thinking it would attract members of the marketing industry. Turns out I attracted the women I was working with in a forum, Work at Home Moms. I was told by friends that they “Wouldn’t get it”. The comments these women have left have shown me just how much they do know about that world and how they are doing it better than some big brands.
I have kept my more technical voice instead. Some posts are a hit and miss. I know that I am investigating the questions that matter to me. Last year my focus was on growing my network and finding support.This year I am focusing on providing daily content and link building.
6 Months in I feel more comfortable with my voice and I appreciate the steady growth.
@susansilver six months seems to be a good “teething” period for bloggers. I just began finding my voice about 6 months in, I think. Now about a year.5 in, I have become resigned to the fact that I’m just going to have to keep blogging the way I talk. And that’s what folks will have to be stuck with. I have tried on other voices and it just does. not. work.
Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate it 🙂
In short: I don’t have bloggy conundrums. It’s one of the perks of not having a blog.
I think there will come a time where you will have to compromise or sacrifice what you’re intending with the blog… it will be part of the natural evolution of your scope and your audience. But I imagine it will happen naturally, with an appropriate amount of discernment. It doesn’t have to be forced.
You keep doing what you’re doing. Keep on keepin’ on. The rest will take care of itself.
Thank you for sharing, ma’am.
@sumnermusolf Oh yeah, that reminds me. One of my resolutions is to get you to blog this year 🙂
Well hello secret soul sister. I’m right there with you…but I don’t think either of us resembles a turd in anyway.
What I came to in this week’s conclusion (because I’ll have the same conversation again and again, as i’m apparently a very slow learner) is that I am writing for “them” and for me. But the them to whom I refer is those who have been with me and loved me all along. It is not the “they” that includes powerful CEOs I’m certain will drop everything and tune in to the bloomin’ blog to be better leaders and cultivate improved corporate cultures if I just become a more disciplined writer and improve my SEO.(um yes, I actually have little day dreams where I envision that happening.)
I have a core group (fewer than 100…but that’s still a lot when you consider how many people feel unheard) who want to hear me exactly as I am and to know whatever little thing that has popped into my head at the moment. A strategic shift would puzzle them. It might even leave them feeling betrayed. So I’ll talk to those CEOs (um, I think there are three on my list) via my newsletter. On the blog…I’ll just talk. It’s lovely. It’s liberating. And it’s just what I think it’s meant to be.
Selfishly, I find you to be exactly what you need to be because it’s what I want to find when I drop in here. A fun, witty woman who writes well and makes me feel like I just popped in for stimulating conversation and a cup of coffee. Celebrate that you do that so well–it’s a rare gift.
@MimiMeredith I love that idea, Mimi. A coffee shop of a blog. I think that describes this place pretty well.
It’s funny, isn’t it, how numbers become so under-appreciated in the online world. If I had been told 2 year ago that 15 people would toon in every day to read what I wrote, I’d have said you were crazy. I don’t think I ever had that many readers on any other blog I tried. No joke. Now, here we all are saying that 100 is a pretty low number. Sometimes it’s good to step back from the online world and realize how amazing it is, non? 🙂
@MimiMeredith I’ve loved you all along………:)
@bdorman264 Bill, your capacity for care and consistency is amazing! You are, as I think JackB said, steadfast and all things good!
@MimiMeredith I’m smiling……….:)
‘I just want to talk to you about stuff that I think might help you out. And I know that there are people who read these blogs who think that’s a pretty lame thing to focus on’. Stay away; that’s my niche………..just sayin’…….
Social is very, very fickle. A blogger who I consider a very good friend had a list of 199 bloggers to follow and I couldn’t even make that list. Fortunately, I feel I have matured enough in social that those things don’t even matter anymore. Truthfully, it is all so arbitrary and fleeting; what does it all mean anyway?
I think you are a great writer and you are very creative. I consider you a success; you know all the right people. What little success I’ve had is because I spent a lot of my early days making relationships. I visited many a blog and tried to get to know the people. Yes, it took time; but relationships I can do; metrics don’t do much for me at this point in my blogging journey. At some point I might pay more attention to it, but for now it’s all about engagement to me.
That’s just my two cents for what it’s worth.
@bdorman264 Thanks for that, Bill. It’s interesting – a lot of people waited to build relationships, then started blogging. I know Lisa Petrilli was on Twitter for quite some time before she started her own miraculous blog. I started everything at the same time because I was lost as to what to talk about on Twitter if I didn’t have anywhere to take people. I don’t think either way is wrong, but in retrospect, I wish I had done things your way, just because as it turns out, the relationship part is what I enjoy most 🙂
If you don’t love blogging you won’t last. Figure out what you love about blogging and then do that. All that extraneous stuff complicates matters in a way that is unnecessary.
@TheJackB Amen, bro. Well said!
Last year I went to BlogWorld when it came to NYC. At the time I was in the middle of what I can best describe as a blog-identity crisis. I knew I wanted a new blog, one that allowed my voice to come through more like ME, but I also knew that my first blog was beginning to turn some heads. I figured the “smart” move would be to stick to my first blog and talk it up all over the place. I would find lots of people to work with, I would easily find sponsors and I would see major gains from the conference.
However, for over a month leading up to the conference I was struggling to write for that blog. I had so many OTHER things I needed to say that the blog simply wouldn’t allow. I wasn’t happy, I was getting bitter and I was feeling trapped.
I went to some talks before I went around “meeting” people. EVERY SINGLE TALK I went to spoke about being true to YOUR VOICE. They discussed how it must come from the heart. These were not new ideas for me, but I felt foolish walking away from what could have been a money maker.
But I did.
I’m not making money yet, but I am finding my new passion and nothing is more valuable than that to me! It’ll pay off in due time. I’m a patient girl.
Kudos to you for sticking to you!
@riverand That’s a great tale…and would make a great blog post, by the way. I’m glad you were able to go to Blogworld and have that important lesson confirmed for you 🙂
The only thing that is going to make your blog grow is having a vision and being true to it. If you believe in why you’re blogging, it’s going to do the work for you. Would I like to be at 100,000 unique visitors every month? Sure. But we more than double our growth year-over-year so we’ll get there eventually. Do what you do best (the Princess Bride post is a great example) and you’ll get there. Without having to worry about how to do it better than someone else. Because you already do.
@ginidietrich Gini Dietrich, you are awesome and kind. I don’t care what nobody else says 🙂 Thank you for that.
If any blogger tells me that they haven’t experienced this same conundrum at some point in their blogging career, I’ll tell them they’re full of poo.
I find my voice doesn’t change as much as it inflects differently, based on the subject matter at hand. Take my last post: weighty theoretical stuff so I took a more formalized approach with my content, my form and my style. I’d love to tackle the truly long-form posts that Olivier and Solis do so incredibly well, but I’m just not there yet in my development. Writing a journal article or an academic paper is a very different beast from writing for web. 🙂
@jasonkonopinski Yes it is. Academic papers used to be my specialty. Now I do this stuff. LIfe is weird, yes? 🙂
What a great question! I’ve often wondered if I was alone in my blog growing pains. I could relate with everything you were saying above. I want to be better, but I also want to be me, and it is taking some experimentation to figure out what that really is.
I’m stopping by from last week’s #commenthour, by the way. Nice to meet you! 🙂
~Tui
I’m here from #commenthour as well.
I think everyone has doubts/concerns about their blog and whether they should up the ante so to speak. But as you mentioned, “At what cost?” There were some blogs I used to read on typepad that are now wildly popular, due to their tone and giveaways. But you know what, I quit reading those blogs because every once in a while, I’d catch something that would give it away that the person was faking it. Your voice is that YOUR voice and no one else can replace it.
I’d rather read a blog that was honest, then one that was faking it just to get readers any day of the week.