Coins or Content?
Film critic David Edelstein made some pretty interesting comments about the Oscars this year. Most interesting was that Edelstein said that he knew Natalie Portman would win the Oscar. What Edelstein basically insinuated is that Portman, like Christian Bale and many other actors and actresses, are starting to act, seemingly, specifically so they can win the Oscar. Throughout Black Swan, for example, Edelstein says that you never forget that you are watching Natalie Portman act. You never forget how much weight she lost for the part. You never disappear into the story. In other words, Edeslstein is hypothesizing that actors are acting for the rewards, not because they find acting rewarding.
The Blog Rewards Program
It’s easy to fall into a similar trap in the blogosphere. You start out thinking, “Good grief, if I could just get 1 comment on a post telling me that what I’m saying is worthwhile, I’d be happy.” The gift of sharing your thoughts is enough to make you smile. But eventually, you start noticing that really powerful blog posts get the blogger certain things. You maybe get noticed by a really influential person. Maybe you get asked to write a book. Maybe you get retweeted so much that Twitter breaks. Suddenly, blogging as a craft, as an opportunity, doesn’t mean as much.
Are you blogging for rewards instead of for the love of it?
Have you noticed any of the following patterns developing?
• You think of a topic that would be helpful to your readers, but you don’t feel it’ll get a lot of attention, so you opt not to write it
• You scrap a lot of posts you write because you don’t feel like they’ll get retweeted much
• You write about topics you don’t know a whole lot about because they’re getting a lot of attention
• You get depressed about a post if it doesn’t get a whole lot of attention, even if the comments that you get are great
If these thought processes are running through your mind, you are paradoxically headed for less success, not more.
Rewards are not the answer
Just like acting, really good blogging hides the muppet strings, if you will. Readers will forget that you are in this competitive marketplace, that you are trying to do this that and the other thing. They just know that you are a good, reliable resource who gives them information that helps make THEM better.
If you start blogging to get more attention or whatever else you consider a potential reward, you will be dismayed at the results you’ll start to see. Here is a small taste of what can happen in this scenario.
• Your readers will quickly realize that they are no longer your priority
• Your readers will also realize that as a resource, your information is playing second fiddle to tools that get you noticed
• You will never be content (and that’s only a partially intended play on words). A post that does well will just make you want to write a post that does better.
• Positive feedback from your community will diminish in meaning as you become more hungry for your rewards
• You’ll put so much pressure on yourself that blogging will no longer be rewarding on any level and you’ll burn out
There is just one reward to shoot for
As a blogger, you have a job. That is to be a valuable resource for your community, and even for the community at large. If people are asking you questions about a topic and they are expecting you to write about it, you have an obligation to do so, even if you know that the topic is not the kind of thing that gets a lot of attention.
Here’s something that will really mess with your head. The more you blog for your community, the more rewards you will collect, and the less you will care about those random achievements. When it’s about your community, their happiness, their comments about how helpful you are, are all you need.
Which way do you want to go?
So what will it be? Will you, like our modern actors today, put aside your art and blatantly shoot for the gold statue? Or will you keep the spotlight on the community of people who read your blog and who depend on you for good, solid information? Which path are you on right now?
Let’s talk about it.
Image by Claudio Jule. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/kwod
12 Comments
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I think it can be a blend of both because it is through the recognition and posts that get a ton of attention that you adapt to realize what is important to your community. I don’t know that it is writing for the rewards so much as it is responding to your community’s interests.
But then again, I’ve only been at it for 7 months, so could be totally off base. 🙂
That’s a fair point, Daria. I guess what I would say is that if you are writing just to get attention, you may get disappointed. If you are testing things out to see what your community likes, then that’s a horse of a different color, but it’s important to be truly honest with yourself 🙂
I’m with you, Margie. There is like this blockage in me–I cannot write stuff that doesn’t interest me.
I’ll never be a Goldin or a Brogan or a Bogue (God forbid), and that’s fine. All the other rewards are like a 4th grader getting a sticker on an essay.
The sticker’s fine, especially a scratch-and-sniff, but it never was as meaningful as the writing (for me).
The process and the conversation and the story-sharing is the currency of my blog (I think this separates chaff from art).
Thanks for the reminder (for me, an affirmation).
Mark
I never really got the scratch ‘n sniff craze. They all kind of smelled the same 🙂
I agree with you 100%. Writing is so much fun for me, and the fact that other fine people like yourself actually read and respond to what I write – sheesh. Isn’t that every writer’s dream anyway??
A colleague of mine spends hours, HOURS, on his blog and facebook page communicating with readers. So much so, that he is concerned that if he doesn’t, he will lose his community. (It’s not me, BTW – In two years I have 179 posts and 226 comments. My FB page is nearly non-existent!)
I think the problem is that he forgot that blogging and writing are about sharing first, communication second. He’s so concerned with comments that he’s forgotten what got him there.
So it’s no longer rewarding in the sense of community. It’s work to him. And the worst part is that he’s not making any money at it!
It’s a slippery slope, and a lack of focus usually is the culprit.
I don’t believe in the “just one comment and my work is done” approach. I blog to share my insight and thoughts. If someone comments, that’s great. If not, I’ll keep blogging until I get tired of it.
It is indeed a slippery slope. I certainly, at times, feel pressure to keep producing blog posts because I feel that I’ve set that as the expectation for my community. Not that I feel like the world will stop turning if I don’t write a post, but you don’t want make people wonder in a bad kind of way.
That being said, if a post of mine does really well or if a post of mine doesn’t get much attention at all, I still keep on going. My goal is to send out ideas that I think will help people or start a good conversation. I’m very fortunate that it often works out pretty well 🙂
Hi, Margie.
Thank you for this post. I think it means so very much to those of us who struggle with what to write and for whom that a seasoned, qualified blogger does it for the pure value of information and joy of writing.
Frankly, this is where I am now. I cannot, will not write about trending topics…this is not my passion. I can, will indeed write about managing a small business, parenthood and small business, personal life and small business (there is a pattern :)). This is what I know, this is what I enjoy sharing.
Oh, I’m still just a baby blogger, but that’s very sweet of you.
I write about hot topics if they are of interest to me, but I don’t write about them because, “Gosh, if I do, I’ll hit the big time.” There are issues that are important that, coincidentally, other people are also blogging about. Things like the revolutions in the Middle East, for example. Hard NOT to write about that.
Keep up with your passion though. And enjoy the ride 🙂
We seldom get comments at MomPopPow.com, but that’s OK. Our reward comes when someone tells us they used our website as an example. Just last night, Todd Huish told us he used our site to explain the term blog to his grandparents.
Another great, Becky St.Johns, showed her grandmother MomPopPow.com. She explained there is no age limit on blogging.
Rewards come in different formats. You are correct Margie. We must never blog just for the gold.
Thanks, Diane.
You are so right. I love getting those kinds of comments. Sometimes people will email me just the most amazing and kind comments and it always makes my day, even if no one visiting my blog will ever see it. It’s real people stuff 🙂
Great post! I have definitely been in the pot with people that just make posts to get comments. Started off making hit-generating SEO-centric posts with low quality writing and self-promoted it everywhere. I soon learned my lesson from that. I think it’s a subconscious element, because to me, the content that I am reading has to be something that I am interested in and enjoy before I leave a comment. So by saying that, when I do get a comment, I feel that reader was very interested in what I had to write, which is a great feeling.
I am still relatively new to the blogosphere, and I am constantly making changes here and there with my niche to make sure I can write about what I love in a very quality manner instead of making filler posts on the parts that I feel like I know but am not sure. It is, however, a passion that I keep inside of me.
Thanks for posting this!
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