Limited shot at being a big-time blog?
From Megan McArdle's blog:
I'm not sure what this means for the blogging world. It's still largely an amateur medium, but it's hard to see how many new bloggers can compete with someone who gets paid to do it, unless they are independently wealthy or have a job, like journalism or academia, that routinely throws them a lot of bloggable material. Will it become as hard to break into blogging as it is to break into print?
It's kind of a funny medium. You can reach everyone in the world, but everyone in the world tend to look in a limited number of places. It's like publishing a book, in a sense. Printing a book might be cheaper now than ever before, but there's a limited number of books that can be put onto the front page of Amazon, or in their emails out to customers. Pro-bloggers have some definite advantages. 1) They're paid to do it, which means that they work at it all day long. 2) They link to each other, naturally building up their connections and credibility (I'm an Expert - see? look at how many links I have!). 3) They're usually part of a media site, which means that they are naturally highly-ranked.
I think the key competitive point is the "bloggable material". It seems important to always be around the material you're interested in, so that you have good material. This also means its extremely important to be consistent. You have to basically post and post and post. And if you're good enough, you build up a network, and get a snowball effect. Then, hopefully, you hit the big time!
I believe that the low cost of start-up and publishing (often nothing, or very little) will mean that there are many more bloggers on the horizon. There's probably going to be a lot of independent blogger networks that are built. If you are out to blog for more than a limited audience, it would seem imperative to be in a company of bloggers, just like the big shots are. There is a perception of credibility when you are well-connected, and that is especially true in the on-line world.
Comments
I've run across several internet marketers who run an intern program...basically the tasks of the interns are to spend several hours a day blogging for the marketer. When I realized the sheer number of *unpaid* people these guys had blogging plus the ones they paid, I was a little daunted. No wonder they make money! But on the optimistic side, aren't we all such incredibly creative people to keep on changing the landscape of how business is done? Ten years ago, this wouldn't have even been on the radar of most people, Fascinating! At this
Jennifer Skinner
Wardrobe Planning Expert
Tim
Contractor Marketing For Dummies
Matthew Shields
Great insights!
john
I think the general idea is that blogs should be offering value.The core driver's Kevin discusses are very important. When we wind our way around the net, we come across a huge number of sites. The ones that catch our attention and stay fresh are the ones that we come back to. Take your site. I think the next "phase" of your blog (so to speak) would be to collect and tell other people's babysitting stories, kind of becoming a repository for that kind of thing. Just a thought.
Aaron
The chance of someone stumbling upon your blog, becoming captivated and then bookmarking it is very, very small, at least in the beginning. That is why it is important to use a Mastermind group and band together for each of our benefit. It helps to generate interest and attention since we all have to start from somewhere.
I like to believe that knowledge and insight will find a way and a following, even if only a small one. The old saw, a journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step, applies here. If we focus and write useful information we will benefit.
Steve
Blogs with followers offer value. You are right on when you say the key competitive point is the "bloggable material". In my opinion, rants are only useful if your blog followers can identify with your story.
Yann Vernier - Personal Coach
and getting in early to dominate your market space
All the best,
April Braswell - Romance Coach, Online Dating Coach
The value of blogs is that you are listening to a real person's experience in the trenches talking about a subject. You have more of a tendancy to bond with that real person, more so than you will with the intern whose job it is to babble all day. They have exploded on the net because there are a certain set of people who wish to rebel against the 10,000 marketing and sensationalistic propaganda messages that we are exposed to daily. Blogs build rapport and trust more easily since we are not paid to do them and offer an honesty value that is hard to ignore.
Dr Peter
I've seem two types of blogs....one seems to be "therapy"...where the person is using their blog as a "diary" and if anyone else responds, ok.
The other is where it is tied to their website, the website itself is giving value, and the blog gives ADDITIONAL value, and yes it is a LOT of work!No one will be returning to either your website or your blog if it is not informative, entertaining and it adds value to their life/work!!! and all of that is a huge chanllenge today!!
Sonya Lenzo
The Business Insurance Expert
www.sonyamlenzo.com