I'm particularly intrigued by the sheer lack of persistence most people have. It's one place where experienced writers can mop the floor with just about anyone else. So it takes six months to a year to start a blog? So what? It takes that long to get a response from many publishers. Heck, I've been submitting to Asimov's for 20 years and they haven't bought anything from me ... yet. It's possible to become known as a blogger, if you do a decent job at all, simply by still being there after 2000 other people blogging the same topic have given up. That's very interesting to me.
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- Elizabeth Barrette (
ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
- Mood:
busy
5 Lessons About Blogging
I'm particularly intrigued by the sheer lack of persistence most people have. It's one place where experienced writers can mop the floor with just about anyone else. So it takes six months to a year to start a blog? So what? It takes that long to get a response from many publishers. Heck, I've been submitting to Asimov's for 20 years and they haven't bought anything from me ... yet. It's possible to become known as a blogger, if you do a decent job at all, simply by still being there after 2000 other people blogging the same topic have given up. That's very interesting to me.
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December 8 2008, 10:22:07 UTC 12 years ago
As for the persistence - this guy says that he's in effect doing a full-time job. Not many people can afford to put in even twenty hours a week over months into something they don't love (they might love writing the posts, but they almost certainly won't love learning about advertising revenues and optimisation). Even writing, which many people *do* love will have to take a back seat to paid work and family comittments for many of us.
As for the bloggers, I think you need to have something to say, and you need to be able to say it well and with great enthusiasm. My experience is that good blogs will spread by word of mouth just like good books do - think of the Daily Coyote.
Hmm...
December 8 2008, 21:31:34 UTC 12 years ago
So too there are many approaches to ads. I've been researching those recently. One is, as you say, to plaster random ads all over the place. I don't think that's ideal, and it is annoying. Another option is to use targeted advertising, where the ads are more or less relevant to the site's content. If there aren't too many and they're sanely placed, that can work. A classified "marketplace" page is yet another method. I'm still experimenting with ads on my new site. I've tried several different companies and have yet to connect with one that will give me an account, pay in a suitable method, provide code that works on my site, and actually serve ads there. But I haven't given up yet. I did finally get the Amazon.com links working, and that's the most important thing.
Blogging could be a time-intensive activity, but it can also be done in tiny little segments. For anyone whose day is chopped up into bits -- parents working from home, for example -- it's very convenient. I use it as a breaker between other writing projects. If I'm writing fiction, I dive deep and surface infrequently. If I'm writing nonfiction, though, I often take breaks between sections. It's nice to have something useful to do in those spaces.
December 11 2008, 02:08:50 UTC 12 years ago