Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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December 10, 2006

Bloggy Question 33: You’ve Changed, Man — DON’T Look at Yourself

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 7:08 pm

Where’s the Guy We Loved?

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .


You and a friend started blogging 8 months go. You’re in different businesses, but you have similar goals — to establish yourselves, to see what you’ve got, and to watch where it takes you.

The ride has been fun and almost a tale from a famous book — The Tortoise and the Hare. He’s been the hare. He collect links hand over fist during the first 6 months — almost 100 in the first month. You were the tortoise. You collected a respectable link count at a slower, more natural pace.

At your six month blog-anniversary, your friend began to lose links at the same rate he had collected them. At first he tried to act as if it didn’t matter, but he started posting more and more in month seven. In month eight, he began a campaign of self-promtion. He’s been outright asking for links at the end of every post.

His writing has changed. Some people have mentioned that fact to you.

You are still gaining links at a natural pace. He’s beginning to mention that to you.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
Bloggy Question 32: Blogger Alert! Where Is She? What Should You Do?
Bloggy Question 31: Do You Send Away the Idea of a Lifetime?
Bloggy Life Question 30 — How Does He Get the Book to Readers?
Bloggy Life Question 29 — Will You Sell the URL to the Porn King?
Bloggy Life Question 28 — The Prince and the Pauper in the Blogosphere?





Filed under Bloggy Questions, Comments, Outside the Box, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 34 Comments »




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34 Comments to “Bloggy Question 33: You’ve Changed, Man — DON’T Look at Yourself”

  1. December 10th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
    Scorpia said

    The real question here is why he began losing those links. If he were my friend, that’s what I’d be looking at with him.

    Something must have changed in there somewhere for this to happen. Links don’t melt away at that rate for no reason.

  2. December 10th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
    ME Strauss said

    I think the links went with the Technorati 6 month cut off. They only keep count of the last 6 months. So, gaining links too fast int he beginning can be a real hit when that first six months hits. As he just found out.

    A blow to the ego is what he got. :)

  3. December 10th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
    cat said

    How do I respond to our link loser who has noticed his reduction compared to others who are gaining?

    If he asked point blank what he could do to reverse the trend, I’d first point out that I’m no expert, then mention that it seems (to me) his writing has changed … and leave my site and comments from other people out of the equation.

    (says cat, who is slower than a tortoise)

  4. December 10th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Cat, who is slower than a tortoise :)

    I’d leave my site out of it too. I might point out that great content got him where his and that maybe that’s where he should be concentrating again, but I’m not convinced he’s prepared to listen, because this time the links won’t be as fast.

  5. December 10th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
    cat said

    “but I’m not convinced he’s prepared to listen, because this time the links won’t be as fast.”

    Excellent point. He had his fresh chance when he first came in the blogsphere (dislike that this term is disliked but I don’t have another one handy) and everyone got excited. The same who disconnected most likely won’t look again as there is just too much out there …

    UNLESS he comes up with a great rebranding / marketing angle where everyone is drooling again.

    That does happen but he’d better have good copy in place before attempting it or people will come, look and leave.

    Disclaimer: I may sound like I know what I’m talking about. I don’t. I’m feeling my blind way to a possible solution.

  6. December 10th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Cat,
    I think your rebranding suggestion is brilliant. That would be the first way to get people to listen to him again, especially if he does something to say “Hey, it’s me. I’m back again!”

  7. December 10th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
    cat said

    “Hey, it’s me. I’m back again!”

    That may be all it would take to get people to take another look.

    If he could get some of the top blogs (friends of course) to post a “Hey, look who’s back!” on their blogs, it just may work.

    And if it’s tempting or tasty enough (depends on the target market), knowing human nature, people just HAVE to drop by – if only to comment on their blogs about a wake or a round of applause for his resurrection.

    1) A professional style: jog their memories on the reasons he was so popular in the beginning. Timely, well crafted copy, etc.

    2) Appeal to their human side: Promise to be a good boy from now on, never to abuse their what’s it.

    3) Humorous: If done right, begging works

    4) Totally depends on the audience: groveling also works …

    :-D

  8. December 10th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Dear Cat,
    I particularly like points 3 and 4. :)

  9. December 10th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
    cat said

    I do too as there is only so much seriousness I can take, but I thought I should throw in at least a couple of not so humorous selections!

  10. December 10th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Actually, I think that number 3 would work!

  11. December 10th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
    cat said

    Yes, ‘save karen’ is a classic :-)

    He’ll need to figure out an angle that amuses rather than turns people off. cyber-begging brought to new highs instead of lows.

    Graphics would make a difference here.

  12. December 10th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    ut oh .. a case study of me .. (that should be HART .. not HARE)

  13. December 10th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
    Scorpia said

    Huh? What’s Technorati got to do with anything? That wasn’t mentioned, only “links”. I thought the links were coming in from other sites, and surely those wouldn’t be affected by a six-month cut?

    Or is there something here that I don’t know?

  14. December 10th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    HART,
    You’re too funny!

  15. December 10th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Scorpia,
    Technorati keeps track of the link count and that’s the one that most folks watch.It’s the one that A-List wanna-bes keep their eye on. After 6 months, they no longer count an old link. So your ranking adjusts because of it. So that’s why this guy is feeling the hit — at 6 months a bunch of his links aren’t showing up on his Technorati count . . .

  16. December 10th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    See? I was trying to be cute .. not funny :roll:

    I guess I really have changed.. lol

  17. December 10th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
    cat said

    “After 6 months, they no longer count an old link. So your ranking adjusts because of it.”

    Sounds like it’s set up to feed an addiction then. Talk about the pain!

  18. December 10th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
    ME Strauss said

    HART,
    You always have been cute. . . .

  19. December 10th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Cat,
    That’s how you can get a new link today and still lose one. :)

  20. December 10th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
    cat said

    So, all your good work in the past means nothing … similar to playing golf, yes? With handicaps?

    Only techrat doesn’t see the handicap … only wants you to keep feeing the monster … your addiction …

    must … have … more … links …

    round and around …

    I wonder if people can get professional help to stop feeding the rat …

    A new business scope? For the addicted?

    “Pay ZingZingZing US$ to …

  21. December 10th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Cat,
    I think the idea is that blogs with only 6 months of links counted will stay relevant and connected by producing useful content. :)

  22. December 10th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
    cat said

    Sure, go ahead, use common sense :-)

    (It’s a holiday out here (( I’ve lost count on which one )) Common sense is for working days)

  23. December 10th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Sorry, there, Cat. I just lost my head for a second. I won’t do that again. :)

  24. December 10th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
    cat said

    lol! My fault. I didn’t send out a ‘cat is going to be unreasonable because it’s a holiday’ alert. Actually, I didn’t find out it was a holiday until Saturday. Apparently most weekends in December are 3 days long for some reason.

  25. December 10th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey, I should have know. It’s still the weekend here . :)

  26. December 10th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
    cat said

    Weird, huh? It’s Monday here, almost 1 in the afternoon. It’s a holiday but I’m still working, still working my way through the email snafu.

    In my research I found how to forward from gmail to mac.mail … add that to the forwarder I already have via cpanel to mac.mail to gmail and I won’t be without emails for a looooooooong while.

    Amusing, but it doesn’t fix the problem. Just gets me that one step closer to a solution, or closer to going totally batty.

  27. December 11th, 2006 at 5:12 am
    ME Strauss said

    Cat,
    It’s the holiday! Think of joy and sugar plum fairies. :)

  28. December 11th, 2006 at 7:52 am
    Pete said

    I know nothing, but if he started because he was curious isn’t it still working.

  29. December 11th, 2006 at 8:23 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Pete
    Welcome!
    He apparently got sidetracked by getting involved in his fast growth of popularity that was shown by his link count — it can be rather addictive to some folks. When his link count dropped, that can feel like a bad report card or like a loss of popularity. The fact that his writing has changed suggests that his curiosity has given over to chasing down other things.

  30. December 11th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
    Scorpia said

    So, Technorati just decided that if anything is older than six months, somehow it’s not relevant any more?

    How do you feel about that, Liz? Think that your older posts here aren’t worthwhile now?

    I consider it ridiculous myself. Your blog, and plenty of others, have “old” content that’s just as good now as when posted.

    Why should Technorati (or any similar site) be in a position to dictate this?

  31. December 11th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    Scorpia.. that’s old news

  32. December 11th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Scorpia!
    That’s just how Technorati counts their links. Since the system is used only to register and rank blogs and is applied the same to all it doesn’t bother me.

    The older posts are still indexed their just not counted in the ranking of the top 100 blogs etc.

    Truth Laid Bear has their algorithm — it doesn’t count links in blogrolls.

    Google, Yahoo, MSN don’t rank blogs in a list of which is most “read” or most “linked.”

  33. December 17th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
    Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Bloggy Question 34: Time Is Money, but Content Is Free for the Paraphrasing! said

    [...] Related articles Bloggy Question 33: You’ve Changed, Man — DON’T Look at Yourself Bloggy Question 32: Blogger Alert! Where Is She? What Should You Do? Bloggy Question 31: Do You Send Away the Idea of a Lifetime? Bloggy Life Question 30 — How Does He Get the Book to Readers? Bloggy Life Question 29 — Will You Sell the URL to the Porn King? [...]

  34. December 25th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
    Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Bloggy Question 35: A Bloggy Buddy said

    [...] Related articles Bloggy Question 34: Time Is Money, but Content Is Free for the Paraphrasing! Bloggy Question 33: You’ve Changed, Man — DON’T Look at Yourself Bloggy Question 32: Blogger Alert! Where Is She? What Should You Do? Bloggy Question 31: Do You Send Away the Idea of a Lifetime? Bloggy Life Question 30 — How Does He Get the Book to Readers? [...]

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