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Using Your Competition As A Means To Growth

October 6, 2005 by admin 1 Comment

I find it quite amazing that much of the advice given to people looking to start a new business (or blog for that matter) with the intention of making money is to look for niches where there is no competition. I think that this may be the worst thing in the world to do because if there is no competition how do you measure your success?

Although the 9rules Network has a different model from both Gawker and WIN we still had to look at them as competition for a couple of reasons.

It allowed us to measure our own success. If our Network couldn’t enter the same discussions as those two then where did that leave us? There are more than enough blog networks out there, but if we couldn’t stand out in the crowd what good does that do to the blogs within our Network?
Learn from their mistakes and profit from the successes. If you don’t consider someone as competition then you will ignore the mistakes they have made and could quite possibly make the same ones yourself.
Competition keeps you focused and motivated. Pick a site that’s in your niche or close to it and compare the quantity, quality and frequency of your entries to see how you stack up. Look at how they market themselves then you should be able to answer why they are more popular than you. If you are #1 in your niche, look for other sites that are starting to get mentions and links. Competition can be friendly, but you also must stay ahead of the pack.

Embrace your competition as it can only help you in the long run.

Blogging and Perseverance

July 21, 2005 by Liz 1 Comment

From: D. Keith Robinson

Duncan Riley has some good advice for those of us who might get a bit discouraged trying to build a successful blog. His main point is to stick with it, keep posting quality posts on a regular basis and try not to let “the blogging blues” let you down.

He says:

“Very few people find fame and fortune through launching a blog overnight, but over time most people can build a reasonable audience, or even more, based on perseverance at blogging, literally going the distance.”

This is so true and can be hard to remember. It took literally almost a year before my first blog, Asterisk, saw much readership. I had to keep posting and wait. Eventually it “tipped” and I began to see comments and links coming in. But even before that I was having fun and I think that is key. If you’re not having fun, you might have a hard time sticking to it.

I’ve got a newish site I’m working on (Sweetdex) and I hit a bit of roadblock because it was kind of a chore to post in. I decided to mix it up a bit, not worry about sticking to the format and have a bit of fun. Now it’s much easier to post because I enjoy it more. Think about something like that if you are thinking about throwing in the towel.

So, keep at it, make it fun and hopefully you’ll get something worthwhile out of it.

How To Deal With Negative Comments

July 13, 2005 by Liz 16 Comments

From: D. Keith Robinson

Commenting and discussion, to me anyway, are the “killer feature” of most blogs. They”re what make the medium special and different. Blogging is best when it’s a two way discussion.

Most bloggers who allow commenting, at one time or another, will have to deal with negative feedback. Sometimes this comes in the form of comments. It’s inevitable and it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

I’ve gotten my share of disparaging comments and I know how bad it can make you feel. I remember a time I worked my ass off for what I thought was a great, very well thought-out post with a positive message. I thought for sure I’d have a great discussion and that my readers would really jive with my message. I was wrong and I was inundated with negative comments. It really upset me, but in the end it turned out to be a positive, educational experience.

Over the years I’ve thought quite a bit about how to handle negative comments and I think I’ve got some great tips that might be of help to y’all.

Read and understand. Make sure you really understand what is being said. It’s easy to read something negative and jump in with a response that might not be as informed as it should be. That just causes more trouble.
Learn from it. Sometimes you’ll get a negative post because you were wrong. Take it as an educational experience.
Don’t get defensive. This just makes matters worse. Take a step back and try to be objective. Thing long and hard before you respond to negative feedback.
Ignore trolls. Do not engage in a discussion with someone who is just looking for a fight. Ignore the comment, or delete it if you feel comfortable with doing that.
Post your comment policy. Let people know if there is are types of comments you don’t want to see. For example, if you don’t want off-topic comments, let your readers know.
Respond with kindness and a willingness to understand. I don’t know how many times I’;ve turned a bad comment into a good one by simply trying to understand the point of view being offered and taking a positive attitude.
Admit when you are wrong. Your readers will actually respect you more if you acknowledge your mistakes. We all make them, don’t beat yourself up over it.
Don’t take it personally. Sometimes it may seem like a negative comment is a personal attack, but this is often not the case.
Take it offline. I’ve found that engaging in an e-mail conversation with someone who I’m butting heads with is very helpful in resolving the situation.
Use self-deprecating humor. Let’s face it. If you have a blog that you post to with any frequency there are going to be times when you screw up. Sometimes this can actually be pretty darn funny if you can take a step back and look at it through another’s eyes. Take teasing from your readers with a grain of salt and if you can’t beat ’em–join ’em.
Realize before you hit “post” that it’s a big world out there and you’re not going to please everyone every-time.

Questions about Burnout and Writer’s Block

July 12, 2005 by Liz 1 Comment

From: D. Keith Robinson

Teja asks:

Do ever feel like you are ever burned out? Or do your own tips on beating writer’s block help beat that?

I actually feel burnt out quite often. One of the reasons why I’ve posted on the subject is because I think I’ve come up with some pretty good ways to combat burnout. As you know I’ve got lots going on and I’m a fairly creative person. Burnout is something that is inevitable and unavoidable. There really is no getting around it.

Another quick tip on burnout: Writing about it, blogging my tips and tricks and all that, is actually really therapeutic as well. When I get an e-mail from someone letting me know I’ve helped them with burnout, it actually refreshes me as well. Strange huh?

As far as writers block goes. Those tips do help with burnout, and sometimes it takes just one good post or completion of one task to get over it. All the tips I posted I’ve used and they all work. In fact, I actually use many of those techniques on a regular basis. They’re not just for getting past writers block.

Thanks for the questions!

How Often Should You Post?

July 11, 2005 by Guest Author 11 Comments

From: D. Keith Robinson

Knowing (or trying to figure out) how often to post to your blog is one of the most common questions many bloggers have. It’s a hard question to answer and it really depends on the kind of blog you’re writing and who your audience is. There are as many answers to the question as there are bloggers out there.

Basically what you need to do is figure out what works best for your own situation. And there are lots of factors that go into finding that optimum frequency of posting. I’m afraid I don’t have a “one-size fits all” answer for you, but I’d like to discuss some of the options and the pros and cons of those options. As well, I’d love to get your take on this age-old blogging question.

Post as much as you can! A common response.

In general I think most feel that the more you can post—the better. And, in general, I agree with that notion. But it really depends on the kind of blog you’re writing. For example, if you’re a link or news blogger, you might want to post several times a day at least. During my stint as guest editor for Lifehacker we had a posting quota of 12 posts a day!

Needless to say we didn’t make it everyday. But then again, I’m not that kind of blogger. My posts tend to be more like articles and so I feel that more than one a day is usually overkill. But again, it’s dependent on the blog, the audience and your own writing style.

If you’;re like me, and post more original content, and you’re able to come up with something good to talk about for you blog every day than good on you! Post away. However, I’ve found this to be very challenging for the kind of blogs I write for. In fact my goal is 2-4 posts a week and I usually don’t make that. Then again, I’ve got a few sites and together I average about a post a day.

One could easily argue I’m spreading myself too thin when it comes to posting frequency. But then again, there is the opposite argument.

Infrequent posting and success

I realize this stuff also depends on your definition of success, but I know many bloggers who’ve found success by posting as infrequently as twice a month. No joke. The theory here is that you’re posts are of a higher quality and when you do take the time to say something, you really mean it.

You can have success, again depending on what kind of blog you run, with infrequent posting, but it’s a rare situation.

A recommendation and a caveat

My recommendation for most bloggers trying to build and keep and audience is to try and post at least three times a week. However, this should be a goal and not a requirement. Again, there are exceptions. I run a product/recommendation blog and it might seem that my goal there should be to post several times a day. I’m no where near that. In fact I’ve not posted there in quite awhile. But then again, my goals for that site aren’t what you’d normally expect for that kind of blog.

As well, there are times of year, holidays and summer, where I find my posting naturally slows down. This usually doesn’t seem to have a large effect on my success. In the summer months I tend to have less time and less energy, so I post less. But my audience seems to read less as well. I notice a dip in traffic across all my sites that doesn’t appear to have anything to do with how often I post.

Consistency is more important

I think what’s more important is that you post on a semi-regular basis. One thing I recommend to new bloggers is they start with a weekly wrap-up of their chosen topic. This gives them something to post about every week, and something their readers can come to expect. Over at Asterisk I started a weekly music post. I’ve been doing that for over two years now, with only a few breaks, and it’s something that helped draw people to my site early on.

Do what works for you

There is no absolute formula for how often you should post. I’m of the opinion that quality content is more important and if you can write well and write often, you should. If not, don’t let the stress of getting something out overwhelm you. Experiment, talk to your readers and try to find a frequency that you can work with and that will meet your goals.

If you falter, don’t worry too much, just get back to writing and do your best. It is possible to bring a dead blog back to life and sometimes you’ll need to choose between blogging and something more important.

The Benefits of a Conversational Style

July 5, 2005 by Liz 2 Comments

From: D. Keith Robinson

Some of this post is adapted by one I wrote almost two years ago. Back then I saw the benefits of a conversational style and since then I’ve not only realized many of those benefits, I’ve learned a thing or two about blogging, writing for the Web and developing online community. Oh, and my writing is much better.

(It was kind of scary reading my old stuff–but good to see a definite improvement.)

When it comes to a relaxed, conversational style and tone I find that, for me, that style works very well. In general I think it’s a good style to develop for any Web writing–especially blogs–whether they be personal or business related.

A conversational style fits in perfectly with what the Web is all about. As I’ve said quite often, the Web is about people. If you write like you are speaking to your readers, like you’re having a conversation with them, you’ll be laying the foundation for building a relationship with the people that read what you’ve got to say.

Benefits of Conversational Style

Identification with your readers. This is especially true with Web sites that allow comments or encourage feedback. You’ll score points with your readers if they feel like they have your attention and can get to know the writer.
Easier editing. With a this kind of style you’ll be able to self-edit more, and if you are doing it right, your readers will edit your writing and be very tolerant of mistakes, but be careful.
Less writers block. By adopting this style you can be yourself, talk about things that are important to you and your ideas and words will come a bit easier.
More reader participation. Your readers will feel more involved and want to be a part of what you are doing. On a professional site this can translate into more business. On a personal site–more fun.
More honest writing. A conversational style allows you to be yourself.
Makes for a more entertaining read. I personally much prefer a personal, conversational writer. It comes of much less “dry” and makes it easier for me to “get” what they are trying to say.

There are a few drawbacks you might find with a conversational style. While I don’t see them in any way outweighing the benefits, they’re still something you may want to consider.

Drawbacks of Conversational Style

Poor writing quality. This type of style can lead you easily down the road of sloppy writing and factual mistakes. This is something to watch out for, as you may lose credibility with your readers. Still, you can have great quality and still keep the conversational tone, just be careful.
Criticism. If you adopt this style and have any measure of success you may be criticized or seen by some as unprofessional, and that is something you’ll need to deal with. Personally I’ve not seen very much of this. Not enough to worry about, that’s for sure.
Misrepresentation. It can be very easy to misrepresent yourself with this kind of style. After all many of your readers may have never met you in person and may not get some of the subtleties of your writing style. Sometimes what we think we’re saying doesn’t come through. As you get more comfortable with your style, and learn how your readers react to it, this will get less common.

In my experience, if proper care is taken to make sure it’s done right, a casual, conversational style can be perfect for many blogs, both personal and professional. There are drawbacks, but I feel the positives outweigh the negatives in most cases.

It’s all dependent on your audience and your goals, but as I’m sure you know, writing for the Web is unlike any other type of writing and the old rules, while shouldn’t be disregarded entirely, need to be bent a bit.

Much of our interaction on the Web is two way, and a conversational style helps invite that all important second party into the mix. No one wants to talk to themselves and when it comes to blogging it’s all about making connections and engaging the reader in that all important conversation.