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Blogging is a relatively new thing. More and more people are joining in all the time but it is far from mainstream. In fact it isn’t yet even on the vast majority of web users radar. What should we do about that, and does it even matter?

It’s easy to forget how unimportant this blogging stuff is to the wider world. Sometimes we get so earnest about all the issues we care about as bloggers that we miss how trivial it might seem to the ordinary Joe on the street. Just now I was discussing blogs and blogging and we were talking about how few people outside of our online friends know what a blog is.

While you could point to your traffic and say “well thousands of people visit my blog so someone out there knows” in fact surveys, even surveys actually served from blogs, show that your ordinary Mr and Miss Joe Public just see blogs as websites, they make no distinction. They are “surfing the web”, it doesn’t make much difference to them if it is a website, a blog, a wiki, just as long as they get the information they want.

So what about the things we care about as bloggers? What about splogs, comment spam, copy theft, ethics ..

Outside of the blogging echo chamber they are just not issues. Beyond “good website” and “bad website” it seems the general web user does not make a distinction. And you know what? I am not sure they should care.

“Blogs” came from “Web Logs”, which were a kind of online diary. I am not sure when people started to make a distinction between “my website” and “my blog”.

What is a blog after all to the end user/reader?

• A website
• Descending date order index page
• Conversational writing style
• Sometimes mention “RSS” and other confusing jargon stuff
• Can sometimes comment though not always sure how

Recently blogs seem to be leaking into the media a little more, newspapers and TV news mention them on occasion or have bloggers as part of discussion panels. Apparently blogs were mentioned on the new “Invasion” television series. These small occasions aside, it seems even after quite a few years blogs are not about to become bursting into common awareness. Perhaps we are going about it the wrong way?

The future of blogging is an important factor in the lives of people who want to be professional bloggers, our livelihoods might depend on getting this stuff right. Perhaps as pro bloggers we need to consciously educate our readers. Rather than expect our readers to know about this blogging stuff. Should we educate our readers or make it so easy there is nothing to learn. Should they be aware they are visiting a blog or is it not important? If this is the case, though what future is there in “blogging”?

Over to you, what do you think? Does blogging have a future, if so what is it? Will blogs just re-merge back into being just another type of website or will they further diverge into something unique and separate. Please give us your thoughts in the comments …

If you visit Performancing regularly, I’m hazarding a guess that you want a career as a blogger. If you’ve put ALL your time and effort into becoming an aspiring problogger like I have, you run the risk of suffering from a number of ailments …

1. Constantly refreshing your blog statistics, just so that you don’t miss when your report shows the next ten pageviews.
2. Going through writer’s block because your mind is congested with which hot topic you could write about, instead of writing about something you know.
3. Wasting hours and hours checking the hundreds of RSS feeds of blogs you’ve subscribed to but don’t really like, just in case they something that you could write about as well.
4. Suffering from the screaming blue meanies (winter/ seasonal depression) because you only posted 5 entries today instead of 6, and worrying how that’s going to affect your pageviews. Or because you got 100 fewer pageviews this week compared to last week.
5. Place your (least) favourite ailment here.

But seriously, if you haven’t learned how to weather the above ailments in the first year of blogging, all I can say is, get a job! At least until you’ve amassed a quantity of topical articles through part-time writing. Or unless you’re fortunate enough to have a financially supportive partner or family member. Even still, diving into full-time blogging can be an incredibly stressful undertaking. When you’ve got everything riding on a mostly untested medium such as the blogosphere, the pressure affects your writing in tone, quality, and frequency.

Fiction writers know this probably a bit better than journalists, as the latter are more likely to secure a steady job. As an example, both horror writer Stephen King and erotic humorist Tom Robbins had financially supportive wives. (Robbins once feigned a terminal illness so that he could persuade the publisher of his first book to give him back the copyright ownership. This was in the early 70s, when copyright principles were kind of muddy, and the advances were slim at best. But a $1000-2000 advance back then could buy far more than a $5000 advance today.)

Blogging, despite being closer to journalism in activity is closer to fiction writing in fnancial reward. Not everyone is going to succeed, and only a very few will become seriously wealthy from a career in it. But the difference between a publishing house and a blog network is that one top-selling author’s revenues (to the publisher) pays for the book advances of new authors. (Things have changed in the past 15 years, as the big book chains have it made it even harder for the average author to make a living because of the huge discounts they demand from publishing houses.)

There’s nothing like this money-passing with blogging, or even journalism. And no one can live on a few dollars per post without being a writing machine. This may or may not all change as blogging becomes a more acceptable career, and blogs become an acceptable advertising and entertaining medium. That is, as more money is invested in the blogosphere, there will be opportunities for good writers. (Barry Bell does an excellent job of discussing this in this post, and on his blog in general.)

One other possibility for bloggers who are starting to think that blogging is just too unrewarding is to consider non-blog writing. This includes e-newsletters, e-reports, e-books, or even just regular website articles that don’t impose a daily posting pressure on you.

Technorati Tags: blogging, writing, writing careers

Something has happened lately, I am not sure what has caused it. There is a change in people I talk to. I have been blogging for years but only recently people have started taking an interest and not only asking questions about my blogging but asking how they can start their own. As I have given the same advice to whoever has asked I will share it here in the hope you might either find it useful for yourself or someone you know, or maybe you can add your own advice in the comments.

Expectations

I’m sure some of this interest has been inspired by the growing “professional blogger” segment. You can fully understand the attraction of course, pro blogging is a great gig if you can work it. This is a good thing, the more the merrier I say. More professional bloggers means more interest from advertisers, more attention from mainstream media and a richer blogosphere for all of us. It’s all good. I do worry though if expectations of “riches” are way too high. Some people seem to anticipate the money being immediate, thinking they can pack their 9-5 jobs in and launch their new career straight away.

Another worry I have is around new bloggers expectations of how much work is involved. They imagine sitting in a warm home office, knocking out a couple of posts before watching day-time television with a hot mug of their favourite brew. I’m sure there are bloggers who have that kind of lifestyle, I am not one of them!

So what does blogging actually involve?

Anyone expecting to make wads of cash right off the bat needs to have a reality check. The people doing very well out of blogging either get paid to do it, have one super-powered A-list hyper trafficked famous blog or have had their blogs (note; multiple) for a couple of years. You need traffic, a well-stuffed archive of great content, well implemented monetization strategy and plenty of time to earn from blogging. These successes do not happen over night, sorry to say. Do not go and tell your boss what you think about them just yet, wait until your earnings from blogging are consistent and enough to live on first.

It’s important to remember that blogging is a particular type of writing. When people ask what I do for a living now I often avoid telling them but if they persist in asking, depending on the audience I sometimes tell them I am a writer. It’s the truth (partly) plus it explains why I am pasty faced, at home all the time, work in my underwear and keep strange hours.

Regardless of my personal habits the most important aspect of the writer element of being a blogger is you have to write. A lot. Every day. To an aspiring blogger that doesn’t seem too hard, they might have tons of ideas what to write about. Give it six months though. What initially was a flood of creativity might dry up to a trickle of mediocrity. How you work through this writers pain barrier is very important to knowing if you can make a long-term go of it.

How to start

Most of the people who have approached me were not actually at the point where they were even ready to begin. “What can I blog about?” is often one of their early questions.

The answer to both “what should I write about” and “can you do it for the long-haul” is to start blogging now. Go get a free wordpress.com and set up a personal blog. Blog about your life, your pets, your thoughts, stories, jokes, anything. The important thing is that you post to your blog every day, multiple times a day if you can manage it, for at least 30 days. The more you post, the more you write, the more often for as long as possible, the more realistic assessment of your own blogging ability you will have. 99% of the people I know socially who started blogs quit after a very short time. Oh they might post a “sorry I haven’t updated in a while” message every couple of months but effectively after the initial excitement has dimmed the whole game is over.

There are two elements to starting out blogging, the writing and the audience. You need to learn how to attract an audience through good writing on  interesting topics. It’s no good going to the time and expense of organising a professional blogging setup if you can’t face up to these basic skills.

What to write about

Everyone has a story to tell. Your own experience is your best source of blogging topics to begin with. Fill your personal blog with stories, tips and insights based on your own work and life. Branch out into commenting on things that interest you, things you hear, read in the news or see on television. There are a million ways you can go and this is why I recommend you do it from the safety of your “anything goes” personal blog. Once you have more of an idea of your style and what you find easiest to blog about, then you can move to choosing a niche for a professional blog.

The money question

Just because this is a personal blog does not mean you can’t make any money from it. Unfortunately you are limited when using hosted blogs as to how much you can change the default templates. On WordPress.com I don’t think you can change them at all. You might have to settle for entering advertising code into your posts or bite the bullet and get a proper blog at this point.

It is though a good idea to learn the ropes of various monetization strategies. You might only make enough for a starbucks a month but by experimenting, tweaking and implementing the basic ideas found in Andys Monetization Makeovers you will be empowered for when you start your real money blog(s).

Just do it

The main thing is to get started, get writing quickly while you have the enthusiasm and get your blog launched. Get a lot of practice, the more you practice the better you get and the more you learn. While you can learn a lot from reading Performancing and Problogger, there is no substitute for actually doing it and also by actually blogging you will discover what you need to read more about and questions you need answering. Remember you can ask any blogging related questions in our forum and the lovely and intelligent Performancing members will be only too pleased to answer!

Over to you

I hope this post has been useful and not diminished your enthusiasm too much, blogging is great it’s just not the easy ride many people think it will be!

Have you any advice for aspiring bloggers? Please add your tips and encouragement in the comments!

A strange thing sometimes affects some bloggers when they start introducing money into their blogging. Their nature alters ever-so slightly. Other bloggers are eyed with suspicion. Otherwise respectful and friendly relationships become competitive. Similarly themed blog posts are viewed as “rip-offs”, new blog launches “copycat” or “bandwagonism”. Perhaps exaggerated and extreme, but do any of these symptoms seem familiar?

In the beginning of this blogging thing, bloggers were viewed as fellow adventurers. Everyone was in this together and we all have something to contribute. Very warm and fuzzy. Each person had their own motive and goals for their writing a blog, I suspect though most of it was just attention. There are parallels with the early web. It was all make it up as you go along stuff, and a large amount of wide-eyed “going to change the world optimism”. Unfortunately, just like the early web, there was also a big portion of “keep the money out” nonsense. I’m glad that has largely disappeared, heh.

The end of innocence

With the introduction of Google Adsense a viable monetization strategy appeared for many bloggers. These bloggers were probably not very affected by this income stream other than the natural affects of having more money. This income, and the whoops of joy  from the successful bloggers attracted more and more people from other fields to join in the game. As more people join the blogging phenomenon and bloggers go from seeing their income not just as icing on the cake but come to depend on it, I think this is where the cracks have appeared. It’s not “we’re all in this together”, it becomes “they are taking away my money!” “the blogosphere is full, don’t let any more in”.

You can see this when you launch a new blog in a mature niche. First you are eyed with suspicion, then the “they will never last, just wait and see” comments trickle out. After that depends on how you approach it, you either get welcomed or the hate starts flowing. Anyone who remembers when Performancing launched (just a few months ago) might recall the reaction we got, from a great welcome to some weirdness.

The thing that makes me laugh is blogging is not like many other fields. There are no winners and losers in blogging. For you to win I do not need to lose.

Blogging is not a zero-sum game!

I think part of this attitude comes because in other fields perhaps that is how it does work, for example many SEOs aim for the number one spot in Google for their “money term”. There might be another five search phrases that are desirable, and other search engines, but they want that one spot and hate the current site that holds that position. We say repeatedly to not worry about search engine rankings but also blogging is just not like that anyway. When problogger gets a boost in traffic our traffic does not go down and visa versa.

Another blog is not going to eat your lunch!

It’s just common sense, do you only read one blog? Probably not. When you are blogging I expect a lot of your inspiration comes from other blogs, right?

Every blog that enters your niche adds value to it, excluding the copy and paste blogger or scraper that every niche ends up attracting. Each additional blog grows the value of the niche for everyone. New bloggers should be welcomed and assisted because they grow the rewards cake for all bloggers in the niche.

Welcome bloggers one and all

Rather than see your fellow bloggers as competitors that need to be nuked out of existence, see them as potential partners where you can work together for mutual benefit. Network your niche. Link out generously, comment on their blogs, support their initiatives and memes. This is not wide-eyed altruism, trust me, your blog will grow because of it.

Have you ever been given the frosty treatment by other bloggers? How can we encourage participation and co-operation in blogging rather than competition?