Changes in my approach to blogging are indicated visually through a redesign of the blog itself, and this time is no exception. So, what’s the change? I’ll get to that. Let me first speak about what prompted it. As a sort of proof or validation of what I thought I knew about blogging, I created a new blog, called Google Video of the Day, in October of 2005. Previously I had been writing about blogging, about business, and about how blogging and business are changing each other. I had been a web designer previously and so I then styled myself as a blog designer and consultant.
That’s when I learned the truth of William Gibson’s pronouncement that the future’s already here, it’s just not evenly distributed. People didn’t want blogs; they didn’t “get” blogging. They wanted websites. They didn’t want “the conversation.” I felt like the person who had ventured out of Plato’s cave and returned.
But I managed to get a couple folks out of the cave, and that was good. Other than that, the only blog I really had to work with was my own. I wanted to test myself, my notions of what would work and generate revenue, and have my own little blog laboratory in which I could experiment. The idea was that if I knew what I was talking about, then surely I should be able to create a blog that would become successful. For me, success with a blog is defined as:
- having significant numbers of unique visitors on a steadily increasing regular basis
- having a large percentage of return visitors
- having strong numbers of RSS subscribers
- making money through some sort of advertising program like Google AdSense
- having lively conversations through comments and email
- getting linked to by others organically
- getting high organic search rankings
GVOD (as I like to call it) has, I’m happy to say, achieved all of the above. The most important factor in all of this that drives everything else is this: the blog’s subject. GVOD was the right idea at the right time, and that makes a lot of what happened with it practically inevitable. There is a huge lesson in that. When I first visited Google Video, poked around and watched some really interesting stuff, the first thought that came to me was that a person could do worse than to hunt down the good stuff and present it to the world in a blog. Even if someone had different tastes than me in what was good or audience-attracting video content, the idea seemed so bullet-proof to me that I had to try it.
Most blogs are better for there being some kind of restrictive framework to the subject matter. The more into a specific niche you drill, as I previously wrote about, the better your chances of becoming a thought leader in that niche and being an authority in that niche, if not downright owning it. So I decided the blog would only use Google videos, run on Google’s Blogger platform, and use Google AdSense ads for revenue. Google, Google, Google, in other words. Also, it cost me nothing but time spent recoding the template and creating content, so the cost of entry was nothing.
Two things happened. First, the nice folks of Google Video, who have their own Official Google Video Blog, added me to their blogroll of “Fan Blogs.” Second, GVOD also became a “Blog of Note” on Blogger’s home page. If there was a third thing, it would be a bit of good luck: new blogs of note are added frequently, pushing older ones down farther on the list, but no new ones were added for several weeks. This ensured a sustained flood of traffic. It was my booster rocket.
Suddenly, this blog, the one you’re reading right now, seemed like dead weight. It seemed to me to be without much of a focus or purpose. I had wanted it to be original, but instead it had grown somewhat schizophrenic. I was no longer satisfied with it. It was time to destroy it and start over. Again. Time for me to ask the hard questions of myself on the road to self-actualization: What should my blog be about? What am I the best at? What’s unique that only I can deliver?
The truth is, I don’t really know right now. But one thing I’ve decided to do is blog this very process, let anyone who wants to see into it have access to it. When I’ve destroyed and recreated myself and my blog before, the new reincarnation already had a name and a purpose. I had decided what to do and then simply informed the world.
It’s exhilarating and a little scary to now say that I am engaging in creative destruction and I have only a vague idea of how I’m going to rebuild. I don’t know if I’m right about this, yet, so this is risky. People often believe they’re good at stuff, only to find out that they suffered from the Lake Woebegone Effect. The problem with blind spots is that you can’t see them.
This post is getting too long, so I’m going to stop here. But here’s where I think I may be going: If there’s one thing I do, and do constantly, it is think and imagine about what life (politics, religion, business, entertainment, communications, social contexts) will be like in the near (pre-singularity) future. Funny that it seems like I’ve been blogging about everything except the future, as though I had meant to (hence the tagline Post, Human!) but couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. So, I have that, and I have my gut feelings and instincts about what blog. To paraphrase Tom Peters, it used to be “ready, aim, fire!” then “ready, fire! aim,” and now it’s “Fire! Fire! Fire!”
I’m going to just start shootin’.
5 Comments
Hey, I’ve enjoyed the content in GVOD as well as reading about the thoughts behind it and your other ventures. Without getting into too to much detail, how much money are you making on GVOD or other ventures? I work IT and of course dabble in the blogging, but I think I’m stuck on ready, aim… aim… AIM!
Duane, the Google terms of service prevent me from revealing specifically how much I make with AdSense. So far, it’s enough to pay a couple of monthly bills. Nothing more than that. Thank goodness I work full-time. The blog isn’t very old. I should be getting my first check from November any day, now.
Of course, I’m free to disclose how much traffic GVOD receives: average page views/day: about 15,000; average unique visitors/day: about 4,500; average return visitors/day: about 1,500. The numbers have dipped over the winter holidays, which I guess is to be expected, but I’m a little fearful they may not fully recover. The attention of people on the web can be quite a fickle thing. Oh, yes: 248 Bloglines subscribers (same RSS reader I use) last time I checked.
I’ve considered branching out into other areas, but nothing else really feels right (i.e., not something I’d do for fun anyway), and thre’s only so much time in the day. Between a full-time job, two blogs, and helping a few others with their blogs, that’s about all I can handle. GVOD is a lot of fun to do… actually more fun than I thought it would be.
Well I’m glad to see it’s paying at all. I look forward to more!
I have been blogging for two years. I use a blog to be a thought leader in the field of human resources and e-commerce by using it to publish articles. I tell people that you no longer have to spend millions to be a published author.
I have also realized one thing with blogging and adsense. You can make a good income with it, but it will take some work. You will not become a millionare, but it will pay the rent and your other bills like electric and cable. In any month, I make anywher from $1,000 to $2,000 in adsense income. Not bad for being a freelance writer and consultant.
The things that you need to do to make this a reality; publish articles everyday, comment on other people blogs, and participate in forum discussions.
First, you have to publish at least one short article per day and at least 1 feature article per week. A short article is about 200 words, and a feature article is about 500+.
Second, to traffic to your blog you have to read and comment on other people blogs. When I say comment, I mean a constructive comment that contributes to the discussion at hand. Leaving a comment that says “Damn good blog, visit mine at http://www.myblog.com” is not appropriate. This type of comment is called comment spam. Since my comments are held for moderation, I can filter out comments like this one.
The third thing that you should do is to scour the web for discussion boards that relate to the topic of your blog. For example, if you have a blog on e-commerce, then find bulletin boards for web designers, web site enthusiasts, and general business forums. You can even participate in discussion forums that are local to where you are located. For example, since I am located in Hawaii, I participate in forums by the Honolulu Advertiser. When participating in these forums, contribute to the discussion so as not to spam. However, you can and should use a signature with a link to your website. Include this signature in your discussion post.
By leaving a constructive comment and contributing to a discussion, it will lead to more people visiting your blog to read what you have to say. In this day and age, it is all about meaningful content.
The “how to blog” space is pretty full, anymore, Nick.
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[...] An article by Michael Martine, a former web designer turned blog consultant, wrote a very interesting article. Success with a blog should be measured using the following criteria: [...]
[...] An article by Michael Martine, a former web designer turned blog consultant, wrote a very interesting article. Success with a blog should be measured using the following criteria: [...]