Self Promotion Doesn’t Mean Spam
I’m not going to name names or point fingers but once upon a time, I did a Q&A with a web 2.0 up and comer. You see, I kept receiving email telling me how spectacular this person was. So I decided to investigate. She was a joy to interview and I posted her profile on one of my blogs and the testimonials and positive comments rolled in. And by rolled in I mean they kept coming…and coming…and coming. After a while it occurred to me they were all basically saying the same thing. I looked a little deeper and saw they all came from the same IP. I dug even further and realized all the letters sent to me about this great person were sent by that same IP as well. I had been had.
When I decided to pull the interview the self promoting diva confronted me. How could I do that? Look at all the nice things people were saying about her. Was there a problem? I told her of my findings and that I felt kind of stupid. She got angry and told me it was my own fault. I’m always telling bloggers to get involved in a little “shameless self promotion.” She was only taking my advice. Well yes, I do say that. But there’s a big difference between promoting a blog or a product and spam.
To promote my blog I have contests and polls, I put my URL in signature lines in comments and forum post, and I might even Tweet out a title now and then. Do I send email upon email to a high profile blogger asking her to check me out while pretending not to be me? No. That’s not shameless self promotion, that’s deceit and spam and it’s not what I mean at all.
People in the blogosphere are kind. They’re always willing to help out other bloggers. They don’t take too kindly to others trying to pull the wool over their eyes. When you promote do so in a way that’s not going to annoy or upset your fellow bloggers. You’ll find your traffic may happen slower, but you have a good honest fan base. Besides I’d much rather know people came to my blog because they liked what I had to say and not because of a bunch of false testimonials.
My Phone Number is Unlisted
As a blogger, do you ever feel sort of odd that anyone and everyone from your past and present can find you, learn all about your current life, and figure out how to contact you easily, with just a click of their mouse?
I do a little. My phone number really is unlisted. I have one family member who I’d like to avoid, so I’m unlisted. I’d rather she not know how to contact me, and I especially don’t want her knowing where I live. However, recently, someone from my past did contact me, and it made me realize that as a blogger, an unlisted phone number is small change; I’m just not that hard to find.
The person who contacted me was not some good pal I had back in the day either, or some cute story like a cool ex boyfriend looking me up, it was someone I hadn’t seen since the age of maybe 12, and I could have gone the rest of my life with it that way.
The person who contacted me knew a lot about me, which is not that hard a task if you know how to use Google. At this point, I’ve been blogging and doing web copy for so long, that I’m running pages and pages long on search engines. Obviously I’m not as popular a search as some folks are, but I’m around enough that you can learn a lot about me with one search. It felt weird to know this person knew all about me, but that I knew nothing about her.
So, how do you deal with being all over the web? Here’s what I will and won’t do online:
I will:
- Use my full name.
- Say the state I live in.
- Share pictures or videos of my world - so long as they don’t give away my street sign or the front of my house or something.
- Talk about my life pretty honestly (see below for what I won’t discuss).
- Share my opinions, even if I think others might not agree. That’s blogging folks; also, I’m like that in the real offline world too so…
I won’t:
- Give my phone number anywhere online.
- Give my address.
- Give random personal info - bank accounts, social security, etc.
- Name exact places I’m going - i.e. I’ll say, “My son and I are taking off to the park” but not, “My son and I are taking off to Bush Park in downtown Salem, Oregon.”
- Use full names of other people I know in my offline world - either past or present. That’s not cool. For example, I might say, “I used to have this friend named Bob, he was awesome…” but not, “I have this friend Bob Brown in Albuquerque who works at…” That’s not my info to give. I know some bloggers do share info like this, but it makes me uncomfortable.
- Share everything: For example, I won’t blog major family issues. I’ll say, “I don’t like this person” or “I try to avoid so and so” but I’d never say, “My son’s dad cheated on me with ten girls and spent three years addicted to the sauce” - he didn’t, by the way, but you see what I mean. Why get so personal? Yeah, I get miffed with the ex, but being all vindictive online is sort of petty and lame in my opinion. Again, I know bloggers who will give everything away, but talking serious smack about people (ex evil mother-in-law excluded) is just not something I do.
What it all comes down to:
I don’t have many past demons. If I did, it’s very likely I wouldn’t be working online. I’ve been pretty lucky in that I don’t have a bunch of ex mates I parted badly with. Except for one early overly dramatic high school boyfriend, I always got along pretty well with an ex after a break up. I don’t have any weird old friend dramas to deal with or enemy co-workers from past jobs. All in all, I can only think of one or two people from my past who I’d rather not hear from, and there’s nothing I’m trying to keep hidden in my past (like say, illegal activity).
If you’re considering blogging full-time, it might be smart to consider your past and future contacts and behaviors. If your past is littered with oodles of people you’d rather not hear from, or you’ve done super shady stuff; stuff that you don’t want broadcast online, then blogging might not be for you. If you’re uncomfortable being easy to find, then blogging is absolutely not for you.
What do you think? Are you uncomfortable with the thought of being all over the Internet and easy to find? AND how do you keep your life somewhat your own, even if you have an online presence?
This post was written by Jennifer
July 2, 2008 | Filed Under Health & Wellness, Social Networking, Stress | 5 CommentsBlogging for a Living: Is it Better to Work at Burger King?
Though they’re an awesome place for networking, I rarely visit writing and blogging forums anymore simply because I don’t have that kind of time. The other day however, I noticed traffic coming to my Freelance Writing Jobs blog from the Absolute Write Water Cooler. I popped in for a visit. Someone was looking for a blogging gig paying “fast”. Now, I can write a whole post about that inquiry alone, but instead I’d rather quote one of the responses:
Start your own blog, for love.
Put on Google ads, or a paypal donation button, or blogads.com. But blog for love, not money.
Some bloggers make a living at blogging. Most … don’t.
If you need money now, get a job. Burger King is hiring.
What the heck? Does this person not realize many people earn an admirable living blogging - and even support a family? I think Jennifer and I are proof of that. Sure blog for love, but don’t be afraid to blog for money too. If I didn’t start looking into paying blogging opportunities, I might not have landed my wonderful full time community manager gig. Blogging is the future of business. More and more corporations are hiring bloggers and social networkers to help promote their businesses. To tell someone not to blog for money is lame, wrong and is from someone who is clearly misinformed. Do blog for money. You might not make a mint at first, but it can lead to bigger and better things. Trust me, I know.
Now, I know many who scoff at network base pay because it’s low to start, but I wonder if these same people would turn up their noses at four figures a month with the same base plus traffic bonuses. Plenty of network bloggers earn thousands of dollars each month. I had one client who paid me several thousand dollars a month to update a couple of blogs on a regular basis. I think that’s a little better than a fast food salary. And yes, it pays fast. More traditional forms of writing pay sporadically - on publication or acceptance, whenever that may be. Blogging pays at the end of each month. Some private clients pay once a week. So I wouldn’t put on that fast food apron just yet.
Do blog for love, but don’t turn up your nose at blogging for money. It can lead to a very good living. Just ask Jennifer, Gayla McCord, Chris Garrett, David Peralty, Liz Strauss, Lorelle VonFossen or any number of well-respected professional bloggers.
Feel free to testify below!
This post was written by Deb
July 2, 2008 | Filed Under Blogging Jobs, Blogging for Others | 12 CommentsUnofficial International WordPress Day
Hey, I had no idea, but today is Unofficial International WordPress Day. I noticed this before July 1 ended, so I can officially post about it. Oh, and yes it is still July 1 where I am. I’m one of those weird bloggers living in the Northwest. It seems like all my blog pals live on the East Coast… But I digress.
Oddly, earlier today I got into a lengthy discussion with a client about why I can’t stand Drupal as a blog platform, which believe me, is about four posts in itself, so we won’t go there. I’m trying to get said client to switch to WP, because I think it’s the most blogger friendly of all the platforms I’ve worked with. I also think that when it’s set up correctly, it’s a very nice reader-friendly platform.
Since I’m a big old fan of WordPress, but not the only blogger on the planet, I thought I’d put the question out there: Which blog platform do most of your clients use? Which is your favorite? Would you turn down a blogging gig if a client used a platform you hate?
I lied. That was three questions. Feel free to pick and choose.
Do you need to hit enter to be a good blogger?
This is sort of a blog chain of events. Last week I posted Do You Need A College Degree to Blog? Then Deb posted a reply of sorts; Do You Need to Be a Good Writer to be a Good Blogger?
I was thinking about Deb’s post, because the things that bug me about blogs, so much so that I quit reading, usually have less to do with the actual writing quality and more to with personal annoyances. If a post has some misspelled words, I can overlook it. Being a fan of weird random dashes, even when they’re not necessarily correct, I don’t mind oddball punctuation. If thoughts are sort of fuzzy, but the blogger still makes their point, or better yet makes me laugh, I’ll hang.
If a post has so many misspelled words that you can’t follow, or constant question marks where periods should be, yeah I likely won’t stick around, but I don’t see this too often.
What annoys me is when a blog is not user friendly due to lame little things. For instance, I HATE when people don’t hit enter. I expect spaces. Trying to make your readers blind, by making them scan walls of text for meaning is not cool, and I won’t do it.
I don’t like when people can’t be bothered with inserting links. It takes less than five seconds to insert a link. Stuff like http://www.lameblog.com looks so bad in a post. Why not just insert the link correctly. Non-inserted links don’t always drive me away, but they make me think twice about revisiting a blog.
Lastly, I hate all the darn acronyms in posts. I say this all the time, because frankly, I don’t even like them in emails. It looks lazy to me to use stuff like ROFLMAO, MTF, BF, and so on in a post when you could use words. Also, some of them make no sense (SOTMG or YBS for example). I don’t enjoy having to look up insane acronyms to see what you mean, and I won’t. I don’t mind acronym use in post comments. I think they’re ok if you’re talking about your mean MIL or an ASAP situation, but that’s about it.
These issues force me to leave a blog and never return. What about you? Is there something that bugs you more than lackluster writing skills?
Network and Channel Promotions: Who Do They Benefit?
Many networks have channel or network wide promotions geared towards bringing in more traffic. I’ve always maintained it’s in a network bloggers best interest to take part in these types of promotions, but one reader begs to differ. This excerpt is reprinted with permission:
Perhaps I’m not a team player but I hate channel promotions. All they do is get one or two other bloggers in my channel to visit my blog. I’d much rather take part in a promotion where we bring in the outside world. This is my biggest problem with network blogging. None of the promotions attract outsiders.
I find most channel promotions boring. Recently we had to do a promotion where we wrote up a glowing review about four other blogs in our channel. We had to choose blogs a certain amount of rungs up the alphabetical ladder. The problem was, none of these blogs had anything to do with my blog. My readers could care less and I had my lowest traffic ever. After reviewing these four blogs not one person reviewed mine. So what good is it for me if no one else participates?
I want to blog. I don’t want to promote everyone else’s blogs because this doesn’t benefit me. Channel wide promotions don’t send me any extra traffic and my blog always seems to be the one to get the shaft throughout it all anyway.
I can understand this blogger’s frustration. I’ve participated in many channel wide promotions that didn’t do anything for my blogs either. I do like the idea of helping out others though, so it didn’t bother me too much. Still, he has a good point. Why bother if it doesn’t benefit the blogger?
You’re under no obligation to take part in channel promotions. I would suggest talking about it at your next channel chat or if your channel has a mailing list, bring it up there. Tell your editor why you don’t wish to participate and maybe you can work out a solution together. Maybe if you discuss it with others in your channel you might learn others feel the same way and can work on promotions that benefit everyone.
sATURDAY mORNING lINK lOVE - jUNE 28, 2008
Just a quick rundown this weekend as I have a date with a picnic basket and a fishing rod.
Here’s what I’m reading this weekend:
- Are You a Marathon Blogger or Sprinter at Blog Herald
- What is Social Media? Should I Participate? at Blogging Basics 101
- 5 Blogging Goals Worth Chasing After at Daily Blog Tips
- 5 Events the Blogosphere Influenced at Performancing
Have a great weekend!
Do You Need to Be a Good Writer to be a Good Blogger?
The other day Jennifer asked if one needed a college degree to blog. I didn’t get a chance to respond, but I’ll admit here and now I never graduated college. I always loved to write, however, and as an editorial and administrative assistant in a busy publishing house, I was able to learn from some of the best in the business. I thank my lucky stars for that experience as it allowed me to be a successful freelance writer and blogger.
So do you need to be a good writer to be a good blogger?
Heck yeah. How many times have you come across a poorly written blog post and walked away either wondering what the blogger was going on about, or wanting to fix his misspellings or tighten up his sentence structure?
Now I’m not saying you need an advanced degree in communications, nor am I saying you have to follow a strict journalistic format. My point is that if you’re going to be writing for others you should have a good command of the language, a way with words, and the ability to get one’s point across without digressing too much.
What I love best about blogging is its informality. I can use my own voice and talk in the manner I feel most comfortable. The last thing i want is for someone to walk away from a read feeling as if I didn’t say anything or that I’m a really poor writer. Poor writing skills detract and distract.
Yes. You do need skills. Perhaps not in the formal sense, but if you want to blog, you should know how to write first.
Hello My Name Is: Spam
About 2 weeks ago I attempt to comment back to a reader at one of my WordPress blogs. I post a decent size comment, hit enter, and I’m popped up to the top of the blog. Weird; that never happens?
I scroll down and don’t see my comment. Hmmm. I try again and nothing. I feel uneasy, but all blogs have issues from time to time, so I head over to another one of my blogs, post a comment, and the same thing happens. Now I start getting a little nervous. I go to one of my favorite blogs that I don’t write and try to leave a comment - the same thing. I seemingly can’t leave comments anywhere.
Right away I do what you should not do about a blogging issue; I panic. I note that other people seem to be able to comment, so it must be me. In fact I thought it was my computer, on which I had recently downloaded some new software. I figured I messed up my computer somehow, so I try a system restore. I know; that makes no sense since it was an internet, not an actual computer issue, but as noted I panicked and was in the middle of a bad week to begin with. Of course system restore did nothing. Next I try posting comments on Blogger and Drupal platform blogs; which by the way I can do, so now I’m totally confused.
Finally, a very nice b5media co-worker tells me that maybe Akismet is sending me to spam. Well, finally an idea that actually made sense. This is why it pays to post issues at forums where other (more clear-minded) bloggers can suggest ideas. I check my spam comments and there I am, all spammy.
I email Akismet a support ticket and in a day they fix me up. That is until yesterday. The same thing happens; I can’t leave comments on any WordPress blog in the blogosphere. Do you know how frustrating this is for someone who spends most of their time either posting to or commenting on WordPress blogs? Pretty darn frustrating. If blogging is a huge part of your world, and you’re declared spam, it’s sort of depressing.
In any case, since this happened to me, and someone else I know, I figured I’d bring it up. Maybe save you some panic. If you’ve always been able to leave comments before, and suddenly can’t, maybe you’re also part of a system glitch. In this case head to Akismet and hit their contact form. Someone at b5media has also suggested emailing tech support for not only Akismet, but your blog network as well, which is another smart move.
Has this ever happened to you; twice, in the same month?
Blogging Detour: Music Now Playing
Do you listen to music while you blog?
I actually can’t blog without my music on, so there’s always something playing. Usually on my record player, because I’m a die hard LP sort of girl, but I also recently decided to get an iPod (shocking to all my friends), so lately I have iTunes going half the time.
Because I can’t blog without music going, I get curious about what other folks are listening to. That said, I’ll say what I’ve got going on, then you tell me about your music. Right now my current records (which are strewn about the floor) include:
- Little Queen - Heart
- A few Dead albums
- Goodbuy - Cream (I know, everyone hated that album, it’s my favorite though).
- Court & Spark - Joni
On my iTunes:
I actually have my thinking mix on there right now because I’ve had a lot on my mind. I guess the songs don’t make too much sense in terms of thinking, unless you’re me, but it will show you just how woefully behind the times my music taste is.
- Cowgirls in the Sand - Neil Young
- Strawberry Fields Forever - Ben Harper
- Hyacinth House - The Doors (the acoustic version, not the sappy studio version)
- I Got S**t & Corduroy - Pearl Jam
- Heroin - Velvet Underground
- Strange Currencies - REM
- Ruby Tuesday - Stones
- Root Down - Beastie Boys
- Three Hours - Nick Drake
- Sing - Travis
- Where’d You Go - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Blues Music - G-Love
- Jailhouse - Sublime
- Plus some random Bob Marley acoustic stuff
The mix above is good, because it sort of intermittently relaxes and wakes me back up. I’m not over or under stimulated. If I listen to all loud music while I blog, I want to get up, leave, and go to a show. If I listen to all chill music, well, I chill way too much and won’t blog well.
Um, does anyone else give this much thought to their blogging music, or is it just me? What are you playing right now? Or do you need quiet?.
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