I first thought about this in relation to blogging thanks to Jen. She had just been to BlogHer and seen Megan from Velveteen Mind on the panel: Is being a good writer enough anymore?
It should be, right? Taking someone on a ride with words can certainly get you in the door. It can start a conversation. An exchange can lead to lord knows what. You need to develop a baseline in which you engage your readers. Think of this as your voice. You need to connect with readers and they need to get inside your head. If they like what’s up there, they will stay. If they don’t, well, they will go somewhere else. Simple as that.
Good writing is an essential starting point. BUT IT IS NOT EVERYTHING. Imagine you get over the first hurdle, and you write your best, most thought-provoking post EVER. This post has the potential of really connecting with readers. I mean this post is so THERE. SPOT ON. AWE-SOME. You know it as soon as it flows off your fingers and you hit the publish button.
The problem is — no one knows you wrote this frigging fabulous post because there were 100,000 other posts published within ten minutes of yours and no one can find your well groomed words. It’s like thinking you are going to win the lottery. It’s just not going to happen.
If a post falls in a forest of blogs, and no one is there to read it, does it make a noise?
Maybe it does in your head. But don’t you want more people to read your post, comment on it, give you feedback. Make you feel like it was worth the hours you spent writing that gorgeous post?
You with me here? Then it should be apparent that no, great writing is not enough anymore. You need to start thinking about marketing, SEO, getting the word out. Pointing people to your blog. There’s a science to it. No this should not consume your style. You NEED to be a good writer. But you need to think about the other stuff too.
Thoughts?
Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
About Jennifer Howze
Jennifer Howze is the Creative Director and co-founder of BritMums. She blogs about family travel at Jenography.net, tweets at @JHowze and Instagrams at @JHowze. Previously, she wrote the Alpha Mummy blog at The Times and as a journalist has contributed to The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Budget Travel, CNN.com, Allure, SELF and Premiere, among others. She won The Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for a health article in Seventeen magazine.
not a notting hill mum
Saturday 18th of December 2010
I read all this with interest. As someone who is new to blogging I didn't think about attracting an audience when I started. I am journalist and writer and I just wanted to write. After a month of very slowly taking the plunge and opening my blog to comments as I didn't really want to receive a slagging - which of course didn't happen as that's not how bloggers seem to operate thank goodness - but it is the way people react to articles online so I was a bit nervous. Anyway I would just say that now of course I do want people to comment. And the most frustrating thing is that I innocently set up my blog on iweb and have yet to meet a single other human - or animal - who has done this - and just struggled to make the technology fit with it . One of the problems being people can't comment - very ironic. People are commenting on the BMB blog - saying they would like to have written on my site but couldn't and leaving their comments on my BMB page instead, So frustrating - but thank goodness I joined BMB or I wouild just think noone was interested at all!
Jennifer Howze
Thursday 30th of September 2010
Sometimes it is a bit disheartening. And stressful, when you don't have time to go visit all the blogs you want.
Rosie Scribble
Tuesday 28th of September 2010
It does happen, Iota, because I do it all the time. The first posts I look at belong to the bloggers who have taken the time to come over and comment on mine. I don't always have time to comment back. I comment if I can but I would certainly read. You sound disheartened. Don't be. x
grit
Tuesday 28th of September 2010
Megan, the book model only works if you conceive of each blog entry as a complete product which you are distributing and marketing. Then yes of course the distribution and ad channels are very important. But a blog entry is not necessarily a finished product. it is a process, an opening of dialogue, a sharing of resources, a conversation for ideas, a confiding of troubles, a way of offloading problems in the hope of solutions. in that sense the process is more important than the product. but you seem to suggest that a blog not in the product market is entirely personal, as if for journalling? I think life is more complex and nuanced than that simple 2-way split. i share resources and ideas with other people who are in similar situations to myself. i support a community politically, educationally, and give my voice to an area of citizen rights. i'm pretty sure i'm not alone. Step outside the product blogs, which are not huge, but concentrated, and you find thousands of people blogging about matters of personal interest, conviction and belief. you also make a point about audience (the tone is a little misplaced - i am not a child and my mama is dead). again, this depends very much on who you conceive the audience to be. I think within the context of your reply, I might know the answer to that one ... People who can line your pocket. Well, all I can say to that one is, i don't think of my audience in those terms.
Jennifer Howze
Tuesday 28th of September 2010
I saw Megan speak at BlogHer on this yogic and she was amazing. It's astonishing how telling people that if they want readers they have to go out and find them sparks hostility. Go read her original post now. You won't regret it.