September 16, 2003

Some Lessons of My Own

Kate lists ten things she's learned since she started her weblog six months ago. I'll add a few more since compared to her, I'm an old fogy. (I've been posting since 12.99.)

1. Accept the fact that "blog" and "blogging" are words. They're ugly, but you don't have to use them ("weblog," "weblogging," "post," and "posting" are acceptible substitutes on TAM). Don't get all worked up over them.

2. Understand that weblogging isn't necessarily a path to fame and fortune. Despite all the media hub-bub about weblogs, they're still have a small audience compared to other media. There are a few million weblogs read by a few million people. Although I think webloggers and their readers are more influential and trend-setting, they're still only a tiny part of the population. Being a famous weblogger (Glenn, Andrew) means you can still walk down a street and have no one recognize you. As for fortune, if you're really lucky, you'll get enough donations to cover your web hosting costs.

3. As a corollary, understand why you're weblogging. Are you doing it to release all the rantings you used to direct at your television while watching cable news talking heads? Do you just want to keep your family and friends informed about your personal events? Do you want to change the world one mind at a time? Or, like me, is this your motivation to write daily hoping that such discipline leads to bigger and better things?

4. Don't emote about your lack of visitors and links. Hits, links, and trackbacks are signs of respect in the blogosphere. The more you get the more others think you and your ideas are interesting and important. Not getting much of either means exactly what you think. When your down remember to examine why you post in the first place. One reason we all do it is for egoboo, but that can't keep you going when you get a sharp drop in readers. Complaining about visitors and links makes you look small. Getting attention requires adding value to the blogosphere. That means writing or creating something interesting or linking to something interesting. Complaining is boring.

5. Don't be surprised when your weblog suddenly takes off. People may start linking to you, or your weblog might start getting lots of traffic from Google. You won't know what you did (if anything) to cause it. Just savor it and keep chuggin' away.

6. Finally, feel free to edit your posts. Get rid of those unnecessary words. It's all about time here, people. We have oodles of weblogs to read and only 24 hours in a day to do it.
   

"10 Things I've Learned About Blogging"

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James has some comments about Kate's list.