I was reading Chris Brogan’s Rules of the Pool article and I really had to reiterate that when you blog, choose what you think is best. Using together Blogging and social media are knocking all the rules of the normal pool we have come to know over the past decade, literally right out of the water. As long as you are not violating any terms of service or doing anything illegally, you can blog and use social networks to your hearts content. Of course, you may offend some, but you will successfully have influenced people.
If you write paid to review/ pay to blog articles every so often, that is great. If your site has a few advertisements on it, great! There is no shame in that. Although I have heard from others their displeasure about paid to review, it really stems from some bloggers have no real content and excessively use the paid to blog system as a reason to blog.
Blog about what you know, and perhaps things you are learning, or even things you want to know. Blogging today is more than ever a ‘blog at your own risk’, just like those pools that have a sign that says ‘swim at your own risk.’
I also heard from Jim Turner (Founder of One By One Media) at WordCamp Chicago 2009 a quote that he got from Paul Chaney (social media speaker) that said –
“Publishing something to the Internet is like peeing in the pool.”
It is not easy to remove things from the Internet. The search engines tend to take a while to let things fall into an abyss, so really when you blog, be confident in taking the risk, and be prepared to share your words with others. Be dedicated to blog because you enjoy it, not because you are trying to profit from it.
I remember one gal who had a site (and I will not mention her name, but I can vouch that this really happened in the past few years), and still has it, she would blog a little about her daily life, but she would keep adding in her affilate links for those ‘free’ gimics that you have to sign up for several opportunities just to get a ‘free’ camera or computer.
She constantly plugged them, and when she was not blogging about them, she was also writing paid to blog articles. On top of that, she had her own in house banner advertisements too. It was totally a fail situation. Her site had gotten plenty of traffic when she was not getting so heavily involved in writing to get some kind of compensation. Her content was severely lacking any value to influence anyone. Eventually her blog turned towards being more for commercial gain, she lost a lot of followers and people who would normally comment. In fact, I remember seeing her catch a lot of flack from those same people tired of feeling spammed when visiting.
Clearly, her risk in the end drowned her. What kind of risks have you taken for your blog? How did it work for you?
I’ve been burned over small indiscretions in the past, so you better believe I am very careful about what I post on the internet. Better safe than sorry, you know? Between user-taken screenshots, search engine caches and archive.org (though you can disable their robots from combing over and saving copies of your site), most of the stuff that is posted to the internet will wind up being there for a long time to come.
Also, I’m pretty sure I know of the girl you’re talking about. Her first name ends with a Y, correct? In the end, her need for material items and money (not that I blame her; I have those needs, too! I have just learned how to balance them with the need to be ME, too.) did wind up killing her site and popularity. It’s a shame, really. :/
Yes, you guessed correctly on who. It was a shame. She had a lot of good ideas and could have done more.
It is great that you can balance those. Eventually I hope to work a few things back in, but I have been comfortably blogging to get to that point.
Never had an issue in the past, but scanning through forums and such, I have learned a lot on people’s preferences when visiting blogs, especially personal blogs.
Nile,
Great article! I also know a woman that monetarized her site with tons of cheesy MLM recruiting products and programs that she herself had never used or researched. She also used Adsense which makes no sense when you have no following. On top of that her blog posts were just generic crap about the MLM industry or whatever. She never gave you a reason to want to come back and learn more and read more. The whole blog was just about her trying to make money off of other people and the other people caught on quick. After 8 months she stop posting to her own blog. It’s kinda sad too cause she put lots of work into the site, but didn’t put any heart into it. You need to LOVE what you are blogging about and you really have to want to help people. If you help enough people for free while blogging, you’ll end up making money through legitimate affiliate programs or when they buy services from you!
Thanks again!
— Jupiter Jim
HI Nile
Thanks for this good Blog.
Well I think every thing on and of line is a risk, but if you do not take risk you will never know it it will work but if you do it online you need to know the rules.
When i get to a blog that is full of MLM all over and just try to get you to join there MLM or affiliate’s then i leave that blog and they will not see me again. The secret if to give something good all the time with out talking about your Business but something that will make them come back all the time and that will make them love you and what you do, one thing will lead to the next till people join your business with out you nagging them.
Did i take some risk ? yes, and I did get good results on it. 🙂
Regards
Theuns
interesting article…i came across a woman who also monetarized her site with tons of cheesy MLM recruiting products and programs that she herself had never used or researched. The whole blog was just about her trying to make money off of other people but guess what…they caught on real quick to her!! blogging to me is a passion and if it earns an income then its a bonus!
Hi Niles
Great blog.You are absolutely right. As someone who has been blogging a while, I know that what you put out there is like the “toothtpaste out of the tube”…you can’t put it back in! Not on Google anyway.
I think it’s really important to point out that you made the distinction here about how one’s influence is affected, and how OTHER PEOPLE will FEEL as a result of what is put out on the web. Some might think it’s about themselves, when in reality, the focus needs to be on how we affect the feelings of others, which in turn affects us and our following.
Most of the blogs that I have gone to with posts having affiliate products in the posts have kind of strained or short comments. I think people are at a loss for what to say because they feel “marketed to” in the wrong place.Though I am a very successful networker, we all learn from doing…and I am guilty of this on my blog a couple of times. Booo.. I learned very quickly that my products don’t belong there.
I really like your style and plan to learn more here Niles.
Take Care!
Laura Morris
Great post Nile. You make some really salient observations. Helped me look at blogging in a whole new light. I learned more tan a few things. Thank you.
Hello Nile great article as always! I agree with you that when you are about to do a blog you are ready to take your own risk.
Blogging can definitely bring lots of controversy into play.
Great post. I’ve learned something from it. I do take risk for my blogs, but I think its very minimal since it is something related to plugins I haven’t tried before.
Valid points you are sharing here. A blog is a very powerful platform you can use to build long-lasting relationships with your readers and keep them coming back for more.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Well it seems to me, and it’s just because I’m trying to figure out how these bloggers do it, that content is no longer king. I don’t blog every day because I feel if I have nothing of value or that is well-written to post, why bother.
But I see bloggers who have horribly written content, filled with grammatical, syntactical and God knows what other mistakes not only getting high volume traffic, but making upwards of $100,000 a year! Just off blogging. It make my brain itch. I think content should be your main focus, not reviews, giveaways or link bait.
Having said that, I do write sponsored posts and use my affiliate links where appropriate. Hosting isn’t free and with the economy the way it is, I need to do what I can to help my family’s bottom line. But I hate blogs that are so filled with sponsored posts that you don’t know if what you’re reading is really about the author or just made up for the money.
I think everyone has the right to write the way they want to. there are a great many blogs that are only for personal expression, very cool.
And then there are some that use WP or another platform to construct their site in a way that works easily for them. They are blogging but they are often not Blogging.
Some of the best blogs I read are written with commercial intent and they share great ideas that I enjoy reading about in styes that I really enjoy.
I do dislike it when I have to search for the content through either a pile of ads or an infinity of SMO add-ons, but I see those blogs as being those folks’ personal expression of their ideas. And that concept is one I really like.
It is a risk to get out there and state your opinions or thoughts about things but I do love the dialog that I receive on my blog. I have read many blogs that have salman I usually sign up, only to get off their list quickly. I can be very overwhelming when you are just wanting information on something.
I agree with you that when you are about to do a blog you are ready to take your own risk.
On my previous blog I write paid ads on it once in a while. It doesn’t affect the readership on it because I review the advertisers ad just like I’m talking to my readers.
Sad to say it was now inactive. However, I create a new one and hope this one will last till the end.
Great post, Nile! I think that you are so right about writing things that you are interested in. Something else that we don’t realize (and anyone who has been to college can verify this) is that there are a lot of times when our interests and tastes change, so don’t feel like you have to be in a big hurry to get your niche, and instead focus on good content, because sooner or later, your niche will become pretty apparent.
Love the peeing in the pool analogy! Funny, but very true. And that just doesn’t go for blogging, but for everything on the internet. And when you’re blogging, you are often your own brand, so you need to be careful about brand management!
Blogging is a serious and risky business ,When you blog blog seriously ..that’s the key
This is true A blog is a very powerful platform you can use to build long-lasting relationships with your readers and keep them coming back for more.it is very useful and long lasting ideas nice very interesting and eagar to read your next article
Yes I agree that blogging is a risk, but when you are confident in what you place in your blog, if your truly believe in it then I do not see any problem with it. Being able to share knowledge and insights to other people is an opportunity that we have. It makes communication easier and gets our word out to others. It’s just a shame that others use it only for commercial gain.
I think it’s really important to point out that you made the distinction here about how one’s influence is affected, and how other people will feel as a result of what is put out on the web.