Jason Pettus has been one of my favorite writers for several months. He has an edge that cuts to-the-bone on every topic he tackles. He writes, a lot, and so if you join his readership, be prepared to have plenty of thoughtful material that will keep your brain sizzling. As part of my Guest Essay Series, I asked Jason to write a piece that might help other aspiring writers. What a fantastic way to kick this site into gear. And now, here’s Jason…
- Shannon Whitley
Regular readers of my blog know that I don’t talk too terribly much there about the subject of blogging itself; better, I think, to simply use the medium to talk about what I find more interesting, like tech and politics, human sexuality, science-fiction and the like. Since I’m writing a guest post for someone else’s blog today, though, I thought maybe I would go ahead and share some thoughts about the actual topic of blogging; I’ve been doing mine, after all, for over seven years now (or two years before the term ‘blog’ was even invented), long enough to go from unknown to famous and popular, then back to unknown, then back again to famous and popular (my little own Web 2.0, if you will). So, here are some of the things I’ve learned about blogging myself, along the way.
First, I think it’s important to understand just what a blog can and cannot give you in your life. A blog, I think, is a perfect way for you to share information or opinions with your family and friends, and to sometimes even change the minds of complete strangers, perhaps even gather a small group of people around the world who particularly dig what you have to say. You will never be able to change the world with a blog, though, just like no one newspaper or magazine has ever been able to either; and despite it happening on rare occasions, you will most likely never get rich or famous from doing a blog, either. If you go into blogging for the first time thinking that any of these latter things are going to happen, you’re bound for disappointment and frustration; if you keep the former things in mind, though, and are always pleasantly surprised by complete strangers wanting to know your opinions, then I think a person’s in for a real treat when they start to blog.
I also encourage new bloggers to just empty their heads right now, concerning whatever anyone in any situation in the past has told them about what a blog “is.”
I happen to believe what Dave Sifry, the owner of Technorati, has to say about all this as well, backed up by the data his website collects: that even though there are technically 27 million blogs in existence, it’s only 150,000 of them that are generating 95 percent of worldwide audience readership of blogs. There are the top thousand blogs or so, Sifry argues, that generate the lion’s share of worldwide readership, but then there are the other 149,000 blogs in that group as well, what Sifry calls the “magic middle,” which surprisingly is where most blog readers turn when wanting to learn about very specific issues (like biking, cooking, the arts, handheld computers, international backpacking, etc). And it doesn’t take much to be in the magic middle, either; at Technorati, for example, just 20 outside links suddenly makes you the 150,000th most popular blogger on the planet.
So that would be my next piece of advice to new bloggers, a clichéd one but still useful, which is to write about what you know; this is why most of the random strangers who read you will be coming as well, to see your specific and expert take on a very precise topic you naturally have a great interest in. Again, I think it’s the difference between understanding the unique power of blogs, and mistaking it for what worked in the old world of paper magazines; I see too many new bloggers, that is, who decide to take on much too general a topic at their blog, in an attempt to cover an entire industry like a magazine does. That’s not why most people read blogs; they read them to get that intimate, expert understanding that only you might know, concerning just a tiny subject you happen to know a lot about. Don’t be afraid to dream small; that instead of covering the entire tech industry, for example, you cover only the latest with media-centric operating systems, because that’s what in particular you might be fascinated by yourself.
And speaking of which, I also encourage new bloggers to just empty their heads right now, concerning whatever anyone in any situation in the past has told them about what a blog “is.” Understand this - a “blog” is nothing more than a machine, a way to more easily get your thoughts from your head to a distributable format, like the fanciest typewriter that ever existed. Asking what a blog “is” or “should be” is like asking what a typed sheet of paper is or should be. It could be a screenplay for an action movie, or an abstract poem, or an expense report, or a telegram congratulating a new father; it doesn’t really matter to the typewriter, which only exists to actually get the thought down in a permanent form.
And so it is with a blog, which is why you should never be afraid of delving into whatever combination of subjects interests you in your life; like I said, after all, your blog is nothing more than a machine to help get your thoughts out to others. When your potential audience is half a billion people, you’d be surprised by how many just happen to be exactly into the combination of Lost, all-girl punk bands, early Christian history, hotel fantasies, and the future of non-profit arts management; a whole lot of them, in fact, judging by the readership of my own blog. That’s another inherent strength of the blogging medium, and another reason why people read them versus newspaper columns; because the author of a blog has the opportunity to hop back and forth between sometimes very disparate subjects, showing her audience the sometimes small links that would make them all interesting to one person.
I guess what this all boils down to is simply be yourself when you blog, to talk about whatever interests you in particular and in whatever way makes you most comfortable. With the rise of blogs in so many corporate environments these days, I worry about what the future of a lot of blogs might become; that they get usurped by the marketing industry, that is, and turn into yet another way to distribute canned, impersonal press releases. The beauty of blogs, and why so many new people are becoming new fans of them each day, is because for the most part they are run by a solitary, passionate voice; one who builds an intimate relationship with her audience, and talks only about the things that interest her most, in a candid and opinionated way that comes with having a free distribution outlet and not much at stake. This is the main reason to read blogs, after all; I’d just hate to see that lost in the age we’re moving into, where everybody and their ad agency has one now.
Happy blogging,
Jason Pettus.
Jason Pettus, a travel writer and arts administrator based out of Chicago, has been a professional writer since 1997. He has appeared twice on National Public Radio (as well as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Frankfurt [Germany] Community Radio). Jason has been featured in such diverse publications as the Chicago Tribune, Artbyte and Hustler; amassing a daily online readership of over 30,000 people at its height. Jason has recently been accepted as a BlogBurst contributing writer.
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Recently I read a great white paper by Jason Potash, of ArticleAnnouncer.com, on just how to set up your articles and your website to maximize your traffic – and search engine rankings. (Jason has an automated piece of pretty powerful software that puts your article out on the Web for you.)