chrisg.com

I know you read at least read one blog. You would be surprised though how many people want to be successful bloggers without bothering to read what it is they are meant to be writing.

As you might have guessed from the title, this brings to mind cooking. How can you create an excellent dish without being a lover of food? Top chefs live for food. They love flavors, aromas, the look of the finished plate, and they also get a kick out of seeing people enjoy it.

Can you say the same about your blogging? Do you love blogs? Do you love to blog?

When they are cooking all the time they are taking tastes. I am sure you are aware that when you go to a decent restaurant someone will have taken many tastes of the food before you get to it. People have told me that revolts them but if you think about it, how else would they know they have prepared it correctly? While I am sure someone will find me a story of a chef born without taste buds I have to believe a chef who tastes their food does a better job.

When was the last time you re-read your own posts? After time has gone by you can be more objective about your own writing. How good is it really? What could you improve? Was it really the best it could be? One of the reasons chefs get a reputation as being ogres is they have exacting standards, that mixed with the high pressure environment of a Michelin starred kitchen means there is a lot of shouting. I don’t expect you to shout at your fellow bloggers but how critical are you of what you produce?

Like a chef also you need to have an eye for mixing the best ingredients and be willing to experiment. If all you ever turn out is the same old stuff then people will get bored. Lately I have seen some bloggers hit on a formula that has given them good results and they have stuck to their formula. That’s great, but if every post looks the same, reads the same, or if all they are creating is pretty lists time after time, engagement will drop even while bookmarks stay high.

Do you want to create a reference or a community? Personally I would prefer fewer links and lower traffic in return for readers who actually want to communicate with me. That means providing surprises, delights and treats, along with the familiar.

One reason I could never work in a restaurant is the amount of criticism and abuse people in the food industry have to accept. I guess though with most endeavors we have to be prepared to take abuse in search of improvement. I get my own fair share of “you suck” emails right here Chefs are constantly criticized, by the public and by reviews, but they are prepared for it and grow a thick skin. As bloggers we open ourselves up to criticism too. If we want the plaudits we have to accept sometimes there will be rotten tomatos too. How well do you deal with criticism?

I expect there are many other similarities but I didn’t want to force this into being yet another top ten list Do you think good bloggers are like chefs? Am I just mad? Do you still read blogs or is this the only blog you read? Please share in the comments - talk to me

Original Lego People photograph by Joe Shlabotnik and market by ximenatapia

Lately I haven’t watched a lot of television, for a couple of years actually now I think about it. But, thanks to my handy satellite dish and DVR (Sky+ for the locals) I do keep up with some of the latest geek viewing.

This is lucky because Ben over at Blogging Experiment has got a meme started that combines your fave TV shows and blogging. What geek could pass up that?

post one lesson bloggers can learn from their favorite TV show. Each person then tags another 5 people and the chain continues.

OK, let’s have a think. What can I learn from my current viewing on the telly tubes?

Battlestar Galactica

As a kid I loved the original, for me it was the Star Wars TV show that never was. The new series is more grown up (sexy Cylons!).

What can bloggers learn? Careful how you mess with a winning formula.

First there was Galactica 80, a terrible idea that I shudder to think about even now, the characters found earth and the stories became educational and full of kids. We tuned in to watch space ships shoot each other and instead were given super kids playing basket ball. Woeful.

Then there was the new BSG series reboot at the end of Season 2 where they settled on a planet and called it home. I actually enjoyed the New Caprica storyline but many fans were appalled and felt betrayed. Many said the writers were changing things just to mess with the fans heads. For many the whole idea was a fleet of spaceships trying to find Earth and battling the Cylon enemy, this was too big a change and not what they signed on for.

If you are considering a radical shift in your blog, think carefully. Would it be more appropriate to start a new blog for a different audience rather than disenfranchise your current readers? You might well believe you are doing the right thing but it could be a disaster unless you explain the changes well. It is so easy to just stop reading (or viewing) and many will not give your new scheme a chance.

Journeyman

Journeyman is a new series where the main character travels through time helping people. Kind of like a new version of Quantum Leap without the body snatching.

What can bloggers learn? Sometimes you can be too niche.

I love the how but apparently not enough people agree with me. They have chosen not to buy more episodes, effectively killing it before it got going. Fans are trying to petition for a reprieve but even the writer isn’t optimistic.

Sometimes even the best implemented ideas do not garner a massive following. You have to work out what success means for you, is it a small but passionate fan base or a huge but more loosely affiliated audience?

Heroes

Heroes is a TV series about ordinary people who discover they have extraordinary abilities.

What can bloggers learn? If you build anticipation, make sure you deliver.

With each episode of the first season the anticipation and expectations about the finale built. Excitement was at its maximum right up to the supposed climax … which turned out to be a huge disappointment. Fans were very upset and the boards were alight with a backlash. The new season started badly too which added to the bad vibe in forums. Personally I can forgive the poor season 1 finale and actually enjoyed what I have seen of the second season, but many fans see it as fumbled opportunity.

I always recommend under promising and over delivering. Many bloggers want to create excitement, anticipation and hype. Just remember that huge expectations require massive rewards. Can you deliver the goods to live up to the build up?

Those are my lessons from favorite TV shows. What are yours? Do you agree with me or disagree? Do you hate my choice of viewing? Share your thoughts in the comments

A popular gripe of bloggers is the scraper scum. You know, the people who copy your content then slap ads around it or use it as search engine fodder so they can pimp their spam. It might be apparent that these gits annoy me too.

Today I am installing a solution which I hope will go some way to mitigating the problem. Damian has updated his WP_RssSticky plugin that I use to put the free ebook download link into my feed to allow you to insert the title and URL of the current post.

If wish to insert the post title or post url into the sticky message put @@post_title@@ or @@post_url@@ in the sticky message, this will be replaced when the message is displayed.

Why is this important? Well now when scrapers steal your content at least they will be linking back to you. The more they promote their copied and pasted spam, the more weight those backlinks will provide you. I’m hoping also it might hint to Google and co that your post is the original.

… Becomes …

It won’t stop them scraping, it won’t make you feel better, but at least it might give you a small amount of satisfaction that you are gaining something out of it.

Is your blog Reader-Centric? Yuk, I know, horrible buzz word, but stay with me!

What I am asking is important to your blog success; how well do you cater for your reader when working on your blog?

In the programming world people talk about “user centric” where the users needs are elevated and in customer service people like to think of their systems and procedures as being “customer centric” where the needs of customers come first. It’s all about prioritizing the end user, the person who you wanted to attract and serve in the first place.

We might think we are being reader centric with our blogs, but there are tensions and motivations in blogging that pull us away from this goal.

Of course there are many types of blog. My personal blog is written with no audience goals, no monetization goals, no agenda. It just is what it is. As Lorelle says, some people build blogs for their own needs.

Most of us though are looking to attract and entertain, inform or communicate with an audience. This means the audience has to be priority number one. What might get in the way of this?

• Money - You may have seen the many complaints about the loud audio, distracting animations and effects, and general in-your-faceness of the advertising at Digg? It got to the point where Kevin Rose had to step in and pledge to sort it out. If a site of the scale of Digg can have a member revolt over advertising, you can be sure a blog is not going to survive anti-reader advertising. Rip-off affiliate links and insincere reviews are also a real danger.
• Ego - When it is all me-me-me rather than focused on what readers need, want, enjoy, then you have slipped away from what attracted your readers in the first place. It’s simple, give them what they want
• Promotion - Are those link-swaps in your blogroll helping your reader? Did that linkbait attract abusive comments along with the spike in traffic? Will that headline mislead people into clicking? Do you really need those sexy avatar pictures? It sometimes amazes me what people will do to attract new visitors without a concern for their existing subscribers.
• Widgets - Some bloggers are like magpies - ooh, shiny! Yes, by all means experiment with the latest doodad, but do not fill your blog with them to the detriment of your content.

There are probably many more distractions that you can think of. The fact is most blogs are started with a goal in mind, to make money, market a business, personal branding, etc. Our initial motivation might not be to “attract and appeal to an audience”, that challenge is often just the means to an end. Without working for our audience though we will never achieve what we set out to do.

Before you reap any rewards, with blogging you have to serve your audience. That means putting readers first.

You can be charismatic or be innovative, if you had to choose, which would you prefer?

I asked on Twitter and got overwhelmingly “Innovative!” as a response. This is pretty much what I hoped and expected to hear.

While most people would say they value innovation more highly than charisma, I look around and I am not sure this is how the world works.

Take politicians for example. Who gets voted in? As Scott Adams likes to point out, the tallest candidate with the best hair. We don’t tend to see successful innovative politicians but we do see lots of well groomed sound-bite-spouting smoothies. If you work for a large organization, is it the smartest people who get promoted all the time?

What does this have to do with blogging?

I have been looking over the nominations for the Performancing awards. There is some real talent there. Some very original blogs. Stuff I have never seen before. Why do we not know these blogs?

Maybe my mind is just winding down for the holidays, or perhaps in trying to make space for the holidays my brain has fried, but I wonder if “being remarkable” isn’t as important as delivery. Is it possible that if you take two bloggers, one charismatic and the other innovative that the former will be more popular than the latter?

I wonder if there is a trend in blog reading that we like nicely packaged, un-challenging, charming blogs, just like the tabloid celebrity culture we are all familiar with. While blogging isn’t all about popularity, I have to think the charismatic blogger might get a bigger audience, more traffic and adsense clicks or whatever their goal is.

The lesson, if I am right, is you can’t rely on your smarts alone. It is not enough to have brilliant ideas and original thinking, how you delivery it is at least as important if not more so.

As well as brainstorming fantastic post ideas, brilliant tactics and strategies, original ways to view the world, you must also spend time crafting your storytelling and building connections with your audience. This is not about dumbing down but making your content accessible to a distracted and hurried blogosphere.

Then you will be charismatically innovative

What do you think?

Interesting thought here from David Peralty

I think that writing on numerous blogs can be detrimental, but as Chris Garrett has proven, it can also be very helpful, as everywhere I turn around his name pops up

Do you think I’m getting over-exposed?

As David says, part of my personal branding has been from writing so much and for so many sites. I get enjoyment out of it, and have made some great friends, so even if there was zero financial incentive I would still do it.

The downside comes if this exposure works against my branding rather than for it.

I try to only post on sites that compliment my other writing, and either on popular sites or make them that way. This way I am writing to multiple audiences rather than one. While there is inevitably overlap, I try to not have too much.

If I have made a mistake it is probably by writing too much about blogging. This is likely where I am becoming over exposed.

What do you think? Should I pull back from the amount of places I am blogging?

Have you seen Jon’s “Drunk on Your Own Words” post at Copyblogger? It’s a good piece, go read it if you haven’t already. After reading it I realized blogging has some things in common with drinking the booze:

1. Inhibitions - For some of us blogging can strip away inhibitions. This could be in the way people deal with criticism or trolls, lashing out in a way they never would in real life, or it could be just the lack of self censorship. I have seen people say stuff in a blog that they would never say in mixed company in face to face meetings. Everything from details of their sexual encounters to political opinions and bigotry. Is it interesting human interest or “over share”? You decide …
   Solution: Don’t post in haste. Write like your mum or boss is reading.
2. Arrogance - We have all seen at one time a cocky drunk. The “I can take on anyone in the room” guy. Some people seem to take a blog audience as confirmation of their infallibility and fame. Everyone else is there as a potential victim to be torn down. This seems particularly rife in the tech  and celebrity sectors. Thankfully in both cases someone usually gives them a reality check eventually.
   Solution: Realize you are not perfect yourself and what you put out you get back.
3. Despair - Just like alcohol can be a mood enhancer for both good and bad moods, blogs can either make you feel more connected or exaggerate your feelings of being unloved and alone. People are often asking me why nobody visits? why will no one comment? why doesn’t anyone like my blog? Just like when the booze alters your judgment, sometimes we find it difficult to be objective about our blogging so continue as we always have while getting more unhappy.
   Solution: Make friends in forums, comment on others blogs, chat on IM and email. Other people are usually happy to let you know the truth of the situation or just give support.
4. Buzz - People drink for the buzz, for that elevation of mood. Blogging can make you happy, and can make you super-friendly. This is great but don’t let it loosen your grip on reality. Being friendly is great but not every visitor wants to be your friend. When drinking hold on to your wallet and keys, when blogging look after your passwords and privacy.
   Solution: Post in draft, do not reveal too much, have clear procedures for keeping details safe and not always using the same passwords, keep backups.
5. Hangover - Inevitably realty sets in and you look at recent events objectively. You have to clean up your mess and feel the sting of shame every time you remember what you said or did.
   Solution: Prevention is easier than cure but if you do find yourself having to clear up a mess, be honest and remorseful and hope people forgive and forget!

The answer might be “don’t drink”, but like most things in life, moderation with a clear mind is the key!

Does any of this ring true for you or am I just blog drunk again?

Over at the Authority Blogger Forum my friend and super forum moderator, Jen has started a great thread about freelance blogging rates.

What would you charge for freelance blogging?

As she says, while there is a lot of information out there about freelance blogging, the one thing people rarely talk about is how much you should get paid.

While in the thread I say

The reason I don’t mention rates in posts is because what I see as normal rates might not be for the people reading. I know what I charge, anything else is speculation. For beginners being made an offer is a victory, for old hands you need to know what you can manage to live on.

I have no doubt in my mind that the people present in this thread could make far more than the baseline $10/post, $25/post or more but it all depends on the particular gig, niche, research, word count, yada yada.

… I think it is fair to say there is a range of fees paid, per post, and more rarely salaried.

It seems the most common fee paid per post is between $7 and $50 per post, depending on all the usual factors. As your experience grows or the complexity increases you can go well beyond that.

Salaries tend to be low hundreds a month unless you are working for a super-successful blog or doing work for a profitable company. For example, say you worked for an electronics retailer, compared to a small gadget blog.

It’s like selling a house, it is only worth what someone is willing to pay. What you have to do is get some gigs then put your rates up until your rates are too high so you don’t get any work

I don’t think there is any right or wrong answer to this, what do you think is a fair rate? I would value your input over in the forum thread.

Would you believe I have a blogger doppelgänger out there? Yes, it’s true, and cruelly he is both younger and better looking. Not only that, he is a skilled designer.

Luckily for me I can redress the balance somewhat by trashing his new blog. But no! That last piece of evil revenge has also been snatched from me! His new blog is bloody good. Should I just give up now?

The “other” Chris Garrett (I am Chris Garrett number 1, after all, I was here first!) has launched a blog called Teevieo. Not the easiest of domains to remember, and I am not sure I am pronouncing it correctly, but quite cool in a Web2.0 Flickr-stylee.

This blog is about all things television, but in particular the kind of television geeks like me love. Shows like Heroes, Simpsons, Dr Who and 24. Perhaps we do have more in common than just blogging and our names? Chris describes it thusly …

Everyone loves TV, whether it’s chuckling along to some top quality comedy, hanging on the edge of your seat trying to untangle the many puzzles of Heroes or just kicking back to some mindless reality TV.

As you would expect from a professional blog designer, it looks really cool. This is exactly my taste in design, very “web2.0″. My one complaint is the favicon looks like a cross until you realize it is a letter ‘t’. Hmm … might want to look at that. Also there is a “find out more” link that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

Content is just as you would expect. It rounds up all the latest news in a fun, snippy, informal way. One request I would have is if they can clearly mark spoilers, or do that reverse text thing that TV sites often do. I hate to have my favorite shows spoiled, especially “arc” stories like Heroes. I want to be surprised while I am watching the show, not before

A problem with UK based TV blogs is we are always behind the USA in our broadcasts. While there are … uh … technical solutions, Chris needs to work on getting a roster of USA-based bloggers to fill in the gaps. Even better if he can get an industry insider. Otherwise he will be relying on other blogs in the niche for news, giving little in the way of differentiation. Also worth thinking about would be a forum, both as a source of gossip and also to build community.

Finally, once I realized I really liked the site I went looking for the feed. I was very surprised to say it is hard to find. Almost like a treasure hunt! Chris, you need to get subscription options, both RSS and email, right up front.

In summary, a fun blog aimed just right for the target audience. If you are into geek TV like me I recommend you take a look.

One of the Twitter personalities I have been following is Sam Freedom who found one day his account had been suspended. It turns out from support there are several reasons this happens, mainly:

1. you’ve followed a large number of people in a short amount of time
2. there is a small number of followers compared to number of people you’re following
3. the updates consist mainly of links and not personal updates
4. a large number of users blocking the profile and writing in with spam complaints

Now, I don’t know the details, so I don’t know why this particular case happened, but it seems the first three could apply to over half of the people I follow.

What do you do when you first join Twitter? You add all your friends then go around following people that look interesting or fun. So most of us are guilty of #1 already in our first days of being a Twitter user.

Again with #2, if you are new or not particularly well known, for quite a while the people you follow is going to be a far higher number than those that follow you.

I can fully understand the last two. Most people want to see human conversation at least a good percentage of the time rather than 100% spam or links, but they do not seem to be clamping down on the links so much. Many, many bloggers are using software to post their feed right to Twitter for promotion. Some big blogs. Rather than being junked, they are gathering loads of followers.

People are using Twitter in a variety of ways, especially bloggers, far removed from what Twitter intended.

For me #4 must be the overriding factor. If you do all the above but get zero complaints I suggest you should be fine. After all, if you don’t like someone stop following them, right?

That being said, it seems the advice should be to grow organically and make sure you mix chatty updates in with your links.

You don’t want to put lots of effort into your Twitter account only to find it doesn’t work any more!