There was an interesting post on Problogger a few days ago directed at wily, grizzled blogging veterans: What do you miss about blogging? I’m bringing forward “Thursday Three’s” to Wednesday (largely because my Entrecard will be on Problogger today, and I could use a little linkbait ;)) to answer the question.
1. The Innocence
When I started blogging, and for 3 years following starting blogging, I never heard of linkbait, commentbait, SEO, advertising, CTR’s, or any other words and acronyms of a similar nature. Hell, when I started blogging, all you did was three things:
- You blogged.
- You commented on blogs you liked.
- You linked to posts you like.
That’s it, no mass digg submission, no stumble networks, no competitions. Blogging I feel has suffered because of it. Largely because people are concentrating on promoting their blog, rather than writing. It is a shame, because in the olden days, the whole “Build It And They Will Come” principle worked for blogging back then. Good bloggers rose to the top whereas the rubbish ones faded away. Now it’s a case of good marketers rose to the top.
Of course, when you’re at the top, you get comments with keyword rich names, written by “SEO Experts” who claim to be three website owners. They must think I’m stupid.
2. The Instant Fame
Cor! It was brilliant! I remember two months after starting blogging I was featured on MSN’s site, and within about a year of blogging I had been featured in my local newspaper. I’ve even been on the radio.
But that’s been in the first three years. Now it’s nothing.
The only reason that I got featured was because I had a half decent blog, and people wanted to know about this crazy thing called blogging, hence I was the perfect source. I do kinda miss it to be honest.
3. The Lack Of Rubbish Blogs
Three words to sum up this.
“Money Making Quests”.
I’ve got nothing against useful blogs who tell you about how to make money online (Problogger). I’ve got nothing against people who can legitimately talk about making money online - because they’re good at it (Mike). I’ve got nothing against bloggers who amuse me in their quest (A.T., who won a bet after she declared her blog profitable after making more than she spent on it)
But those bloggers who say “I’m detrmined, I’m brilliant, I’ve got a year to make a million”, heed this warning.
Yesterday I walked to work. I found £20 on the floor. That’s about $40 in rubbish money. That is roughly what I - a five year blogger - make in direct ad sales in a month (discounting Text Link Ads and Adsense). $40 is about what most bloggers who start up make within the first 6 months. So much for your “Money Making Quest”.
The problem with these blogs are they’re similar to personal blogs when I was starting up - they were massive ego trips but instead of fame, it’s all about money. They need to add something to the blogosphere, or at least entertain us. Why should I care about a 16 year old from Delhi who is still in school, telling me about “Why he can’t live without Digg”? One of my guilty pleasures is a blog which is about a guy is on a quest to lose his virginity. Sorry, but that’s a hell of a lot more interesting than random nobodies blogging about making a million.
Of course people will say “well why do you sell ads if you hate them so much?”. Truth be told, it’s just a little something. I’m going to do something anyway, may as well make a little cash out of it, n’est pas?
As a majority of my readers have been blogging for over a year or so, tell me, what do you miss about the early days of blogging?
Picture credit: Writing Words.. © _StaR_Dust_ used under Creative Commons Attribution Licence
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Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay.
I don’t miss much re the early days of blogging. It took me a while to get into blogging, and to enjoy it, and I’m just now hitting my stride.
As to the “rubbish blogs” as you call them and how a blogger can become popular due to marketing rather than quality content, it doesn’t bug me that much. I still believe that, if you build a good enough blog and you tell the right people, they will come. And once they found the resource, they will stay.
I may not become the most popular blogger in my niche because someone else is better at self-promotion. But the two years I’ve been blogging showed me that I’m happiest having my say, and connecting with people who respect that.
First - Thanks for the mention and link!
Second - Thanks for including the mp3. Very cool to hear your human voice. Not too different from the one I heard in my head as read.
I’m embarassed to admit I have been pronouncing your name wrong all this time. I know now it’s Reese not Rice. I had the Win part right.
As far as the self promotion thing. One must remember, a few years ago writing good content, commenting and linking were enough promotion to get noticed. Now days the competition for readers’ attention has exploded and you are almost forced to participate in some form of social networking and promotion to stand out. I’ve seen some really good content go almost completely unnoticed because the author was shy about self promotion.
I think it’s just evolved into the nature of the beast.
definitely
* You blogged.
* You commented on blogs you liked.
* You linked to posts you like.
I just miss the fact that everyones blogs were all personal or about something and they werent all tacky blogger blogs crammed with ads. It was just so much nicer. I hate money grabbing blogs - like actually HATE them. All my ads go towards my hosting cos fuck knows I need the money mmmmm overdraft!
I also lol at the fact I’ve been blogging much longer than you tehe
I really don’t understand your logic sometimes Han
If you can’t afford to keep up your website without ramming it full of ads, which you also dislike, why not just go through a free host or get someone to bung you on a subdomain?
Genuinely curious here, not just being antagonising..
If you think that’s bad you should try dating her
(Comments wont nest below this level)
Nothing. I did everything back then that I’m doing now, and do everything now that I did back then. Well, unless you count commenting on *more* blogs.. but then there’s more to comment on.
I miss that it wasn’t so important with statistics and how many advertisers and money you could get. You just blogged and tried to tell a story… I still try, but all the money making blogs around me made me money sick as well so I fell in the trap…
Hi
I just found you through the Blogging Brits, and am very impressed with this post - it’s actually something I occasionally
whinetalk about. I’ve been on blogger for 4 or 5 years, and before that, blogspot in a couple of forms, and before that… erm… something-60, or 60-something.But whatever
I’ve always blogged about life - mine, friends, all real stuff, whatever crops up or crosses my mind. I’ve been offered ads (advertisers, exchanges, whatever), and have been told I “should get Ad Sense” so I could make money, but in the long run, that’s not what my blog is. I do it for me, not in an attempt to rise to the top of anything, not to make money.
I actually get hacked off when browsing blogs at the ones that are bogged down with ads, or the spam-blogs all over the place.
I miss clicking around and finding interesting people, I miss leaving a comment on someones blog and visiting them over and over, becoming almost internet friends with them over time.
The good old days, when you could read a blog and not fight through the ads to see something that resembled content.
Anyways, keep up the good work
-Dan
I also miss the good old innocent days. When i started blogging, i didnt know a thing about PR, Adsense, SEO etc and it was a great fun to discover and learn about them
You know honestly, I think I’m in that middle part of being a “grizzled vet” and a n00b. So there’s nothing that I really miss… Certainly a lot more to look forward to. (#):)
I remember the days when most blogposts weren’t about making money out of blogposts. Does that make me old?
Apart from the ads in your blog, I agree with you: blog, comment, link. It can’t get any simpler than that.
Oh God am I sick of ‘My quest to make a million….’ blogs.
Great points here, and I’m afraid this is just a case of a niche activity going mainstream, and the gloss coming off it.
I guess the thing to remember is that the peak will pass, the weak blogs will die off, and what’s left will be the persistent buggers who just like to moan
That’s me sorted anyway…..
I miss the days when I could be more personal without someone TELLING me I was being too personal. It’s as if someone unofficially formed the blogging police and assigned rules as to what you can and cannot do, say, sell, etc. The only reason I have ads and write paid reviews is because I was laid off, needed money and it worked. Why can’t my life be a niche?
The irony is that I’m Stumbling this…
You know, I have a blog in an alternate universe where no one has a clue about all that stuff you mentioned. The 14 or so readers I have knit, bitch about their relationships and discuss teaching. It’s nice.
I DO want to make money, though.
Just got here from StumbleUpon like Bloggrrl. Your post really makes me wish I had started blogging earlier, the market is feeling too saturated now. I’m even a little worried that we’re creating a blog bubble that will inevitably burst. On a lighter note, I like all the options to make money that we now have. It’s a mixed bag, really.