Every (not most) blogger I know struggles with the topic dilemma. Do I write the short, raw, shoot from the hip post? Or, do I take the time and write something deep, thoughtful and potentially game changing? The later post style will probably bring us business and potentially put food on the table.
Balance and Moderation. I blend the topic types on this blog. Most of my posts are written quickly and with raw emotion. They are what I am thinking about now and convey to you, the real me. Once a month, or so I dig deep and write a post that takes several days or a week to pull together. Those posts typically track with my business activities of the moment. If you read them carefully you can extract some of my real art from those posts. The last 5% I seldom give away for free.
Quick Story. I had a conversation with my friend Sue Spaight last night about the topic dilemma. I commented that yesterday’s post took me about twenty minutes to bang out. Then, I mentioned how much I liked her recent post about turning around a day that had the potential to turn crappy. Sue said that I must have been the only one to read it because she had crickets in the comments for the post.
Defining posts that work. Sue went on to say her posts about social media strategy get zillions(I might be exaggerating a little bit) of comments. She continued by saying that must be what my readers expect from me. She was frustrated and I understand that frustration. Who’s this blog for? Me or You? I’ve written often about this topic and I’m going to answer the question with yes.
Blogs are not traditional media. As a blogger I get that. I don’t have writing standards like the New Your Times. I write what I want, when I want and sometimes even slip in naughty words. This is me. No sources, no fact checks and often times publishing within minutes of my last proof reading (which means it’s still loaded with errors Cheryl will catch later). This works for me and I solved the bloggers topic dilemma for now, by writing what I am thinking about – today.
There will come a day. On that day my topic dilemma will often be solved by business needs. I’ve watched a friend’s blog go that direction. I’m OK with it. He’s earned his trust and social proof after more than a decade of always writing for us. He’s choosing topics now that will generate revenue for him and his family. Cool! Know why? He’s still writing with honesty and transparency.
My plan. Continue to write with honesty and transparency no matter where the topic dilemma leads me. Your trust is too valuable for me to do it any other way.
Does that work for you?
Dang. You are on fire lately. Is this the #ungeeked effect still in play here or what flipped your switch? First I should mention you are *definitely* exaggerating about the “zillions” of comments on my social media strategy posts. 10-20 typically but the comments are the most valuable thing to me in the world. Anyhoo, I definitely struggle with the topic dilemma. I wish I had more time to right deep, probing posts like @translatorXD or @thebrandbuilder. I know they are in me. Reality is, though, if I am inspired to write a post-from-the-hip and can find an hour to do it, that's my best shot at getting a post up right now. And I love your posts that come from that place, your heart, your gut, wherever they come from : ) Keep it real, brother. Keep it real.
Yes, I am replying to myself. It would be nice if I could spell this morning. “Write”, not “right” deep, probing posts.
Hard as this may be to believe….real is harder for me than you might imagine. It's where I am becoming most comfortable. It's just part of the Journey.
Good topic, and thought provoking, Jim.
I'm tempted to “shoot from the hip”, but I've made a commitment to write, then have a cooling off period and a review by my friend and editor, Penny, before posting. It's helping me elevate the quality of my work and keeps my foot out of my mouth (or at least online).
But that's my gig. I like seeing short, topical posts from you and others. I think the key, as you've pointed out, it to think about what you're doing and to decide.
Comments are gold, evidence you're reached someone. Not having comments isn't proof you've failed, it's just the nature of online readers. And with my weblogs as evidence, as I'm sure yours are, even if you're not seeing comments, people are still reading and thinking about your work. And that is gratifying.
Taking a quick survey (in my head) of the blogs I read regularly, some are “from the hip” and some are not. That's one beauty of the blog world – variety. Someone once told me to write where your passions lie. You, Jim, do that quite well. And, I admire that about you.
PS – I'm slowly coming to the realization that, while comments are absolutely awesome, they aren't an indication of reach or readership. At least, I hope not. 🙂
The other interesting thing about the way I do it, is the post ends up being somewhat dynamic. Cheryl always goes back and corrects minor grammar (OK, not so minor sometimes) and punctuation issues but sometimes she uncovers a logic or factual problem. It's my blog so I just go back and fix it. No retraction no be ta-do I just do it and move on. It's new media we get to play by different rules 🙂
Reach and readership should be measured with analytical tools. Comments are for fun. I don't mean that to diminish comments or their value, quite the opposite. I love comments because they are a conversation. I have no idea how to place value on a great conversation. More ideas come from them comments. Friendships spring up in the comments. Comments are the community of a blog. These are our comments, not Twitter's or Facebook's. We the JimRaffel.com community own these.