Are You Doing Any of these Self-Defeating Actions in your Blogging?
Sometimes we do things because we want to achieve a particular objective, only we come to find out later that what we were doing had the opposite effect from what we wanted. We didn’t know until it was too late. And sometimes, we even know that what we’re doing isn’t good, but we justify it to ourselves by saying we’ll get what we want…
Except that we don’t.
We hurt ourselves, our visitors, our reputations, and more.
Ready? Steel yourself — YOU may on this list:
Writing too many posts
You’re writing too many posts if you feel you have to write every day because “that’s what you’re supposed to do”. You are likely struggling to come up with ideas. Your posts are too short. Their content is nothing more than echoing links passed around the blogosphere by lame bloggers who can’t come up with original content. Bloggers do this because it gets visits due to frequency, but the long-term effect is that you will lose visitors and subscribers, because your content is weak.
Solution: Only write when you have strong, compelling content that is useful and valuable to your readers. If this means you have to write less frequently, so be it. Write in advance and build up an inventory of draft posts for when you hit a dull spot.
Repeating other blogger’s content
If you’re “writing” (I use the word loosely in this case) posts that are merely a link to another blogger’s post and that includes a blockquote, any readers you have will trickle down to nothing. Because you have nothing original to offer them. Doing the same thing, but then adding, “I completely agree!” is not offering an opinion worth reading.
Solution: Only write original content. Do not repeat news or link to other posts except for “speed link” type of posts. Vow to be a creator, not a consumer, a leader, not a follower.
Spamming comment name fields with keywords
This used to not bother me, but now that my blog has grown in popularity and I get a much bigger dose of it, I hate it. Put your name in the name field, not keywords, not the name of your site or anything else. Just. Your. Name.
People do this because they think it’s helping get traffic or they think it’s helping SEO. It does neither. But it does damage your reputation. It makes you look like you’re trying to game the blog and you have no real interest in participating in the conversation. I makes you look cheap. If you’re not saying something worthwhile, nobody will click on your comment link anyway. And most bloggers still have no-follow on comment links, so you’re wasting your time, anyway.
Solution: Use your real name. Be a real person, not a keyword. Make real friends. Give to the conversation, do not take from it. The rewards are far, far greater in the long-run.
Over-advertising
When someone is not making the kind of money they wanted through advertising, often they engage in the self-defeating behavior of putting even more ads, text-links, affiliate links and banners, and start writing the kind of awful, stupid stuff available from Smorty or PayPerPost oh, excuse me, Izea (whatever). This techniques also goes by the name of “drive-your-visitors-away-screaming”.
Remember: just because you’ve sold out, that doesn’t mean anyone’s buying.
Solution: Remove all or nearly all advertising and concentrate on thrilling your readers with awesome content. Then, when you build your numbers up, you can increase the ad displays and even land private sale advertising that pays well.
Successful blogging is all about long-term thinking, providing value, and building your brand and reputation over time. There are smarter and stupider ways of doing things, but there are no shortcuts. Long-term thinking leads to self-propelling actions, short-term thinking leads to self-defeating actions. Thinking that the ends justify the means leads to self-defeating actions. Knowing that the means justify the ends leads to self-propelling actions.
photo by Elaron under CC License
Tejvan Pettinger | January 24th, 2008 at 9:21 am #
Good advice, though on some blogs quantity can be a good thing, so long as you have lots to say
The Freelance Writer's Blog | January 24th, 2008 at 12:31 pm #
Oops, I’m on the list for the following: “Spamming comment name fields with keywords”. Although, I take humbrance to the word spamming in my case.
I agree with your overall comment, but I think this particular method can be employed effectively. Let me explain:
My blog and my name are probably known equally in my niche (freelance writing). However, lately, I’ve taken to putting the phrase “The Freelance Writer’s Blog” in the “name” spot. Why?
Because I think there are more prospects out there who are interested in freelance writing than who know me. Hence, if they’re interested in the comment I leave, I have a greater chance of them clicking over to my blog.
Where most go wrong is that they leave short, “Me too!” comments without adding any substance to a post. I always take the time to respond indepth — ie, add meaningful dialogue — because blogging is really about “introducing yourself to a community” (borrowed that phrase from freelance writer Jennifer over at Catalystblogger.blogspot.com).
The impression you make can be a cheapy one, or an insightful one. Many bloggers make the mistake of not thinking about the end goal — which goes beyond just “getting your name out there” to turning readers into paying customers (whether it’s an ebook, an ad click, a seminar, etc.).
Did I explain well enough to be forgiven for my blogging faux pas? Fingers crossed; I hope so.
Interesting read,
Yuwanda Black, Publisher
InkwellEditorial.com
Robert | January 24th, 2008 at 1:08 pm #
Long term thinking is almost a fiction concept to most people. I’ve been guilty of it as well - I’ll have a great idea in the middle of the night, spend hours putting it together and launching, to only drop it 2 days later because I didn’t make millions….
Long term is a necessity, and short term failure, or lack of desired results, is more likely the norm and should be expected.
I’m being negative here, don’t get me wrong. I’m only trying to point out, like Michael, true success is going to come from long term, trial and error, perseverance, etc… the exceptions are such outliers that it’s not even worthy of mention!
Evelyn | January 26th, 2008 at 5:46 pm #
Thank you, thank you, thank you:!: I agree with… 4.5 of your points.
Sorry, but, you see, I’m not a good investor because I’m an emotional one and pick stocks because I like the company… even if they’re failing. BUT, I will pick my advertisers because I like them and they have been good to me. Consequently, I don’t have many but I’m afraid I still have to add Amazon because my relationship with them is a lot older than my blog! I may get bashed for that but I will only back what I believe in.
Once my love affair with a company has started, I will not bash them either. Google has zapped me bad and hurt me, but, I cannot write badly about them… that relationship is very, very old and is more important than any stupid page rank. Maybe I’ll write a post about that. Hmmm…
Okay, you guys have really impressed me. I followed a bunch of other links to other stories. Awesome job you guys! Subscribed to you via email… awesome content! Michael, please share with the other authors!
Michael Martine (Post Author) | January 26th, 2008 at 6:11 pm #
@Tejvan - Yes, frequent posts need not be low quality. This is one reason to go with a team blog, such as Blogging Tips. When it’s just you, it’s tough. You have to spend a lot of time with activities that revolve around blogging, but which are not writing posts. Of course, this assumes that you’re trying to write great stuff in the first place. I see a lot of posts that are so weak and lame that even the short amount of time spent on them by the blogger was time wasted.
Michael Martine (Post Author) | January 26th, 2008 at 6:18 pm #
@Yuwanda - I’m not going to let you off the hook. We know what blog you’re from because the link is there. The content of your comment is ALL you need to get high-quality, relevant traffic from commenting. The impression you make has already been damaged by not using your name in the name field. Now you have to recover from that. Why make it harder for yourself for no discernible gain? At least you’ve got your name in there somewhere. I just would not respond to your comment without being able to address you. I’m not talking to a blog. I’m talking to YOU. I don’t feel like I’m being treated like a person when people do this, I feel like I’m being treated as nothing more than an opportunity.
Michael Martine (Post Author) | January 26th, 2008 at 6:23 pm #
@Robert -
Yup. Showing up every day is half the battle. Your odds of succeeding are greatly improved by sticking with it and taking a long-term view. A little luck never hurts, either. Once I got linked to by the Google Video blog and was the Blog of Note on Blogger for like 3 weeks straight. That event basically cemented my success in monetizing a Blogger blog with AdSense. That was just luck.
Michael Martine (Post Author) | January 26th, 2008 at 6:27 pm #
@Evelyn - Well, thanks for subscribing! Really appreciate it. It’s always been my view that loyalty is a by-product of trust, and trust must be earned. Trust is difficult to earn, and very easy to lose. Any company/service provider that loses my trust also loses my business (unless I have no choice
).
I love Google for some things and despise them for others. I happily praise and criticize them in the same breath. But that’s just me.
The Freelance Writer's Blog | January 26th, 2008 at 7:18 pm #
Michael:
I respectfully stand by my position, with one more little qualifier. You wrote, “We know what blog you’re from because the link is there.” That’s true, but nobody would know what TYPE of blog it is, which is why I use, “The Freelance Writer’s Blog” in the name spot. I still think it’s more effective than putting my name in that field.
I do understand your point, though, especially when you say, “I feel like I’m being treated as nothing more than an opportunity.” Many treat a popular blog like a free meal ticket. I get comments on my blog all the time that have nothing to do with the post at hand. I delete these, and I don’t like to delete comments.
You can disagree with me until the cows come home, and I’ll publish those comments every time. But, if I’m discussing freelance writing and you leave a comment like “Great post. Did you know that Poker is the world’s most famous card game? Visit xyzpokerspot.com to learn more.” That will get deleted every time.
Best,
Yuwanda
Michael Martine (Post Author) | January 26th, 2008 at 8:38 pm #
@Yuwanda - Great post. Did you know that Poker is the world’s most famous card game?
Just kidding.
You raise a really good point from the perspective of the one who is receiving comments. Thanks for your reply. 
Steve | January 28th, 2008 at 5:10 pm #
I hate to comment on a comment, especially when there was inspirational info in the original article that brought me here, but let me start with the ongoing string.
Yuwanda raises an interesting point. In my opinion, the approach he is taking is useful comment, and not spam. It is when I get a comment from “Best Credit Card” or “Free Florida Vacation” that I delete. If you have a blog that actually has useful content and a comment that is relevant to the post, then I feel that using the blog name is acceptable.
That having been said, thanks for the great article. The point I appreciated was the first. This was relevant to my thoughts I was having in light of some reviews of my blog. I tweaked it a little because I have a slightly different take on the issue of content.
Only write when you have strong, compelling content that is useful and valuable to you. If you try to write to your readers, what happens if your readership changes? Write to yourself. Somewhere out there a person much like you is looking for that person who expresses thoughts and ideas akin to their own.
Michael Martine (Post Author) | January 28th, 2008 at 8:35 pm #
@Steve - Thanks, man, glad you found it helpful. You said:
I really wouldn’t want to be in a position of having to make those kind of judgments, because it’s a gray area.
You might think that because I’m saying all of this that the comment policy on Remarkablogger states that using site names or keywords isn’t allowed, but in fact I do allow it. I just don’t like it.