How to Write a Blog That Matters

Jonathan Fields recently posed a harsh question to his readers: Would you pay to read your own blog?  It was a reframing of a comment by Remarkablogger’s Michael Martine, and its goal, as Martine says, is “to give people a new angle from which to honestly think about the quality of what they write and the value it provides.”

I think that’s a powerful opportunity, and I’d like to take it a step further:

Does your blog matter?

After all, people really only pay for two things: what they need and what they want.  Is your blog (or your podcast, or your videoblog, or whatever type of media it is that you’re creating) valuable enough to be considered necessary?  Is it entertaining, illuminating or influential enough to be considered desirable?

If you said yes, congratulations.  Stop reading this and get back to producing valuable content, because that’s what the world needs more of.  (As I type this, 4000 people just used cutting-edge satellite technology to tweet about their cats.)

If you said no… why not?  Well, I bet I can guess…

5 Reasons Your Work Probably Sucks

1.  You’re doing it because you want to get paid. If those talentless hacks everyone else is paying attention to can make a living just by being themselves, why can’t you?  So, naturally, you create what you think people will want to pay for, or at least what you think enough people will be interested in to snare an audience that will impress advertisers.  Pardon me while I choke on your nobility.

2.  You’re doing it because you want to get famous. It’s the same “talentless hacks” complaint from above, minus the dollar signs.  You don’t even care if you get paid; you just want to be known.  After all, you have so much to offer.  Why hasn’t anyone else noticed your brilliance / talent / rapier-sharp wit?  [Cue "knowing sigh" here.]

3.  You’re doing it because you feel obligated. Everyone who’s anyone (and millions of nobodies) have a blog, so you should, too.  And you should post at least once a week, and daily if possible.  And you should promote your own work with the voracity of a starving panda in a bamboo factory.  Because if you don’t… well, let’s not even think about what could happen if you stopped.  Probably something horrific.

4.  You’re half-assing it. You really do want to succeed… you just don’t want to work very hard at it.  While others obsess over statistics, refine their marketing campaigns to maximize exposure and test-drive every possible tool, tweak and SEO voodoo spell in order to capture their coveted brass ring of online success, you’re pretty sure you can get by with that default Blogger template and those video clips you made with your microphone pointed toward the fan.

5.  You refuse to improve. Forget about the helpful hints, the friendly suggestions and the outright insults hurled by people who justifiably think your work could be better.  There’s no such thing as constructive criticism because it’s all just white noise from haters who are jealous of your underappreciated skills.  God bless your ego, because it’s the only sounding board you’ll ever need.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugs!

Now that that’s over, let’s apply the band-aids and look in the mirror.

3 Ways Your Blog SHOULD Matter

1.  You love it. It’s not always perfect, it doesn’t always do what you want it to do, it keeps you up at night and it’s sometimes more trouble than it’s worth.  But like your kid, your lover or that mischievous hamster you just can’t stay mad at, it’s worth it in the end — and you get something from the experience of nurturing it that you can’t find elsewhere.

2.  Your audience likes it. I don’t mean “likes it” in the “Hey, great post! [Insert linkbait here]” sort of way.  I mean in the “leaves thoughtful comments and takes an active interest in what you have to say” kind of way.  They may or may not be willing to pay you for it, but they’d certainly miss it if it was gone.  So at least you have that.

3.  It can’t be replicated. It’s proof of your own voice, your own style, your own knowledge and your own personality.  Sure, it may not be for everyone, and it may not be overflowing with Pulitzer-worthy material on a daily basis, but it’s unmistakably you.  And if you weren’t producing it, no one else could.

Does that sound like your blog?  It probably does, because everyone thinks their blog is an untouched gem, a ruby in the darkness, a powderkeg of genius that’s ready to blow.  And almost everyone is wrong.

Look again.

Are there flaws in your plan?  Inconsistencies in your approach?  Hard truths you need to swallow and renovations you need to embark on, post haste?  If so, don’t worry; everyone else is in your boat too.  Do yourselves a favor: get out of that boat and into a smaller one, because that one’s going to sink.  Now paddle on, alone and with purpose, and skip to the next header.

Meanwhile, if you’re still convinced your blog is just one Chris Brogan tweet away from a Webby award, my hat is off to you, sir or madam, because even I’m not convinced of that about my own work, and I’m the one giving you advice.

In that case, here’s the last ingredient you need to put yourself over the top: relevance.

5 Ways to Ensure Your Blog Matters

1.  Provide Data, Not Opinions. This past Christmas, a friend of mine mentioned that she wasn’t sure about the whole blogging thing anymore.  To her, “it just seems like everybody’s giving everybody else advice, and I’m sitting there thinking, What qualifies you to give me advice?”

Talk is cheap, but actions count.  People want advice, but they want it to be based on more than just your own half-baked observations; they want it to be drawn from data, analysis and expertise.  Next time you formulate a theory on how the world works while you’re showering at the Y, take the time to conduct an experiment related to your presumptions.  Measure your results.  Explain what you did, how you did it and why, and then extrapolate: if ___, then what next?  It doesn’t take a scientist to provide the world with useful data, but it does take more than your own best guess.

2.  Explain Complex Subjects in a Way That Your Target Audience Understands. Personally, I love information.  In fact, most people I know enjoy processing new information and having their minds quietly blown.  What they tend to hate is the sexless way that information is conveyed.

Textbooks and seminars are often presented in a sterile, uninviting way that makes even the most compelling subjects seem bland, off-putting and inscrutable.  I might need a Master’s Degree to fully grok the breadth of a subject, but I shouldn’t need one to understand the basics.  And if you can make something obscure seem that much more accessible to an audience that’s prowling around its edges, there’s no telling where that interest (and their appreciation for your translation) may lead.

3.  Curate Media and Information That People Want to Explore. You have hobbies and passions, yes?  You have pet projects and secret obsessions that take up more of your time than you’d care to admit?  So does everyone else.  And a lot of that time is spent tracking down the same obscure information and rare documentation that you’re also pursuing, or which you may already have.  Why not share it?  Or work together with your fellow seekers to create a composite reference point for others?

Not only does sharing information help build a community, it also provides a point of entry for others who might voluntarily follow you down the rabbit hole.  Think of how often you check Wikipedia for one bit of information, only to link-jump through a dozen pages and emerge an hour later.  If you can provide that rich of an experience for a curious visitor, that visitor is likely to return — with friends.

4.  Say What No One Else Is Saying. Despite the fact that anyone can create media, most media still looks like it could have been created by anyone.  Most blogs read like most other blogs, most LinkedIn profiles are interchangeable, and YouTube is drowning in copycat versions of videos that sucked to begin with.

Instead of trying to do what everyone else is doing, only better, why not do what no one else is doing, and do it as well as you possibly can?  There wasn’t a ZeFrank before ZeFrank; now there are thousands.  There also wasn’t an Achewood or a Homestar Runner before Achewood and Homestar Runner, and no one’s quite replicated their quirks yet.  Be a trendsetter or an iconoclast, because if you’re neither, why bother?

5.  For God’s Sake, Ask. Are your readers actually learning anything from you?  Are they being entertained?  Do they care at all about what you’re giving them?  Would they rather see more of something?  Less?  Do they think you’d be great at something you’ve never considered, or do they think you’re pretty terrible at something you’ve blindly convinced yourself you’re wonderful at and keep driving down their throats with no regard for anyone’s greater well-being?

Ask.

You’re under no obligation to implement anyone’s suggestions, but if you don’t, you’ll never know how close you are to giving them exactly what they want — or to solving the problems that prohibit you from fully enjoying the fruits of your own labor.  Remember: the people who bother to respond are the ones who want you to succeed, and they may be on to something.

Hope that helps.

(Did it?)

Dig this blog? Subscribe and you’ll never miss a witty insight again.

Tags: America, audience, blog, Blogging, Business, common sense, expert, inspiration, perception, Social Media, Sociology