Because We Want to be Read...

Why do we blog? Because we want to be read. We want to be read because we want to share our knowledge, display our literary abilities, touch some lives, come into contact with like-minded people, or any of a million other personal reasons--but it all comes back to the desire to be read.

In our hopes of being read, we all stick signs out there that essentially say "read me!" Some signs, like Instapundit's, are billboards on the side of the information superhighway (you knew that term was going to be useful again some day); other signs, like ResurrectionSong's, are more like the wadded up, oversized sticky notes that haunt the side of the highway, languishing in the shadow of the billboards.

Don't get me wrong and think that I'm complaining. While RS doesn't match up to the big fellers of blogging, we do steady flow of readers. RS is a decidedly third-tier blog that is referenced occasionally, is vaguely recognizable here and there, and isn't invited to any of the national party conventions. I have no illusions about the place of RS in the 'sphere, although I also won't stop trying to improve the site in hopes of raising our profile.

This is a wordy, lengthy intro into an even wordier and longer post about successful blogging--my own how-to addendum to the better guides offered by others, but with what I feel is a good addition to the conversation. If you're so inclined, take it for what it's worth. If it has no value to you, I hope you enjoy it for what it is: an attempt to share the tiniest bit of knowledge.

How does a blog become successful? In an overly honest sense, I can't answer that question. The fact that so many people come by daily to read this site is still a surprise to me--not that I didn't aim for this goal, but I'm not entirely sure how I attained it.

The most surprising aspect is that I actually have people who read almost daily who rarely or never comment on the content; people who I have never met, who I likely never will meet, find it worth reading the words and thoughts that Jerry, Opinion Engine, and I write. That's a heck of a compliment.

That brings me to the first lesson learned: never treat readers as if you're doing them a favor by writing for your own site. Be humble enough to realize that there has to be a mutual respect in the reader-writer relationship. There are hundreds of other blogs that they could be reading, and if you insult their intelligence or treat them as if they don't matter, you won't stay on their reading list very long.

The second lesson learned is closely related (and it seems obvious, but I'm not sure that it is): blogging is a communal effort. For all of the fact that blogging is essentially selfish ("read ME"), it doesn't exist outside of the communities that have developed around the blogs. That is, my community is the one that has people like Dean, VodkaPundit, Nathan, and Val involved--and quite a few more that I have blogrolled or that I haven't found the time to read.

The point is, as with any communal effort, being a part of a community means taking part in that community. When Michelle Malkin joined the blogging community, she did it right. She is an established journalist, but she seemed to realize that a successful blog is something outside of her journalism career. She built a blogroll (and I'm still extremely happy to have found a home on that list) and started reading and linking other sites.

While building a blogroll is a good way to begin attracting attention, it only goes so far. It sort of defines a boundary for the site's ideas and interests, but it doesn't draw traffic. Linking other sites in your own posts is a much better way to let people know that you exist--bloggers like trackbacks (that outside link to their site) and few will resist at least taking a look at a new site that sends them traffic via a link.

Another good way to advertise your existence is to comment on other sites. Take part in the conversations and try to say something intelligent. A good amount of my early traffic (and a significant amount of my current traffic) came from people following my comments.

Like any community, though, there are rules for good behavior. Comments shouldn't just be blatant ads for posts on your site--they should be relevant to the conversation. Empty trackbacks--where a site sends a trackback to your site but never actually links to your story is just as rude. That's using the trackbacks on my posts as a place to advertise your site without giving me even the respect of a link to my post.

Whether the post is relevant or not, I will delete empty trackbacks.

Like most bloggers, though, I'm pretty liberal with my linking. If you have a story that relates to something I've written, please email me and let me know. Usually I'll be happy to throw in a link for your site. Communities operate on a certain level of respect, though--and disrespectful behavior doesn't help build new traffic. Honest.

One of the basic rules for blogging that is thrown around regularly certainly applies here, too. Post often, for instance, because that is how you develop both your style and your readership. People seem to look for personality, and personality comes out with regular posting; the sites that stay mostly empty rarely manage to convey the personality of the author and very rarely make it into that top tier of sites.

Regular posting has one other effect that is very important: if your site is listed on Yahoo, Google, and the other search sites, it gives you a better chance at higher search rankings. Not only is a good portion of ResurrectionSong's traffic from search results, but some of my regular readers found the site through search results.

And when people come in from those search results, they will often have differing points of view. While I refuse to be anyone's punching bag and will meet rudeness with rudeness, I also try to give people an opportunity to engage in intelligent conversation. The concept of the blog (an actual dialog) isn't the concept of traditional journalism (a one way conversation). This suggestion won't necessarily help a site grow traffic, but it will certainly help a site grow my respect: be open to that dialog and actively encourage dissent.

The strength of the entire concept of blogs is in the dialog--the less listening we do with each other, the less we gain from what should be the selling point of blogs. That said, some of the most popular sites are the most blatantly, virulently partisan--where being shouted down by the choir for minor disagreements isn't uncommon. The quick path favors that partisan flavor, but the path to something more meaningful and lasting favors a more open dialog.

And, lastly, write about your interests. RS isn't the best written or the most focused site, but it grows because I write about my interests. I don't have the talent to be a professional writer (not false modesty--I truly wish that I did have that talent) and I don't self-edit nearly as well as I should. My writing has regular spelling and grammar errors. Even worse, when I look at something I've written from a month ago, I see ways that I could have written sentences that were far more meaningful or chosen my words more carefully.

People don't read the site because the writing is pro-level perfect; they have their magazine subscriptions for that. They read it because of shared interests. Whatever your passions are, there will be people that share them who will seek you out and read you. Writing to gain readership is the honest goal, but it's also the wrong way to view the process. Readership will find your writing if you write well--convey your interests with personality, intelligence, and passion, and the readers will come.

So, while blogging is a little more forgiving of editorial mistakes (and far less forgiving of factual errors), paying attention to writing mechanics is still important. The key is to realize that precisely written articles that are boring are far less interesting than something written with passion and flair that doesn't necessarily live up to the New York Times standard of editorial excellence.

The goal, of course, is both technical precision and artistic brilliance--but most of us have to settle for some lesser combination of the two.

Remember that blogging is sometimes competitive (otherwise we wouldn't need TruthLaidBear's ecosystem), but it doesn't have to be adversarial. This isn't exactly a zero-sum game; by linking other sites and helping them rise through the ranks, you aren't diminishing your own site. In fact, the stronger they grow, the stronger you will be (especially if you've been sure to make a place for yourself in the community).

Those are my thoughts and those are the rules I tried to put in place for myself and for this site. While it has yet to bring me fortune and fame, it has brought me steady traffic, frustration, hate letters, friends, free beers, huge bar tabs, a free subscription to one of my favorite magazines (thank!), and a host of other benefits and drawbacks.

Good luck, see you soon, and don't forget to write.

Posted by zombyboy at August 19, 2004 01:49 PM