Photo Credit nukeit1’s photos
Words gets a lot of politicians in trouble, with some believing politicians are just blowing smoke.
Words are easy to say or write. The question becomes, do you stand behind your words? Do you walk your talk?
Whether you are in business or blogging, your words are a reflection of you.
Today’s Lesson
In the course of learning how to, and actually blogging, I have done tons of research, and read hundreds of thousands of words.
Search for one topic and you’ll get millions of hits.
Start reading the results, and you’ll get dozens of “opinions”.
My problem, with blogging, still remains, what can you believe?
For example:
Some big name bloggers will say, don’t monetize. Visit their blog, and it’s filled with ads
Some say, answer your comments. Read their comments, and the author rarely appears
Some say, write great content, Read their blogs, and some of their content is not so great.
Some say, get quality inbound links. Ask a big name blogger for one, but don’t hold your breath.
Some say, “sign up for my RSS feed”, but do you think they are signing up for yours? Probably not.
Some say, don’t worry about page rank. But when theirs takes a nose dive, hear them cry.
This is just a small sampling of what I’ve found.
So, what do you do?
Do what feels right for you. Stay true to yourself and to your readers.
It’s your blog, your home in cyberspace.
Just remember, the words you write should be words you stand behind. If not, you’ll soon be categorized as a blogger who’s just blowing smoke.
Today’s Assignment
Is what you write credible?
Do you tell your readers to do one thing, but your actions say the opposite?
Have you read blogs that “blog smoke”
Care to share?
Hi Barbara. For a long time my perception of bloggers was that most of them just wrote about that they wished they were doing instead of actually doing it. Then when I dug a little deeper I found a lot of well written blogs with good advice.
I remember reading advice from Guy Kawasaki that said to do the opposite of what bloggers say to do. So apparently the perception of bloggers blowing smoke is pretty common.
Love your concept of a blog being your home in cyberspace.
I also think this post should win an award for funniest photo of the month.
sterling | bizlift’s last blog post..Fishing With David Lynch: Creating Value From Nothing
Hi Barbara – That picture cracked me up. I was forgetting you got your pics of FlickR and I was thinking – Barbara didn’t tell me she had a hen that smokes.
This is one of my favourite topics. So many bloggers give out advice and they’re obviously not putting it into practise themselves. I don’t want to name any particular blogs, because there’s far too many.
But, what I always say is – don’t do what they tell you to do – especially on those make money blogs. Watch exactly what they do themselves and copy that instead.
I think my blog is misleading in a way – more so when I had mistakes in the title. And that has attracted bad comments in the past – many of them I had to delete and usually from stupid men with the “I Can Make You A Millionaire in Ten Days” type of sites. And they’re usually full of wind. You can tell by the stuff they write and the rubbish they sell.
The truth is, I have made mistakes – but I do practise what I preach. For example – in my last business I made a whole heap of mistakes but it was still hugely profitable. And I know my current one will do well too. The advice I give does work. But, maybe I don’t blow my trumpet enough – I don’t know. Cos I do get a lot of people coming onto my blog saying – that doesn’t work and it bugs me, because they’ve probably just read it somewhere and I’ve actually put it into practise.
I also think there’s a lot of chauvinism on the Internet too (that chauvinism post you suggested is still in drafts by the way). If I was a man, I think my blog would be received quite differently.
CatherineL’s last blog post..5 Business Writing Tips You Can Profit From
But big bloggers might be giving advice that they used to follow. Like answering comments–maybe they did it before, but stopped when they started getting too many comments to keep up with.
Or writing great content–sadly, a big blogger can get tons of diggs and stumbles regardless of how good their content is, but they might have needed great content to get to that position.
But yes, there’s a lot of smoke blowing out there. Like all the make money online blogs written by people who are not making money online. It makes people assume that any new blogger they see is guilty until proven innocent.
That picture cracked me up, and I’m glad to know that cigarettes are thoroughly tested on hens before being approved for humans.
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Free Ebook: The Zen Of Blogging
you know, I try to be mindful of the things I say/write on my blog. One sideffect I didn’t think to expect about writing on things to improve your life is just how much more conscious I became in my own life. It all began with the desire to learn more, to be happier, and most importantly to help others find contentment in their own lives.
Now, when I’m ready to do something that I guess – clashes with my constant “next thing to write on inmyheels” thinking lol, I notice and don’t like to proceed that way.
I feel its necessary to be credible – to practice what I preach.
I even catch myself lately saying “hmm.. what would I tell my readers who want to know about this..”
*shakes her head* that’s that blogging brain for you.
Also – its a good thing for me to remember I’m only human – the errors will come (I say this bc I can be hard on myself). But I try not to shove things that I wouldn’t actually apply in my own life down other people’s throats 🙂
…unless I say “well.. its not for me but..”
haha – had to find an out there.. just in case!
O:-)
JEMi @ InMyHeels’s last blog post..Uninhibited: 10 Ways to Set Yourself Free (Part 1)
Hi Sterling,
As with any new hobby, we have a tendency to turn toward those who are considered successful, however, some don’t like to share how they “made it”. But, if you look close enough, it’s pretty easy to pick up a few hints, even if they are saying the opposite.
I love the photo too. It made me laugh out loud and I had to share it with my readers. The photographer sure has a great sense of humor Kudos to nukeit.
Hi Catherine,
I agree there are many out there who say “do as I say, not as I do”, and I don’t know if that’s an attempt to decrease their competition or to sabotage someone’s attempts, but as bloggers we need to be smart and do our own research, then apply what works for us.
We all make mistakes, and hopefully we learn from them. In our attempts to genuinely help others, we may get challenged, but too often it’s by those who don’t want to put the work into becoming successful.
I have wondered about chauvinism on the internet, and think that comes from the premise that computer “geeks and gurus” are mostly guys, but I have read hundreds of great blogs written by women, and their advice is just as good, and in some cases better.
Hi Hunter,
You raise a good question. If you get too many comments than you can manage, what should you do? I know Steve Pavlina had that happen and he turned comments off. He then opened a forum on his blog.
Even if you don’t turn comments off, it would be nice to see a statement from the blogger (maybe at the beginning of the comment section) that he/she is reading the comments but won’t have time to participate, blah, blah, blah… On some blogs, I don’t even bother to comment as I feel like I’m just talking to myself…but sometimes, that means I’m having a pretty intelligent conversation. 🙂
Granted great content is hard to provide on a regular basis, however, if that becomes a problem, it may become necessary to change your publishing schedule.
Those make millions on line blogs are constantly popping up. Unfortunately, because a handful of hard working people have made seven figures, everyone else thinks it can easily be duplicated. They forget to mention those bloggers have been at it for a long time.
Hens testing cigarettes? Does that go against what the animal rights activists believe? 🙂
Hi JEMi,
Blogging is amazing that way. As we write, we do start questioning if that is what we really believe/practice.
And, you’re right, often what has worked for you, may not work for someone else, so having an “out” statement covers it.
One of my goals with blogging is to share what I see, from my perspective and research, and make my readers think and want to find out more, on their own. Most times there is more than one right answer. You just have to find the one that works for you.
I also like to see bloggers showing their individuality in their blogs, from using a theme that reflects their personality, to writing about subjects that “move” them.
Barbara’s last blog post..Do You Walk Your Talk Or Are You Just Blowing Smoke
Everything I write on my blog is something I have done myself.
I think Hunter is right though – I think he is saying that success begets success. In other words, the pro-blogger will hit a tipping point where their continued success will almost be automated.
They’re almost like a comet. Once created from some cosmic explosion, the momentum is unstoppable and the comet tail is all those who follow as they want to be the comet.
And it’s up to the probloggers to steer themselves. If they don’t and they get complacent – and I suspect it’s mainly content quality they have to focus on – they’ll smash into a planet!
I really look forward to the chauvinism article from Cath!
It reminds me of the left-handed blogger article I wrote. I can’t remember where now, but I’m sure I suggested somewhere that a female left-handed blogger would be the best!
As a general sweeping statement which may get me into trouble, I think men demonstrate less empathy. And blogs work well with empathy – if you can get inside the head of your audience, your content strikes more chords with your readers.
For the record by the way – it was a tongue-in-cheek article. Luckily, only a minority of commenters missed the joke.
Ian Denny’s last blog post..Campaign Against Rude Bloggers – And A Call To Action
Yeah I walk the walk with on blog…It would be impossible for me to write or tell someone to do something I’m not doing. I can’t write it if I haven’t experienced or am doing it. All of my stuff is from personal experience.
Love the photo!
Natural Woman’s last blog post..The Story of Stuff
Hi Ian,
I know your blog is based on your experience, and you writings demonstrate that.
Your left handed bloggers post was pretty funny. The comment section really took off on that post.
Hi Natural Woman,
Isn’t it great how we get to share life’s lessons. And to think someone might read what we wrote and put it into practice, is a humbling experience. That goes to show how much we can teach and learn via a blog.
Barbara’s last blog post..Increased Search Engine Traffic For Lazy People
Barbara,
Pictures speak volumes and this one also made me laugh. I have neighbors who have a new hatched rooster to make the whole neighborhood rise and shine now!
As I travel around various blogs and comment I am concerned about all the spelling errors and weird grammar as I don’t know if this is just a cyber thing or the future of our beautiful language. I sometimes don’t know what writers are trying to say – so I say that. Do you think this is helpful or maybe why they don’t visit?
I am learning so much and I will say that I will stand up for everything I write and say on my blog – tho almost no one makes comments – YET!
Patricia’s last blog post..Scary School Supplies
Hi Patricia:
Isn’t this picture hilarious? I knew I had to use it.
To answer your question, the best thing I found was to get out into cyberspace and visit other blogs. It gives us name recognition and as we join other communities, ours grows as well.
Have no fear, I will visit you. 🙂
Re: the spelling and grammar errors, you’ll see them all over the place. Now, I’m used to them, but still hope, like you, our beautiful language does not get lost in this age of technology.