It’s time for a bit of honesty
My intention when I first wrote for this blog in 2010 was to entertain and educate my readers, and establish myself as a tech expert. Of course I didn’t actually write for a living at the time, but that didn’t factor into my thinking. After reading books about blogging, that I decided I needed to get out there, like the guy who decides to get out there date online because everyone he knows is hooking up.
So with no good plan, I plunged in. Cannonball style! I wrote about tech stuff mainly, especially mobile. And of course I wrote fake humorous news storys about fake apps that allow wives to spy on their husbands by tapping into their phones remotely, see iHusband . And who could forget the dancing Brazilian baby with Moves like Jagger – just for fun!
So here comes the HONESTY: Looking back now in last half of 2012, it is clear to me that I made three pretty big mistakes.
- 1st: I underestimated the time required for proper research needed to write about technology. I had almost NO strategy or forethought. My thinking is this. If I the time to share my opinion with the world, and you take the time read it, at least I owe it to you to educate myself first, then base opinions on facts and experience. As a business man and entrepreneur, I did not always have the time needed to produce the quality needed. This leads me to the 2nd mistake…
2nd: I reposted other sites’ articles and links to those articles way too often. While this is a time saver for me the writer, it cheapens the value of the site. Readers want my opinions not just data from other publishers with no context. People ask, “tell me what this information means to me, and why. Dont just spit out facts.” The essential value of a consultant (which is what I am) is to tell you what you should and should not do. The word “should” has so much meaning and power, yet too many in our field, believe it or not, are afraid to use it because it comes with risk that you could tell someone to do the wrong thing.
3rd: I hired an SEO to start writing articles for me that were more for Googles search bots than real people. These people sit in cubes and compose bland but accurate articles that give Google the impression we are bigger than we are and that we must be a credible resource for their searchers. My plan was to have traffic on our site to enhance our search equity so we could promote our brand to those who might one day need our consulting services. I fired them last year for many reasons, but mainly I just woke up one day and asked myself, “would I want to read this stuff?” Nope. I would not. It may work for search, but they have no place on a blog. That was a big fail for my blog, but did help my search.
There are many quality blogs out there with slick videos and links and all kinds of sexy resources. But I believe they all share some common qualities
- Authors are genuine
- They speak from the heart
- They post stuff they care about, know about, and have opinions about.
- They care about quality and their readers
- They seek to add value to the readers’ lives.
- They are consistent and make sure they tell stories that matter to them and their readers
I want to thank you for allowing me to be honest. While this is not how I started it is how I will conduct my blog today and forever.
Clearing the air here as I have attempted to do, is the first step toward building a genuine relationship with you my reader. My commitment is write from my heart, and to write about the stuff I really find exciting and interesting to me. My hope is to build a real community, with no concern for size or fame.
You will still read about tech, my experiences in consulting, and things that will benefit entrepreneurs. Of course I would wish that you give me your honest feedback as to how I am doing and suggestions for articles.
If you have read this far we are off to a great start.
