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You need a League of Extraordinary Bloggers. People you can look out for, support, and lean on. If you don’t already have a blogging alliance, you need to build one.
So check this out…
I was wading through tall stacks of paper this week, and I found a bunch of articles I printed out last year.
Blogging articles.
I saved these web pages as PDF files, then printed them out.
I don’t print out articles any more. Decided printing was a waste of time. Finding a couple of dozen of these in a stack of old bank statements made me laugh.
But I’m glad I printed out Darren Rowse’s article on building a Secret Blog Alliance. I wasn’t ready for any alliances then, secret or otherwise; I’m game now.
Finding your natural alliance
We all want to work with people we like, but sometimes liking someone is not enough.
Like any relationship, there has to be more.
Here’s the top ten traits to look for in people when building a blogging alliance:
- Interesting: Nobody wants to read boring junk.
- Consistent: Blowing in and out like a hurricane makes readers evacuate.
- Improving: Same old, same old gets stale.
- Resilient: When they fall down, do they get back up?
- Marketable: Can they sell themselves?
- Networkable: Loners aren’t helping themselves, much less you.
- Product: Do they have something people want to buy?
- Skilled: Can they do something anything unique?
- Style: Is there a good personality fit?
- Direction: Are you moving towards the same goals?
In the end, you have to go with your gut. If someone looks good on paper, but just doesn’t mesh, find someone else.
What’s your secret?
I have to tell the truth here… if I were in a secret blogging alliance, I wouldn’t say one way or another.
So that’s boring.
Let’s talk about you instead.
Are you in a secret blogging alliance? If so, how long, and with whom? Is it working out? Why or why not? How did you build your secret alliance? Was it deliberate, or did it come together organically?
Or maybe you’re not in a secret alliance, maybe your alliance is all out there in the open. Same questions.
For you wonky types, or students, discuss how CommentLuv, DoFollow and good spam control induce self-organizing blogger alliances. Self-organizing blogger alliances is a topic worth at least 3 long articles, and could easily form the basis for a spiffy little Master’s project in MIS… or a senior thesis that absolutely crushes it… I already wrote mine. Who’s game?
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