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What Type of Blogger Are You? (Ridiculous stereotypes, partly true)

by Dr Wordpress! on November 7, 2009 · 10 comments

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The curious thing about stereotypes is there is invariably a kernel of truth buried somewhere. And they are usually ridiculous generalizations, even with that tiny kernel of truth. But tongue-in-cheek, almost everyone recognizes certain stereotypes in themselves. I know I do. And I know which type of blogger I tend to be. Which type do you tend towards?

The Department of Ridiculous Stereotypes requests you please categorize yourself according to the following guidelines.

Type I Blogger (The Dramatist)

Your writing is emotionally driven.

You can pump out articles as fast as your brain can drive your fingers. The disputable facts are irrelevant. Or inconvenient. Or simply not important.

When you’re entertaining, your audience is huge! But the days they don’t love you, they hate you. For betraying them… for toying with their emotions… for coming out as a closet Republican (or Democrat or Tory or cat lover or whatever). Or maybe just for you being you.

Type II Blogger (The Professor)

Your articles must be factually correct. You obsess about accuracy. Precision is your byline. Writing a single article takes you hours. At least. The more verifiable facts you need, the longer the article stays in draft.

Days. Maybe weeks.

And once you get started, you can’t stop. Each claim must be backed up, referenced with an authoritative source, preferably several.

When you finally get it right, search engines love you.

(Disclaimer: I have a dozen of these articles in draft mode.)

Type III (The Expert)

You’re the absolute domain expert. The facts are what you say they are. You crank out dozens of articles really fast. Who’s going to argue with you? The competition? You have no competition.

You’re right because you say you are.

And you have the fan club to prove it!

Extreme John pops up with a claim of writing 73 articles in 24 hours… on the tanning salon business! Since John has been in the tanning salon business for years… this makes perfect sense. It would take me all day to 1 article on tanning salons. I don’t pity any fool trying to take on John in the Blogging For Tanning Salon arena. They’re going to get it handed to them. They deserve it.

Type IV blogger (The Artiste)

Writing is your agony. Your punishment. Your salvation. You are…

The Artiste!

And blogging is your art form.

You peer down your nose at lesser mortals, people believe writing is simply tradecraft, people who actually make money writing. Such is not for you!

Ok, maybe you aren’t that bad… but each level of detail and refinement you incorporate takes time to master. 90% of your writing you do in 10% of the time. Writing last 10% takes the other 90% of the time.

When you master your form, your fans are rabid, slavering pack animals shredding all and sundry detractors. Until then, you’re simply misunderstood!

Type V – Grandmaster

In the beginning, a blog post is just a blog post.

As we evolve and master our skills, we learn so much. We learn about list posts, about copywriting, about short and snackable, about catering to the attention-deprived with scannables, about satisfying our audience. Then, when it’s all said and done we learn something old that’s new again:

In the end, a blog post is just a blog post.*

Are you a Grandmaster? Are there any Grandmasters?