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10 undeniable, unspoken truths about blogging

February 9, 2011 By

(Reading time: 7 – 12 minutes)

Having just about bounced back from a particularly tardy finish on the blogging front, I’m probably in a great place, yet terrible time to uncover the truth about blogging.

I just found that there are 15 million blogs on the web. Now there are 15.2m. By the time you read this there will be more blogs than phones and people combined. Here and on Mars.

Having a burning desire to learn from as many people as possible, I’m quite frustrated that I might never be able to get round all these blogs. But this can only be a good thing. Not everyone has something valuable to say. And God forbid, there may be other sites out there like this one, and like me you might prefer to experiment with sticking hot pins in your eyes rather than risk another error of judgement.

I only wish when I started at the University of Blognor in Wales (well it exists in my head) I knew the stuff I know now. I might have chosen cookery instead.

See, when it comes to blogs, they don’t say:

1. The clock moves faster

I swear it wasn’t 4.30am when I finally nipped and tucked this blasted site into submission. I had undergone hair-stripping angst at the categoric failure to fix my broken comments system. The problem resulted from my lack of focus on the intricacies of point 5. If you take pride in the content you manufacture, then the chances are the time will fly at a speed exceeding Richard Branson’s spaceship. To entertain and captivate you I underwent years of training at newspapers, magazines and websites. I don’t believe the journey of education ever ends, but I did (falsely) believe that after nearly 15 years of writing this blog stuff would consist of a lightningly-quick post every day. In reality, we’re talking at least an hour every time. That’s an hour of my working day devoted specifically to you. I can’t start any earlier, because Princess loves snuggles and won’t sacrifice any of them for your eyes. Start a campaign.

2. Care? Code!

When I started this journey I was defiant – I’d have the skills I needed to captain a blog because, hell, I could write. And that’s what blogging is about, right? Well, wrong. If you have ideas above your station and want to get yourself a fully customised web presence, you can’t just rely on a free theme and a tickled ego. There’s CSS to learn, PHP to give you suicidal tendencies. Thankfully the web is replete with all sorts of funky things to help you step closer to madness.W3Schools has a great ‘spaz’ PHP tutorial list, echoecho can sort out your CSS catastrophes while lynda.com has fantastic video series devoted to both quirky ways to roll. And when you have questions? Try the excellent forums at SitePoint and WebmasterWorld

3. Making money is harder than impossible

This is a dark art as garbled as SEO right now. I’m sick to the core of people churning out self-serving ‘ways to make $$$’ eBooks. Actually that’s only a half-truth. If the eBooks work, then they are better than beer. But most don’t, believe me. The first thing you need to do is buy the OIO Publisher plugin which is just the most amazing way to manage and serve up adverts ever. If I can do it, believe me, you can do it with ease. The support and tutorials are superb and they even just launched a ‘wizard’ to install the plugin direct to your site (WordPress or otherwise) from the OIO website. Having said that, there’s some chap who puts out an absolutely genius ebook about why…

4. Pillar content rules!

It took me five years to get it.

To understand how you become a respected member of the electro-chattyverse. You write a single post or series of features devoted to removing someone else’s problem. It could be your problem. But if you document it and hit the nail on the head by scratching the itch, you have friends for life. My favourite pillar content creator du jour is David Doolin, aka Dr WordPress. Through experience and straightforward genius he saw there were still people in the world who wanted to set up a blog. So to those nine people (eight… seven…) David said: “Look – give me a weekend, and I’ll give you a blog. A bloody amazing blog!” And he pulls it off in such an entertaining and educational way, that even blog regularists will learn something from his wise 2.5 day tutelage. Start here.

And while you’re here, why not take up David to personally building your website over a weekend for just $300 – with every penny going to relief efforts for Haiti. [This offer is expired! But watch this space. -Ed.]

5. .htaccess matters

It matters so much it chewed six hours out of my Saturday night. That raised the hackles, let me tell you. I had no idea I had a .htaccess in the root of my server space which was reigning roughshod across my other blog sites. It meant my comments system was redirecting to a non-existent page. 404-tastic! It caused me a marathon head fug to not understand the true might of this security-driven file. It drove me mad. It drove my web host mad. But we got there.

The difference between needing to know .htaccess at a basic level is the difference between hosts. I didn’t really need to know much at fatcow, but with clook, which is a really nice web host with the best support imaginable, it mattered. Check out Josiah Cole’s ‘almost-perfect .htaccess file‘ for WordPress and change all the yourdomainhere.com elements to, well, your domain name before uploading it to the root of your blog site. And check out more about .htaccess and the power it wields over everything you blog.

6. Plugins are inherently evil

They make things slow. There are exceptions like WP Super Cache and Headspace2 SEO and the Google Analytics for WordPress plugins but in most cases these days either WordPress has filled in the gaps the plugins plugged, or you can fix some code with the limitless guidance on WordPress hacks from the likes of Jeffro’s WP Tavern, Digging Into WordPress and Marko Saric’s How To Make My Blog.

7. Permissions

Permissions can mess your site up royally. They’re either impassable sentinels or free-for-all and there seems very little middle ground. One thing you need to know is how to change them when you suddenly come up against a brick wall. Make absolutely sure your code isn’t at fault then dive in to the Permissions on an individual file level, before changing the Permissions of an entire folder. You do this in FileZilla (my FTP client of choice) by right-clicking on the file and selecting Permissions. If what you’re doing is blocked, go for 755 and if not, 777 (but unless absolutely necessary, restore its previous Permissions because leaving the gate widen open – as 777 does – can be a security issue).

8. You gotta write like a literary ninja

I’ve decided to banish all evil scribbling from the web. I’m hoping this will be a crowdsourcing strategy. I may use that Mechanical Turk website but I’m thinking it would probably cost Barack Obama’s annual salary alone just to get rid of the spelling mistakes from websites operated by bed and breakfast joints.

Since my pockets are not bottomless I have decided to adopt a slightly different tactic. I will be helping everyone around me to write better instead. Watch this space…

9. You need a book

You have four options: The WordPress Bible, Digging Into WordPress, How To Be A Rockstar WordPress Designer and the frankly now-outdated WordPress 2.7 Cookbook. Let’s roll with it: Digging for code, Rockstar for design, Cookbook for a smorgasbord of everything. Like a finger buffet with chicken and mushroom Toast Toppers vol-au-vents. Don’t lie – you love ‘em too!

Check out frameworks!

It’s the future for everyone. There – I said it. Frameworks are the skeletons upon which you mould the flesh of your site. So you start with an impermeable (but basic-looking) foundation with all the code you need, then using CSS and a bit of PHP (realistically, as much as you feel comfortable with) craft your own unique blog site. Thematic is incredible. Hybrid – a Justin Tadlock production – shows incredible potential and he’s even dispensing solid insinuations he may soon be working on a model not dissimilar to the ‘tailor your own home page shifting blocks about’ concept first employed at the BBC website. Focus on these. There are others, but for invaluable support you can’t go wrong.

Dave Thackeray Want to be a radio star? Guest on Dave Thackeray's InspiRadio, a unique business-focused online radio network. Listen live or check out the InspiRadio website for more information.
Filed Under: Blogging business Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Smash Your Learning Curve with Mentoring – Saturday Morning Surfing

November 6, 2010 By

(Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes)

We hear the incessant drumbeat of “niche down, niche down, niche down,” with very little guidance on what that really means.

Part of what “niche down” means is narrowing your scope, and possibly going deeper. When we’re building authority, it certainly means going deeper.

Building authority means moving beyond repeating information everyone else knows. It’s understanding the real questions, knowing some of the answers (or where to find the answers), and being able to communicate the information you have acquired as knowledge others find useful.

It turns out I know how to do this, this building authority stuff.

It also turns out it’s not that hard to understand.

There’s two key elements:

  1. Establish the absolute facts whenever possible.
    This can be tough in technology, because facts can change fast. Consider keeping up with facts as process, not problem.
  2. Stay the course; outlast anyone spreading contradiction.
    There are a vast number of people writing – publishing – in Blogistan who practice Rumsfeld’s dictum of unknown unknowns. I call it the Echo Chamber. It’s full of parrots. Don’t be a parrot. Don’t argue with parrots either. Keep your facts straight, the parrots will eventually fly away.

Simple, right?

But not easy.

Facts can be slippery, and staying the course can be tedious.

Think about it. Since you have started web publishing, how many bloggers have disappeared? Even bloggers with substantial traffic and loyal readers. Bunches. Gone. They didn’t stay the course.

If you’re willing to dig for the facts and stay the course, here’s what I can do for you:

I can smash your learning curve flat flat flat.

There’s no getting out of doing the work, but let’s do the right work:

  • I can teach you how to rip into just about anything you want to learn, systematically, and with intent.
  • I can help you learn the practice of your path to mastery.
  • I can help you determine what’s useful, and to whom.
  • I can help you get the facts straight.
  • I can help you set up your “authority infrastructure” to survive intellectual dormancy, evaporating motivation, and total loss of interest. (Hint: it’s a process.)
  • I can help you become – quite literally a world authority in your interest area. This is not bullshit. In fact, creating world authorities is exactly what I’ve spent years learning to do. I’m credentialed.
  • I can even help you figure out where, in which niche, you want to build long term authority.

That’s a lot!

But I can’t do it all… there’s plenty you have to do for yourself.

What I can’t do for you:

  • I cannot decide what is important for you.
  • I cannot guarantee that what you’re doing now, or decide to do in the future, won’t be a colossal waste of time. (I can only help you waste that time effectively.)
  • I cannot learn anything for you. You have to learn for yourself. That’s the point.
  • Learning can be pure BS&T; I cannot suffer for you. (But I might commiserate. A little.)
  • I can’t get you to market tomorrow, next week, or next month. (There’s gurus for that.)
  • I cannot help you become an internet marketer, or get rich at any speed.

In short, I’m more a mentor than a coach.

Mentoring is not coaching

There are differences between mentoring and coaching. Here’s my view:

Mentoring:

  • More collaborative. We’re working together.
  • Our vested interests overlap. What we’re working on provides mutual benefit.
  • Symmetrical: knowledge flows both ways. I learn from people I mentor as much as they learn from me.

Coaching:

  • More transactional. You pay for discrete chunks of knowledge.
  • Asymmetrical: knowledge moves one way, from the coach to you.

What I know how to do works for building authority regardless of market. It works equally well to master crochet for lace doilies as it does PPC advertising.

If you want to build marketable authority, here’s what I suggest.

  • First, do your market research. If you don’t know how to do market research, join a forum, get coaching, hire a consultant, whatever. Find a guru or something.
  • Then, and only then, we’ll talk about building your authority in that marketable niche.

Sound interesting? Read on…

How mentoring works

Mentors help smash the learning curve in many ways. Mentors have big picture experience. A good mentor can help you avoid a blind alley, fruitless research, and can salvage and recycle work apparently done in vain.

Being mentored means being held accountable, and having someone on your side.

A good mentor will have a huge reservoir of ideas, notes, articles, references, links, contacts, and various and sundry miscellanea waiting for that enthusiastic someone to pick up the ball and run with it.

Maybe that’s you.

Currently, I’m informally mentoring 6 people out-of-band (that means I don’t write about it here) to help them build deep, long term authority in their niches. Long time readers (bofem) would recognize the names.

I have room in my schedule to mentor exactly three more people who want to go very deep into social media, or semantic web, or anything else within the purview of electronic publishing. Anything which provides mutual benefit is fine, pitch me.

If this all sounds fine and dandy, and strikes a chord, but you need more details, leave a comment and we’ll discuss it.

Filed Under: Blogging success Tagged With: , , ,
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