I Am Now A Blogging Expert.
So I went to a blog seminar.
It was local, it was cheap, and it was mostly women. I’ll generalize and say everyone except me was blogging about parenting… either specifically, or as part of their platform. And crafts… In case you didn’t know? People love crafts.
It seemed everyone already knew each other—I felt alone in a sea of enthusiastic, competent bloggers. Like I was trying to fit in at a new high school.
I wanted to leave immediately.
This is what I learned:
- Social media is the new black.
- Social media is going to take over the world.
- Social media is more important than electricity, running water, and democracy.
- If you are not a social-media mogul, you might as well just pack up your blog and go home.
This is essentially bad news for me.
More bad news: The time to capitalize on the blog zeitgeist was roughly a decade ago. If you failed to realize this, your only hope for salvation is social media.
Here, in no particular order… your salvation options:
- Google Plus—the next big thing. Or is already the big thing, I’m not sure. Either way, you need a Google+ account. And you need that little button at the bottom of your post. And, theoretically, you should be asking people to click that. **Google is changing the way they filter searches, deliver information, and determine what is valuable. And: the worth of your content will soon hinge on your social media following… No pressure.
- YouTube—The second-largest search engine. Behind only Google. Now that Google owns YouTube…I cannot imagine the world domination you could ensure if you mastered both.
- Pinterest— I assume I don’t need to explain this. Go use it. You will be mesmerized and not come out for hours. And when you do you will be hungry and cranky and irritated that you just wasted three hours of your life.
- Twitter—anyone not using Twitter is an idiot. Thus, I am an idiot. And? All the other bloggers were on Twitter the ENTIRE time. Even while speaking to you, they were looking at their phone/ipad/laptop and refreshing Twitter. I tell you this: Twitter is HUGE. I started to get the idea that what you put on Twitter is actually more important than what you put on your blog. Which, I tell you, is disconcerting.
- Facebook—Up until a week ago, I was only friends with my two brothers and my best-friend. This was great. I could use the F-word at will, and mock my father’s affinity for Plato.
More importantly, being on Facebook allowed for the possibility that Michael Macaluso would find me and tell me how his fourteen-year-old-self never got over my fourteen-year-old-self, and tell me how he still remembers my white denim skirt and my green espadrilles and my giant hoop earrings. And how he still remembers the mixtape he made me with “Lady In Red” on BOTH sides…
What? That’s not why you’re on Facebook?
Assuming you’re not like me—this social media thing might be easy for you. And it does sound important: Facebook is the largest online audience you’re ever going to have, and access to it is free. Only an idiot wouldn’t take advantage of it. Repeat with Twitter. Repeat with YouTube. Repeat with Pinterest. Repeat ad nauseam with whatever the next big thing is…
Make sure your Facebook page is linked to your blog in a highly visible manner. Make your Facebook page an interactive extension of your blog. Ask your readers to join you on Facebook. (Please?)
Things I learned that made me sad:
- Your readership turns over every three months. This is pretty exhausting if you think about it. All that goodwill you thought you were building with faceless readers around the world? Does not exist. They’re going to abandon you. Soon.
- Don’t have too much text. People don’t like to read long posts. (I’ll assume you all stopped reading a while ago.)
- Blog readers love printables. As in, things you can print out. This can be a recipe, a how-to guide, a stencil, a coupon…
- Blog readers love top ten lists.
I should say that the seminar, and most of the participants turned out to be geared towards profitable blogging. Which wasn’t the kind of basic tutorial I was hoping for, but it was still interesting. There was a lot of talk about brands, branding, how to connect with brands, how to appeal to brands, how to be a brand, how to make brands want you… I am not the target audience for that topic.
However, while I don’t care about making money, I do care about writing something that people want to read—and then finding those readers. I assume this is a common goal of all bloggers…
So here is my open-ended question for you: what’s your goal? What do you want to accomplish? Are you using social media to get there?
September 23, 2012 @ 3:25 pm
Oh I forgot, I wanna be a rockstar. Have no problem admitting it! I want people to read me, I want them to enjoy it, and it’s really nice when some nice company pays me to write something I would have written anyway. And since I want to be a rockstar I’ll eventually hire someone to re-design my blog AND move it. It would so be worth every cent I pay them. First I’m working on consolidating a bit because I really don’t want to have so many blogs to move and it’s inefficient. But then I’m taking the show on the road–maybe I’ll open for the Bieb? LOL Talk about my idea of hell!
September 26, 2012 @ 8:55 am
I got away from these comments… because I could spend all day talking about this! Sometimes I feel like I spend ALL my time interacting with comments and reading other blogs and answering email and facebook messages… when I SHOULD be writing blog posts!! LOL!!
February 13, 2013 @ 11:54 am
Reading your blog is like crack. It is DOPE and I love it ! I have been reading posts for hours on end. My hair is standing up like a chicken. My house could crumble apart and fall down right now, and I won’t even notice.
So yes….readers are out there. YOU CAN WRITE guuuurrrllly ! Keep up the epic writing.
Onward and upward to blog-ville ! 🙂 xx
February 13, 2013 @ 12:00 pm
Oh crap, I see my wordpress gravatar is linking to an old blog I had about a hundred years ago on my previous post. *hot flash*
February 13, 2013 @ 1:01 pm
You are my new best friend. I will be over later to clean your kitchen… or your basement… or, you know, whatever… just make a list.
April 19, 2013 @ 4:19 pm
I find this fascinating. And amusing. I am a fairly voracious blog reader. Apparently I am underrepresented – no, UNrepresented – in any of these samples. (Though I see a LOT of other readers and commenters whose behavior appears to mirror mine. So I’m either in a different niche, or these people just charge you a fee and then make stuff up.)
Specifically:
(1) Everyone likes top ten lists – this has nothing to do with blogging. See, e.g., Leno, Jay.
(2) I find blogs because I trip over one that have content related to my online interests – mainly design and antiques. (Thus, I am here!)
(3) I stay for good writing, and compelling personalities factor in; but I’ll eventually leave a blogger who can’t spell. I’ll stick with one who is mean, until she (it’s usually a she) makes offensive political comments unrelated to the blog’s general topic. (This is 95% of the reasons I stop reading websites – even down to stfuparents, to my great shock [N.B.: I simply assume that all bloggers disagree with my politics, so that part is never shocking. I just don’t want to hear about it on a decor blog].)
(4) Once a blog meets the above criteria, if the author fails to mortally offend me, I never stop reading. I even consider that I have relationships with (less than crazy-famous) bloggers I read regularly. Most blog followers I have observed do the same. Obviously, we’re not going anywhere.
(5) If I wanted printed stuff, I wouldn’t be on the internet. Even if I USE your recipes (and I do – I save things I like in a special email draft. To heck with pinterest), I am not going to print them. My computer is small; it fits on the counter. So does my phone.
(6) I like pictures, but I like text more. (See comment about good writing, above.) My favorite blogger to read would be one to whose thought process I can relate, and whose self-presentation I find charming. More text is BETTER. I can always stop reading, but it’s annoying to have to write extra narration in my head.
(7) The only DECENT reason to use Twitter, Facebook, or any of these other tools is to RELATE TO PEOPLE. If you are reading someone’s tweets and thereby ignoring a living human in front of you talking to you (and you’re not INTENTIONALLY trying to get a stalker-y person to go away), you fail at life. No metric will ever change this. Being a “good blogger” is nice, but it seems worth little if you’re a bad human being. (And no, I do not think that is hyperbole. Although people tell me I am prone to hyperbole.)
April 22, 2013 @ 1:13 pm
I seem to revisit this post every few months, and feel differently about it each time.
At this point, I interpret the three-month-abandonment-rule a little differently. Now I think that there are two types of blog-audience: people who come for something specific… and people who come for YOU… and that’s probably further divided by the kind of content a blog has.
Also, it’s worth noting that this conference was all about brands/sponsors… and I am about neither, (although not by choice, I’d happily take a sponsor.)
I find that all of the blogs I’ve ever really enjoyed, either petered out and they stopped writing… or it becomes obvious that they’re trying to monetize, and it’s awkward.
I have a WAY better appreciation for both of those scenarios now, which I didn’t at the time. I also remember being frustrated when a blogger I really liked didn’t post more often… as though she (and yes, usually a she) was failing to entertain me quick enough.
I also think that the way I read blogs (like you,) is actually rare. When I started this, I figured any new readers would read me front to back… and now I get that’s not true. Those people are RARE. (And precious.) After a year of blogging, I think mostly people want pretty pictures. That they can pin.
And to further quote meaningless statistics, I just read:
90% of women have watched a youtube video in the last week.
10% have read a blog.
Fantastic.
July 22, 2013 @ 12:36 pm
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button!
I’d without a doubt donate to this brilliant blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding
your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward
to new updates and will talk about this blog with my Facebook group.
Talk soon!
July 22, 2013 @ 2:35 pm
Rare and precious here, waving atcha as I read my way through your entire blog, start to finish. (I’m a slow reader, but I’ll get there.) I agree with all of The Misfit’s points, and I read blogs the same way.
July 23, 2013 @ 3:11 pm
I love your blog simply because it isn’t all those things. It’s a happy place to be! Just like Pam, I’m reading your entire blog too! I want to see all the progress you’ve made on your house 😀
July 24, 2013 @ 2:37 pm
Just so you know we don’t all desert you in three months–I’m STILL reading this updates on this post! So we love you, we love your blog, you even made my husband laugh w/yr Craig’s List stories. He’s hard to entertain w/blogs–he’s a movie/tv person (not sure how we ever got together! lol) But wanted to let you know, keep on blogging–you may not be a rock star but in your own small area you are read and enjoyed often. Yours is one blog I recommend to friends—no pressure or anything! See ya at the next conference–my trick? Tweet before the conference, set it to be released at a certain time and enjoy the conference w/out tweeting—ah! Nirvana!
October 1, 2013 @ 4:56 pm
You are hilarious.
I love your blog.
I do not twitter or tweet.
I have a Facebook account but intensely dislike using it, I share your social anxiety.
I imagine you are my new best friend now, even though you don’t know me.
I’ve read a huge portion of your blog this morning, out of order. I felt compelled to comment which I rarely do. That’s sad that I rarely comment isn’t it?!?
As to reading a blog and moving on after 3 months… Not me…nope.
Other things, your wedding looked like a fairy tale.
You were a beautiful bride.
Be glad you didn’t buy the house on the river. Really. It would have been years of purgatory unless you won a lottery.
I’ll revisit your blog, to revisit you :o)
October 2, 2013 @ 8:56 am
I am not a blogger, just an admirer of Victoria’s awesomeness. Truly special. I don’t think there’s a chance that the readers wll abandon you after 3 months. You are in a class by yourself.
I read all of the post and the comments. Very interesting, even to someone who will never blog.
January 7, 2014 @ 12:42 pm
I also read every word and many of the comments on this post. I really enjoy your writing style, which is why I started and have kept reading your blog. I am not a fan of social media. In fact, I find that social media often hinders blogs that I follow or keeps me from wanting to continue readership. To me, blogging is about fresh content, something interesting to read and inspire me. Keep up the good work!
January 26, 2014 @ 8:46 pm
It’s funny, because you hit the metaphorical nail on the head. Trying to write, trying to blog, I feel like I am back in high school, starting a few days late. All the people already know each other, and the cool have been chosen.
I know I’m new. I know everything takes time. However, I still kinda want to be one of the cool kids….or at least have them know I exist.
For the record, I like words. Posts that are all pictures are pretty, but it’s not what I’m here for. I want to see what others are doing. I want to laugh at the stupid things previous owners have done to our homes. I want to be inspired to paint with colours, take risks, and occasionally fail.
March 6, 2014 @ 5:40 pm
I love it! Found you on Pinterest. Trying to figure out what to do with my blog. Love your writing style. Helped a lot. Gotta get a better handle on the social media…Twitter…. Is exhausting. Sorry… I just don’t get it.
March 6, 2014 @ 11:11 pm
I just read all of this again, including the comments. Not sure what it says about me. I clicked over to read the latest comment and got started, didn’t stop. You, and your readers, make comments worth rereading. I don’t tolerate boredom well, or writers who are trying too hard, being too too cute, only posting pictures. This seems to be a gathering of intelligent, thoughtful people. My opinion, for what it’s worth.
April 17, 2014 @ 12:45 pm
I just started reading your blog from the beginning this week so I’m up to here now. I like your sense of humor and your renovations. I redid my kitchen two years ago and am currently saving my pennies to redo the 1964 upstairs bathrooms. You have made some of my search for materials a lot easier.
I read blogs that interest me – mostly cooking, renovations, and gardening. I have a facebook account and that’s it. I don’t even have a cell phone.
As for social media, I read something in the paper (yes, the real deal that lands at the bottom of the driveway every day) about someone’s uncle dying and the niece offered to inform the family. She used social media. The family, who didn’t know she did this, was hurt and confused that very few people attended the funeral. The rest of the family was horrified when they found out after the funeral.
October 8, 2014 @ 4:53 pm
I share the distrust of Twitter voiced by most commentors. I don’t see how very much worth reading can be said in 140 characters or less. I’m biased, though, as my verbosity is legendary. Okay, so is my hyperbole. I could never abide by the “readers hate long posts and love pictures” advice. My blog is all about spirituality and mysticism so what am I going to do, take selfies of myself meditating? I am on Facebook on a professional (www.facebook.com/BridgeTarot) and personal basis but I have had the same experience as a previous commentor: everyone and their mother will like a post about what orifice my son shoved his breakfast in today but post a link to my blog update and the only ones to show up are my mother and the crickets! (See what I did there? I’m clever right? Please love me.) It’s really hard to get readership, especially in a small niche like mine, and it’s even harder to not feel like you’re alone in the wilderness shouting at the trees when that readership doesn’t materialize out of magic and dreams. I don’t know when you originally wrote this but you definitely have a very respectable fan base now! Thanks for the fellowship and inspiration! It helps to know that someone I consider a blogging icon has had similar misgivings.
December 22, 2014 @ 4:07 am
Hi there,
I have just discovered your blog and have started reading from the beginning. I look at lots of diy home blogs. It’s what I love. I like blogs where there are lots of words and photos. When I come across a new blog I like I usually read all the posts and then check the blogs every few days to see if there is anything new.
Some of my favourite blogs have changed a lot. Eg DIY Showoff. I loved that you could just scroll through the posts but this has all changed now and I find it difficult to find my way round. I also think that the blog was probably so successful that the blogger could afford high end stuff. So I have stopped reading it. I am interested in decorating/renovating on a shoestring.
I love Manhattan Nest and subscribe to the posts so I dispute that your audience will change every 3 months. My favourite blogs are like old friends.
Find your blog hilarious and will read every bit of it!
Cheers,
Maureen
January 13, 2015 @ 4:30 pm
I love your long posts! Please don’t ever shorten them for my sake. You are hilarious and I read every word!
July 14, 2016 @ 12:43 pm
So, I am just finding your blog…and I started reading it from the beginning because I like it so much. I just love the way you right and all your craigslist finds. When I used to live by a city then I would find things all the time from craigslist. But now I live in a rural poor area of West Virginia and they just don’t have anything I like. BOO! Anyhow, I started writing this just to tell you that I have been reading the same blogs for over five years…if I love your blog I will follow until you get writing (maybe blogs have done that to me, sad). So don’t worry about what they have said…you seem to be successful I guess since you wrote this about four years ago too!
August 31, 2016 @ 2:20 am
I don’t know the average age of your readers, but I’m in my early thirties and just started reading your blog. I read blogs because I like the content and because I like the personality of the person writing. The right person can make any content interesting. I also don’t have a Twitter account, but I do have Facebook and Pinterest (so much pretty!). A blog I really like though, I’ll make the effort to seek them out, not the other way around. I love your blog – you and your husband remind me a bit of me and my husband. We would love to restore an older house. I have my eye on a 1906 one now (in a city that requires my husband to get a new job, but you know… I need a house with an original stained glass window. I NEED IT. Does it have A/C? No. Does it have peeling plaster? Yes. BUT THE STAINED GLASS.). Keep up the good work! 🙂