No one wants to read your mindless poppycock –it’s time to {grow} up

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Anyone can blog, it’s a fact.  Not everyone should blog, it’s an opinion that some would argue is a fact.  I’ve been doing some in-depth research (like surfing the internet and talking to smart people) and have come to the conclusion that nobody wants to read a humdrum dissertation on a topic that you’re not an expert in.  But let’s face it, many blogs are based on opinionated rants or summation of the author’s thoughts on a random subject.  Oh, oh, oh, and they’re dripping in keyword-rich SEO butter.

It’s one thing to blog, and another thing to build a blogging community.  P.S. the latter is what the smart people I’ve talked are busy doing.  I asked some friends “Hey – who do you know that has built an engaged blog community?” MARK SCHAEFER  “Which blogger makes think about what they post” MARK SCHAEFER “Who’s blog has good examples of fresh content?’ MARK SCHAEFER… I can’t make this stuff up!  I gotta check out this Mark guy… and that’s when I grew up.  I introduced myself to him by vowing to read all 274 posts from his blog last year. It was my own personal {grow} project.  He said I should be given a medal.  I think I did receive a medal – and I’m going to share three of the prized lessons from a year’s worth of the {grow} community.

WRITE POSTS THAT ONLY YOU COULD WRITE - I didn’t waste much time seeking out his opinion, so I asked him to critique my first blog post and I LOVED his response.  “Your blog is boring… the reason is because you are not writing with your heart. You are being all safe and politically correct.”  YES!  That’s exactly what I needed (wanted?) to hear.  He was absolutely correct; it was a bunch of poppycock. I said what has been said thousands of times before with a little personal superhero touch. I am a leader but I’m not Jack Welch or Bill Gates. I should have related my personal experiences into the context of leadership.  For example, just because you once attended a seminar on personal growth does not make you Tony Robbins.  I see plenty of posts spinning what experts have already said but discard it because “who the hell are they?” If I want techniques for self-improvement, I’ll go listen to Deepak Chopra or another leader in that field.  However, if you talk about changes that you personally have went through and relate it to your readers, I’ll listen.  That, my friends, is what will help you build a community… write something that no one else could write.

DON’T BE SCURRED – BE PROVOCATIVE, BOLD, & UNAFRAID TO GO AGAINST MAINSTREAM OPINION – Let’s flashback to July 1^st of 2011 during the peak of everyone’s euphoric “Facebook-killer” hype machine talk .  Mark wrote a post titled For Google – The Party Is Over Before It Starts and boy, he was slammed in many comments.  I might have even saw a few death threats, you’ll have to double check on that.  Google+ isn’t exactly dead but I’m pretty sure that it didn’t kill Facebook!  I gave him a virtual pat on the back because most wouldn’t have dared to rain on the G+ parade at the time.  Another provocative, Why Are The Social Media Elite Ignoring us also caused an uproar, but in a good way.  It was written nine months ago and had comments as recently as two weeks ago!  You even saw some of the self-proclaimed social media douchebag’s themselves commenting on this article along with average SoJoe’s who were now empowered with a voice.  Each of these entries was risky in their own right but there was a reward with hundreds of commenter’s. This is another way to create your network – Be Different! Now I wouldn’t recommend writing contrarian posts just for the sake of going against the grain but don’t be afraid to do it if you feel strongly about it.  If nothing else, people will respect you for it.

IF A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, HOW MUCH IS A VIDEO WORTH? – This Video Blogging concept isn’t new, but the smart one’s are really starting to utilize vlog’s to their advantage.  At least once a week, Mark would include a vlog either of himself or a pertinent video to showcase his point.  Really, if I were smart, this would be a perfect spot to embed my own vlog with a short message about using video to take the next step in your blog.  I’ll be making my appearance soon enough, but in the meantime, watch Michael Q Todd’s vlog about vlogging or Mark’s interview with Helen Brown once you’re finished here. Michael Q Todd is another smart guy but I digress.  Look at some of the yahoo’s on YouTube… these wacky folks are getting millions of hits just for speaking their mind on video.  I use the word “just” loosely because it’s very difficult for some people to put themselves out there like that.  But what’s the worst that can happen?  Someone hits the dislike button on YouTube?  Oh well, that might be better than not getting any hits on your regular ol’ blog.  Trust me, if it’s working for the smart people, it can work for you.  Heck, maybe you don’t write very well but still want to blog… put on your game face and get in front of a video camera or phone.  It very well could be the foundation needed for you to build an empire.

Not finished yet – it’s time for bonus material! I asked Mr. Schaefer for 3 ways that he wants his readers to {grow}.  His first response ties into what I spoke about above – To build a network.  I didn’t explicitly state that because I thought it was an assumed goal.  Maybe it’s not, but if you follow these three keys, you’ll surely be on your way to building a network.  Secondly, Mark recommends sharing meaningful content… in other words, no poppycock!  Lastly, he wants you to be authentically helpful.  That’s a human aspect that is often overlooked.  Fortunately, Mark practices what he preaches, because had he not stepped in, I might have pumped out some more mindless drivel!!! This piece isn’t meant to be all-encompassing, so please help add to the discussion with other takeaways you have from the {grow} community or any other blog.