Jason Calacanis thinks so.
> Bloggers spend more time digging, tweeting, and SEOing their posts
> than they do on the posts themselves. In the early days of blogging
> Peter Rojas, who was my blog professor, told me what was required to
> win at blogging: “show up every day.” In 2003 and 2004 that was the
> case. Today? What’s required is a team of social marketers to get your
> message out there, and a second one to manage the fall-out from
> whatever you’ve said.
>
> Think: Nick Denton has reworked the bloggers pay at Gawker Media to
> reflect not the quality of the words but the number of page views
> those blog posts get. He doesn’t pay by word count, he pays by page
> views. He’s closed the loop between editorial and advertising, turning
> the Chinese wall into a block party. It’s the publishing promised land
> while simultaneously being the death of publishing. Gawker is growing
> page views while simultaneously destroying it’s brand equity. This
> will either result in an implosion, or the perfect id-driven magazine
> where our core desires are synchronized in relation to their
> marketability. It will be fun to watch, but I wouldn’t want to be one
> of those bloggers in the cage, running on the Denton’s wheel.
>
> Excelling in blogging today is about link-baiting, the act of writing
> something inflammatory in order to get a link. Many folks say I’m
> responsible for link-baiting–these people are absolute idiots. I’ve
> never tried to get any of these insecure, lonely freaks to link to
> something I’ve said.
In many ways I agree with him but only for those that want to write a weblog for a living. I write because I want to write, not because of stats, page views, or what advertisers want. I don’t really think people care if I continue this or not but I do because at the end of the day because I want to, not because my mortgage is dependent on it.
I know this is kind of old school but if you want a better blog, become a better writer. The rest will take care of itself and you will enjoy it a whole lot more.
Well, you don’t know me, Jordon, but I don’t know how many times I’ve thought to myself: WWJB? (what would Jordon blog)… Or something along those lines. You know, those times when I feel like quitting, or feel like nothing I write matters.
I’ve read your blog for a long time, and have always appreciated that you just write what you want to write. So, thanks for blogging the way you do.
The “fill-in-the-blank is dead” musings should be dead. I’ve seen it with poetry, print, art, conversation, spirituality – all in hopes of getting blog hits or newspaper sales. And so far none have been prophetic. Well, hopefully the SUV is dead. I hear they look nice stuffed and mounted over the fireplace.
Didn’t Dooce just get 42,000 comments trying to give away a Wii?
I still enjoy visiting my friends blogs and seeing what they’re thinking. But none of them have given me a Wii. They are dead to me I tell you. DEAD! (Please send Wii. It will help me with my writing.)
It find its worthwhile to pay some attention to SEO but I find if I spend to much time the joy of writing begins to evaporate. Writing for writings sake is king.