HTMMWYB was a quick read and full of practical, if useless to me, advice from experienced bloggers. Why, you ask, do I say their advice is useless to me? Well, apparently the commentators on Beta Dad's blog are correct; the keys to making money with a blog are shameless self-promotion and crafting one's posts around wildly popular keywords. "How do you like me so far?" has never been my style, and the idea of writing on topics because they're trendy rather than because they interest me set off bad creative-writing-class flashbacks. Not going to happen here.
So, I may never have more than seven followers (thanks for hanging in there, folks) and I'm sure I'll never have thousands of page views per month, but I'll still be having fun, which was the main reason I started this blog in the first place. That and keeping my head from exploding, of course.
It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.~ Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners)
You go, Beta Dad!
Chuckle... I agree with both you and Beta Dad. There's a fine line, and if it means you have sacrifice authenticity in order for your blog to be lucrative, the entire enterprise becomes contrived. On the other hand, for those who have the marketing genius to be able to successfully target large audiences with helpful information, more power to them. As for me, humble blogger that I am, the point is simply to have an entertaining creative outlet. Also a wonderful way, as you mentioned, to defuse an impending meltdown. ;)
ReplyDeleteYes! I respect those who can run a lucrative business from a blog, but I'm not one of them. I spend about an hour a day letting off steam on my blog and consider it a combined hobby and therapy session. Seriously marketing it would take way more time and effort and leach all the fun out.
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