[...] posts as they streamed from your blogs. Read all about the stages of a blog here and then read more here. It is quite an eye [...]

[...] A few weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on the five stages of blogging, from creation to achievement. [...]

[...] Jeremiah: Offers an excellent 2nd option, by diverging from Stage 3 onwards – Stage 3: Focus This means finding your area of expertise that you’re going to write about. What are you an expert at? Focus in on that like a tight laser. [...]

Lifecycles of blogging…

I go through various emotional and mental stages with this blog. Now I read two bloggers who have tracked them in two different five-stage tracks. First, Kent Newsome outlined one lifecycle of blogging, from Excitement to Abandonment. Then, Jeremiah Ow…

[...] I’ve read many an article on blogging, success in blogging and also recently there has been conversations about how bloggers burn out and their blogs lie dormant. I don’t want this to happen to GLWYP. I enjoy blogging but want to make sure the blog is focussed towards a goal – not just wishy washy posts about nothing (although Seinfeld could probably get away with that). [...]

[...] Wow, I didn’t expect the commentary to continue to go on for so long, but I’m enjoying the discussion on this post about the five stages of blogging. Seth’s making some interesting points, and is really egging on more discussion from the various folks leaving comments. [...]

[...] about blogging Posted July 5, 2007 Tonight I read this post from Jeremiah Owyang on the other 5 stages of blogging. His take on how blogs evolve and can become successful, go from step 1: Excitement, step 2: Expectation to step 3: Focus, continuing with step 4: Passion and step 5: Achievement. It was his step 3 that set me thinking: Focus. Does my blog have a clear focus? [...]

“As a blogger, you apply passion (and of course leads to content that provides interest and value) will make the blogger into the achivement stage.”

Which refuses to recognize that, mathematically, due to the exponential nature of attention distribution, only a few people can (per topic) get to the achievement stage, no matter what. So, repeating myself, it tends to turn into a berating and exhortation of the frustrated alienated Z-listers who have been conned by the marketers.

Is the basic problem the following:

Marketing logic 101:

- Doing XXX is necessary
- Therefore if you do XXX, you will succeed

Compare:

- You need to drink water every day to live
- Therefore, if you keep on drinking water every day, you will carry on living

This is what’s known in mathematical circles as confusing “necessary” and “sufficient”?

“Lack of focus guarantees mediocrity” is NOT the same as “Focus guarantees success”.

Maybe Seth is sick of the hype, while others who continue to blog don’t do it because of the hype.

“You need to market yourself!”
“Well, I’m not really taking on clients; I have other work to do. I’m just trying to contribute to the marketplace of ideas.”
“Still, you need to market yourself!”

For others, Seth is spot on. You hit a plateau or a glass ceiling or some sort of barrier. You or your blog ends up not having the panache to move up higher. Some of the ‘gatekeepers’ help make this so by not engaging you in conversation via your comments…they only address comments by people on their ‘level’ or above.

Blogging takes time. It takes work. Got kids? A family? A job? A life? For some, if they’re not receiving the emotional benefits from it, it aint’ worth it to keep on typing away.

For others, the passion of what they write about and the exchange of ideas with whomever they’ve met is clearly enough.

you’ve some very interesting perspectives, you should write that FAQ.

“I want to reach people, and a blog is not working“.
“But little Z-lister, you can WRITE A DIARY”
“I don’t want to write a diary. My purpose in blogging is to be heard, and I’m not”.
“There’s many people who are happy writing a blog diary”.
“But I’m NOT DOING THAT!”
“Z-lister, are you *CRITICIZING* writing a diary? You think there’s something wrong with it, huh?”
“No, no, I’m sure there’s many people who are happy, but it’s not what I want to do”.

etc. etc.

I keep thinking I should write a FAQ, but nobody much would read it

Now I’m blogging about web analytics and I do it as a hobby. My blog is not ranking very high and I have never monetized it, but it’s nevertheless a very good social and professional networking tool that brings me a lot of satisfaction.

Regarding the snake-oil salesman, perhaps Seth was referring to the new gatekeepers: he had linked to it in his post (and it was my discussions with Seth two years back which inspired me to write that series).

I’ll disagree with Seth one point (significant as we agree on a lot); I think he had too quickly ignored the wildly different flavors of blogging (a point he has made before). There is the diary-style (serving oneself) and the persuasive-mode (serving others). In the persuasive mode there are two further types of basic activities: “sales marketing” and “idea development.” (These are admittedly different, and perhaps much more clear, than my earlier work on blogger archetypes)

Someone who is marketing their own services (such as Mark H. above, and perhaps yourself) can rightly well claim many of the benefits about using a blog to reach a wider audience. One can also spend their time on mailing lists, or leaving comments on other blogs; generally having your own blog helps build a brand identity.

Where Seth comes from is the discipline of “idea development.” Seth (and others, like Kent Newsome, Tristan Louis, myself, and others) are not professional web marketers. Personally speaking, it’s more of an intellectual pursuit to develop ideas and throw them into the wind. Many political bloggers are trying to get new ideas as well– though they find themselves competing against the “new gatekeepers” of political punditry, many of whom are now political consultants/operatives.

This is not to say that the “idea development” is a holier discipline. It’s a tougher discipline, and one often has higher expectations of success. And if one truly wants to lead an idea movement, one is often has to devote themselves full-time to the sales/marketing aspect.

There’s various levels of hucksterism – from cynical liars to troubled hopers to the Kool-Aid overdosed. Think of faith-healers. Some are in it as blatant manipulation, some try to resolve the conflict between what they believe and what they know, and some are just plain deluded. That holds true for religious evangelists and for blog evangelists. The problem is that both the liars and the true believers will say similar things protesting how could anyone doubt their honesty.

I’m not going to name names. There’s no point. It’s a distraction from the mathematics that in a lottery, even a small lottery, a few end up with a lot while many get nothing. How people deal with that varies, and there’s no point in calling out anyone in specific in this thread (hence it was not a personal attack).

Out of curiousity, Who are you referring to as blog snake oil salesmen?