“Knowing that the journey takes small steps as well as huge leaps – and they all are important” – John Lee
What kind of a blogging journey are you on? Have you taken any risks? Not just the risk to put up a post, but maybe a risk with that post to per-chance to:
- Piss off your readers
- Get your facts wrong
- Create a backlash
- Be different
- Be vulnerable
- Invade privacy towards defamation
A huge sign of what it means to live in interesting times is for us to take a look at Social Media. In short it is the use of today's [one to many] to [many of many] as Wikipedia likes to define, along with a whole bunch of other input. One of the things they say is that it is "believed to be a driving factor in the idea that the current period in time will be defined as the Attention Age". Wow! I say don't even try to read all they say about social media if your not ready for some deep thought. What you and I know as bloggers is that we can reach many from one [I] to [you] to [others] and with taking risks providing good content the boundaries are unlimited. But in doing so you take risks. And some of the risk are stated above, but by all means it's not all of them. Please share some more in comments if you would in regards to your risks.
What Kind of risk do you take to build Traffic
To build traffic, you bring readers from other sites back to your home base and offer them incentive to return again and again via the value you provide there. Why do you do that? If your a serious blogger and motivated to build traffic for your incentive based blog then you take a huge risk. Risk in using your social connections by providing value to what you attract them with. In other words the content you provide must be a risk taking adventure for you. Ask yourself who's gonna see it and want to share it with the other many you hope to attract? Every time I blog I am risking. Risking that someone somewhere will see what I have to say and find some value in it. Whether I use humor, personal insight, or if I'm not careful I use anger and piss you off (not that I care sometimes) I am reaching out to you to fulfill a need. Maslow's hierarchy of needs tells us that we have a social need. The need to be recognized as a human, to be accepted, to love and be loved and as a blogger you can get some of these needs met. Just spend the day roaming the social media. Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, and others and see the risk people are taking just to have some needs met. Is there anything wrong with that? Not in my perspective. At least if it's not becoming an addiction. Whoa a whole new topic there Twaceples. But in short aren't you taking a risk in building traffic? I encourage you to learn about these social media outlets to drive your need of supporting your blog. I will expand on them more in the ways they are an incentive to me and why I use them in upcoming post.
We must know our Facts
On one of my other blogs I received a comment about the accuracy of the facts. It was from an anonymous reader who was clearly upset that what I had to say was not the way he wanted to hear it. So in other words I was 'being different'. He even thought that I was working for the company that I posted about. I let him know I only wished. But I tell you that to let you know I made a mistake. It was quite little in comparison to his rant but never the less it was a mistake. So I corrected it and forgot about it. What if that had been the company who saw it and didn't think it was a 'little' error? Well that's the risk we take if we don't research and get our [facts] right isn't it. It clearly made me think is this for me? Only for a split second as I enjoy what I do and I enjoy the rewards that taking risks brings me. Though sometimes painful and possibly humiliating it's the chance we take in being [vulnerable] blogging. And the rewards of the risk have far out weighed the rewards of no risk at all.
Risk to Maximize
Maximize your potential but don't do so at the expense of others. Don't put yourself in a situation of possible defamation. Get your facts right and be willing to take a risk and let readers know that it is your opinion, your thoughts or your review without creating a backlash. Sometimes this may be difficult to do as stated earlier. Your just not going to always get your facts right, your not always going to please every reader and most certainly not everyone thinks like you. So be willing to risk that what you say can and at times will be taken differently than you expected.
Risk content is King
Clearly, the risks around time, energy, creativity, authenticity, and vulnerability are important issues. The rewards however that blogging provides for you and your readers can be priceless. So many probloggers continue to stress the importance of 'content'. A unique point of view as well as new and edgy content is what it takes for a blog to thrive and grow. Keeping a blog on the cutting edge leads to another concern about time consumption, as blogs will not become successful overnight and take much work and dedication. Assessing your purpose and providing a unique risk taking point of view are essential in creating a successful blog.
Blogs, in one form or another, have arguably become the most important marketing, public relations and advertising platform available on the Internet. Another sign of what it means to live in interesting times.
