The A-Cubed Rule of Blogging
Adapted from “The A³ of ♥’s Equation For Attraction.”
The A-Cubed Rule of Blogging
The Three A’s:
1. Attentiveness
2. Adventurous
3. Audience
Got it? Let’s go over each one…
ATTENTIVENESS
“Eden is. ‘The kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it.’”
–Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers; The Gospel of Thomas
You’ve got to pay attention! This applies not just to what you write, but your whole blog experience.
Is your blog readable? Are ads or widgets getting in the way of your readers’ experience? Are the sites you link to still relevant? Are they even still around?
You need to pay attention to the small details. Broken links, broken image links, etc. make for a lower quality user experience. Worse yet, is if your old friend’s blog is now a porn site, because he quit blogging and never renewed his domain name.
Be mindful of not just the content of your individual posts, but also everything that surrounds that content while the reader is reading your article.
ADVENTUROUS
“There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold! Come on, Ace — we’ve got work to do!”
–The 7th Doctor, Doctor Who, “Survival”
Don’t be afraid to stray off-topic once in a while. Better yet, find a way to bend those off-topic posts back on-topic.
Take your readers on a wild adventure–an adventure of the mind. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to the Himalayas or the Coliseum or even Antarctica. If you’re creative, you can take your readers on an exciting ride through your grocery store, your backyard or even your refrigerator.
Heck, some of the A-listers get away with posting pictures of their dinner. Why not you?
AUDIENCE
“Actors should be overheard, not listened to, and the audience is 50 percent of the performance.”
–Shirley Booth
You also need to get your audience involved, not just by reading, but by actively participating in your blog (and you need to return the favor!).
It seems somewhat odd that communities form around blogs, especially since the previous incarnation of online communities were forums. But, even if you look back to those days, the most active forums were those that were led by one or a small group of people. Is blogging all that different?
Remember, the A-Cubed Rule of blogging isn’t all about you. It is about your readers and the experience you create with them–not for them, but with them.
I agree with your adventurous idea. It gets a little old reading about the same monetization and SEO techniques over and over. A good blog will have a good mix of ideas, topics and stories. I just think the blogger should always make sure that they are offering something of value back to the reader. A posting about my lunch shouldn’t cut it…
Now, you’ll have everyone curious. What did you have for lunch?
I had chicken and carrots with rice noodles. I didn’t take a picture though.
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