Many bloggers, especially those looking to make a few bucks online and quit their day jobs, turn to the “pro bloggers” for insight on how to accomplish that. While typically the pros have good advice, there are times when their suggestions can lead to the inevitable doom, death and destruction of your blog.

Let’s examine that advice, shall we?

Write About Your Passion

I think I have read this bit of advice from just about every pro blogger whose blog I’ve read. John Chow. Problogger.* Maybe Shoemoney too. It’s like a blogging mantra. Write about your passion. Write about your passion. Write about your passion. Repeat it three times, click your heels and the money will follow.

The problem is that what you’re passionate about may not have very much income potential. Say, for example, that your primary interest is yourself. You’re very passionate about yourself and sharing all the details of your life. Sure, you like certain products, but you like the way they make you feel about yourself. The technical details are, well, who cares so long as it gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. But just because your new toaster oven makes you feel all happy and excited inside doesn’t mean that anyone actually cares about reading about it.

How well does the toaster oven work? Does it take up too much counter space? Those are things your readers may want to know, but you’re more interested in talking about how well it matches your kitchen decor or that your grandmother had one just like it. Maybe the electrical shorts out on it; do you have bad wiring in your kitchen or is the toaster oven defective? Your readers will never know, because you don’t actually use the thing. You just like having it in your kitchen because it reminds you of the times you spent baking cookies with your grandma and how you used her toaster oven as a place to set the mixing bowl while you rolled out the cookie dough on the counter top and cut them into animal shapes.

You’re passion is you, and unless you’re Ellen Degeneres or Britney Spears or Brad Pitt or Jon Stewart or something, or are willing to post pictures of yourself naked next to your brand new toaster oven, there’s not going to be much potential for your blog. You may find a few new friends, but you’re probably not going to be able to quit your day job if you’re just writing about yourself. Unless you’re funny. Or entertaining. Or naked.

Leave Comments on Other Blogs

The probloggers advise you to leave comments on other blogs to help promote your own blog. But, there again, that could be a recipe for failure.

Let’s imagine that you read a great post on another blog on how to fix your finances. So, you leave a comment. And wait for the traffic to come flowing in.

But, it doesn’t.

You see, even there, no one cares about your toaster oven. They may have been interested if you had shared how it saved you money over using the regular oven, as it is so much more efficient at cooking a small meal for one than turning on the big oven. But, no, you decided to share the details on how pretty the box was that it came in. No one cares!

Except maybe for competitive toaster oven manufacturers looking for ways to increase sales to superficial people.

Use Creative Headlines

Probloggers also suggest improving your headlines to get attention and bring in traffic. But, clever headlines can also be the worst thing you can do to promote your blog!

First of all, again, no one cares about your toaster oven. Again, if you were to share some technical details, that may be helpful. But, if you’re just going to talk about yourself and how the toaster oven makes you feel, no headline is going to save you.

True, you may get traffic. But, it won’t be the type of traffic you want. “Toaster Oven Secrets Revealed!” may get you traffic. But those visitors will likely be looking for some tips on using their toaster oven or some details they need to know before purchasing a toaster oven model. What they won’t be looking for is the fact that your grandmother was able to keep as a secret for many years that the toaster oven didn’t work and instead she was cooking your meals with a blowtorch she kept hidden under the sink.

Likewise, “Hot and Raw in the Kitchen!” isn’t going to get you the traffic you’d like either.

Get the Attention of the Probloggers!

Another piece of advice that will never work for you is the concept of getting a problogger’s attention. Link to them. Write about them. Send them something. You do all those things in the hopes of getting their attention and hoping they’ll mention you (and link to your blog) in one of their blog posts, which will bring visitors flocking to your blog.

Before we go there, let’s reflect back on your childhood for a moment. Remember when you used to struggle for the teacher’s attention? Ms. Fairmont posed a math question. You eagerly raised your hand, nearly jumping out of your seat, hoping she’ll call on you.

But, she didn’t want to hear about your grandmother’s toaster oven and, after a while, she stopped calling on you.

The situation is pretty much the same here. The probloggers really don’t care about your toaster oven either, and they’re probably not going to link to you.

Unless maybe you cook them lunch with your toaster oven.

Pity you didn’t take an interest in your grandmother’s blowtorch. Cooking up lunch with your blowtorch would have been better linkbait.

*Yes, I know the post I linked to mentioned finding a popular topic and one that has potential income streams, but I have decided to completely ignore that for the sake of this post.

Popularity: 3% [?]

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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