The Great Vanishing of the Experts
Yesterday, Brook Durant wrote about how anyone can be an expert online. I came across that post while I was going through my Blogs O’Plenty links.
I went through each of the blogs in my list. If the blog was gone, substantially changed (some had degraded to junk ad sites–of course, they might not be the original owners either), or hadn’t been updated in a long time, I marked them and made the link a “nofollow” link. Next time around, if those blogs haven’t updated, I’ll delete them.
Afterwards, going through the list, I noticed that a number of the “make money online” type sites were now gone. What had happened to them? If they were experts that were going to teach you how to make money online, why are they no longer online? Did they retire? Or were they not experts to begin with?
Mind you, you don’t need to be an expert to provide valuable and useful information. Even your failures can be learning experiences for yourself and others. And, even if you’re not an expert, we are taught to speak with authority so that people will pay attention.
Of course, there is a difference between speaking with authority and misleading people, though bloggers often confuse the two. Authority is a way in which you present yourself and your ideas. It doesn’t require misleading people, though it is often abused in that respect.
Now, I’m not saying that any of these “make money online” bloggers did that. I am just making that as a general statement.
At any rate, the vanishing act shows one of the downsides of the online community. People are just apt to leave things behind and forget about them, leaving the rest of us to wonder what happened. Maybe they got rich and retired and just didn’t bother to put a notice up on their blog. Maybe they just decided blogging wasn’t for them, and just never returned to their blog. Who knows.
Of course, we cannot spend too much time worrying about those who have been left behind. We just have to keep moving our own projects forward.
I remember a few years ago when there was this “be an expert” craze. As time passes, it’s increasingly difficult to be the true lone expert on any subject in blogging. Most people can tell if you really are an expert. Look at Aaron Wall from SEO Book, now he’s a true expert and I’ve learned a lot from him. Now there are thousands of seo “experts” and it’s easy to know most are not. I think it’s better to have the “I know a great deal about this” image than trying to be the Jedi Master of all knowledge. Anyway, I enjoyed this article:)
Yesterday, I had an opportunity (which I declined) to review an SEO expert site. Of course, the link text they wanted was something very specific. It’s like, I see what you’re doing there…
I’m in the Entrecard netowrk and there’s always new MMO blogs popping up. As a matter of fact, Entrecard is becoming a haven for these types of blogs, with 500 in the Finance category alone. Who knows how many are in other categories.
Even if you’re not an “expert,” it’s all about dedication and moving forward. You’re proof of that, for one year now!
They probably read about Entrecard on John Chow’s blog.
Maybe it has something to do with the internet being a faceless medium, it’s easier to walk away without saying anything…
Speaking of which, your avatar isn’t showing up!
the other thing i’ve noticed while reading some of the “expert” blogs is that they seem to focus heavily on guest posts after they’ve raked in some decent cash. It’s understandable to have a guest post here and there, but they also re-hash their old content and post it like it’s new
(i hope my avatar shows up)
True, but the re-hashing old content is often important for getting new readers. Often, people won’t go through the archives and read old posts, so you need to point them out or recycle them into new posts. Finding the right balance between retaining your existing readers and attracting new ones is maybe one of the more difficult challenges in blogging.
But you’re right about guest posts. If they become too dominant, the site can become more of a portal rather than an extension of the original blogger. I’m sure, though, that if their income goes down, they’ll be quick to make some change!
Harry Truman said, “If you took all the experts and laid them end to end, they’d point in all directions.” I really enjoyed your article. As a teacher of computer programming and database design with 20+ years in the field before I took to teaching, I’ve found that the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. That’s why I’ve always been suspicious of “instant experts”. And in the early years of personal computing we had far too many of them. The industry still hasn’t completely recovered from all of the ridiculous “standards” they set… and probably never will. As for these instant experts disappearing from the web, I think that the internet simply reflects what has always gone on in life… just in a bigger and more widely visible way. By the way… I’m an online “expert” in model railroading these days. Wish me luck.
Very true. The most frustrating are the people that think they are experts in one field because they worked in a similar, although quite different, field. For example, someone that thinks they are a computer database expert because they used to file books in the card catalog at the library!
Good luck!
Yeh, you gotta love the experts within the blogosphere. No credentials, no expert is my mentality. And most simply don’t have any credentials so should refrain from calling themselves an expert, as anonymous as the net is though it’s just too easy to pull yourself off as an SEO expert for example as that’s one of the easiest fields to make such a claim.
I used to be able to get sites to the #1 position in Google in three days. Does that make me an SEO expert?
Thanks for stopping by!
I have a post request. I am hearing from more and more people who have lost their blogs, or just want to back them up. The latest is from a blog owner who is being threated by someone. They say that they might hack into her blog delete it, or mess it up. She is looking for a way to backup her blog. Since so many people what to back up their blogs I thought that it might be a good, and very practical post idea for you… just a suggestion. ;o)
Well, I haven’t done a Tech Tuesday in a while… I’ll look into it. Thanks!
I believe it was on Scott Boulchs blog that I first saw the word ‘DoRu.’ I totally agreed with him. If more people would strive to be DoRus, instead of Gurus, the Internet would be a much better place for all of us :)It’s been my experience that most Gurus are 1) self proclaimed Gurus, and 2) have no idea what they are doing, much less how to teach someone else how to do that which they do not have any idea how to do in the first place.
DoRu… I like it!
Thanks for stopping by!
I was trying to figure out if the post is about ‘vanishing bloggers’ or ‘vanishing bloggers who called themselves experts’ - because I disappeared for a few months recently from the blogging scene and Im no expert…. but it was due to a family tragedy. And I know a couple of good friends who are not updating their blogs because of family situations too and they have a huge reader base. So it all depends on individual situations I think.
It is also easy to tell if the writer is authentic or just misleading. Creating Passionate Users comes to mind. The blog hasn’t been updated in over a year and still has a huge following…. nice article though
“Vanishing bloggers who called themselves experts” is what the post is about. It was just something I noticed while going through all my blog links. Sorry for any confusion.
I know about taking off time from blogging for family and other considerations too. I try not to be too quick to remove a link, but the longer a blog has been inactive, the less likely it is that it’s going to be revived.
Which reminds me I have a couple blogs I haven’t updated in a few months!
What you mention is a prime reason I stopped doing blog rolls and the like. Everyone disappears. Too be fair I stopped blogging for about 2 months but then I never claimed to be an expert. Nor even anyone that people should read.
I just regularly check through my blogroll, though some of the others, like the Blogs O’Plenty, I don’t check as often.
I just stumbled upon a blog where the author had seemed to vanish, I left it without thinking twice.
Hopefully it wasn’t one of my other blogs!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting on this one!
Heh, a lot of people ask me how I make a living from blogging (okay, two people have asked… this year… but it was more than last year, so I’m qualifying that as “a lot”). I think I’ll stop saying things about providing good content, working on getting links, and just say, “I’ve lasted when 99% of other bloggers quit after 6 months.”
Of course, this is big talk from someone whose newest blog is only two weeks old. We’ll see if it survives as long as some of my others.