I have this on good authority. The wonderfully-with-it young woman in our office who seems to know all about these things told me so. I’m not a good blogger because I don’t blog enough—it should be daily, allowing for occasional serious illness or family tragedy. She said I’m not self-absorbed enough to be a blogger (I’m paraphrasing what she euphemised). In reality, I am as self-absorbed as the next person, it’s just that I’m pretty sure the rest of the world isn’t so me-absorbed.
I told J that I wasn’t creative enough or smart enough to post a blog every day that was capable of saving the marketing world from itself. She laughed with me on this, but in the words of John Prine (the king of universally-literate songwriting), “she waited just a second too long”. [1] Apparently, a blog does not need to stay on topic, as long as it returns to it now and again. Bloggers need to bring other things into their posts. “You’re too deep”, she said, embarrassingly charitable at this point. Maybe it was “lighten up already”.
J pointed me to a friend’s blog titled “Sex, Society, Scribbles & Scenes”[2]. Strong lead, and an easy topic to have some passion for. Probably doesn’t hurt to have a content warning “pop-up” as intellectual foreplay. Good topic range (meaning more than sex) so it’s easier to post regularly. Okay, so a good blog needs to have some passion—hopefully vocational passion will do.
20-something J is a casual blog reader and has several favourites, but has never posted a comment. She is more than capable of doing so. Bloggers need patience—a lack of comments or listed followers does not mean your blog is unread. Blog page hits and click-throughs are likely more relevant, and very measurable. Because a blog is a conversation rather than a hard-sell commercial medium, it needs to work in concert with other media—at least if it has a commercial purpose.
Thank you, J and readers, for indulging me in this journey to self-awareness. I’ll try to be a better blogger. At least I’ll know a good blog when I see one.
- “Far From Me”, John Prine, 1971. About the amazing John Prine
- About a year after this post, J’s friend ended her blog referred to here, thinking it may not be a good thing for her online business.
