Cory W

I quit smoking and am trying to lead a healthier life. So I haven't slept in a really long time. I write to pass the time. Thought this might be worth starting a decent discussion. It is simple stuff, but sometimes the simplest points are the first-forgotten.

-) Nothing ever trumps quality. If you have ever read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, then you know that Pirsig believes that Quality is indefinable, yet all things have it and are judged by the amount of it.

It doesn't matter if you know how a recording studio works, or if you have passion for records, if the end result is quality, no one can trump you.

Being the "first," while helpful, is still not as powerful as being "third" and having greater quality.


In this industry, we seem to have a couple of differing mindsets:

1) Be first
2) Copy first

In both cases, their is the element of originality. But that element is desecrated in one of two ways: Either A) The quality was low and greater quality trumped it. B) A series of copies are spawned limiting the potential audience.

The point of this is that if people would stop and think in terms of quality, rather than originality and / or copying, it would likely yield greater results. And those results would inherently be protected.




-) You shouldn't get caught up in how you intend to make money. Your only goal should be to sell your own opinion. People should want to have their product on your blog. That "want" is essentially an outlet for "revenue" for you. You must love what you are doing before you can ever expect a dime.



-) Create multiple voices. When I say voices, I essentially mean create other types of content potential that is still consistent with your flow.

If you are blogging about independent bands, you would obviously be doing reviews. Maybe add on a second voice which has you telling people what bandmenders favorite drinks are. I would create a separate icon for this.



-) Don't pay attention to search engines. Again, target quality; your greatest, most productive traffic is word of mouth and bookmarkers.



-) Encourage people to bookmark and encourage comments. I would even create a new name for comments. The term "comment" is saturated. If you were reviewing bands, I would change it to "sing it baby!" or whatever you think of that fits.

Make sure you comment and make sure you have an opinion.



-) Target a limited audience but use content that has greater potential. If you review bands at The House of Blues:

Bands = content with greater potential

HOB = Limited and workable audience.

For achieving the audience, you simply tell the patrons of HOB that you run the blog. You also tell the band. Once you get a flow of people checking it out, you ask to speak to the Manager of HOB. You ask if they would like you to post their calendar events on a weekly basis. The great thing about this is that you have now created an environment which you can control. You are now in a position to deliver content in a slightly experimental way. In other words, you can test different deliveries and find out what people like on the small scale. Once you have it down, you move on to bigger stages. And to my point about Quality and reference to Pirsig earlier, you now have the ability to figure out how to have some level of "Betterness."

Just a few thoughts I had.

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Forkbeard

I have been blogging for many years now and I can say that this is very good advice. The points on quality and ignoring the search engines in particular took me a long time to learn.

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