RSS Feeds: Pssst! Hey You, Blogger Wannabe, Wanna Know A Secret?
You hear all this talk about the "A-List"; you know, the kind of blogger that everyone wants to get a link from in return for a review or something? No, I'm not picking on John Chow (at least not this time), although it seems he would be classified as being on the "A-List".
Are you on the "Z-List"? You know, the kind of blogger that no one even knows about yet (or very few do)?
This is not the secret, but I'll let you in on something. There is no A-List and there is no Z-List. The A-List is nothing more than bloggers that work very hard at attracting readers and are very successful at doing so. Their reward is a larger paycheck, among other things. The Z-List is nothing more than bloggers who haven't found their "niche" or haven't applied themselves yet. Even though I've been blogging for 10 months now, and have seen my rankings get better and better, I still consider myself a newbie, but not quite on the Z-List anymore. Even after two years, I'll still consider myself a newbie — I still won't be anywhere near the A-List.
Here's the secret. To get on the so-called A-List, you have to connect with the so-called Z-List. Huh? Sounds like tripe, doesn't it? If you're a seasoned blogger, who's going to listen to you the most? The inexperienced. Who's going to link to you the most? The inexperienced. Who's going to visit you the most? The inexperienced! If you're a seasoned blogger, do you REALLY think your peers are going to help you achieve your goals? Not when they're competing with you. Oh, it might not be called that and many might deny it, but there's definitely competition. The newbies will not compete with you. If you're a newbie now, thanks for stopping by and reading. Sorry, I couldn't resist. If you're a newbie now, connect with as many other bloggers as possible, preferably those who are as new as you so you can learn from each other as well as the experienced bloggers.
You may ask me, how do I know this little secret? Because it's not a secret. The blogosphere (whoever coined that word should be shot) operates pretty much like the real world. The experienced feed off the inexperienced. Dog-eat-dog, or in this case, blog-eat-blog. When I'm doing my blog "drive-bys", do you know who I'm looking for? Yes, you got it. The bloggers who appear to be inexperienced. How do I find them? Well… I'll give you a hint: Technorati Favorites. What? You haven't claimed your blog at Technorati? Have you no shame? Some people use Technorati as a ranking metric, but I believe it's much more valuable as a resource of blogs that you want to read or "connect with".
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While the opinion of a self-confessed noob doesn't mean a whole lot, I think you've just nailed it RT. This makes the most sense of any of the "making money" stuff I have read since I started taking this blogging caper semi-seriously (not that I really take it all that seriously). It remains to be seen whether I have the commitment to make any money from blogging.
You need an ad here somewhere for "common sense" because to a degree that is what we are talking about here – although common sense is hard to spot sometimes when it gets lost in a lot of hype.
Thanks, Coach, but you need to get out of the bleachers now and get back on the field. :-)
I like what you said, but please stop the "niche" thing. I really don't get it..what's that? I read some blogs, and none of them has a niche. They speak about almost everything. Like I do.Because that's what I am. I am someone who read and listen to many things. I don't believe in people that try to convince me to write a blog about Guinean flowers or something..
But Please go on reading my blog and writing about it. You are the only good reader I have (together with Paula)
You got me thinking to what i did to my blog, nice idea. Another way to get an incoming link is to post comment to the sites you visited. Hope you could also visit my z-list site. =)
I'll make sure I go through your blog on my next "drive-by".
Some good info here. I kinda knew this but didn't have it on the top for easy viewing. This explains why there are so many "I'm a successful blogger and you can be one too" blogs out there.
If you don't mind, I think I might have to start using a whole bunch of your ideas. I'll try not to be too blatant about it!
Use all you want and be as blatant as necessary. I don't mind, really.
I totally agree with you RT although a lot of people I know don't practice that.. When I ask them for a link up (and it does pertain to a certain niche) you think I was asking them for the moon. It's frustrating but I have also run into very nice people who were more than happy to link back to me. I guess that is like the real world.. if I ever make it to the A list or even out of the Z list. I will always link up to blogs even if they are new… who knows.. maybe one day they will be on the A list and where would you be by then? Great post.
Very rightly said RT.
I really liked your post but I am not at all happy with the spam thing on here that just wiped out my previous comment for attacking you with the word…n*ce! Wow!
I do thank you for the DO FOLLOW since many do not have it. As happens, I have a DO FOLLOW blog or two myself.
Hey, Jaz. That's the Simple Spam Filter. "nice" is a common word in comment spam and its a good one to stop a spammer. All that you have to do is click the button to prove that you're a human and your comment will get approved.
Yup, was supposed to do that but it wiped out my comment. Grrrr. But it worked after that. Dunno what that was about other than it barfed on nice. LOL!!
You are right about that word being good to stop spams. I have been having a lot of that lately myself.
Sorry, Jaz, I didn't mean for the SSF to be irritating. I've been using the lesser of many evils in spam prevention.
Thanks, Corey, for covering for me while I was predisposed.
I understand. That day was just not good to begin with and that thing wiping out my comment (that I had not saved) was a pain. But I do understand completely about spam. I am getting these trackback things and spam from somewhere. None of the comments make sense at all and do not match the post put up.
I am going to end up with a captcha or something myself.
Anyway, thanks for this post. It makes sense to me, something not all that common anymore. LOL!