The Secret to Blogging Success
Kiss celebrity ass.
Lots of it:
Mr. Eng posts about 65 items per day, seven days a week, from the moment he wakes up “” sometimes at 5 a.m. Sometimes he doesn’t sleep.
Well, I got the no-sleeping part down, but that’s called kidz!
So this nice-guy celebrity blogger lured 3.3 million unique visitors to his site in December. His closest competitor, the not-so-nice Perez Hilton snagged 2.2 million unique visitors. Folks, the larger story here is: why do people eat this crap up?
The answer would be the same as for climate blogs: entertainment.
Meaning that more people find celebrities entertaining than the climate debate. We knew that already, didn’t we?
Now what’s entertaining about those celebrity blogs? I wouldn’t have a clue.
Bart, I think that’s up to climate/science bloggers to find more creative ways to engage a wider audience.
Last semester I talked about this with my class–in general terms, not related to climate blogging. And one example I pointed out was Carl Zimmer’s super popular Science Tattoo Emporium. The audience engagement with that was amazing.
On a related note, I would encourage you to read this recent post from Ed Yong. Lots of good tips for science bloggers on how to increase their reach.
While I recognize who the core audience for my blog is, in the back of my mind I’m always thinking about how I can break through to a more general audience.
I’ve never read either of those blogs, but the inter-active experience plays a huge roll in blogging success, IMHO. If you just create content without engaging the readers, people lose interest. We can watch TV or read MSM newspaper sites for that stuff.
I like discussing ideas and opinions. Participating through the online climate blogging site, has prompted me to alter my preconceptions. Plus I’ve learned a heck of a lot about all kinds of topics, I would otherwise probably never would have on my own through a traditional passive media experience.
Keith, very true. Nice post by Yong indeed and very relevant to the climate blogosphere, which seems to be very much an echoe chamber.
I feel like I lost virginity. I never heard about these dudes before and I would have been more than happy to keep it that way.
Sashka, are you being sarcastic, as in: “damn, now I have two more science blogs to read” or, serious, as in, “I could care less what they have to say.”
Laursaurus,
I still tend to think you had some initial interest in these topics that led you to climate blogs. The trick for Bart and I and others is to reach your friends and relatives, who perhaps don’t have the slightest interest in climate/env related stories.
I think you are offering a false dichotomy.
Nice avoidance. It’s not important, if you don’t care to be specific. It’s just that I didn’t get what you meant. Thought perhaps you’d could clarify.