Excellence in blogging

Posted on August 16, 2006 by Ian Betteridge

Shelley, commenting on Nick Carr’s post about A-List bloggers in Takes One to Know One:

Excellence is not the name of the game in weblogging. That is the not-so-innocent fraud. The name of the game is attracting attention, and writing skill and interest and passion all matter less than marketing skill when it comes to attracting attention.

This relates to a lot of the things that I’ve been writing about and thinking about of late. i’ve sometimes been cast in the role of something of a nay-sayer when it comes to much of the recent talk about the possibilities of technology, which is ironic given that I’m very much an enthusiast. I need to think about this a lot more.

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  • Bubba

    I don’t think it’s accurate for you to say that the Rough Draft guy claimed to “prove” anything. By placing the word “prove” in double quotes you’re indicating that you are quoting the Rough Draft piece, but that’s not the case. The Rough Draft guy doesn’t “claim” to be “proving” anything and the word “prove” doesn’t appear in his article. I think the guy’s article is clearly an opinion piece based on his own experiences, wrong though his figures may be.

    I think you’re just mad at being lured in by what I think you now correctly recognize as Dvorak-type baiting!

  • http://technovia.typepad.com Ian Betteridge

    Sorry Bubba (oh, how I’ve always longed to say that – it makes me feel so… American) but you’re on the wrong page. :)

  • http://ning.com/ Yoz

    I find the same thing happening to me. I’d like to write about all the stuff I’m enthusiastic about, but I keep overthinking it and never getting the posts finished and published. Naysaying – especially when you’re reacting against what appears to be a new and popular viewpoint (especially when it’s something that’s happened in the past day) is both faster and more tempting.

  • http://landof.opportunitv.com Frank Ruscica

    A transparent — and liquid — market for the ad spaces on single-creator media solves the problem, as adbitrageurs will profit from identifying and helping to popularize undervalued blogs…