Category Archives: Problogging

Stepping on Toes: Too Many Overlapping Blogs

9 Replies

So I work for Splashpress Media, and back in the day they acquired a vast number of blogs to build their business and while this was probably a fairly smart move on their part, it is, at least in my mind, creating a small issue: we now have too many blogs and services covering the same things.

Take blogs about Blogging for example. Splashpress Media has no less than four blogs totally devoted to this subject. There is the Blog Herald, 901am, Blogging Pro, and Performancing. You could even toss both Wisdump and Devlounge in there as well as they cover blogging related subjects fairly heavily.

Even worse, that doesn’t even include the nearly half a dozen other blogs that overlap into this same subject like the EatonWeb Blog and Blog Network Watch. Or our new ones that are still finding their audience like WordPress Philippines and Blog Tutorials.

It is starting to feel a little crowded in Splashpress Media when it comes to covering blogging and blog related pursuits and it has actually gotten to the point where it makes me a little frustrated.

I, personally, add content to the Blog Herald, and Blogging Pro. I was told that Blogging Pro was supposed to be “the source” for WordPress related news, as that is the slant and audience it has almost always had, but now I feel like I am competing against my colleagues on the other blogs. Who are, rather than helping me do my job, are trying to post as much news as they can on the Blog Herald to build it up bigger and better.

While I can understand that they want to make the blog they write on “the best”, it really steps on my toes and puts me in an odd position as I work alone on Blogging Pro compared to the dozen writers on the Blog Herald. They will almost always have the better odds when it comes to finding WordPress related news, and this is already apparent when you look through the last week or two of the Blog Herald as they consistently scoop Blogging Pro on WordPress related news and developments.

This is one of the issues I have been struggling lately, and it really ruins the enjoyment I get from my job having to compete against co-workers rather than working together.

While I am sure not many of you have had to ever deal with such a problem, as even most of b5media’s vast number of blogs have fairly well defined borders, I would still love to know what you all think of this problem. Have you ever had other bloggers “step on your toes”?

What do you think would be the wisest move for Splashpress Media in dealing with so many closely connected blogs?

Originally posted on April 14, 2008 @ 5:49 pm

Why I Won’t Hire a Google Blogger Blogger

8 Replies

In looking for people to help write content for some new project ideas I have, I have been sorting through resumes, blogs, and all sorts of material that people are sending me to prove their worth, and one personal thing I noticed is that when I see a Blogspot address I immediately cringe. Sure, Google’s Blogger platform has gotten better, but it still says to me that the writer wasn’t willing to spend their time and money to set up a WordPress blog.

Also, there is just so much spam on Blogspot that I don’t understand why people still use it as their publishing platform. To be associated with a what amounts to nothing more than a spam site is just a little shameful to me.

Is it unreasonable to filter people out of a possible job because of the blogging platform they use? Probably. The best writer in the world could be on Blogger, but I will probably skip over them because of where they decided to host their blog. Yes, its free and easy, but as a geek, I guess I expect more from the people I work with. And if nothing else, it usually means they don’t have WordPress experience, something I need people to have to really do well in working with me.

Originally posted on March 10, 2008 @ 11:12 am

More on My Blogging Platform Preference

5 Replies

I just wanted to clear up a few things related to a post I did called “Why I Won’t Hire a Google Blogger Blogger”.

First off, this isn’t the opinion of Splashpress Media or any other blog network. This is just something I noticed when I was going through some employment advertisements.

It shouldn’t matter which publishing platform a person uses, but just like everything else that people assign emotions to, I have a negative feeling about Google’s Blogger. I had bad experiences on the platform both as a user and as a reader. I find many of the people on the site, after working on a service that required me to manually approve blogs, have very basic blogs or very spammy blogs. After going through thousands of Blogspot blogs, I found very few that were well written.

The post was not to make anyone angry but to express something I noticed I was doing. The thing that is supposed to be so great about blogs is their openness, allowing personal opinions to come to light. My personal opinion is that Blogger isn’t a good platform, and when I see a blogger using it, I feel like they are ruining their personal marketing by being associated with that site.

Yes, as a person looking to hire people, it is a bit shortsighted to skip over them based on the software they use, but it was something I didn’t really even realize I was doing until a few days ago. Since then, I have been working on giving people with Blogger hosted blogs a chance.

Surely, you can’t all say that none of you have ever thought less of a person based on something they did or didn’t have, did or didn’t say? Have you ever thought less of a person based on the company they keep? Well, to me this is something similar. I feel like the people I want to work with would have the good sense to use a more fully featured publishing system. Be it Typepad, WordPress.com, Movable Type, Expression Engine, or any of the other millions of blogging systems or content management systems out there in the world. Adding to that, I really don’t care what e-mail system people use. They could be using the worst e-mail client ever, but as long as it sends and receives just fine, that is all I care about.

Blogging requires more skill than sending e-mail. Understanding different blogging applications, can take time, and as an employer, I am in my full right to request that people at least have experience in the platform I am using.

And while I am trying to defend myself and look at things from a different point of view, my key issue can only really be solved by being proved wrong. Something which no one has gone ahead and done.

One thing that Jan Karlsbjerg did do was bring up a very interesting point:

How do you feel about folks who use Blogger and FTP to their own domain? Is it just the “blogspot.” string that turns you off?

Before, I probably would have clicked on their link to their blog and looked it over. I guess the issue really is that I don’t want to walk in their front door knowing that their house is made from mud. Weird analogy, I know…

Hopefully, that helps clarify things. I really do agree though that it would be shortsighted to not watch out for stars on Blogger, and I hope that I haven’t filtered out a rising star based solely on where they’ve decided to host their blog.

Originally posted on March 11, 2008 @ 11:09 am

Expand Your Skills Beyond Blogging

4 Replies

Bloggers of the world, I hope I won’t shock or upset you when I say this, but if your only skill is writing, go work for a news paper or magazine. Bloggers need to have a wide range of skills, whether you are working for yourself or working for a blog network, the more things you can do, the more valuable you will be.

The average blogger in a blog network is just a content generation machine. It is the marketing, advertising, server team, and many others that really make most blogs into profit generation machines.

As we continue to move forward, one thing I am noticing is that there is lots of competition for blogging related jobs. So if you can’t set yourself apart from the crowd, you won’t get the job you are looking for.

Learn how to do more with the blogging software you currently use. Learn how to do marketing, advertising, basic server support, upgrading WordPress, and a myriad of other skills, as they will stand you in good stead.

I probably wouldn’t still be doing this full time if all I was doing was writing because, and to be quite honest, I am not that great of a writer. I love writing, but I am like a pianist that plays random notes and doesn’t know any real tunes. Sometimes it might sound good, but I am only faking it.

Thank goodness I know how to do other things.

Originally posted on February 21, 2008 @ 11:44 pm

Patience is the Key to Success

1 Reply

There are so many people handing out advice all the time on how you can become more successful that it can become so confusing. I am here to tell you that the only piece of advice that you truly need to become a success online is patience. I have been blogging for around five years now. I have been a full time blogger for two and a half years, and the people that are making the big bucks, getting noticed online, and will continue to do so are those that are patient.

Darren Rowse didn’t expect to make blogging his full time job. And even as he began to profit from it, he didn’t jump in hastily. He took his time, and took the appropriate steps to get to where he is today. The same goes for pretty much every other blogger out there. While it might feel like they all achieved success overnight, you have to remember that they went through a long process to get to where they are today.

I compare it to the old question, would you take a million dollars today, or starting today with a penny, and doubling it each day for a month? Those that chose the quick route are left with a million dollars. Those that took the doubling route end up with nearly eleven million by months end. (source)

Patience is more than a virtue, it is the key to success.

Originally posted on February 19, 2008 @ 8:53 am