Blog space
At the conclusion of #Dblog week I had made an acquaintance of a couple of long time bloggers. I asked them to look over some of my blogs from last year and give some feedback. I suppose not surprising I got an earful. Since I am a ‘Do it Yourself’ blogger and diabetic I did not expect that either of them would say oh that is great, but still I was a little surprised at the reaction.
The back story is I have been toying with the idea of taking my blog offsite and playing in the normal blogger spaces like Wordpress, Yahoo or others and I wanted their opinions about the viability of doing that. My questions, could I attract a readership? Is it possible to hold a readership, if I get people to read it in the first place? Does my style and content add to or is it merely more words thrown against the wall?
So let me step back a minute and explain. I have been committed to the TUDiabetes blog space for over a year now. Bloggers drive content, content drives readers, readers make our community stronger and I want TUIDiabetes to be as strong as possible. The question of taking it offsite is really a question of traffic, can I drive enough traffic to make an independent site worthwhile?
As I stepped out into the greater diabetic blogging community I have become aware that while I do get a nice readership on TUDiabetes, I am not getting readership in the wider diabetic community. It is an area I would like to do better with. I guess the main question (left unanswered) is why I care? That part I have yet to figure out but to be honest I suppose I am vain, I like readership. So If I am cutting off an avenue to readership then well maybe striking out on my own is a palatable idea. It is not a new idea, I have been toying with the thought this year and I have been shifting back and forth about the idea.
So at any rate I asked a couple of successful independent bloggers to look over some of my stuff from last year and give me their opinions. I got the results over the weekend and frankly it did not improve my decision process one little bit. Here some of the general comments:
What I might call negative comments:
1. Your blogs are too long for standalone publication,
2. Your blogs are too dark, no one wants to read of your angst,
3. Your blogs have to be more funny to be read seriously, and
4. Your blogs are too academic, they contain references, this is not usually done in blogging,
On the plus side:
1. Your blogs impart information that is well referenced and easy to understand,
2. Your blogs seem to tackle social as well as diabetic issues, this is not normal in the diabetic blogging community and it makes your writing stand out,
3. You seem sincere. Good passion is important in blogging, and
4. You are consistent. You have fresh content on regular intervals.
Here is the thing, I agree with all those comments. I know it sounds crazy tunes but yeah I agree. I also think that is sort of just me. I mean let’s face it I will never be a ‘bright cheerful’ blogger. One reviewer suggested I need to be more ‘perky’ and less academic. My comment was well I don’t know if I can be perky? I mean let’s face it I might pull off quirky, but perky? Hmm that might not work so well.
I think the biggest rub was this business of too many references. I am trained to document statements and yes that is a bit academic in nature. In this regard I decided to look over some other bloggers. I did not find a single blogger who used references in their writing. Of course most did not tackle medical issues, but some did, mostly by telling folks what they believe or what truth is. Of course telling someone, without other evidence, flies in the face of my training. So I do not know if I can change that. It is like having chocolate cake and wanting vanilla, you are stuck with what you have.
So have I made a decision about going off site? No I have not. I am inclined to stick where I am and do my DIY blog and be out of the ordinary. Somehow I think there are enough words in the blog space without adding another independent effort. Besides I like TUDiabetes, I like the community, I like that the level of blogging has really increased in this past year. We are becoming as a place for blogs and I really like to think my 4 day a week blog last year had something to do with that. I value this community far more than I value my own space.
That being said, I have to admit I am a bit jealous when I read the diabetic blog space and see blog authors being given accolades for their efforts. I suppose I am just enough of an egomaniac to think my stuff is just as important and for that reason I want those accolades as well. Yet I do not know how to get them using TUDiabetes.
Now a good question remains, can I be perky? Well somehow I think the answer is no, perky is one of the 100 things I am not. Now quirky, I can do quirky. Let’s face it no other blogger in any diabetic space is writing about this topic today. I can quirkily guarantee that I am quirky, and yes I think that makes me unique. Maybe TUDiabetes is just a really a good place for quirky? Maybe it is a really good fit for a very quirky sort of fellow.
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