Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Journal

The Teaser of Uniqueness

In 1947, a businessman from Idaho named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine strange disks of light in the sky while flying above the Cascade Mountains in the US.

While his experience wasn?t the first time unexplained objects had been recorded, it was the first time that they were recognized as alien craft. The myth of the UFO was born.

In 1934, one of the most famous photographs in supernatural or unexplained history was taken by Colonel Robert Wilson in Scotland.

Colonel Wilson Nessie

Showing what looked like the head and neck of a plesiosaur-type dinosaur, it brought the legend of Nessie the Loch Ness monster to the attention of the world.

What do these two stories, and more like them, have in common? Simple ? the promise of something fantastic that captures the attention of millions worldwide.

While they may or may not have some grounding in fact, what can?t be denied is that they both sparked conversation, interest and tourism to their relative areas that is still fervent today.

In other words, they built interest and started a huge viral chain reaction before viral was even used.

By offering a glimpse and nothing more, they let peoples’ imaginations take over and built an industry around what was perceived, rather than what was.

It’s that teaser of something that can be unique for everyone, depending on their take, that can be the bridge between you and your audience.

You just need to start laying the cement.

I Want To, But I Don’t

As you get older, you start to notice things that may not have been an issue when you had a body and mind that was 20 years younger.

I look at this as the “I want to, but I don’t” syndrome. For example:

I want to eat healthier, but I don’t.

I want to drink less, but I don’t.

I want to exercise more, but I don’t.

I want to lose weight, but I don’t.

I want to live a less stressed life, but I don’t.

That’s a lot of wants that I don’t do, simply because of excuses. Or, the simple fact I enjoy the don’ts more than I want the want to’s.

Besides, there’s always tomorrow, right?

Except there isn’t. Tomorrow never comes, because when it does a new tomorrow waits, and the same wants clash heads with the dont’s that never become do’s.

And it shouldn’t take the tomorrow that never comes to make you – make me – realize that waiting for that tomorrow is another want that will never be.

Time to wake up.

Outgrowing Success and the Question of Scale

Success is a funny thing.?It means you?re doing something right, and that people are enjoying your product, service or (possibly more importantly) your knowledge.

Success means people have?joined your tribe and they want to help you grow.

Success also means that where you started probably isn?t where you are now ? your garage band has moved into a recording studio. Your bills aren?t as daunting and your car starts in the winter.

Yet success also brings its own challenges.

You outgrow your goals and need to set new ones. That?s natural ? but the process can be anything but.

You begin to realize you have to scale, and you?re not sure how to do that.

Do you take your existing audience and hope they scale with you on your new path? Or do you jettison some, keep others, and find new audiences along the way?

If the answer is the former, does that limit your new growth before it starts or is your growth because of the very audience you?re questioning? If it?s the latter, will you find enough new eyeballs to cover the loss of the old?

It?s a fine line, and one that success causes you to face head-on.

Some manage the crossing, while others get stuck with the ferryman on the edge of the pier, staring into the mist and unsure of what lies beyond. The trouble is, the ferryman doesn?t pay the bills; he merely adds to them.

Building your audience is the easy part; what you do next is the real litmus test.

How are you rebuilding?

Social Media Has Made Us Soft (Or Why We Need to Grow Some Balls)

While social media is a fantastic medium for working smarter for businesses, it?s also softened us a little as people.

There?s almost a kumbaya feeling of not being able to speak your mind, because when you question a ?name? out in social media, or disagree with them, you?re labeled a hater.

Never mind the fact you have a valid opinion ? you must be a hater because your opinion isn?t the same as The Chosen One(s).

This leads to blog posts being praised to the rooftops, despite being rehashed content from two months previously (sometimes even less ? I?m looking at you, certain A-lister).

Comments rain in ? ?Great post!?, ?So true and only you could say that!? and so on.

Now, I?m the first to really praise a blog and share it on my networks when there?s great content, as well as comment and show my appreciation.

Yet more and more I?m feeling less inclined to comment, because I land on a post with the same safe viewpoint, or a circle of self-adoring comments.

And this is a shame, because blogs (and their community of commenters) can really offer fresh takes on tired subjects.

Instead, we see the warm fuzziness of adoration ? and there?s no real need for that.

Grow Balls ? Grow You

We?re all individuals. We all have opinions ? sometimes right, sometimes wrong. We all have unique personalities and thought processes.

This is what makes us such an interesting animal. So why are we softening this up?

[clickToTweet tweet=”People aren’t commenting on blogs because it’s the same safe viewpoints on display #pureblogging” quote=”People aren’t commenting on blogs because it’s the same safe viewpoints on display #pureblogging”]

If something isn?t right and you feel it isn?t, say so.

If you land on a post of the biggest blogger on the planet and it?s dire, tell him or her.

Show why it?s wrong, and challenge them to live up to their reputation.

And if you?re the blogger yourself, don?t go with the flow just because it?s easier than swimming against it. Instead, have the proverbial balls to speak out.

Simply put, show your readers respect and why they put their faith in you in the first place.

After all, it?s the very least they deserve, no?

Social Media Won’t Kill Blog Comments – Bloggers Will

Last week on my blog, I published a post about the difference between writing and blogging.

Because I’d shared my thoughts on what that means earlier this year, I decided to open up the question to the readers and subscribers of the blog.

The result was that the post itself was a mere 60 words (seemingly breaking almost every “blogging rule” out there when it comes to content length).

60 words.

You’d think such a short post would receive crickets, or lack of interaction, right? After all, if there’s no in-depth wisdom on display, why should anyone comment?

58 comments and counting later, I guess that train of thought has been blown out of the water. And these comments aren’t just “great post”, or “well, because a blog’s a blog and not a book”.

No, these are some of the most thoughtful and insightful comments I’ve seen about this topic – all despite a post of only 60 words starting the discussion, all within the context of “blog comments are dead” from a very vocal majority online.

So why?did that post counter much of what we’ve been told about blogging, and blog comments in general?

Why indeed.

The ROI of Showing Up and Caring

To throw that question into better light, a tweet by Craig DesBrisay sums it up perfectly:

Craig’s “surprise” at the comments outshining the post show a lot of what’s “wrong” in blogging today, and why I started this Pure Blogging movement that you’re currently reading.

Recently, a lot of blogs have closed down their comments section, citing “too much spam”, “the conversation is on social now”, “it’s too much work to moderate”, etc.

For me, though, it’s less external issues that have caused these sites to close down comments, and more internal ones – namely, the blogger (or blog owner) stopped showing up and caring.

I used to follow a lot of the blogs that closed their comments section(s) down, and something that became clear as they were getting close to that decision was the blogger was seen less and less in the comments.

Whereas before they’d been very active in helping build community and hold active conversations with commenters, now they were only replying to comments that praised them or their post.

That’s if they even showed up at all.

Instead of a thriving, interactive comment section, there was simply comment after comment without a reply, either from the blogger or other commenters.

In that kind of environment, of course blog comments are going to suffer – after all, how long would you stay talking to someone on the phone, or in-person, if there was no reply coming back?

Not long.

Now, compare that to blogs where the blog author continues to be present and active in the comments, and you’ll see there remains a very robust comments section – and not just between blogger/commenter, but also commenter/commenter.

It’s what happens when you simply show up and care.

Good Things Are Never Easy

I get it. We’re all busy, and we all have finite time in our days. There’s only so much we can allocate to our blogs versus elsewhere, and remain effective on both sides of the coin.

But then isn’t that true for everything in life?

Don’t we make decisions based on what we want and how to get there, as opposed to giving up because the work to get there is a little more than what we want to put in?

  • Yes, conversations are happening on social. But guess what? People are complaining that there are less opportunities for conversations on social now the marketers and brands have taken over.
  • Yes, blog comments need moderation. But guess what? Do the legwork early on (blog comment policy, banning offenders, making the comments a fun place to be, etc.) and you’ll actually get a better community.
  • Yes, community growth needs interaction. But guess what? Interact and build that community, and you have a wonderful “base” to build from when you do have something to sell, or need to get your message out to a wider audience.

It’s easy to blame social media for blogging’s woes. Much like blaming others for our own failings in life, scapegoats are more attractive than self-analysis.

But it’s not as clear-cut as “all the conversations are happening on social media”. They may well be happening a lot – but guess where that traffic will come when they want to see the source of that discussion?

Once that traffic arrives, if they find a comments area that looks as fun and inviting as a McDonald’s restaurant does to a food snob, of course they’ll leave immediately.

If, on the other hand, they see a blog that opens up to others, and – imagine this! – actively converses with them, they’ll stay. Comment. Reply. Subscribe.

Social media won’t “kill” blog comments – bloggers will.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Unless you let it be.