How To Survive The Dangers Of An Ever-Growing Blogopolis

How To Survive The Dangers Of An Ever-Growing Blogopolis

I’ve been blogging for around 5 years, despite an awareness that is even older. I remember watching some of the earliest blogs with the same fascination I had when watching MacGyver as a young boy. I remember thinking, “that’s cool, but how can he build that with just a pen knife and duck tape and get it to work?” I had a similar thought to blogging; cool, but surely it can’t work, and how is that any different from a “normal” website?

On September 24th 2004 I decided to investigate further by starting my own. Needless to say things were a lot different back then.

How Blogging Has Changed

New “kids” on the block arrive at the vast expanse of Blogopolis like tourists arriving the neon overhang of Vegas. Attracted by the bright lights, the harmonious sounds of casinos and of course the ever-present possibility of great cash rewards.

Such wasn’t always the case. This prosperity of Blogopolis once held nothing more than a few shingles in a shanty town. A collection of huts, sheds, tents and other makeshift abodes, its few residents practically knew each other by their first name. All in all it was a quiet, peaceful neighbourhood.

General conversation held nothing more than a back yard, over-the-fence kind of chit chat. Do you like my new car? What did you think of the game on Saturday? This weather is wreaking havoc with my garden. Nothing incredibly stimulating.

Then a new group of new settlers moved across the west, most prominently a guy named Darren Rowse. He was drawn to the blog like everyone else. He wanted a place to call his own, a soapbox to speak to anyone who would listen, but Darren also wanted more. Darren was driven by a thirst for knowledge and was so enamoured by the new medium, he even believed he could do it as a full time job. Of course us “old hats” laughed at the prospect.

Darren ignored us and rode harder.

Pretty soon this so-called Problogger found the tell-tale signs of gold; cue the rush. The rest as they say is history.

Nowadays the little shanty town has bloomed into a big city boom town and continues to grow day by day as more and more people declare their residency. As with any major city though, some parts flourish while others are run down and abandoned, but beware, for the dark underbelly of society also thrives here.

Allow me to point out a couple of the largest dangers looming for the newcomer, and how you can avoid becoming a victim.

Come to the Dark Side. We Have Cookies

First up is the mugger or content thief. These come in all shapes and sizes but the biggest threat comes from the big guys, the already established blogs, those with Google rank. They will take your content, reproduce it and give no attribution. What’s worse is they will get rewarded for it (more links, comments, subscribers, paying clients). So how do you fight back?

• Use online tools. Copyscape is a great site you can use to track down the blatant thieves. With evidence in hand you can then report the culprit to his/her ISP.
• Find your voice. Thieves can steal your content but they can’t steal your voice. Eric and Sean are two excellent teachers for finding your voice so keep reading this blog!

• Build an audience. Obviously this takes time, but combine it with the previous tip and eventually it will be pretty hard for impostors to talk to your market; i.e. they lose their reward.
   
• There is an excellent article on SEObook.com that covers that last point (”The Power of Relationships”) in more detail: Borrowing Content: How The Little Guy Can Fight Back

The next threat is the con-artist. The modern snake oil salesman; peddlers of  the “Get Rich Quick” schemes. Unfortunately, all you’ll end up paying for is a product that doesn’t deliver, or in extreme cases literally doesn’t get delivered at all. The underlying cause is that we all know we can make money from blogging, heck we deserve to, but in order to get there we need a game plan.

• Patience is a virtue. If you want to make money from blogging than be prepared to play the waiting game. We’re talking months. and maybe even years. Having said that, you should build it into your foundations now. David has put together a top 10 list of monetization strategies ranked from most to least effective and is well worth a read.
   
• Pick your mentors and stick with them. I recommend sticking to a small number, no more than 6 or 7. The idea is that your mentors will guide you to where you need to go, point out the products that work while simultaneously protecting you from those that don’t. Again Eric and Sean are great examples; you have subscribed to their blogs right?
   
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Trust your instincts and ignore those “what ifs”.

There are more threats, including murderers but I don’t want you to be disheartened. Use this knowledge as defense and you will be fine. Blogopolis is still very young and there is ample space for growth as well as plenty of ways to make a good and honest living. So pick a plot, build your home and join this (still) exciting and vivid world of blogging.