PureBlogging

This above all: To thine own self be true. – William Shakespeare

I saw an interview that Jon Stewart did with singer/songwriter Tom Waits that really caught my attention. If you’re not familiar with Tom Waits, he has a gravely, bourbon soaked voice, and his music ranges from folk, to jazz, to blues, to industrial. His work is very unique and hard to classify.

Stewart was asking him about his popularity, and the fiercely loyal following he has developed over his career. Waits comment was that he just kind of went off doing his own thing, and “when he turned to look back there was a crowd of people following me. That’s pretty cool.”

So what does that have to do with blogging?

I guess the answer to that is contained in another question: does your blog reflect who you really are and what you really believe?

You have to remember that your readers are pretty savvy. They have read a lot of material on the web, and most of them have gotten pretty good at seeing through the hype. If you’re just trying to tell them what they want to hear, you will eventually lose them as regular readers. There are enough of those writers out there who do just that.

You know the sites I’m talking about; every new program to monetize your site is treated like the road to riches. They’ve never seen a WordPress plug-in they didn’t like. Everything they write about is new, improved, and worth the investment of time and money. Readers at these sites aren’t necessarily loyal readers. There is another blog saying the same thing just a click away.

If you are really interested in building a loyal readership, have an opinion. People are checking in to see what you think about a given topic, not to read your re-write of some company’s ad copy. If something is worth trying out, by all means, tell your readers. If you don’t think something is worth the time and effort, tell them. If you’re not sure, or you feel like you need to investigate a little further, tell them that, too.

Some of the most popular posts, and the ones that have the biggest impact, are the posts that are the first to discover and point out why everyone else is wrong. When the truth comes out that this blogger got it right, despite conventional wisdom, they gain instant guru status.

I’m not saying you have to be a renegade or a contrarian. Sometimes the crowd gets it write. However, if you see a problem, you need to have enough courage and integrity to risk facing the wrath of the blogosphere by going against the stream.

Do what you know is right. Be true to your self. Go your own way, and when you turn to look back, you’ll probably see a crowd of people following you. And that’s pretty cool.