Mar
12
I have been here on PureBlogging posting for approx the last 3 months. In that time I have also been writing on my own blog www.crenk.com, which has been going from strength to strength. I have always wondered why, in those 3 months, Pureblogging hasn’t increased their subscriber numbers too much and Crenk has rapidly. Pureblogging is focused on helping bloggers increase their subscriber numbers and site metrics, but can’t even increase our own at this point in time.
I’m writing this to find out a few things about Pureblogging. I know Pureblogging has a loyal readership, but can this blog move up and go to the next level? or will it stagnate? I personally think that we have a great group of writers on Pureblogging, but none of them actually care too much about improving the site and competing with the likes of Problogger, Dosh Dosh and BloggingTips.
I want to throw it over to our loyal readers and actually ask them, what they think about the site? Where can we improve? What new features do you want to see on the site? And any other suggestions you might have.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Well… First of all, you are right. The growth of this blog has been stagnate. Revenue, traffic, and RSS subscriber numbers are virtually identical to what they were three or four months ago.
And the only person to blame for that is me. I haven’t done any promoting or advertising of the blog and almost no networking. I’ve got a couple projects that should be wrapping up in the next couple of weeks and that should free up some time for focusing on PureBlogging.
I will say that there are some changes on the way but I’m not quite ready to talk about those yet.
I think Pureblogging had an amazing start but as you said the last 3 – 4 months have been pretty slow. It is good to hear the you will have some more time to spend on promoting Pureblogging.
Do you also think sometimes that the writers should get more involved with helping you grow Pureblogging, because the more the site improves obviously the more the bloggers will get out of the project?
I care! I care! I love blogging on this site and promote the posts through some of the social sites, Twitter and my own blog. However, I’m sure there’s more we could do with a proper plan for making the site grow.
Ok, I actually subscribed for because of an article I read once and saw there were some other posts I would like to have a look into later.
I never really came back again, even though I check my RSS email update I get from you every day. So I come back now and then if I see something of interest.
Yes, you are competing with some big guys like Problogger, but the content here is real good, no doubt about that.
From a lot of other “blog tips” niche blogs, I think you guys compete the best against the big boys. So in the end you need something more, something extra.
I think you should think outside the box, something that would make you different from Problogger for instance. Cause I think people that is subscribed to blogs like that doesn’t need to subscribe here cause they are getting more than enough food for 1 day.(seeing that problogger posts a @#$! load a day)
So take a recap, take a day, brainstorm and I’m sure you’ll come up with a couple neat ideas.
Good luck!
Thank you for the feedback… much appreciated.
The quality of the posts here is generally much higher than that of many blogging advice sites. I used to write for another such site but decided to quit because of time but also because the articles some of the team were posting were just lame. I didn’t want to be associated with them, anymore.
I don’t know what David’s got up his sleeve, but a new design and a meaningful tag line would put some zip into things!
Those of us who are paid writers on PureBlogging would do well to help promote it, since we are also promoting ourselves.
Which gives me an idea…
A new design is part of the overhaul plan. It’s still early though. I’ve only talked to a couple of designers and they were people who contacted me first. I have a couple of designers (including our own Steven Snell) that I want touch base with before deciding which way to go.
Would like to add another point:
Instead of writing trite “top ten” headlines and and other lame fluff, I think that we can seriously crank up the game by writing posts that are original, controversial, probing, thorough, funny, and linkable.
Not to make this about me, but if you check out my latest post You can’t lead by following, you’ll get a better idea of what I’m talking about.
PureBlogging is in danger of becoming irrelevant because of over-formulaic posts that do not offer enough real value to people. If we start doing that, this plateau will be overcome.
First of all I’d like to say thanks to David for stepping up and taking the heat. I don’t at all agree with you that you’re the only one to blame, but it’s nice to know that I’m working for a guy that is willing to be accountable.
Steven,
Personally, as a writer for PureBlogging I find your remarks to be unprofessional. We don’t know each other and we’ve never had any communication, so I don’t see any way that you can judge how much I care about seeing PureBlogging succeed. I can’t speak for the other writers and the ones who have commented so far don’t seem to be bothered, so maybe I’m alone. I appreciate the income and the exposure that I get from writing here, and I’d have to be stupid not to realize that I’ll lose that income and exposure if things don’t work out.
I’m all for asking readers what can be done to improve the blog, but calling out other writers that are putting in a consistent effort each week is garbage. If you’re concerned about a lack of effort why not contact the writers privately to discuss the situation and ask the readers publicly what can be done to improve?
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not happy with the results of my work at PureBlogging to this point, but it’s not because I don’t care.
I truly enjoy PureBlogging. I pass the word along to the bloggers I know. The material is quality and that’s what makes it stand tall. Good luck!
Thank you, we’re glad you find this blog useful!
Multiple author blogs sometimes struggle to have a focus or a mission. The topics are all over the place and some don’t like that.
Also your theme is very, very bland and generic. There is a million how to blog blogs out there…if you want to be at the top of the heap then you need to separate yourself from the pack not only in content but appearance.
My 2 cents.
I have written several articles on the subject.
http://theblogentrepreneur.com/purple-cows-make-great-bloggers
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the link.
About this theme… I’ve always liked this theme… but, then again, I designed it.
Some people like it and some people hate it. Believe me, I’ve had plenty of feedback there.
I like minimalist designs. I mean, Your blog design is very cool but I don’t like how the huge header pushes the content so far down the page. And since Unique Blog Designs became popular, everybody and their brother has a similar design.
David…I wasn’t hawking my design as a source of inspiration but what YOU like and what your readers like could be too different things.
If you’ve hit a wall I would maybe consider changing your thinking from what you find attractive to what attracts readers. You don’t count…they do, at least if you want to grow.
My last comment to you should have included the words “but I know it’s time for a redesign.” You are right and I know it… a complete redesign is on my list of things to do.
I agree with the point that multi-blogger blogs tend to struggle with really finding a focus and I think that’s been a problem here. I read what everyone else is writing but I don’t know that I really think about it too much when I’m writing my own posts.
I think this is something that could be easily resolved. For example, one would be that each blogger could define a niche that they are going to focus on.
@Steve : Im sorry for writing what I did. It was mainly a spear of the moment post. I think Pureblogging is amazingly written, but there needs to be a community not just for the readers, but also for the authors. Currently, I cant tell what anyone else is writing about? what our posting schedule is? When i can expect payment? What features we need to add to the site to make it improve? suggestions or anything?
Im currently involved over at http://www.makeuseof.com, and they are improving so rapidly, its just crazy. They control all of this via a wiki. Possible this is something we could implement here. It is just an idea.
Im very keen to help improve this site, because it does have great potential.
Steven,
I don’t mind someone stating that my work isn’t the best or isn’t producing results. What I didn’t appreciate was reading someone else’s opinion that I don’t care about this blog. That being said, like Michael wrote below, what’s done is done.
As far as posting schedule is concerned, i have been assigned to post on Mondays. It seems to me that everyone posts the same day each week, although I can’t say for sure. If there’s some confusion there I’m sure we could work it out.
I’ve had a little more time to mull this situation over and here are a few more thoughts.
Some of the current authors do promote this blog. I’ve seen posts on their blogs promoting their work, they have submitted posts to various social media sites, some promote through Twitter, etc. All of which is greatly appreciated. Whether or not that is a part of your job at PureBlogging is another discussion all together but I think we can agree that those efforts benefit us all.
I was not particularly happy to see this post in the list of scheduled posts. I too felt that this would have been better discussed in private but I don’t want to censor you guys. I want you to feel like you have the freedom to post whatever is on your mind. If it creates a little controversy and spirited discussion, that is a good thing.
@Steven Finch: I wasn’t aware that anyone was struggling with the issues mentioned in the quote above. It had not, until now been brought to my attention. God and anyone else who knows me, knows that organization is not one of my strong points. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to improve the way we do things… we just have to decide which way to go. If a wiki is the way to go, I would be happy to set one up.
I have been happy with Pureblogging, though I had noticed that the subscriber base wasn’t increasing much. I think a concerted effort to promote the posts on our blogs and on social sites would pay off, as there is a lot of good content here.
Like Kathryn, I don’t pay too much attention to what others have written when drafting my posts, though I do search the blog to make sure that no one has taken the same angle. I prefer not to read others’ posts before writing mine to make sure that my thoughts are my own. However, once written, I generally check to see if there are other posts on the blog to link to. That said, if you want to see what others have coming up all you have to do is look at the titles in the Manage Posts interface. I suppose we could supplement that with an email to the other authors giving a few more details of what we plan to cover in posts.
I’d be unhappy with having to stick to a single niche. I think the categories on the blog give us some niches to aim for and maybe it’s a question of deciding if those really reflect the Pureblogging we want. If that’s the case, being able to post on multiple niches would give each blogger a chance to tackle different topics. (OK, that wasn’t well put, but you know what I mean.)
In terms of organisation, I personally haven’t had a problem. Both posting and getting paid work well. As a freelancer, just knowing that I will actually get paid once a month without having to chase is fantastic!
I also haven’t had a problem with organization. I’m sure there could be some room for improvement though. Like Sharon, I often look through the drafts that are saved (the titles anyway) to see what’s in there. I also wouldn’t be too excited to cover just one aspect. I think that could help us in some ways, but hurt in others.
For what it’s worth, I don’t mind having this discussion out in the open. Maybe publishing the post without David’s knowledge wasn’t such a great idea, but done is done.
Open discussions like this are how it’s done “blogger style” in my opinion.
It doesn’t make us seem like much of a blogging advice blog if we can’t lead by example. We had all better start following our own blogging advice!
I don’t think the discussion being in the public is necessarily a bad thing as far as results are concerned. Yes, I do feel that this discussion will bring something positive to the work that’s being done here. I still, however, think that we are all supposedly working as a team we shouldn’t put down others publicly without knowing more about the situation.
Agreed.
It won’t hurt any of you to get a little Jerry Springer action going on.
Seems to me we can all play some part in promoting the site some more.
I know I can do a better job of brainstorming for keywords when I fill out WordPress’s “all-in-one SEO pack.” And speaking as someone who does SEO copywriting as a job, I know I can also work a bit harder at increasing the incidence of important keywords in my own posts. So there’s one thing.
I’d also like the opportunity to do more videoblogging and podcasting — but right now we don’t have the proper plugins, at least for videoblogging.
I don’t think I’d characterize our work as “lame fluff,” but I do agree that there’s really no ceiling to the quality of what we should be writing, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t all push ourselves a little harder.
I may be signing my own pink slip by writing this (or worse, someone else’s), but I suspect part of the problem (assuming there really is one) is that there are nine bloggers here doing what three or four could be doing.
I have an with David to write a post per week. Since I only write one post per week, I devote a relatively small part of my week to PureBlogging. When I read this post on Copyblogger about the time it takes to create great content, a light went on in my head: fewer bloggers writing more posts would mean more time spent per individual blogger simply thinking about PureBlogging. I suspect that would make for better content.
I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m angling for David to drop anyone — actually, I think if he took my advice under serious consideration, it’d be a good idea to put me on the chopping block, since I’m not even operating my own blog right now. We’re all pretty great writers, and I’m consistently amazed at the level of great content I see here.
It did read as though I meant to say the writing here was lame fluff, but that’s not quite exactly what I meant. I was trying to warn against doing that. Not everything here is as good as it could be, but I stand by my first statement that the writing here overall is great.
What I’m really trying to get at is that I’d love to see the blog grow, not jump the shark.
Honestly… fewer bloggers is one of the changes that I am considering. I don’t particularly like the idea of letting anyone go but it is an option at this point.
@David I dont think having fewer bloggers is the best option.
I of course check the schedule in the dashboard to make sure im writing on a topic that hasnt already been covered. I do think the design needs a little bit of a change.
The writing here is top class. However, I mainly wrote this post because of the lack of team work. I think we are missing a lot of opportunities on search such as stumbleupon, digg, mixx, propeller, etc. We should also be a member of Blogburst, because articles im sure would be published.
But that is just promotion. We also need someone dedicated to business development and advertising.
I think Pureblogging is such a good blog it really needs to take the next step and actually become a business. Much in the same way Mashable has progressed.