I mentioned 901am in an earlier post. It’s a blog I’m fairly interested in as far as longevity goes and I’ve never once been asked what I’d do to right a ship I feel is showing signs of heading in the wrong direction. Some signs I’ve noticed that 901am is struggling to pull in new active links it’s links to posts ratio is down 60% and also I’ve noticed a 70% drop in the rate of posts to comments over the last 4 months. (Don’t ask how I know the ratios, it’s a long complicated story) One thing is probably not related to the other right?
Umm wrong. Let’s take a post I wrote on my birthday. I will note that I wrote this post under the influence of alcohol most likely as it was my birthday but since I love my readers I gave them a present.
The Post Was Entitled: Real Estate Blogging is catching on, big time !
The post title itself was something that gives people excitement. Before a reader jumps through their feed reader and into the lap of your blog they want to know what in the world they are getting involved in. People love to talk and be apart of a conversation but only if someone is passionate about something. This post title shows passion. And I remember writing this post. I was excited to share.
Secondarily, I wasn’t afraid to create a call for conversation. Blogging Systems had put out a press release and I found a way to engage a conversation around the boring old press release. This is exactly what TechCrunch does. They create excitement about a topic that normally would put us to sleep. We feel an invitation to sit around a fire and converse about stuff that normally we would fall asleep talking about.
I was the first to listen once the conversation got started. I didn’t have a lot to add to the conversation as I am not a realtor so I started the conversation and sat back and listened. In this case it’s A OK. I don’t have to know everything to start a conversation. Sometimes it’s ok to listen. But let them know you are there by being apart of the conversation in the beginning.
Let’s go back to today’s 901am. I see a lack of call to conversation. No offense to the bloggers there. I see way more research and knowledge than I ever put into the site but sometimes knowledge and newsiness isn’t everything. Usually it isn’t. On TechCrunch I notice grammatical errors a lot, and I see a lot of “Rush To The Fire” mentality. Meaning Mike and Team really just want to be the first to start talking about a new topic. Even if they aren’t right. Being the first to start a conversation means you lead a conversation.
If 901am wants to rekindle the fireside talks they have to be the first to light the fire, and the first to start talking about something. I was the first to make a post about BloggingSystems’ Press Release and I was the first to get the conversation started. I did it on my birthday not because I was bored and didn’t have better things to do but because I cared and knew that starting a conversation is the only value you have in a website.
How Does This Apply To Your Website?
Here are 3 Simple Steps To A Killer Blog Campfire
1. Create Curiousity With Strong Post Titles
2. Light The Fire With Strong Unique Content
3. Engage The Conversation By Monitoring Comments
4 responses so far ↓
Sharon Sarmiento || Jul 24, 2007 at 8:50 pm
David, I wonder if they will take your advice?
Geez, I am sooo very tempted to make a comment about what has happened to that once great blog, but I shall resist since I really want to keep on going in the direction of your post, which is focusing on solutions rather than problems.
I totally agree with you that in order for readers to be excited about any blog, that the writers/owners/managers need to be passionate about the information they are conveying.
They also need to care about what the readers say/think. Conversations are everything on a blog. Sometimes they’re heated, sometimes they’re uplifting, sometimes they’re funny, but whatever they are, every time a reader or writer has the guts to express a heartfelt opinion or emotion life is breathed into the blog. Sometimes the comments can actually be as informative as the blog post itself.
Life leaves a blog the minute the opinions, the conversations and the flavor disappear.
With so many choices of blogs to look at, no site can afford to be Vanilla. They must create a new and interesting flavor.
David Krug || Jul 24, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I think the key thing in any blog’s development is summed up with this statement:
“Focusing on solutions rather than problems”
Minic Rivera || Jul 25, 2007 at 4:58 am
901am.com is a news blog. This is the direction that I took upon taking over as managing editor. Most of 901am bloggers were trained in news reporting so the less injection of opinion is absent. It was unfortunate (for 901am whe I took over) that most of the original bloggers chose to move on to other endeavors. Maybe when I get the chance to hire someone who is highly opinionated, then we can have the conversation that you used to have. In this time and age when everyone can deliver their own piece via blogs, I still believe that straight news reporting is equally important.
901am is a great blog because of the readers who visit it daily, and I believe that it is still a great blog (and not just “once a great blog.”)
Minic
David Krug || Jul 25, 2007 at 5:18 am
Minic,
I was merely trying to offer up solutions I agree 901am is a good news blog but I think that opinion is key as well. In the post I reference I didn’t inject much opinion but merely sparked a conversation.
I was merely offering some solutions to some issues I’ve seen when investigating the health the site. Overall I think you guys do a better job of covering indepth issues I probably wouldn’t have. I think that’s great.
I was hoping to offer some positive feedback to you and not anything meant to be negative.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
D
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