I first thought about this in relation to blogging thanks to Jen at Alpha Mummy. She had just been to Blogher and Megan from Velveteen Mind had posed the question. Anyway, it's been bouncing around in my mind for a little while now and has been itching to come out...
Is being a good writer enough anymore?
If you don't care about readers, comments, and community -- the kind of stuff that rattles around in my mind-- stop reading this post RIGHT NOW. It will just annoy you. Then you will annoy me by writing some sort of "anti post" that is not "meant to be interpreted as an attack" (BTW - if you have to say that it obviously is). Just humour me and go somewhere else. Thanks.
Still here? Good. Back to the original question. Is good writing enough? It should be, right? Taking someone on a ride with words can certainly get you in the door. It can start a conversation. An exchange that can lead to lord knows what. You need to develop a baseline in which you engage your readers. Think of this as your voice. You need to connect with readers and they need to get inside your head. If they like your head, they will stay. If they don't like what's going on up there they will go somewhere else. Simple as that.
Good writing is an essential starting point. BUT IT IS NOT EVERYTHING. Imagine you get over the first hurdle, and you write your best, most thought-provoking post EVER. This post has the potential of really connecting with readers. I mean this post is so THERE. SPOT ON. AWE-SOME. You know it as soon as it flows off your fingers and you hit the publish button.
The problem is -- no one knows you wrote this frigging fabulous post because there were 100,000 other posts published within ten minutes of yours and no one can find your well groomed words. It's like thinking you are going to win the lottery. It's just not going to happen.
If a post falls in a forest of blogs, and no one is there to read it, does it make a noise?
Maybe it does in your head. But don't you want more people to read your post, comment on it, give you feedback. Make you feel like it was worth the hours you spent writing that gorgeous post?
You with me here? Then it should be apparent that no, great writing is not enough anymore. You need to start thinking about marketing, SEO, getting the word out. Pointing people to your blog. There's a science to it. No this should not consume your style. You NEED to be a good writer. But you need to think about the other stuff too.
Want to learn more? Make sure you come to Cybermummy 2010 -- and we'll tell you all about it. In fact, if you leave a comment below, I'll send you a link to the web site as soon as we pull a finger out get it live.
Photo credit: Phil H
