Brown’s Campaign Bus Narrowly Misses Rabbit on M.4.
‘Tis always a quandary, every morning ‘tis a quandary. Which of the many stories, rumours and salacious gossipy bits do you pick up and blog your opinion on?
Whenever I am trying to master a new skill, I look to the experts, the people who are successful, and try to decipher what it is about their way of doing things that has lifted them into the stratosphere.
In this case, the Blogsphere.
When I was struggling to do a Law degree, I quickly learned that the art of a successful ‘1st’ on an essay was to first research the subject thoroughly – and then to read everything that the tutor who set the assignment had ever written. Emulate their writing style, quote their own words of wisdom, preferably from the one and only book they had ever written, and you were home and dry every time. The research taught me a lot about the law, but compiling the essays taught me even more about the psychology of a tutor’s ego.
So it was that when I started a blog, I looked first to the heights of the Blogosphere. Then I changed my mind, and looked at the professional journalists. These were the people who were paid to write, who had undergone years of training in the art of giving the public the information that they needed. They were fact checked and libel checked and proof read. They had a mountain of information flowing into their portals every day. Surely they must have got ‘it’ right?
I must have got some of it right, for I now have a blog that is read by thousands of people every day, all over the world. A situation I find totally daunting. What is it that they come here looking for? The chance to point out a missing apostrophe? An opportunity to hurl abuse at me? It feels that way sometimes!
I’ve never been interested in stat porn as such, I don’t carry advertising, so it is meaningless – except in so far as it provides the reassurance that some people come back day after day; they might not comment, but their presence is comforting.
When other people link to your work it gives you some feed back that they at least found something to agree/disagree with. It rarely coincides with the opinion of the commentators.
Last week I rushed out a quick piece which amused me. It was picked up on by two of the top Bloggers and linked to – if links are your goal in life, then it was successful, n’est-ce pas?
Yet the comments didn’t reflect that! ‘Get a life’, Anna Raccoon is a ******* ********* ****, and ‘try putting up some decent content’ were among the milder comments – some had to be deleted all together since they were unintelligible when translated from the Anglo-Saxon (we are an English speaking site, not Anglo-Saxon!)
On Saturday I picked up on the work of a professional journalist. I kept the page open, intending to study the dark secrets hidden therein. This morning I was astounded to find an update – that story had received 130,000 hits. One hundred and thirty thousand! I doubt that even Guido gets 130,000 hits on one story. Maybe he does.
The first lesson I gleaned from this story was that I have been giving you too much information. I’ve been doing the old ‘who, what, where, why, when’ routine.
Ditch that. My headline needs rewriting for a start. I’ll try.
‘Brown’s Bus Misses Mammal’. That’s better.
Now I need to strip any identification out of it. Just ‘Bus Misses Mammal’. I’m getting somewhere now.
I’m tempted to remove any links to the source, for that seems to be part of the game, but I know you will be agog to learn how you can write a story that will garner 130,000 hits for the price of 52 words……HERE you go!
Say thank-you to Anna for showing you how the experts do it.
Jesus H Christ. Colour me Blogger.
- Tweets that mention Brown’s Campaign Bus Narrowly Misses Rabbit on M.4. — Topsy.com
- April 27, 2010 at 13:59
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
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April 27, 2010 at 13:31 -
It’s not even a shaggy-dog story, is it?
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2
April 27, 2010 at 13:31 -
Somebody got paid for that.
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3
April 27, 2010 at 13:43 -
So I wasn’t the only one that found the secret of essay writing
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April 27, 2010 at 13:45 -
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April 27, 2010 at 15:18 -
Is it wrong to give more of a toss about the poor doggy than this pisspoor election nonsense? Probably is I guess. Quality story though and I thought I tossed it off at work!
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April 27, 2010 at 15:34 -
Ahh, that thread is the mutt’s nuts, all right…
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April 27, 2010 at 16:16 -
“..we are an English speaking site, not Anglo-Saxon!”
Careful now.
Polishes Seax….
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April 27, 2010 at 16:18 -
“What is it that they come here looking for? The chance to point out a missing apostrophe? An opportunity to hurl abuse at me? It feels that way sometimes!”
Most, surely, visit to learn (most notably, in my case, about the 2005 Mental Capacity Act), to admire, to be reminded about earlier years and to enjoy your tales of French rural life. You rarely engender abuse – the Allcock post was asking for it, of course – and you know that your apostrophes tend to be mostly in the correct place. That last is tempting fate – your response to Ivan earlier in this thread is the reason for *mostly*, rather than *always*. -
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April 27, 2010 at 16:24 -
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April 27, 2010 at 20:35 -
“What is it that they come here looking for?”
They come here looking for YOU. The personality shines through the words, after a while. And they are people of a like mind, seeking a bird of a feather.
Has Mandelson got a blog? I’ll bet they don’t flock to him in their thousands.
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April 27, 2010 at 21:59 -
“it provides the reassurance that some people come back day after day; they might not comment, but their presence is comforting.”
I’ll put my hand up to being one of those. Your blog is currently one of the best. I don’t know if that ever means your see something tangible in return. But presumably having earned the right to have your thoughts and ideals influence thousands is satisfying.
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April 27, 2010 at 23:20 -
“I didn’t know that there was a difference between its and it’s before I started doing this!”
You forgot to mention its’ …
I’m obviously only here for the apostrophes!
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