Lately I’ve been struck by articles I’ve come across referring to a concept of A-list bloggers all the way down to Z-list bloggers. The thrust of it seems to be that if you’re not John Chow, you aren’t anybody.
I’ve even found tips for joining the A-list (which turned out in reality to be basic tips on getting more traffic.) and a calculator for determining which list you’re on . (According to them, this new one is D-list, and my other older humor blog is C-list, if you’re wondering.) She even provides a little badge I can put on my site, showing off my C/D-list status.
On Technorati you can see a list of who is most linked to, some with an impressive 24,000+ links.
So we’ve established that some blogs are, well, more established. Some are popular, and popularity breeds more popularity, but this isn’t high school… unless for you it is. For most of us it’s not.
To equate new bloggers with talentless “Z-list celebrities”, aka, reality show whores, who do anything for attention out of sheer desperation for the limelight is … do I have to say it? Wrong. Not wrong as in morally wrong, because that’s just silly and melodramatic. However it is incorrect.
- Don’t let anyone tell you what “list” you’re on.
- Don’t give up! Gaining readership takes time!
- Do listen to the experts! But ask yourself if their advice makes sense, and check more than one source. Google is your friend.
- …But don’t let feedback drive you in circles . Create a (flexible) plan, so you know what YOUR goals are.
- Small/new blogs can have a huge impact. Stay original, and don’t try to copy the “A-list” crowd. Use your OWN voice!
- Write Often. Sometimes short punchy posts made often are better than long, detailed posts.
- Interact with other bloggers… even unknown ones.
The goal of blogging is to reach your audience, so do the things you need to do to build that audience. But connection is the goal, not list-achieving. The moment you shift your focus away from the purpose of your writing/interacting, your blog suffers.
September 13th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Just wanted to take a minute and say thank you! Sometimes it’s easy to get down when you see only the smattering of traffic coming in each day, but everyone needs to start somewhere!
You’re right, this (thankfully!) isn’t high school. All it takes is a reminder that good writing and old fashioned hard work still apply.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I’m supposedly a B lister. But when you consider that loads of those links are because I’m active in the do-follow groups and get links from comments, I’m sure I’m overrated!
September 13th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I laughed when I read this…you kept a positive tone to it, and I loved it! Everyone just needs to hang in there…it sure does take a bit of time and effort and unfortunately many people give up too early.
September 13th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I’m pretty sure I would be a Z-Lister if they made their rankings go that far
I think this is an important point to make, and I’m pretty sure the a-listers would agree! Nobody starts out as an A-Lister. I also think it’s pretty easy to get caught up in all the different statistics and lose the true purpose of your blog!
September 13th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
I love this theme. It’s gorgeous. The blog made me laugh. Great post.
September 16th, 2007 at 3:47 am
I used the calculator thing, and was surprised when I got this:
With 583 links in the last 180 days, Technorati places http://superbloggingtips.com in the very high authority group.
That makes you a A-List Blogger!
Hah, yeah right. I’m quite the opposite. Probably because in June I participated in that ViralTags, which I completely regret doing now. Otherwise, I’d be further down in the alphabet. *laughs*
September 20th, 2007 at 7:41 am
dugg and stumbled your post!