I blog about blogging. It was a bad topic choice but it’s what I’m good at.
The specific problem with my niche is that the blogging family is incestuous.
We all feed on each other’s ideas. In hip hop it’s called biting. We take someone else’s beat, copy it, and twist it up just a bit. Every now and again, somebody comes up with something new. But the drive to publish often encourages phoning it in not quality. (but that’s another post).
Here’s the sick part.
I’ve found that I can spend days surfing the bland sea of me-too blog posts. The same stuff rehashed with different titles. Since creativity feeds on experience, my blog output merely mirrors what I’ve read. Unwittingly, I kick out the same old cotton-candy (expletive).
You in the same spot?
Pull out your editorial calendar and take a look. Are you belting out the same flotsam that countless others are talking about? Are you adding to the noise? If you are then stage a prison break.
How to Dig A Tunnel to the Outside
Let’s stage a Shawshank Redemption crawl through the sewer pipe to the outside.
Fire Your Niche for 7 Days.
You need to purge your brain of the same-old-crap. Hid your trusty twitter columns. Resist the urge to read the blogs you read just last week (of course, keep ole’ Pushing Social in the mix)
Stalk an Outsider
I am a huge Kanye West fan. He inspires the hell out of me and he has nothing to do with blogging. But he’s taught me more about marketing in 30 days than I’ve learned in 15 years. I’m devouring every interview, record, and rumor snippet I can find. The “Backpack Rapper” has revolutionized how I will approach 2011.
You need to find your Kanye. Your hero should scare, inspire, push, mesmerize, and confuse you. Don’t you dare pick anyone close to your niche or you’ll screw this up. Trust me.
Ask “So What”
Try this…after you write the first paragraph of any blog post ask yourself “So What”. Now…Trust your first instinct. If you get defensive then keep writing. But, if your brain screams – “this is crap”, then trash the post and move on. Your publishing schedule be damned.
This is Hard Stuff
I guarantee that your Prison Break will be the hardest thing you’ll do this year. Unfortunately, the world is pretty good at creating mediocrity. But if you consciously decide to jam to a different beat you’ll transform your posts into fresh masterpieces.
One more thing…If you want to fill your blog with fresh, inspiring content, that get noticed then join the Bootcamp. I’ll be your drill sergeant.
About Stanford
” My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ” is one of the best album I’ve heard. Kanye West is a very talented singer. Music today are becoming bad to worst, labels and producers are now choosing their artist for their looks not talent. Fortunately West has both.
Fresh masterpieces. That’s the aim.
I agree on many levels. While rehashed posts are great for reinforcement, they’re not great for the billions of human beings that are literally addicted to new.
Stanford, I blog about making money online, and I’m not super great at it, either money making or blogging, but I am trying to take a different approach to it. I’m blogging about my ground up experiences. How I got started, how I’m doing, and how I’m making it. Sort of along the same lines at you with blogging about blogging, my niche is the worst niche to be in but, it’s what I enjoy.
This will be the best year yet for me making money on the net, but it’s been a few too many weeks since I posted last because I’ve been building a bunch of new sites, taking some time for my family and getting ready to build my first product.
Great post BTW…
Oh I sent you an email a while back, I’d love to interview you for my podcast. I like your view on authenticity through transparency. But I have some questions about that and thought it would be a great podcast interview topic.
Anyway, get to me if you think would would be interested.
Larry…
I’m always fascinated with bloggers who blog about blogging. I sometimes wonder whether it’s sustainable or not? I donno. It would be more interesting to read a blogger who blogs about blogging about their own personal journey for improvement.
Great post! I am glad you sent this out on facebook! I will be looking for my Kanye, heck it might be him. I like his work as well. I am not a real big fan of “new” music, I really like old school. But when I heard Kanye it caught my ear, it was good and different. I hope I can bring that to my blog!
Very timely and relevant. My own strategy is to basically stop reading most blogs (present company excluded of course).
When I started blogging, I figured there was probably a formula for success and I needed to learn it by following the path of the leaders in the field. And the more I read other bloggers, the deeper i was heading into this prison of sameness. I decided that to really break out, I needed to take a big risk and follow only my own path, my own voice. I’ve essentially put blinders on. Instead of entering the echo chamber I try to find inspiration way outside my normal field of study. I only pop my head back into the social media marketing blog world for a few innovators like you and about 2-3 others.
I agree with you. This is hard. But it’s also quite liberating. I do what I want. I tell jokes. I decorate my blog with goofy pictures. I actually connect with my blog readers on the phone. This is my path and the only path that leads to innovative thinking and blogging.
Superb post as usual my friend!
I like the fact you follow your own drummer!
G’Day Stanford,
My business went online less than three years ago. I started a blog only last year. And yes; i think that there’s a lot of blogger to blogger “in- talk” on the web.
As I have a very specific target market and a very clear business focus, I don’t think that i need a prison break…….yet. But I’m sure that the time will come.
As a specialist consultant to small-medium business, I’ve observed that too few such businesses have a specific target market and clear business focus. It’s remarkable how trying to be “all things to all people” can dry up ideas in no time flat.
Another thing I’ve found helpful is to engage with readers who leave comments on blog posts.. They’re chock-full of useful stuff.
Above all, make sure you have fun.
Regards
Leon
While it’s true we sometimes wind up rehashing what’s already out there (with our own twist) just take pause for a sec here. Not everyone that’s new to the space will view your article as old hat. For some, you’re the first person they come across that speaks a certain language.
But I absolutely agree that you shouldn’t get too cozy. That’s where reading books and blogs outside of your usual sphere comes in handy. It forces you to forge new neural pathways to connect concepts and imagery that you never considered before; it’s exciting!
Thanks for the reality check.
Shaking things up a bit eh Stanford?
You definitely have a knack for getting folks to think – and maybe you’ll even break a few out of prison!
Cheers to you : )
Stanford,
You had me a Shawshank. It remains, after all these years, my favorite movie. You offered a fresh perspective on it that has really inspired me. So glad to have found you by way of a B2CInsider post!
Happy New Year to you,
Traci
I write about blogging and about working at home (different blogs…)
Sometimes I do feel like it’s all just rehashed stuff…I mean until something new comes out to write about!
I keep my sanity by coaching other blogger’s and doing some business blogging.
Gives me something different to concentrate on- one of the blogs is for a children’s newspaper…big change…
When I coach, I’m exposed to something different from my norm although my client’s questions and experiences will often be the source of future ideas for my blogs.
Great thought provoker!
Shawshank poster? Good choice. I’m just glad you didn’t use an image from “Prison Break.”
Hi Stanford,
Blogging is my passion, at night I dream about it – when I’m away from my computer I daydream about it. But I feel you. I like Kanye’s style, but what I really would like to do is emulate Lil Wayne – no I don’t want what’s in his cup – but I want do it that big – the way he manages to be everywhere in everybody’s songs – each one he touches becomes a hit and somehow he still has energy left to make his own hits. That’s how I want to blog. I want to be out of the box and stand out just like that.
I like your idea – similar ideas to what I was thinking when I wrote today’s blog post.
Way to challenge everyone’s thinking and push everyone to be better. You’re right – we’re all guilty of this. Myself included. It’s easy to settle into reading your favorite blogs instead of stretching and trying something new. Mostly likely, because you have to go through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat. Either way, the effort is worth it.
And, I approve of this post simply because it contains a Shawshank Redemption reference. That is my husband’s favorite movie.
Hiya Standford,
This could not have come at a more opportune moment for me. Yep this is a problem faced by many bloggers and it is always good to take stock and ask oneself what is the value in regurgitating what has already been said by numerous others.
Definitely will try this and btw Shawshank Redemption a true classic !
Thanks for your comment.
One point though…It’s ok to reiterate points if you can put a new twist on the topic or give the reader a new way to absorb the material. However just using a list post to catalog everyone else’s ideas ad nauseum is a no-no.
Great advice, I don’t know how many times I’ve been on a site thinking – have I read this before?
On a side note I totally agree with you about Kanye. Just listened to his last album and whether you think he’s a douche or not, that man knows how to stay relevant.
Kanye knows that the rode to greatness sometimes takes a bathroom break in the town of “d-bag”. You can’t satisfy everybody. You have to stand for something. Good lesson for bloggers
Hi Stanford,
Great ideas for the ‘prison break’. Another way of prison breaking is to do exactly the opposite of what you would normally do.
The results are surprising!
Hey buddy,
First let me just start off by wishing you a happy new year. This is is a really important post because I think that we have tunnel vision in the blogosphere. One thing that became very apparent to me at Blogworld was just how small our little niches of social media, lifestyle design, and personal development really are. There’s so much more out there and people who are killing it in almost every are of the blogosphere. The thing that getting outside of the niche opens up is new possibilities for things you may not have even see or thought of. With BlogcastFM I’ve been trying to bring in guests from other areas because that expands the potential listener base to a group of bloggers I probably haven’t even come close to yet. Of course the Prison break itself is easier said than done because we tend to like the familiar and we read the blogs we read for a reason. But if people can’t make a full prison break an escape attempt is still a worthy pursuit since they could at least be exposed to some other niches. Good stuff as always.
Like it.
However, it IS Easy to make a prison break – online at least. Just create an alternate feeder with totally non-blogging people and a few twitter lists with new peeps. Its amazing how quickly your perspective shifts.