Searching amongst my multiple personalities…
I think this may be a problem with a lot of folks that hope to make a few dollars in the blogging world. Here’s what I did yesterday. Checked my stats, that’s always number one. I’ve read many places that it’s a waste of time constantly looking at your numbers. Well it’s a compulsion of mine and I’m guessing for many of you as well. I’ll allow myself this vice. I then watched an hour or so of blogging related videos. Then read a half dozen ‘Pro Blogging’ type posts, spent a half hour looking for a new theme for this site before deciding to stick with Thesis and just modify it as time goes on. All in all, about 2.5 hours of ‘blogging’ with Zero actual output. Productive eh?
I keep looking for excuses to make a more serious effort. I think I’ve found one. At worst it will be another good attempt. Now before I let you know what I’ll be up to I should admit that my blogging efforts have not all been a waste. During 2009 I launched and grew a rather successful Hockey News site called The Hockey Writers. This site is doing wonderfully and I fully expect to double the traffic on it this year. It’s my ‘personal’ site that can’t seem to get off the ground. I have a couple other sites that are working out but this one keeps spinning its wheels.
The big problem – Direction.
I couldn’t decide what I wanted my own blog to be about; what character I should play, or at least – what portion of myself should I let take the stage. Bruce the comedian, Bruce the traveler, Bruce the blogging/Internet guy, Bruce the Father, Bruce the sportsman, Bruce the writer….and so on. I couldn’t find a voice for the site. It’s gone through a few iterations, been scrapped a few times, I’ve chosen a few different domains…
It’s time to make a decision and run with it. This could very well be a great year for me, I should get busy and quite spinning my wheels. So – I’m sticking with The Big Desk for two reasons. The domain itself is over 10 years old and I like the idea/sound of the title. And as for the direction, it will mainly be Bruce the blogging/Internet guy with a little of all the rest thrown in. My Personal Brand for lack of a better expression.
And that system I’ll be embarking on is one that anybody that has surfed more than 3 blogs will have heard of by now. The Shoemoney System. I’ll tell you why I’m going this route. My blogging needs some direction and I need to actually write a lot more. It should be a great excuse to work harder and I’ve enjoyed the Shoemoney site for quite a while now. I’ve already borrowed a couple idea that I’ve seen on his site. The THW Marketplace is one example of an idea taken directly from his site. The Shoemoney System launches a week from Tuesday. Although I’ve been creating websites and blogs since 1995 I’m really excited about this one. Should be a lot of fun!
