G is for Greatness
By AndrewBoyd • Aug 27th, 2008 • Category: Blogging tips, Recent postsThis post is part of my lessons learned alphabetical series and follows on from E is for Expansion. and F is for Friends.
When I started blogging seriously, I wanted to be a truly Great Blogger. Note the capitalisation. Great with a capital G. Not just successful, but truly Great.
“Andrew, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
“This week, man, I would like to be a truly Great Blogger”
Great meant many things. It meant being a full-time blogger, talking at conferences about blogging, nodding sagely at appropriate moments when brought into corporate boardrooms as The Blogging Consultant, drinking a lot of beer, signing t-shirts and never really working a minute again in my whole life.
Does that work for you? As fantasy careers go, it certainly worked for me.
Now, I could spend the rest of this post slagging off at the “make money blogging” people, and talk about how the only people making money blogging are those selling “make money blogging” books and courses. But that would be wrong - and besides the point. I know that you can make money from blogging, and I know that for me I will make more money consulting and contracting about Information Architecture and user experience design. It is what I am good at, and the money is really very good too.
What I will do is pitch a new concept of “Great” to you. Here it is, for free:
You are a Truly Great Blogger In Capitals If It Makes You And Your Readers Happy.
Now that I am semi-retired from the hurly-burly life of serious blogging, I can say unequivocably that the blogs I read are the ones that make me happy - like Magneto Bold Too and I Can Haz Cheezburger. My favourite blogs make me laugh, others make me cry, and all of them make me feel. I used to read blogs that made me happy out of a sense of duty to their authors - they read my blog, I read theirs. The blogs I felt that I had to read were the ones that would give me the winning edge over all the other ProBlogger wannabes - the perfect angle, the perfect post, the perfect Great Blogger cred.
Screw that 
What do you think? Am I nuts, reading and blogging only for pleasure? Am I Great now, or was I Greater before?
AndrewBoyd is a consultant by day and blogger by night. He loves good food, good wine, and discussing faceted classification schemes with friends.
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Here, here sir.
I’m not a big fan of some of probloggers some of there methods are a little too “black hat” for me.
Legend in their own lunchbox.
Dude! Me in the same sentence as I can has cheezeburger?
I am totally printing this out and sticking it in my husbands face. Take that!
Oh and I got my first advertising cheque today. Fifty bucks. Bwaaaa haaaa haaaaa! Dooce here I come!
Andrew, you always and always will be Great!
MWA!
oh bugger, I hate when I do that…. it should read ‘always have been and always will be Great’.
DAMMIT!
Wow, responses
Thank you, people, you make me feel very wanted!
@Jessbo: the cheque is in the mail. Get published, I will buy your book, promise
@Gary: there are some shonky bastards out there who exist to exploit the gullible. And there are the “I am the greatest” types that are very annoying. Professional blogging is, I feel, not to blame- THE ProBlogger, Darren Rowse, is one of the good guys.
@Kelley: You are as good as LOLcats to me, Kel. No contest. You just say “fuck” too much to be totally mainstream popular, but that is not a bad thing in my book. You rock! And congrats on the ad cheque
@GoaldeeBug: thank you, you are way too kind, and it is appreciated
@All: thank you once again, you have made me feel Great
Best regards, Andrew
Andrew, clean, clear and concise your writing is….though I admit I looked you up after you turned up randomly on a breast comment on Plurk….laughed my arse off and said to Jessbo that you must have a script running
You’re definitely Great Andrew! Blogging for pleasure often creates such a nice inclusive tone.
I love LOLcats.
More comments, thank you
@Mark: thanks, I try. Plurk has become my online social community in the face of Twitter failure and some other stuff happening in the background.
@RuthEllison: thank you
I think that pleasure is all there is sometimes.
Best regards, Andrew
Glad you are more relaxed and happy about it all.
Hi Colin,
thank you for your comment.
I am more relaxed, yes. Perspective is a good thing.
Best regards, Andrew
I think the biggest drawcard for blogging is that it’s fun. If it’s not fun anymore - what’s the point? That goes for writing AND reading.
Of course, in my mind “great” is like “beauty” and “in the eye of the beholder”. And there’s NOTHING wrong with that. That’s why there is such diversity in the blogworld. Also a good thing.
Kelley - holy crap!!! How many bloggers do you know that get $50 for their first cheque????? Very awesome babe!
Hi Lightening
thank you for your comment. I agree - it definitely should be fun.
Diversity is a good thing - and yes, Kelley is awesome, it is true
Best regards, Andrew
Thanks for “G” Andrew, now I can relax.
Oh wait a minute… after G comes H… now I’ve got something else to look forward to.
I think that the secret to ensuring your reader has a good time, is that you have a good time yourself. When you’re as fun and enthusiastic as say, Kelley, the tone and manner becomes infectious. Hence sticky readership.
Love your work!
Anita
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