Have you ever had one of those moments where something moved you so much that you absolutely had to write about it right then and there?
I am having one of those moments right now.
Listen, I’d like to save you from months and months of heartache and frustration by giving you a tip that will prove to be true over and over again.
What’s that tip, you ask?
Well, it has something to do with your blog, and every other blog in the blogosphere.
It’s about what all blogs have in common, or maybe what they don’t.
It’s about you being in tune with your blog, and not everyone else’s.
Okay… sorry about the suspense building. I get bored sometimes.
Keep reading.
Consider your blog first
What I want to talk to you about is understanding the needs of your blog.
I am so tired of bloggers giving one-sided advice to people as if it was concrete, irrefutable knowledge.
Since when was this okay?
More importantly, why would anyone teach this to other people knowing (hopefully) that things are not the same for every blogger?
Listen.
When you make a decision for your blog, it must be tailored to the needs of your blog.
There is nothing an A-list, B-list, or F-list blogger can reveal to the blogosphere that will apply to every single blog in existence.
It simply does not work this way.
Every single blog is unique and every single blog deserves special attention.
Why so annoyed, Sean?
This morning, I woke up to a little advice from a friend of mine who is learning the ropes of blogging.
He’s a great guy and I wish him all the best as a blogger.
However, I feel bad because I can see that he is being pulled in many different directions because of the advice he is getting from multiple sources.
He has a new blog and he is wanting to sort out the design of his blog.
That’s all fine and dandy.
The problem is that without having a firm understanding of what he wants to do with his own blog, anyone’s advice will do.
A couple of months ago, Derek Halpern told the world to remove their search forms because they were unnecessary.
Anyone in their right mind should understand that you can’t just make that move without personal consideration.
While some blogs definitely do not need a search form, as Derek pointed out, there are cases where a blog depends on its search feature.
You have to consider the needs of your blog first.
If you run a movie blog, I’m pretty sure your readers will rely on that search form to find specific movies within your archives.
Obviously, one size does not fit all when it comes to blogging advice.
Well, my friend read an article about the use of images on blogs.
Yes… I said, “the use of images on blogs.”
If that’s not an umbrella subject, I don’t know what is.
As you would imagine, this can go in a number of different directions as the subject itself has many different factors to consider.
- Overall blog design
- The main purpose for a given page
- What kinds of emotions you want to induce in the reader
- The main topic of the blog
- The types of images used and where
- The sizes of images used
- Whether or not your images are links
The list could go on and on.
The point is, there is not a single person standing on this Earth that has the time to look at every single blog in the blogosphere and make a determination on how that blog should use images.
It just can’t happen.
What does that mean for you?
It means that you have to take your blog design into your own hands. You have to be the main decision maker for your blog.
You will surely find advice on various subjects from multiple sources.
I am not saying to ignore that advice.
Pieces of the advice from multiple articles will apply to you and your blog.
It’s just like the human body when eating and digesting food. Take a bite, swallow it, let your body strip the food of its nutrients, and the rest is waste.
The same thing applies when learning from other bloggers.
Pull the nutrients out of what you read and throw the rest away.
It doesn’t apply to you.
Now, my friend has regrets about how he has used images on his blog when images serve a completely different purpose than what the article he read has considered.
On my friend’s blog, he uses a minimalist design, therefore, there are very few lines, boxes, or clearly defined structures on his blog.
The images serve a number of purposes:
- They help separate the article content from the rest of the page
- They provide relief from the boredom of an all text, minimalist layout
- From a psychological standpoint, when placed in the upper right corner of the article, they shorten the lengths of the first few lines of text, making it easier for the reader to get started building momentum as they read.
Just to name a few…
The takeaway
What I want you all to understand is that you must have a solid ground to stand on as a blogger.
If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.
You have to know what the purpose of your blog is, and you build your blog around that purpose.
Do not surf the blogosphere thinking that everything you read from someone who is further along in his or her blogging venture will serve your blog properly.
No.
Every blog is different and every blogger has different goals.
Because of that, every blogger will take different steps to achieve his or her goals.
Do not allow someone’s confident way of writing convince you that he or she is all-knowing.
They are supposed to write like that. They have an audience to maintain.
If you want to be a well-rounded blogger, though, you must first understand your own blog.
Then, and only then, are you ready to read 20 different articles on one subject.
You’ll either take what’s relevant to you out of each article and benefit the most.
Or…
You’ll take everything from every article and find yourself changing everything every few days… never being happy with your own work.
There is no one-size-fits-all to blogging, my friends.
You have a blog and your blog has certain needs.
Serve those needs… not your own personal needs of feeling like you’re doing the right thing only if an “expert” said so.
Take control of your own opinion.
It’s the only one you’ve got.
Man this friend of yours must really be a cool guy
I guess this happens from people from time to time … they read a cool article about a subject, they get pumped up and end up doing stupid s***.
The most important thing is to learn from our mistakes. Tnx for making this so obvious
I tell ya this blog keeps on getting better and better!
He’s pretty damn cool! Haha…
The only reason I am willing to speak on this so strongly is because I have been through it time and time again. I’ve done so much reading and changing in the last 6 months that you wouldn’t believe this was the same blog today had you seen in back in September of 2011.
Every few days, I made changes because of something I had read. While this is definitely a form of growth, it’s not always a good thing if done uncontrollably. If you ALREADY HAVE direction, everything you read will clearly push you further or knock you off course. However, if you have no direction, everything you read will do whatever the hell it pleases with you!
That’s no good.
So, I definitely don’t want to see anyone else go through it. It’s not a bad thing… it’s human nature. But at some point in becoming a true blogger, we all must plant our feet firmly in the ground and know what we’re all about.
Hopefully this article will help some new bloggers get to that point.
Thanks for reading, Dejan!
Yeah what you’ve described in your comment is exactly what most beginners do … wasting time on stupid stuff (inside their comfort zone) so they don’t have to do stuff that really matters (outside of their comfort zone).
Work for work’s sake … a big no no!
Hey Sean,
I remember Derek’s post and I didn’t agree with him.
His response was that it seemed that I left the search bar there because ‘I felt it was right’ but then again, I didn’t make a strong point on why I didn’t agree with him either (that was my bad.)
Being an IT guy and actually doing my Computer Engineering graduation’s THESIS (oh the irony) on web usability…
I think I have more than a strong formal background to say why I didn’t agree with him at the time but well the thing is, I didn’t and now it doesn’t matter.
Anyway, I get your points here.
What bothers me a lot, is that people is giving advice when they don’t even have the expertise.
I make sure that my few readers understand I’m just an IT guy learning about internet marketing (hence the sentence below my main header) so we’re crystal clear on what I can and can’t teach over there.
I don’t know if this is the formula for success but I would be very embarrased if I found out I just wasted people’s time, money and my own credibility because I led them nowhere.
Still, there are plenty of people who couldn’t care less about outcomes like those and how do they manage to get sleep at nights?
It’s beyond my comprehension.
Sergio
PS. I ranted a little bit but your article applies to anything, not just blogging.
I agree 100%, Sergio.
It’s especially hard for me to sit back and watch because as a fairly new blogger (in regards to what my archives show), it’s bad business for me to go against the mainstream grain.
I just know that no matter how popular a person is, there is no specific answer for all areas of blogging… or anything, for that matter.
I kept my comment civil on that article. But then I wrote my own article in response to it and Derek came over to bark at one of my commenters for his opinions on the matter.
Honestly, that entire scenario turned me off. Now, when I read Derek’s work, I read it with my guard up… making sure I don’t get caught up in his popularity, confident ways of speaking, and his A-list affiliations. Those things can really cloud a new blogger’s judgement sometimes.
He seems like a cool guy but he’s playing the hell out of this blogging game and I can see it clearly. I don’t think most can, though.
Anyway, rant all you want, my friend. My honest opinion is that there is only one way to establish yourself in this game (outside of the basics) and that’s to keep it real 100% of the time. The day I decided to disagree with Derek was the day I realized I had my own voice. I never looked back.
Kudos to you for disagreeing on there… and not responding to the hasty generalization thrown your way.