Every writer, every blog owner, every worker likes to think that they are an expert, the best in their field. If you need a tradesman and pick up your local directory to find e.g. a washing machine repair man , or look in the newspaper classified ads, and these days of course the online equivalents, you will see loads of ads, almost all, at least by those who can afford it, written to stand out and convince you that they are the best. If a business owner can't write their own catchy, attention grabbing ads they pay others a lot of money to do it...but that kind of writing job is a specialist field and not for those without proof of training and experience in advertising, and or marketing.
Freelance writers and blog owners are a little different though...Of course there is competitiveness, writers, website and blog owners watch their stats and position on Google like hawks. There is bitching, I had an experience when I set up a fan page for my blog on Facebook, and very quickly a page owner who wrote in a similar field to mine was posting sarcastic comments directed at what must have seemed my immediate popularity and number of likes, when he realised it was only 6, the page was further ridiculed. However, a characteristic of the blogging industry is its mutual support. Blog owners are seen less than they used to be as websites poor relations, or the common man’s website, and blogging is a community very much based around mutual support for each blogger to survive.
Blog owners are encouraged to follow each other and interact as part of building their web presence. Of course, it doesn't matter whether you blog about it or not, and for many blogging is at least initially an outlet for a problem or situation they are in, as indeed was my blog, everyone thinks they are unique . This tends to be born of feeling alone, like you are the only person in the world in your situation, like a mum with a crying baby !!!
Just as there is for everything, there are a million and one sites telling you how to blog, and one of the main pieces of advice that comes up is to see what other people are blogging about, how they do it..and who reads it. This doesn't mean copying them, there are strict no no rules about plagiarism in the blogging industry as there is the academic writing field, but especially for the novice blogger it helps you get the hang of how it is done..and how not to do it. Bloggers are grateful for the hits to their site, translating as page views and to leave a comment on another blog is one of the best ways to get hits to yours. Most blogging platforms such as Blogger have a Blog role add on, or widget which enables you to list the blogs you are following, and of course blog owners are very appreciative of being listed. All of this will quickly teach you that your blog is not the only one in its field by a long way !!! I should not have been surprised to discover loads of blogs like mine devoted to the issues facing older people looking for jobs.....I'm not the only person in my situation by a long way.
So, what makes mine special ? Why are my stats pretty good for a beginner to the technicalities of blogging ? Am I unique ? I don't know about being unique but I do know that my b log has its own style. I suspect it is largely read by my friends, and friends of friends, and its readership has grown from my linking the posts to Facebook etc...but I still have some way to go before I can claim to be an expert in social networking..which again is a career in itself. I am known to have a way with words..what I don't yet have us a way with SEO techniques...although I was surprised recently when I slipped in a phrase that the search engines trawl and then noticed I had done it. There isn't a glossy smart professional photo of me at the top in the headings all big hair and whitened teeth and size 8...there is an old photo on the blog, but I haven't lived a life in recent years that has left me fit to photograph....events have taken their toll. My blog clearly is not part of a company media profile..my attempts to set up a business and how it was constantly thwarted by my need to claim benefits and so do as the benefit office told me and look for a job are well documented.
Perhaps what makes my blog special is that it was born out of desperation and I am not an expert blogger. For ages it had the basic templates supplied as part of my blogging platform. I started off with flying birds...a sort of emotional link perhaps to people over 50, with disabilities looking for work, then when I fancied something more professional I ended up with a header of the Houses Of Parliament......well, it was London.....but a touch ironic since it is in that great pile that the decisions have been taken to remove sickness benefit from people like myself and declare even the terminally ill fit for work. Eventually after a few false starts and scares that I had lost the blog all together I got the hang of being able to downland and install the many lovely..and at least for the moment adequate free templates for blogger to be found on the net and so finally it is my blog. ..
Well to be precise it is Bloggers blog, since I cannot afford my own hosting and domain name and it is not essential at the moment in any case,.but it certainly is a reflection of me and my experiences
My blog was, is and always will be the desperate attempts of a woman over 50 and not in good health to make herself an income with what few resources she had and help others in the same situation as herself while she found ways to do so....as a brand it certainly may not be unique in the blogging industry but it is special....
photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via photopin cc
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