If You Build It Does Not Mean They Will Come

The young William Butler Yeats wryly commented to his fellow poets in The Rhymers Club one evening at The Cheshire Cheese: "None of us can say who will succeed, or even who has or has not talent. The only thing certain about us is that we are too many."

That echoes: "The barrier [to entry in publishing] is not technical any more, it's building an audience." - Chris Nolan

I know that blogs have crossed the tipping point when you see blogs mentioned on just about every cover. In the recent Intele-Card News magazine, a trade mag for the prepaid telecom industry, the editor pipes up on business blogging:

One company, Stonyfield Farm, which processes organic yogurt, now maintains five blogs  at its website all with the objective of learning more about customers  as well as informing visitors of its contributions to the local and national community... The whole movement towards blogs reinforces the importance of staying in tune with your customers' needs. While focus groups and surveys have their place, this is another way to solicit candid comments. - Theresa Ward, Editor, "Blog Appeal: An Emerging Way to Interact With Customers", Intele-CardNews, July 2005

Why does Evelyn see HealthyConcerns as at the forefront of a trend? Because, while sponsored by a company, the blog is not about the company talking to its customers, it's about customers talking...and the company having a chance to listen in. - Elisa Camahort, "Healthy Concerns...the start of a trend?Healthy Concerns...the start of a trend?", HealthConcerns.com blog

Wonder/ponder: Why in a world that has over 14 million blogs (and exponentially growing) the same handful of business blogs are always mentioned (especially if you are seeking examples outside the high-tech industry). In this case, Stonyfield Farms, yet again.

Wonder/Ponder: Why in a world where customer attention is scarcer and scarcer, we indundate customers with information that is of interest to our balance sheet but is not necessarily relevant to or enhances their lives?

Credits: Harbottle's Pub Guide, entry to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in London.

Comments

[steven streight aka vaspers the grate]

That Yeats quote made me laugh my you know what off.

Nobody knows for sure which bloggers are brilliant, and which ones are mediocre no-talents, but one thing is very certain: there are too many of us.

I gotta use this in my blog. I could really rant away on that, but I'll stifle myself to be brief and pithy.

Seth Godin once said that as quantity of blogs increases, especially of schlock blogs of no real value, then the overall value of the blogosphere as a whole decreases.

I argued that this was true of talking, magazines, television, etc. so what's the point?

He wrote back, telling me that back years ago, most blogs were of high value. Now most are not. Thus, the deterioration of the realm as a whole.

He convinced me and I now see it more clearly.

But have you noticed how many bloggers are quiting? One guy said he gave blogging 6 months to produce results (I think he meant paying clients of his marketing consulting), and it hasn't been worth it. Too much time and effort with no results.

I sympathize, but I feel you need to spend about 3 to 5 years making your blog popular, valuable, and successful.

what do you think, Evelyn?

I don't have it on my blogs, there are a few things I wish I had, but I love it when a blog comment field has "notify me via email of responses to my comment".

Very very important feature.