“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson
The long time readers here might have noticed the content here is evolving and that the focus has changed a bit.
It is business as usual here but the focus isn’t just business any more.
Once upon a time this place was going to be where I showcased my knowledge and writing skills. It was supposed to give prospective clients and employers a place where they could get a better sense of what I bring to the table.
They’d come here and gain insight that would demonstrate depth and breadth of knowledge about a variety of things, social media, P.R., marketing and writing but that is not working for me any more.
And I don’t think it is working for a lot of people either and it is not because I don’t have anything to offer.
The Reason Why Things Had To Change
It is because of the echo chamber and groupthink. It is because of a crowded and cluttered blogosphere combined with 109,878 shiny objects has led to content shock.
People are overwhelmed and bored so they are cutting back on what they read and where they comment and if you click on either of those links you’ll see I have been aware of that for a while.
Ask me why I didn’t adjust sooner and I’ll tell you it is because blogging is a marathon and I wanted to give it time to be certain it made sense to move.
I wanted to see how many people had the guff to stick it out and who had the gumption to make a run for it.
Not to mention I was concerned about whether changing would hurt the brand and image I was trying to build. Those of you who know me also know that I am good at holding firm during a storm but there comes a time when having a grip that would make a gorilla jealous is of little to no benefit so I let go of the branch.
Write Something People Will Read
The goal here is to write something people will read and the method to making that happen will be to open things up a bit and show more of my personality in my writing.
It is tied into why my Facebook posts sometimes include silly stories. Those stories are fun to write and they have served as an easy way to improve engagement on Facebook.
None of this will be much of a surprise to those who have read What Story Should You Tell or What Kind of Writer Are You and it is all tied into why I changed the theme here again.
You can expect some more changes to come soon. I plan on swapping out the stock photos in the background for my shots but I won’t do that until I have decided what those pictures should be.
It is worth mentioning that when I loosened things up and adjusted things traffic began growing. There are more readers, more pageviews and more time spent here than before.
Those are the kinds of metrics that businesses pay attention to and the kind that smart bloggers do too. It doesn’t mean you won’t see more serious posts here or that you won’t see any posts with a business focus because they’ll still show up.
But you’ll see a mix of silly and whimsical too and if I do my job you’ll have a place to visit that will be entertaining and educational. The net result should be good for everyone and if it is not, well I’ll just adjust things again.
That is part of the beauty of blogging, it is dynamic environment and it is not hard to change things.
What do you think?
“You can’t reach old age by another man’s road. My habits protect my life but they would assassinate you.”
– Mark Twain 70th birthday speech, 1905
