I followed a link from Twitter he other day to a fairly popular self development blog. It’s not one I frequent regularly, but as the guest post was written by somebody who I like, I knew it would be worth reading.
Unfortunately for my own sanity I loitered around after reading the original post and started to peruse the previous offering on self-esteem and weight loss.
I’m glad I’m not a violent man, because if I were I’m fairly sure I’d have wanted to punch the writer and probably the editor that agreed to publish it. Instead I just sat there shaking my head in dismay.
I don’t want to get into the details of the post other than to say the advice on weight loss being offered was not just poor, but potentially harmful.
The problem is a good proportion of the people that read it wouldn’t know that. There were even the ubiquitous ‘Great Post’ comments to indicate some readers actually thought the guy had the faintest clue as to what he was talking about.
As a Life Coach I take what I do very seriously. I know I dick about and like to have fun, but I still make sure what I post is either right or people can tell I’m just offering an opinion. I feel I have a duty of care to you the reader to make sure I don’t send you off on a fools errand armed with poor advice .
Not every blogger gets this and I feel sure some believe the only real criteria for demonstrating success is their traffic stats and click-throughs.
Therein lies the real problem.
The blog I am referring to has way more readers than I do, probably 3 or 4 times as many and as such it has way more authority to the casual reader.
The higher the traffic, the higher the levels of social proof and it really isn’t unreasonable for people to think what they are reading has merit and is factually correct. Instead, it seems to me some blogs are more intent on screaming with their Comment, RSS and Twitter counters:
“Never mind the quality, just look at the Alexa page rank”
And no I don’t have anything against bloggers building social proof per se and flaunting their success, as long as they can back it up with content that has real lasting value.
I’m not sure if content ever was king when it comes to blogging. What I am sure of though, is if it once was, it has long since been stabbed in the back and usurped by its younger siblings called social marketing, networking and SEO.
Read blogs with caution (especially those that rely on a steady stream of guest posters) and if you are going to implement changes in your life based on what you have read, make sure you’re not taking advice from some kid that’s just read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and thinks he’s discovered the meaning of life.
Tim Brownson is a Certified Life Coach and has been unsticking people and helping them reach their true potential since 2005. If you would like to know how he can help you
Thank you Tim for sharing this. It needs to be said.
http://www.devacoaching.com Heart-full, fun and wise. Read her.
Leisa LaDell recently posted..Lonely petunia – A case for action
Thanks Leisa. I’ve seen Sandi a lot on Twitter, but selfish bastard that I am I have never read her blog. I’ll remedy that now.
http://theconfidenceguyonline.com/ – No idea who you’re talking about so I’ve no idea if he has less readers – but I get the gist and Steve deserves a shout. I read all his posts regardless – his situation is similar to mine but different (if that makes sense) so I can relate to it. I can apply it to me so that’s all that matters (if that makes sense – again!) Plus his blog is worth reading too.
Strawberry Fields recently posted..New alloys for your car for under £2000
I know Steve quite well in Internet terms and yeh he’s a great guy. Very honest and always fun.
@ Leisa – dammit, girl, I wanted to post Sandi’s blog. OK, I’ll just have to post her other one that I just started reading: The Juicy Life – http://www.juicylife.ca/ – no idea about her traffic levels, but I suppose that’s what this is all about, huh? :)
Then there’s Leisa’s own Words are Little Gods – http://wordsarelittlegods.wordpress.com/ – just waiting for more… :)
Another I’ve just started reading is Surviving Limbo @ http://survivinglimbo.wordpress.com/ – man, the last post I read on there really brought back some memories. Not memories I like…. but they need to stay in my head.
Awesome idea, Tim. Thanks for letting us participate.
Lyman Reed recently posted..Personal Development Five for Friday – The Exceptional- Awkward- and Entitled Edition
Wow 2 votes for the same person, it must be good!
I’ve read Leisa’s blog from time to time, but never heard of Surviving Limbo.
I think I’ll drop the links back in the body of the post so they actually get some link love as all the links from the comments are no follow.
This was an excellent word of caution! Thank you for saying this. It also gave me a few good chuckles.
This is a personal development blogger I trust:
advancedlifeskills.com/blog/
Sandra Lee recently posted..Sunday reflection- the dreamlike qualities of life
Thanks Sandra although Jonathan gets more traffic than I do so hardly needs the help some of the others do ;-)
Unfortunately the internet is flooded with too many self proclaimed “experts” offering unsolicited advice and quick fix solutions to your every problem and because of that I fully agree with your advice of reading blogs with caution.
http://zenandtheartoftightropewalking.wordpress.com/ is a blog I read frequently.
Antony recently posted..being an introvert in an extroverted world
I’ve heard of that one and think I’ve even read it once or twice, but it’s not one that I am that familiar with, so thanks.
I would like to recommend the blog ‘an appropriate response’ because it is so full of self-honesty:
http://appropriateresponse.wordpress.com/
Never even heard of that one Peter, cheers!
Hi Tim,
as someone who scrapes in a few pennies writing ‘blog posts’ with SEO content, I know how little content can actually matter and how much worthless rubbish is out there to confuse the general readership.
I’d like to totally selfishly point people to my own real blog where I take the content and the readers far more seriously.
Tim, I’ll leave it up to you whether you feel it’s appropriate to leave this comment up!
Cheers, Meg
I’ll leave it, because I’m sure you didn’t do it intentionally.
Oh damn – Tim, I’m sorry. I have to learn to read properly! Feel free to remove previous comment which is totally not in the spirit of your post.
Hi Tim!
I don’t read many self development blogs at all, partly because I don’t have the time and partly because so much of it is the same thing said in the same way or stuff pulled out of somebody’s butt.
BTW, I think you might have liked that guest post because it was a total rip off from you. You should sue that writer or something.
Yeh who was that person I wonder? BTW, did you read the post I was referring to?
I just went and finally did and yes, it was unfortunate on many levels.
Agree with you Tim that there is some real cods wallop being sold on the net in all subjects (self development and website stuff coming out tops)
The following is not a blog but a website and newsletter that has an amazingly rich resource on self development. It is one of the only newsletters I have remained loyal to and the stories always seem to resonate with me.
So take a look atwww.seishindo.org and see what you think.
LMAO at cods wallop. Not something I hear over here mate!
The people on that site definitely look like heavyweights that may have a clue as to what they are talking about.
I’m nominating AlisonGolden.com
Couldn’t figure out what buttons to push, so hope it okay to mention her here.
Curious what blog got your blood pressure up. Must have been a dandy.
I don’t know Alexa, but better, eh?
Love your cartoon graphics.
I’m thinking describing what a “Life Coach” does must be very challenging. What a share others are unscrupulous.
Mary E. Ulrich recently posted..“Every Day for 30 Days” Blogging Challenge or IBP
Alsion is up there.
Alexa is simply a tool that ranks every website. The lower your number (Google is #1) the more important it thinks your site is and the more traffic you get.
It’s not an exact science but it’s a useful rule of thumb. For instance my statement that Jonathan at Advanced Life Skills gets more traffic than me was based on the fact that his Alexa ranking is 60k whereas mine is 66k.
Anything above 100k is pretty good and would suggest several hundred visitors per day. although as I say it isn’t precise.
Gosh, thank you Mary. I chose Mary to be my blogging partner because while she writes her blog posts from the standpoint of a mother with an adult child with autism, each post has a universal message. We all have a lot to learn from her. http://climbingeverymountain.com
Alison Golden recently posted..The Great British Mars Bar Debate
Ok, but no more, you said my blog so I’m saying your blog!
Thanks for addressing this topic Tim. Social proof is beginning to outweigh content in some circles, a dangerous trend for people who seek usablity, and credibility, on blogs. Posts like this tend to keep blogggers honest or at least makes them think twice before posting substandard work.
Ryan
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..How the Number of Comments on My Blog Skyrocketed in 1 Week
I dunno mate. I’d like to think you’re right, but I suspect the people I’m talking about would think this doesn’t apply to them.
I can’t imagine a bigger compliment. Thank you for including a link to Surviving Limbo! Thank you also for the links to other wonderful blogs. I read Sandra, and she always leaves me feeling hopeful. :-)
I do know what you mean. I started out reading every personal development blog I could find, and eventually I found this:
1)They repeat themselves over and over.
2)They give such general advice that anybody with any common sense should already know it.
3)I do find mistakes in my own posts, but I find it mystifying and a bit scary how a few bloggers who seem to have such an awkward grasp of the English language can attract 1000s of readers.
4)My biggest concern has been the point of this post.
Thank you again, and since I know where you are, I will continue to visit. Also let me give a shout out to 2 very quirky, funny, and HONEST blogging ladies.
http://colormeuntypical.blogspot.com (Jia)
http://www.nopointsforstyle.com (Adrienne)
Emily recently posted..Every Breath Is a Choice to Live
Thanks for those Emily and you’re welcome.
in regard to #1
That is THE single biggest problem I have. The reality is there is only so much to say on self development, so the skill is in delivering the information in different ways so that it will resonate with people.
I have seen regulars come and go here over the 4 years I’ve been posting and I suspect that is largely due to the fact they think they’ve heard all I have to say. And who knows. maybe they are right.
Hi Tim,
I spotted the referral on my stats page and came over to see what was going on and was very surprised to see the recommendation. I don’t write specifically for self development; it’s more about sharing some of my jounrey and experiences and making friends.The blog title was a bit of a joke, but I love it still. I’ve suffered with depression and anxiety much of my life and have somehow got through and I can’t help feeling that as one of the isolating factors of mental health issues is sheer loneliness and the belief that nobody understands your struggles, knowing that someone else has(even an unknown blogger halfway cross the world) endured something of the same, can be as healing as any medicine or therapy and at the least might get you through a bad night or two. I’ve made real life friends through blogging, who I have met and spent time with. That’s as big a success as a million hits a month, in my book.
Obviously, I’d like to return the favour for Antony http://quietlyintroverted.wordpress.com for his kind words, but I’d also like to mention http://retiredeagle.wordpress.com who puts up a very intriguing mix of photos and Jungian psychology. He doesn’t give answers but he asks more questions and offers food for thought and often some decent tools for understanding the self.
When it comes to the big blogs, I feel that that is when the laws of astrophysics seem to come into play: the larger the mass/body, the greater the gravity and the bigger blogs seem to suck in more and more readers purely by dint of their size and not their content. The general readers seem to believe the idea that bigger is better and add their weight to the readership of blogs that are so big, small fry like me can’t compete. Not that I’ve tried, to compete, that is. I’ve not the energy or the motivation. I also suspect that at some point the new laws of blog-physics might kick in and the massive neutron-stars of the blog world might implode under their own weight and turn into black holes…
best wishes,
Viv
I tend to agree, Viv. I wonder if the little boy will cry out to the Emperor?
Alison Golden recently posted..The Great British Mars Bar Debate
yup, Alison, I suspect he will. Along the lines of, “The Emperor is starkers and my goodness, he’s hung like a very small mouse!”
Well congrats Viv on being the first person ever to talk about astrophysics on this blog.
I’m a little disappointed as I had planned a post called “Why blogging is like astrophysics” and that is ruined now.
I forgive you though and thanks for dropping by.
Sorry, Tim, *grovel grovel*
I’d been thinking about it a lot recently as I have been given a teaching assignment in mid October to tutor in science. My last student I did this with ended up very interested in astronomy and particularly in things like black holes so I had to do a lot of reading up and mindexpanding so my thoughts tended to drift to stuff like event horizons and critical mass for a long time after.
It should be added that apart from a few tiny articles in a science journal I’m not a scientist at all but a teacher of English as a foreign language.
Please write the article; my throwaway comments are likely to be forgotten before very long and I’d like to see someone else explore the subject as they’d do it better than I would.
cheers,
Viv
LMAO – I was joking, I know nothing about astrophysics!
Sorry, you’re not a regular here so don’t know I’m rarely serious about stuff like that ;-)
aha! All becomes clear!
That means that I can do the article myself and make real scientists p*ss themselves laughing at my ignorance. I once had relativity explained to me, having inveigled my way into the physics department senior common room at my university in a quest for free coffee, and I understood it for exactly three minutes before my brain imploded and here you se the sad results of that incident. I can usually walk and talk at the same time but don’t expect anything more demanding of me.
glad to give you a laugh if nothing else!
We live in great times in that we have so much wonderful inspiration and insightful blogs even though there is the odd ‘rotten apple’ post. Personally I think Jonathan Figaro is going to be a big star, I love his blog http://thedropoutkid.com/
He speaks street wisdom to me, if there is such a thing. And it’s not BS either!
John Sherry recently posted..Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously
I think there definitely is such a thing John and a brief check round his site suggest you are right.
Can’t find the dude on twitter though, I wanted to follow him.
Tim, I’ve written before on social proof, and how I don’t think it is necessarily a good thing. When people post subscriber counts, twitter followers and such, they are of course appealing to social proof.
What is your opinion on social proof as a whole? Is it a good thing, bad thing? I know I’m asking for a generalization, but it would be cool if you could humor me.
On the whole it sucks Josh imho.
It removes individuality, makes people lazy and causes misunderstandings.
Social proof causes people to say and do things they normally wouldn’t and often that’s not useful.
In terms of blogging it’s what helps maintain the status quo. I have read some awfully average and lazy posts on big sites that would have been torn to shreds elsewhere, but it’s almost as though nobody wants to be the person that shouts “Emperors new Clothes’
OTOH, even though I have resisted the urge to have RSS and Twitter counters, I can fully understand and appreciate why some bloggers use them.
Passionate as I am about self development, I am equally (if not slightly more) passionate about folks getting in touch with their inner creativity.
So; on that note:
For photographers, my girlfriends blog:
http://farrowphotography.wordpress.com/
And for Musicians wishing to dominate the world this chap who I found recently has excellent content:
http://www.themusiciansguide.co.uk/blog/
Rob recently posted..What is Crowdfunding