I wish it were just so simple. But the point’s been missed, you’ve made a mess, and who would have guessed that it’s as simple as it seems.

-Katy Perry ‘Simple’

As I was driving in to work the other day, I listened to radio station Kiss 103.5 in Chicago. Usually, I don’t make it a habit to listen to Kiss because it embodies everything I don’t like about the music industry. Kiss is owned by a large company that basically dictates who is successful and who is not on mainstream radio in America. I do like good songs, however, and you do get a nice blend of songs on that station. A new song caught my ear as I was getting out of my car. It is by an artist named Katy Perry and the song is called ‘I Kissed A Girl’. As soon as I got to my computer, I headed over to MySpace and took another listen to the song. It was catchy, but nothing groundbreaking. It will probably be a hit. It has a few controversial lyrics and a terrific beat. Katy is attractive, and an excellent singer but my first impression is she is a cookie cutter pop singer. Watch a bit of the video below, it will help prove a point later in the post.

I Kissed A Girl

I headed over to Wikipedia to a little more investigation. There was very little information about the singer (which has changed in the last few days as the song has started to make it big). One thing that struck me as odd was she released an album when she was 16, back in 2001. Then there was no history until 2007 when she digitally released the single “Ur So Gay” on iTunes.I have been struggling in the music industry for the past 10 years. If Katy Perry was a true artist, there would be a history. No one just starts playing music, stops for 7 years, and then comes out of nowhere with a new look and sound. I just figured her new label buried it. Record labels like to do that from time to time.
I started doing a little web surfing and stumbled upon a handful of YouTube videos. Katy has been working for many years at becoming successful in music. She has starred in other peoples videos (Cupid’s Chokehold by the Gym Class Heroes), and she has been honing her craft for years. You watched the first video, now check out this one. It is called ‘Simple’ - It was on a movie soundtrack released by Java Records in 2005.

In 2004, Katy was listed in Blender magazine as the next big thing. She has been dropped by several labels, and has encountered many a hardship trying to get that big break in the music industry. She has been open in discussing this, especially at shows. In need of a change and, perhaps, better luck, she took a risk and reinvented herself. Ever since unveiling this new, more grownup ‘look’ and sound late last year, it has been full steam ahead for her music career.

I like to incorporate things I have learned in the music industry and apply them to blogging.

If you feel your talents are being overlooked, there is no shame in reinventing yourself. Evaluate what you are trying to accomplish and make changes when needed, even if it means adopting a new persona. As long as you are true to your personal vision, reinventing is a great way to get a fresh start at something you love.

When I started blogging, I was a loner. I didn’t really follow a lot of blogs. In the past few months I started to become very interested in other peoples writing and artistic styles. I personally love blogs because they give the blogger an opportunity to be creative on many levels, from the writing, to the layout, and other points in between. I am going to list a handful of my favorite blogs and why I love them. I am going to avoid talking about the bigger blogging for profit sites because many people talk about those daily. I still read and love Problogger and Dosh Dosh, for example, but I have discussed those blogs many times before. These are ones you may not have heard of (although a few of them are quite large, such as the Simple Dollar). I encourage everyone to comment with links to their favorite blogs as well.

The Simple Dollar.

I used to be horrible with money. Okay, okay. I still am horrible with money. As soon as I earn a dollar, I spend a dollar. As I have gotten older, I have started to see the importance of wise investing and proper use of the money that I earn.  Author Trent Hamm has tremendous insight on how to get your finances on track. His story is similar to many who have amassed a lot of credit card debt and attempted to learn how to budget properly, but he has developed effective habits to erase his debt. He is an excellent writer, and his posts are always helpful and insightful. The layout of the blog is simplistic and not overrun with advertisements, but it could probably use a little spice. You can tell in his writing that Trent really loves to help people. I read this blog every single day.

Dooce.com

I am not off to a good start with not discussing the blogs everyone has already heard of because Dooce.com is massively popular. That is because it is a fantastic, edgy and interesting blog.  Heather Armstrong has been featured on many other websites and television shows, and rightfully so. She has been at this for many, many years. Her website is classified as a ‘mommy blog’, but her blog has been running since long before she became a mother. She offers excellent layout, photography, and day to day posting. One of the parts I love the most is her running journal to her child. She is very detailed, sometimes graphic, but always entertaining and insightful. She has a dry sense of humor and it shows.

Confessions of a Housewife

I discovered this blog early on in my niche blogging experimenting. I was reading a post on another blog that discussed using a point system to help increase traffic.  Eve, the author of Confessions of a Housewife, developed a system that I started using immediately. What I noticed after a few days, however, is Eve’s blog isn’t really a how to make money niche blog. It is actually very well thought out and interesting to read. I think I live vicariously through blogs like this because I am not married and find married life intriguing. Aside from the blog, there are lots of wonderful resources on the website.

The Baseball Collector

Zack Hample is crazy. That is the first thing you will notice about him. His blog covers how he has snagged almost 4000 baseballs in major league stadiums. It is an interesting hobby that I am partial towards because I also collect baseballs. What stands out about this blog isn’t what he does, it is how well he writes about it. Zack is an established author (he has two popular baseball books to his credit) and he uses those skills on a day to day basis with his blog.  This was one of the first blogs I started reading on a regular basis several years ago, and I still read it to this day. The layout is generic because it is hosted by Major League Baseball but it gets the job done. Check out his blog and when you are done, purchase his new book Watching Baseball Smarter. It is an excellent read.

Selina Wragg’s Blog

What can I say? I am a sucker for pastels and great writing. Selina’s blog is basically just a day to day diary blog. It isn’t really a profit niche site, but it is more along the lines of Dooce.com.  I stumbled upon her blog when going through my Twitter promotion. I was adding people of interest and her website stood out,  so I started reading on a daily basis. She puts herself out there a lot more than most bloggers, as her about page is just loaded. But I think that is a very endearing quality of a blogger. While not as detailed, I made sure to have my personal MySpace, Facebook, and my band names on my About page so people can learn more about me if they so choose. The layout of her blog is just fantastic, as I said before, I love pastels, especially in blog themes.

The Kings of AR

I started following this website a few years back and it is flat out consistant. It is an outstanding music industry blog. I know there are many of those out there but I have found few as opinionated and right on the point as Kings of AR. They are music snobs, but for the right reasons. They also break industry news and have a history of bands they feature becoming signed to record labels. Since I have been an active musician for the last 10 years, I can really appreciate the advice on this website. The layout is very easy to follow and unlike many industry blogs, it is not overridden with advertisements.

Richard Roeper

I know this isn’t a blog, but Richard Roeper is my favorite columnist of all time. I have been reading his column for long before he became famous as a move critic. His column is a general opinion column, and it is very well thought out. When I was in high school, they used to sell the Sun Times in the morning for 25 cents to students. I would buy the paper and go straight to his column. He was the sole reason I became interested in writing.  Without discovering his column, I wouldn’t be blogging currently.

Those are just a few of the websites I read on a day to day basis. My RSS reader is overloaded with lots of great blogs, but I always look for new posts by the ones I listed before moving on to others.

What are some of your daily destinations?

This post is about as subtle as a kick to the head.

As I mentioned before in my promoting with Twitter piece, I enjoy reading and discovering new blogs. I love to read and I never get tired of learning from exceptional writers. I check out anywhere from 10 to 50 new blogs a day and while I am hesitant to call myself an expert, I do consider myself educated enough to give suggestions.

What I am about to say may surprise you but 80 percent of the blogs I discover are trash. There is a good chance your blog is trash, too. If I had discovered my blog a few months back, the current me would have said the exact same thing. The reason is so many bloggers spend too much time hustling, promoting, and scheming their way to establish traffic that they offer nothing in the way of real content.

When I first started this blog, I was very caught up in the blogging for profit niche. I already knew how to create content websites and a fair amount of SEO, so I figured it would be a pretty easy thing to transition towards. I would make sure to follow all the trendy blogs, comment daily, work their ideas by creating pointless ‘pillar’ blogs and lists that were exactly like a hundred other websites. When traffic was slow to come to my website, I decided to rethink my approach and it has done wonders. I have started to focus more on delivering quality information and less fluff.

You should ask yourself one simple question: If you were a visitor your blog, would you stay and read it?

If the answer is no, you should rethink your approach.

One of the biggest crazes on the internet is how you can turn blogging in to your career. Many of you are attempting this, I know I have been. You can find so many resources that will tell you exactly how to turn that passion for writing into a lucrative and rewarding career.

It CAN be a lucrative career, but that isn’t what this post is about. Hit up Google and you can find out all about the career bloggers and their rise to financial security.

The main problem with career blogging is also the reason that so many people are attempting it. It is extremely easy to start a ‘business’ blog in an attempt to profit. Many services cater to the career blogger, and it has over saturated the marketplace. Finding a fresh and new voice in the blogging world is about as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. It doesn’t mean you cannot be that fresh voice, but the odds are stacked and they are not stacked in your favor.

As a writer, do you feel it is in your best interest to expand the reach of your writing?

What if you are a good writer, but feel that you are wasting your talents in a going nowhere blog?

Have you considered writing a book?

It seems a forgotten way to turn writing in to a career is to author a book. I say forgotten only because my writing experience has been limited to the internet. I bet many blog writers feel the same way. When I was a writing music for a living, I always felt my work was legitimized by producing a physical CD. Would I feel more like a ‘real’ writer if I published a book? I decided a month or so ago that I was going to research that, to see how I would like the challenge. Maybe this is another way to expand my writing and truly make writing a career? Like any good interweb user, I approached Google with a simple query:

“How do I write a book?”

The first listing that came up was actually insightful and beneficial to me. It was written by Scott Berkun and posted to his blog. He has some pretty straight forward advice when it comes to writing a book. After taking a little time to mull over if I did or didn’t want to write a book, I decided it was something I wanted to try. What do I have to lose?

So for the past three weeks I have been working on my first book, and it has nothing to do with AdSense, Blogging, Wordpress or how to generate a six figure income online. I have been using Wordpress on a non-public blog to write the book. Each post I make is a chapter, and it is very easy and comfortable because of the amount of time I spend blogging in general. I can go back, edit, and make changes at will, and it’s kept in order for me. The beauty of the book I am writing is that it’s chronological in a way, so using a blog format works. I am aware that I will have to convert everything into a publisher ready format, but the process appears to flow so far. Without knowledge of book publishing, however, I had to do a little research to find out what my options are. When I was in a band, It was difficult to land a record deal so many bands would self-publish their music on CD and then sell them at shows. I figured the same could be done for an aspiring author, but instead of playing shows, I could sell it online. You may call it a lack of self confidence or a lack of knowledge, but I feel it will be easier to self-publish than attempt to find a publisher, at least at this point.

After looking over about 100 self-publishing websites, I decided that Lulu.com was looking like the winner. They offer all types of publishing solutions, and it appears they have a one that will fit my book style and my budget. They let you create your project in a private or public setup, so you can go right to selling it online if you choose. I have set mine up as private because I am not ready to publish. I intend of finding someone to edit and proof read my book first, similar to how I rely on sound engineers to record and produce my music. Another good thing about this specific company is you can publish as few or as many as you’d like, so I intend on publishing a small amount first, just to see if I like the quality of the product.

When I get close to completion, I will post about it here and more than likely create a website specifically for the book. I am excited about this endeavor because I feel closer to that ultimate goal of being a self employed writer. Blogging is great for earning income, but I definitely feel I have moved some eggs to a different basket.

I am interested to find out how many blog writers have considered publishing books if they have not done so, and if they have, what are some good suggestions they could give an aspiring author such as myself.

This week was a rough week for me personally. If you follow my twitter, you know my mother passed away from a long battle with lung cancer.

I took a week off from everything just to clear my head. There were many points where I wanted to rush to my computer to crank out a meaningless blog or two to make sure my web stats on various sites were up where I wanted them to be. I thought better of that as I feel the quality of my work would suffer if my mindset wasn’t clear.

So I have opted to take a few more days off. Blog readers are a kind and caring bunch, I am sure everyone understands.

Cheers until next time, and thank you everyone for the heartwarming comments on my facebook, myspace and twitter accounts.

I have heard there are two guarantees in life. I feel there are three.

1. Death.
2. Taxes.
3. You will write a bad and pointless blog post.

When I start out every blog post, I try to make it as witty, informative and interesting as I can. I spend a bit of time crafting it, proof reading it, and then I hit that little publish button. Later that day, I’ll come back hoping to see comments from fellow bloggers and readers about what they felt about my opinion. Sometimes, I will come back to the website and see a big fat zero in the comment section. Immediately, I think ‘Wow, everyone must be stupid except me!’

Then reality sets in.

The post I made just plain sucked. I can picture it now. Joe or Josephine Average opens up their RSS reader and clicks on the newest brilliant article from Man vs Blog. They read it, utter a quick ‘meh’, and wish they could get that 5 minutes back.

Don’t think it won’t happen to you. Trust me it will. I have pulled up articles from great bloggers such as Darren Rowse and thought ‘Ok, that was entirely a waste of time.’  Even the best writers can start with a great idea and have it go south. The key is to not get discouraged when this happens.

Readers will forgive the occasional bad post. Readers will not forgive a string of uninspired and worthless posts. If you look back at your most recent post and feel it isn’t your best work, don’t fret.

Just make sure the next post you have is up to your usual high standard.

I am addicted to creating websites. Most of them have failed worse than the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs. (Did I just go there? Yes, I did!)

However, I think I am starting to get a little more wise to this interweb game. I have been giving myself a much better chance at succeeding by thinking out my website ideas and planning them a little more effectively. This is completely opposite to how my approach used to be. Every time I saw someone with a great idea, I purchased a domain and pondered a site that could rival it. A prime example of this was a website to to rival Whateverlife.com. Whateverlife was created by a 17 year old from the Detroit area that specializes in free Myspace layouts. There were plenty of stories making the rounds on the web about her making $40,000 a month from AdSense ads. Hey! I want to make $40,000 a month in AdSense!

I began by creating a pretty simple website. I designed a few of my own free layouts (being in a band taught me a thing or two about Myspace layouts) and downloaded a solid 100 more. I had a few of my friends talk up the website on Myspace, and away I went to watch the money roll in. That is how Myspace works right? Everything is supposed to go viral.

That website grossed me approximately $0.00. That was before taxes however. So the net was more like $0.00.

After a month of promotion and no real traffic to the website, I shelved the idea and moved on to the next one. What I needed to evaluate, however, was what went wrong and how I could avoid it in the future. How did this website fail?

The concept for this website is tied to the success of another site, in this case, Myspace. The site came about a year too late. I don’t believe in the theory that you have to be the first person with a great idea to profit from it, just look at how many bloggers there are making money in the make money online genre. Although there were plenty of Myspace layout websites around, it didn’t seem like it would be a lot of work getting near the top of the search word rankings. The problem itself was that Myspace was failing in general. I am aware that it is still a hugely popular website, but it lost all its buzz. Facebook took over as being the hip and cool place to go to social network. If you weren’t established before this changeover, your website is basically dead in the water.

How did Whateverlife succeed where my website failed?

Whateverlife was started in 2005 at the height of the first Myspace traffic wave. The creator, Ashely Qualls, basically dove headfirst in to a ‘perfect storm’ for web traffic. Myspace had just started advertising that you can customize your profiles with a little code, and she was on the forefront of making that code available to people her own age. The reason Ms. Qualls is a millionaire now is because she was smart enough to put advertisements on her website when most people her age wouldn’t have even thought of that. She also established her brand long before putting the advertisements on the website. As soon as she started her ad campaign, she was instantly seeing an influx of dollars on AdSense because most of her target market wasn’t tech savvy and could easily click on an AdSense ad thinking it was a link to someplace else on her website.

The moral of the story is your website might be failing, and there is nothing you can really do about it. This is especially the case if your entire business model is tied to another website. All the SEO in the world cannot replicate that ‘perfect storm’ that someone like Ms. Qualls walked in to. What you can do is adjust your thinking process in an attempt to predict that next ‘perfect storm’. You have be on the cutting edge and be creative. If you aren’t on the front line, you at least have to be on one of the first 10 lines. If you create a website because you heard on 60 Minutes that someone made 40 million dollars with a website, you are probably years too late. Another question you need to ask yourself if ‘Can my website compete?’. You do not have to be the industry leader in any field to make good money, you just have to be able to compete with the industry leaders.

With a little proactive thinking, you can avoid wasting a month on a website that was destined to fail from the start.

Every so often, I don’t feel like typing out a blog post. I know what you are thinking, but it is true! Between my several websites and blogs I can easily suffer from keyboard mileage. I feel that way right now actually. If I don’t blog regularly, however, all the work I have put in to ‘professional’ blogs will quickly fade and my traffic will decrease. As it has been widely reported on over ten thousand blogs, traffic is the key to profiting on the web. I don’t plan on boring you by talking about that.
In addition to my professional blogs and websites, I maintain a personal blog. I post less frequently now because of my ‘web’ endeavors but it is still my preferred release of emotion.

In the case of keyboard mileage I usually ask myself a simple question. Why do I blog?

For me, there are a few variables. First and foremost I want to be an author. It has been a dream of mine for a long time. Blogging basically turns me in to a self publisher. I am opinionated and I seek a limelight. This probably stems from being able to command an audience from a stage. There is a certain thrill to knowing that I have a captive audience to basically say whatever I want to. I always try to make sure I have something relevant to say, but honestly, the attention is something I have always craved.

I like to blog because it lets me display my talent in writing. I know there are a million better writers than me out there, but I like to feel I can articulate better than some and usually have a straightforward and to the point way of discussing a topic. Some writers get intimidated because they will come across a writer who flat out blows their mind. Rather than be intimidated I tend to be inspired by them.

Another key reason I blog is because I feel I have something to share that may help people. That is the main reason I write songs as well. Obviously, people by nature seek attention and they seek emotional release. I would not spend time promoting my websites and blogs if I wasn’t looking for personal gain from them. It doesn’t mean I do not respect the art and medium however. Although I am looking to gain, I am also looking to share the knowledge. It was the same way in music. I would spend hours working on music that I had very personal attachment to. Once the song was written, however, it was all business. Just because I was working hard to make music a career didn’t mean I didn’t care when someone came up to me and said a song moved them. I cherish those moments.

Lastly, I can blog from anywhere. Before I started blogging, my main outlet was music. I would write song after song but it would take a long time to be able to publicly display those songs. On the web, it is almost instant gratification. I will post and within hours I will get feedback from various sources. That, in turn, helps me become a better blogger.

When people come up to me and say that I only blog for personal gain, all I can really say is “yes I do.” I hope that my writing will eventually lead me away from my current job. At times like that I am reminded of a something a great musician once told me.

If you are in it strictly for the music, then write and sing songs for your dog in your basement. If you are in it for the music and the ability to try to earn a living, take it public. -Matt Wydra

After going through the reasons in my head why I blog to begin with, I usually feel inspired to write and try to make my next post relevant and important.

Why do you blog?

After a show, when someone hands me a flier, it’s like they are saying ‘Here, you throw this away!’ - Mitch Hedberg

Two weeks in to my Twitter experiment I have made a lot of new friends, and have practically doubled the amount of people who have subscribed to my feed and my email list. But there is a lot of negativity around the approach I use. Without rehashing my last post, basically, what I do is add as many people as I can to my Twitter profile. They will possibly check out the website, and decide if they want to follow me back, add my RSS feed, or think I am worthless and move on.

Some people have called this fishing for traffic. Fair enough. I call it promotion in its most basic form.

One reason I like Twitter is because of the simplistic way in which you can quickly put yourself out there for people to see. I don’t hide anything, I explain who I am in detail in my About section. It is the closest thing to a flier as there is on the web. When using services like MySpace, you can really streamline your search for potential readers and fans. Twitter is just like handing someone a piece of paper with a name on it.

With Twitter, I am not invading anyone’s space. They will not receive a single note from me, nor will they receive a single tweet from me. I am adding their public page in hope they will check my website out. At the most, they will get an email saying Scott Sweeney is now following you on Twitter.

Example: If I go and follow everyone who is on ProBlogger’s Twitter profile (which I have), I might get a small percentage of people who think my information is worthwhile. Why does this sound familiar to me?

I remember now. I used to stand outside a sold out Jimmy Eat World show with a piece of paper and try to do the EXACT same thing to music fans. I would see 98 percent of the fliers I handed out in the trash, on the street, or folded up in to paper airplanes. I would do this 4 times a week, for years, in hope that I could convert just a few fans to listen to my music.

I do recall people making fun of me in passing, or in the distance. Maybe they would say under their breath that my band sucks. That would be the end of it. It is funny how the disguise of a computer icon makes people a little more trashy in the way they approach you when you are handed out a ‘virtual’ flier.

What seems to be upsetting certain members of the Twitter community is my Follower to Following ratio is skewed. This is, obviously, because I am adding every one I can. They feel this is an instant case of spam and decide that I should be added to Twitter spam lists and block lists. Which I take a little exception to because once again, I have not spammed anyone. I have never sent an unwanted email or message to someone. If someone decided to follow me and does not like what I talk about on Twitter, they can simply block me and move on. Why is the F:F ratio so important in that case?

I’ve had probably 20 new “friends” follow me in the last two weeks alone. Sure I’ll click on your friend link to see if I personally know you. If your followers/following ratio is hugely skewed as yours is, Scott, I immediately ignore you. You got lucky because I have insomnia (it’s 2am on the west coast) and wanted to see who does this sort of thing. - Dave on a comment from my original Twitter post.

If this was a concert, someone like Dave just refuses the flier, or takes it and trashes it. That part I didn’t mind. But because everyone (including myself to a degree) is hidden behind a computer, he felt compelled to come on to my website and speak his mind.After being slightly upset for a few minutes, I remembered the first rule of promotion. Don’t take promotion personal. I will gladly take 100 bad direct messages on Twitter for every one new person that says hello, or says ‘Hey Scott! I like what you are doing.’ I have found over 100 blogs and websites which are amazing, and I go to frequently through this approach on Twitter.

Am I missing something? Isn’t this what Twitter and blogging in general is about, sharing information? It shouldn’t matter how many people someone is following. What should matter is if that person who added you is worth YOU following back. That is not spam. That is promotion.

When I am in the mood for a laugh, I look back at my music career and listen to my old songs. I can hear the very obvious changes in my voice, but many people cannot. Here are links to three songs I have written at three different points in my career. Can you hear the difference?

Thank You For Dancing - 2001 [LINK]

Alone in A Corridor - 2005 [LINK]

On and On - 2008 [LINK]

Naturally, I feel that the last song is my strongest. 7 years of vocal progression have given my voice a more soulful delivery. Singing a song like On and On would have been impossible in 2001. How does this relate to what I am doing now in blogging?

Often times, people will jump right in to blogging before clearly identifying their voice. I know I did. The first mistake I made was not knowing exactly what I wanted to talk about. Initially, I started writing a column based blog. Then, like a lot of people, I became obsessed with the notion that I could easily make six figures blogging about how to make money blogging. The latter was extremely boring and tedious. My final progression has been to focus more on my experience, which is songwriting and music business, and how it can relate to blogging in general. This topic seems to be the easiest and most enjoyable for me to write about.

Although the progression only took about 8 months, I have landed at a place in which I feel happy and comfortable blogging on a regular basis. I also feel that what I contribute now is meaningful and worthwhile to someone, although obviously not everyone. I anticipate my blogging voice will continue to develop over time. Just as with singing, maybe in 5 years I will have a more soulful delivery.

If you are struggling with your voice, there are things you can try to help you figure out what is needed. Something I always did while writing a song was to ask myself what the song was about as a whole. Not specific lyrics or direct subject matter, but the broad overview of the song. When you figure out the broad subject matter, it becomes much easier to identify how to deliver the direct subject matter. Suppose you decide you want to create a make money blog. You can take the overall subject matter and strip it down to a way you feel comfortable delivering it. For example, maybe you want to focus specifically on affiliate programs. Once you streamline the overwhelming part of starting a blog, it is much easier to identify where you fit in and how to use your voice.

When I was struggling with a song, I would often shelve it for a fresh idea. If your current blog isn’t working the way you want it, try something new. If the original idea was good enough, you will find your way back to it with a fresh approach and attitude. I just finished a song that I wrote music to way back in 2004! Sometimes, an idea just needs to simmer for a while.

Writing a blog should be fun, but don’t be discouraged if at times it feels like work. This is part of the process of identifying what makes you tick as a blogger. When a blog feels like 100 percent work and 0 percent fun, that may be the time for you to look for a different part of your voice.

What challenges have you come across when establishing your voice?