Yesterday I was asked a question by my friend Jamie: “Does your blog have a unique selling point? Why should ppl subscribe to yours and not others?” and afterwards a very important point crossed my mind and I raised it immediately and I thought to share it with you guys.
My answer was that I never promote my blog over other blogs, all blogs within the sphere complete each other instead of competing like any other industry! That is the cool thing about social media, that you can never force a reader to read your blog, or buy your product, or for example promote yourself over other bloggers as if you are better than them or your blog is better, it’s not the case at all! Readers are attracted by the quality of your content and the way you write, they either like it or they just bounce off your blog!
Blogging, unlike other industries, requires focusing on quality more than promotion, since readers will find your blog if its content meets their requirements and satisfies their needs.
Back to the core of the article, I don’t think any blogger would ever think of promoting their blog over other bloggers, in the contrary, we consider ourselves as colleagues and friends. Our blogs complete each other rather than compete, each of us has his own loyal readers where at sometimes we might share some loyal readers and we might be each others’ readers!
Let’s take SteitBlog for example; the following bloggers (just to count a few) are good friends of mine and all of us blog around almost the same thing; Blogging and Making Money Online, and we read each others blogs.
1- MikeCJ
3- Derek Jensen
At the same time, I do follow and look up to some other A-List bloggers (to list a few) whom I consider as friends/mentors:
1- Darren Rowse
3- David Risley
4- Chris Brogan
So do you think in blogging there is competition between different blogs under the same niche? Do you have colleagues or competitors in the niche you blog about?
For now I just want to cut the article short and see what you guys think about this issue, and we might work on follow-up articles if we find out that there are different points of views!
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
@hotblogtips
January 11, 2010 at 6:51 pmI agree 100% that we are colleagues and not competitors, and I suggest that bloggers even link out to ‘colleagues’ as you have done here.
I am a little confused on you statement about promotion. Are you saying that promotion is not needed? If so, I disagree (respectfully), especially if your site is fairly new and doesn’t get search traffic yet. I say it is a high priority to promote your site, not that your site is “better” but that it exists, then let the content speak for itself.
Keith´s last blog ..Blogger Interview – Todd Fratzel
@mikecj
January 11, 2010 at 7:42 pmWhat’s interesting is that most people blog on their personality. And of course, that’s unique. There’s only one of you, and only one of me – so even though some of us may cover very similar topics, we each remain relevant because of our unique point of view and outlook.
Mike CJ´s last blog ..How to launch your first digital product
@steitiyeh
January 11, 2010 at 8:09 pm@keith just to make things clear, what I believe in that any blog doesn’t need to be promoted to get readers, but it should be branded well! I believe that the readers will come with the good content, socializing and interaction with people on different blogs and forum!
So my point is that a blog is not a product to promote, it is thing to brand!
I hope things are much clearer now, and I am sorry for having things confused!
Best,
Firas
@BuildThatListCo
January 11, 2010 at 11:09 pmThat is an extremely good point! I have never seen blogging as a competition and regularly refer readers to other blogs in the same niche – because I’m not the only one that writes great stuff :D
Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..Squeeze Page Tips For Better Conversion
@beginnerblogger
January 12, 2010 at 1:19 amI think Mike would love that you didn’t label him as an ‘A-List’ blogger. Mike’s done a wonderful job of being ‘one of us’ as Chris Brogan would describe it. Very down to earth and connects incredibly well with the bloggers from all varying levels of experience/’expertise’ yet we all know he makes a full-time living from blogging like the other A-Listers.
That’s not saying the A-Listers you mentioned don’t at all, because they do too. Just perhaps not as frequently as Mike based from what I’ve seen :)
Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com´s last blog ..Guest Post Interview: Henri Junttila
@robertbravery
January 12, 2010 at 11:08 amWell I am certainly glad to be listed as a friend and not competitor.
Too many bloggers worry too much about other blogs and those blogs stealing valuable traffic. Where as the opposite is true. Making friends out of your competitors in the blogging industry can only improve your own blog
I am privileged to have you, Firas, as a friend and fellow in the blogging world. I find that we add to each others blog. There is no way that we can compete, you and I are such nice guys, it would be impossible to compete. LOL
Robert Bravery´s last blog ..Screen capture tools for bloggers.
@steitiyeh
January 12, 2010 at 12:11 pm@Sarge, I think that Mike really got what I meant with the A-List bloggers! Mike is a good friend of mine and he is SUCH a great blogger! but to make things clear, I mean with A-List bloggers; those bloggers that make 6 figure income and those who have been blogging for quite a long time, whom are actually considered to be the Gurus or Mentors of all bloggers! don’t you guys, agree?
I hope that all of us succeed with taking our blogs to the next level :D
@steitiyeh
January 12, 2010 at 12:15 pm@Robert heheheh yeah of course we are such nice guys and it’s impossible for us to compete :p heheh
Seriously, Blogging is a real different world when it comes to competition because all blogs complete each others since I am 100% sure that there is no one blog in the world that has and contain ALL the information needed of a certain topic, you should go check other blogs and even blog owners do the same, they check what others are saying to know what to talk about at least!
Thanks for the comment Robert :)
@jan_geronimo
January 12, 2010 at 5:29 pmI treat them as online buddies. We collaborate on projects, share each others content, readers and other fun stuff offline, too. It’s more productive this way and makes for a more long lasting community of readers and friends.
@TylinaVespart
January 12, 2010 at 5:41 pmI’m definitely in the colleague camp. There’s no reason not to be really, every blogger I’ve come across (Notorious for lurking, though I do read a fair few and I am working on my tendency to hide ;) ) approaches things in their own way and more often than not has something new to say. Or something interesting. Or entertaining.
Even if, in a broad sense, we’re writing about similar topics.
@techthinker
January 13, 2010 at 5:30 amI am on the colleague camp too! I have neglected relationship building for a long time. So in 2010, I have made it as one of my top priorities.
The market is highly competitive and the best way to become a profitable blogger is through creating a coalition.
Aaron´s last blog ..Make Money from a Mini Website – Part 8
@lifenotion
January 14, 2010 at 12:29 amI do believe that their are many competitors to everyone’s blog. They key thing though is everyone is different in their own way. Yes, we each have our own personal way of writing our content and the blog design to attract readers, but we bloggers work to differentiate ourselves other than just in our name and personal self from other competitors.
So, there are no direct competitors because if there was (why are you still blogging with that particular blog). We all start a blog to be (not better than the other ones or our competitors) different and unique.
In terms of colleagues, this is where connecting with bloggers of the same niche and different niche is good. You want to connect with your ‘competitors’ and work to make them your colleagues so you can share ideas and help each other related to your same niche. Additionally, you want colleagues that are outside your particular niche. They will be your outside perspective and per-say general public view. Connect with them and before you know it you have got an informal network of bloggers of all different niches that combined has a large audience for further connection.
Making connections and setting your self apart from other bloggers is key.
Derek Jensen´s last blog ..A Unique Approach To Storing Your Brilliant Ideas
@ralphcarlson
January 26, 2010 at 5:35 pmPossibly I might consider other bloggers competitors if I knew what my blogs purpose is. What I enjoy is the exchange of ideas and particularly the personalities that shine through on the blogs I enjoy most.
Ralph´s last blog ..Thinking about comments