Last Sunday I had the pleasure of discussing blogging with Mitch Mitchell . It was a nice change of pace to just have a casual discussion about something I’m so passionate about without the pressures of teaching and actual content creation. Even though the overall point in the video wasn’t to provide “blogging content”, I believe a ton of value came from the talk and I thought it fitting to share it with you. This is about as close to a fireside chat that I’ve come.
Google Penalties
Table of Contents
Mitch kicks the talk off with the recent Google penalty imposed on Ann Smarty’s website, My Blog Guest. Google went after not only MyBlogGuest.com but even after some of the site’s users. I was happy to share my opinion on the news and how it relates to bloggers and the networks we take part in.
Blog Promotion
Next up was our opinion of blog promotion when it comes to blog posts and content we create. We talk about building loyal readership and how overwhelming promoting those posts can become. I talk about using the various social networks for blog promotion and finding the right fit for our followers and readers. I mention my ninety day focus on Google Plus, Twitter and YouTube while all but completely ignoring other networks such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and the rest.
My Early Days of Blogging
Mitch asked when I started blogging and what got me into it so you can hear a little about my blogging background. Mitch takes me to task on my first blog about finance and asked whether or not I had the expertise to blog on the subject. I was happy to talk about how I found my passion for finance and why I felt qualified to blog about it. I also give my opinion on bloggers overall and whether or not they have the qualifications to blog within their niche. Mitch follows that up with his opinion on seeing so many bloggers writing on topics they know nothing about and/or have no real interest in short of driving traffic and turning a quick profit.
Niche Blogging -vs- Traditional Blogging
I come clean, as I have in the past, and talk about my stint in niche blogging for the sole purpose of blog profit while providing no real value for site visitors. I talk about how easy it was to profit with niche blogging and how Google slapped the sense into me. The niche blogging trend, at least in the non-authoritative and low-value manor, is a thing of the past and I’m glad it is.
Blogging Pressures
Next we talk about the pressures of blogging when things go wrong and what kept us going. I actually stepped away from traditional blogging for a while and I go over several reasons for that and what came of it. I point out the pressures can cause second thoughts and doubts of why we work so hard for our readers and how it can often seem to have a very low return.
Allowing Guest Posts… Or Not
Next up was the topic of guest blogging and why we both stopped accepting guest posts. I told Mitch the reason for my decision to get away from guest blogging on Hot Blog Tips was based on the fact the much of it felt like spam and was often low quality content. Even for the better posts that I accepted, I had to actually spend more time on it than had I just written myself. We talked about our guest posr guidelines and how they were often ignored and what we did about that.
The Free Blog Image
Now we move on to my Free Blog Image movement and what came from it. I created an image to represent blogs, bloggers and blogging than anyone is welcome to download, edit and use whether it be for their logo, icons or any other way to represent their blog.
Be Everywhere?
Next up we talk about the various ways to create and distribute content along with our blog posts. We talk about whether or not these types of content such as video, audio, slide shares and images are necessary. I give my opinion on that topic as well as go into detail why our Hangouts on Air (HoA) as the Hot Blog Tips’ Hangout Crew priorities and strategy has changed so drastically.
My Personal Message For Bloggers
Mitch was gracious enough to allow me to close the video out with my personal message for bloggers and how they can find me and the Hot Blog Tips brand. Talking Blogging With Brian D. Hawkins Of Hot Blog Tips
Thank You Mitch Mitchell
I’d like to publically thank Mitch Mitchell for allowing me the opportunity sit back and have a nice discussion in such a relaxed environment. I consider Mitch a good friend and it was simply chatting with a friend on a topic we mutually enjoy with the camera rolling. I enjoyed it and I hope you do too.
Your Thoughts Matter
It would be awesome if you could take the time to watch when you get the time and join the discussion via the comments below or the YouTube video comments. Let me know your thoughts, feelings and opinions. While I have you, it would be awesome if you would take a second to visit the YouTube video link and give Mitch a little love with a thumb’s up and/or shout in the video comments.
About Brian D. Hawkins
Make sure you get yourself fixed. Nice video lots of information and I agree with most of it. Marketing is just..Eh!
Get myself fixed Scott? you afraid there’s gonna be sexy little blogging superheros running around? lol You agree with most of it, I’ll take that (As long as what you didn’t agree with was stuff Mitch said 😉
Hey Brian, do you know why I stopped accepting guests posts? Its because I decided that people who come to my blog want to read what I have to say, not some strangers ramblings.
I know that I stopped visiting some blogs, like Kristy’s Kikolani because of the appearance of so many strangers. I should start reading it again though because I think she’s taken control of her blog again.
It’s true Sire, when I go to your blog I want to see Peter Pelliccia. (People that might not know you are wondering why I told Sire that lol). We interviewed Kristi in a Google hangout a while back and she has taken her blog back.
LOL. You know, I’m in a quandary about what name I should use these days, Peter or Sire. I’m using Peter in my new blogs because I feel potential customers, so to speak, are more likely to interact with my real name rather than my pseudo name. What do you think?
I’d buy from you if you called yourself Sally. lol You have a good online rep but those that don’t know you probably would prefer a real name, especially if it’s anywhere in the sales process such as PayPal, receipts, or affiliate info.
It just might be time to do with Peter and build your name presence up some. Right now I think you’re the only person I know still using a pseudonym, and once you changed to your actual picture, it fits better.
OK, consider this to be the death of Sire. At least he may be remembered somewhere along the line by some. That and the few thousand pr so comments I’ve left lol
This is a great job of summarizing everything we talked about Brian. I really appreciate that you did it and you did a great job. Interesting how we all feel similar on guest posting now. I’m betting you started the two-finger thing back in the days of typewriters; if I hadn’t had an electric one I might never have learned myself.
Thanks Mitch. Actually, I just got rid of that old typewriter last spring. Funny you mentioned it because just today I was wishing I still had it so I could record a clip with my new digital audio recorder. It had the hard keys and the return “ding” and would have been perfect for an audio clip.
Hello,
Wonderful video chat, I guess it’s totally depends on blog owners whether to accept guest post or not. Most of bloggers has stopped it due to recent update from matt.
Absolutely Nithin, It’s all opinion based and guest blogging might work very well for other blogs. As far as Matt Cutts’s video on guest blogging, that had nothing to do with my decision to stop accepting them. That actually came long after we stopped but I wouldn’t read into too much of that. My personal opinion is guest posting on other blogs isn’t the best way to build links but it is a way to build reputation and site traffic if using a solid strategy with relevant and respectable blogs.