Category: Blogging

NO COMMENTS

Someone asked me recently why I don’t have comments enabled on this blog.

It sort of goes back to this post by John Gruber who writes Daring Fireball: https://daringfireball.net/2010/06/whats_fair

And my hero Seth Godin: https://seths.blog/2006/06/why_i_dont_have/

“First, I feel compelled to clarify or to answer every objection or to point out every flaw in reasoning. Second, it takes way too much of my time to even think about them, never mind curate them.”

Getting caught up in some reply threads on Substack Notes is enough.

Then there’s comments on my individual posts on Substack. Not many, but a few.

Then the number of emails I reply to, as well.

I have a Discord, but I’m shutting that down.

So comments on my two blogs? I just don’t want to invite MORE, you know? I’m about at capacity!

I’m going to write more on this soon, how all the time we spend posting on social media leads us to spend more time on social media replying, checking notifications, responding to DMs… like, is there a better use of 2-3 hours per day?

Could spending 2-3 hours a day on writing, or playing guitar, or walking 10 miles a day be a better use of time?

EVIDENCE IS YOUR MARKETING

From my new post ‘YOUR EVIDENCE IS YOUR MARKETING‘ over at Social Media Escape Club:

“I saw someone marketing their music production services in text, outlining the discount, the expiration of the offer, and who might be interested.

No evidence, just details.

Their website showed the albums they worked, a display of musicians who trusted them with their art, their vision.

That’s evidence.”

From my time in the music industry, this was the foundation for so many bands in the metal and hardcore world. I didn’t find out about bands like Dillinger Escape Plan or Meshuggah from social media posts, I found out about them from friends who saw them and told me I need to hear them.

There was evidence; good sounding albums, word of mouth from their live shows. That was the marketing.

I know we’re in this always on / short form video world right now, but there are people out there making a living without being online 24/7 and without making short form videos.

I know a writer working on TV shows and they aren’t on social media. I know a musician with “just” 225 Patreon supporters and an email list and they’re making a living doing what they love.

Instead of trying to impress strangers, present your evidence to the right people in your own creative orbit.

BLOGGING IS TOTALLY NOT DEAD

From Josh Spector on LinkedIn (thanks Sarah B. for letting me know):

Blogging isn’t dead – it’s hiding.

Last night I spent a little time seeking out old school blogs and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

Bloggers I had read regularly decades ago like Jason Kottke and Tina Eisenberg are still at it and still sharing interesting, valuable stuff I hadn’t seen elsewhere.

And I discovered bloggers who were new to me that immediately captured my attention – people like Seth Werkheiser.

I was even reminded that bloggers who I do still read regularly like Seth Godin and Austin Kleon have tons of stuff on their blogs that I had missed.

Equally interesting is that most of these bloggers are barely – if at all – using social media.

It’s funny, because I wanted to reply, but I don’t have a LinkedIn account anymore! I tracked down his email to say hello.

Absolutely humbled to have my name anywhere near the other names he mentioned in this post, sheesh! Like, what?!

But yeah – blogging was at one point deemed dead by the VC bros who bought up a bunch of the blogs we used to read, crammed them full of ads and pop ups, then wondered why no one visited anymore (I was living in NYC and working at AOL Music in 2008, I’ve seen things).

Then the VC and content moved to social media because it was a “cleaner reading experience,” and well, we’ve all seen how that turned out!

I set up this blog in 2018, and I’ve been “re-stocking it” with posts and photos dating back to 2004 from Flickr and assorted outlets. I figured since I deleted all my social media profiles, I might as well have one space for everything I’m doing.

THERE IS NO RULE THAT SAYS WE HAVE TO STAY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

If we can go back to vinyl records and film cameras, we can go back to blogs and RSS feeds.

The common excuse is that no one will go back to blogs or RSS feeds. Yet we never say the same about film cameras or people that buy vinyl records. Sure, if we mean people as in everyone, then sure, no one will go back. But vinyl sales continue to rise, and people keep taking photos with film cameras.

Do we need permission from the masses before we do something that might bring us joy?

JUST START BLOGGING

Fuck a Square Space, fuck a newsletter, fuck a social media platform and just freaking write, preferabbly on your own domain or least something you pay for so you can export yoru work if it ever goes belly up.

Fuck the full-width photos. Fuck the buttons. Fuck the H2 tags.

We’ve spent hours everyday posting and consuming social media content. Now it’s time to get radical. Reverse thrusters and lock in the auxiliary power. Pull the emergency brake and abort, it’s to get back to blogging.

Every new blog post is a signal to the reader, the curious visitor. There is no confusion, there is no navigation, there is THE FIRST POST.

It’s the menu, it’s the directions, it’s the manual – we start here. Today, this first post. This is where we start today.

Don’t like it? Scroll down, there’s another post. Not for you? Take a hike.

I guess I could say this blog is a failure for not landing me some big giant six figure client or whatever, but I’d say it’s a success because it’s fended off any shit-ass hiring manager from hiring a ding dong like me and that’s fine.

This blog is a signal. This is me. This is what you get. And it’s not ever video!

But the blog serves a purpose. Each post is like an email to the universe, a signal saying “this is what you get.”

Some might be curious and dive in. They might even email you.

Otherwise all those busy, cluttered, slow loading square space sites are just bogged down with static photos, text that was written three years ago, and a bunch of buttons to “sections” where it’s just more of the same.

Fucking write on your blog like your life depends on it because I’m thinking right about now it does.

BLOGGING IS A TRADE

I’m not even sure what part to quote from Alex Danco, but we can start with this:

Winning, for bloggers, means writing the reference take on a good topic. My favourite example of this is how Byrne Hobart broke out with his piece on the 30-year mortgage. It’s kind of surprising that this kind of post had such influence – it’s wonky, it’s not written for a general audience whatsoever. But it turns out that people think and talk about their mortgages a lot, and like to feel competent when they do. Reading that piece equips them with a kind of legitimacy to speak on the topic.

This under the header of Blogging is a trade, which I love seeing in the year 2025.

There is power in blogging, in writing, in text.

Everyone can put text on a screen in 2025, but not everyone can write. And if you can write, you’ve got options. From a blog post, to an email, to a text message – so much of it comes from the years blogging, of publishing on the web.

“This is the great secret of writing in public: the writer and primary audience both put in effort (to pack and unpack the idea); and they jointly reap the rewards, which is the legitimacy earned when the idea gets subsequently retold verbally to the wider secondary audience.”

Sadly, in the year 2025, some stupid ideas have won, but the good ideas spread, so it’s time for a lot of us to spread some more ideas. Not thoughts. Not hot takes. But ideas, ways to get out of messes, to move forward, to build a world we want to live in.

REMEMBER, NO ONE READS BLOGS IN 2024

If blogs are dead, explain this. I mean, someone is reading it, right? This isn’t some lead magnet, and I’m certainly not getting brand deals from it, but this is pretty cool.

Like, legit – I get maybe a few emails per year about anything I write. Nothing is moving any needle here, but… it is so delightful to be able to click back through 2020, during the pandemic, and see where the heck my head was at. And it’s been fun to mine some old photos from Flickr and put them on here, or unearth old text files I have on external harddrives and republish them here.

But remember, no one reads blogs anymore.

Have you seen what John Gruber is charging for ads on his blog?

My response to anyone who says “no one visits websites anymore,” is always “well, no one visits your website!”

DESIGN FOR CUSTOMERS

Goodbye “blogs as media empires.” The signal to noise ratio is too high, and the buckshot approach (more content = more page views) is doomed to fail. You can only carry so much coal on the locomotive of “content is king.”

And the idea that an app or HTML5 or social media is going to save your media outlet or business is wrong. If you don’t have customers you are doomed. A coffee shop can’t stay open if people just come in for the smell everyday; it must sell a cup of coffee on occasion.

You need to read ‘Don’t “design for mobile”, design for your customer relationship.’ If you don’t have people who will actually buy something from you, you can’t last.

Do you think companies are going to keep throwing money at media outlets that aren’t bringing clicks and engagement?

This was dug up from the Wayback Machine here.