I haven't updated this blog in a while for a good reason. I didn't know what to write. The first few posts are tricky because that sets the tone for the rest, and sets people's expectations. So I thought long and hard for about 15 seconds, and decided I couldn't come up with a single theme. What is a "theme", you ask. A theme, in my opinion, is an overall description of your style of writing. Most blogs I have seen fall into 5 broad categories for themes :
- Experiential: "Yesterday I went out with a couple of friends. We had an interesting conversation about retirement, and then it struck me ...and so on"
- Descriptive: "I was walking back to my apartment when it started to drizzle. Rain fell in small drops that really didn't leave a stain on the ground. Wonder if people's lives have the same impact in the larger scheme of things"
- Journals : "Woke up today and really didn't feel like going out in the rain. Lazed around for a little bit and assembled the surround speaker system that had been in its box for weeks. Cleaned home a little bit"
- Hobby displays: "Here is a photo I took of a flower using a Nikon 450Z Telephoto lens and 334 ms exposure and so on." The internet has enough hi-res images of sunsets and daffodils already and I don't plan to inflict any more on my kind readers.
- There are, of course, many commercial-ish blogs that dispense news, information and, since this is the internet, porn.
1.Experiential:
- Pros - Get my friends to read and hence boost viewership.
- Cons - My life doesn't supply enough interesting and publishable material
- Pros - Chicks apparently dig this. I recently found that a guy actually hooked up with a female fan of his blog. This will show off the sensitive and dreamy side of my character.
- Cons - I need to grow a sensitive side first. Stop to smell the flowers, so to speak.
- Pros: Easy to write, plentiful material. Can finally use the internet to wallow in self pity
- Cons: Boring
- Pros: Can help attract like-minded people from all over the world. In theory, there should be plentiful material
- Cons: My divers jack-of-all-trades approach doesn't lend well to writing deeply about any particular hobby
This just struck me. According to orkut, I have 158 friends now. If I create 10 posts a month and "persuade" all of my friends to read each one, that could translate to 1500 views a month or 18000 hits a year, not counting friends of friends etc. Pretty massive castle in the air right there.
More on which of these options I choose in my next post. Also, please, please leave comments. Even if I don't know you at all. It is really awesome if someone reads this without being guilted into it by me.
2 comments:
Adding an "updated blog" tag to your profile header on orkut seems like a neat strategy to attract attention without begging people to read. First, it raises an important question: If Vatsan is not trying to hide something I should know, why did he not tell me? Then, the bang on that "updated blog" tag also plays on the consciousness: This is so exciting! Third, it breeds anticipation: Maybe his blog will provide clues to the mysterious fresh scratches I saw on his neck yesterday!
Successful marketers will tell you that all you need to do with a new product is to stoke curiosity, excitement and anticipation. If I'd known you before, I wouldn't have needed to go to b-school.
PS: The only problem with the anticipation aspect seems to be the fact that it does not allow you to manage expectations, and can have a bearing on customer experience.
Buddy,
You expect too much from your friends. I think this is the maximum effort I can put, but then again I have fulfilled my potential.
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