BLOG PROPERTY: OPEN THE GATE

Blog property, like any property, has boundaries.

Once you start, then what?

Keep it moving, keep it current, keep it interesting.

No one wants readers who drift off thinking, ‘That’s ten wasted minutes of my life I’ll never get back.’

Once you get the hang of regular posting you’ll have company.

Now your blog property is a destination.

How do you control your audience? You don’t, but if you write and post on controversial topics you may have to manage access.

For example, if you’ve done work on climate change and need a platform to publish that work, who do you hope to find reading your posts?

If we’ve learned anything from the likes of Trump and his ilk, people respond to triggers in unusual ways.

Who could have guessed that a tarted up peacock of a New York City playboy would be welcomed into the hearts and minds of so many good, hard working, Americans?

Have so many people been scalded by their interactions with the federal government that they need an accomplished bullshitter telling them how bad they need to feel, how bad he feels for them, and how much of their money they should send him?

Once your blog property opens the gate to them they will want to share their hurt.

Remember Who The Blogger Is: You

Like a bouncer at a popular club you will have to show some people the door out.

Once you get a consistent fan base coming back for each new post, you’ll find hustlers who want to co-opt your blog property.

While not exactly trespassers, they bring their personal agenda along with them.

This is all good and fine as long as they stay in the correct lane.

If you ask them to stay on topic instead of using your blog for their rant, and they don’t, you need to ask them the hard question:

“Can you find another place to post your thoughts instead of here?”

Keep it nice and polite, but your blog is your place to rant, not theirs.

I like ranters and shit talkers as much as the next guy, but I draw a line.

One of my readers showed up normal and under control. It was a reader I met in real life and talked to, eventually telling them about boomerpdx.

They showed up in comments with every thought based on the sacred rights of the second amendment.

Instead of a thoughtful exchange they took every opportunity to hump for guns, bigger guns, more lethal guns.

When I asked them to stay on topic they said guns were the only topic important to them and guns should be important to me above everything else if I was any kind of man.

2

Me: I wish you well but I’m not including any more of your comments on boomerpdx.

Gun Guy: Just like any soft lefty you want to live in an echo chamber supporting your misguided notions.

And that was that. I was a misguided lefty and they were gun advocates off the deep end.

Is it wrong to ask for gun control in a mass shooting era?

Not for a strict second amendment man armed for action and looking for a chance.

My blog wasn’t the right place for him. He needed his own echo chamber.

Blog Property Mistakes: The Name

I started boomerpdx with the notion of hauling in a load of readers from the baby boomer generation.

It’s a huge demographic to target, but there are a few issues that weren’t apparent in the beginning.

Boomers are into nostalgia, the good old days, and defending their poor choices.

Single boomers are all about romance and travel and disappointment.

Disappointed that they can’t ignite the old passions; sad to realize that the image in the mirror is them; hurt to know not everyone shares their longings.

Did I think naming a blog boomerpdx would be enough to draw an endless stream of readers leaving smart comments and inspiring deeper meaning to ordinary things we take for granted?

I sure did.

Am I disappointed?

Disappointment is not a luxury I bath in. And neither should you. Here’s why:

You’ve got topics to explore, subjects to lay out. Immerse yourself in that, not marketing to an indifferent generation.

You will find readers who spend their days clicking across screens, scrolling, scanning, and calling it living.

If climate change is one of your blog property topics, let those people know why it’s important to them.

Bring them in with a good hook, give them what they need to better interpret the world they live in, and leave them wanting more.

If that sounds familiar, like show business, it’s because that’s just what it is.

When it’s showtime on your blog property and the curtain rises the first time, be prepared for the unexpected.