Thank you for your reply. I will definitely come back, and I have already bookmarked your site. There is a lot of great content here.

Perhaps using this site as an example in previous comment might have been unfair. I am sure that the more I read the more it will take on a community feel. My point was more geared towards the blogging community being one that developed its audience by putting themselves into their blog posts. It doesn’t seem that where we are trending (these micro blog recaps of major media) is going to be that appealing to them.

The online audience as a whole will likely flock to the ezine style of blog posts, but I question whether bloggers are really competing for that type of audience. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part?

I think the next several years will be very interesting to watch as the tradional hard copy reporters continue to pour into the online world. The individual blogger may become a casualty of this changing online landscape leaving only the hobbyist. I wonder, will the bloggers turned ezines survive or just be absorbed?

I enjoyed your recounting how this site has grown. In many ways it is the classic small business tale. I am looking forward to reading more great articles from you and the other writers here.

Brad

And as I pointed out above, to have a successful blog as an adjunct to a small business does NOT require posting 3 or 10 times a day. I don’t think anyone should even aspire to that level of posting for a blog related to a small business — that would be nuts. That level of posting is only for those that have chosen a different path, to be media businesses.

Let me share the story of how we got to where we are today with this site. I started this site 6 years ago, and spent the first several years with mainly just me writing. In the early years it could have been described as “my” blog.

But the site gradually grew and has taken on a life of its own. It’s become bigger than me personally. That wasn’t by design, really. It happened because a few friends of mine asked if they could post now and then. For a long time I resisted letting any other than a few people post here occasionally. Gradually, though, people self-selected and joined the conversation.

You’re absolutely right, it is now more of a ‘zine.

I now feel like this site is a mini (very VERY mini) version of something like Forbes or Huffington Post. I write articles (just like Steve Forbes or Ariana Huffington), but my thoughts are not the only ones here.

I view the mission of this site not to be a place just for my voice, but a platform that allows others to be heard — although I still personally review each person and each article that gets published here.

Once you start providing that kind of a platform and it becomes a community vehicle, a trade-off of course is that you won’t be the only voice. But I feel the site is richer for hearing from others — because I don’t (and can’t) know everything that the others here know. No one person can bring so many experiences and wisdom to the table.

I do invite you to come back and visit and get to know people who post here with some frequency — not just myself, but others.

Anita

Anita

I think your commenters make some great points. At some point it is no longer a blog, but more of an ezine.

Personally, I discovered some great content on this site having just discovered it today, but the last four posts I read were by four different authors. I am not even glancing at your ads, and if one of you suggested that I should purchase something I most likely would not because there is no trust built up.

At four posts into a one person blog I would have already begun to have some sense of who the writer was and some level of trust would have started to build. After a week or two reading their blog I would probably know enough about them to at least check out something they wanted me to purchase.

Maybe I would trust the Technorati report a little more too if they could handle the roll out of their redesign – which has been very ugly. In all seriousness, I understand your point about become a media business, and it is well taken. I just don’t think that what you are describing can be considered blogging anymore.

Brad

However, media properties that started as blogs but that have become great hubs of information posted by several authors should not be called blogs anymore… they have evolved to become a different sort of business with more of a general readership.

Moreover, self-sustaining blogs could generate indirect income other than ad revenue.

Javier