As a blogger we want to rise to the top. We want our articles to be found, shared, commented upon as that ultimately draws attention to us and makes us achieve our goals. We want to be noticed and most of the time will stop at nothing, so we think. There is the little voice inside us called integrity that comes out. If I share you will you share me? Does that play a role? Sure it does. Should it? Nah, but we are human and that does matter. We build communities treating people better than we want to be treated and hope we surround ourselves with people that share that same sentiment but we know that is so not true.
There are some that seem to jump onto circuit at what seems out of nowhere. Who the hell are they and why are they getting so much attention? I have been here day after day, week after week writing and writing, sharing and engaging and they are getting so much attention. We look at their blog and think, well it is good but it is not all that great. Then we start to play detective and see what they did to get to where they are. Was it simply consistently writing great content? Well maybe there blog is better than ours we start to think or maybe, just maybe, they sold their soul for a retweets, comments and traffic.
The Battles We Wage
We wage battles within ourselves. We have goals for the blog, we have unrealistic realistic expectations of what success we will have. We will get 50,000 + followers on Twitter, 50+ comments each day, 500 retweets, all within 6-12 months. Everyone talks about how easy it is, give some free tips so if we follow that, we will attain these goals. As many laugh we cannot deny that we had some high expectations. Then we think about those other people and how did they attain all that so fast? What are we doing wrong as we deserve just as much attention as them. Well that is our opinion and to many times is the only one that matter. Then we start to think ... did they ask for retweets from the a-listers; have meetings, were given inside advice or is it something more (never thinking they worked really hard for years and were just never on our radar).
Integrity in Blogging
We all have integrity. While it may not seem like some have any, we have to believe that they do. Maybe I live in a fantasy world or have been incredibly lucky in my connections. Growing in social media is being there before the sale. Does this mean that to attain our goals we have to go out there and compromise what we believe in by asking for retweets, comments, mentions from someone bigger than us and sometimes even out of our general audience? This feels so dirty as being someone who likes to earn the good old fashioned way, it can be a struggle.
Then I think that we have to consider that there are thousands of people vying for the same attention and sharing the stage. Does this attention mean that we have to sell our souls and ask for that retweet in DM's, "out" someone or write repetitive viscous blogs, tweets and comments attacking someone so that we can hit the radar of the a-listers and ride their coattails? Is this the only way to push someone else aside and achieve the instant success that we feel we deserve? It could be argued that this way a foundation is being built, we are meeting our standards despite being borrowed eyes and short lived. People will start talking and the shift is to maximizing the popularity by shoving every thought, idea, blog post, product or service offering down the throats of this new audience. Mindset is to "steal" the audience from the a-lister and give the same if not better offering so they will forget the other person(s). Laugh all you want, but we have seen it in action. It makes us question: Are there any self standards that are left or is everything for sale?
Are We Selling Our Souls With Asking?
If we write something that we are really proud of, are we selling out souls by asking the popular and elite to retweet it, Like it, Stumble it, etc? I am not so sure. I have never done it but that does not mean that I will not ever. Part of me thinks that why post it on your blog when you can submit it for a guest post? I know, I know, then it takes the traffic off of your site (forgetting the credibility of appearing on the bigger, more popular site). Then I think, sometimes we all need help and asking for it is nothing to be ashamed of. Is this crossing the line of help?
Asking someone to increase our traffic is a great boost but if the audience they are sharing it with are not our target, buyers and/or potential clients, we are feeding the ego and not the wallet. Drawing attention to us does bring in some new connections that can lead to some big things. However we have to be able to back it up. If we are asking for retweets, people will talk and before long, our secret is out there that we were the beggar. But it brings me back, if you do not ask, you will not get the help you need. Then again you can guest post and then after some guest posts if you still need the boost, then ask. I guess I am torn on this.
Growing With Sacrificing Our Integrity
Can we grow without sacrificing our integrity/selling our soul? It is a slower process but we have to think about what we can control (interesting as I have heard that somewhere and it is by far the most sound advice). We cannot necessarily control who reads the blog, we cannot control who retweets it but we can control what we write, what we do with what we write and how we put ourselves out there. If I retweet someone 10x and they never retweet me are they someone I should abandon? Some would, I will not. What I share is content that is worthy of sharing with my connections as I feel it will be useful to them. There is also that side of me that feels that someday they will connect with what I am creating and find it worthy of sharing with their audience (then again I am the same one that swore up and down, left and right that I would get an A with a professor and took 5 classes with him which got me my only 5 B's).
Is the Battle Worth It?
Some are and some are not. This entire post is talking about people whom we feel rose to the top when we felt we should have. So much time is spent on this and time that could be spent researching and learning. We have to continuously look for new connections that we feel are our target, build relationships, maintain relationships, stay on top of the newest products, tools, upgrades as well as servicing our clients, keeping in touch with our friends, maintaining a home and a family life. When we start to break it down, is the battle worth it? Does it really matter that he or she is achieving the success we wanted? In a way it does but in the grand scheme of it all does it? If you worked really hard, stayed focused on you and your goals, it should not. What about being happy for others? That does matter. Our battles are internal but we act them out externally. The only/best way that we know, as damit, we are going to get that attention one way or another. When we wage these battles, we have to remember one thing ... there has to be a willing party to participate. If not, we are just losing ground and placing barriers/creating excuses for not achieving what we feel we should be.
What battles are you waging?
photo credit: JayT47