Scribbling

I have several blogs that I read with some regularity, one in particular, not because I have any interest in what they have to say or the day to day happenings they write about, but because they seem to have found a successful formula for branding and social marketing....in short, not so subtle (to me) selling themselves and their product to adoring sycophants under the guise of a daily journal about their lives.

One comes to mind as a perfect example (name withheld to avoid giving her even more traffic to her blog).

The premise is that of a single mother struggling to raise her son alone (if you look past the family support). Months, if not years, spent garnering sympathetic and loyal readers and then, being the cynic I am, the real purpose.........and the result.......an epic failure.

I strongly suspect it was all an effort to build a brand for herself and use her 'notoriety' in the blogging community; to translate it into a 'personality' that would generate enough income through advertising and endorsements so she wouldn't have to work a 9-5 job. In my mind, the scheme has backfired, but even now she is furiously backpedaling and trying to play victim as her grand plan founders.

Let's consider....the premise for her blog in the first place is no longer valid now that her dating exploits have given way to a committed relationship, so what could she possibly write about now that is juicy and interesting? Her schemes to generate traffic to her blog to attract advertisers don't seem to be working (readers often left hanging for the end of a story so they visit repeatedly in the hopes of reading the happy ending, in the process artificially inflating her traffic). The most recent of these devices - taking a week away from writing but promising to return with 'big news' - kept her loyal sheep repeatedly coming back and leaving ever increasingly impatient comments, until she came back and announced.............not an engagement as many had speculated but a new job, four short months after quitting her old one in an effort to be..in her words...a full time blogger....guess that didn't work out as planned.

In the interim she had been plugging an E-book she wrote about her life, as if a lot of people cared enough to pay $15 to download it - another failure, and selling (or least trying to) an overpriced jewellry collection supposedly she designed - as if her fanbase of single moms could reasonably afford such things! Lesson learned.....If you're going to whore yourself out in the hopes of selling things then at least consider your target demographic and keep the price point within their reach.

Latest turn is to play the 'poor me, people are picking on me' card. Supposedly a family member wrote a scathing email criticising her lifestyle and parenting skills and now she's second guessing whether writing about her life is such a good idea after all. Well, duh! You put yourself out there, that's what you get (and note the odd reader comment questioning her way of doing things has always been soundly pounded on by her simpering sycophant followers). Of course this is followed by a threat to close the blog for good.....personally I think this is just her way of exiting stage right without admitting her plan failed, and blaming someone else for her blog's demise. The truth is for all intents and purposes she is no longer a single mom 'doing it' on her own (if indeed she ever truly was) and she has nothing of interest to contribute any more and her hopes of raking in money and freebies have all but disappeared.

Cynical? Without a doubt , but some of the stunts she pulled in the hopes of increasing her readership were pretty transparent - and the hopes of translating her traffic into $ pretty clear. Even so though, I guess it helps on a resume - she did a job in marketing after all.

So, I need to get busy here I guess......what am I an expert on and what can I sell? well, all that comes to mind is being well versed in 'running with scissors", living an unconventional life, and I suppose now is the time to start branding and marketing my curiousities.