1. Think big.
I have to start living the the way I’ve come to blog. On unsure terrain in those early days, I put out safe posts, ones within my interests — on homeschooling, for example — assured I was “doing the right thing” looking like other bloggers. But gradually, I began to tap deeper into the ideas that grabbed me. Last year, I stopped shooting out posts one at a time wondering what I’d write about next. Rather than post linearly, I started architecting this blog, figuring out how many floors (topics) I would erect in the next six months, going backward to furnish the rooms (posts). The blueprinting gave me direction, control, and purpose, but I didn’t stay chained to my plans. Whimsy and the moments where life happens birthed their share of posts.
2. Stay flexible.
Stay tuned to your hot topics and see what you can do with them. Moving into 2014, I watched the post on Black Santa generate enthusiastic discussion and was reminded that everyone has something to say about race. It’s as close to home as you can get. So I bit the bullet and launched the ambitious Race Around the World, a cultural tapestry we pieced together those 80 days which gave way to more series — on class, identity, belonging, guilt, shame, money, opportunity, hope.
3. Stay happily discontent whether it’s wanting more out of your content or your subscriber base. We never arrive, and success, especially in cyberland, is an endless stretch of horizon. A word on unfollows. I’ve seen funny posts with bloggers screeching that they lost three followers. I value every reader, especially the active supporters, but feel dependent on none. You will get unfollows. It’s the ease and democracy of blogosphere where people come and go. Don’t pin your hopes on anyone. Set your sights higher and higher still. I don’t reach out to readers who seemed to have stepped away so as not to obligate them to visit if they’ve moved on, though I often discover life had pulled them away for a season. Or WordPress wiped me off their radar, an unfortunate glitch in our system.
4. Don’t play it safe.
The empty post page is a blank check I write myself. Create opportunity, for yourself as well as others, which can spawn more opportunities. Twenty-two months ago I never imagined I’d host a forum where a worldwide community of artists and thinkers would share their history, fears, and dreams. Blogs are a safe place to test the boundaries that in life you may not be able to play with. Experiment, try new projects. You’re limited only by fear and imagination. Staying static is like keeping your whole blog one color.
5. Remember how small you are in blogging and in life.
There’s always someone with more readers, someone faster, smarter, more talented and savvy. We are not all that — the reason I try to keep it real. For all the rewriting I do here, I don’t want to edit my image when you’re coming to me with a level of trust in my honesty.
6. Know how big you can be.
Not only are quantity and quality not mutually exclusive, they can feed one another. Have you thought about why it is you want to grow your readership? The answer can be more meaningful and fulfilling than your own popularity and ego. There is a satisfaction that comes from resonating with a larger crowd, degrees of insight and perspective a larger following can offer. You expand possibilities for yourself, viewers, and your community.
7. Know why you’re here.
I got chills watching him carve in the sky the triple somersault and half-twist before slipping clean into the water. Last summer, the commentator said of Gary Hunt who was known for his inventive cliff diving, “He knows exactly why he’s in the air.” The power, the grace. The hours and hours Hunt had devoted in the search for his best self. In the writing, dreaming, collaborating, I’m exploring my capacity as an artist and a community builder. I create something bigger than myself, something that extends beyond the bounds of my own life. The extraordinary discussions, synergy, stats were not my goals but the unexpected payoff of one simple purpose: excellence. I’ll never be a medalist, but my blog is where I test my reach and enjoy visible, lasting rewards for the time I put in. Know why you’re in the air and why you want to get there. Doesn’t have to be serious or profound, but if you don’t know why you’re here, we don’t either.
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