Ever wonder why most bloggers fail?
This 20-second video gives you the scoop.
If You Haven’t Guessed…
…This video was done in jest, but the point remains true.
Most bloggers fail because they talk about themselves all the time.
Sure, you can interject your personality, but first and foremost, your main goal should be helping your audience with their problems and needs.
What do you think?
If you enjoyed this article, join 28,176 others and get free email updates!
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
So, it is all your fault, eh? Thanks alot Derek. I didn’t want to fail, but your video stating that it is was because of you definitely makes me feel better.
Ha ha.
There is a blogger who (used to) showcase his lunch and dinner dishes on his blog, proclaimed himself a mogul and achieved great success.
I am following him, not you
Sorry….
John Chow is very good at what he does. 99.99% of the people can’t pull it off. If you can, power to you
.
hahahaha! funny & true!
Nice. You scared Vinny across the room because the speakers were pretty loud when I started the video.
Wish I had a picture of that!
Wow. Really, really annoying video. But I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?
We have been very serious here for a few months. Figured a nice light-hearted video was needed
Thanks, Derek – funny, but drives home an important point!
Should have been a 20 min video!
I don’t think I could have yelled ME for 20 minutes…
Haha.. this is it!
Ha ha, very good.
Fo shizz, my nizz..
That was brillliant!!
Ummm… isn’t that what blogs are FOR? To post all our most puerile ramblings in the hope that someone actually cares?
Or is that Facebook? I’m confused.
Hahaha, indeed
Haha..
I’d really like to agree with you on that one but there are two blogs I’ve read recently where the bloggers talk A LOT about themselves and how wonderful they are.
They have several thousand followers.
Which blogs?
I, too, am thankful that you are the issue Dereck. I expect my blog to go spiffily, but if it does fail I’ll know who to call.
Funny video.
Uh oh…
Annoying Me!
With all the recent talk about this subject, you’d think that you should NEVER talk about yourself. lol My blog is my own name, so it should be implied that it contains SOME mention of ME. I don’t always talk about me, but I think I live quite a bit differently from everyone else in this world…at least other bloggers. So why shouldn’t it contain some amount of me?
I get what everyone and yourself is saying though. I just think the message should be more about GIVE with a little bit of ME…not just ALL ME is bad.
Well put Wayne! I totally agree with you.
I knew I couldn’t be the problem. It’s so refreshing to know that you, Derek,
are the reason for all my blogging failures
Speaking of failures, can anyone explain why, after entering a comment, the
page never shows the comment added? I mean not even “You’re comment is awaiting moderation”
Hi Steve, for some reason, our spam filter was filing you in spam. I caught it though… Not sure why that was happening.
What’s your point? I don’t get it… heh…
As in, most people fail because they only talk about themselves.
Really glad it is all your fault. You win the award for making the most lame video I’ve ever viewed. YOU YOU YOU!
Ginger
AttentionDealShoppers.com
Glad you liked it
.
So I’m curious about this in a service industry. In my niche of real estate, short sales, the biggest thing lacking in the market is educated people who do what I do. My feeling is that content geared more towards why I am the expert would be a good thing. Thoughts?
You can talk about yourself all day, but that makes you sound obnoxious. If you want to show people why you’re the expert, you need to mention it in casual conversation, and then move into why your information helps them. Make no mistake, nothing builds credibility better than great content that actually helps people out.
If you want a good example of someone who does short sales well, check out Than Merrill from Fortune Builders. He’s always interjecting comments about himself, but he does it in a non-in-your-face way.
I had a Finding Nemo flashback there with the me, me, me video.
Totally agree.
Hahaha,
Thanks for the reminder. There’s always a compromise when talking about what you can offer prospects to mentioning how you can help THEM
Well what could be more interesting in the world but ME? I couldn’t image my blog containing anyone else. Unless maybe the other person was beer.
What kind of beer?
It’s the simplest piece of wisdom, repeated over and over, year after year, since before we were born, and long after we’ll be gone. It’s also the most widely ignored tennet at every level of marketing. If you’ve ever said to a Marketing Director or CEO “we need to find out more about your customers and what they care about” and received a blank stare in return, you know what I mean.
You could easily write a blog post every day for a year to remind marketers in some different creative way not to do this. A few smart ones would eventually take it to heart. The rest will continue to churn out boring ads, boring sites and boring blog posts.
Thanks for holding up a mirror for one brief moment. Maybe some bloggers out there will recognize themselves.
That was my goal Jon. For some reason, this message always gets lost in the mix. Not sure why.
You mean it’s not about ME? LOL!
Lol… Very funny and sadly very true…. I think the twist is good too… So I guess we just need to figure out how to get Derek to stop talking about himself, and our success is assured!!
What a fantastic video – short and profound – like a Japanese Haiku poem!
I’m adding this to my page!
I thought it might be you.
Funny stuff, and it can have a variety of meanings:
- Trying too hard to Make Money Fast.
- Getting up in your own head instead of putting yourself in the shoes of your audience.
- Doing things on your own schedule rather than the schedule you need (i.e., laziness).
All of these things together are probably the combined single reason for failure, yes.
Some people actually have great success with “ME” (Tucker Max, Jason Calacanis) but they do it to its logical extreme, which most of us don’t do. But yes, it can be a trap.
Surprisingly enough, Tucker Max isn’t all about him. It’s all about making you laugh. There’s a difference
You should write a more in depth post about the psychology behind why people will *always* want to hear about themselves and ways to empower themselves. This is crucial to know for making sales, especially on the internet.
Some of these people’s comments still seem to think that talking about their status is most important and even state that there are blogs that are focused around an individual. While that is somewhat true, the core principles and take-aways of their posts have very little to do with themselves–other then being the person that wrote it–and are very much focused on problems and desires that the average person has and wants.
Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net is a good example.
I guess it depends on the reason for having the blog, and this is why I object to calling something a blog when it’s really a commercial endeavor — a blog should be informative more than persuasive. Calling a commercially-oriented website a blog might be just another way to try and hoodwink consumers, and consumers really hate that sort of thing.
But Andria, this wisdom doesn’t apply just to commercial blogs, it applies to all human interaction. In a conversation when someone talks about nothing but themselves, don’t you tune them out pretty quickly?
Yes, there are some exceptions—people who extremely entertaining when they talk about themselves. Comedians are a good example. But in that case it’s not all about them, because they are keeping you entertained in the process.
That is so very true.
LOVE IT…THANK YOU!
I am guessing this is more for “commercial” type blogs and not the blogs where the blog domain name is the person domain. For mine I blog a little bit about how I am learning to play the guitar and stuff that interests me. Is that a “failing” blog no.
But from a sales perspective I understand where you are say the ME, Me,ME part is completely the wrong approach. That is of course that is what the customer is feeling at the other end.
If you’re building your blog, with hopes of building a readership, focusing on you is a mistake. You can talk about how you’re learning the guitar, but you have to make it focused on your audience. For example, here’s me learning the guitar, and why don’t you join me?
Geez, you’re so long-winded! lol
Great point. But I’ve been noticing a lot of ME blogs that just make me yawn and move on, but they seem so popular. 100 comments here, 60 there…and I’m like, who cares? Clearly, someone does. I’m wondering if there’s some element of “Realtity Blogging” going on. People experiencing life vicariously through others. If that’s what they want, and if the blogger is giving them that….then we have a success, no? Depending, of course, on what the blogger’s definition of success is, of course.
The whole “blog” phenomenon has been a real mystery to me, and somewhat continues to be, but then, I’m more or less a hermit, so the whole “social networking” thing is a bit of a mystery to me. I finally started a blog on the subject nearest my heart, the infinite stupidities of humanity. So it’s my opinions, but I suppose in a way I’m trying to reach out to others who may recognize the stupidity and laugh with me.
Hi,
I think some inspirational blogs are successful because of “ME” factor, because the blogger himself is an inspiration and readers want to follow HIM.
hehe:)
yes, but…you are talking about your own point of view, even in this post.
talk about yourself but in a way beneficial to others
yours truly, Martyna:P
ha, and something else has just …struck me, I wanted to close the page, when I realized that I didn’t ask the question that I was looking to find the answer to…
and here comes the Big Thought:
The bloggers win, when they can capture my attention with their unique selves, unique, short
voila!
Point made. And backed up by Jon P. It’s like the shift in selling from features (what the product has) to benefits (what the product will do for you.)
Actually, the video has lots to do with why relationships fail, people end up in conflict, communities become divided. oh, yeah, the human condition…
I think it depends on the blogger’s life & writing style. I’ve enjoyed blogs that are almost exclusively egocentric… but maybe I enjoy living vicariously – each to their own!
so if isnt me – who is it?
I am very agree with that. LOL
It’s not about Me since the first place.
It’s about them.
I’d like to offer a suggestion and a reassurance to those who insist on their blogs being all about “me”. It’s taking Jon P’s comment about comedians and adding an observation. You really can get away with talking about “me” if you are entertaining “them”. But there is a difference in style that I think is worth recognizing.
The comedian can create their material in a stream of consciousness from their life’s experience and it will appear to be “all about me” – and be (hopefully) funny. But there are other comedians who, while using their experience as a springboard, will land in a place where the focus of their “rant” is IDEAS.
So if you’re successfully entertaining your loyal (but small) group of followers with your life’s amusing tales then more power to you. But if you want to break through “me” and include “them” then it’s no more difficult than to share ideas.
It’s the difference between makin’ ‘em laugh (about “me”) like Rodney Dangerfield and makin’ ‘em laugh and think (about “US”) like George Carlin. Both work. But you’ve got to be really good at it.
So if this “Comment” were a “Post”… would it be “all about me”?
I GET it Derek!!!!! It’s about them… NOT ME!
I love this “public service announcement”! Life (and business) really is about OTHERS.
I couldn’t agree more!
If a blogger is telling “ME” all about something they do that is successful in a “ME” tone and I find it useful, I’m all ears.
This holds true for many information-based blogs, but doesn’t apply across the board. Most of the blogs I follow are all about “me” because that person writes so well and so entertainingly. They also use themselves to reveal universal truths or explore a topic in an non-intimidating way. I think many bloggers fail the “me test” because they confuse being self-indulgent with using themselves as the main character.
Sorry Guys but I have always found myself very interesting and whilst not claiming to be always right, I have, thankfully never been wrong, and find it deeply disturbing to say the least, that, I would have a negative influence upon my readership.
Anyway enough of this, I will put your theory to the test,enough of me talking about me, go ahead, now you talk about me…..
I don’t quite agree with this every famous blogger always blog about “ME” himself…
And they so many readers, I sometime think why would anyone read what they are doing!!! Usually they share their experience and its all about “ME” again.
True in many words but I believe most bloggers fail because they expect everything to happen too soon.
This is so true! Thanks for posting this; I hope that everyone in the world watches this and gets the message.
I can’t even count the number of unsubscribes I’ve done in the last year because of this, so thanks!
Rog
Hi Derek,
Simple message, but it drives home a very important point.
It’s so easy to get caught up in “ME, ME, ME”….but rightfully put, as the end of the day, you achieve success (or get paid), based on the people you help, ie. who’s problems are you solving.
Thanks for sharing and have a great day.
Michael
what u said is definitely true..