August 6, 2007

Are You A Desperate Blogger?

Rocky Tayaban of Blogging Mix wrote a good post a few days ago that asked the question, "Are you a desperate blogger?" In his post he detailed what he called The 9 Acts of Desperation. Here's the basic rundown:

The 9 Acts of Desperation

1. Create lots of free blogs and link to your official blog.
2. Fake your own comment and use positive feedback.
3. Create numerous accounts with Digg, Reddit and Delicious then submit and vote your own post.
4. Nominate and vote for your own blog.
5. Fake your traffic.
6. Pick a fight with other bloggers to become controversial.
7. Steal concepts and ideas from other bloggers.
8. Lie on your title, site description, etc.


Terence Chang even added a few more of his own.

So Am I A Desperate Blogger?

Thankfully, I've only been guilty of one of them. Well, sort of. I do have a Digg account and I have submitted posts of mine in the past. But I don't see that there's anything wrong with that. It's not unethical at all. It's just another way to reach new readers when you've got a really good post to share.

But what about faking comments? Luckily, I haven't felt the need or desire to resort to that. But it does continue to be a hot topic of debate among bloggers. Here's what Darren Rowse of ProBlogger had to say about it:

I’ll be honest and say that on my first blog I did do a few fake comments in the very very early days. I used them in the same way that you’re suggesting here - to get conversations going and to make the blog look a little more active.

Though it's important to point out what he says right after that.

So I understand the temptation to use them - however I can say from my experience of them that they didn’t work very well for me and the conversations that I had on my blogs in the early days that had a more lasting impact were natural ones with real readers.

Your Intellections

So what are your thoughts? And where do you draw the line between being "desperate" and just plain actively promoting your blog? We all need to self-promote; there's no doubt about that. And if even you've done some of these, is it really all that bad?

I mean, there are certainly a lot more evil things being done by bloggers these days. I won't mention any names, of course, but most of you know at least one person I'm referring to (hint: evil).

So where do you draw the line? And is it really all that bad to be little desperate (for lack of a better term) when you're first starting out? And lastly, how many licks does it take to get to the Toostie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

17 comments:

  1. Heck, they can call me desperate anytime. As long a they call me the desperate brown blogger haha.

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  2. Send me in exile on a small atol with a couple of girls if I`m wrong, but I think 4) and 6) are not related to being desperate blogger.

    At least for me and I know others too.

    I am controversial. I want to be like that.
    As about self-nomination, I`ll pick a (not at all)random blog `n` post :
    Is far better than go to find "traffic", "readers" and so on, using myspace or hi5.

    Ops, same blogging mix promoted those two as good options to get advantages .. pure coincidence ..

    :-)

    All rest, in same form or a bit different I have read on kumiko`s blog some time a go. :-P

    Man, is no wonder it become more and more necessary to check for duplicate content before publish .. :-)))

    Btw, what happen with your fight-club ? :-P

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  3. Brown Baron: Ha ha, good one. And if I'm ever forced to refer to you as desperate, then I shall remember to follow it with brown blogger. :P

    Valentin: And how about if you're right as well? ;)

    And Fight Club is right here. :P

    Shine on,
    Aaron

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  4. Woohoo, I've yet to do any of those things. I don't intend to start either :D

    The one that always makes me laugh is creating fake comments. That's pretty desperate ;P

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  5. Good on you, Mike! So if you ever start, you know you'll be hearing straight from me!

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  6. Well, I was right, somehow, then I think is good point to reactivate the fight club.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogger%27s_code

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  7. Hi Valentin, I know exactly what you mean! But it looks like your link was cut off.

    However, I know you were referring to O'Reilly's dipshit idea that first introduced us.

    And I agree, the Fight Club thing should be reactivated. :)

    Shine on,
    Aaron

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  8. I've added you to the blog roll of the following:

    http://blog-about-interesting-stuff.blogspot.com

    http://internet-blog-branding.blogspot.com

    Cheers and good luck to your blog.

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  9. Thanks, I certainly appreciate it!

    Shine on,
    Aaron

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  10. We all feel desperation at times, but the things you list are nothing compared to the hellish labyrinth of evil desperation techniques I employ on a daily basis LOL!

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  11. "...hellish labyrinth of evil desperation techniques..."

    Now that was one fine set of words there, Bobby! :)

    Shine on,
    Aaron

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  12. Guilty at times of some minor indiscretions but nothing I would be too ashamed to mention. As a newer blogger sometimes you are a desperate blogger and acts of desperation are the only way to get you some results.

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  13. I completely agree Danielle. And judging by the other comments on the subject, that appears to be the overall consensus.

    I think there's a clear distinction between being desperate (for lack of a better term) and unethical. Utilizing a few little tricks here and there for some needed results is okay, however, doing something that is unethical in order to achieve them is not.

    Desperate at times? Yes, and that's OK. Unethical? Never. And that's never OK.

    Shine on,
    Aaron

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  14. This blog's information is very rich.i very like it

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  15. Why thanks Ann! I really appreciate your kind words. :)

    Shine on,
    Aaron

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  16. I have some guilty about point #3. its so nice that you bought up this point and I'm going to avoid it.

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  17. Hi Benedict. I think it's safe to say that most bloggers are guilty of that one. Personally, I only have one account with Digg. But I know some of the more well-known blogger who had set up numerous accounts in order to get the exposure they have today. To me, it's not a huge deal and I don't see it to be unethical or anything.

    Bottom line, blogging is like any other industry; there's a lot of competition out there, and to be successful it can be sink or swim. So if it gets more people to your fine blog, then what's the harm in it really? Like I said, some of the really successful bloggers do much worse than that!

    Shine on,
    Aaron

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Aaron