This is really awesome! I’m going to have to install this for all of my blogging clients!

But first: WordPress μ

This is what Wired wrote last year in an article titled: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004. The author, Paul Boutin, argues that “authentic voices” of bloggers are being overpowered by professional, magazine style blogs that are able to publish “up to 30 posts a day”. Think about sites like: Lifehacker, Engadget, Treehugger.

Now when I read this I thought, there is no way that any of these sites published 30 posts a day, that is just ridiculous! I’ve been to all three sites, and although I never paid much attention to dates, I didn’t feel like I was being overwhelmed by the amount of information. So I decided to investigate, to check out the sites for myself to see how many posts they’re really posting.

The shocking and discouraging truth

I went to Treehugger first and scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled … today alone (February 23^rd, 2009) had 49 posts. 49!!! And there are still 3 hours left in the day! You never know they still might hit 50 before midnight! After seeing this I decided not to even bother with Lifehacker or Engadget … to be honest I didn’t think I needed any more disappointment for the day.

So what’s going on? Is blogging dead? Are Twitter, Flickr and Facebook all that’s left? I sure hope not damn it … I’m just getting a hang of all of this …

Choosing the right topic is one of the most important things when it comes to blogging. This is one lesson I learned the hard way …

I started the hidden rock {dot} com as a music blog, music being such a big part of my life.

I started it a year ago (gasp!), I know … I didn’t give it my best shot, I know I didn’t try hard enough, and so I quickly lost interest. Let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to enjoy music than to write about it.

I now blame this on my poor reasoning; I used to think how hard can writing about music be? Apparently harder than I thought.

Last week in one bold, swift move I deleted all of my failed past and I’m starting over. This time I’m writing about the things I spend the most of my time with. My new topics are: blogging, web design, blog marketing, seo, and of course WordPress.

I know, that’s more than one topic, but I thought I’d try with a few closely related ones to see where they lead. It’s basically blogging & other related stuff.

So is this my new start? I hope so, but I know I’m not out of the water yet. I think I’ve made a wise decision to start over and I know I’ve chosen the right topic this time. After all, I’m a blogger and a website manager — I live, breathe and dream this stuff every single day. It’s all I think about (yeah, and that’s what I used to think about music).

Well, I guess I will just have to wait and see …

How to learn from my mistake

Please learn from my mistake and if you’re starting a new blog or website, choose your topic wisely.

Ask yourself:

• Is this really what you want to be blogging about?
  
  Try writing a few test posts to see how they turn out. If you feel like, man I could do this forever — then go for it! If you think, this was really exhausting — then maybe you should go with something else.
• Do you have enough to write about?
  
  This might sound like a silly question, but try writing down 10 possible ideas for articles. Now try 50. Are you out of ideas?
• Is your topic popular and something that others will want to read about?
  
  If you’re writing your blog just for yourself, then I guess you don’t need to answer this question. But then you might as well be writing in your diary. I think everyone wants their blog to be popular, and this is one question that you have to be honest about.

Now I may have made this sound a lot harder than it really is, so don’t be afraid to start a blog because you might not have an answer to something. Just think of it as an experiment, you can keep improving on

Here are a couple articles about that you might want to check out if you’re choosing a blogging topic and starting your own blog:

• How to Choose a Niche Topic for Your Blog — Problogger
• How to Choose the Right Blog Niche: A Simple Three-Step Method — Dosh Dosh

And if you have absolutely no idea what to write about, check out:
No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason.

It’s a quick read and a great way to get ideas.

And by the way, I don’t think I’d recommend Blogging for Dummies …

I haven’t read it, so I can’t say if it’s good or bad, but you don’t want to start your blogging career thinking you’re a dummy when it comes to blogging do you?

In case you read the darn thing, let me know if it’s any good, maybe I’ll change my mind :)