I turn things I’m not proud of into worthless internet celebrity.
I work in advertising and communications for a living. The only industry in which you can get away with publicizing your drunken failures to the world.
While that makes my blog a ‘hobby’, it has opened an incredible amount of doors for me including multiple job offers, free trips, national exposure and an incredible portfolio tool when I’m in professional mode.
I started out blogging for a university course assignment and moved into writing about Professional Things for People Who Matter after I graduated a few months later.
Months later, unemployment and too much energy and The Crazy started to kick in and I quickly realized that I was boring even myself and moved on to things like dog poop, hating children and thinking I’m better than everyone else despite spending my days on the couch covered in Ruffles crumbs.
Writing anecdotal humour has since felt much more natural and turned blogging into a chore for zero readers into something I love for a fantastic audience. It let me be me and I think that’s helped my blog along more than anything else I’ve done.
I just past three years with the first six months being lame and awful.
DON’T READ THE ARCHIVES!
I have about 1,200 subscribers who get every post by RSS or email and then get another 300-500 per day who click over to the blog directly.
Someone sent me a box full of Snuggies once. That’s about as close to ‘making it’ as I’ve gotten. On the plus side though, I’ve raised about $4,000 for charities. So there’s that. Which I guess is good even though it doesn’t buy me things.
I think of my blog as a way to open up opportunities more than attract advertisers. I’d rather get contracts or speaking engagements out of it than a few weeks with small ad sales.
I have another niche blog that’s more targeted and works better for attracting advertising revenue.
Twenty-somethings, drunk people, the sarcastic, the homos, the girls who love homos, Kelly Clarkson, and probably everyone else.
Maybe not kids. That would make me uncomfortable.
Read it if you don’t take yourself too seriously and just want to have a laugh at someone else’s expense.
20 minutes? I find that if I spend more than that on a post it comes across feeling forced.
I bring the funny and post pictures of my cute puppies. Win – Win.
Find your own voice and let your own personality do the heavy lifting. You’ll drain yourself by trying to be like someone else.
Also, the best way to get people to read you is to read them – build a network, comment, collaborate and connect.
This blog can be visited at http://noordinaryrollercoaster.com