Keeping it Real: A Smart Approach to Blogging?
How do you write a great blog? What differentiates your blog from all the others just like it? How do you create your own, unique brand of blogging? These are just a few questions I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around recently. I’ve read a lot about the ways people write great blogs and I think it’s starting to sink in. I received a great tip from problogger.net, a site dedicated to the growth of bloggers and the blogging medium, which recommended the use of examples in your posts to create a sense of depth, something the reader can really latch onto and understand what you’re talking about.
Why Stanley is the Man…
I’m not sure how to write a great post. I can only hope it stems from originality, because the only thing that stands between your blog and every other blog is you. A great example of someone that doesn’t let anyone change who he is or what he cares about (pretzel day) is Stanley Hudson. Stanley is a sales representative at Dunder-Mifflin, the competitive paper distributing company where ‘The Office’ takes place. Stanley is strong-willed, hard-working, and extremely disgruntled. When it comes to Stanley there is no fooling around, he’s dead serious and not afraid to speak his mind. Here are just a few examples that show how Stanley has affected me and the way I think of things:
- Stanley doesn’t let anyone in the office push him around or force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do. In the “Beach Games” episode, Stanley is quoted, saying “I would rather work for an upturned broom with a bucket for a head than work for somebody else in this office besides myself. Game on.” I mean, that pretty much sums it up right there.
- Stanley isn’t bought from petty cash or incentive; he works for what he believes in. Period. In an argument with Dwight, the resident suck-up in the office as well as the butt of most jokes, Stanley shows him that he can’t be swindled:
- Dwight: Don’t you want to earn Shrute bucks?
- Stanley: No. In fact, I’ll give you a billion Stanley nickels if you never talk to me again.
- Dwight: What’s the ratio of Stanley nickels to Schrute bucks?
- Stanley: Same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns.
These lessons from Stanley can also be applied to blogging. As a blogger, you shouldn’t follow anyone’s lead, being original and having your own ideas are the most powerful weapons a blogger possesses. Another important aspect of blogging is advertising, it’s great for making money but shouldn’t dominate your blog. Your main objective should always be geared toward the reader and the reader’s needs.
Which ‘Office’ character is your favorite and why do like them? As ridiculous as ‘The Office’ is, the show provides many ways to deal (mostly ways of how to not deal) with tough situations.
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Kerixl said
am March 18 2008 @ 7:14 pm
favorited this one, dude
Megs said
am April 2 2008 @ 7:01 pm
Stanley is definitely up there as one of my top characters on ‘The Office’. He gets his work done, but basically on his own terms. It’s interesting that you mention Stanley’s approach as one comparative to an approach to blogging. I would agree (I mean, he knows what works and what doesn’t), however I think maybe Jim would be a good model as well.
Jim Halpert on ‘The Office’ is a good salesman, so he’s good at getting business, but he is also really light-hearted. As Stanley seems kind of stubborn at the office and a little bit stuck in his ways, Jim rolls with the punches a little more and thinks of things that happen as opportunities to play/make a joke, improve something, learn something, or just have fun.
In terms of writing about what people want to read, it seems like you’re doing well… some people probably really want to know how to start and develop a blog, some want to be entertained, some want to learn something, etc… I think, as long as you guys are progressing, learning, and enjoying the whole process, I think the blog will be successful.