GREAT ADAPTATIONS

Internal versus External Bloggers

Blogger in a Cave

Internal bloggers love blogging because they get to talk about their lives, stay focused on what they are doing, and pretend that someone out there cares one whit about their daily challenges. A diary with an audience… maybe.

Internal blogging is a growth tool, a catharsis, a place to experiment, and somehow feel connected, even if not one person is actually reading your stuff. most writers are much more natural at this kind of blogging. It is set up like the writer’s brain, endless inner routes traveling around the mental terrain of experience, matching strings of words to the sensation of self.

Beautiful but Limited

A beautiful world, but internal blogging has limited flows, that is, by definition it resists the intrusion of the outside world. Limits on the flows are all-inclusive. Limiting any flow on communication will limit the possibilities, opportunities, and the potential for money. Money is just another energy flow, and it is magnetized by other flows. Money loves to go where things are happening. It weaves itself into interactions. The potential for money flow is just about equal to the extent of engagement.

The Outer Orbits

External blogging is pretty much the opposite, and here’s where writers have trouble. Our brain wiring has to do much more than expand into the new technical territories of the blogosphere. We actually have to retrain some mental habits. In the midst of all the usual Blogger’s Everests of learning curves, we writers also have to grapple with the uncomfortable sensation of a very different medium for our craft.

Knowing Marketing Helps

I was lucky when I started blogging. I had an edge that had been sharpened during many months of market research for my book, “Little Shifts.” I had already developed some success skills like precisely defining my readership, listening closely to their collective conversation, and ruthlessly lopping off the fat in my writing. But external blogging is an extreme version of that listening and lopping. Online readers scan the screen impatiently, looking for the first reason to grasshopper-hop to another virtual playground.

The Beast That Is

External blogging is a weird animal. The reader’s experience must be that of an irresistibly friendly conversation they eagerly respond to. The writer must authoritatively convey essential information while keeping the door wide open to discussion. The reader must always feel they are part of an important social group that makes a mark on the whole. This is engagement at its best. It moves the reader to draw deep from her well and share creatively in the process.

Sailing the Seas of Blogging

The writer who ventures into External Blogging will cope with tremendous distractions of technology while maintaining that sense of authority within his chosen field. For starters, the blogosphere demands honesty to the point of radical transparency. One might think you’re either honest or you’re not, but becoming transparent is really a skill. When a blogger can entertainingly reveal her daily challenges while keeping the reader fed with valuable streams of information, she is on the yellow brick road that leads to success.

Unlimited Flow

The flows available to an External Blogger are darn near unlimited. This in itself is a problem. With all that great content in the outbasket, you now have to engage the most productive technological interfaces to feed your own goals. It’s time to get familiar with those options.

The Writer in the Blog

In my class designed for writers and beginning bloggers, I use a variety of tools to help you gain a big-picture view of the world of successful blogging. You’ll see a mind map that will show you the world of connectivity from about a thousand feet in the air. You can take it in, and decide which pretty pattern you want to learn about next. To get your feet wet, subscribe to the site, and you will receive my e-series called “Before You Begin.” Just put your email into the box over there in the right column, and click “subscribe.”

Meanwhile, which kind of blogger are you? An innie or an outie? Or a little of both?

Suzanna