{"id":975,"date":"2005-07-25T21:23:10","date_gmt":"2005-07-26T01:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/example.org\/is_it_too_late_"},"modified":"2005-07-25T21:23:10","modified_gmt":"2005-07-26T01:23:10","slug":"is_it_too_late_","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=975","title":{"rendered":"Is it too late to become a blogger?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Has the window of opportunity closed?<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I have a good friend, a published author, who has steadfastly resisted my invitations to take up blogging. This has been going on for several years.<\/p>\n

Nothing I said or did seemed to register with him. He was always interested in my blog and was even encouraging about the quality of essays I wrote, but it was the politely detached interest one might show in a collection of airline barf bags. Blogging might be a fine pastime, but it was not something he took seriously as a tool for developing a customer base.<\/p>\n

Something has changed his opinion, probably the fact that you can’t read a paper or watch TV without hearing about bloggers and blogging. Now he is wrestling with the fact that he may have missed a window of opportunity.<\/p>\n

In a recent conversation, he voiced his concern that it might be too late now to become a blogger. He felt it was easier to get noticed two years ago when there were so few bloggers. He was worried that it might be far more difficult to build a reputation now that there is so much competition from bloggers who have established huge followings.<\/p>\n

I tried to reassure him that in the blogosphere we can all be famous for at least 15 people. I didn’t want to grapple with explaining the Long Tail<\/a> phenomena, or get into a discussion that might confuse him further.<\/p>\n

The simplest answer to this question is: The blogosphere is an infinite sum game.<\/strong><\/em><\/span> <\/p>\n

The power and the leverage gained by each blogger increases as he or she exchanges communication with others. There is no limitation on a blogger’s ability to reach an audience except the unwillingness to accept and originate communication.<\/p>\n

My personal philosophy that your audience size is a function of your willingness and ability to communicate things that are important to you. I see new bloggers every week that have the ability to connect with an audience. On the other hand, I see highly touted personalities start a well-publicized blog and it is immediately apparent they don’t have a clue about communicating. Their posts read like press releases. Their blogs close down after a few months.<\/p>\n

I think a weblog is the ultimate power tool<\/a>. Here is an excerpt from my December 2003 post:<\/p>\n

\n

Through a weblog, a single individual can be connected to and can affect an almost unlimited number of other individuals. … From a practical standpoint, your audience is limited only by the power of your intellect. If you use it, and build with it, they will come.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you understand communication in all of its aspects, you can reach any audience you choose, given enough time.<\/p>\n

If you understand branding, you can hold your audience and make it grow. <\/p>\n

If you understand art, you will know how aesthetics can be used as the carrier wave for creating an emotional response and conveying information.<\/p>\n

If you understand emotional tone levels and how they affect the receipt and comprehension of information, you will be able to communicate truth at a level which can be understood and accepted by your chosen audience. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am convinced that the blogosphere still offers infinite possibilities. In almost two years of blogging, I have not seen anything to convince me otherwise. I feel we have barely scratched the surface.

We are building a free-form network that is changing the way the world exchanges information.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What do you think? Are all of the good spots taken?<\/p>\n

Is it too late to become a successful blogger?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Has the window of opportunity closed? I have a good friend, a published author, who has steadfastly resisted my invitations to take up blogging. This has been going on for several years. Nothing I said or did seemed to register … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1831],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3R4iK-fJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}