2008-01-14

The 'Deadliest Catch' and Blogging


What does the show "Deadliest Catch" and building a blog community have in common?

Well, I'm going to tell you.

But first I'm going to have a bowl of cereal.

Back.

Ok. So, like, last I checked there are no bloggers who fish for Ophelia crabs in the high arctic. What can we possibly have in common?

Ever notice how boats that head out to sea and settle on a spot hurl those cages into the water only to have them come back up empty?

If the captain is going to drag four or five people with him onto icy waters those suckers better get filled up - fast. Of course, it takes the experience, determination, patience and skill of the captain to figure out where the mother load is. Eventually, smiles are all around as the cages are filled with tons of crab. It's hilarious. To me anyway.

Rats. I'm using an analogy here and not actually describing what bloggers and the Cornelia Marie ( a boat on the show) have in common.

Whatever. For starters, blogging isn't anywhere like fishing for crab. Well, I'm sure philosophically we can come up with a theory or model that it is. Notice the ominous water in the background of this picture. It certainly feels that's what bloggers who want to be heard are up against.

Regardless, seeing those empty cages reminds me of the difficulty of building a loyal audience. It takes the same skill, determination, patience and experience as the captain on a boat.

But how many manage to hit the jackpot?

2 comments:

  1. Everything worthwhile takes effort. Besides Blog Catalog I use Feedburner to syndicate my blog and I have the Blog Flux Pinger that I update every time I post. There are several other options to broaden the scope of blog publishing but for me these two are particularly effortless and bring in readers I would not get any other way. It's the net thing. This is also a bad traffic time because everyone in the north is on antidepressants and everyone in the south is out on the beach.

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  2. Well, being from Montreal this town resembles more Dutch Harbour in the middle of dead winter and in the summer there are no beaches. Double whammy. Mail me those pills.

    My blog, I am told, does pretty well against the "average". So I shouldn't really complain but it's still a long ride - I just thought comparing it to DC was, cough, witty.

    I must confess that I do sometimes get caught up in the "I can't believe that shameless, crappy blog gets that many people going to it!" thing. Some people just know how to a) focus their writing (however mediocre) and b) market it. All the power to them.

    Me? I only write what hits me. What I think I can offer a spin on. Makes me realize the wrong career decisions I made.

    I have feedburner too -but I'm too lazy to update. Blog Flux I don't know.

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