In this video Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution has some helpful advice on how to be an effective blogger (RSS and email readers click through to see video):
- When I’m reading things, I’m always thinking, “Is this bloggable in some way?” If you’re going to have fresh material every day, the switch has got to be always on.
- I don’t worry about, “This kind of post will draw in more readers.” I think that’s a big mistake. It makes the blog boring, least common denominator, less innovative, less entrepreneurial.
- I try to make people think about old things in a new way…It’s about ideas and trying to open up horizons.
- Blogs will last forever. I don’t think it’s a phase. I think the combination of information with personality will persist.
When I think of the bloggers I enjoy most, it’s definitely that combination of content + personality that draws me to their writing.
Some bloggers have lots of content, but it’s a character-free-zone – you’d think that a robot was writing the posts. Others have little to say, or just recycle the same message again and again, and hope that the force of their personality or the details of their personal life is enough of a draw.
It’s a very difficult balance to strike, but Cowen is right, it’s content PLUS personality that attracts us, interests us, and inspires us.
I’ve noticed an increasing number of Christian authors going down this route too (intertwining their own story with their teaching) and in some books it does enhance the final product.
However, I wouldn’t like to see preachers taking this approach in the pulpit. A personal story now and again may help illustrate a point, but too much of that and the focus easily and fatally moves from God and His Word to the preacher and his life.
So, what do you think makes a successful blog? And should a preacher regularly bring his own story into the pulpit?
