The Goose and the Gander Want Different Things: A Lesson About Helping Your Readers

Jun 6, 2013 Community Leave a comment
Posted by Allison

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!”

Growing up, we had a sign in our kitchen that read, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” It’s the same as the goose-gander message: a woman who is unhappy can make the life of her partner a living hell, so if you’re a man who wants to be happy, step one is pleasing your wife/girlfriend.

Too many bloggers consider themselves the goose in the blogger-reader relationship. In actuality, us bloggers are the gander.

In other words, just because something is good for you doesn’t mean it is good for your readers, and you should always be considering their needs first.

A great example of this is the idea of removing dates from your blog posts, which I recently wrote about on the NMX blog. Time after time, I see bloggers talking about how removing dates has increased their stats. But you know what? It’s annoying. As a reader, I am cranky when I can’t see when a post is written because I don’t know how to tell if the opinions or facts in the post are outdated or not.

Another example? Pop up advertisements. There isn’t a single person out there you likes them. Yet many bloggers use them because the conversion rates are so good.

You are not the goose. You are the gander. Your job is to keep your readers happy, even if the stats tempt you to put into place practices that your readers hate. Long-term, it’s not worth it. Remember, numbers don’t always tell you the full story. For every new click you get because your posts are dateless, what if three-long term readers stop linking to you? What if your pop up ad leads to conversions on an individual level, but those people decide not to share your post because they don’t want to annoy their followers with the ad?

Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Make them happy and you’ll be happy too in the long run.

The Power of “I’m Sorry”

May 12, 2013 Community 2 Comments
Posted by Allison

We human beings have a lot of pride. No one likes to be wrong, especially on the Internet. Yet, the Internet culture is one of ridiculing people, complaining, and ranting. People are unnecessarily snarky and downright mean. Even when negative statements are justified, tact and manners seem to fly out the window when commenting online. [...]

The Sound of Your Feet Upon the Ground

Apr 7, 2013 General Blogging 1 Comment
Posted by Allison

May your past be the sound Of your feet upon the ground Carry on – Fun, “Carry On” Despite starting this post with some lyric from a Fun song, I actually want to begin by talking about an awesome Amanda Palmer song called “In My Mind.” In the song, she laments that she thought she [...]

Blog (and Life) Lessons from a Songbird

Mar 12, 2013 General Blogging Leave a comment
Posted by Allison

Most birds have a variety of songs they sing. Some, like a mockingbird, will mimic the birds around them, and even copy human whistles. Others stick to singing the songs of their own species, learning several varieties. The Brown Thrasher, for example, will learn hundreds or even thousands of songs over the course of its [...]

The Hard Truth No One Wants to Face About Freedom of Speech

Mar 8, 2013 General Blogging 1 Comment
Posted by Allison

It really bugs me when people say jerk things while hiding behind “freedom of speech.” Because there’s something about freedom of speech that we’re all ignoring. It’s there in the corner of our eye, but we choose to look away. We will ourselves to forget, and we live our lives content with the fact that [...]

The “Just Okay” Rule Sucks

Feb 15, 2013 Blog Content 1 Comment
Posted by Allison

There’s this oft-touted blogging rule that your content doesn’t have to be great. It just has to be okay. It has to be passable. It has to be good enough to teach the reader something. It has to be clean. But it doesn’t have to be fantastic. Because if you spend your time worrying about [...]

The Tale of the Stubborn Caterpillar

Jan 28, 2013 General Blogging 2 Comments
Posted by Allison

There once was a very stubborn caterpillar. All around him, the other caterpillars couldn’t stop talking about how excited they were to change into butterflies. The big change was going to be a scarey one, and a lot of work, but it would be worth it, they pontificated. Pushing themselves in this way would make [...]

Better Doesn’t Always Mean Faster

Dec 2, 2012 General Blogging Leave a comment
Posted by Allison

We have this obsession with doing everything faster. How can I write blog posts faster? How can I use social media faster? How can I build my blog faster? Of course, this need to be faster seeps into daily life too. We want to cook faster, clean the house faster, and get to wherever we’re [...]

In Pursuit of Perfection

Oct 28, 2012 General Blogging 1 Comment
Posted by Allison

In pursuit of perfection, we make compromises. We say we’re only going to work during regular business hours, but we stay up late to get one last blog post written before falling asleep at our desks. Again. We say we’re going to spend more time with friends and family, but we’re never fully “there” because [...]

Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Blogger Wolf?

Sep 27, 2012 Monetization 1 Comment
Posted by Allison

I have a confession to make: when I was a child, the story of Little Red Riding Hood terrified me. It’s not really that I’m afraid of wolves. There’s just something ultra creepy to me about someone pretending to be something they’re not. The wolf in the story pretends to be the girl’s grandmother, and [...]