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RyanHoliday.net - Meditations on strategy and life
Blog

One of my favorite sites.

This is not a shill, I promise.

One of my favorite sites out there right now is CopyBlogger–both for the quality of the content and the mindset it embodies. For the last few months I have literally scoured the internet in search of every site related to blogging, web 2.0, technology, marketing, citizen journalism etc, and came across a sad truth.

NO ONE CARES ABOUT CONTENT.

Except for Brian Clark at CopyBlogger. Of course, only in Tech could everyone’s focus be so misguided, but it’s true. You could drown in all the PR, link dumps, social networks, SEO, advertising optimization, even grammar blogs, without ever seeing someone go more in depth then “Oh, don’t forget to have great content.”

The name CopyBlogger should be redundant. Blogs ought to imply copy, but they don’t. The internet is thriving because people are hungry for great writing (+ video and audio) but hardly anyone is willing to do the work required to provide it. Instead, we’re all so focused on tricking people into liking what we already have. That’s how old media works–we’re supposed to be different. We’re supposed to cater to the audience, not cascade them into consuming.

This is why Brian’s site is so great. He doesn’t update a ton, but when he does, it’s awesome stuff. Last week’s post was straight out of the 48 Laws of Power, with him advising that you create an enemy as fall-back inspiration for writing. Earlier in the month he advised on how to avoid burying the lead, and captivating the audience with a killer opening. And he’s done a great series on headlines, which have really helped me on sites like Digg and Reddit.

Seriously, if you’re a writer on the internet (or a writer anywhere) you need to be reading his site. It’s worth 5 TechCrunchs or ValleyWags, because without content, none of this is sustainable. It’s about time the rest of the internet woke up and starting looking at the creative process as the engine instead of an afterthought.

April 26, 2007by Ryan Holiday
Blog

the deeper digg effect.

Paul Levinson wrote a great piece on what he called “The Deeper Digg Effect.”

Far more significant than the quantity of Diggs that landed me there are the deeper secondary effects – for example, picked up on Wired.com, where Chris Kohler not only linked to my blog, but said it describes in “hilarious detail” how I was brought onto CNBC. Since Digg operates on the Web, everything that happens on it has the power to galvanize every other part of the Web – YouTube, Wired.com, StumbleUpon, podcasts. And since each of these, in the embodiment of hyperlinking, connects to a myriad of other interconnected engines and elements on the Web, as well as older media centers that operate partially offline – like conventional television, radio, and newspapers – the potentials are enormous.

He is discussing an often ignored benefit of social networks. The real boost you get after scoring on Digg is not the first wave of traffic, it’s the third, fourth and fifth waves that are important. Every time a Rudius author is submitted and is dugg significantly, a whole slew of PR and link offers come through from other sites. In the last Ebner push, he garnered and enormous about of votes. And yes, the traffic was important, but Diggers are notorious for not sticking around. But many of them reposted the link on the Myspace blogs and Livejournals; which in turn recruited 5 or 6 six friends to come over. Those are the valuable referrals, because they’re genuine. Who do you trust more, Digg or your real-life friends? Not to mention the radio interviews that followed.

It’s easy to get distracted by the first traffic spike, but that’s not the end all be all. Be a little patient and wait for the next one. Those are the people you need to woo and thank for their support. Someone who has linked your site after finding it on Digg is a ripe, potential contact for your site. Do not let that go to waste. Comment on their posts, drop them an email. If they’ve started a forum discussion based on you, you ought to join in. It’ll pay big dividends, trust me.

EDIT: Ironically, Paul’s piece is doing well on Digg. Vote for it here.

April 26, 2007by Ryan Holiday

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” - Murakami

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