Is Ken Really "Anti-Blogging"?

Hi to all,

I made a post in these forums a little earlier today about how you can add a Wordpress blog into your SBI! site, including how and when to do it.

It got me thinking about something I'd like to dispel. Something I've always thought was a little goofy, but I keep seeing it out there in the blogosphere. So please bear with me while I address it...

Ken is not anti-blogging.

That would be like being anti-information. Clearly...

In certain circumstances, blogging is very much the right choice.

Many bloggers think that I am anti-blogging, probably because of our "Blog Or Build" webpage. But it makes no sense to be so fiercely for or against a format, which in the end is all that blogging is... a site that is formatted chronologically.

-----SIDEBAR-----
I know that blogging software can now create regular Web
pages. So can thousands of other sitebuilders. The fact is
that most blogs are still journals. They are organized
awkwardly into categories, but they are difficult to use
as reference sites for information on a topic. Instead,
visitors read the latest post (news, opinions, etc.) and leave.

And that's not me saying this. Here is a quote from
Google Analytics 101, written by Google in April 2008...

"Blogs usually have high Bounce Rates no matter what since
normal visitor behavior is to read the newest post and then leave."
-----SIDEBAR-----

If the "Ken-is-anti-bloggingg" folks saw the 200 or so feeds I follow, all of them blogs, they'd know that I love blogs. I find them invaluable for my type of Web browsing, where I need to keep on top of the latest news and ideas from around the world, from the sharpest minds, etc.

But that does not mean that the blogging format is the best one for the typical person who wants to start an online business.

Naturally, they claim there's an agenda behind my anti-blogging stance...

"Ken hates blogs because it's good marketing." This is a FALSE-TRUE compound statement that delivers an erroneous implication...

The first half, "Ken hates blogs," is FALSE, as I've covered above.

The second half is TRUE. It's "good marketing" for us to point out the weaknesses of blogs (and when to use them and when not to) compared to SBI!. There is, of course, nothing wrong with "good marketing."

The "third half" is that word "because" in the above statement. THAT is the erroneous implication. We do not present the case that "Theme-Based Content Sites" are a better format than blogging for most people who are intending to building an online business just BECAUSE it's good marketing. We present it because it's true...

"Good marketing" simply takes the facts and presents them so that they are meaningful to potential clients. If we can save people much time and money by helping them choose the best way for them to build an online business, then we have created WIN-WIN marketing. And that is what this page does...

http://blogorbuild.sitesell.com/

I FOLLOW blogs and news sites, as do others, because we want to stay on the edge of what's new and important, then bring that to you. Blogs are super-useful for that.

I also FOLLOW bloggers like Seth Godin and Kevin Kelly because they are clever, insightful people, with original and provoking thoughts that I find to be of value. Blogs are great for that, too (the authors do it to build their brand).

But when I search (rather than follow), I SEARCH for information. I do not search for blogs.

Even though there are way more blogs, unless I am searching for something freshly-currently-topical, I find more "sites" than "blogs" in Google's Universal Search (which is the standard search). Google inserts blogs into Universal Search (like it inserts images) when it feels the nature of your search might want to see blogs (or images, or news, etc., etc.). You must use Google's Blog Search if you want to search for ONLY blogs, just like Image Search or any other speciality search (see the top left corner of Google for all their specialty searches) .

When you have a moment, do read...

http://blogorbuild.sitesell.com/

This site presents a good discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of blogging vs. site-building. Yes, it's also meant to promote SBI!. But the fact is that building an evergreen Theme-Based Content Site really is a better way to build an online business, for MOST (not all) than blogging. (And using SBI! to build a Theme-Based Content Site is the best way to do that.)

Blog if you plan on offering news or punditry. And, of course, the OTHER good time to blog is when you WANT to add a blog to your theme-based content site because you feel that it will enhance your offering and will build enough extra traffic to make it worth the effort (the subject of the post mentioned above). It's easy to integrate that into your SBI! site.

Otherwise, though, build a "regular" site using the concept of Content Traffic PREsell Monetize...

http://ctpm.sitesell.com/

SBI! delivers the process, tools, support and guidance and constant updating to do it successfully.

--

Some folks say, "yeah but Wordpress can now build regular Web pages." That merely turns it into one of hundreds of free sitebuilders, available widely since 1997. Use yola.com or weebly.com, super little sitebuilders that are free.

Beyond "free" (Yola, Weebly, or Wordpress) SITE-building, though, you will end up paying much more in time and dollars to assemble the process, tools, support and guidance and constant updating to BUSINESS-build. NOTHING is free.

Even the detractors of SBI!, who state that you can get it all for free, turn around and promote tools and resources that cost much more than SBI! when added all together (and still fall short of what SBI! delivers).

This is important, so let me repeat. No matter which free sitebuilder people use...

Those folks who push blogging as "the way" miss the point that most people need more than free blogging software. They need detailed process, a complete set of BUSINESS-building tools, help and guidance, and constant updating across the entire range of all business-building subjects and tools. All in one spot, not gathered from a ton of places (each of which can cost more than SBI! while offering what amounts to 1 of 80 modules in SBI!).

Summary?

I'm not anti-blogging. It has its place as an excellent format for certain purposes.

If blogging does fit your particular business model, it needs to be supplemented with a ton of other information (figure out who's right and who's just selling stuff) and tools (both external tools and plugins, of which free and paid versions exist, good and bad) if you want a blog to become an online business. You'll need solid guidance in good forums, again by people without an agenda, and finally you'll need to keep up with everything.

Yes, it's possible to succeed big with blogging. It's also possible to fail with SBI!. And SBI! is not the only way to build an online business. NOTHING IS ABSOLUTE.

But, for most folks, SBI! remains the best way to build an online business by building a Theme-Based Content Site. That statement is supported by an unmatched rate of success (no other company has documented its proof of success in so many ways as we do at http://proof.sitesell.com/ ).

I hope I can put this one to rest. Ken is NOT anti-blogging. It's just that building a Theme-Based Content Site is the best way for most people to build a serious, long-term online business. I would feel that way even if we sold widgets and not SBI!.

Naturally, we promote this fact. In marketing, you do NOT hide your candle under a bushel. And we have an excellent candle.

All the best,
Ken

P.S. Then there are the folks who say, "yeah but you can build 30 blogs (or sites, for that matter) for the same single hosting fee."

These people don't understand that it takes time to build excellent authority sites in your chosen niche, sites that build traffic that you convert into income in many ways. Who has time for 30 of these? Build one until it's doing well and running under its own momentum, especially with Content 2.0 ( http://2.sitesell.com/ ). Then, if you like, start another. That's what many SBIers do.

-----SIDEBAR-----
You can build 30 sites by paraphrasing the content of others
and not looking in the mirror in the morning, but you cannot
build 30 businesses.

This practice of "splogging" was recent shut down by Google.
-----SIDEBAR-----

Web hosts let folks put up unlimited domains under one account for a simple reason... they get no traffic. Any so-called "cheap host" that starts to see significant traffic across multiple domains on the same account will be calling... for a price increase.

Ken, this forum post would be much better as a blog post

It sounds like you just needed to vent.

Yup, Steve, that was pure venting.

Sometimes, in the course of following so many feeds and forums, etc., either I find some incredibly dumb stuff about SBI!, SiteSell, SBIers, and/or me (or someone passes it to me asking if we want to reply.)

We don't. We've grown to the point that we know that we offer something totally unique and good.

Over time, though, you start wondering what the problem with some people are. I mean, you don't like SBI! for whatever reason (invariably, they push some competing products that cost many times more and have no proof of success)?

That's fine. Just move on.

Worse, though, is when they get personal. I mean, they don't know me. Never met me or my family. Have no true idea about what the culture of our company is, what I believe.

And they make stuff up. Or ignore the 99.9% good and exaggerate the weakest point of SBI!. And SBI!, with more and more modules, will always have a weakest point.

So they sure love to attack some of the most trivial stuff, often in the nastiest and most personal way possible.

And then I realize that, aside from being unscrupulous competitors, they basically fall into one of the nasty/smart categories we outline in...

http://www.sitesell.com/why-people-fail.pdf

It basically boils down to...

I think it was Steve Jobs (Seth Godin?) who said, "If you don't have people who hate you out there, you aren't doing something great." Or something to that effect.

The point was that great products, great ideas, polarize. Some will love it. Some will hate it. And "it" includes the everything wrapped around the product. A Mac, for example, is NOT just a sharply designed computer. Jobs is NOT a self-promoting showman.

(If anyone has the quote, I'd love to see it.)

Meanwhile, Steve, your point is well taken. It would make a good blog.

And... thanks for understanding. Sometimes, all friends have to do is listen to be therapeutic.

We are ALL human beings, in this together.

All the best,
Ken

It's funny because I don't ever see anything negative about SBI, but I don't go looking for it.

Your story reminds me of a sports athlete or someone that has "made it" and their agents or advisers tell them not to watch the news or read the paper because you will go crazy with all the untruths, half truths, exaggerations, and opinions people have of you.

You know I have reached a level of success with SBI. In my view of the world everyone else does too. I like my little world. Of course in your position you can't take that same view point or the company doesn't continue to improve. It's too bad.

Thanks ken, great information

I think it was Steve Jobs (Seth Godin?) who said, "If you don't have people who hate you out there, you aren't doing something great." Or something to that effect. (If anyone has the quote, I'd love to see it.)All the best,Ken

Personal attacks hurt. Period. No matter how great you know your product or service is

I'm sure Steve Jobs or Seth Godin may have said something similar Ken, but your quote reminded me of one of Gary Halberts classics..."Never aim for indifference. Always get people to either love you or hate you, but never to just like you!"

I guess it's also similar to the common variation of Abraham Lincoln's classic quote..."You cannot please all the people all the time."

Pete

I love that.

Ken, you really articulate the addiction the world has to blogging. It was created for making journals, for commentary on what's happening and perhaps sharing your own ideas -- but not to create definitive resources to cover a topic in detail. No one has time to read long "definitive" blog posts (another pet hate of mine; if you're going to read something, read something worth while) and yet they read dozens of blog posts everyday.

Meanwhile, we are producing "Definitive" material. Theme-based content sites will cover a topic in the detail that I need. It won't be a simple commentery or "tips" page with a plug for more comments, but a step-by-step thorough guide to solving the problem I have at hand. The great thing is SBI teaches this from the beginning.

Does anyone else add +"powered by Site Build It" to their search queries at Google when they're struggling to find something? I know I'll get what I need, based on the teachings here and the experience of getting quality SBI sites when I enter that.

What frustrates me though is whilst some people do acheive success with blogging; thought-leaders like Seth Godin (cracking blog that is!) but they're the exception, not the norm. Just because lots of influential people are doing it, doesn't mean you have to... (and I bet saying that to small business owners would make them breath a sigh of relief!)

Another way to put it is playing to your strengths, and unless you've already built a tribe of followers who are interested in your commentary and ideas and will take the time to look at your non-definitive string of content then by all means do it. But if you're not there, don't bother - yet. Arguably, the best way to achieve that kind of position is with... a Theme-based content site?

I, for one, represent the group of people who started out blogging zealously and ended up with blogging burnout. I like the SBI approach of having a themed website that does not go out of date like many of my blog posts did when actively blogging. I do have to work at writing evergreen articles so that my web pages are always current in their scope.

I just returned from a 2 week vacation and it was rewarding to see that my income did not go down just because I was unavailable to write posts on a consistent basis.

I was recently one of those crazies (said with all respect and affection ) participating in the "power keywords challenge" that ended a week or so ago. It was a phenomenal experience!

Ken, in his post, mentioned that blogging with really just a type of formatting where the information is formatted chronologically.

So what's the point of MY post?

The record of that challenge is formatted chronologically, just like a blog. The specific challenges have been listed separately to make finding the information easier. (Yeah...right!? I PARTICIPATED everyday, and I'm having trouble finding things.)

The reality is, there's a ton of good information in that thread that, unless captured in TNT articles or pearls (hmmm, did someone say "searchable" ), that may be lost because slogging through chronologically will be...well...slogging through. The thread grew to over 160 pages with challenges, light bulbs flipping on, frustration, confusion and laughs a plenty.

An interesting "pseudo" experiment in blogging where I got to reap the benefits of the experience and not have to pay the price.

Label this just a sort of ramblin' thought about blogging.

Julie

PS. I'm always reminding my 12-going-on-30-year-old daughter, who suffers the slings and arrows of other kids, the people who point out your "shortcomings" are pretty much just trying to get the attention off of themselves and to feel better. It seems that grownups play by those same rules sometimes...

To combat the hurt feelings, we use a five finger rule. Count off on your fingers the five most important people to you, the ones you care what they think about you. If the purveyor of slime isn't one your top five, they're not worthy of consideration.

Ooer! I think this thread needs an Ode!!!!

Friends Worth? The Earth!
To a breath of fresh air in my life,
A new friend to share my loves of life and troubles and strife

To a new friend in my life,
I'll share your troubles and strife and loves and likes of life!

To all new friends in my life,
I've had troubles and been in strife,
Stabbed in the back with someones knife,
I've loved and been loved,
But treasured most of all, liked!
Micky Kidd 8th November 1990

Sorry guys, had to get that one out!

Couldn't immediately think of a Quote Ken so that came out instead

Ken "(If anyone has the quote, I'd love to see it.)"

cheers,
Micky

Ken, you mentioned that you follow quite a few blogs. Do you follow a viral marketing blog called Viperchill.com?

A guy my age (21) runs it. Very successful, over 100 comments on every post and, apart from the fact that he goes with 'blog' over 'build', there seems to be some good stuff there. He's been featured in the Guardian, a national UK newspaper.

Just wondering what you think of that blog? If you've not heard of it, might be one worth looking at.

Cheers

Sam

I think that most people get personal and start with the hurtful comments, when they suddenly realize that there is no way in hell that they are able to copy your success for themselves.

I have worked and also did lots of case studies on huge companies (when I was doing my degree) and I can honestly say that I've never seen such an honest and down to earth company like SBI. And what about the forums? The utter selflessness that most participants have in these forums is unbelievable. I wish I had more time to contribute to these amazing forums. Not to mention, the sheer genius of the SBI product in general.

I personally don't know of any founders/CEO's that participate so actively in their own forums. I believe that SBI has arrived where it is today due to Dr. Ken's enthusiasm, honesty and passion. I think that we could all learn a lesson or two (or a couple of thousand) from you

P.S.
Like someone else said, I have never seen any negative comments on SBI. Only last week I think, I came across a blog (yes a blog ) that mentioned you as an Internet Guru. Sorry I forgot which blog was it.

I wonder how many hopeless and "homeless" are still out there thirsty and hungry; aimlessly wandering around the lonely streets of the "Empty Internet Promise Highway"? They have not had the pleasure, satisfaction, and those special "aha moments" of the ramblings and pros of Ken, who eats, lives, and breathes his wealth of knowledge, experimenting, and generosity of giving so we may prosper.

Poor souls, they know not what they miss. Many, by now, are just piles of diminishing bones in the desert picked dry from the internet vultures who promised instant wealth and riches beyond imagination. If they could have just peeked over the "yonder hills of gold" and completeness, followed the tortoise toward the peaceful valley; free to all who wonder in, where fresh drink and food for the soul are plentiful, and they can even be led by the hand down the path to complete sustenance. Fill your cup and stay awhile, or fill your cup and go quickly; it's up to you. But when and if you leave, tell it truthfully.

S.W.S.W.S.W.N.

Just know, Ken, and I speak for all of us who stay awhile; you are appreciated and held in awe by the majority. You are a life saver to many!! The rest didn't stay long enough to find out! Their loss! We cherish you! A heart-felt resounding THANK YOU!!!

Thanks very much to all. You're right. Celebrities (and I'm far from one) hurt when comments get personal. I saw a review about Val Kilmer in which he played a fat dead guy for the whole movie. The reviewer said it was one of his best performances in years because he was so life-like. Idiot. That hurts, no matter who you are.

But count on a mom to make it better...

To combat the hurt feelings [of people who antagonize you, use a five finger rule. Count off on your fingers the five most important people to you, the ones you care what they think about you. If the purveyor of slime isn't one your top five, they're not worthy of consideration.

A nice quiet way to put everything into perspective. I'll modify it slightly to the 4-finger rule, Julie. If the slimeball is not one of the 4, well, um, I'll reserve one finger for a special purpose...

Yes, you guessed it... a down-pointing thumb.

All the best,
Ken

Yes, you guessed it... a down-pointing thumb.

Dag! I was wrong again!

Diane