Google Blogger - It's Future

It's funny, but I have been pondering just what might be going on behind the curtain over at Google with their Blogger team and the platform's future. You've probably seen a number of articles stating that Blogging is Dead or Google will shut down Blogger all together. Not to mention, the number of posts on their internal Blogger Buzz site has dropped from 40+ articles a year in 2011 down to less than 10 a year since.

Source: DigitalRalph - Creative Commons

I really would not pay much attention to rumors like this considering the number of Blogger users in the world. In fact, Blogger is an excellent means for Google to get more people directly connected to Google+ -- not necessarily to be users of the social network, but to become more integrated into the Google ecosystem with profile information. This is extremely important since people with profiles utilize search giving Google a one-up on what people do online. Also, you may or may not have noticed that all of Google's official blogs are running on Blogger.

What excites me more is my own speculation that the quietness surrounding the Blogger platform indicates to me that Google is working hard on upgrading it to become a richer HTML5 site with much more dynamic templates and usability that you find from sites built on responsive frameworks like Twitter's Bootstrap, Boilerplate or HTML Kickstart. These frameworks are completely designed to be fluid on all devices (something Google cares about deeply) so that one template can satisfy any device from Android phones/tablets, iPhones and iPads to full high resolution desktop displays.

Nevertheless, blogging has changed considerably in the last three years by being overrun by social networking, which, in its own way has become a kind of micro-blogging pattern. People now look across a vast landscape of options when they're looking for information which is pushing blogs away from personal interactive journeys to something else. What that 'something else' is may be difficult to describe, but in my honest opinion it is informational articles that coexist with social networks that are clearly linked to search.

Audiences are no longer built up directly on the blogging platform as much as they're collected through other means of Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and other social sources. It's a definition difference between a 'personal interactive journey' on social networks and 'important information' in blogs where that information is something that answers searchable questions.

What does this mean to you, the blogger? It means that you need to expand beyond the blog itself as the source of what you are online - a part of a bigger piece of the full network - especially more media and social awareness such as live blogging. The interaction happens socially -- whereas the information happens in your blog.

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Blogging Strategy Basics

I know you've probably done the very same thing that I have - seen a great looking Blogger blog out there that simply 'wows' you with its flashy design, a great color scheme, and a seemingly large set of content.

If you're prone to gut reactions you may have jumped right in to build the perfect looking blog that will wow your own readers. Design will lure them in, right?

I understand that this is a very simplistic scenario but with a point - creating a blog based only visual design, gut reactions or just a passionate topic might build a readership but won't have a strategy.

What is a Strategy?

The term strategy really originated in the military as a "plan of action to achieve a specific goal". However, game theory and businesses have morphed the meaning of strategy to be more than just a plan.

Have you ever met someone who can think of amazing, creative ideas that seem so simple yet so effective but is so disorganized that even the thought of planning something is so foreign to their mindset that they don't care when an idea comes to fruition? Or, have you met someone who is so organized that they plan out every detailed step and milestrone to reach a goal?

A strategy can be thought of the intersection of the two - the best of a planner mixed with an innovator. The essential elements of strategic thinking blend these two concepts.

Probably one of the best examples of strategic thinking can be found in Steve Jobs approach to driving Apple: it wasn't just about releasing a new product, it was about creatively looking at a market to be planfully better in some dimension, then dominating it.

How to Create a Blogger Strategy

So, how can you put this into practice using Blogger? It is not as hard as you think! Before you start your blog and entering content you should stop and think about where you want to go and how to get there.

Let me give you an example. Let's say you want to start a cooking blog but you don't have much more to go on than that (you might be thinking, "I love to cook but don't feel like an expert yet"). To define your strategy you need to imagine an end state - that is, what you would ultimately see as your definition of a successful cooking blog.

If your goal is to have a popular cooking blog, then understanding your 'idea' and when you are planning to achieve it is the essence of your strategy.

For example, you could say that you will become an expert on cooking seafood in three years. Your ultimate goal is to create your own seafood cookbook but you're going to blog about your journey as you are progressing. And, you want to blend the elements of asian cuisine within your recipes. Ah ha! A strategy is now forming.

Now, your strategy could be as simple as this - in the first year you're going to learn more about seafood in asia by finding books, recipes and interviewing cooks around the country who specialize in that type of cooking (plenty of content for your blog there!!).

Next, in year two you're going to start building some passive income with contextual ads by promoting your own recipes from your learnings in year one and, perhaps, even ask for donations if people like them. Finally, in year three you're going to write your cookbook while blogging about the process of publishing and marketing it.

The example strategy is now ready - the innovative idea is to create a unique seafood cookbook with a plan to get there in three years using your blog as the foundation!

Where to Learn More about Strategic Thinking

If you have some time take a look at some of these blogs:
Critical Thinkers
Strategically Thinking
The Nature of Strategic Thinking

or, go to Amazon and pick up a copy of:
Ahead of the Curve

One strategy trick I like to do is grab a pile of blank paper out of my printer, go upstairs to the dining room table, spread out the paper, open my laptop to Google (that site only!!! make sure nothing else open), then using a marker draw a box or set of boxes in the middle of the the paper of my core idea.

I then think about ways to reach my idea by searching Google for experts who have done it before and jotting down on the paper all the ways they've done it using boxes around the core idea.  Soon, a strategy starts to gel in my mind and I start drawing connections.

Having a strategy can lead you to greater success in the future. Give it a try - you might be surprised where it leads you!

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