The Marketing Technology Blog

Okay, now that I have you here, don’t be mad and leave. Listen to what I tell you.

There’s a flame going across the blogosphere right now on Nicholas Carr’s Blog posting, The Great Unread. Shel Israel is in on the argument, as are a ton of other bloggers (example).

You should read Mr. Carr’s full post before reading what I have to say. I hope I’m communicating his message fairly… I think what he’s saying is that there are so few very good “A-List” bloggers that everyone else should simply throw in the towel.

If you want to get to the “A-List” of the blogosphere, first you need to determine what that list is. It’s up to you… not Nick Carr, not Technorati, not Google, not Yahoo!, not Typepad or WordPress. The “A-List” is not determined by the number of hits you get, the volume of pageviews, the awards you’ve received or the amount of dollars in your adsense account. If it is, you may be blogging for the wrong reasons.

Welcome to Douglaskarr.com, one of the Great Unread. (Okay, maybe not so great)

At issue is the ‘old school’ of mass media advertising. That rule states that the more eyeballs see your ad, the better you are. The old school states if you’re getting hundreds of thousands of pageviews, you’re a success. A couple hundred and you must be a failure. You are part of the Great Unread. It’s precisely the same thinking that is dragging down the Movie Industry, the Newspaper Industry and Network Television. The problem is that you pay a huge price for those eyeballs, without a return. The problem is you don’t need all those eyeballs, you just need to get your ad to the right eyeballs.

My “A-List” does not match Seth Godin’s, Tom Peter’s, Technorati’s, Shel Israel’s, or Nick Carr’s. I don’t want a million readers. Sure, I get excited as my stats continue to grow. Of course I want to grow the readership and retention of readers on my blog. But I am really only interested in folks that have the same problems and are looking for the same solutions as I am.

I’m this quasi-marketing-technology-geek-Christian-father dude that lives in Indiana. I’m not going to move to New York or San Francisco. I’m not looking to be rich (but won’t complain if I do!). I am networking with a group of marketing and technologists in and around Indianapolis. I’m learning and exposing blogging to ‘my’ masses (all couple dozen or so!). And I’m sharing my experience, my thoughts, my questions, and my information with as many people who are interested.

You see, when I get a comment from Shel Israel, Tom Morris, Pat Coyle, my family, friends, or other folks that I respect and share with… I’ve already made it to the “A-List”. If that’s not your idea of an “A-List”, that’s okay. Perhaps I don’t want to be on yours. We each perceive success differently.

Signed,
One of the Great Unread