• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Women's Legacy Project
  • Home
  • About
  • How To Curate
  • Our Collective Legacy
  • Writing Online Memoir
  • Blog
Women's Legacy Project > Blog > CREATE > Blogging & Writing > Juice, Juju, Karma, and The Business of Blogging: Part II

Juice, Juju, Karma, and The Business of Blogging: Part II

Written by: womenslegacy
Published: May 31, 2013 -- Last Modified: May 31, 2013
3 Comments

Do you every ask yourself, who am I helping with my participation in this ad campaign or blogging network?  Perhaps you should.  Helping yourself, helping your community, and helping global corporations all have very different reward structures and consequences.

Types of Strategic Promotion

This is the second post in a  series of posts on the big issues that we bloggers sometimes overlook, or nudge out of sight,  but that continue to exist when we must choose between ourselves, our network and community, or a client as we make marketing choices.
In the business world we break out tangible and intangible assets.  When we are close to something myopia can kick in and we literally see only trees and not a collective forest entity.  I like to think that intangibles exist in the world of forests, interconnections, and processes.  It is a world that is difficult to describe but composed of the most intriguing aspects of life.  It is where mother love exists, where an appreciation for narrative whether in Homer or flash fiction grows, and the tension between cost and value reside.

file000310107649

Before any person can make informed choices about the procedural details of running a business or publishing a blog, some cohesive structure or framework should exist so that pieces of work may be woven into structure of the identity you are building.  Yep, your business or blog has an identity; it is that identity that lives in the world of markets and products.  This would be a great segue into a discussion about corporate personhood, but that remains for another day.

Identity

The first choice about identity you make is whether your business will be part of your identity or whether you are creating a business into which you will fit.  Most people work for someone else, so, once they decide a type of work to which they will dedicate themselves in life, they create the boundaries within which their work selves will operate.  Truly small businesses, solo entrepreneurs, writers, and a small group of other creative producers work outside the bounds of being a laborer for anyone other than themselves.  So these folks do not agree to work within an already existing structure.  If you do not create guidelines or infrastructure consciously you will draw from some model that you have seen or used in the past and you may not even be aware of doing so.  You might also be inadvertently sucked in to supporting a corporation that works against much of what you believe and for which you strive when a shiny bauble they dangle in front of you lures you into a contractual web.
But other models are emerging.

Running an ad for these folks seems dramatically different from running an ad for a corporate communications company that lived on beyond the break up of Ma Bell, no?

Decision Points for Bloggers

Is it necessary to “sell out” or essentially act as a subsidiary of a larger entity to survive as a blogger? Like every important decision in life these points of  choice offer matters of  degree and not all or none options.
The nature of decision-making has expanded right along with the processes in which a blogger must show mastery. The decisions made in one area of operations shape functioning in all areas of your business.

  • Tech considerations are not immune from decisions based in part on where you want to expend your juice or behind which your want to stake your credibility
  • Network decisions entail with whom will you collectively affiliate and market your actions.
  • Topical considerations.  Do you let the market dictate what you write?
  • Decisions about scale. Time and energy limitations might call out to you with well crafted “plug and play” advertising options when a local network exchange that requires start-up efforts ultimately kicks back far greater rewards to you.

Associate Networks and Geographic Communities

There is the old saying, from way back in the 1960s, or even earlier, “Think Globally, Act Locally.”  This mindset has matured.  I am thinking about joining Local First Arizona, and will certainly take part in their:
IndependentsWeek_Flag
June 30 to July 7th, during which time I will only support  local businesses as much as possible.  It is good for my community, as supporting local business keeps over 70% of the money spent in your community to re-circulate again and again, helping the local economy and you far more than purchases from some disinterested national or international corporate entity.
By buying local, participating locally, and promoting locally you help to create and increase your  community’s identity, your community’s brand, as well as your own and that closely aligned boost will boost you all the more.  And branding is where it is at. It you don’t believe me just look at Penguin 2.0, the latest Google roll out.
So bloggers, the juice you should be worrying about is not in your follow, no follow links, it should be centered on with whom  you collaborate, where you invest your precious money for support services, and what type of indirect returns you can expect to be returned to you.
 

Categories: Blogging & Writing, Business, Info Theory, TucsonTags: authenticity, Branding, business planning, business support networks, community, cooperation, decision making, Entrepreneurship, identity, independent business, Marketing, money, penguin 2.0, rate of return, speed of return, Tucson

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org
Previous Post: « Juice, Juju, Karma, and The Business of Blogging: Part I
Next Post: App of the Week – Buycott »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Phoebe

    June 4, 2013 at 5:22 pm

    I’m a new blogger and you have given me much “food for thought”! I am interested in networking and a bit curious about marketing. I really like your challenge to thoughtfully consider with whom to collaborate. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Nancy Hill

      June 4, 2013 at 6:05 pm

      Hi Phoebe, Love your name. I named my daughter Phoebe. 🙂 I’m glad you found “nourishment” in my post, that is a wonderful kudo. I have found that meeting face to face at blogging meetups and at blogging conferences really helped me find my footing and groups of like minded individuals. The BlogHer conferences, though big, are really good. And there are a host of other smaller niche conferences that are regionally based. Maybe I will do a post on that soon. So many ideas, so little time.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Too Many Things to Think About
  • Ending, and Beginning
  • For Our Daughters
  • Stand and Write
  • Context and Little Things
  • A Month is Just a Month… as Time Goes By
  • Processing Two Very Different Deaths
  • About Women’s Legacy & Hill Research
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Archives

Powered by
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
View my Flipboard Magazine.

© 2023, Nancy Hill, Women's Legacy Project of Hill Research Services, LLC

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT