I’m preparing to embark on a hell of a journey. For reasons I’ll keep to myself, I and my dearest friends are driving from one side of the United States to the other. We’re starting in Boston because it’s convenient. We’ll wind up in California, because it’s a nice place to wind up.

On the way, I’ll be sharing with you my experiences on one of Bloggy Network‘s other blogs- Travelogger.net. So please do join me there!

Have you been to New York, Washington, Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles? Or Tijuana?

If you’ll let me know what you want to know, I’ll do my best to help you out.

A journey like this is more than a tour through different parts of a country/continent. It’s a journey through many very different cultures. The atmosphere in south Texas is different from that in east Texas – let alone Boston! The Gullahs of South Carolina and the Cajuns of Louisiana speak a virtual different language, a creole developed back when my historical heroes still roamed their regions.

And I’ll be able to see that mighty city, New Orleans, for myself. The holes in New York City – and the collective hearts of America and much of the world – for myself. The majestic vistas of the American West. Two oceans and a gulf. A hundred different types of sand.

I’ll also get an honest idea of what the United States is like in places I’ve never visited, or at least as much of an idea as you can reasonably get in a day or two. Travel, they say, broadens the mind. I hope to wind up with at least a superhighway.

Arrr, a pirate loves travel. I’m excited about this voyage. I’ll try to resist pillaging along the way, sore though I may be tempted. Well, maybe a little. . .

Look out your window, baby, there’s a scene you’d like to catch,
The band is playing “Dixie,” a man got his hand outstretched.
Could be the Fuhrer
Could be the local priest.
You know sometimes
Satan comes as a man of peace.

He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongue,
He knows every song of love that ever has been sung.
Good intentions can be evil,
Both hands can be full of grease.
You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, first he’s in the background, then he’s in the front,
Both eyes are looking like they’re on a rabbit hunt.
Nobody can see through him,
No, not even the Chief of Police.
You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he catch you when you’re hoping for a glimpse of the sun,
Catch you when your troubles feel like they weigh a ton.
He could be standing next to you,
The person that you’d notice least.
I hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he can be fascinating, he can be dull,
He can ride down Niagara Falls in the barrels of your skull.
I can smell something cooking,
I can tell there’s going to be a feast.
You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

He’s a great humanitarian, he’s a great philanthropist,
He knows just where to touch you, honey, and how you like to be kissed.
He’ll put both his arms around you,
You can feel the tender touch of the beast.
You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, the howling wolf will howl tonight, the king snake will crawl,
Trees that’ve stood for a thousand years suddenly will fall.
Wanna get married? Do it now,
Tomorrow all activity will cease.
You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Somewhere Mama’s weeping for her blue-eyed boy,
She’s holding them little white shoes and that little broken toy
And he’s following a star,
The same one them three men followed from the East.
I hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

With thanks to the official site of the mighty Bob Dylan

Remember William Hung? He was the contestant on American Idol in the second or third year who was so bad he became famous for it. His incredibly atrocious karaoke was juggled into an album – that subsequently sold more CDs than almost any Idol contestant outside of the top two finalists – 195,000 copies. He’s made a movie, done talk shows, and become a real celebrity. For singing badly.

This, folks, is like lightning. It hits once in about a hundred years. For most people, celebrity is something they’re born into, have enough talent and work ethic to gain, or work their butts off to get.

There’s a surprisingly large contingent, however, who think that their paths to celebrity should be along the lines of William Hung. No offense to Mr. Hung, who seems like a nice guy, but it seems that they are so self-centered as to believe everyone is fascinated by their latest navel-gazing, whether it’s on world events or how to succeed they wish to opine upon.

A recent example that has ticked me off: the NewOrleansTruth debacle. Associated Press’s desperate attempts to convince the world that their photos are complete and unbiased truth (I Photoshop, too, and recognize fakery pretty quickly).

I think what’s going on is people are somehow getting the idea that the written word is gold – that their optimization talents or the love that their friends and mothers have for their writing is going to catapult them into Pulitzerdom – that somehow, they too can be Truman Capote and hang out with rich celebrity women.

It’s nonsense. Except for truly anomalous cases like William Hung, celebrity does not happen – it is earned. Your hard work and genuine talent will gain your fame, not your untried insights into how to make a fortune. Don’t invest in fools gold – instead, work hard and learn everything you can about everything you can. And learn how to market online. That’s going to be your key to success.

My personal vision for the Bloggy Network is that it must, at its core, be a creative outlet for quality writing. If I could release my pet genie, I’d have all the greatest minds and writers in the world sharing their views on our blogs every day of the week. The thing that attracted me to blogging in the first place was its creative potential- the fact that one can immediately publish your writing (your personal opinions, thoughts, dreams and experiences) and share them with others across the world without geographic boundaries, political censorship or any time delay. The same could be said for the internet as a whole, but none as user-friendly or mainstream as is the case with blogs.

We must write unique, original and interesting stuff. And if we don’t, on my head be it. The dilemma, as any “blog network” owner must find- is getting people who can actually write. The only way to achieve this (that I can think of) is to create a platform that is sufficiently prestigious, so that those with the skill to articulate “life” on a certain level – will want to do so for free, knowing that the exposure guarantees impact.

That means a Top 100 blog and we’re not there yet! When I think of one of my most successful author friends, Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later, etc)- if I paid him and instructed him what to write about, apart from charging an arm and a leg, he’d do it begrudgingly for me at best. If I begged him to write about something he wanted to write on (knowing him, whatever he was feeling annoyed about at the time) and told him I couldn’t afford to pay him at all, he’d do it happily and enthusiastically!

Such, ironically, is the psyche of writers who can actually write….

So the aim here, first and foremost, is to create a blog that will attract the very best in writers and then, by natural recourse, a quality reader base. I have my doubts about whether you can “buy” this. It’s tempting at this point to do a bit of mud-slinging. I’m just amazed at the nonsense that is spewed out daily on some fairly high-profile blogs, owned by well known blog networks. So many, many words and such little sense. Aaargh! I’ve got my own problems. Sometimes discretion is indeed the better part of valor…

If you asked another former owner of this blog ( or not quite owner…whatever…-:) ), what the “key” to “measuring” a successful blog is, I’m pretty sure that he would say the answer lies in the statistics. Unique daily visitors, page views, CTR and so on. This along with the usual stuff- Google PR, Alexa, SE backlinks & indexed pages, inbound Technorati links, etc. All to be carefully analyzed and scrutinized as if we’re piloting a programme for primetime TV.

Again, I disagree. Too many smart Alecs out there, by a long shot, manipulating the stats and working the system. Just like revenue, statistical success will come later once you have found your voice and established your blog.

As in all disciplines of life, if you put your heart and soul into something and drive yourself to a sense of pride in your work- you will succeed. Online, offline- it doesn’t matter. You should never be afraid to make mistakes or to take risks. And you should act with dignity, honesty and integrity at all times. The inter-blog “cat fighting” that one witnesses all too much these days can be quite amusing, but it is also pretty much adolescent nonsense and a stain on the reputation of those involved. Bottom-line, it reads like a playground affair-: “I’m bigger, better and cleverer than you are. So there!“. Well done, maybe you are. But then again, take it from Socrates, if not from me- a wise man is only wise when he knows that he’s a fool. The profuse language commonly used in such blogs is often offensive for the sake of it and brings out the the worst, rather than the best, of those involved.

When making a plan for your blog, you must lay down some strong principles which you will stick to. One principle that I would like to discuss in a later post is the absolute need for unique and creative content. Another principle I would employ is to have no adult-related content or imagery on my blog. These, along with many others- are my choices. You must make your own. Whatever your choices are, don’t be swayed by the “statistics“- but rather your own sense of right and wrong. A good way of doing this might be to search through blog directories and bookmark the ones which you admire the most, then take note of the common threads of principles which they all adhere to (self-disclosure, privacy, spam, etc..).

Talking of Socrates, you could do worse in your search for definitive principles, than to adhere to his Triple Filter Test.

In short-:

- Is It True?

- Is It Good?

- Is It Useful?

Assuming that you adhere to your own principles, and strive for quality tenaciously, the statistics will look after themselves. Google et al will reward you royally. This is the future. The SE crawlers will become increasingly adept and will divert the traffic to the sites with the highest quality in terms of relevant and unique content. And those taking their SEO “shortcuts” will be left behind. At any rate, wouldn’t you far rather have 50 genuine site visitors every day on a blog- who gave interesting and eloquent feedback- and who were loyal to your site, rather than 5000 “semi-scrapers“? Yes, you’ll lose out on some digg votes or social tagging for now, but later on you will have built an authentic, genuine reader base that stays with you and grows as you and your blog does.

And all this (please forgive my prudish nature…each to his/her own) should give your blog a strong, long-lasting foundation for success. If it doesn’t, I have plenty of hats to eat.

If you asked the renowned former owner of this blog what the “key” to “measuring” a successful blog is, I’m pretty sure he would say it’s about the “revenue“. I disagree. Firstly, from a writer’s perspective, it must be a labor of love. If you asked my wife Lara, who does the posts for our Parenting Blog, or the newly hired Quimby doing the Bloggy Award reviews, or even our resident pirate at JOAB, DPY- if they wrote for the money or not, I’m pretty sure the answer would be a resounding “no, it ain’t the money, honey..!!” Point being- the blogger writes for the love of it, not the money.

From the reader or site visitor’s perspective, what do they care? They’re not buttering your bread in a hurry. Of course, the end game lies with your subscriber base and you might make some small cash on a click here, a click there- if you’re lucky. But in the main, this comes later, once you’re “established” for the right, or wrong, reasons.

Ditto- your advertisers, a fickle lot at the best of times, i.e: when someone “values” their blog based on income via, ummm, say TLA- it’s a 30 day outlook with zero guarantees long-term and it’s a system easily manipulated. No better example of this than the mighty altar of Google pagerank- an inexact art at the best of times, and Google would be the first to admit that it is an evolving science. In the end of the day, Google wants to authentically reward the sites that are relevant to the searcher and, given time, they’ll close up all the loopholes and mantras being hailed by the SEO “expert“- whose fundamental aims run contary to Google‘s own long-term goals. Authentic means genuine, as in not artificially manufactured. Why does this matter? TLA automatically approves sites if they have a PR4+ pagerank. Simple as that. And the whole system is basing itself on the logic of PR transfer as recognized by Google. When Google learns that these links are paid and not authentic votes, they will not only not reward the site, they will punish it. Condoms, anyone?

And from the blog owner‘s point of view, it’s at best a short-term business model that is reliant on projected uncertainties, subject to numerous factors out of one’s own control. I guess there are a few “pros” who genuinely know how to make a profit out of blogging (be they content blogs, services, networks, etc)- but they really are the few. And just because they call themselves “pros” don’t make it so. In the main, probably somewhere north of 99% in terms of “blog owners“- the revenue made is paltry in comparison to the effort put in. In other words, the “richness” of blogosphere right now is in its “non-commerical” and “amateur” nature. And long may that last, even if one does have to patronize a few more dumb ones. Take that “amateur” aspect away and all you’ve got is paid bloggers sold down the river. And after all, don’t cowboy bloggers swim upstream? Of course we’re not all Bill Gates and the kids need feeding. We live in the real world and bills need paying, so nothing wrong with making a dime on your blogs if, how and where you can. I’m just saying that I don’t believe revenue is the “measure of success” for a blog. In other words, you could have the best blog in the world that made zero dollars and a pretty bad one that made a lot.

End Game: so you’ve become a success, need some cash and want to sell up. Somebody once said, and I can’t remember who it was (DPY- can you remind me?)-: “Fools build houses for wise men to live in.” This expression pretty well hits the nail on the head, in that when I look at the blog “market place” and see the level of blog sales- it’s all pretty well slave labor rates. Case in point, some of the recent high-profile, blog-related sales on Sitepoint, you might be impressed initially by the figures being bandied about- PinGoat.com, BlogExplosion.com and BlogHerald.com . However, if you think of the amount of work that went into these projects behind the scenes and you quickly do some figures in your head, you’d have to say it’s not the easiest and most lucrative way to earn a buck. (btw- a disclaimer here- I have no clue to actual sale amounts achieved. These comments are purely based on the BIN prices being mentioned on sitepoint, although I’m aware that two of these sales were done privately for undisclosed amounts ).

Any start-up business model, as far as content-driven blogs or related blog services are concerned, has to be written off as some kind of “loss leader” along with another online or offline strategy, where you really do cash in. Thereby the benefits you gain are indirect and, consequently, your blogs are not self-sufficient business models in themselves. To cite Hirth’s example, Jugend Magazine was never profitable. How could it be? Every weekly issue beautifully designed as a unique lithographic print, never the same logo being used twice. But the follow-through prestige of Jugend enabled Hirth to acquire the largest, and most profitable newspaper in Munich and he died, in 1919, an extremely wealthy man. Such a comparison may seem unlikely, but I see its equivalent happen every day on the web. You build your reputation in one area and benefit in another. Or you can use your blogs laterally to pursue your other interests. Like I’m using Charities Blog right now to push a charity of my choice-: Talpe Foundation. So like in publishing offline, one can easily create a lot of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” scenarios. Etcetera….

So don’t sell! Build a little war chest, should the need arise for some cash injections. If this isn’t possible, find a partner who can help you hold on. But whatever you do, don’t sell yourself short- your time is valuable and can never be replaced.

For a vision on what I would like the Bloggy Network to become in future years, I have looked into my own family’s past for inspiration. My great-grandfather, Georg Hirth, ran a magazine in Munich, Germany, in the late 19th Century/early 20th Century. Jugend Magazine was all about “expression” in the most liberal of senses- giving young artists and writers an avenue to publish their work in an environment that was apolitical and nurturing to the “new style“. And thus “Jugenstil” became “Art Nouveau“. Bearing in mind a dark shadow cast by the background of two terrible World Wars and the shame that was bestowed on Germany by Nazism (whose advocates burnt the very artwork Jugend was helping to create), it is remarkable that the spirit of Jugend Magazine still permeates into our culture today. There is no better example of this than seeing how Kley, Walt Disney’s greatest artistic influence, was a Jugend artist who would not be known today- had it not been for Hirth.

It is unfortunate that the legacy of Jugend Magazine has been damaged further by false word association, in that the German term “Jugend“, meaning “Youth” became remembered post WW2 as a Nazi reference, as in “Hitler’s Youth“. My family were forced to leave Germany in the 1930s and so today we have none of Hirth‘s substantial art collection in a physical sense, although I’m slowly but surely buying up all the old issues of Jugend that I can find online.

From research, I know that Hirth was already fascinated in the technological developments of his day and was communicating with the likes of Edison, Graham Bell and Emile Berliner re: the invention of the gramaphone. He wrote on subjects like conserving forests and I have in my home a picture of the Hirth household in color- years before Kodachrome film was invented. I genuinely believe that Hirth, a man not scared to embrace the unknown, would seize on blogosphere‘s potential for spreading authentic, creative energy around the globe to friend and foe alike.

If we can in any way emulate what Hirth did (& I know we’re far from achieving it..) by creating a sounding board for talented, aspiring writers- we will have done a great deal. To read more about Hirth or the Jugend Magazine, you can visit our website-: TheJugend.com.