Ok I know the title is sensational as is the post but that is not the the intent. While you are listening, I'm sure you also have feed subscriptions coming in from reputed bloggers preaching about blogging and monetizing. How well do these bloggers measure against their own advice? Doesn't look like much, as Leo of ZenHabits says in The Dirty Little Secrets of Productivity Bloggers. Of all the unsolicited advice and preachings at their blogs, other sites of the same bloggers show how practical their own advice is. All that advice goes for a toss and flies in the face of the visitors impressed by their establishment and authority. I hate to pick up a site but can we take up this one for the sake of reference? You must know the site or at least the legendary blogger behind it. There's no front page. If there is anything to it, it has a blurred photo which speaks volumes about good photography to the unsuspecting visitor visiting the site to learn more about photography.
There is no about page because the vision and mission are obvious - to take the unsuspecting visitor into circles and let him do the rounds till he eventually finds his way out through one of the affiliate links. There is no sitemap either. The sidebar is full of affiliate links. Cameras have gone digital but the modern photographer - not quite. I'm not talking about the site design. I'm referring to the utility of branding, having a sitemap for the visitors or the bots if you like, having an About page to project what the site stands for. If those pages are there take the time to find them - will be a good exercise. Presumably that is how organized blog networks like this are flourishing - on the clicks of visitors - hiring third party content creators.
Blogging started as a personal journal keeping and became a medium of voicing one's opinion. Sadly today is turning into a profession solely meant to earn by preaching, creating the same content again and again twisting the words because of their abundance in the dictionary - the advice is the same, you just repeat it every six months with a slight twist and get the eyeballs required just to last you another period. It survives collecting eyeballs and visitors lured into thinking they are reading valuable advice - only they don't know the advice isn't worth consideration by the blogger themselves.
That said it's not only the others I'm pointing the fingers to. Sometimes your priorities change and you know what works best for you. But given that, there needn't be the the difference like the distance between the horizons between what the blogger preaches and what they themselves practice.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I'm not sure what the problem is? Every website on the internet doesn't have to be exactly the same. Flickr is sort of similar, a brief intro and link to things you can do on the site.
As far as a contact page, sure you could argue there should be one, but not everybody wants to be known online. And as far as making money from his blog… are you against that? I mean sure he might have a lot of ads but that doesn't mean the blog posts he puts there are full of spam, otherwise people wouldn't visit his site.
And finally, why would you remove this post after 24 hours? If you're proving a point you should keep it up for the world to see. It seems like you want to just make a harsh accusation against Darren to get some attention, then remove your opinion from existence. Either have the balls to say it and stand by it, or don't post it at all.
Just my 2 cents.
Alex: Why are we talking about the contact page when I'm referring to an "About" page? And now you must understandably know I'm not referring to a single blogger or making this personal. Sometimes your visibility can stand against you. What about the less popular ones like… (eh) offering content creation etc… It's a business now. Hope with the slight revision to the post I'm able to emphasize the point. No ballgame this.