The more time you spend on the information superhighway, the more you start to recognize the rules of the road – those that are carved in stone (few and far between) and those that are up for debate (the other 99.999%). The world is an ever-changing place, but as a blogger (sigh), I’ve become familiar with a number of “rules” which are as close to conventional wisdom as you can get online these days.
So, to finish out this week, I thought I’d reach out for some help from my readers (both of you) on how I should proceed with this site. Starting today and running through the end of the week, I’m going to address 3 Very Important Rules for Successful Blogging (and How I Break Them).
Rule No. 1: Be specific!
One of the first things you do when you’re smart about starting a blog is decide what you’re going to focus on – being specific. In the broad strokes, pick a topic and write about it. Narrow it down over time and develop a sharp edge. I had bought a 91 Galant VR4 and this site was originally about me building it into a rally car. Then I got a second Galant VR4 and decided I wanted to write about cars (in general) or social media or something, so I moved the Galants to their own site. Tarmac & Gravel was born.
Today, I still want to talk about cars or social media (or something), but I don’t want to be the four-hundred-and-fifty-eighth blog “reporting” on how the Ford Fusion was Motor Trend’s Car of the Year or the eleventy-billionth person to paraphrase Jalopnik’s coverage of that Veryon in a Texas lake (begging for attention). I’m also getting a little tired of all the social media talk. I want to sort of fill in the gap between cars and community. That’s about as specific as I can get right now, which is sad, because it’s been something like five years and I still don’t have a rally car either.
Help me out, here. Any ideas on how I might be able to hone this exceedingly dull blade? How might I combine cars and community here?
