Strategy For 2010

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking for the direction that I’m going to take the blog in 2010 and I would like to get some feedback from my readers.  Obviously, the “strategy” that I had for 2009 was less than stellar, because I didn’t even come close to breaking even, so business needs to be tweaked for this year.  Part of the problem is that I didn’t really have a strategy… I was all over the place.   Perhaps it’s time to become more focused.  I’m taking a good long look at everything that I do on here, and whether I should continue it, change it, or cease it.

Right now, my blogging articles are creating the most buzz, so I intend on continuing those, and doing them more often.  I also get very good feedback from my entertainment and career articles as well, so those aren’t going anywhere.

When it comes to change, I’m definitely looking to change my approach to the posts.  In the past, I was more concerned with quality over quantity, and would rather not post anything for days on end instead of posting something short or less than stellar.  I’m now rethinking this strategy, and will be implementing what I call “Snipes”.  These will be short posts, such as this one, and will be more personal and introspective.  The difference between an article and a snipe will be that I might spend 30 minutes on a snipe, whereas I will spend a few hours on an article.

And lastly, I’m ready to admit that my approach to music just isn’t working.  People aren’t embracing it in the way that I’d like them to, and the time I’m spending making music is taking away from the things that people are interested in.   Keep in mind that I’m not going to quit making music, I’m just going to be a lot smarter about it.  I’ve noted the few tracks that have been popular, and I need to promote the music that I create more effectively.

Music Videos For Posts

Yesterday, I came to the conclusion that I want to add music videos to all of my posts.  They wouldn’t be necessary to click, but music is so much better at expressing ideas than words are.  Plus, I can give exposure to some of my favorite tunes this way.  I wonder if doing this will cause my writing to become more inspired by music, or if it will force me to broaden my horizons and listen to more types of music?  I don’t know, but it’s a small change I can make that might do a lot of good… so I’ll be doing that very soon.

AdSense Figures

I was just going over my AdSense figures, and it seems that I made (by far) the most money in March 2009 for this website.  I find this interesting for a variety of reasons.  First of all, it was the first month that I ever had AdSense banners on this site.  Secondly, it’s the month with the most blog postings since I joined Adsense.  Third, this was the week that I started illustrating my articles, often times with artwork of my own!  I’m going to have to get myself back into the mind state that I was in during that time period, because that was my most successful month.  So, I need to renew my sense of enthusiam, like I had back in March, I need to increase my number of monthly posts, and I need to start putting more time into my illustrations like I used to.

I’m also planning on being a lot more specific with my criticism of A-List bloggers.  I’ve been saying that the established bloggers on the blogosphere have become complacent, and in some cases, crooked.  However, I’ve never been one to name anyone specifically.  Well, that’s going to change.  I’m just going to tell it like I see it, and if that upsets them…, well then they can go ahead and stick it to me by making their six figures a year and continuing to ignore 90% of the people who visit their blog like they’ve been doing.

Anti-Social: The Album

Work is coming along nicely on Anti-Social.  I’m still pretty nervous about it, because this is a major milestone for me, but I’m excited at the same time.  Right now, I’ve got 21 tracks that I’m working on for this project, which I will narrow down the 14 best tracks for the final version.  Right now, the tracks that I’m creating seem to be following either one of two trends.  Either

1. They are slow paced, mellow, and easy listening tracks, or
2. They are upbeat, party-style, techno-inspired tracks.

About half of the tracks that I’ve created fall into the first category, while the rest fall into the second one.  A lot of Michael Jackson’s albums followed this trend, so I guess that’s not a bad thing.  lol.  Like I’ve said many times, this album is coming out on March 20, 2010, no matter what!  That’s not only a promise, but that’s also a threat to myself.