A Post about a Post about a Quota Photo

Because I have previously assured my readership that they will get (at least) one post per day here at 6000 miles…, and because I have other things to do aside from blogging, sometimes, when words or time are hard to come by, I’ll chuck up a quota photo so that even though you haven’t got incisive, witty social comment to marvel at, at least there’s something pretty there.

The Quota Photo moniker came (as he correctly assumes) from Brian Micklethwait of BrianMicklethwaitDotCom, and he has passed comment on both the phenomenon of Quota Posting and a recent Quota Photo that I shared on here.

All this because 6k likes to have something up, often.  And that’s the point of quota posting, for those of us who are suited to it.  If you have reasonable taste, then the mere fact of starting doing a blog posting ensures not only that something will go up, but that, really quite often, something really quite good will go up.  Like this photo, which I consider to be very good indeed.  Often what takes the time, with blogging as with life, is not doing it, but getting round to doing it.  The actual doing is often quickly done, and often very well done.

My thing is this. Not every quota photo will please every reader – I know that many of you come for the dramatic, educated and/or hilarious collections of words that so regularly adorn these pages. But if you don’t like it, don’t read it… or… look at it. You can even ask for a full refund if you wish. Good luck with that.
But just occasionally (and that aerial shot of Piet sê Punt is a good case in point), someone latches onto a quota photo and suddenly, it has more value than a simple placeholder and thus, as Brian points out:

Some of my best blog postings have happened because I wanted to put up any old something, however bad, and it turned out really good.

Whenever and wherever I can, I will continue to get a “real” blog post on here each day. However, when that isn’t possible, quota posts – and especially quota photos – will continue to be my fallback tactic.

And now we all eagerly await Brian’s Post about a Post about a Post about a Quota Photo.

Tomorrow, tomorrow…

… I’m blogging tomorrow, it’s only a day away.

Have I been in touch? I don’t know, because I’m writing yet another post way in advance.

I’ve checked the Heading North itinerary and we’re supposedly heading back through the Channel Tunnel to Blighty this evening, all of which probably means better connectivity that in France, but potentially not much time to use it in.

Apparently, Eurostar should be getting wifi on board, although on the website, I can only find stuff about connectivity at their stations.

Anyway – the whole tomorrow thing? Normal service , stable ADSL and some proper real-time blogging.

I hope.

*gets popcorn*

This might be worth watching. Come join me on the couch and bring some popcorn.

Earlier this week, Cape Town Girl popped this post on her blog, putting forward – in her own succinct style – the viewpoint that brands in SA are taking bloggers for a ride by getting free publicity for products from posts and mentions. Bring forth the drama:

There’s a word for working for free, it’s called “slavery”. Last I checked, slavery is illegal. It doesn’t matter how big or small your blog is, if a PR company / Advertising agency / brand manager contacts you asking for coverage through something YOU have created and invested your time in, they should pay you, at the rate you decide the attention of your audience is worth.

I’ll admit that the cynic in me (yes, there is one of them) did wonder if CTG was concerned that her (wholly commercialised and brand-plastered) blog was missing out on revenue because PR people were going elsewhere where they could get exposure for free.
But like I clearly stated at the beginning of this paragraph, that was just the cynic in me.

Now, Saul on loosechange.co.za has come forward with an alternative opinion: Charging For Your Blog Is Career Limiting. This is a blog post which while commending CTG on her stance, contains this line:

There is one problem that I don’t think CTG has considered: she looks like a brand whore pedalling other people’s crap.

Ouch.

But do you know what? He’s right. It does look that way (although I’d have perhaps put it a little more politely).
That said though, is there anything wrong with blogs like that? Well, no there isn’t, because we’re not stupid, are we?

You know those annoying 30-minute fillers on TV where a family of four talk about how much they love Maggie Two Minute Noodles? Everyone knows that’s an advertorial and the same goes for magazines, newspapers or radio. Anyone with more than two IQ points knows that the moment you’re basically putting a rate card on your blog the content becomes bumpf and insincere. Charging for your work is great, making yourself look like a gigantic billboard is really silly. As someone who has worked in real online publishing I’ll give you a tip: begging is probably more lucrative.

That’s why the blog reading audience of SA looks at blogs like CTG and 2OceansVibe and (hopefully) takes what they read about brands and products mentioned on there with a pinch of salt. We all know that they are being paid to say the nice things that they are saying, right?

Right?

I should probably set out my stall here. I’m not completely blameless in this. Yes, I have Google ads on here, but they only pay when you click them (something that I am not allowed to tell you to do) and yes, I have put adverts on my blog before and obviously, I have charged for them. They mostly just sit in the sidebar and they don’t do any harm. If they get in the way of the content, then I’m doing it wrong. I know this because I once made the mistake of writing a post about a product as well. In my defence, I thought that it was a kinda quirky Xmas present idea and it really was more of an experiment that anything else. The reaction was so shocking that I haven’t ever done it again.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t get a lot of a PR stuff sent my way. And yes, sometimes I’ll share it with you, if I think you’ll be interested. And no, generally I don’t charge for that. But that’s my decision and it’s based not on payment, but whether it’s something I feel is worth writing about. I will ALWAYS tell you on those rare occasions when I’m writing about something where I have been given payment or goods. Otherwise it devalues everything else I write.

That’s why I launched the 6000 recommends… category, which, as I pointed out when I launched it, only contains stuff that I have done, I am doing or I am going to do and that I think you should do too. Money does not change hands for anything on there and that’s why you should value and cherish it and do those things, because I recommend them.

If you want to make some money out of your blog, then that’s just fine. If it’s your sole source of income then it’s more than just fine: it’s your job. It’s no secret that bloggers charge for exposure: for example, 6000 miles… BlogRollee Life is Savage put his huge numbers right out there this week “for transparency’s sake”.

But if you are going to take every cent that is offered to you to peddle stuff on your blog, then please don’t expect people to take your content seriously.
Oh, and don’t expect every other blogger to want or have to do things your way.

Blogging frustration…

When you add this:

One of the biggest eye-openers you can have is seeing a story in the press which you have personal knowledge of.
When you read the article, you can marvel at just how inaccurate and mis-representative the reporter or journalist is being.

and this:

Occasionally  – just occasionally – there are topics which I would LOVE to blog about, but am unable to. These are generally specific and local issues which are linked somehow to what we in the blogging sector call “Real Life”.
One of the rules that I have laid down for myself and to which I still rigidly adhere is that my blogging must not negatively impinge on my “Real Life” or that of my family or friends (and relationships with those individuals).

Argh.

Brian is back again, but he’s still not a Real Photographer

I was delighted to note that Brian Micklethwait, my favourite UK blogger, had decided to end another of his self-imposed hiatuses (hiatii?) and start up his regular blogging again. And so far this week, we’ve had a couple of wonderful photos [here and here] of Anish Kapoor’s Olympic sculpture, a Shard update from the 1950s and a link to a wonderful South African blog post about London.

And then today: geese.
And this quote, after a close encounter with a gander (while having a gander at his missus):

A real photographer would have advanced again, made him angry again, and got a shot of him being angry, while very slightly risking death, again.

I don’t know, hey Brian? If a swan can break a man’s arm (anyone ever seen this happen, by the way?) surely a goose could at least take out a finger…

Take care out there.