Now here’s a retirement blog I never thought I’d write. It’s a blog about somebody else’s retirement blog. Before I go any further I’d better explain. One of the bits of advice I received from the tutor of the recent ‘blog into a brand’ masterclass that I haven’t passed on (a Freudian slip perchance) was to look at the ‘opposition’ and work out how they got their blogs (like the one I’m going to write about) to be on the first page of Google.
I’ve always avoided reading other people’s retirement blogs. I tell myself it’s because I don’t want to be influenced by the writing of others but I suspect the truth is less admirable. I know I’m going to be jealous of the success of others. However with the masterclass advice ringing in my ears I plucked up my courage and took a close look at https://kathysretirementblog.com, a blog that has consistently figured on the first page of Google.
My worst fears were more than realised. Although I wanted it to be bad it wasn’t. It looked nice, much nicer than mine. Where my blog looks sparse, call it minimal, Kathy’s looks, well, full. I get a lot of ‘bounces’, which I’ve never understood, maybe this is why, my prospective readers don’t see elegance in writing, they see too much in the way of blank page. First impressions count. Of course if you’re the kind of superficial person who judges only by appearance then I’m not sure I want you as a reader anyway. Maybe…
The next and even more annoying thing is, and there’s no getting away from it, Kathy writes very well. I don’t know what she did in her previous life but she’s taken to retirement writing with a nice style. I think her writing, in addition to having quality, has a seriousness that I think suits her American readers. Unlike my sarcasm, she writes about proper retirement concerns under some excellent, well-organised headings (they really are much better than mine).
I can see why people would return to her blog for quality advice. She certainly gets plenty of comments* from her readers and I do not, so she’s clearly striking a chord with her readership and that I think is the point of all this blogging business.
She doesn’t write quite as many blogs as I do. I haven’t counted them but that’s the way it seemed to me. Maybe it’s a quality not quantity thing. Although I have always thought that Google judge you more on the latter than the former. Who knows?
On a slightly more positive note, for me that is, Kathy has adverts on her site. It’s local (to me) advertising. I really don’t understand why it’s ‘local’ but that just shows my ignorance of these matters I guess. I can feel slightly smug (not a nice word but no worse than envy), at least for a short while, as I have written previously, I have turned down offers from unspecified products to advertise on my blog. But maybe that’s why I’m on page 4 and Kathy on page 1.
The other thing that stands out on her blog, that maybe a negative, is the award for being in the top 100 blogs from the people mentioned in a recent blog name of Feedspot. It looks impressive but are these really the same people that offered to put my blog in this top 100 if I subscribed to their service. Maybe it’s different and if Kathy’s on page 1 of Google there would seem no doubt that she deserves to be in the top 100 where as my blog probably doesn’t. But then life is not always that logical (or fair) is it?
One thing I have always tried to do in my blog is be reasonably honest in what I write about. Right at the beginning I said my blog would be the good, the bad and the ugly of retirement. True I have kept some of the ugly stuff back, no point upsetting people. Kathy works in appropriate disclosure, like her husband’s Alzheimer’s, which feels like she has a human face rather than everything is simply marvellous with her. So my admiration for that.
And talking of face’s, Kathy’s face is there and a very nice face it is. Attractive without being over-powering if that is OK to say in this day and age of PCness. Oddly I had a phone call from a friend, who is a regular reader of this blog, a couple of weeks ago (He’s coming over on Friday so I may get chance to ask him more about this**) and apropos anything at all he said, and I think I quote him correctly, you’re not a bad looking chap (for your age of course) you should put a photo of yourself in your blog. I think he meant it personalised it a bit. I shall enquire when I see him. At the moment Kathy has a photo and I don’t. I admit I can’t see my photo getting me on the first page of Google, not legally anyway.
Well, there we are. An honest review of Kathy’s blog and maybe some clues as to why she is so much more popular than I am, my blog that is. I don’t think for one minute Kathy spends her time reading other retirement blogs so it’s highly unlikely she’ll read my comments, if she does then I hope she finds them both fair and supportive.
But, as to where that leaves me, that’s another question altogether. If I am serious about learning from the ‘opposition’ as the Masterclass suggested then I could do a number of things – ranging from putting my picture on the front; taking adverts; paying to be in the top 100, changing my headings and maybe, as mentioned in previous blog, getting more ruthless at SEOing and becoming hot stuff on social media. Failing that, and looking back to a blog I wrote some time ago about the joys of inertia, I can’t be bothered. No wonder I’m never going to be a superstar blogger. At least I can tell myself that these are the reasons. Lack of talent, pah, get out of here.
*Few comments according to my friend are a factor of having to sign in each time you want to post a comment rather than your email being ‘remembered’. If you have an opinion on this I would be interested to hear it.
**He said people wanted to see the real me, video clips of me playing the piano or working in the vineyard. Can’t see it myself but who knows, never say never.
no adverts is a huge plus – although it means you aren’t profiting from the ‘income stream’. I wonder why you should be bothered about your ratings if you don’t plan to make money out of your readership? Do you care if you have hundreds of Facebook ‘friends’? I suspect not.
Not interested in making money just increasing my readership because I think it’s worth reading. An old-fashioned idea I know. Thanks for the comment
Please don’t post a photo, there’s nothing wrong with allowing readers’ imaginations to flourish and whilst you may be dead gorgeous doing so could also dispel my illusions!
Ha, let me put your mind at rest on the dead gorgeous front, that doesn’t apply. Completely agree about the photo, there’s a DJ on Classic FM that we really like and have for many years and could easily find out what he looks like but don’t want to. Strange though don’t you think?
Just testing the signing requirements. Have to admit that I don’t think I have ever created an account on WordPress. Don’t believe the testimony of older people, I guess.
Ok and what about my proposal?