AdAge 150 Hands Out a Blog Smack Down

I am smarting today. I have not written a post here at Frank Thinking for over two weeks which is a violation of nearly every rule I tell people to ‘obey’ if they are to be successful with a blog.
To review:

• Have a plan. Have posts ready to go so updates occur a minimum of twice a week
• Make the time to write. Stop making excuses.
• Pay attention to specific keywords that can be of benefit to your efforts and use them in your posts
• Comment on other blogs and forums and generate interest
• Through honesty and consistency build a community no matter how large or small

Sounds straightforward enough right? Well, other than your own conscience there are usually few ways (than of course analytics and comments) to measure how you are doing with a blog. Last year I threw the Frank Thinking blog’s hat in the ring by being part of AdAge’s Power 150 ranking of marketing blogs. This is a system that AdAge has put together to rank, as you may have guessed, the top 150 Marketing blogs in the world but they have about 900 plus that they monitor.

Long story short, my best showing was about 340. Not bad in my opinion considering the competition. There were wild fluctuations of scores occasionally but I was feeling pretty good about my steady climb. Then the other day I did my usual vanity check in and was told in so many words that I was not paying attention to the blog. I dropped 300 (not a typo) spots to the 640 range. I immediately checked to see if the blogs I usually monitor like Marketing Pilgrim, Biznology and Danny Brown ( I am keeping an eye on you, Mr. Brown ) had experienced similar ‘adjustments’, which can happen from time to time. Well, to my horror that was not the case. I had just been smacked down by AdAge.

Why? How could they do this to me? What was the reason? I didn’t need to look far. My last post was almost 2 weeks ago and my consistency of posting was way off from my height. Essentially, AdAge said that if I wasn’t going to pay attention neither were they. Hard to hear but something that I couldn’t argue and won’t. The truth is the truth.

So the result is this post and a rededication to the blog despite more and more activity with my business and life in general. If I care at all I have to make the effort. It’s pretty simple really, just like most things in Internet marketing and life. Just look at the facts, and many times the truth about a situation will be painfully obvious. At this point, I can either; argue the truth, deny the truth or face the truth. It’s how we decide to act on that truth that will make the difference. Well, I know the truth about my blog. It is painfully obvious. Now let’s see what I do about it.