The following is an answer from Seth Godin responding to my one question interview question of what he’d do differently if he had to start his blog over again.
The best things about blogs is that you get to “start them again” every day, and I do. So when there’s something I don’t like, I can change it!
Maybe, if I had to pick something, it would be directing to a domain I own (sethgodin.com) instead of sethgodin.typepad.com.
There you go. Even Seth was a victim of “don’t-own-it-itis”
Never would have guessed that.
-Terry
Ha ha, glad to see that everyone makes mistakes. I am glad that I have my own domain from the beginning though.
[…] ProBlogger: What would I do different if I had to start my blog over? – Seth Godin […]
My problem was that I had too many domains: pcunix.com, aplawrence.com and eventually even unixish.com – I couldn’t make up my mind which one I wanted to use for what.
I also registered foo-mac.com, foo-mac.com, foo-self-employed.com and geekyardsale.com and for a while thought I’d split some of my content off to those.
It got very confusing for a while but now I settled on aplawrence.com and most of the others just redirect here.
Long term, I honestly have no idea what my intentions are, so maybe the “what would you do differently” is still premature for me :-)
I like that Seth considers each new post as starting over. I believe that strikes at the core what blogging is all about. A blog should evolve, ooze, emerge, and grow as it’s authors and readers evolve, ooze, emerge, and grow.
I regulary read Seth’s posts because they’re fresh, thought-provoking, and unpredictable.
I agree with his regret regarding his redirecting to his own domain. I had a difficult time originally finding his blog until I learned to click on his bald head. SethGodin.com promotes his brand. There’s no sense promoting TypePad or any other blog hosting service when you can promote your own.
I had the same difficulty finding his blog from his sethgodin.com homepage. I was specifically looking for it though, and unsurprisingly I wasn’t expecting to have to click on his ‘bald head’. I wonder how obvious it is to those who aren’t looking. Is it one of those things that you only find if you don’t look for it?
Wish we hadn’t gone with Blogger. It works fine, but the lack of categories is starting to really, really chafe!
¿Qué harías diferente si tuvieras que empezar tu blog de nuevo?…
Con la pregunta que adorna el título, ProBlogger está realizando una serie de artículos preguntando a distintos blogs de cierto renombre en la comunidad anglosajona y dedicándole una entrada a las respuestas de cada blogger, de momento ha recibido …
I like that when there’s something I don’t like, I can change it! attitude. Thanks to Aaron’s “Timecapsule” plugin in my PetLvr site, I’ve been able to see posts 1-year ago .. Most ezine article authors think that just because someone using their articles are not supposed to remove or change the bottom promo section .. they can make as many grammatical errors on top just to make it easy for them to do searches on ‘key phrases’ .. like “confrotable” instead of “comfortable” .. I’ve been fixing these errors for the past 6-7 months, but earlier I wasn’t.
I tell you now – I am fixing all bad grammar and known spelling mistakes that I can find – even if it’s a year later! I’ve even started to go around my blogs to check and even modify my “About” page or look for posts about me within my blogs. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to hide or will be deleting anything (although I might just do exactly that!) … I just think that is a valid ‘blogger’s perogative’ – to fix up the archives of his own blog for prosperity.
Yeppers.
BTW Darren / belated congrats on the beta test :D
[…] Seth Godin […]
II see that Seth’s is a recurring response to Darren’s question. I am in the fortunate spot of being brand new to blogging, so I could take advantage of some of these insights.
I currently own thehlo.com, and it redirects to thehlo.wordpress.com. Is this what Seth is talking about. It seems like he is wishing he’d gone the other way and been directing TO his own domain.
Can anyone clarify? How do I avoid making this same mistake?
I love his blog. Glad that I did something right though with the owning the domain name. I’ve made so many mistakes.
I have never read Seth but I can see why people like reading him from just this short bit of information.
Every day is a new adventure as a blogger.
well, ya i guess the main idea is to keep em fresh for recurring visitors… i m new to blogging but i m just getting there … hehe … happy blogging