Who let the dogs out?

Have you heard the song “Who Let the Dogs Out?” What about “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” or “The Macarena”? Unless you’ve been living in a third-world country for the past 10 years, the odds are pretty high that you’ve turned on the radio and heard one of these songs playing.

However, can you tell me the artists who sings these songs? It’s the Baha Men, Eiffel-65, and Los Del Rio. These artists are labeled as “one-hit wonders,” or bands that have only drawn attention for one particular song.

Back to your blog…

Confused about how this relates to RSS readers? Think about the bands listed above. These bands had their 15 minutes of fame before the huge online music revolution. Because of this, millions of fans went out and paid $15 to buy an album for one song. At the times, these bands were considered “the next big thing.” Yet they have since disappeared off the face of the planet.

Let’s step back and compare our blogs to a band. During your blog’s first weeks of existence (your first album), you spend hours compiling a resource (or song) that finds its way on the front page of highly-trafficked sites (the top 10 charts). At this rate, your blog’s daily unique visitors will surpass the Google home page in just two more weeks. Every day, you receive dozens of comments thanking your for your good work.

Then day-by-day, yet surprisingly quickly, things start to die down. The glorified stats are steadily declining, and the last comment you received was from your mother — who seemed genuinely surprised at your success in the first place.

Don’t be a one-hit wonder

Take a moment and look through your bookmarks, and RSS subscriptions. Think back about some of your favorite posts you’ve read over the past couple years. How many of those blogs are still active? The power of the blogosphere is that it’s always change. Back in 2006, two blogs were created every second. Imagine what the pace is now! At the same times, blogs are dying out by the second. For every new internet marketing guru, there’s another blogger who decides to call it quits.

Turning back to our music industry metaphor, successful bloggers are able to create unique, timeless content over a frequent, long-term basis. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity; work at a level you can maintain over time. For every overnight success, there are dozens of other bloggers who kept posting — writing songs — even when they thought nobody was listening. While other bloggers were disappearing from off the Internet, these hard-working bloggers carried themselves to the top.

Don’t be a one-hit wonder. Aim for a “Greatests Hits” CD, and your blog will be far better off in the long term. Remember the two keys: consistency and frequency. As the one-hit wonder Vanilla Ice said, “Anything less than the best is a felony.”

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