A year ago, I picked up an injured cardinal on the side of the road. I took it to a wildlife rehab center in my city. I wrote a post about it. On a whim, at the end of the post, I accepted PayPal donations for the rehab center. I got over $900 in three days. The two women who started the center cried when they received the check.

Weeks later, we had a conversation about their fundraising. They’ve always done it the same old way. Bake sales and benefit concerts. Both introverts, they loathe benefit concerts. In fact, they detest fundraising. Their talent is rehabilitating owls and hawks, and many other wild animals that have been shot, hit by cars, or wounded by some other human contact.

I offered that they eliminate the Bake Sale paradigm from their business model. (You gotta bake a lot of muffins to raise $900.) “Start a blog!” I said. I suggested that one of their volunteers could write daily reports about different animals. She could add photos for every story to create connection and heart. I explained how blog software links up and networks, and how Google eats it all up. I said that their donations could now come from across the globe - not just from the locals.

They were interested. But they told me they didn’t have the time or the resources to do a whole new thing in their lives as they could barely keep up with the work they do already. They have not started a blog, nor have they changed their website.

Muffin, anyone?

New Success Requires Letting Go of Old Paradigms

Here’s the Indie Musician’s version of the Bake Sale paradigm:

Find ways to get money to make a CD. Use credit cards. Ask your mailing list to pre-order CD’s. Then, make the CD. Go on the road for at least two years doing shows to support the CD. Borrow more money for promotion. Pay back debt and hopefully make extra money, too. Hope for Big Shows, opening act slots and festivals - along with all the other musicians.

It’s not a bad paradigm at first. I’ve always made my money back on my CD’s. I’ve obviously made a pretty good living at it. Lots of my friends have as well. Many people barely scrape by, though. And the rest of us get tired of the constant touring. Some nights we get sold out crowds. Some nights the seats are half full. Sometimes we drive 8 hours to get to the next gig, only to wake up and do it again. By 35, we look like Keith Richards.

And of course, the new issue is that lots of people aren’t buying CD’s anymore - especially on college campuses. (At one college last fall, many of the students had their laptops open during my performance. One of them actually admitted to being on Limewire and downloading my songs for free as I was playing.)

As careers get better, you might make more money, but you then have to subtract 20% for agents, and 20% for managers. And take into consideration that retail store CD sales offer pretty low profit. You have to stay on the road and keep feeding that paradigm. It’s a hungry paradigm.

An Example of The New Paradigm

So, what’s the new paradigm?

The thing is, there isn’t one yet. And there may never be. What it’s really all about is a new way of thinking, and a whole new set of ideas directed towards new kinds of goals. And there’s a feeling that happens when you start to “get it.” There’s the internet and all of its conversations and ways of reaching people.

I started my blog two years ago this week. My blog audience is not songwriters. I don’t write about the craft of songwriting, even though that would’ve been an obvious choice for me. My blog audience is my music audience. My posts don’t appeal to anyone in the music business, necessarily. Nor are they designed to publicize my music. I started writing my blog mostly to continue the conversations I was having with people as I signed their CD’s after each show. That’s it.

So, here’s what’s shaping up to be typical of my new paradigm:

I wrote a post about my personal experience of creating a Vision Board at a friend’s house. It was months before The Secret DVD came out. Upon the release of that DVD, people began to Google “Vision Board.” My blog post was the very first thing that came up. (If you Google “Vision Board” today, my follow-up post on the subject is on top.)

At that time, I was facilitating my retreats for women once or twice a year. I only offered them to my mailing list. At my October 2006 retreat - seven months after my blog was born - two women who had never heard my music or seen me perform attended. This was the first time that had happened. They had found my blog after they saw The Secret, and went to Google to find Vision Boards. Then they started reading my blog. Then they came to a retreat. They bought my music there. I still see them when I tour to their city for shows, etc. (One of them is going on a beach trip this summer with the other women from that retreat. They’ve all stayed in touch.)

In 2007, I offered four retreats. It was the most I had ever offered in one year. They all sold out, and each retreat was attended by a handful of people who had discovered my music because they found my blog first.

At the retreat I facilitated this past weekend, (2008) over half the women attending had found my blog first. This same expansion has been happening at performances as well - though I don’t make the audience raise their hands or anything. Mostly people tell me about it at the CD table after the show.

The Siren Call of the Old Paradigm

If you’re creating a new paradigm, you might have many days where you just want to give up and do it the old way. This has been my biggest challenge.

In fact, most music biz people aren’t all that thrilled about my new paradigm example because it seems like a painfully long wait for someone to “discover” you. It’s also lots of extra work, they say. After all, you can perform at a festival and stand up in front of 5000 people. Or you can get on NPR and the whole country can hear you! Why not invest your time and effort into that?

The festival thing is valid. You really do build your audience when you play at festivals. And nothing can propel a show into a sell-out like a great interview on a local NPR or community radio station. I won’t deny that.

However, if you have a new CD and you want to get it out to NPR, then most radio promoters begin at $8000 for a several week push. Several weeks is all you get. And most of them do little more than put some postage on your CD and send it to the stations, then follow up with a phone call about your CD (and the other four CD’s they’re getting paid $8000 a piece to promote that week). And since NPR is the only thing in the world music business not owned by Clear Channel, that’s what everyone is thinking. Every single person who’s releasing a CD - from Lucinda Williams to your cousin Travis - is looking to NPR for their airplay.

Festivals are cool. There are a handful of great ones. But they’re only in the summer. And most of them don’t want the same artists year after year. And most of them are heavily booked by certain agencies that offer deals to the promoters for booking more than one of their artists. If you do get in the line up, you have one hour to do great. And then you need to follow up in that same community later in the coming year, and promote the show well. In other words, one festival doth not a career make.

Besides, this old paradigm is driven by the agents and the managers and the promoters. The new paradigm is more fun. It’s artist driven. It’s reader driven. It gives me the option of doing it how I want to do it. I am not only wealthier now. I am also decidedly happier. Just ask my closest friends.

(My retreats are all in my hometown, by the way. No travel.)

The Unavoidable Challenges of Two Paradigms

I’m on line a lot. I read blogs. I get eBooks. When I can, I study anything from on-line marketing to code writing to WordPress plug-ins. When I’m in this world - even though I’ve learned a lot - I’m a moron. Everyone knows more than I do. This world is filled with on-line marketing secret formulas , mixed up with lots of code and Google analytics. I bow to the gurus so I can monitor all the changes. It is a big world.

Then, I turn off my computer and do a performance. Or I go to a radio interview. Then, I wonder where all those people in that on-line world live. In this other off-line world, lots of people still use AOL. And in terms of computer know-how, I’m Steve freakin’ Jobs. In this arena, I say the name “Seth Godin,” and I’m met with blank stares. I say “Brian Clark” and the stares get blanker. In fact, in this arena, many of the presenters, DJ’s, promoters, and managers are a bit disdainful towards my on-line-ness. One radio interviewer got an attitude when we were on the air. He asked me why he or any of his listeners should care that I have a blog or that I’m ranked on Technorati. (He pronounced Technorati wrong.)

So, I’ll be the first to admit that moving over to a new paradigm will take some courage, some weird looks, and some mistakes. And it might mean you feel a little on your own. And for a while, it may even mean less income. But as Seth Godin said in his oft-linked-to music business talk,

“The only way you get from here to there is to just do it. Now, you might be wrong. But the alternative is you WILL be wrong.”

He’s right.

tags: blog, blogging, google, seth godin, online marketing, music, christine kane

Here’s the deal:

This is a list of women bloggers. It’s called The W List. (As opposed to The W Hotel - where the music in the elevators is at Abercrombie & Fitch levels.) I’m thrilled to be on this list. (And not in The W Hotel elevator.) I’ve discovered some great blogs in here.

Here’s the skank:

Some people are disgruntled at excluding men from the list. There are comments on other blogs with varying degrees of disgruntledness. I don’t know how to respond. I love men. They rock. There just aren’t any of them on this list.

Here’s my thinking:

I’ve been on tour more than ever this summer. This has prevented me from keeping in touch with the blog world. I haven’t linked out in a while. And I like introducing other blogs to my readers. It’s a good thing to do. So, I’m posting this list. Admittedly, it’s cheating. I am knowingly participating in link vomit to overcompensate for my link lack.

Here’s a few more:

In the spirit of introducing my amazing readers to other bloggers - I’d like to add a few of my own personal favorite women bloggers out there to start things off…

Stephanie Diamond is my hero. Last August, I got to participate in a 4-part teleseminar that she led. It was like having my own personal blog/marketing coach. She gave me tools. She gave me ideas. She is brilliant and marvelously steady in her approach. Her blog is called The Marketing Message Blog.

Tammy Vitale is an artist, sculptor, and blogger. Check out her work and her writing. Her blog is called Women, Art, Life: Weaving it All Together.

I’ve recently discovered Andrea Hess and her fabulous blog: The Empowered Soul. Her writing is intuitive and practical and wise.

Pam Hauser and Grace Scarbrough are two great massage therapists here in Asheville. They’ve updated their site and added a great blog about health issues. Visit them at the Phoenix Massage Blog.

And now, The W List:

45 Things by Anita Bruzzese
A Look at Art & Design: Lisa Mikulski
angiemckaig.com: still a great pair of legs Angie McKaig
Ask Dr. Kirk
The Artsy Asylum by Susan Reynolds
Back in Skinny Jeans by Stephanie Quilao
Beltway Confidential by Julie Mason
BlogWrite for CEOs Debbie Weil
Biz Growth News by Krishna De
Brain Based Biz by Dr. Robyn McMaster
Brain Based Business by Dr. Ellen Weber
Brand Sizzle Anne Simons
Branding & Marketing Chris Brown
Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
Build a Solo Practice, LLC by Susan Cartier Liebel
Christine Kane by Christine Kane
CK’s Blog CK (Christina Kerley)
Communication Overtones Kami Huyse
Confident Writing by Joanna Young
Conscious Business by Anne Libby
Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni
Corporate PR Elizabeth Albrycht
Crazy Aunt Purl by Laurie Perry
Creative Curio by Lauren Marie
Customers Are Always by Maria Palma
Customers Rock! Becky Carroll
CustServ by Meikah David
Debbie Millman by Debbie Millman
Deborah Schultz by Deborah Schultz
Designers Who Blog by Cat Morley
Design Your Life Ellen and Julia Lupton, identical twins
Design Your Writing Life by Lisa Gates
Diary of Claudine Hellmuth Claudine Hellmuth
Diva Marketing Blog Toby Bloomberg
Do It Myself Blog by Glenda Watson Hyatt
Dooce by Heather B. Armstrong
Email Marketing Best Practices Tamara Gielen
Emily Chang - Strategic Designer Emily Chang
Enter the Laughter by Marti Lawrence
Escape Blog by Melissa Petri
Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
eSoup by Sharon Sarmiento
Essential Keystrokes by Char
Every Dot Connects by Connie Reece
Fish Creek House by GP
Flooring The Consumer CB Whittemore
Forrester’s Marketing Blog: Shar, Charlene, Chloe, Christine Elana, Laura and Lisa
Forward Steps Life Coaching by Thea Westra
Franke James by Franke James
Get Fresh Minds by Katie Konrath
Great Presentations Mean Business by Laura Athavale Fitton
Hey Marci by Marci Alboher
Get Shouty by Katie Chatfield
ifelse by Phu Ly
Illustration Friday Penelope Dullaghan
Inspired Business Growth by Wendy Piersall
Jen McClure’s Ruminations & New Communications Review by Jen McClure
J.T. O’Donnell Career Insights by J.T. O’Donnell
Joyful, Jubilant Learning by Rosa Say
Kinetic Ideas Wendy Maynard
Learned on Women by Andrea Learned
Lindsay Pollak by Lindsay Polla
Live The Power by Karen Lynch
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog by Liz Strauss
Lorelle on WordPress by Lorelle VanFossen
Making Life Work for You by April Groves
Manage to Change by Ann Michael
Management Craft by Lisa Haneberg
Mandarin Design Daily:The MEG Blog Michelle Goodrich
Marketing Roadmaps Susan Getgood
Moda di Magno by Lori Magno
Modite by Rebecca Thorman
molly.com Molly E. Holzschlag
Narrat Assets Karen Hegman
Netdiver Carole Guevin
On My Desk Linzie Hunter
Peace, Love, and Harmony by Kristen Harrell
Presto Vivace Blog Alice Marshall
Priscilla Palmer: Personal Development Demands Success by Priscilla Palmer
Productivity Goal by Carolyn Manning
Purse Lip Square Jaw Anne Galloway
Small Biz Survival by Becky McCray
Small Failures: Sustainability for the Rest of Us Jess Sand
swissmiss Tina Roth Eisenberg
The Brand Dame by Lyn Chamberlin
this is rachelandrew.co.uk Rachel Andrew
Sheriar Designs Mani Sheriar
Spacey Gracey Review & TrueGritz by Grayson Daughters
Spare Change Nedra Kline Weinreich
StealthMode by Francine Hardaway
Talk It Up Heidi Miller
Tech Kitten by Trisha Miller
The Copy Writing Maven Roberta Rosenberg
The Blog Angel by Claire Raikes
The Engaging Brand by Anna Farmery
The Floozy Blog by Kate Coote
The Kiss Business Too by Karin H.
The Origin of Brands Laura Ries
The Parody by Sasha Manuel
The Podcast Sisters by Krishna De, Anna Farmery and Heather Gorringe
Veerle’s blog 2.0 Veerle
Water Cooler Wisdom by Alexandra Levit
Wealth Strategy Secrets by Nicola Cairncross
What’s Next Blog B L Ochman
That’s What She Said by Julie Elgar
Versa Creations by Vivienne
Ypulse by Anastasia Goodstein

Conferences and conventions are intense.

There are echo-chamber rooms that resonate with so many loud noises that you have to shout to the person you’re meeting.

There are people dressed in tuxedos with trays of tiny food offerings that combine such an unlikely group of ingredients that you have to stare for a good three minutes before you can determine what exactly you’re about to eat.

There are occasional moments of ackwardness - maybe someone sets her drink down and you think she’s going to join your table, so you make space. But really she was just setting her drink down so she could adjust her camera strap and she moves on without even glancing your way.

Or maybe someone else comes up to greet you with a big smile on her face, only to realize you are not who she thought you were, which leads to a silly staccato of a conversation.

I’ve been to music conferences filled with artists who have spent weeks dreading those three days. Still, they go, and they live through it, connecting whenever and wherever they can.

I’ve also performed at many large conferences and conventions, and taken food off of trays that I immediately set down on the table behind me.

Now I’m here at BlogHer07 for my very first time. I am speaking and performing. (And eating tiny food yet again!)

The way I see it, conferences have three stages for participants:

There’s the first stage - when you hear about the conference. You read all about it, but you don’t go and you feel left out and you experience a massive case of FMS. (Fear of Missing Something.)

Then there’s the second stage - when you go the next year and you think, “Oh MAN! This is gonna be great!” And you forget to allow for the fact that you’re a first-timer and that you might have lots of moments of feeling like everyone else knows each other and no one knows you at all. And to make matters worse, you don’t understand all these abbreviations and in-crowd-speak. More than a few times, you might think, Ohmigod maybe I don’t belong here after all. At this level, you might find yourself sitting in your hotel room late on the first night watching Pretty Woman for the 42nd time in your life.

Then there’s the third stage - when you return to the conference and you know lots of people and you know the ropes, and you’ve already figured out the weird abbreviations and you can even chuckle at some of the jokes that would’ve made you look around last year and wonder why people were laughing. This is a good level.

There are lots of first time BlogHer attendees here. I am one of them. Let the festivities begin…

tags: BlogHer07, Christine Kane

This past weekend, I performed at (and participated in) the First Annual Successful & Outstanding Blog Conference in Chicago, IL. About 125 bloggers descended upon the O’Hare Sofitel. I was one of them. Here are a few of my snapshots of the weekend’s events:

FRIDAY

- I looked for bloggers on the shuttle from the airport - casually glancing around and trying to match faces with blog photos. It’s strange to know people only from emails and comments. Kammie Kobyleski was my first connection!

- The last person to board the shuttle was a pale lanky kid wearing a white undershirt and baggy jeans. He was carrying a faded Fantasia-themed pillowcase stuffed full. This was his only luggage. During the ride, I turned around and asked him if he was going to the conference. He frowned. He looked at his hands. In a Beavis mumble, he said, “I’m here for the convention.” I asked him which one. He said, “Anime.” And I said, “Animation? Are you an animator?” (I know. I know. I so totally blew it.) He took a deep breath and looked out the window. “I’m just here to see my fiance at the convention,” he said. I was strangely disappointed at the idea of the skinny pillowcase guy having something so mundane as a fiance.

- I got to Liz Straus’s room to find blog stars everywhere. Lorelle, Liz, Starbucker, Phil Gerbyshak, Sean Rox, and Easton Ellsworth. (Note: Easton was the very first blogger to help me with my site. I was so happy to meet him in person!) Sean Rox and I dined at the uber-cool restaurant called something like “Colette.” (Which, I think, is French for “big plates with small food on them.”) Sean is a rock star (really!), and brilliant computer geek who has a non-stop sense of humor and a dog named Roxy.

- On my way down to the conference with my guitar in hand, I passed the pillowcase guy in the lobby. Only he was no longer the pillowcase guy. He was a druid. He had completely transformed. He was clad head to toe in full druid garmenture - robe, hood, rope around the waist. His eyes were fixed on some point in the distance, and he walked purposefully towards that point in a wizardly way that would make even Ian McKellen take note. Who knew that a single faded Fantasia pillowcase could hold such transforming items?

- After I performed, I sat at one of the blogger tables. The microphone was being passed around the room in live “open comment” style. Tony Clark was sitting next to me. At one point, I leaned over and said to him, “Do you know there are druids in the lobby?” And he said, “There’s Ninjas, too.” Then he said, “It’s the Anime convention.” And he explained what Anime is. He added, “I was worried that our conference would make us look like this big pack of geeks at the hotel. But oh my god, the Anime convention is here! Compared to them, I’m like, The Fonz!”

- Wendy Piersall arrived during the open mic happenings. Wendy is not someone who could “slip in” with the other late arrivals. She absolutely lights up a room. From the minute she entered the conference on Friday night, she hugged everyone she was meeting for the first time, bouncing across the room as the microphone was passed from person to person. I love that level of undaunted enthusiasm.

- One man took the microphone uneasily. He stood up, cleared his throat, and said something about being uncomfortable with all of these introductions. He looked around nervously at all the happenings and added, “…and I’m not really sure about the pretty blonde lady who seems to be hugging people she doesn’t know.” At this point Wendy bounded across the room and threw herself into this man and gave him a giant hug. The man adjusted his glasses, handed the microphone to someone else and sat down abruptly.

SATURDAY

- Saturday was the conference with speakers all day long. For some detailed accounts of the talks, see Easton’s blog, or scroll down on Gitr’s blog. Jason Alba took notes on the entire conference too. It was a fantastic line-up.

- Here’s the key thing - there’s a huge power in this medium. Whether you use the word “blog” or not, whether you believe in it or not, people are reaching other people. Big media is losing its influence. (or has already lost it!) As Andy Sernovitz said in his presentation, “Advertising is for brands that are boring.” And he’s right. There were some amazing success stories about careers, environmental victories, business connections, and relationships.

- Lisa Cree (wife of blogger Chris Cree) is officially Wonder Girl. Every conference needs a Lisa Cree. She made it all happen. (I would bet that if she has taken the Myers-Briggs test - Lisa is not a “P.”) Hooray for Lisa!

- I sat next to speaker, author, consultant Steve Farber during the Saturday presentations. Steve’s quite a guitar player and musician, and he admitted that his speaking career is a great outlet for his inner rock star. (You can see video of one of his keynote speeches here.) During one of the talks, Steve pulled out some money and handed it to me, and whispered, “I want to get another one of your CD’s for my daughter.” I signed it, and handed it to him. About ten minutes later, he handed me more money and said, “I want to get another one for my other daughter.” So, we went through the process again. Then about 15 minutes later, he did it again. So, I want my readers to know that if Steve Farber keeps having daughters I’ll soon be retiring.

- I have officially decided (Steve heard me announce this) that I wouldn’t care if I never heard anyone talk about brands, branding, having a brand, being a brand, knowing a brand ever again. (See Steve’s comment on this post.)

- Liz Srauss got a standing ovation at the end of the conference. She’s kind of the glue that brought this particular group of people together.

So, here’s a question for my readers - whether you are bloggers or non-bloggers:

David Armano made a great point. He encouraged people to stop calling themselves “bloggers,” citing that this word comes with a lot of baggage and one-dimensionality. I agree. (He wrote a post about it this morning.)

So then, how would you suggest that a person have a blog on their site? What should they call it? Do you like the word blog? Any thoughts on this subject would be great here. As a songwriter who has a blog, I’m very curious. What would we call this part of our websites if not a “blog?”

My blog is one year old today.

I’m no longer a blogling. I have matured. Pretty soon my blog will need Botox. Or Viagra. Or both.

I’ve learned more this year about websites, blogs and the internet than I ever thought I’d want to learn. Lots of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned through my mistakes. Some of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned from other people’s mistakes.

For this post, I got some help from few of my favorite bloggers.

So, as I blow out the candle on my cake, my party favor for you is my comprehensive list of 18 Stupid Mistakes Bloggers Make in their First Year:

1 - Even bothering to get overwhelmed

What I’ve learned from connecting with web-savvy types and blogger types is that overwhelm comes with the territory. Every time you think you’ve got one rule of thumb down, it changes. Every time you’ve mastered one exciting thing, it’s out-dated. Just when you’re proud of yourself for starting a blog, someone will tell you that you need a lens. So, you make a lens. But then you’re supposed to Twitter. It’s 24/7 if you’re keeping up. Take your time. Go at your pace. You’ll improve in your own perfect way.

2 - Apologizing for not writing

Either create a posting schedule and stick with it, or decide to write when you feel like it and do that. But don’t go into the land of wishy-washy and spend the first paragraph of each post apologizing for not writing in days. No one cares all that much. Just write the post. An apology says, “I’ve already messed up bad.” Your readers rely on you to entertain them in some way. Don’t wimp out on them!

3 - Checking your stats hourly

Here’s the deal. Stats are a good barometer for some things. Especially if you have a clear-thinking mind. Or if you’re approaching your blog experimentally and viewing your stats with a marketer’s mindset. But if you’re mindlessly checking stats all the time, looking at your affiliate earnings every hour, then it’s time to step AWAY from the computer. Go play with your dog.

4 - Practicing “Field of Dreams” blogging

In an email to me, Michelle at Scribbit wrote:

One of the mistakes I made was thinking I could blog on my own terms, that I could post once a week in a little vacuum and “if I post it, they will come.” My husband kept telling me that I needed to post every day and get out there in the community but I didn’t think I wanted to. So I didn’t. And no one came. I finally started taking his advice, posting every day, reading other blogs and then realized how fun it was. If you want people to read your blog you have to be out there participating and contributing to your own blog regularly.

5 - Taking RSS subscription numbers personally

Okay, so if you’re Arianna Huffington, and you suddenly start a blog series on why you’re supporting Newt Gingrich for president, then your RSS subscriptions might drop. And it might be your fault for betraying your readership.

But let’s suppose you’re not doing any such thing. RSS feeds will move up and down in small increments. And really, it’s not personal. Just keep posting and doing the work and your devoted peeps will find you! (And while we’re on the subject, you can subscribe to my blog here.)

6 - Looking for rescue

Desperation shows. It shows in the music business. It shows in the book business. And it shows in the blogosphere. (Really. Don’t email Guy Kawasaki and ask him to link to your blog.) If you’re working too hard to get links and recognition, it kind of leaks all over the place. Bloggers don’t rescue. They’re way too busy. Bloggers are a motivated remarkable bunch! If you get linked, it’s probably because you’ve written something good. And then, you have to keep writing something good.

7 - Ignoring the community

Kristie T at the Home Business Blog writes that her biggest first-year mistake was “not reaching out to other bloggers soon enough.” She adds that she has worked on this, and “Now I have a sense of community with other bloggers.” I would add that it might feel really weird at first to leave comments and write an email or two. But most bloggers are really cool and happy to help and almost always write back! (Guy Kawasaki probably won’t write back. Unless you’re Arianna Huffington.)

8 - Being unaware of the Morning-After-Digg syndrome

Everyone wants to get Dugg. Everyone wants be Stumbled Upon. (Or some equivalent of those.) One thing to remember is that Diggers and Stumblers are a lot like pre-teen music fans. You may relish the praise. You may delight in that big tall spike that Feedburner shows in your subscriptions graph. But sometimes the fickle crowd moves on to the next big thing. And the Feedburner graph looks like one tall building in a city of 3-storey condos. The readers have gone out as fast as they arrived, and you’re left feeling like the blog equivalent of New Kids on the Block.

Digg. StumbleUpon. All of those kinds of things are great. But the next morning, it’s still just you and your computer screen, and another post to write.

9 - Not being prepared for a Digg

Three months into my new work as a blogger, one of my posts got Stumbled Upon. At the time, I didn’t know what happened until someone emailed me about it. I wasn’t prepared to take advantage of something like this. I didn’t have anything set up to connect with people and encourage them to subscribe.

If one of your goals is to get Dugg or Stumbled Upon, then prepare your blog. Write a free eBook that folks can download. Make subscribing to your blog easy. Include an “About” page. (Copyblogger writes beautifully about the “About” page on a blog. While you’re at it, read everything he’s ever written.)

(I’m about to launch a new design to this website based on all the blog advice that’s out there.)

10 - Comparing yourself to six-figure bloggers

Chris Garrett wrote a fantastic guest post on Problogger today. One of the things he wrote was, “One of my biggest mistakes in blogging has been quitting, chopping and changing.” He wrote that he had made hasty decisions about changing his blog whenever he compared his meager Google Adsense checks to the earnings Darren Rowse had been writing about. If fear is the mind-killer, then I’d venture to say, “Comparison is the blog-killer.”

11 - Over-thinking your posts

The world-famous Mike Sansone of Converstations says:

Over-thinking a post has got to be like burning the cookies. They still have a sweet taste, but it sure is tough to chew on. Some of the best posts I’ve written are quick jots on the blog. Some of the stinkers took 83 minutes to compose.

12 - Under-thinking your posts

I agree with Mike on #11 up there. But I’m also a big fan of editing and taking extra minutes to re-write. (I spend hours on posts when I’m passionate about them. But that’s my personal approach to blogging. And I love doing it!)

13 - Not writing for the joy of writing

If there’s any blog about writing and blogging that can uplift, it’s Liz Strauss’s Successful Blog. This post called 10 Reasons to Write and Publish Everyday is brilliant and inspiring. Print it out and read it when you get too focused on the external success and not on the internal success.

14 - Not practicing the Art of Allowing

Not everything happens because you got exhausted, overwhelmed, frustrated and tense. In fact, the best things happen just because you showed up. The best things happen because you’re having a great time. In my music career, most of the performances, song cuts, radio airplays, and other opportunities happened with no effort on my part at all. I showed up. And good things happened. Same thing goes for blogging.

15 - Thinking that blogs just back themselves up

Elizabeth Perry of the fantastic blog Woolgathering wrote that you need to figure out how to back up your blog database. And she adds one word to the end of her thought - “Often.” (I’m thinking there’s a story behind this one!)

16 - Not considering the time commitment of blogging

Starbucker told me that he’s a blog dork. His “mistake” is about time. He travels for his job. He writes posts constantly (and has gained quite a loyal following). He works long hours. Lots of bloggers face this same dilemma. It does take time to add a blog into your list of to-dos. Remember that when you install WordPress and begin writing!

17 - Not attending the SobCon07 Conference

I travel and do shows in various cities. I’ve experienced the huge joy of meeting other bloggers who have come to my shows and greeted me at the CD table. Now, you get to do the same thing. AND, you get to learn from those in-the-know as well. Come to Chicago in May! Learn from all of us who have made these mistakes for you!

18 - Intentionally blank

If you’re a blogger, feel free to share your own mistakes! (And if you’re not a blogger, well, you can still share some of your mistakes, too.)