What I learned from Jeremiah Owyang that allowed me to take down Google*

A poignant moment spurred me to not blog about good blogging methods, but to actually practice them.

Jeremiah Owyang, web strategist.
Photo by Thomas Hawk. 

In 2007, Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang posted, “Pay yourself first” and “One thing leads to another,” an encouragement for online enthusiasts to blog before they did anything else.

“When did blogging ever generate revenue?” I wondered.

I'd been blogging since January 2009, and at any one time I had two to three separate blogs bouncing along on separate topics. After almost three years of blogging, my Google Ad Sense account still only boasts a whopping $16.23 credit. That would almost buy me lunch and a coffee.

At one point, I got so mad at Google's practice of serving up my pageviews without sharing the wealth, I started a protest. I single-handily came up with the concept to take Google down.

If you're going to blog for free, I said to myself, GIVE THE ADS AWAY FREE.

On one of my blogs I added advertising for local businesses free of charge.

Google was so scared they started Google+, an ad free environment.

That money thing was intriguing though, and I kept thinking about what it meant to 'pay yourself first.' It took me awhile to figure it out. It wasn't about money, it was about mindshare and market influence.

If I were re-writing Owyang's post I would paraphrase it to read, “invest in yourself first.” I would encourage writers to do something that benefits the id, the ego and the super-ego before they attacked a single piece of email.

Jeremiah Owyang is interviewed by
Nate DiNiro on visit to Portland, OR.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Bunch, vimeo.

Let the inbox overflow, folks.

Build a blog. Add content. Add free ads. Readers will come.

As long as they find something new on a consistent basis.

Tomorrow I share tips for blogging everyday. And don't worry...Google survives.

*Almost.

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