Ah 2011, what a year. A year I’ll mark down as one where I traveled for two months, left my job to work on my online projects and went through one of the biggest breakups. I’m sure there’s a lot more to be added in there but they slip my mind at this time.
But hey, its 2012 now, which means that we’ve got new resolutions, goals and projects to work on. Screw all that 2011 bullshit; let’s get this show on the road!
Where to begin?
Out of everything I learned in 2011, in terms of business, few people truly had something unique to say (I may have fallen into this group, as well). Hrm? When you add up the huge group of bloggers that write about business, blogging and other online work – you begin to see that there really isn’t a lot of good information going around. In a lot of ways, it’s become a circle jerk.
I’m not one to point fingers but I think we could all step up our game.
Sure, there’s a lot of bloggers that brought some extremely valuable information (Marcus and Steve being two off the top of my head). However, I saw far too many bloggers regurgitating the same information that has been around for ages.
There are only so many times you can explain how to build links before you run out of steam.
Maybe we’re all at fault
Do something unusual ... reject the norms.
2011 was the year where a lot of us got on the ‘niche train’.
Blah blah blah, niche this, you get the point, you’ve been reading it. It’s all good information and I still highly recommend you test the waters with your own niche sites but when we look at our own blogs we can begin to see that we’re just spinning our tires.
I started off the year with 100 blogs that I would readily read. I’m now down to about three.
I would obsess over RSS, Twitter, Facebook and all the social media hype yet I would neglect the basics of what turned people onto me – being myself and talking whatever-the-fuck I wanted to talk about.
You see, I never really intended Murlu to be what it is today. I wanted to share some information about online business because I was a webmaster for TRK (online retailer). I was able to do things that a lot weren’t able to do because I had a budget and my boss let me try out new strategies. I tried to distill the best information I learned on the job into blog posts that could be applied across the board.
However, as time went on, I started listening to “how a blog post should be” from the bloggers that immediately pop into your head when you mention the word.
Boring, yo.
I admit, I contributed to a good portion of this and then sat there wondering why people didn’t care. The engagement still seemed good – comments, retweets, etc – but I just knew people were passing it off and going off to get their next ‘fill’ of information from the next blog on their RSS.
A departure (and return) to fun
For a good while, I was thinking about giving up on Murlu because the topics no longer held my interest. As I type now, it has been ages and I’m struggling to get my thoughts onto the screen. But, I decided to keep it going because there’s still a lot of good information on here – I just didn’t know where it was going in the future.
So I decided to shake some things up.
I’m going to play with the format and write when I feel inspired rather than trying to keep this imaginary schedule that everyone keeps insisting upon. I’ve got a few plans but I rather not mention them because I’ve realized I enjoy my privacy when it comes to online projects.
Less fucks are now being given, more or less.
I guess what I’m expecting, from all of us, (get ready for the bold!) is to stop caring about the bullshit, start working on things and break your format.
I’d really love to go back through my old RSS list and see blogs try something else – ending that circle jerk that blogging has become. I’m going to try my best. Sometimes it’ll suck but whatever, it’s my blog.
Share it. Comment. Whatever.
Good! Let’s see you get back to you. Not long after your travels, the blog slowly started becoming less you and more robot blog.
I’m excited to see where you take it next Murray because you’re one hell of a smart guy. Better yet, your different and hella smart.
Jonathon
Thanks man,
I hear ya, it was DEFINITELY becoming a piece of shit and there’s no one else to blame but myself. Maybe it was all getting to my head – having to post every week, feeling as if I was obligated to do things with the blog and whatnot – but whatever, it takes a kick in the face to see what you did wrong and hopefully it’ll work its way forward from here on out.
I think the biggest mistake I made was focusing too much on Murlu and not enough on my alternate projects. Hell, I got the PLR site and I’m totally neglecting it. I’ve got niche sites I haven’t touched in ages and a few authority blogs that are really lacking and in need of an update. I’m gonna be focusing heavily on the outside stuff and try to condense that information rather than “keep up with it” if that makes sense.
Thanks for sticking in there man!
I literally laughed out loud when I read this. I could have written this post; it’s exactly my story and my sentiment. Especially “Less fucks are now being given, more or less.”
There’s too much crap out there. It’s too easy to get caught up in it and never get anything real done.
Props for changing things.
You too Tristan
We let this shit get to our head way to quick – that initial success built on trading comments back and forth with other bloggers (although good for networking) definitely revealed that we were just spinning our wheels and weren’t really getting much done outside of just entertaining each other. I think it’s time to go back to setting big goals and reporting on them afterward rather than all this speculation – gotta get things rolling this year cause every year we let go by – another dude is gonna swoop in and steal our potential, ya know?
The Year that cant be forgotten for many
especially bloggers, where many started to make good income.. Simply a great story and imagine how it was to you 
while reading the story.
Cheers bro. Lets move forward.
Regards,
Robin.
Been thinking of that lately Robin.
I think we were looking too far beyond what we were doing and not really repeating the steps that made things work in the first place.
Rather than trying to take that $1000 to $1,500, we should probably focus on rebuilding a secondary $1,000 which would be way easier since we understand that initial process.
Once we have that income, we can start pushing for bigger things because we have a bank roll to truly throw around and put behind our ideas instead of trying to bootstrap every little detail, ya know? I know, for sure, I was strung out by the end of the year from overworking myself – not this year, I’m gonna work as smart as I can – try to plan out things, reuse tactics, themes, formats and anything that lets me streamline the process of my work.
Hi Murray
Well, I’ve been MIA for months and just sent you a message on skype cos it’s been so long since I spoke to you lol
I see you haven’t been wasting time on the stuff that sure doesn’t matter. I am so glad I don’t blog about blogging. Maybe gets more traffic than me but there is only so much that can be said as you so succinctly put it … in your indomitable Murlu way
I for one hope you keep writing as I learn heaps from you. Some of it you will think is basic (you techies usually do) but for some of us, we appreciate what you do post and I keep learning.
Have only just got back into the whole social media and visiting sites again (yesterday it started again) so I have had a BIG break away from it all.
All the best for 2012 Murray. And Murla still rocks
Patricia Perth Australia
Hey Patricia,
Really glad to see that you’re still going and shifted away from that focus of blogging and kept up with your lavender items – it’s awesome to see that it’s working rather than just you running in circles like far too many of us hit in 2011. I’d like to see where you expand to this year because the one time we talked, you mentioned that you were given a year or so to make things happen? That’s an excellent way to make sure things get the ball rolling because it’s not just “haha, I’m creating a side biz and it’ll get done whenever” but more of a “oh shit, time to get things done!” – let that pressure work to your advantage yo!
Anyway, glad to have you swing on in. Let’s hope we can keep up our promises of this year going well, here we go!
Yes, the year flew past! Haven’t figured out yet what and where to start this first quarter. Well, I’m making some plans and setting up goals but you know, for now I’m just reading. It’s a plus to be updated and do research before heading up to the competition.
Definitely,
I rather spend the next 3 months planning out exactly what I wanna do for the next 9 than the entire 12 months of basically bouncing back and forth between ideas (which I did in the later part of 2011). Need to set big goals but also gotta have a real game plan than just “yeah, this looks fun”. No more screwing around, time to do some real work!
I’ll echo the comments above and say that I appreciate the fact that you want to mix things up and not follow what seems to be the status quo in the internet marketing blogosphere.
I’m as guilty as any for jumping on the “niche train.” The way I look at it, my blog basically reflects (at any given moment) what I’m currently working on/focused on, and if people want to read it, great. I may regurgitate a lot of what’s written elsewhere, but again, that’s only because it’s the information I’m currently acting on.
Anyway, best of luck in 2012 – I hope to see you get back to blogging more; I always enjoy reading your stuff.
I like your style of writing Eric because it’s away more practical for people to learn from you than many of the other niche bloggers since they have so much money to throw behind projects, ya know? I can guarantee you that starting from scratch, doing everything on your own is way tougher than someone that can drop $2k into a new projects right from the get-go. I think people learn a lot more when they have to put that work into it and that’s what you’re able to convey rather than “throw money at it”.
We all regurgitate a bit because it does make sense since some of our readers won’t explore some of the other blogs but we also need to keep in check the idea of creating new posts that basically say what we’ve already said but in a different tone, ya know? How many times can you say “do this” before it wears thin – course, some of its frustration because not many people act on the information but, at the same time, we need to push em forward – if they’re not on board than screw em, we want to work with action takers, right?
Anyway, thanks for swinging on by. 2012 is gonna be pretty baller from the looks of it. Things take a bit to get up to speed but once it’s going (and we don’t let it get to our head) than we’re gonna be ace.