It was in 1999 that I started a blog on LiveJournal. It’s still out there and was a personal ramblings site similar to this. In 2002, I launched another site on Blogger. It was about technology. I was a terrible writer. In 2003, I began writing for a few sites that would have me. Most of those sites are now defunct. I wrote about Apple and mostly did product reviews. I was 16. This was a great honor. I finally purchased my first domain name in 2003, MyPersonalGetaway and it was only about Apple. I had a few friends help out with news and writing. I’m in debt to them. They helped me get my first advertiser and fund my first trip to San Francisco where my life was altered forever. In 2006, I moved to a proper domain name, DailyTechTalk.com and began branching out. I added ResoluteOpinion, MacworldBound and AdamandLauraGoWest. You could buy ad space all across all of the sites and I had writers and friends helping as they could and I even paid them for posts.
Then, I realized it was time to go back to basics. I had a full time job and couldn’t run 4 websites. So, I registered this blog and condensed everything to one page. It’s been a terrific experiment. Here, I average just 11,500 page views a month with around 4,000 uniques. I write about anything and everything. The site’s traffic has sat stagnant for the last 12 months in spite of my daily musings. Humans don’t like zeitgeist style writing from one person across many topics. I started this blog in January of 2009. Just over 3 years later, I’d like to launch a 2nd blog. I think I’m ready for this. The past 13 years of daily blogging has taken me here and it’s time to get serious.
Just like you don’t tune to Comedy Central for drama or read The New Yorker for the weather, you don’t read a man’s personal blog for technology news even if it’s in there periodically at times when he feels like writing about tech.
On the day of Steve’s passing, a seed was planted. I felt as if I half-assed my commitment to Apple. Buying products and camping out at stores is easy. Sharing my insight and opinions on the world of Apple has become 2nd nature but delivering those insights in a meaningful way has been missed since 2006 when I launched DailyTechTalk and wrote generally about technology with a bit of Apple mixed in. It’s time to go all-in on Apple in a way that matters.
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Let’s discuss what I want to do:
- Launch a weblog that I own and have editorial control over.
- The name will be so geeky that it makes you giggle just thinking about it (announcement soon)
- The blog will receive at least one post each day on weekdays that is a link + commentary
- I will author at least one editorial each week but there’s nothing stopping an additional post or two if I have free time
- I will interview people and companies who are creating things. Designers, developers and bloggers and the people shaping the future will be invited to speak with me and share their ideas.
- I will provide reliable live-blogs to Apple events, sometimes in person and other times through an in-person proxy at the event.
- The blog will be written from the perspective of a geek who lived in San Francisco but isn’t there anymore. Someone who sees things outside of the echo chamber
- The goal is to be pro-Apple and have a bias because I admit that I’m not a journalist but I use both Windows and Macintosh and will always offer a devil’s advocate analysis of the landscape with the “other side” perspective
- Rarely will I publish breaking news. Breaking news is mostly inaccurate and full of fluff. The goal is to publish meaningful editorials of announcements with my personal opinion and that of others.
- There will be giveaways
- There will be advertisements
- There might be a weekly podcast with guests. This would come later, of course.
I respect what today’s independent Apple-centric bloggers are doing. They keep things small, they collaborate, they are quick and honest in their analysis of events and they provide a big picture view of things. As a blogger, I see some issues with most of the independent Apple-centric bloggers. I’ll write this once but don’t expect me to revisit it:
- Support Apple unconditionally no matter what they do
- Make fun of and play a very elitist card to non-Apple supporters
- Call bullshit on people who disagree with them
- Rally their troops to attack anyone who disagrees with them
- Use very SEO optimized blog articles to game the system and post articles quickly to get links from Google as news breaks
- Ignore Apple’s competition
- Pageview Back Scratching. This is a big one. There are a lot of bloggers who are a member of a small group of high profile advertising networks. It’s coincidence that these bloggers who share an ad-network also link to each other’s posts at a double digit margin compared to non-ad-network bloggers. I see this happen a lot and it’s disappointing that a group of 12 guys share traffic and rarely link to blogs outside of the network.
So, my goal is simple. Soon, I’ll be launching a blog. It’s very exciting. I’d love your help! Here’s what I need specifically:
- Designer
- WordPress Developer
- Suggestions for Virtual Machine hosting with a host that can add server capacity on the fly
- Podcasting Support & Advice
- Applications for columnists. I won’t have regular writers but I’d love to have weekly or monthly columnists that are paid per post.
- Blog name suggestions (I have one but I’m up for any additional input)
- T-Shirt Designer
- Motion Graphics Designer for Video Specials
- General Thoughts and Ideas
I’d like to launch this in the next 60 days. It’s a lofty goal but I’m already drafting a lot of ideas. i have Tristan Mace who is my designer / developer but he’s an expensive yet talented guy. Others feel fee to apply. You can reach me at Adam@adam-jackson.net. I could attempt to do this all myself but that’s not any fun and I think involving all of you is the best way to help this blog become a success. Will you join me?
I’m excited about this and I hope you are as well. Let’s build something together. Thanks and goodnight.