Thinking of Blogging?

This month, Omibuses2.0 has been in full swing for two of its four years

There seem to be more blogs on the subject of computers or blogging than any other. Even so, these are easily hidden among the 100 million blogs now on line. With such a welter of written words, can anyone ever expect to be heard? Or seen?

It’s interesting, in spite of a strong cohort of bus enthusiasts and an equally ardent company of professionals, that there are so few bus blogs. One reason for this is that newsgroups and fora are perhaps better places to trade information. Here, hard facts tend to rule. Hard facts do not lend themselves to blogs and some people only want (or need) data. Another is that particularly for enthusiasts, their web presence tends to concentrate on Fotopic-type sites. There are tons of them. But not tons of blogs.

A third is that blogging ain’t easy: it requires a degree of commitment and a willingness to use prose or rhetoric alongside pure number-crunching facts.

And a fourth is that, to succeed among the 100 million blogs, you need to offer something different. You need a USP, a unique selling point, a niche. If established sites are barely audible over the white noise of 100 million blogs, a “me too” site is likely to drown without trace. This is the more so for new sites. In general blog terms, the newer the site, the less the audience and the slower it will build.

The biggest single bus blog genre is the driver’s blog. The original was probably David from south Devon. His remains fresh and interesting. He’s been at it for some years and his audience is no doubt established. He featured in Omibuses2.0's Top 7+1 blogs. Then there’s Jimmy. He’s more of a ‘youngster’ in blogging terms but now established and unique enough to be a serious force within the bus drivers’ blog category. And another good one is Malcolm.

Several other “me too” driver blogs are emerging. Perhaps more will follow. My plea would be, in the face of the established drivers’ heavyweights, to try to offer something unique, something that will distinguish yours among the others. That way, you’ll be heard.