Remember the hit song, Garden Party by the late Rick Nelson? The chorus part where he sang,
It’s all right now,
I have learned my lesson well,
See you, can’t please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.
have stuck in my mind ever since the first time I heard the song and I have kind of made it my motto in the way I chose to live, that is to please myself if I can’t please everyone. Many many years later, when I started blogging I too blogged with this mentality and I think that is the reason I never went far, socially wise at least.
I realized long ago that to be successful in anything you do, the first thing you should learn is to please everyone, if not, at least the majority. Politicians does that. Corporate bosses does that. Successful bloggers does that. Else why do yo think they always advise you write what your readers want to think and not what YOU think in order to have a successful blog. Do you know what that means in short, raw and one word? Lie.
Much as I would have loved to master the tactic of pleasing everyone and becoming successful, I find it hard to erase the mentality that I have grown up with. I do not like it very much, but each time I wrote something that I know will please most of my readers, I feel like a dirty whore. It’s because after finishing the article and reading it myself, it does not reflect what I really think. I hate it when I have to delete it. Each time I delete such an article, I feel as though I am making a hangman’s noose for myself.
How I wish I could just smile and publish those articles like so many others are doing.
I can write a 1000 words article detailing how you can make money online. I can write another 1000 words article about how to be a successful blogger. I can also write few more 1000 words articles on how to do this or how to achieve that. I think I have read enough of those oft-repeated tips to create unique articles of my own. Fact remains that I am none of those. If I were to publish such articles, it boils down to me being a hypocrite. How can I be teaching others what I am not or supposedly to be?
So you see, I won’t go anywhere as far as being a hugely popular blogger with thousands of fans lapping up everything I tell them. I am not telling them what they want to read so naturally, they won’t be coming back to read more of what they do not like to read.
You want to be a successful blogger, do not be blogging like me.
Nevertheless, though you might think I am lying, I remain a happy blogger because of this, “See you, can’t please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.” thing.
Since I can’t be pleasing humans here to want to come back for more, I might as well please myself by pleasing Google.
I would like to think I am pleasing myself thoroughly.
By the look of my stats, I think Google is pleased with me as well.
Enjoy this song. Garden Party by the great Rick Nelson, RIP.
It really depends on your priorities.
I put happiness on top, so of course if it has to be between pleasing people and pleasing me, it will always be the 2nd one.
But I believe there can be some sacrifices and compromises along the way, which If you are will to make my change everything.
Off Topic: what’s the policy in using pictures in a blog? Should I be worried that I download them and upload em on my host and use them?
The standard practice is, if you use an image from another site, credit the source. Most would not mind, but do not steal bandwitdh by posting the picture using their image link.
As far as possible I try to refrain from using images from other sites. I use loyalty free pictures instead and there are a few good sites that provides them for free. My favorite is stock.xchng
They have a huge collection which is free for personal use like blogs and all.
Then I am sure you have heard of iStock. if you are willing to pay for higher quality images.
Nope haven’t heard any of those, and I was just wondering.
How about cars and stuff that has a manufacturer? Are we allowed to use such as well.
I would like to stay a happy blogger
and not deal with claims and threatening letters from major companies 
I don’t think manufacturers will mind you using their images. It’s good publicity anyway, but like I say, credit the source. The thing to avoid is to use their brand name in your domain name.
e.g. If you are planning to start a blog about Ford cars, don’t use the word Ford in your domain name or your blog’s description. many manufacturers have copyrighted their brand name.
I had an issue sometime back when I had a problem with the manufacturer of a certain brand hand tool. I did not even have the name in my domain, but I had categorized all the hand tools under their different brand names.
This particular manufacturer decided that I am infringing on their copyrights and they sent me an email requesting I remove all references to their name in my site.
Of course I obliged. They are losing sales, not me. LOL
However others never minded and I think they are happy even as I am helping them sell their products.
So you see, some can be assholes. Anyway, you don’t have to worry about getting sued and all. They will, in most cases, ask you to remove the images first, but if it is a domain name, they will say that domain belongs to them as they have copy rights to the name. If that’s the case, just give it to them and avoid all the hassle.
Stay happy!
There seem to be a lot of sites with similar names and the manufacturer has let them stay I guess they r not that picky.
Anyways I am more of the tech on the site, so such issues will not be handles by me and will not be my decision.
I had another affiliate close the doors on me today
I guess 40-50 bucks a month seems low to them and I gotta wait till my traffic kicks in.
But hey at least I can look at it this way. It opens the doors to something better
Happy Bloger, I love ya, and your blog!!!
))