Responding to the responses

To start I'd like to thank my commenters on the questions I posed. I honestly think I get the best comments of any local blogger. And I was amused at the post on Salisbury News about what I said on Tuesday. In answer to that comment, I regularly check my list of where people came from and I have about as much traffic coming from Delmarva Dealings as I do from Salisbury News. And my readership has been fairly regular; after all both sites link to me and I'm sure I have some folks who read my site on a daily basis while skipping one or both of the others.

The reason I had the idea of asking the question is that I think the local blog world is at a plateau of sorts. Obviously, like most other people who write websites (at least those who aren't 14 years old and writing to their friends and anyone else who cares to read it about their latest crush) I'd like as many readers as possible to read my website - after all, the aim of monoblogue is to shift opinion on things I care about to be more aligned with my own beliefs and maybe make me a bit of money on the site once I get to a certain level of readership.

Since I began doing monoblogue, I've gotten to know a couple of my fellows who do local blogs, G.A. Harrison and Joe Albero. And I think both are good guys who also have their own agendas. G.A.'s agenda is relatively close to mine politically, which is why our sites sort of have the same feel to them. He is probably even more heavily into politics than I am as far as content goes, but he also looks at Delaware and Virginia issues that I don't delve into. On the other hand, Joe's site is very much locally driven, with his focus on issues in the Salisbury and Wicomico County area. Frankly, his agenda also seems to be a vendetta against those he doesn't like - in particular Barrie Tilghman and several of those who serve with her in Salisbury city government. It's reminescent of Richard Nixon's "ememies list."

His passionate dislike of those he crosses swords with was what drove me to ask the questions I did. It can be argued that the popularity of Salisbury News is similar to the appeal of NASCAR to many casual fans - they're just watching for the 14-car pileups. I'm sure some peruse Albero's site just waiting to see if this will be the post that gets him sued or arrested.

And I wanted to take a paragraph or two to address the Joe Albero vs. John Robinson blowup. I don't know what it is, but sometimes people seem to get close to Joe and then they have a major falling out. It happened with Charles Jannace and now it's happening with John Robinson. And this saddens me because I've gotten to know both and have no real issue with either. In fact I talked to both today, calling into John's radio show (was I the only caller of the hour besides the prearranged Jimmy Sweet call?) and Joe called me from the ballgame wondering where I was at (sitting on my back deck enjoying a nice warm evening.) Both of these guys have opinions and we discuss what we think about issues of the day.

I'm hoping that the Robinson show can stretch past July (apparently that's when Robinson's contract is up) but I did notice that there was a plug for Laura Ingraham's show within John's. I know they do play about an hour of her show in the evening but I'm curious to know if there's another shakeup in the works at WICO. I wonder if they're contemplating going back to the pre-March lineup?

And this winding path brings me to the segue I was looking for all along. After some thinking on the subject of what I can do to improve my readership, I think there's going to be a few changes here as well.

What got me started on this was the Salisbury referendum issue. First of all, I do want to thank Donna for keeping me in the loop and Debbie Campbell for her assistance, supplying me with the budget she prepared (sadly it appears to be a wasted effort on her and Terry Cohen's part.) But my website is probably weakest in both those areas - breaking news and Salisbury city politics. Obviously, Joe Albero has the time to cover these because he's "retired" and G.A. is self-employed so he can make time as well. And both have contacts and wherewithal to get to know all of the local players. Meanwhile, I do have a "real" job so that has to come first.

So I think I'm going to shift focus just a bit and leave the Salisbury and Wicomico County issues more or less to the other local players. I'm not going to abandon the local issues entirely, but most of that ground is well-covered by my cohorts. I'll certainly comment on their sites when I feel it's appropriate, and it'll give me a chance to expand the "My feedback" page I've neglected for quite awhile.

My roots in blogging were in a website called ttown's right wing conspiracy. On that website, I paid a lot more attention to Maryland and national issues and I think it's time I got back to those places I thought that my ideas were better suited for. Obviously, things like "Ten Questions", the 50 Year Plan, and my election coverage last year were perfect for this theme and I plan on continuing with those items along with new ideas I have. And because I just plain enjoy sports, particularly baseball, that coverage (including Shorebird of the Week) will continue. Same goes for the local music that Delmarva has a great supply of, I'd like to share that with a lot more people!

In order to get monoblogue to where I'd like it to be, I need to become a frog in a bigger pond. After all, people like Ann Coulter and Mark Steyn may have started with their local issues, but they eventually moved on to items of national import. Of course, in my mind Maryland is the canary in the coal mine as far as liberal lunacy goes so I believe coverage of what goes on in Annapolis is appropriate to keep tabs on because of its capability to catch on nationally (think of Fair Share and National Popular Vote allocation of the Electoral College vote as examples of Maryland-initiated ideas threatening to go nationwide.)

Also, one thing about the way I do monoblogue is that I have a pretty good idea of what I'll write about in the following few days. As an example, I always set my Shorebird of the Week on Thursdays during the baseball season and a standings report at the end of each month. When I did "Ten Questions" last year and my Election Calendar they were similarly set on a weekly basis. So it's a pretty simple idea that I came up with - a weekly e-mail to selected people I know read my website saying, hey, look for this next week. It's actually an idea I stole from Joe Albero but also reinforced by Maryland GOP seminar speaker Summer Johnson, a regional press secretary for the Republican Party.

So there you have the post I promised for today, just in the nick of time by 35 minutes. There's also going to be a few changes in the look of monoblogue to go with the new focus, so I look forward to more growth and thank those of you who have gotten me this far!