Sounds like this blog is about nonsensical rants from a self-absorbed internet naccisist…

Wait a minute. He is ranked 9,000+ on Alexa? How is this possible? All he does is rambles and there are actually people are actually reading it?

The above described my thoughts when I first saw John Chow’s blog. I was a believer of the same old “Content is King” myth.

But I could not believe my eyes when I saw John Chow was getting more traffic than my favorite blogging guru Yaro Starak (whose Alexa ranking is at 14,000+).

A quick browse through John Chow’s blog just made me more bewildered. “This is just a personal blog. His content is no where near Yaro’s quality. How the heck does he get so many readers and earn so much money?” I thought.

And then there’s Shoemoney. “What?! His fans even wear his T-shirts?”

I had believed that educational blogging model (or the Darren Rowse model) was the only way to succeed as a blogger. But the discovery of their blogs led me to explore other successful blogging models that are closer to that of John Chow and Shoemoney.

It’s called the Entertainment Blogging model, where the value lies in Entertainment.

But I was not satisfied. While pure entertainment attracts people, it neither builds long term value for the blog, nor builds real authority for the blogger.

Educational blogging is still the way to go because it adds real lasting value. But then again, it’s hard to get and keep attention in this over-communicated world of the internet using the pure Educational Blogging model alone.

Can we have the best of both worlds? So that you provide long-term sustainable value but yet attract and hold attention?

Yes you can. You bring entertainment and education together.

The result? Edutainment.

Edutainment = Education + Entertainment

I mentioned before that people go on the internet for two reasons,

1. Education – because we have learning needs

2. Entertainment – because we are bored and we need to fix our Drama Hook.

With Edutainment, your readers get valuable education and enjoy it at the same time. As the Chinese saying goes, you “kill two birds with one stone”. You are meeting both of their needs – learning needs and entertainment needs.

This Edutainment concept is not new. Anthony Robbins calls himself an Edutainer. Instead of the usual sit-and-listen lecture, his programs are more like interactive movies, where he gets his students to do things like fire-walking.

Harv Eker is another great Edutainer. In his programs that I’ve been to, I’ve broken an arrow with my neck, bent a pin with my palms, and did live training presentations.

Mind you, Harv Eker’s programs are usually full 14 hour days for 3 to 4 straight days. But I’ve always felt energetic throughout the programs and have never once dozed off.

Compare it to a lecture in university where I can’t even survive 15 minutes without going zzzz… and falling asleep, it’s a pretty amazing feat. Which leads me to think…

Receiving solid educational value can be accomplished because our attention is engaged all the time.

Entertainment provides that hook which grabs and holds the attention of the audience (that’s why you seldom see people sleep in movies).  This opens the way for education to be carried out better.

Audience participation is another common tactic used by Edutainers. In blogging, that’s when you get your readers to participate in the discussion through comments.

Let’s bring this closer to home – Internet Marketing.

Frank Kern is one such guru who is famous for his Edutainment videos. The first part of his video is always something funny and entertaining, like the most recent one which showed him busting John Reese’s attempt to break into his house.

Lame, I know, but hordes of people watch his stuff!

The second part goes into more serious educational content. At the end of the video, I’ve got some great takeaways, and I’m looking forward to the next video to get both entertained and learn something new.

Now let’s bring this even closer to home – Blogging.

John Chow. Right on his home page, you see an entertaining video of The Dot Com Lifestyle. He fills his posts with interesting stuff but with some educational value in them. Enough for swarms of fans to visit his blog.

While his educational stuff is not as solid as some other successful bloggers like Darren Rowse or Yaro Starak, he more than makes up for it by entertainment.

Shoemoney. I’ve not really read Jeremy Schoemaker’s blog, but seeing raving fans wearing his T-shirt with the superman-spoofed Shoemoney logo convinced me that he is doing an awesome job in Edutainment.

Copyblogger. Brian Clark’s blog delivers solid educational value every single time, but the entertaining way he and his team writes never ceases to grab and hold attention.

Ittybiz. Blog of Naomi Dunford, who is perhaps the most #`%@~!* Edutaining blogger known in the blogosphere.

(There are many others, so if you know a great Edutainment blogger to add to the list, please tell us about them!)

So now that we know about the Edutainment Blogging model, how do we actually do Edutainment?

There are some points which I’ve already covered for Education and Entertainment, but here are a few things for Entertainment that I’d like to add.

1. Kick Ass Writing

I know I know… it’s just a fancy term for good writing. But it still boils down to it.

Both Education and Entertainment blogging models require it, and in Edutainment, you’d better believe that your ability to engage with people through your writing is the most critical key to your success…

Or else, you might end up like a street performer with nobody watching.

Read copyblogger. Subscribe to the newsletters of great copywriters like John Carlton. Learn how they write. Focus your practice on engaging and connecting with your readers with your writing.

2. Inject Personality

Gary Vaynerchuck is a master at this. I mean, look at his niche. Wine? (Zzzz…) But incredibly, he gets a massive number of viewers to his video blog!

Gary injects his highly energetic and excitable personality into his wine videos. So much so that even people without an ounce of interest in wine are following him.

Other more familiar examples are like Ittybiz, who writes in her usual expletive-spewing #`%@~!* way in real life, and John Chow publicly displaying his “evil” persona.

If you have an interesting and extroverted personality, by all means inject it through your writing.

Can’t write? Do video, like Gary Vaynerchuck.

3. Tell Your Stories

Don’t have an interesting personality? It’s ok. You are sure to have some interesting stories of your life experiences, right?

Tell them!

People love to read stories. It’s because of the Drama Hook (which I mentioned in the previous article). While it’s something I learned in sales training, I’ve found that it’s even more effective in blogging.

Start off your posts with an interesting story you had experienced. You don’t need tell a great story every time. Just a simple one will do – like what I did for the beginning of this article. It becomes a hook for the reader to read the rest of the article.

Then draw out lessons from the story and connect them to what you really want to teach in that article.

It’s something like what Frank Kern is doing for his videos, but transferred to article-writing. The guys at Copyblogger are masters at this. Put an entertaining hook in front, and then continue with the more serious educational stuff.

And there is another reason – it’s for the reader to get to know you better. Besides, blogging is really about forming relationships with our readers.

Like what I said before, people like to read your stories, and there is only one you in this world, so don’t rob them of yours!

Having said all that, a question that comes to mind is…

Is Edutainment absolutely necessary?

My answer would be no. Because there are examples like Problogger that is pure education dullness. And Yaro Starak whose videos I tend to skip because I’ll go zzz… quickly. And that’s fine because that’s who they are in real life. Both of them are still tremendously successful with the pure Education Blogging model.

At the end of the day, Education should form the backbone, the foundation, the pillar of your blog. No entertainment can substitute the solid long term value that education adds to your readers.

But if you just give raw information, it looks unsightly.

Entertainment adds fun and color to your information. It enhances the presentation of your content and makes it attractive. Readers get hooked and drawn to you, and visitors come in droves to watch more of you.

So if you can do Edutainment by adding some entertaining personality or kick-ass writing, by all means…

DO IT!

Your readers will welcome it. I know I will

Your take on this?

- 20,000+ unique visitors per day,

- 300+ comments per post,

- earn $4,000+ dollars a month,

- with NO solid content,

- but just blogging about your personal life?

Xiaxue is one such blogger from my country Singapore who did exactly that. Presenting herself as a beauty goddess (some say she is the Paris Hilton of the blogosphere), she has not only gained tens of thousands of loyal fans, but is among the Top 40 on Technorati.

And she is earning more though advertising and celebrity endorsements than most people working full-time jobs in my country.

All that from doing a few blog posts a week about her personal life and thoughts.

Isn’t it wonderful? No need for research, no need for valuable content (so much for ‘Content is King’), no need to even work at all. Just blog like how you would write your diary.

“Wait a minute”, you say. “Didn’t you just say in your previous post that said the #1 factor of successful blogs is educational VALUE? Where’s the value in her blog?”

Oh, but there IS value. But it is a different kind of value.

It’s Entertainment value.

“But how is this related to me?” you ask.

Let me ask you, have you ever thought what John Chow’s blog is all about? Or what Shoemoney’s blog is really about?

If you think they became successful because of their content, think again.

You see, there are only two reasons why people go on the internet. It’s also the same two reasons why people read blogs.

1. Education – where people learn new things

2. Entertainment

And in both cases, people receive value. It’s just that the form is different. Let me explain.

(As a side note: Value is ultimately about what the reader perceives to get, and not about what you give. More about this in the future.)

In Education, the value the reader receives lies in having their problems solved or having their learning needs met. But in Entertainment, the value lies in meeting a different kind of need.

Robert Kiyosaki calls it the Drama Hook.

People are bored. Most of us wake up, go to work, come back home, sleep and do the same old ritual the next day. We all have a constant need for something exciting that breaks the monotony in our lives.

That’s why anything that promises drama – be it news, movies, sports or entertaining blogs – attracts us. We are hooked to them. We all have the Drama Hook.

Readers of Xiaxue are not there to learn anything, but to get entertained, to get their Drama Hook fixed.

By blogging snapshots of her life, Xiaxue is not giving educational value Darren Rowse style, but providing entertainment value Paris Hilton style.

That’s when you pay a short visit to her blog at xiaxue.blogspot.com, you are greeted with a huge glamorous picture of her (that is photoshopped). Her thoughts are written in witty, cocky and sometimes bitch-slapping manner. Her posts are full of her photos of the people she met, the events she went, etc.

She even boldly admits her photos are digitally enhanced, which just attracts more fans to her.

Oh really? Well, thank you. But do not give the credit of those looks to me! Give it to Adobe Photoshop. My pictures are all enhanced (and trust me, I am good at it), so minus 40% and you get the real thing. =D

Xiaxue’s FAQs

She knows exactly what she is doing, and she is darn good at it.

Xiaxue is not alone. She is just one of possibly hundreds of celebrity bloggers who are making it big on the blogosphere by blogging about their personal lives.

But for all the attractiveness of the Entertainment Blogging model, I have observed that there are…

Several Glaring Drawbacks

1. The Fame Won’t Last

Any entertainment value that the blogger provides quickly grows stale, and she has to do something “fresh and juicy” again and again. Even so, any influence she has built is short-lived. Once her days of youth are over, it will all be forgotten.

Like real life celebrities, the fame won’t last forever.

And just like newspapers, the content written loses value once it’s dated. This is in stark contrast of Darren Rowse’s and Yaro Starak’s Pillar Articles that builds solid lasting authority for the blogger.

2. The Blog Can’t Expand

The blog has limited growth potential. That’s because the celebrity blogging model is setup to be wholly dependant on the celebrity.

She can’t recruit anyone else to write for her blog. She can’t have guest bloggers. She can’t start a forum without her around all the time. And it’s impossible for her to sell her blog to anyone.

Also, while she can monetize her blog through advertisements and celebrity endorsements, it is difficult to expand her personal brand (if there is one) beyond her blog to create her own products.

3. The Blogger Won’t Grow

This may just be my biased opinion, but all this “fame” has only done more harm than good for Xiaxue. No one can overlook the tremendous arrogance displayed in her writings nowadays.

While it is a common thing when young people are given as much attention as she gets, but Xiaxue is taking her attitude to the extreme.

An attitude that could very well turn against her one day.

One of the things less talked about educational blogging, the one that adds real lasting value to people, is that the blogger grows as a person.

She has to work hard to research and write great content, develop superb writing and communication skills, network and make friends with their readers and fellow bloggers, deal with criticisms and negative comments, etc.

The whole experience can be really humbling.

But after all that hard work, when the blog becomes successful, the blogger can be satisfied to know that she has matured, not just in her skills, but in her character as well.

That’s why celebrity blogging is not my cup of tea. I want to solid lasting value to people. I want Big Idea Blogger to expand into a real business with real employees. And I want to remain humble and likable.

Having said that, there are some…

Good Things We Should Learn from Entertainment Bloggers

1. Communication is King

To all who say Content is King,

Xiaxue got 20,000 visits a day and makes a full-time income without any solid content. So is Content really King?

Makes you doubtful, isn’t it?

That’s why I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Communication is King, period.

It’s the only common thread that binds successful educational bloggers and successful entertainment bloggers.

Xiaxue may be doing nothing of real solid value, but she has superb written communication skills. Her words never cease to draw in and engage readers. For example, her blog title on Google search reads “Xiaxue – Everyone’s reading it.” (Immediately my curiousity is aroused and I go, “Why? Let me check it out.”)

Yes my friend, this girl knows how to write.

Now I’m not bashing “Content is King” believers, I just think that having this mindset will seriously impede your success.

All your hard work in researching and writing your value-packed content falls to the ground if your readers don’t understand or connect with what you are saying.

As an educational blogger, your ability to educate your readers primarily depends on your ability to communicate.

Master the skill of written communication, and watch your readership levels soar.

2. Be Bold about Your Opinions

In a previous article, I already explained how boldly expressing your ideas and opinions attracts like-minded readers to you. Birds of the same feather flock together.

In another article, I also mentioned how it is inevitable that you will have your group of haters when you become successful. Even Yaro Starak, who (in my opinion) is so humble, can have his haters. So don’t let it bother you.

Talk boldly about your opinions. It may repel a few people, but it draws like-minded people to you like a magnet.

Just don’t cross the line and become offensive like Xiaxue.

And stay humble.

3. “Hook” Your Readers to You

Let’s face it, Education in itself is boring.

Students know that education is important, but still lose attention and fall asleep in class.

Similarly, your blog may have solid educational value, but it is hard to get and keep attention in the blogosphere with just educational value alone.

Can you do something about it?

Yes you can. You add something for the Drama Hook. You add…

Entertainment.

I’ll continue this in my next post. Meanwhile, what do you think?

“Most college lecturers are not teachers. They are tellers. They tell information, they don’t teach it.”

No wonder I always fall asleep during lectures. It’s because they are just telling, i.e. brain-dumping.

So I don’t understand what they are saying, my mind switches off and I go “zzz…”

I’ve found it to be true for blogging too.

Many bloggers are brain-dumping. They write and write and wonder why nobody subscribes to their blog. They do have great information, but they fail to communicate and connect through their writing, so their visitors go “zzz…” and go to another blog.

Now, most seasoned bloggers would agree that #1 factor of successful blogs is the value that their readers get. But we must understand that the reader only receives value when he or she actually learns something from the blog.

Learning takes place when the reader understands what you are saying, and then derive meaning from what you are saying. If they don’t get any meaning out of the information, they don’t get any value out of it.

Let me explain this with what Robert Kiyosaki taught me.

Robert Kiyosaki’s Communication model

Information + Education => Meaning

Robert says real communication only takes place when the person at the other end gets meaning from the information. That’s where education comes, where you are not just telling your information, but you are teaching it to people, or presenting it to people in such a way that educates or teaches them.

It requires careful thought in the way you present it, so that they can understand what you are saying and learn your information, i.e. get meaning out of it.

Compare this with…

Charles’s Brain-Dumping model

Information => Data (zzz…)

A blogger who brain-dumps is just dumping data. To the reader, it’s as if the blogger is speaking in cryptic codes that only he understands himself.

The reader can’t decipher what the heck the blogger is saying, so his mind switches off and “Zzz…”.

Real communication and learning happens when the reader (not you the writer) is able to

• connect your information that he doesn’t know with what he already knew,
• incorporate it into his own experiences,
• so that he can get meaning out of it and learn something from it.

We have people saying “write relevant content”. But for many of us, the issue is not the content itself; it’s how you present it so that people can relate to what you are saying. It’s about making your information relevant to them so that they get meaning from it.

I have observed that whenever I write a post, the comments I get varies a lot in terms of the things they learned. That’s because every individual reader is taking my information and interpreting through his or her own knowledge and experiences, to get their own learning out of the article.

Needless to say, the value they get varies as well, from “interesting” to “wow! I’m going to change the way I do things”, even for the same article!

Your goal should be to get as many “wow! I’m going to change the way I do things” responses as possible, because that means you are adding lots of value to lots of readers. This comes by really knowing and understanding your audience.

Steve Pavlina is a master at this. He has the phenomenal ability to communicate his ideas, and many of his readers are are so influenced that they change their thinking or behavior. Each of his articles was calculated to have brought in an average of $2,400 to his blog through donations. It is a reflection of the strong solid value he is adding to his readers.

So then, how do I write better and add more value to my readers? Here are 4 simple things I’m constantly striving to do, and I suggest you do the same for your readers:

1. I put myself in your shoes

I write with you, the reader, in mind.

I ask myself, “If I were my reader, how would I understand this? How would I relate to it?”

I remind myself, “Just because I understand it does not mean my reader understands it. Just because it makes sense to me doesn’t mean it makes sense to him.”

The danger is when I assume others to understand what I’m saying, or when I say “If they don’t understand, it’s their problem”, then I become a brain-dumper.

Putting myself in your shoes then allows me to do the next thing…

2. I give information that you already know

I start from what you know, or insert stuff that you already know. That way, you can relate to them.

Then from there, I can give you new information that you can connect to what you already know, so that you can assimilate it, and you get meaning out if it. This is where learning takes place.

3. I don’t feed you too much information

I realized that digesting information is like digesting food. If I go on brain-dumping mode and dump tons of new information on you, you can’t take all of it at once.

So I break up my information into smaller chunks and post them in bite-sized portions.

Not too little that you don’t get any value, but also not too much that your mind cannot take it, switches off and you go “zzz…”

4. I get your feedback

I read your every comment, because your feedback will tell me the meaning that you gained from my information.

Then I’ll know whether my message was communicated across as intended, and also how much value you have received from my article.

From there, I will adjust my writing accordingly in future posts, so that I can connect better with you.

So then, what is your feedback? What meaning did you get? Please share them, so that I can communicate better with you.