“Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Dot Com Mongul?”

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?