Would you like to have

- 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?