Lessons Learned From 08 Election Season

The 2008 election season is finally over, and everybody can calm down once again. In case you haven’t noticed, the niche of politics was extremely hot these past few months. You had two passionate groups of fans who were supporting their candidates with everything they had. In the end, one group ends up the winner, and the other group complains about the result of the election and the direction that the country is headed.

As the economy struggles to bounce back, more folks from around the world join the blogging world to make themselves heard. The engagement rate was up from the last election as people explained why Obama or McCain were the right choice for the country. Since there was no way to get an agreement on this, outrageous claims were made and there were controversy, which brings us to…

Controversy Still Sells: I have been hearing folks talking about how this strategy has been used and is wearing thin in the blogging world. If you have been following a blog for a long time, you probably know when the blogger is trying to throw a link-bait or cause controversy. I know a lot of superbloggers made outrageous comments on why McCain was so much better than Obama. What that got them was a lot of responses from folks who normally do not comment on blog posts.

Innovation Matters: the tough election brought the best and worst out of us all. A few folks used their creative talent to come up with interesting site concepts for the 2008 election. Innovation in blogging is necessary if you are hoping to stay in the business for a long time.

Never put your eggs in one basket: webmasters all around the Web suffered due to the state of economy. A few lost a large portion of their readers. Others had to fold and get a second job. But smart bloggers did not put all their eggs in one basket, and that is why they go on.

I personally have never been in political blogging. While it’s easy for anyone to make an outrageous claim and attract readers, I find the niche to be too rough for my taste. This election proved that there is so much anger and hatred in our nation. So the niche definitely has a bright future as the new president tries to fix the economy and health-care. Then again, a political blog should not be your only basket.