Modesty is Not a Virtue

Photography: NAM – Radione tablets by Marshall Astor

People are magnets to a good spectacle. An accident, a captivating street performer, a crime scene and a breath-taking work of art will all attract a crowd of fascinated onlookers. The old saying “If you build it, they will come” should probably be reworked to “create a spectacle, and they will come by the dozens, or hundreds, or thousands.”

That’s what Darren Rowse is doing with his 31 Days to a Better Blog series. It’s a monumental content project – a month worth of unique posts, community posts, and tips via the comments section.

Most of all, it’s a spectacle. It’s epic content, a 31 post series, and will dominate the blog while it lasts. It might catch fire or it might fizzle, and its that element of danger which is sure to get people watching, just as we gaze at the trapeze artists working without a net to see if they fall, but hoping they don’t.

You don’t need to be Darren Rowse to create epic, spectacular content. Big projects, a defining content series, week-long, month-long projects, magnetize people to them. The principle is the same whether you’re a big fish or little minnow in the web 2.0 pond.

Don’t think small. Don’t be afraid to almost bite off more than you can chew. Don’t be modest about your abilities and capabilities.

If you attempt something grand and believe you can do it, so will your visitors. When the spectacle is over, they might just stick around to see what you’re going to do next.