Why people don't read our blogs. And what BrandonSneed.com is becoming about.

In the past, I haven't been a very good blogger. I'd hit a streak here or there, and we'd have a good run, then I would fizzle out, and the auditorium would empty again.

I want to change that. I've thought a lot in the past few months about how. This post adapted from Michael Hyatt, who writes a leadership blog over at MichaelHyatt.com, helped. Apparently he stopped reading my blog. (Or honestly, probably never started.) Here's why, and here's why he's probably not reading yours:

• Your titles make people yawn. Life on the Internet is all about getting the attention of The Almighty Google. Google Search. Google Reader. Google everything. You gotta grab people's attention in milliseconds, and then keep hold of them. Which brings Mr. Hyatt to ... 
• Your posts are too infrequent. See the auditorium post from earlier this week. Working on this. 
• Your posts are too long. Yeah. This happens around here. I think that because, one day, I want to be Joe Posnanski and Chris Jones—fantastic long-form storytellers—I've forgotten that it's good to also emulate guys like Jeff Pearlman and Don Miller and Seth Godin. The latter three are fantastic authors, all in their own ways, and they often write the short, pithy blog posts. It's why they're good bloggers. The goal of this blog is to be a good blogger. I want this to be a good blog because I want to become a successful storyteller. So I need to stop trying to do things the way I like, and start doing things the way others have been successful. Swallow my pride, and that whole nine yards. People don't want to read long posts. In Mr. Hyatt's opinion, blog posts should be 500 words or fewer. I'll allow myself a little allowance when telling some stories, but on the whole, my posts will, from here on out, somewhere between 5 and 500 words. (Um, after this one, anyway, which is like, 600.) 
•  Your posts are too unfocused. "You're not a renaissance man," Hyatt writes. "You're undisciplined." I'm not good at seeing myself as less than perfect. But I've got to be OK with being average, or even bad, at things, even in things related to my passion. Like writing blog posts. Until I accept my own mediocrity, I won't get any better. 

So what is this blog about? It's about a guy relentlessly pursuing his passion, and my passion right now is (in no particular order) threefold: 

• Live a quality life. All this means to me is having the ability to provide for my family the way my father provided for mine. And along the way, be a great husband, brother, friend, uncle, and when the time comes, father. But this also means enjoying life. And so this blogs is going to become about discovering what it means to live a quality life. 
• Become a prolific storyteller. I've had some fantastic opportunities arise here in the first quarter of 2011, opportunities that will define the rest of my life. Being young, but ambitious, I'm still learning so much about writing, but I'm getting to learn from some amazing people. Without others, I would be nothing.
• In all things, remember God. More on this later. 

This blog could be said to be a place for stories that relate to my pursuit of dreams. I am chasing certain dreams, dreams likely different from your own. But in my pursuit, I am learning things I hope and believe that all of us can use.

I learned a funny thing about dreams in 2010. They can become real. 

What do you want out of life, and how are you trying to get there?