The run for writers
Do you know WebMD? There are now lots of WebMDs emerging. They each come with the promise to help you manage your health and give you a community to support you. It seems that any person that can put together a web site and has the money to support it teams with one or more MDs and they put up these web sites that will resolve the health issues of the world. They need to build communities and they are in need of experts... they can probably easily find their MD experts... hey you can't refuse some money when you're a doctor in US. And they are all over the mom-and-pop blogs like mine. I've been offered $50 per article by one and visibility for republishing my posts by another. I guess negociation could get me more, but I don't care about being an anxiety expert.
I used my blog to help me with the anxiety. And it did. I am pretty much done babbling about anxiety. I still have a post or two of advice planned, but that's it. I love blogging and I'll probably do this with other aspects of my life, but I don't care about talking about anxiety any more. I have no issue with people in need finding my blog and getting the support and encouragement they need, but I'm not sure these websites are the solution to that. Right now google serches gets to my blog easily.
Back to the web sites, for the first one I was recruited by a young out-of-school person. This time it is an Internist with 25 years in practice. Wow! Where did we get? Where did we push these guys. I guess this is where our primary care heads to: the Internet! That's what we want, that's what we'll get!
I actually know what it takes to build a helpful online community. We had it for the Preeclampsia Foundation. You start with a small team and then extend it to the fans in the community that are the closest to the original team. You train people and watch them. These guys seem to recruit anyone that can write anything.
I wish them luck, maybe some of them will succeed, but it doesn't look to me like they are on the right path. I recommend that they read Seth Godin's blog!
1 comment:
Hi Ileana,
I'm pleased to hear that through your efforts you've been able to reduce your anxiety to a manageable level where it no longer impedes your life. Proof, I think, that it is possible to reduce anxiety, although the path to feeling better might be different for different people.
I'm sure your blog has provided valuable source of inspiration for many sufferers in letting them know that they're not alone.
Thanks for all your support since I started my own blog, and I wish you the best of luck with your future blogging endeavours.
Matt.
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