Taking liberty with lyrics from a Rod Stewart song, “every blogger has a story.”
By interviewing brilliant bloggers who don’t have Scoble-like notoriety, I hope to share what’s behind their distinctive voices and followings.
I’ve run Q&As with Max Swisher, the 12-year-old who started Good Morning Geek, and Millie Garfield, who’s still going strong at 85.
For my third interview, I spoke with Amy Tenderich who started Diabetes Mine in 2005 after learning she had Type 1 diabetes. By 2007, she landed on Forbes’ must-read health blogs list and earlier this year achieved what many bloggers would consider utopia, selling her property to the Alliance Health Networks.
If you want to see the mantra – blog about your passion – in action, check out Amy’s posts.
Amy was kind enough to talk with me about her blog, the voice she puts forth and a new tag line for the Marine Corps.
Q: Considering you started your blog in 2005, you were a pioneer in bringing social media to health care.
A: When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I turned to Google, searched on “diabetes foot care” and got millions of hits. What does this mean? That I can’t wear sandals? I wanted to use the Internet to connect with other people and get a reality check on what the doctors were telling me. Unfortunately, there was no way to find like people. That motivated me to start the blog.
Q: Your first post triggered many comments. That must have been gratifying.
A: I didn’t know what to expect. But it provided immediate feedback that I might be onto something. Today, there are over 800 blogs just on diabetes, so I feel like I’ve been part of this healthcare revolution.
Q: Was there a particular post or event that propelled the blog to the next level?
A: When I was featured in The Wall Street Journal. Laura Landro at The Journal writes a column called “The Informed Patient.” She did a story on patient blogging that included me. That made a huge difference in our visibility.
Q: I’m sure the Journal article caused a spike in traffic.
A: Definitely.
Q: Has SEO played an important role in building your audience?
A: I don’t know squat about SEO. My philosophy is simple: Fresh content gets attention. I try to offer fresh content every single day.
Q: Consistently writing every day is going to stockpile some great content.
A: I agree. We’re planning a site re-design so it’s easier to search archived content.
Q: When you reflect on the blog, is there anything that has surprised you about your audience?
A: I thought the details would bore people, but that’s not the case. We consistently get feedback that they want detailed information.
Q: Can you pinpoint one element that’s your “secret sauce.”
A: I’d say its gonzo journalism. I put myself in the story starting with my very first post and this continues today. Plus, I go in with a critical eye and ask questions of the establishment.
Q: Was this tough to do.?
A: Not at all. I felt like I was set free to tell my story. No one was going to tell me where I have to add an exclamation point.
Q: After reading your blog, I can see you also bring a strong personal dimension to your storytelling.
A: Absolutely. The whole idea is to make the blog personal.
Note: Check out Amy’s Thanksgiving post from a couple years ago.
Don’t worry. Be happy. Enjoy the day! (And the long weekend!)
That is my 7-year-old’s artwork, btw: Mr. Scarecrow. Does he look bummed, just because he might be missing a functioning brain? No Sir. So no bemoaning your dead pancreas today People, OK?
Hey, if nothing else, be glad you’re not an astronaut; if you thought we PWDs had food troubles on this feast day, check out their plight.
Warm holiday greetings to all…
Happy Thanksgiving!
“Diabetes Mine,” November 26, 2009
Q: I also like the levity you bring to the topic.
A: It’s easy to get overwhelmed, so yes, I want to be informative. But living with diabetes is crap, so let’s have some fun as well. The magic combination is to make the site both a resource and entertaining. I want every post to say something that people didn’t already know and do it in a fun way and a personal way. I don’t hit the mark every time but that’s the goal.
Note: Good example of this levity below:
Happy Mother’s Day, All! Anyone else have their kids routinely tell them to please not be so “mother-ish”? Yeah, well it comes with the territory.
For this week’s Sunday Funnies, by beloved fellow type 1 artist Haidee Merritt, something that for some reason reminded me of Jewish mothers the world over…
Sunday Funnies: So Mother-ish
“Diabetes Mine,” May 8, 2011
Tomorrow, we’ll publish the second half of the interview which covers advocacy, venting and that new tagline for the Marine Corps mentioned earlier.
Comments
dominiq
Thanks for the great article.
We have mapped a significant part of the HeathCare social web, including Diabetes tribe (see at socialgps.ecairn.com)
Diabetes Mine is clearly one of the top. Part of the secret sauce is that she does 5 + articles per week (even moved to 8-9 since March). I noticed that the traffic (as masured by compete) is going up since March. Is this the result of publishing more?
Thanks
AmyT
Hi dominiq,
Thanks for noticing! Yes, we have recently introduced our “Weekend Edition” featuring a quirky new diabetes Q&A column every Saturday and Haidee’s cartoons on Sunday. Obviously this is having an impact on readership 🙂
Lou Hoffman
Dominiq,
The Q&A didn’t capture it but Amy also shared the addition of Allison Blass to her team as assistant editor.
Obviously, another writing resource helps expand the content.