I was sitting around this morning, listening to the Gym Class Heroes when I got to thinking that blogging about something on a low traffic site like mine, is in many ways, very similar to playing the stock market with out investing too much time in learning about it. In both cases the person hopes for a good out come. The blogger hopes the new post will attract attention to his or her site, and the person playing the stock market hopes that whatever new stock they have just gambled on will turn out to be a winner.
However, greater than 90 percent of the time, the post and the stock, does not preform as anticipated. Why? Well here are some problems.
The first is that the average blogger/investor is not intelligent enough. They do not invest enough time in researching the post/stock, they do not check out who has written it before or where the company has been financially. In most cases, the post/stock has already been over used. The topic of the post was found, written about, and then “dugg” in a more primitive stage than you have learned about it. If the topic was a web application, somebody was writing about it in its alpha stage. If it was music, someone had stolen it and released the bootlegs for everyone three weeks before it came out. It is the same way with the new stock you want to invest in. Think about what has really attracted you to the stock? Has it been all over the news? Has it been shooting up recently because the company is making huge improvements or has recently merged? If this is the case, then you’re most likely throwing you’re money away. Sure you might be able to make some money if you stay in for a brief period of time, and get out right at the peak. But those who made a killing have been in it from the beginning.
That brings me to the second issue of blogging and playing the stock market. It IS all who you know. Big bloggers typically work for big companies or have years upon years of experience in the field they are writing about. Or if not one of these two, the blogger probably jumped on the bandwagon really early and has a large fan base due to comedic or learned informative value. But back to the idea of big companies and years of experience. Because they have either or both of these, the blogger knows people who can provide them with information. The blogger is networked. Friends keep him informed about the latest applications, games, gadgets, or whatever, that are coming out, then he or she writes about them. Or the company that the blogger works for commands enough clout to get the blogger interviews with movers and shakers of the blogger’s writing topic.
The same goes for the ivestor. The people making the money, reaping the benefits, are those who are in the know. They are the people who invest for a living or know those who do. They know about companies before the public does. They have the opportunity to buy into the company and may choose to do so based on how the company is set up (the system in place) and who is running the company. The investor educates him/herself about those two ideas, and makes a decision. They know that once the company is in the limelight, that most of the money to be made is gone. It is peaking, their money should have been in earlier, and those who buy now will most likely lose money.
In conclusion, blogging and investing are all about your education and who you know. The more information that can be gathered and turned around the better, and the more contacts you have, also the better.
