Recently, I encouraged cultural resource management archaeologists start blogging as a means of reaching out to archaeology students and sharing their experiences as professionals. I believe outreach this is the best way we can shorten the learning curve for aspiring archaeologists who are currently in college. Other CRMers also felt like this was a useful pathway towards professionalism.
While giving in-person talks at a nearby university is probably the best way to connect with students, there are also other ways. You could let the Internet do all the heavy lifting. For example, you could do a Skype lecture or webinar. This allows you to connect with students with almost as much connectivity as giving an in-person presentation (This is also a helpful method for those who are timid giving live presentations as the delivery medium gives you a level of distance. And, you can choose not to show your face which also might help ease anxiety).
Creating digital media aimed at archaeology students like blog posts, vlog videos, and podcasts is another way you can reach out. There is an ever-increasing number of blogs, vlogs, and podcasts. While the number of archaeology-related online media are a small percentage of the overall blogosphere, these forms of information dissemination have been used by archaeologists for nearly a decade now. I started this blog in 2012 specifically to share my experiences and spark fruitful discussions in hopes of improving the lives and careers of CRM archaeologists. I am not alone. You can join me.
Reach a Larger Audience
There are two main reasons why creating digital archaeology-related content is a good idea: 1) You can reach more people and 2) Your ideas can be accessed easily in the future.
A small but dedicated group of bloggers and podcasters are responsible for most of the online archaeology content. Several archaeology and anthropology online media producers have seen blog content picked up by major news outlets. Katy Meyers Emery, one of the archaeology bloggers I am most familiar with, has seen her online and academic work lead to contributing to articles for Smithsonian (https://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/). University of Wisconsin-Madison paleoanthropology professor John Hawks’ blog frequently addresses current topics in archaeology and anthropology, sometimes piquing the interest of news media like Scientific American and LiveScience (http://johnhawks.net/). Heavy-hitters in the archaeology blogosphere like Emery and Hawks are out of the ordinary but even modest blogs like this one hit upon topics that have the potential to reach a mainstream audience. Recently, I was contacted by Science Magazine about a blog post series I wrote about the drinking habits of archaeologists (https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2018/12/some-disciplines-heavy-drinking-part-culture-can-be-problem). My musings on why we drink so much at conferences became part of a trending discussion.
If you want to know more about blogging in archaeology, download the free eBook “Blogging Archaeology” (http://www.digtech-llc.com/blogarch-ebook/). The book is based on a 2014 session at the Society for American Archaeology conference and contains over a dozen chapters on some insights archaeology bloggers have gained in the 2010s.
There are fewer archaeology podcasts but those that can stand the test of time provide valuable content for aspiring archaeologists and archaeology fans. Since 2012, I have been a panelist on the CRM Archaeology Podcast (https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/crmarchpodcast/). Last week we recorded the 156th episode of the podcast. It reaches thousands of individuals each month.
It takes quite a bit of work to maintain a blog but the biggest benefit is the efforts you put in today will be readily and freely available in the future. Paywalls and the high price of refereed journal volumes makes much archaeological writing out of reach. Cultural resource management “grey literature” is typically walled up in a State Historic Preservation Office somewhere where it will only see the light of day by a select number of professional archaeologists. To my knowledge, there are no pay-to-play archaeology blogs, vlogs, or podcasts. All of this stuff is available for free.
Creating online content is not only the future of the academic publishing industry, it is the future for archaeology communication. You will be writing for other archaeologists and communities but the blogosphere also has the potential to replace the traditional academic white paper. Through the “grey literature” we are producing on the internet as blog posts, archaeologists are working through many of the complications in today’s archaeological practice, method, and theory. In the process, each archaeology blogger is spreading their professional reputation outside their country or university. This is just as important for new CRMers and graduate students as it is for established professors and CRM managers because life in the Western World is enmeshed with digital platforms. If you aren’t online, you are severely limiting your impact.
An Archaeology Blog = Laptop + Internet + Word Processing Software (Archaeology Experience + Motivation for Outreach)
To start blogging, all you need is a laptop, word processing software, and a desire to reach out to others. Having your own blog or website to host your content is nice but you don’t have to do all the web management stuff if you don’t want to. There are already several vehicles for publishing blog posts that do not require you to start your own website. Several archaeology organizations like the Society for Historical Archaeology (https://sha.org/blog/about-sha-blogs/) and the Archaeological Conservancy (https://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/blog/) maintain blogs. Contact the blog editors of these organizations if you want to write for them. You could also reach out to established archaeology bloggers and pitch your blog post. If your topic falls in line with that blog’s targeted message, you can also publish there.
Starting your own website is easy but maintaining the blog is time-consuming and difficult. You need to constantly be producing content otherwise your blog will fall in search engine results, which limits your reach. Your research topic might be too targeted to keep coming up with blog posts for years into the future. If your research is too targeted, guest posting is probably your best approach.
Before you start contacting blog editors and writing blog posts, you need to take some time to think about the real reason why you want to start blogging. Do you simply have something to share? Or, were you thinking about making money writing on the internet? If its fame you’re after, you might want to write about something other than archaeology or find ways to connect archaeology to the internet’s three main “evergreen” article topics (i.e. sex, money, and health).
It is also important to remember that you are not doing this for yourself. You may be doing the writing but it’s the people reading and listening to you that matter most. Altruism is at the heart of archaeology blogging because it most likely won’t bring you much money (or any at all). You want to help. This is why you are blogging. Never forget this.
Here are some other general tips for writing online archaeology content:
Stay professional: Archaeology is not #fakenews. It is based on observations made in the three-dimensional universe, the same one that is inhabited and experienced by all sentient beings. Your work should be based on your own experiences, scientific observations, or your interpretations of scientific observations. This gives you a wide latitude of topics and approaches but it does not absolve you of your obligation to report things based on data or experience. Your blogging reflects your adherence to this aspect of archaeology.
Your blogging also reflects who you are as a person, an archaeologist, and a professional. It will get much more reach than any journal article, CRM report, or book you could write. And, the internet never forgets. What you say and do on the internet reflects upon your personal and professional reputation. Keep it professional and you’ll never have to worry about your content coming back to haunt you.
Know your audience: You are writing about archaeology, which means you will be mostly connecting with people who practice, study, or like archaeology. You are much more likely to connect with archaeo-philes AND archeo-phobes than you are likely to connect with general audiences. Part of this is because of the way Google keeps “giving us more of what we want” based on our searches but it is also because people uninterested in archaeology are unlikely to look up archaeology topics on the internet.
Archaeologists are your audience, which means they want to know about your work. This is why they’ve clicked on your content. Do not assume they know everything about archaeology (see “Focus on the Reader” below). But, you can definitely assume you both have an interest in archaeology in common.
If you want to reach non-archaeologists, use non-archaeology platforms or find a way to weave archaeology into a blog post that is not actually about archaeology. Or, you could connect your work to traditional media outlets via opinion articles and let them do the heavy lifting.
Your blog post is not yours: Just because you wrote it does not mean you get ownership of it. Things posted on the internet enter the Public Domain. Even things published behind a paywall cannot be 100% copyright protected because some individuals will do whatever they like with things they find online. No law can prevent this.
This is a Catch-22 because you are responsible for your content but you are dropping it out into the public domain where you cannot control how people use your content. It may seem scary but when has your work ever been completely confidential? Somebody can always find out what you’re doing if they really wanted to. Also, its archaeology not nuclear ballistic missile science. As long as you are careful, you should be safe from harm.
If you’re blogging, you should be writing to address concerns of your target audience (i.e. individuals you would like to help). You should WANT other people to find and use the content you’ve created. Rather than being afraid, embrace the potential that your blog post might be helping people you never dreamed you would reach.
Find a niche and stay targeted: Building on the previous points, search engines work through algorithms that help seekers find information they are looking for. Your work will be easier to find if it is focused around a central theme or has a message that targets certain keywords. This helps people find your work and aids Google’s search engine optimization (SEO) (there’s more on SEO below).
The goal to building your online writing is for it to revolve around a cluster of similar digital assets that, over time, will become a content cluster. Forget “going viral.” That almost never happens for archaeology blog posts and it isn’t permanent. Hardy content clusters have a longer duration. This is somewhat advanced but the goal is to create online content that Google and other search engines will configure into a cluster of digital content that helps spread information about different aspects of your work.
If done right, content clustering will help demonstrate your mastery of a specific aspect of archaeology, cementing you into an online “expert.” (FYI: I hate using that term because there are so many bullsh*t “experts” floating around the internet like unflushed toilet paper but it’s how the internet demonstrates expertise. Like it or not, this is how our society understands expertise. You can either reject it or post your work online and let the world sort it out for you.)
Another goal is to incorporate your content cluster into traditional media and academic publications. Here’s a diagram to help guide you:
Write about something people care about: The three “evergreen” topics of blogging are sex, money, and health (FYI: Evergreen means “topics Americans are always interested in”). It will be difficult to reach non-archaeologists if you don’t research these three topics but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach archaeologists. On this blog, the three most visited post topics are gear reviews, “how-to” tutorials, and posts that question the logics underlying archaeology (Stuff like the idea that we all need a college degree, for instance).
All people care about sex, money, and their health (including archaeologists). Archaeologists also care about cool gear, learning different ways to do archaeology tasks, and questioning the order of our industry. You will reach a wider audience if you are able to connect these topics to your work. If you can’t, don’t worry about it. Just write about what you know in such a way that archaeologists will want to read what you write.
Three basic types of posts
There is no ultimate way to write a blog post. However, there are three basic types of blog posts that all encompass over 90% of what you see on blogs:
Abstract-style Posts: These are very short summaries that mirror journal article abstracts (a few hundred words in length). In archaeology, these usually summarize work highlighted elsewhere online or short opinions about current events. Oftentimes, abstract posts are linked to other digital assets like digital archives, software tools, or companies/university programs. Abstract Posts are low-hanging fruit. You could write one of these in less than an hour.
Long-Form Posts: The majority of blog posts are Long-Form Posts. These short articles (1,000—2,000 words) are usually on a select topic and are intended to be informational. There are myriad manifestations and configurations of Long-Form Posts, but the most successful ones have several attributes in common (see “How to write a post people will actually read” below). There are also many reasons why an archaeologist would write a long-form post, but all of these reasons should come from a desire to share information with others.
Authority Posts: A few archaeology bloggers write tons of words on a single topic in hopes of demonstrating expertise. I call these Authority Posts and they can range from 2,000 to tens of thousands of words. Sometimes these take the form of a single post but Authority Posts can be published as several Long-Form Posts in a series (Creatively titled Part I, Part II, ect.).
Why the hell would you write tens of thousands of words in the form of a blog post rather than as a journal article or book chapter? Authority Posts are intended to demonstrate depth of knowledge but, in blog form, this information can be disseminated quicker, in a more vernacular tone, and outside of a paywall. I’m not saying these posts are “less quality” than a journal article. I’m saying they fill a different niche. Journal articles are for tenure, prestige, social proof, and fulfill the expectation of “Old Guarde” archaeologists who think we need to keep feeding the existing CRM technical report system or academic publishing machine. Authority posts fulfill the needs of our peers and communities NOW. They don’t take 6 months+ of peer review even if they are reviewed by other archaeologists. They can hit the streets within hours. Best of all, Authority Posts still demonstrate expertise while being available to worldwide audiences virtually free. And, they’re written in plain English so other archaeologists don’t feel drained after reading them.
If blogging is for the masses, Authority Posts are the new archaeological white papers or “grey literature” that can actually be read by the masses, on their phones, laptops, or tablets. With Authority Posts, knowledge is democratized, a data gap is filled, and it has your name on it.
How to write an archaeology blog post people will actually read
Regardless of the length or type of post you write, there are several keys to writing a blog post that Google can find and people will actually read. Here are some things I’ve discovered by writing over 300 blog posts:
Focus on the reader: Remember, this is not for you. They don’t know what you know. Do not ask them to be as knowledgeable as you are. Write as if your reader has a fifth grade education and has no idea what you are talking about.
Write a good title: Many will not even read your post but will act based on its title. This means you will reel in more readers if you write a title that piques their interest. Wanna know how to write an attractive title? Check out this blog post by HubSpot (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/a-simple-formula-for-writing-kick-ass-titles-ht).
Make sure it is search engine optimized (SEO): I mentioned SEO before. It is a complicated topic. The main thing you need to know is: 1) search engines are how people will find your blog post, 2) search engines operate somewhat like library catalogs (Without the DD System), and, 3) a post with good SEO will reach more people than one with poor SEO.
SEO revolves around how you use keywords in specific places in your post. Remember when I said you should write targeted posts that will accumulate into content clusters? Not only does your writing need to focus on your research but it should also revolve around short and long-tail keywords that help connect search engines and readers to your content. Keyword optimization matters for search engines because that is how your work will be cataloged by Google, which means it is how people will find it after you post it. SEO is optimizing your keyword usage so your content rises to the top of search engine searches making it easier for seekers to find it.
Short-tail keywords (N)— Search phrases with only a few words. For example, someone typing “archaeology” or “Montana archaeology” into Google. It is hard to rank high for short-tail keywords because much more influential organizations like Archaeology Magazine and the Smithsonian have more SEO clout than your blog has.
Long-tail keywords (N)—Search engine phrases with more words. For example, “historical archaeology conference” or “Great Falls Montana archaeology project.” It is easier to rank highly for long-tail keywords because these unique search combinations are more specific and have less competition. Unfortunately, they probably have fewer individuals looking for that specific info on the internet which makes it more difficult to stay relevant in the eyes of Google.
We could go on for thousands of words on this topic. Or, you could just read this simple post by the folks from HubSpot (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blog-search-engine-optimization).
When you write for the internet, it is important to sprinkle the keywords you are targeting in specific locations in your blog post. For example, this blog post is my attempt to create an Authority Post on blogging for archaeologists. Therefore, the title has the words “archaeology” and “blogging.” I also mention those terms in several headers, and at the beginning and end of the text (in the first and last 200 words or so). Also, the URL for this post contains those words and the metatag for the description does as well. If all goes right, this blog post should show up high in search engine results whenever anyone does a Google search for information on archaeology blogging.
Make your content skimmable: People don’t read content on the internet. They skim it. This means white space, headers, and shorter sentences are best. This is not an academic journal article. People will not consume it in the same way. Be aware of that and write accordingly.
Cut out extra words: Along the lines of the previous tip, cut out as many extra words as you can. Make your posts efficient and targeted. The only way you can cut flab is through editing. Edit away as much as you can from your posts.
Provide value: People are reading your post because they are interested in what you have to say. Make sure it is worth their while. Create the kind of content that is informative and entertaining and you’ll have readers for years.
End your archaeology blog post on a positive note
There is enough negative information on the internet to make us all fall into a deep depression. In fact, many of us are already there. Bloggers who deliver information while also ending on a positive note are the ones many of us continue reading for years. We read incisive rage posts because we are outraged. We read informative content because it piques our interest, motivates us to want to learn more, and can get us to think differently about our world. Positivity might not get as many views as negativity, but it has a better influence on those who read it.
In the United States, almost everyone over the age of about five-years-old is consuming digital content online. Digital media is how Americans come to know about the world. It shapes our reality and influences our identities as individuals, communities, and a society. Archaeology has been slow to recognize this even though we have a lot to give to the world around us.
Creating online content is one of the best ways archaeologists can connect with each other and the wider world. Blogging about archaeology is an excellent way to reach audiences, combat pseudoarchaeology, and help others learn about the job you love. When it comes to cultural resource management archaeology, writing blog posts helps your company look more personable. We academic archaeologists can shirk our reputation as stodgy “know-it-alls” through blogging. For all archaeologists, blogging can help us become valuable assets to our communities. We can be the ones that provide information used to combat racism, pseudoarchaeology, fake news, inequality, and all the other media-fueled ailments that plague our society today.
This blog post series is supposed to inspire you to start writing about archaeology online. What else would you like to know? Write a comment below or send me an email.
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