Blogging

At a recent department tech talk, I was asked to say a few words about blogging – as I was once known for blogging about blogging.

Over the last few years, my blogging frequency has decreased a lot. With a list of failed blogs behind me, it feels somewhat disingenuous to talk about blogging.

However, you can still learn from your mistakes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. To that end, here are a few of the biggest mistakes I’ve made, with tips for how to avoid doing the same things yourself.

Starting a blog for the sake of it

It’s exciting to start a new blog. It’s much harder to keep it going.

It can be far too easy to come up with an idea and jump right in without thinking it through. First off, why are you starting a blog? What will it be about? Who’s it for?

It’s OK if you want to start a hobby blog just for fun. It doesn’t have to be part of a business. It doesn’t have to make money. But be clear on your reasons before diving right in.

An example of where I went wrong is I was writing about blogging, but never really had a point to it. There wasn’t a particular area of blogging I focused on. I didn’t target a particular type of blogger. The focus was very broad – and interest in the blog was fairly low.

Not having a plan

It’s easy to lose interest in a blog if you start without figuring out what direction you want to take it in.

Having some specific goals helps. For instance, if you write 1 post per week, you’ll have 52 posts if you keep that up for a year. But is that your objective? Does it matter to you?

Perhaps your goal is to learn something new, and to use your blog to write about how it’s going. Or you’d like to share your insights on a topic you already know – learning more along the way – and when you have enough posts, you could compile these into an eBook.

You don’t have to tell anyone else about your goals – they’re just for you. But it will help if you have a plan so you know where you’re going – and to see if you’re on track, or going off course.

Procrastination

Should I start a blog? What should I call it? Will anybody read it? Why even bother starting if it might not go anywhere?

It’s definitely possible to overthink things, and end up not having a go.

You can always start a blog and get some posts up without telling the world about it right away. I think it’s far better to get 5-6 posts up first, than to share your brand new blog name, design, and first “welcome!” post – only to lose interest and never post again.

Trying to go it alone

Solo blogging can be lonely. Finding other people with blogs who you can follow (and vice versa) can make blogging a much more social activity.

Having a clear focus can help. For instance, a blog about a specific topic can make it easier to find others in your field, than if you have a multi-topic blog where you write about anything and everything. I’m still guilty of this …

You can also write guest posts for other people’s blogs – or even start a group blog, where several people contribute.

Not making it a habit

You don’t have to publish a post every day. Readers might not want to read a post from you that often anyway!

But you can still do something every day, and find a sustainable rhythm for getting a new post up. You could write every day even if you don’t publish a post. Learn something every day. Take a photo every day. Post on social media every day. Or whatever takes your fancy.

I’ve tried most possible rhythms for publishing new content. Daily – 5 times a week – 3 times a week – once a week – or less. You definitely need a plan – and a lot of post ideas – to maintain a regular posting frequency. But the consistency of regular posting can be very good for turning blogging into a habit.

In summary

1. think about why you want to blog
2. have a plan
3. don’t overthink it – give it a try
4. connect with other bloggers
5. make blogging a habit

Never mind the future of blogging – what’s the “now” of blogging in 2017?

I’ve been a bit quiet here recently. There are various reasons for this, but if I rolled off a few, they’d sound like excuses.

The quick version? Circumstances change. People change. People move on.

Ironically, I don’t always blog my thoughts in case someone reads something I’d rather they didn’t. By not blogging at all, I’ve certainly taken care of that.

The risk in 2017 (or 2015, or 2020) is that everything you say is so visible. So easy to find – and so hard to erase.

There’s that line for people who worry about their private messages being accessed. “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ll be fine.” I’ve become a bit paranoid – not because I’m plotting something, but because once you put something in writing, it could be held against you – somehow.

While there are loads of stories about how someone has said or done something terrible, I can’t help feeling that it’s all too easy for one bad comment to permanently tarnish your reputation. There are levels of severity here.

I guess the answer is to not put it in writing. It feels like we’re expected to do this all the time. A blog cannot be too personal, lest you reveal too much. We can’t post negative things online – unhappiness, un-constructive criticism, anger, moaning, venting – because that reflects badly on us.

Thus, we have these uber-positive social media profiles. No wonder the only thing I can remember seeing on Facebook is engagement, marriage, and babies. Occasionally birthdays and barbecues show up. Oh, and holiday photos. There’s not much else.

So, what’s the “now” of blogging in 2017? It feels like blogging – and online life in general – has become very filtered. Based on my own anecdotal evidence, the overwhelming trend for everything I’ve seen friends posting online is that it’s positive – or at least has a positive spin.

I’ve posted less, because I haven’t always had happy things to say. To be honest, I haven’t had much of anything to say. Facebook particularly seems to be geared towards sharing things when you have news – especially when it’s positive. This is perfectly illustrated by the lack of any reaction besides “like”, at least until February 2016. The “like” button “was first activated” in February 2009. That’s seven years of Facebook giving the indication that positive stuff is preferred.

We’re human beings. We’re not always going to be happy. Suppressing negative emotions by not sharing them is probably not a good thing. I’m sure someone else has said that better.

For now, blogging is filtered. Maybe it’s time to change that.