A reader of mine left an impassioned comment on my blog recently asking:
Tell me if I should be doing this? I’m busting my head against the wall with my blog. I’m trying so hard to get readers and it’s just not happening. What am I doing wrong? Should I be doing this? Why am I doing this? Tell me to stop if you think I shouldn’t be blogging.
First, it’s not my job to tell you whether or not to stop blogging. That’s your decision. Sometimes, at the depths of despair we find the motivation that kicks us up over the edge, turning whatever we are doing into magic. I won’t interfere in that process directly.
However, I do know that we are entering a time period in the recent life cycle of blogging when more and more bloggers are asking themselves similar questions. Now into the end of their first, second, and even third year of blogging, many are starting to evaluate how much time, work, and energy they are putting into something that has so little return on its investment. They are asking themselves why am I doing this?
Why Are You Blogging?
Have you stopped and asked yourself “why am I blogging” recently? Are you part of the growing number of people not finding the return on their investment with their blogs? Have you been reconsidering the direction your blog is taking and where you want to take the business of your blog?
Join the club. Bloggers are shifting their focus all over the place as the passion they once had for sharing their words and images with the world fades. It’s just not fun any more.
As with anything, once the thrill is gone, then what? You are stuck with this blog thing and now what?
If you are truly frustrated and see nowhere to take your blog to the next level, then please stop. We, your readers, can tell when you are burned out and fed up. Quit flogging your blog and stop.
If you see the value in what you are doing, then get back to the reasons why you began blogging in the first place. What did you really want out of it? Do you remember? Now, how can you notch it up so you are getting more out of this blogging thing?
Maybe it means a redesign. It always makes a blogger feel good to redesign their blog, but some redesigns are not for the better. Make sure your redesign improves the reader experience, and is not just a paint job.
Maybe it means changing your blog’s focus to what you really want to write about rather than what you think will bring in traffic. When you blog your passion, traffic will follow. Trust that.
Maybe it means stopping that blog completely and going off in a new direction. Why not experiment with that blog for a while before cutting your losses on the old blog, just to see if that is what you really want to do.
Here are some articles I’ve written recently on the subject that might help you find a new direction for your blog. Remember, it is your blog and you control it. It doesn’t control you. You choose.
- Have Your Favorite Bloggers and Blogs Run Out of Steam?
- How Do You Know If a Blog Has Integrity?
- How to Know When to Stop Blogging
- Are You Following Your Blogging Instincts?
- Is Your Self Worth Wrapped Up in Your Blog?
- When Is It Time To Leave A Free Blog?
- Lighting Your Blogging Fire With Community and Imagination
- Are You Losing Readers? Why?
- Are You Losing Readers? How Do You Keep Your Readers Reading?
- What Is Sucking Your Blogging Confidence Away?
- Reenergizing Your Blogging Spirit
- Are You Blogging What You Should Be Blogging?
- What Does It Really Take to Blog?
- What is Hard About the Hard Work of Blogging?
- What Do I Blog About?
- Blogging With Conviction
- If You Want to Start Blogging, You Have to Get Up and Dance
- Three Lessons That Will Change Your Blog
- Improving Your Blog: Clarity
- Want. Want. Want. Blogging is About Giving
- What Do You Bring to the Blog Table? A Remix or Your Own Special Recipe?
- Give Back To Blog Experts
- What You Don’t Know About Blogging Can Hurt You
- When Bloggers Return for More Blogging
- What Do You Want? One-Shot Traffic Versus Easy Conversion