Image credit: http://www.sherbetblossom.com/2011/02/some-thoughts-on-blogging.html
Blogging was simple when I started in 2005. I wrote posts, replied to comments, commented on other blogs, kept up with my blogroll on Bloglines, and that was it. And then blogging exploded and social media was born, and for me, blogging got a whole lot more complicated. I’d like to think it’s possible for me to decide that I can make blogging easy again.
I put pressure on myself to try and keep up with everything that everyone else is doing. As my traffic dropped, I frantically tried to figure out why, was it something I was doing or not doing, what were other blogs doing, maybe I should do that too – I’ve been driving myself crazy.
And then I went to the Brands & Bloggers Summit last weekend, and listened to Andrea Metcalf, a nationally known fitness expert and motivational speaker, speak on the topic “Amplify Your Brand”. What I wrote down in my notes is this:
What is your MISSION? Inspiring others? Encouraging others to dream? Transforming lives? You need to know what you want to accomplish with your writing.
I hadn’t thought about that, beyond a general “my mission is to, you know, write stuff, and it would be great if other people read it.” My original plan for this blog was for it to be an online journal of sorts, where I could save memories of my kids as they grew up, and where I could share my thoughts on current events, books I was reading, music I was listening to, movies I’d watched, TV shows I was addicted to, whatever came to mind.
And then I started blogging for the purpose of earning money, and the train went way off the rails. I lost track of that original plan in my rush to start contributing financially to my family. I started saying yes to everything, and now I have made a big mess of my life. Every day I stare at piles of products I said I’d love to review, hundreds of new emails that I can never keep up with, and a list of things I “should” do, like update twitter X number of times, make sure my posts go to Facebook, add my Wordless Wednesday link to as many linkies as I can find, all in the hopes that one or two people will come here and leave a comment.
It’s exhausting.
I’m never going to have the readers I had when I started. The people who read my blog in 2006 and 2007 have told me flat-out that they stopped reading when I started writing paid posts. They still like ME, they just stopped liking this blog. It hurts, but I can’t blame them.
I have got to stop making blogging into something difficult. I’ve got to stop worrying about keywords and title tags and SEO and linkies, and just write from my heart. I’ve got to pull in my focus and stop letting what everyone else is doing affect what I’m doing.
In other words, I need to blog like NO ONE IS READING. Because if the original purpose of this blog was to journal my life, it should be just for me anyways. Believe me, I wish I could go back to 2008 and make a different choice. But I can’t, so what I can do is learn from my mistakes, and vow to do better starting now.
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I'm Elizabeth, a 40-something Michigan wife and mother of three. I created Table for Five in 2005 as a way to connect with other Moms, and I've been blogging ever since. Please click the About tab at the top of the page to read more about me and my family! email: table4five@gmail.com
Twitter: andreimcbreak
Hi Elizabeth, it’s great to hear to that you have lots of subscribers, readers, followers and the like. But it’s sad to hear that the traffic on your blog dropped. One reason that might affect your traffic is because of the penguin update, which also affected a lot of bloggers and sites and which I believe you already knew.
Really helpful tips, and it is actually what I had been searching for. I just want to get out of stuck, I feel so stressed because of my blog nowadays. I’ve just started my new blog, and I have heard so much about the importance of fresh content etc. But somehow I have lost my motivation, there are too many things to do with a blog. I unfortunately haven’t done anything like this before, so your useful tips could be very helpful for me. Thanks for sharing them!
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Twitter: griffin63
Good points
Writing regular posts requires much work and an eye for current affairs for what topic you are writing about
The research takes a lot of time and then offering useful information for your readers
I spend some 70 hours a week doing both.Great images or videos are an excellent way to attract new subscribers
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“Blog like no one is reading.” Elizabeth, I think that’s one of the most brilliant things I’ve read on the blogosphere EVER!
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[...] remember one thing that simplifying doesn’t mean bore the hell out of your readers. Know your topic or subject very well before you start writing on [...]
Tips is really very helpful.
You should blog for yourself. Blogging is a way to put forward your thoughts, the way you feel and see things. You should not change it for others. Its fine that you blog like no one is reading..
Hello, just wanted to mention, I enjoyed this post. It was funny. keep on posting!
It’s really refreshing to read something like that, Elizabeth. I write a Fantasy Football blog because I love fantasy football. It’s as simple as that, really. By the looks of things, people love your posts but you’re not writing to change the world, you’re simply looking to offer a glipse of how you view it.
Monetizing, blog traffic, page rank, anti-spam bla bla bla bla. I only started blogging a year or so ago but if we’re being honest, this magical 2005 you speak of – the simple, fun blogging era – sounds like it was a mighty fine place to be!
BJ
I do blog but less often, just when there are interesting things that happens in my life.
Here’s my blog
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i love reading this post. I also have my blog. @http://mindandheartspeak.blogspot.com/
i really really love blogging.
I too love blogging but I lost my password so I created one.
Blogging is life.. in 5 years it will enhance its importance for sure..
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You are awesome! This article is a fine example of excellent informative writing. You have a wonderful gift for writing interesting informational content. Thank you.
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This article is excellent in both informative material and grammar usage. I find this material enlightening and interesting. Thank you for caring enough to provide quality well-written and useful content.
I like this blog because it has soul. You’re not trying to sell me an ebook or get me to sign up to a course. You write because you want to and wish to engage your readers in real, genuine conversation. That’s what blogging USED to be about once and that’s why I’ll continutally check back here because that spirit is still alive and well amongst these pages.
I totally agree. Should reflect on his blog his life and perspective rather than to write crap just to fill material.
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I can appreciate great writing when I read it. This is truly great writing. You make valid and interesting points that you have presented in a unique way. This is an excellent high quality article.
Dear Admin,
I landed upon your article”Stop This Craziness, I Want To Get Off”from google, Actually i am doing a research work on”Blogging tips”,found your article useful for my research work. Actually i was looking for more related articles on your blog but unfortunately didnt find anymore of it.Hope read more related articles in coming days…I will keep following your blog till then
Regards
Mia
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A really refreshing post, Elizabeth.
I offer consulting services for people who want to become ‘professional bloggers,’ (don’t worry, this isn’t an attempt at a free plug,) and one of the things I see most often people who started out with such passion and vision becoming burned out as what begun as a fun, fresh way to voice their opinions become just another rountine obligation.
Blogging by nature can become very mechanical. I’m sorry to hear that some of your older readers have stopped following you, yet you’re certainly adopting the right mentality. If you’re a mother with children you can’t afford the time to blog with such frequency and not try to make some income from it also; that would be irresponsible. I wish you all the best, Elizabeth. You’ve got a wonderfully structured site and I am more than certaint that if you keep writing as ‘you’ then your success will continue long into the future.
Jon
I can see where you some of your long-time readers might be coming from, but I think the mere fact you’ve been blogging since 2005 should earn you a bit of slack in that regard. You’re a mother of three and you’re earning a living whilst providing quality content for us all to read, for free!
If a ‘paid’ review makes its way into these pages then it isn’t the end of the world as long as the quality remains high and, odds are, the product will probably be useful to your readers anyway! I say you’ve earned enough cred to not even worry about it.
What’s the saying, ‘haters gonna hate’?
I couldn’t agree any more!
People are so paranoid about whether or not a particular page is a ‘paid’ post or not. I understand where this mindset has come from because we’re beaten down by advertising every day, but when it comes in the form of legitimate content that has been genuinely written and offers valuable information to those reading it, what’s the harm in that?!
good ! This is the right website for anyone who really wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much, its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic that has been written about for a long time. Great stuff, just great!
naturally like your website but you have to test the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I to find it very bothersome to tell the truth nevertheless I’ll surely come again again.