Photo Credit djrue’s photos
A few months after I started blogging, I wrote,
When I first started blogging, I felt overwhelmed by everything I was reading. My head spun for weeks, and the learning curve was more like a switchback road going through a mountain pass. With every site I visited, I got more information, however, the more I read, the more conflicting the information became……
Today’s Lesson
Whether you’re new to blogging, or have been publishing posts for months/years, sometimes you begin to question yourself.
Am I doing this right?
Should I be doing XYZ differently?
Should I change my theme?
Should I change my blogging platform? (Blooger to WordPress or TypePad)
Should I post more (or less) often?
Does my content have to be great, or is “good”, enough?
Should I Stumble or Digg more?
Should I comment on other blogs?
Do I need to learn SEO (search engine optimization)
Do I need to learn more about HTML or CSS?
Should my blog be easy to navigate?
The questions go on, and on, and on…
One thing that doesn’t help is reading a lot of other blogs. Read ten blogs, and you’ll get ten different answers. Who’s right?
I say, there is no one right answer.
Blogging is your perception of what’s right and what’s wrong.
You know, in your heart, what works for you.
If you don’t want to Stumble, Digg, comment, learn HTML, include SEO and/or change your blogging platform, don’t.
It’s your blog. It’s your home in cyberspace.
Do, what you want to do, when you want to do it.
Although all the things I’ve listed are important, they are not essential to a blog.
The most important thing about blogging is that you enjoy it.
Today’s Assignment
Do you worry about how your blog appears in cyberspace
Do you stress over your blog posts, theme, or other blogging activities? (Digging, Stumbling, etc..)
Are you still enjoying blogging or are you experiencing burnout?
Hi Sterling,
I don’t know if a blogger ever stops asking questions, I just think they are different ones.
Your welcome for the NBOTW honor. I know you the potential to be a good blogger. Your posts are filled with value, and if you’re ever in doubt, all you have to do is read the comments you receive.
Barbara,
I love how you refer to a blog as your home in cyberspace.
As a new blogger, I constantly ask all of those questions. Growing a new blog is an exciting and humbling experience. I try to avoid being discouraged by looking at my long-term vision of where my blog will be a year from now.
Thanks for the New Blogger of the Week love awhile back. it definitely let me know I was doing something right and moving in a good direction.
sterling | bizlift’s last blog post..Walking On Water Miracle Revealed. You Won’t Believe Your Eyes.
In the beginning I felt overwhelmed by all there was to know about blogging. After putting in the time to become familiar with most of the basics, it seems a lot simpler now. Still time consuming, but I don’t have to learn as many brand new things anymore.
The only thing I really feel guilty about is not digging and stumbling enough. When I look at someone’s profile and see they’ve dugg or stumbled thousands of posts, I wonder how they did that many. And then I realize that the answer is obvious–they just made social media a priority (and I think I need to as well).
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..My Final Post: Top 9 Lessons In Awesomeness
Oh, I forgot to ask about something I haven’t figured out while winding my way through the blogosphere–how do you change the text that’s displayed when you leave a trackback?
My trackbacks show up like this:
Hunter Nuttall . com & Blog Archive & [post title]
or this:
Hunter Nuttall . com >> Blog Archive >> [post title]
I’d like to get rid of the “Blog Archive” and the weird characters, but I haven’t found where to do this yet. Does anyone know?
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..My Final Post: Top 9 Lessons In Awesomeness
Hi Hunter,
Isn’t it amazing how much there is to learn in the beginning, even though it’s written so often that “blogging is easy”?
Being involved in social media is important for networking, plus it’s a great way to “pay it forward”…sharing it with others when we find a great post or photograph.
Re: Trackbacks. I haven’t messed with those at all, but under the “write” screen in WP is a section for trackbacks. It says, “send trackbacks to……”. You might also check with WP codex.
Hi Nez,
Research/reading can take up a considerable amount of time, and like you said, that is time away from work and family. It becomes a balancing act, doesn’t it?
BTW: I love your new theme.
Hi Catherine,
I see so many different types of blogs, and it’s obvious, what others are doing is working for them, although it may not necessarily work for me.
You can easily spread yourself too thin by trying to do too much. Too often we forget that the probloggers are doing this 24/7, whereas we have full time jobs to contend with. With a limited amount of time, it’s imperative to choose that which works best for you with regard to marketing your site.
Six figures in 3 months? lol hey? 🙂
While I’m always thinking about tweaking my blog’s appearance, my main focus is really on researching, thinking, and writing my posts.
I find I need to spend quite a bit of time to write posts I like — time that I need to find amidst my commitments to my actual paying job (which I love) and my family (whom I love).
I’ve also recently started reading more, so that also uses up my time as well.
🙂
Nez’s last blog post..Dealing with Pressure Situations
Hi Barbara – this is so true. And different things work for different blogs too.
As for marketing your blog – I think the temptation is great to do far too many different things. Bloggers are far better off choosing a handful of marketing activities. You become overwhelmed otherwise.
I love blogging. I’ve had bad days, but they are usually times when my life is bad in general.
The blogs that seem to suffer burnout the most seem to be those where the blogger just really doesn’t like writing – they’re doing it because they want to become a six figure blogger in 3 months.
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..27 Ways to Fuel Your Imagination And Come Up With Great Ideas
Hi Catherine,
I’m sure freelancers could have a difficult time marketing, but at least with a blog, their potential clients can see their work, so in a sense, their blog becomes their portfolio.
Hi Barbara – so many people seem to believe it can be done though!
Time is a major factor isn’t it. I worry about those who are promoting themselves as freelancers. The time spent marketing a blog must be draining for them and the trouble is, blogging is so personal that it seems tough to find a way for them to outsource the marketing. I know I’ve been racking my brain for days on how some of them could overcome this. And it’s tough for them to outsource the freelance work too.
@ Hunter – Is your archives widget based? I think mine are and you just remove the widget. Or were they there when you first started your blog?
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..27 Ways to Fuel Your Imagination And Come Up With Great Ideas
@ Barbara, I’m checking out the WP codex…we’ll see if they have the answer.
@ Catherine, yes, the archives were widget-based, so I just removed the widget. I think I’m going to add a single “Archives” link (not broken down by month), and have that go to a page that lists all my posts.
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..My Final Post: Top 9 Lessons In Awesomeness
Do you worry about how your blog appears in cyberspace. I don’t worry about it, but I care how it looks…a little personal reflection on me.
Do you stress over your blog posts, theme, or other blogging activities? (Digging, Stumbling, etc..) Nope, not anymore. I’ve given up trying to keep up.
Are you still enjoying blogging or are you experiencing burnout? I always enjoy BLOGGING.
Natural Woman’s last blog post..6 Stress Busters for Bloggers
Hi Barbara – I think it’s doing the marketing that gets people to their blog that’s so time consuming. I don’t know if you read it but Skellie mentioned in a recent post that her traffic had gone down since she’d stopped marketing.
Hi Hunter – that was easy enough then. And it’s just reminded me I need to change mine too.
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..27 Ways to Fuel Your Imagination And Come Up With Great Ideas
Hi Hunter,
Hopefully you’re getting closer to finding your answer.
Hi Natural Woman,
It sounds like you have found balance in your blogging activities.
Another perfect score. 🙂
Hi Catherine,
I hadn’t seen that post of Skellies. I do know she got a lot of Stumble traffic. Makes me wonder if Stumbling can be overdone and Stumblers stop giving sites “thumbs up” when they are consistently seeing the same blog (even though the posts are different).