If you have a blog or have ever been in charge of maintaining one, you’re probably familiar with that burdensome feeling you need to keep a steady stream of posts going. You know that strange sense of guilt if you haven’t posted in a while. You’re aware of the series of conversations in your head justifying why you haven’t posted and why it’s not as bad as you think it is … only to begin to wonder if it’s worse than you think and you’re just self-deluded. Over the years I’ve talked to friends and clients who literally lose sleep and develop anxiety because of these thoughts and feelings.
What’s driving them is a nugget of truth: Blogs are living organisms, and they need to be fed and well cared for. Good blogs with a strong audience post with regularity. These are the facts, and that’s why it’s easy to feel guilty if you haven’t posted in a while.
But what are you to do when you’re legitimately busy? Not busy like, “I just had a really busy day, but I’ll be back in touch tomorrow.” More like, “I’ve been so busy, the last three weeks are a total blur.”
Anomaly or New Normal?
I’m wrestling with all of this personally because the last couple of weeks fall into that “blur” category, and my blogging has really fallen off. I’ve been blogging for more than six years, and I can’t recall a time when I’ve been as sporadic as I have been lately. I also can’t recall a time during these last six years when I’ve been this busy. What I’ve had to determine is this: Is this just an anomaly, or is this the new normal? If it’s an anomaly (and I think it is in my case), then I can push ahead and just know the blog will be here for me to pick back up when I’m over the hump.
If, however, I were to determine this is the new normal, I would need to do some serious evaluation of my blogging approach. Here are some questions I would be asking myself if I thought this is the new normal:
• How often can I legitimately blog and maintain with this schedule?
• Can I do one blog post a week?
• Can I do three a month?
• Do I know people who might be good guest bloggers?
• Do I need to bring on a contributor to help add another voice (and more regular content) to the blog?
• Is the blog still worth doing?
• What has the blog accomplished for me in the time I’ve been blogging, and what would I lose if I stopped entirely?
As you can see, the questions range from pulling back and finding a manageable system to getting serious about whether the blog should continue. Personally, even if I thought this was the new normal for me, I wouldn’t kill my blog. It’s been too valuable, and I would figure out another way to keep it going. Though blogging has lost much of its luster, and Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and a variety of other social mediums have taken the limelight, I still believe it’s one of the single best platforms you can have. Do all you can to find a way to make it work, regardless of how busy you are.
