I am filled with a tremendous shame and I know I have committed a mortal sin in the blogging world. I think I’m going to blogger hell. I abandoned my blog.
The Birth of My Blog
In May 2008 I launched my blog. Really, if I am honest, the work began in January 2008. I started studying and working on the concept of what I wanted. With the help of my friend @LorenNason I built it and launched my baby blog in May. I was filled with enthusiasm and commitment.
I knew that a blog took commitment, some time, good content, and consistency. I know that still. Fortunately, I met with some early success and business followed. And yet….
Life, and Business, Happens
Things started getting crazy right around my blog’s first birthday. The summer market started heating up bringing business with it. My agents were all busy.
Regular life had its way with me too. My kids were out of school for the summer. And then there was the death of a friend.
And sadly, with great shame and sadness, without intent, I abandoned my blog.
Just Do It!
Nike’s slogan didn’t enjoy such success without reason. Blogging reminds me of my workout regime. Just shut up and do it.
Ironically, I love it when I’m blogging consistently. I love the satisfaction of having done it. And I love the results – just like working out. But fail to go to the gym, or blog, the results eventually go away. I’ve lived both.
Sadly, I’ve noticed that if I quit working out for just one month – I may go three. I think that’s what happened to my blog. A few too many days went by and I just disconnected from my routine. Getting back to the gym that first day is always the biggest hurdle and then I remember what I loved about it.
Tomorrow, I will visit the gym …and my blog.
I’m open to tips on restarting your blog if you’ve got them!
Elaine Hanson
July 28, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Was on your blog with @LorenNason today, Linsey. Just write something as if you never stopped. Go!
Ken Brand
July 29, 2009 at 8:37 am
I think we all abandon our blogs from time to time. It’s normal and natural, life balance is tricky. When things wobble out of orbit, just do what you’re doing, press on. It’d be one thing if the blog was lost or deleted, it’s quite another to pick up where you left off and rock on.
I’m sure you’re blog will have a big smile on it’s face when it feels you writing again.
Cheers.
Joe Loomer
July 29, 2009 at 8:54 am
I abandoned mine for the last month or so – wrote a new post yesterday. I was full of ideas but a had a house full of family visiting from overseas. I opted for the family time – knowing full well I could write and post something in as little as thirty minutes – I already had the research done.
Getting back on the blog bike was easy! Go get it girl!
Navy Chief, Navy Pride
Chuck G
July 29, 2009 at 9:01 am
One thing that might help is to pick a different path for your content. Your enthusiasm for writing a blog, much like your enthusiasm for working out, relies heavily on changing up your routine. If you run the same route every day, you’ll get bored and stop working out.
Same goes with blogging. Pick new topics to write about, go out and take a bunch of pictures, change the direction of your site. ANYTHING to get you pumped up about writing again.
Bob Wilson
July 29, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Why do you work out?
Some do it to feel better, others want more tangible results. Same goes for blogging. What end result do you want out of the time and energy invested in blogging?
For me, I want either a buyer, seller, or a link. If what I write doesn’t bring in any of those, then it doesn’t matter. I have written less than a dozen posts in 2 years, but the links generated by less than half of those posts has generated over 100 links and several clients.
The whole mantra of content is king, so one has to churn out content for the sake of content is a myth. What matters is quality content that serves the primary purpose of having the site.
Its also important to keep in mind that social media, and twitter in particular, has had a huge impact on blogging. It used to be that if you wrote a great post, others would mention it in their blogs, thus generating links. Today, the tendency is for other to tweet about it. That may drive short term traffic, but garners few links that provide greater long term benefit.
Before you make a commitment to blog, first determine what it is you want to get from it.
Anita
July 29, 2009 at 3:05 pm
OUCH! This one hit home. I too have abandoned my blog. For much the same reasons. The sad part is, I keep coming across great materials and think “I should blog about that”. But then I never get around to it. It has been months now and I am too ashamed to start it again. Because not only did I abandon it, but it’s not the first time I have done so and I swore I wouldn’t do it again but here I am. My intentions are good, my follow through sucks. I will keep my fingers crossed for you and hope you will be more successful getting back on the horse than I have been.
Janie Coffey
July 30, 2009 at 10:06 am
Hi there,
I found that by looking at my best competitors blogs (in blogging content and locale), that was incentive enough to get off my duff and back on the wagon! good luck!
Sam Ingersoll
August 8, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Many bloggers promote blogging as the best way to generate business.
What they don’t say is that it takes a special kind of skill and personality and discipline.
If you’re going to only blog statistics, etc…you might as well pay someone to post data for you.
This is similar to promotors of Twitter and Facebook as great lead generators — how much time have you seen people waste on facebook during the first few months they discover it.
Realtors need to take a hard look at whether they have the right skill and dedication before relying on Social Media, and constantly monitor their ROI.