Four ways to spot if a blogger is burned out

4 ways to spot that a blogger is burned out (lack of updates, declining quality, etc.) and 4 ways to spot that YOU are burnt out on your blog (can’t find inspiration, etc.)

The right web content can bolster and strengthen your online reputation and connect you with your target market. One of the easiest and most rewarding ways to share this valuable content is through a blog. Blogs enable you to share up-to-date information with your readers and provide a forum for discussion and comments, in turn creating interest in your brand. However, simply having a blog isn’t enough. It’s also about having the right blogger. But blogging can become tedious and monotonous, and when that happens, it shows.

Spotting burn out in other bloggers

If you’re worried that the person blogging for your company (or even for a site you depend on for information) is burned out from the daily tasks of compiling data, writing content, and finding relevant images, here are four red flags to look out for:

1. Declining Quality – You may find that your blogger doesn’t catch as many grammatical or spelling errors as usual. This may mean that your blogger isn’t completing an additional read-through before submission because she just wants to be done with it. When a blogger is burned out, the quality is usually the first thing to go.

2. Lack of Updates – The second red flag to look out for is a lack of consistent updates or a mass quantity of submitted blogs right before a deadline. A blogger who is not burned out usually will remain consistent with postings, whether that is one a day or a few times a week. If your blogger has been silent for a while, you may want to identify and rectify the problem before moving forward.

3. Only Does the Minimum – You’ve probably set a minimum word count for your blogger. A burned-out blogger will only do the minimum, just enough to scrape by and call it done. You may even notice that the blogs seem to stop in mid-thought or doesn’t include a wrap-up paragraph because that would’ve pushed the blog to be more than the minimum word count required.

4. Repetitive Content – After a while, many bloggers resort to writing about the same old topics over and over again or even repackaging content they’ve already written. This could be because they’re comfortable with the topic or it’s easy to whip out 400 words on a topic they’ve already researched. All they have to do is word it a little bit differently.

Fatigue surrounding your own blogging efforts

But it’s not just bloggers that you should keep an eye on for burnout; you’re also susceptible. When considering your own blogging efforts, here are four ways to identify if you’re burned out, too.

1. Can’t Find Inspiration – Finding blog inspiration can be one of the hardest parts of being a regular, consistent blogger. If you struggle to find inspiration for new blog posts, you may be burned out. Even when you’re looking for blog inspiration, every topic or idea may seem too wearisome or difficult to capture with words. When you don’t even try to capture those brief moments of inspiration, you know there’s a problem.

2. Everything Else Becomes More Important – We all have a lot of items on our daily to-do lists. However, when everything else on that list suddenly becomes more important—especially if those include checking personal social networking sites, de-linting the dryer, or organizing your pens or notepads—this may mean that the idea of blogging that day causes stress and anxiety. And that’s when you know you’ve reached burn-out.

3. Anxiety over the Reception – Sometimes being too wrapped up in the reception of a blog post can cause burn-out. Let’s be honest; dealing with both positive and negative comments, constantly worrying about stats and numbers, and trying to get the information across while maintaining political correctness is exhausting. Instead, focus on the heart of the writing, the purpose and point of each particular blog. Leave the comments and the numbers for another day.

4. You No Longer Love What You Do – Now, this is a big red flag to watch out for. If you don’t love what you do or what you blog about, it will be a pain for as long as you do it. The trick is to find subjects and topics that interest you, excite you, and make you think. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Burning out from blogging is common because it is a constant demand. No matter how ahead-of-the-game you get today, you’ll still have to do it all over again tomorrow, and then again the next day. And that can become tedious very quickly. Once you’ve identifying blogger burnout, whether it’s one of your employees or yourself, it’s time to find ways to remedy the situation, including taking a few-days break, assigning new and unique topics, and getting back to why you started blogging in the first place. Then you can beat the burnout and continue with your work.