I’ve taken time away from blogging for the last few weeks. Partly because I had other matters to attend to but also because I felt like I needed to.
I’d gotten to the point where I had to seek inspiration from elsewhere for every blog post I wrote. In other words, I didn’t really feel like I had anything useful to say myself and I’d fallen into the trap of writing a post for the sake of it.
I wrote about 6 Reasons You Need To Stop Stressing About Being Consistent a few weeks ago but somewhere along the way, I didn’t take my own advice.
I often hear that writing blog posts to a set schedule each week is the way to do things. Does that really benefit your business or your readers in the long-term though?
It might if you genuinely have something unique to say every time but writing stuff for the sake of it eventually just turns into same shit, different day territory.
In the long run, all that’s going to do is turn you off and demotivate you and worse still, turn your visitors off. So, I decided my next step is to do the right thing and only write a post when I have something to say. Sounds logical, huh?
It’s not just that though. It’s writing a post only when it can benefit not only my readers and community but also my (currently imaginary!) business. If it doesn’t do both then there’s no point in putting it out there.
Ultimate success or failure isn’t going to come down to how many comments I get on my blog posts or how many people share my stuff on social media. They’re immaterial. What’s important is how many visitors I can help and in turn convert into loyal customers.
HAVE YOU FALLEN INTO THE SAME TRAP AS ME?
I often find that as a stay at home dad, I only have time to write blog posts and do a little promotion. But as I’m fully aware, it’s almost impossible to make your blog your actual business. I wasn’t really trying to but I wasn’t doing anything else either.
The trouble is, I believed I had to write constantly to keep things going on my blog so visitors wouldn’t leave in their droves never to return. It’s a catch 22 situation though because of that same shit, different day thing. In other words, you might actually be turning your visitors off by writing for the sake of it.
There are so many things I’ve been meaning to do with my blog but have never gotten around to it – too busy trying to feel inspired and keeping to a writing schedule whilst looking after the kids.
Things like, updating my About Page, setting up landing pages, getting my autoresponder up and running, writing eBooks and a million other things just never get done.
…and that’s why nothing’s really changed since I started blogging. However, that’s not going to be the case going forward. I’m determined I don’t want to be writing a similar post in a year’s time.
Action is the foundational key to all success. – Pablo Picasso Click To Tweet
WHAT’S CHANGED?
I decided to take action and I joined the Blog Marketing Academy as a VIP Member (aff link). I’ve been following David Risley for quite some time now and what he shares at the Academy just makes sense to me.
The logical conclusion was to part with some cash and get with the program. I’ve now got a huge amount of learning resources to go through. It almost feels like I need to forget about most of what I’ve learnt so far and start from the beginning again.
It’s not just the training courses that attracted me to the VIP membership though, it was that there’s a fortnightly Mastermind Call with David and other VIP members. I plan to join my first one this week and am looking forward to it with nervous anticipation. There’s also a members only Facebook Group where lots of idea sharing goes on.
Whatever happens though, it’s a step forward because there was really no point in following the path I found myself on. Blogging for blogging’s sake just wasn’t working for me. And why would it?
So, you may see me around the blogosphere a little less frequently going forward. I’m considering a few changes on my blogin any case and inevitably to the marketing strategy I follow in future as well.
That doesn’t mean that I won’t be as active on social media though because that’s something that keeps the great relationships I’ve formed going.
IS THAT THE END OF YOUR BLOG THEN?
Far from it. I’m looking at it as the start of a new chapter. I’ve not lost my passion for blogging. I intend to keep posting at least once a week but only if I have something worthwhile to say (or something else makes it worth my while).
I know that goes against the advice of many who say you should post two or three times a week or even daily but what’s the point in regurgitating the same stuff as others?
By concentrating on things behind the scenes and how to move forward with building a business, I’ll have more unique and valuable information to share or at least that’s the theory.
…and I’m looking forward to blogging again and that to me is the best thing that could have happened.
