Should You Kill Off Your Blog?!

From time to time I read an article with a theme along these lines: Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are taking over the internet making emailing and blogging a thing of the past.

Though such ideas are out there, I have yet to uncover hard data supporting these kinds of statements. But I can imagine that there may actually be something to this sort of thinking especially since Facebook now has more than 400 million registered users and my email inbox seems to be under control. Concerning the latter I can say that the number of messages I receive daily has finally plateaued, this coming after many years of relentless growth.

I’m registered with all of the major social networking sites as well as with a handful of relatively unknown sites too. But if you think that I’m going to become a Facebook Farmville devotee and give up my blogging, you’re cluck crazy!

So should you give up blogging? Well, if your blog isn’t much to speak of then go ahead.

For the majority of people who have been maintaining blogs for several years, giving up blogging now seems to make no sense. Especially if you have created a regular following and have steady traffic. Of course, should you decide to do something completely different with your life, then exiting blogging makes sense. But don’t leave your blog twisting in the wind if you think that Facebook should replace your time online.

Here are some reasons why I am not about to give up blogging any time soon:

I enjoy creating my own work. Blogging gives me a platform or bully pulpit to say what I think. Certainly you can do that on many social networking sites, but you are competing in a noisy marketplace of ideas. By maintaining this blog I can control it and give people the chance to respond and be heard.

I don’t want to lose money. This blog certainly is not a money maker but I do manage other blogs that are. Losing a couple daily Adsense clicks may not be much, but that tends to add up. Why should social networking sites get the benefit of that and more especially when I am providing to them unique and (hopefully) interesting content?

For posterity’s sake. I can’t imagine my blog writings being around long after I am gone, but if they are then I want to receive credit for what I wrote. Even for the short term I need to point my potential clients to my writings; without a blog as reference then I have one less resource to show.

I know some people are interpreting the writing on the wall to mean that blogging will eventually go the way of newspapers. Well, newspapers aren’t dead yet and just like print media I believe that blogging will transform to keep pace with “what’s new” while still allowing bloggers to have a voice on a platform they control.

Should You Schedule Your Blog Posts?

This article is dedicated to Dominique who solicited my thoughts on blogging in advance. Make sure you check out her blog, An Unlikely Perspective 2, to find out what is on Dominique’s mind.

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The blogosphere has evolved over the years to where it seems to be much more about marketing or conveying business information than about personal online journaling. Still, blog variety is the spice of life which means that there is enough room for all kinds of writing and publishing styles, with few rules holding sway. I hope that I never see the blogosphere organized to the point where originality is no longer prevalent!

How Often Do You Write?

One question that some bloggers have about blogging concerns their writing schedule. At some point, you’ll discover a rhythm that works best for you – perhaps you like posting on Mondays and Thursdays or maybe you prefer a more frequent schedule which includes Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and the weekend. Or whatever.

Regardless of how often you write, you can probably agree with the following sentiment – there are days when inspiration flows, but there are other times when you’d rather not write. However, by not adhering to a consistent schedule your blog could eventually fall to the wayside, perhaps even die. No serious blogger would allow that to happen to their blogs which for some folks serves as an extension of themselves.

Scheduling Your Articles

An important way to ensure that your blog is always fresh is to write articles in advance and schedule them to appear (drip) at certain times and on specified days. Even though I don’t have to tell you, I wrote this article on Labor Day when things were quiet and slow. I completed the article shortly before noon, then took the rest of the day off. Thanks to scheduling, I have enough articles set to appear on my other blogs for the coming days as well.

What this ultimately means is that I can work writing around my own schedule without being tied down – a measure of freedom I want and crave. Likely, you feel the same way too.

Assuming that your blog platform allows you to schedule articles in advance, developing a schedule certainly makes sense. Even though the calendar says September, I’m already thinking about articles I’ll write for the remainder of the year, including seasonal topics such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. I may write and schedule my Christmas message in November, especially if I feel particularly inspired.

Three Tips For Successful Article Preparation

Of course, there are a few things to keep in mind when writing in advance:

Don’t Date Yourself – You may think it odd to write your new year’s message when the leaves have yet to change, but that’s something entirely up to you. If I’m writing well in advance, particularly for a holiday, I write as if the holiday is in the present or “today” – not the future. That goes without saying that you should never reference the actual date when you wrote your article – your readers don’t need that distraction nor will they care.

Pick And Choose – With several of my blogs, I usually write one or two articles in advance, but with one particular blog I go much further. For example, sometimes I’ll write an article about a special event taking place one or two months out, then I fill in the remaining dates here or there.

Don’t Force It – One bad habit to avoid when writing in advance is to force yourself to write when you aren’t prepared to write. I have a personal policy that works well for me – I write only when inspired. Maybe I have only one article to write; perhaps three or more. If I write when my creative juices aren’t flowing, then I’ll torture myself to complete the task. And, who wants to read tortured writing?

In the end, writing in advance is something completely up to you. Sometimes, I will write in advance and amend the article before it is published. There are other situations where I’ll change the date when an article is to appear. My readers aren’t aware of these changes, but I like to maintain control over the publication process as that gives me the freedom to write and publish as I see fit.

Photo Credit: Maxime Perron Caissy