In the video below you’ll find myself and the other members of the Hot Blog Tips Hangout crew discussing the topic title “Is Blogging Hard.” It turned out to be an interesting conversation because the responses received and given weren’t quite what anyone was expecting, and we had a lot of fun with it.
 |
So, do you think blogging is hard? Based on the frequency of my posts lately one might conclude that I would say yes. Based on the number of blog posts I’ve written on this and other blogs some would think I’d say no. I’m not actually going to give my opinion on this post because I want to encourage you to watch the video (heck, I know someone will eventually watch it & break the news to everyone else lol).
What I will do is give 3 reasons why blogging is easy and three reasons why blogging is hard, and then I’ll sit back and wait to see how y’all respond to what I’ve had to say. And trust me, I could say way more, but this gets the conversation started.
Let’s start with the reasons why blogging is easy:
1. Anyone can do it. You don’t need a special degree. You don’t need fancy equipment. You don’t need a word processing program. Truthfully, if you want to only post videos to your blog or audio files you can, along with images, which means you don’t even have to write if you don’t want to.
2. It doesn’t have to cost you anything. There are lots of free blog forms out there that you can decide to hook up with and you’re good to go. I don’t like any of them I must admit but this isn’t about me.
3. You have no deadline or no schedule that’s mandatory to follow. You post whenever you want to post and that’s that.
Now, 3 reasons why it’s hard:
1. If you care what you’re writing about you want to get it right. This could mean editing time, time to find images, time to check your keywords, scheduling time, writing so many posts a week… lots of stress there.
2. Responding to comments. This must be hard for so many bloggers because more than half of the blogs I visit don’t show that the writers have taken any time to acknowledge the comments that people leave them. I’ve been thinking about creating a blog post that would continue to grow of blogs where the owners don’t respond to comments; then again, why bother since they probably don’t visit other blogs either?
3. Coming up with unique things to write about all the time. It can be hard for some people to think of something to write about for a week or two; think about how hard it could be to try to think of what to write about for six months, a year, two years or even 5 1/2 years as I’ve done with this blog (or 8 1/2 years as I’ve done with my business blog). At a certain point most people run out of regular ways to talk about whatever it is they know and may not have the knack for being creative enough to find new ways and new things to talk about.
There you are, six things to think about. I’m sure y’all will have more and I’d love to have you share your thoughts. In the meantime I offer the video below; trust me, it’s fun. 🙂
Good topic Mitch,
This is why it’s so important to have a good reason to start a blog.
It’s like having a good discussion with someone you don’t know.
You can only small talk about the weather for so long, that’s why a blog should have an “agenda”. Something that it wants it’s audience to understand and consider.
I’ve noticed this on the most successful blogs.
Thanks Darnell, and I like how you put that: “you can only small talk about the weather for so long…” That’s why one has to think about whether they really have something to say and how many different ways they can come up with something to say over time.
Another reason why blogging is hard is the extra promotion you have to do to get recognition for your sites and posts. You just have to develop a system to create and spread your message.
That also Marcie. The thing is that one pretty much can’t get there on their own. They need others to help them, and you don’t directly ask for the help but hope that people will like what you have to say enough to share what you’re written. That’s always the best promotion, but we all still have to do other things.
I have left a comment on the video to the effect that I find it hard not to blog and not to blog. To expand, I am not bothered about SEO and links and other such important issues that bother other bloggers. Since mine is truly a personal web log, I just write what comes to mind and do not have to worry about ad revenues etc.
I inevitably respond to comments and as a policy, do not visit blogs that do not respond to my comments.
Coming up with unique things to write about is not too difficult if you are not bothered about the other factors like I mentioned above.
My compliments on a nicely made video.
Rummuser, you’re kind of the rare bird these days. If I only wanted to write about my daily life and thoughts I don’t think I’d ever stop writing. But these days most people, including me, have agendas of some sort, and that makes it much more difficult for the majority. I’m lucky to always have something to say and write about but sometimes I’m just not in the mood. 🙂
Thanks bro these tips inspired me ! As a newbie blogger i was needed some inspiration from somewhere.Never thought and neither i believe blogging is easy but your post seems to be legit! Any way i would try this out and will contact you after trying it ! Thanks for sharing this information with us! Keep posting articles like this!
Good luck Nithin. I always hope to help encourage people to keep blogging when it seems like it’s fool’s gold.
Blogging isn’t hard, the real hard thing is to create unique content. To make readership, it takes months. Many people are just reproducing content and doing SEO to get visitors; because it’s the easiest way to run a blog. Anyways all your discussed points are right and the most I loved is responding to comments, because it pursues users to come back and read replies again.
Thanks for your comment Shakaib. If creating content is hard then blogging’s hard. lol Actually, I’m not so sure that people who spend a lot of time on SEO when it comes to blogs are helping themselves all that much; I’ll have to think about that one some more.
I would say your point three for me is the most pertinent. One of the strategies I have for developing new topics to right on is do a quick Google News search for something I have already wrote about. Undoubtedly at least three or four new ideas will spring up from browsing the results. The reason the News search is good for this is b/c often times topics will come up that are relevant and current.
Sarah, that’s a great way to find things to write about. I don’t do it intentionally, but I take in a lot of information and sometimes something just sparks my imagination enough to want to write about it.
As I believe all three of you said in the video, the answer depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. In the list of important things in your life, where does blogging fit? I’ve always loved playing baseball, and I don’t think it’s hard. It’s fun — partly because I play when I want to, and when I don’t feel like playing, I don’t. My performance also isn’t terribly critical. If I drop a fly ball or make a bad throw or pop up to the catcher, it doesn’t really matter. But if I wanted to be a professional baseball player, suddenly it’s a job and a career, and there’s great pressure to do well. Fun would likely take a back seat. For me, blogging is somewhere in the middle. I try to have fun with it, but I also take it seriously. At the same time, if I were being paid to write posts, or if I were trying to generate ad revenue, I think it would feel a lot different.
Great perspective Charles, and what you’ve said is how I feel about it all. If all I had to do was write and nothing else, blogging would be very easy to do. But it’s all the other stuff that comes along with it that makes it hard. If I didn’t also enjoy it, not sure I’d be doing it unless I was getting paid for it.
Blogging can be…incredibly frustrating, especially if everything you try to get hits and views and comments fails. At the same time, it can be very lucrative and very enjoyable.
Me? It’s a diary, and if people care about it, then good for them. I appreciate it, but I do it for me!
I guess we’ll never find out since you didn’t share the link to your blog. lol But you’re right, there are times when it does seem frustrating. For instance, my business blog just hit 1,100 posts, but it doesn’t come close to getting as many comments as one might think I’d get after more than 8 years of writing it.
Almost all of the “pressure” we put on ourselves is self imposed. It’s really very impressive when you consider that many employers have to deal with employees that need constant supervision and persuasion; we have bloggers setting impossible deadlines for themselves and pushing their abilities to the limit.
Brian, I’d agree with the “almost”. The thing we both know is that if there’s no regular schedule there’s no visitors, hence there’s no traffic. If people are good with that then it’s fine. But if they have any laments whatsoever it’s on them.
As a small business owner who’s responsible for everything from the taxes to payroll, shipping to customer service, it’s HARD to find the time to blog. So that’s my hardest thing about blogging, simply finding the time to do it, and do it well.
The hardest thing for me to do is to simply find the TIME to write well written, unique articles that people will enjoy. Time is my number one enemy, because as a small business owner, I do it all.
Steven planck
Well Steven, as a business consultant, one of the things I’d recommend is learning how to delegate some of that stuff because I have. Hire a payroll service and an accountant and maybe one or two other things (I pay someone to cut my grass) so you’ll have at least a little bit more time. Still, the idea behind blogging is that, for you anyway, you’re trying to show your expertise. It’s the most cost efficient way to advertise; gotta find some time for that. 🙂