Tips For Maintaining a Blog
This is not about starting a blog, what service or software
to use, or anything of that nature. Rather, it is about
maintaining a blog after you have it started.
It's easy to start a blog. Just sign up at a service like
http://blogger.com/ or install software like WordPress from
http://wordpress.org/ and go for it.
After starting it, a blog wants to be maintained. It wants
fresh posts or articles. It wants it often. And not just
anything will do; it wants things people like to read.
Without fresh content, a blog gets stale. It withers. It
becomes another statistic.
http://caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm says, "Several
studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after
creation and that few are regularly updated."
The same page talks about a survey of over 4 million blogs.
In essence, the survey found that 66% had not been updated
in two months and that over a million were one-day wonders.
It's easy to start a blog. But effort and consistency are
required to maintain one.
A blog is defined here as a web page of often updated
content, with a theme, and with an index to past blog
posts. The significant aspects of the definition being
"with a theme" and "often updated."
It's a very loose definition, and encompasses personal
journal-type blogs through corporate meeting-type blogs,
so long as they are updated, whether intermittently or on
a regular schedule, at least bi-weekly.
To date, with our various blogs, Mari and I have made 644
blog entries. One of our blogs is updated every Tuesday.
Others are updated intermittently, sometimes daily and
sometimes with many days between posts.
Here are a few things we have learned:
Blogging is a state of mind —
One learns to have mental antennae tuned for blogging
opportunities.
Maintaining a personal blog fosters a constant lookout for
things others might find interesting, instead of going
through life with only one's own interests to satisfy. A
personal blog is at http://lightfocus.com/blog.shtml
Another example is a business blog, which can use customer
questions and concerns as a basis for blog posts. There may
be product use tips, posts about new product launches, and
links to sites of particular interest for their customers.
Those who publish on the business blog will notice things
their customers might find interesting during the normal
fulfillment of their primary job description, a perspective
not shared by those who do not blog. A software business
blog is at /
A blogging state of mind is no guarantee of having anything
to say. But it does help to spot opportunities.
Prepare before starting a blog —
Before starting a blog, prepare a list of ideas, enough for
a month or at least 10 posts.
If you can't think of a month worth of posts, don't start
the blog. It will probably stagnate.
The list of ideas will help see you through one or more dry
spells as you attain the blogging state of mind.
Nobody cares if you have a cold and can't write —
If you don't provide for them, your regular readers will
go somewhere else and, quite likely, rude as it may seem,
forget about your blog.
Try to keep several ideas for posts handy, and a few
prewritten posts, for those days when you are unable to
think of or compose new original content.
If you're not sure, wait a day —
Wait a day and then review your post if you have doubts
that it expresses what you want to say.
Write something else for this day, or skip a day if you
post intermittently. Remember, it's not just content your
blog wants, but content interesting to its readers.
Know your subject —
If you're going to blog, know your subject. If you don't,
your theme will waiver and morph until it is something
you do know about, anyway.
Some blogs can be maintained with posts bolstered by
research. Others require an intimate knowledge of the
subject. http://affinity-numerology.com/blog/ is an
example of the latter.
Some personal is good —
Tidbits about yourself are good — feelings or observations
or other clues that let your readers know you as a human
being with unique characteristics. However, unless your
blog's theme is about you, stick with tidbits. Readers
like to feel they know you, but they are at your blog
for the regular content you provide.
Keep a life —
Forgetting to post is not a crime. But neglecting family
and play might be.
Don't let your blog run your life. It must be the other
way around.
If you have your heart wrapped around a subject others
might enjoy, go ahead... Blog it.
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Will Bontrager
©Copyright 2006 Bontrager Connection, LLC Bontrager Connection, LLC
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