You know, I’ve read again and again that unless you’re blogging for money, blogging isn’t your business. It’s easy to believe that. Blogging is a lot of work. Coming up with new ideas day after day, taking the time to write something intelligent, then promoting what you’ve written is time-consuming, sometimes downright impossible. Stepping back in after taking a break from blogging is even harder. Why is that?
Yet, I can show you peaks and valleys, not only in our website statistics, but also in new business arriving based on the activity of this blog. The type of new business doesn’t necessarily correlate with anything recently written, so it’s not a formula of write about x and receive y.
It may be that the commitment to writing something worthwhile is what makes the difference. Maybe it changes the way I interact with clients and prospects? Blogging does force me to be in continual learning mode and to seek new ways to share time-tested information If it’s interesting enough to write about, it’s usually useful to talk about.
Anyway, after months of feeling creatively burned out, waiting for it to pass, I’m back on task. Permission to pass on posting weekly has been rescinded. It’s not just about the website stats and the business end of things, but also personal. There’s something missing when I don’t make the time to do the activities collectively referred to as blogging.
It’s also part of what John Jantsch calls “the way we do things here,” a philosophy of how we do business. Education is key. I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t have all the answers, but I believe in writing to learn. Let’s continue to learn together, shall we?
I love this post. I am new to blogging and I know what you mean about blogging being hard work. Yes Shari Lets learn together. I would be honored if you could become a contributor to my webblogsite.
See you soon.
VizFact, thanks for your comment. Please provide additional information about contributing to your site via my contact form. Thanks! ~Shari
Sure thing. I would also…well, I well follow your instructions.
I’ve been blogging for years now and I think inspiration and good motivation are always important. Thanks for sharing, great post!
Henry Ford is great, he’s got some amazing quotes .. Especially the one you mentioned – It’s your thinking that decides wheter you´re going to succeed or fail.
When you blog on a regular business for your small business, you’ll ultimately be attracting a growing group of regular followers if you have anything interesting to say. Regular readers of your small business blog will turn to you first when they’re in the market for the product or service you offer.
Every single time you write a new blog post, you’re improving your website’s search engine optimization by a small degree
Personally I found that blogging was far harder than I thought when I started. It takes time to build up a worthwhile following and it needs production of regular quality posts. On the other hand I think that the “continual learning mode” that you talk about should not be underestimated. Writing posts of quality has forced me to think through a number of important things about the direction of my business — including factors I would not have previously considered. Also writing ensures that I am aware of news and trends in my field.
It might seem a chore on a Sunday evening when I do it, but I believe that the time spent is highly worthwhile.
Ann, thanks for your comment. I agree, the habit of writing blog posts keeps us on our toes, although it’s definitely not easy.
Blogging is a lot of work and I agree with you. Unless you really love writing, you won’t be able to update your readers of the current issues.
I believe that blogging is also a form of release. It is art where one could vent out what is inside of a person’s whole being.