How Long Can I Keep the Momentum Going?
Nov 17th, 2008 by Capsun
Executive Summary: My friend “Vance” and his blog; Blog abandonment; My blog going forward.
I think it’s ironic that I’m asking this question on a Monday, when people are having a hard enough time getting their engines going, let alone keeping momentum going.
“Vance”‘ and His Blog
Last week, I asked my friend “Vance” about his blog. A couple years ago, around election season, he kept up a six-days-a-week posting schedule AND did a weekly podcast. When I asked him how long he was able to stick to it, he informed me he lasted six weeks. Granted, it was election-focused, so after the conclusion of the election, a blog like that might lose some of its steam. And one of the best things to come of it was that he received Press credentials to cover the Primary Election! Maybe if I do a good enough job here, I might qualify for credentialing.
Blog Abandonment
So as I enter my third week of blogging, I wonder if I can keep it up. And my worry is not unwarranted, given this observation:
…of the 4.12 million blogs they surveyed, 66% had not been updated in two months, and 1.09 million were abandoned after only their first post!
I’ve often observed that this blog is like doing a mini-paper everyday. But unlike a paper, it’s not graded, so if I didn’t flesh something out as thoroughly as I could have, I can just say “Ah, forget about it” and still post the entry! However, it is still very much a labor of love, especially on a day when I don’t even get a dozen hits. The hardest part about blogging is writing! It’s not the material – there is a lot happening in the world at any given moment.
My Blog Going Forward
Since this is post #20 and I’ve updated daily, I guess the above quote doesn’t apply to me – yet. But I think I can really make this last because I look at it as a creative outlet, a challenge, and a way to memorialize (for better or worse) my thoughts, rants, and observations. If anything came up, I would probably keep blogging, just not as frequently. I mean, I have a lot of thoughts to share! On any given day, I usually dismiss two other ideas that I could have written on.
My biggest challenge right now is keeping my posts relevant. That is the biggest drawback of future-posting, which I’ve only done a couple times. I hope I keep the entries timely enough to seem relevant, but I think some days it’s a mixed bag.
So do you have a blog? Do you have tips to keep the momentum going? Do I rant too much? Or am I hitting a good balance? I make this commitment right here, right now: as long as you are reading this blog, I plan to continue blogging.
Mahalo!
Thanks for the link to my post on SidSavara.com
I have two blogs – http://www.theofficediet.com and http://www.alphastudent.com – and I agree it’s sometimes hard to stay motivated. I’ve been writing The Office Diet since Jan 08 and I did find it easier once I got about three months in… I’m hoping I’ll find the same with Alpha Student!
One tip — cut down your posting rate. With both my blogs, I started off trying to post too frequently for me (5 days/week on TOS and 7 days/week on AS). I’m now posting about 3 days/week on each, and it makes it more manageable both for me and my readers.
Good luck! Hang on in there — commit yourself to doing the blog for six months, come what may, and you’ll make it.
Thanks for the tip and encouragement! I post daily partly because I have a backlog of topics I want to discuss. But maybe by posting less frequently, I could have better posts.
I like the blogs! I always wanted to know what was in your brain. Happiness. One day I might start one of my own . . . When the kids are in college!!
Thanks for stopping by and for the comments. You should start a blog…NOW. It’s like therapy, but free, and you can share it with far more than one person. You could start a photo blog of the kids.
You’re right — blogging is like therapy. Many people don’t understand why I would continue to blog for the Advertiser during grad school, but it’s kind of a chance to take a break from the books and flush out your thoughts on something else for a change, regardless of how trivial it is.
One of my goals for my blog is shorter posts, more often. Unfortunately, that style is very time consuming. One post a day is time-consuming enough!
It also depends on your audience. I would add to Ali Hale’s comment that I read blogs daily and will sometimes come back to the same blog several times in one day. The way you keep people coming back is to have the promise of something new when they return, even if it’s just a new comment in response to their comment (like you’re doing).
Finally, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that when I post long, thought-out entries that I think are great, few people actually read the entire thing. So I guess I would suggest sticking to the Golden Rule of blogging: brevity is the soul of wit.
I hear ya on the long post thing. But that pretty much describes grad school doesn’t it? Although you may share writing with classmates and friends, ultimately, you are writing for yourself and the professors? At least that was my take.
True. But with the blog I’m not hashing out the reasons why or why not Singapore’s long-term growth is sustainable, rather, I’m writing about …. Facebook.
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