If you’ve owned a blog for a while there’s a good chance that complacency may have already set in. Dictionary.com defines complacency as “a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.”
The key expression in the above definition is the phrase “unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like”. Maybe you’ve been writing for a while and have gained some notoriety through guest posting and have built up a pretty good following in terms of subscribers. It’s only natural that we think that all is well and we just have to put our blogs on auto-pilot.
Maybe in the past year you’ve accepted a lot of guest posters because of that notoriety and have published a lot of those posts on your blog that simply were not written by you. It’s easy to do. There are many people out there who will write content for you and if you regularly accept their guest posts to make it easier for you to maintain your blog, you are making a big mistake. You are taking away the “you” from your blog and are basically making your blog a posting forum.
You could also become complacent in how you are approaching the responsibility of owning a blog. You say to yourself “I’ve figured this out” and you don’t keep learning and growing from the blogging community. You’ve basically acquired a “smug satisfaction” (see above definition) with your blog and just end up going through the motions. Well, in order to take back your blog and continue improving, it is important to make some changes in your approach to blogging.
1. Re-focus – Think about why you got into blogging. No doubt it was because you love to write and love to express your views. A prerequisite trait of all successful blog owners is the love of writing. Think about it. Without the passion to write you’ll get sick of blogging real quickly. If you got into this venture to make money first and write second, I contend that you will fail. Turn your focus back to your love of writing and, if you want to make some money down the line using your writing skills, so much the better. Think of re-focusing as getting back to your roots of blogging.
2. Re-energize – Bring some energy to your writing. Don’t write when you are tired. Pick a time of the day when you are fresh and feel good about yourself and your day. If you don’t feel like writing that day, don’t! I’ve found that unless all is good in my life, I really have no desire to write anyway. So I’ll typically just skip that day as far as blogging is concerned. Believe me, you’ll only produce less-than-worthy content that will reflect badly on your brand which is your blog.
3. Re-commit – Commit to providing high quality content. Don’t write lesser quality posts in order to meet a posting schedule. It will show in your writing and your readers will pick up on that as well. Make a commitment to yourself to top quality content regardless of the posting schedule. Some successful blog owners post once a month but they are producing top notch material and worth the wait for the readers.
4. Re-evaluate – Take a good long look at your blog design. Maybe even ask within a blogging forum for others to critique your blog site. Take their recommendations to heart and make some changes if need be. What you knew when you started your blog is nothing compared to what you know now. You’ve seen a lot of blogs by now and you must’ve seen plugins or even themes that you found really interesting running on those blogs. If you don’t know how these were implemented or what they are called, feel free to contact the blog owners and ask them. You will find that other blog owners can be really helpful if you just ask.
5. Rejuvenate – If you take the steps mentioned above, you and your blog will become rejuvenated. You will breathe new life into your blog and it will begin to flourish again. The complacency will disappear. You will, as a result, make your blog fresh and new again and it will show in your content.
Think about whether or not you’ve become complacent in your blogging. If you make it a point to take some of the above points to heart and make some changes maybe you’ll find that you’ll get back to your roots. You remember, those true reasons why you became a blogger. Those reasons are why you can’t wait to sit at your computer and churn out another quality post. Sometimes I think it helps to be reminded of such things. If you heed some of this advice maybe you and your blog will feel new again and revitalized. Enjoy the process!
The key expression in the above definition is the phrase “unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like”. Maybe you’ve been writing for a while and have gained some notoriety through guest posting and have built up a pretty good following in terms of subscribers. It’s only natural that we think that all is well and we just have to put our blogs on auto-pilot.
Maybe in the past year you’ve accepted a lot of guest posters because of that notoriety and have published a lot of those posts on your blog that simply were not written by you. It’s easy to do. There are many people out there who will write content for you and if you regularly accept their guest posts to make it easier for you to maintain your blog, you are making a big mistake. You are taking away the “you” from your blog and are basically making your blog a posting forum.
You could also become complacent in how you are approaching the responsibility of owning a blog. You say to yourself “I’ve figured this out” and you don’t keep learning and growing from the blogging community. You’ve basically acquired a “smug satisfaction” (see above definition) with your blog and just end up going through the motions. Well, in order to take back your blog and continue improving, it is important to make some changes in your approach to blogging.
1. Re-focus – Think about why you got into blogging. No doubt it was because you love to write and love to express your views. A prerequisite trait of all successful blog owners is the love of writing. Think about it. Without the passion to write you’ll get sick of blogging real quickly. If you got into this venture to make money first and write second, I contend that you will fail. Turn your focus back to your love of writing and, if you want to make some money down the line using your writing skills, so much the better. Think of re-focusing as getting back to your roots of blogging.
2. Re-energize – Bring some energy to your writing. Don’t write when you are tired. Pick a time of the day when you are fresh and feel good about yourself and your day. If you don’t feel like writing that day, don’t! I’ve found that unless all is good in my life, I really have no desire to write anyway. So I’ll typically just skip that day as far as blogging is concerned. Believe me, you’ll only produce less-than-worthy content that will reflect badly on your brand which is your blog.
3. Re-commit – Commit to providing high quality content. Don’t write lesser quality posts in order to meet a posting schedule. It will show in your writing and your readers will pick up on that as well. Make a commitment to yourself to top quality content regardless of the posting schedule. Some successful blog owners post once a month but they are producing top notch material and worth the wait for the readers.
4. Re-evaluate – Take a good long look at your blog design. Maybe even ask within a blogging forum for others to critique your blog site. Take their recommendations to heart and make some changes if need be. What you knew when you started your blog is nothing compared to what you know now. You’ve seen a lot of blogs by now and you must’ve seen plugins or even themes that you found really interesting running on those blogs. If you don’t know how these were implemented or what they are called, feel free to contact the blog owners and ask them. You will find that other blog owners can be really helpful if you just ask.
5. Rejuvenate – If you take the steps mentioned above, you and your blog will become rejuvenated. You will breathe new life into your blog and it will begin to flourish again. The complacency will disappear. You will, as a result, make your blog fresh and new again and it will show in your content.
Think about whether or not you’ve become complacent in your blogging. If you make it a point to take some of the above points to heart and make some changes maybe you’ll find that you’ll get back to your roots. You remember, those true reasons why you became a blogger. Those reasons are why you can’t wait to sit at your computer and churn out another quality post. Sometimes I think it helps to be reminded of such things. If you heed some of this advice maybe you and your blog will feel new again and revitalized. Enjoy the process!
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