Simonds Media

Do you have a dying blog? When I tell others about my blog, many respond with, “Oh, I had a blog once but it died.” Why do blogs die? Why do so many talented and insightful people start blogs only to have them fail or grow stale in just months? Here are five popular ways to murder a blog and some proven tips to help you keep your blog healthy:

1. Handle Criticism Badly

The insular nature of web interactions serves as an emboldening serum to many otherwise nice people. The opportunity to be cruel without tangible social stigma is often too much of a temptation for some to resist. They stumble across a post that has a poorly-structured argument or incomplete thought and feast upon the weakness like a food critic gnawing on a hunk of gristle at a five-star restaurant.

If you don’t have thick skin, being the recipient of such barbed comments can be daunting. Worse, it can be enough to make an otherwise avid blogger give up. Lauren, when asked her why she’d given up blogging said,

“I haven’t felt so verbally abused since spending a summer with my alcoholic aunt as a 10 year-old!”

What’s the solution? There are three things I suggest you try:

1. Close comments on your blog for at least 5 posts — This may take a week or 5 months depending how frequently you publish articles. Not having any instant feedback will allow you to relearn (or perhaps learn for the first time) how to write without worrying about negative feedback .
2. Take a less personal approach to topics — Instead of saying, “I believe” use phrases such as, “many believe” and use quotes from noted thinkers instead of trying to come up with an argument entirely on your own. This type of article takes more effort to write but responses will be more thoughtful and you might learn something in the process!
3. Have a blog buddy you can moan to — Having another blogger to bounce frustration and confusion off of will do wonders for your ability to handle negative feedback and outright meanness on your blog. But you already knew that a friend is a good thing to have!

Thick skin takes a lot of practice and plenty of support from understanding friends. Do what you can to get enough of both.

2. Fear Public Scrutiny

Fear of public scrutiny goes much deeper with most bloggers than a simple fear of negative feedback. “What will they think of me” reverberates constantly through the blogger’s head as draft after draft is rejected for fear that others will judge it too harshly. It’s easy to obsess over the seeming finality of hitting “publish.” There’s something deliciously artistic about worrying oneself into a coma over what others might think of an unwritten article. Feeling artsy won’t get you success though.

How do you get past the fear? How do you dig deep and share your perspective on concepts you care about without spending too much time thinking about what “They” will think? Here are just three reminders to get you started:

1. Silence is often the riskier choice — If you share your perspective with thoughtful care you’ll attract a community of like minds. Say nothing and you will certainly miss out on an entire world of new ideas and fulfilling relationships. Don’t miss that!
2. Updates are allowed at any stage — If you have a change of heart, find new information, or are inspired with some new insight, go back and make sense of your words! Just make sure to include a note letting your readers know what changed and why. They’ll respect you more for it.
3. Treat this time like celebrity training — If you were a famous author you’d have even more people pummeling you with random bits of advice and criticisms. Treat your blog like a test run for when you make it big later. Think I’m crazy? Enough nobodies have become somebodies through blogging for me to think the list might just include you soon. Just keep working at it!

The world can be a scary place but history says that your most revolutionary ideas will take a lifetime of work to popularize. Focus on sharing what matters to you and let the strangers surfing the web do as they like.

3. Obsess Over Layout

Wanting to tweak your blog layout (theme) isn’t a bad thing in itself. If you read a lot of blogs there’s a good chance that you daily see some feature or function that you’d love to have on your own blog. Optimization is a good thing. But constantly changing your theme and obsessing over layout can wreak havoc on your blog for two particular reasons:

• You put so much focus on the look of your blog that you neglect the content.
• Existing readers get the idea that you’re a frenetic blogger and go elsewhere.

As one long-time (think early livejournal days) friend said of his Wordpress experience:

I spent so much time customizing the look of my blog that I never really got around to getting any writing done. Nobody wanted to hang around watching me change themes and I eventually got bored of the entire process.

Sound familiar? If so, here are three places to start with sensible layout choices and changes:

1. Make a wish list of features and functions — As you find new features and use more functions on blogs you come across, make a list of all your favorites. When it comes time that you’re sure that the only thing holding you back is your theme you’ll have a “shopping list” that will make easy work of finding the perfect theme.
2. Wait for the money — A simple way to curb theme envy is to wait until you’re making money with your blog to spend any on it. Eying that slick premium theme? Consider holding off on purchasing it until you’ve reached a certain level of income through your blog.
3. Make certain it’s the theme that bothers you — Do you really want to change your theme or are you dissatisfied with your blog in general and changing the theme seems like the quickest fix? If you just feel like it’s time for a change, consider trying a different writing style, publishing guest posts, or installing a custom typeface. You may find that your original theme was good enough the entire time.

It’s just too much fun to change themes sometimes. (As I go to change the sidebar layout for the 3rd time this week!) Make sure you’re only changing your theme for multiple and very specific reasons. You’ll see more consistent growth as a result of your unwavering attention to the details that really matter. You know, the content?

4. Try to Completely Control Content

It might come as a surprise to you that many people are not comfortable with the notion of Creative Commons and the fluidity of most web content. Publishing something on a blog only to have bits of it ripped away as fodder for seemingly unrelated discussions can be a shocking and even depressing event.

While some are able to enjoy the sense of notoriety that comes with having an idea spread, there is often a sense of loss. It’s as if something has been stolen. In some cases, something has. Yet another friend with a dead blog recounted her reasoning for abandonment as,

I got so sick of pouring my heart out only to have posts stolen or obliterated with self-serving commentary that I closed shop. It just wasn’t fun anymore.

How do you counteract the frustration and annoyance of having bits of your content “repurposed” and bear the weight of overzealous commenters? Three things to start with:

1. Create a comment policy and stick to it — A comment policy can be a pain to write and feel a bit snobby to publish but it’ll save you loads of time and irritation in the long run. Rubbish comment got you frustrated? Confirm with your policy and delete the comment. It’s your blog, your call. Doesn’t that feel better now?
2. Track your content — Use Google Alerts, internal links (links from one of your articles to another), and occasional searches for unique phrases to keep an eye on your content. If you find a gross violation of your copyright, you have recourse. It just takes a bit of research. Otherwise, it’s often best to comment on the articles that spread your ideas and ignore the ones that will only waste your time.
3. Publish month-old content — In a world of real time tweets and sloppy writing, this solution might strike you as odd. It works though. All you have to do is write content that isn’t especially time-sensitive and schedule it to publish a few weeks into the future. By the time an article is published you’ll have some distance from the content and be able to address ensuing conversations with aplomb.

Trying to control every aspect of the content you publish online will drive you nuts and kill your blog if you let it. Take a deep breath and make a plan you stick to for long-term results that don’t make you crazy!

5. Expect Constant Originality

You’re not going to always have something new and revolutionary to say. Wait for genius to come and your blog will never get off the ground. While it’s unlikely that you’ll have a truly groundbreaking idea to discuss on your blog, the world has yet to encounter your perspective on countless topics. Why not share some of that?

Many bloggers, especially those with writing in their background, come at the blogging process like every article published must turn the world upside-down. One recent conversation about a failed blog included this statement:

I started my blog thinking that I’d get all these women to read and participate in it and that we’d be able to bring about real change. Instead I ended up scrambling to get articles up after I’d spent days trying to come up with something spectacular and failed.

While I in no way think you should give up on trying to articulate new ideas and original concepts, the following may help your blog move forward while you’re waiting for your muse to kick in:

1. Participate in the link culture — Get into the habit of giving credit for what inspires you and linking to the articles that drive your thinking. Far from the expected result of making your article look unoriginal, linking to other resources positions you as a thoughtful and connected resource! The more you link out from intelligent content the more others will come find you and join in your blogging project.
2. Leverage comments for more content — When a commenter gets you going on a topic, consider responding in a post instead of an extended comment. This will allow you to keep a conversation going from point to point and take away some of the stress that comes with having to produce content regularly. The commenter you’re responding to with your post will almost certainly respond to your new post and get another conversation going. A win!
3. Take old ideas and apply them for today — If you can’t think of something brilliant to say, channel the ancients. From your mother to Socrates, the people who came before you had timeless wisdom that only you can share with your particular voice. If you find it useful and interesting your readers will probably like it to. Have  fun with it!

Getting caught up in any part of blogging can lead to burnout and the death of your blog. Knowing what to expect and planning for sustainable growth will give your blog the best possible shot at being the next TMZ or TechCrunch. Writing a blog you’re proud to share with your friends is a success in it’s own right. It’ll take some effort to find a system and style that works for you but the result will be a blog that is both interesting to write and (mostly) fun to maintain.

Best of luck with your blogging adventure. If you have any additional tips to share or stories of a blog near-death experience, share!

A subscription to Simonds Media is always free and a smart use of time. Get the RSS feed or email updates.

Images: cb shane, a thor, ld rimmel, s marki, jordan a, anna gay