Five years, 517 blog posts. That’s nothing compared to the outpourings of prolific writers who crank out posts daily or even multiple times a day. But as someone who had a hard time keeping a regular journal, as noted last year at this time, I marvel at having kept posting at least once a week over this length of time.
True, that frequency has taken a beating since I started the online BA that’s still in progress. Blogging is the first to go out the window when I’m busy. Still, I’m trying to do a better job of collecting my thoughts by jotting down quick ideas and finding possible photos and illustrations ahead of time.
The category “word cloud” on the right reveals that I talk a lot about words and communications, both worlds where I basically spend my days. I also like to share writing tips and post about the independent life, social media, marketing and life in general. And I just can’t resist the occasional “general nonsense” that often includes fun with (what else) words.
What I have learned from keeping up my own blog and reading and responding to others:
- If you like a blog post enough to retweet it, why not take the time to comment on the blog first? We can look at our stats and see which posts are more popular, but unless readers comment, we don’t necessarily know what struck a chord.
- Blogging is a great way to meet and get to know people, especially if you take the time to comment and get into discussions with others.
- It’s okay to let people know you’ve written a new blog post (on Twitter, for instance), but in my opinion, it’s better to let your readers point to it on their own rather than asking people to retweet it unless it’s a type of public service announcement.
- To paraphrase Mark Twain‘s famous comment, reports of the demise of blogs has been greatly exaggerated.
Thank you to the people who have taken the time to read what I’ve written and comment here on the blog or when I’ve seen you in person. It means a lot.
Oh, and happy 5th anniversary to fellow blogger and strategic communications planning expert Les Potter, ABC. We met after cosmically starting our blogs about the same time before meeting in person at an IABC conference, and I am now privileged to call him friend.
Photo credit: Rawich and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Congratulations Sue. It is hard to believe that we started our blogs so long ago. Much has happened, but through it all, we have still managed to share thoughts with readers.
But the best result is our friendship. I value that.
I am like you in that I do not blog unless I am highly motivated to say something. I believe that we should post only when we have something relevant and/or meaningful, perhaps heartfelt, to say, not to meet some arbitrary quota. There is enough bloviation out there as it is.
Here’s to many more years out there in the blogosphere. You add insight and wisdom to the universal discussion.
Always your friend,
Les
Thank you, Les. You are too kind! I look forward to YOUR continued insight and wisdom, and to our lasting friendship.