Judy Lee Dunn | Writer | Blogger
Judy Dunn- for bloggers who write and writers who blog
In the last five days, I have been on a social media diet, trying to figure out what is most important to me. What feeds my soul. What makes me jump out of bed itching to start my day, ‘with bells on,’ as Mama used to say.
An unexpected change in my plans to attend the New Media Expo Conference, coupled with Mr. bobWP being out of town, gave me the thinking time I needed. That is when it all fell together.
Last year about this time (okay, it was in December), I made a public decision. I announced it over at my other blogging home, For Bloggers, By Bloggers.
I don’t know about you, but I can weasel out of commitments to myself quite easily. But when I tell someone else I’m going to do something, well, that’s different. Because what will they think of me if I screw up, if I don’t do what I said I would do?
You pinned your shiny new blogging badge on with high hopes.
You read blogs. You like blogs. You especially like it when someone reads your blog.
But lately the mojo isn’t there. You’re in a funk and you can’t figure out why. The ideas are not coming to you.
No one shows up. Or not enough people show up. Or too many people show up and you can’t keep up with the comments.
You are wondering if this whole blogging thing is just a time suck.
Maybe you should quit.
“Quit?” you say? “I can’t do that. Can I?
Well, yes.
People quit blogging every day and, in fact, most people close up their blogs within 3 months of starting them.
But before you pull the plug on your blog (or leave it lying in a field, starving for attention), try these things:
It gives you a break and introduces your readers to a new voice. Just be sure the blogger you choose writes about things your readers are interested in. Because if you blog about your big RV adventure and you give a post to a a blogger whose site is all about the aye-aye—also known as the world’s largest nocturnal primate—well, that just wouldn’t make sense.
Maybe you need a little variety. Try a video post. Or an interview with someone you admire who your readers might like to meet. Post links to other bloggers’ sites when they have a cool post out. Find resources on the Web and write a “Free Stuff I Found” post.
Who said that every post has to be connected to your blog’s reason for being? One of the reasons we watch the late night shows is to get the ‘unstructured, unplugged’ celebrity. We feel as if we get to step behind the ‘velvet rope.’ We get to see what they’re really like, how they feel about things.
Use the ‘velvet rope’ strategy to tell your readers what matters to you. Maybe it was a moment of grief. Or a personal cause that holds meaning for you. Or a life-changing event and how it impacted you. It’ll give you a blogging break—and these posts are usually easier to write.
It is amazing how a calendar takes the pressure off. Even if you just jot down ideas for blog posts, you’ll find that it’s much more simple to create posts from them than creating every single topic on the spot, when you are feeling the pressure of that blank screen.
“What?” you say. “Are you crazy? I’m about ready to throw in the blogging towel and you tell me to blog more?’
Try it.
New ideas spawn more new ideas. Writing more makes you write better, faster, easier. I’m guest posting a lot these days and I find that my own CatsEyeWriter posts aren’t taking nearly as long to write.
Because I’m in the groove.
What about you?
Do you ever feel like blogging isn’t fun anymore?
What do you do to get back in the groove?
Bring the fun back: If blogging isn’t fun because you aren’t feeling the reader and comment love, our 90-minute, interactive lesson will take some of that pressure off and free you up to focus on bringing the fun back to blogging. Find out if our March 15 30 Design and Content Secrets to Skyrocket Your Blog webinar is right for you.
And a gentle reminder: If you register by Friday, March 4, you’ll also get your blog’s home page looked at during the webinar!
We’re maxed out—all of us. We were tired before social media came tripping into our lives.
And the worst part? The guilt. We are made to feel that we’re not a serious business if we don’t participate in the ”community.”
That we’ll be missing the conversation if we don’t hang out online.
Of course, you need to find time to actually run your business, too. Developing project bids, meeting with prospective clients, balancing the books, returning phone calls and emails.
Oh, and fit the family in there somewhere, would you? And sleep. Guess you’d better find time for that.
I subscribe to the blog of Chris Brogan, one of today’s bright minds in social media. What completely blew me away last week was his post The Shape of My Game.
He walked his readers through a normal day, practically minute-by-minute. Now granted, this is not your typical small biz owner, but it struck me how much successful people have to do just to keep up the pace.
5 Ways to Avoid Social Media Overload
Whether you are just starting down the social media path or consider yourself a pro, it’s easy to get sucked in and pretty soon you are letting the social web rule you instead of the other way around.
Here are five tips for taming the SM beast:
If you are feeling social media burnout (and we all do from time to time), try a couple of these ideas.
And let me know if they help.
