What’s your blogging Vice?
Most bloggers that I know have at least one – whether it be compulsively checking blog stats, constantly tweaking template designs, obsessing over plugins and widgets, spending hour after hour ‘networking’ on Twitter, becoming preoccupied with SEO and… even allowing ourselves to become consumed by learning about blogging…. and not doing much of it.
The reality is that as bloggers there are many tasks that compete for our attention. Many of them are important and can bring a lot of life to our blogs but most of them can also become distractions and counter productive to our blogging if we allow them.
This video asks you ‘what is your blogging vice?’ and challenges us all (and I need to hear it) to focus upon one of the most important aspects of blogging – creating content.
Don’t get me wrong – the tasks mentioned above can all be important and as bloggers we need to approach our blogging in a holistic kind of way – but this week while looking at 50 blogs while judging a blogging competition it struck me how much most of them could be improved with more spent on the creation of quality content.
My challenge to us all today is to refocus our energies upon creating compelling and useful content.
If that means no more reading about how to blog here at ProBlogger for a bit while you go and DO IT – so be it. After all, it’s what it all boils down to if you’re looking to improve your blog.
Get the full sized video at Youtube.
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I think I spend too much time in forums, just reading, and sometimes commenting.
Only a quick comment…got to write a new blog post.
Andrew
I’m recently begun limiting the little things that have kept me from blogging over the past few months. I used to constantly check my stats and tweet every little thing about my blog. I’m not sure how many redesigns I have had. I would say at least 9.
However, since starting to read your 30 Days eBook, I’ve changed my habits and started working towards expanding my blog and providing great content. Heck, I’ve even started commenting on about 15 blogs a day. I was lucky if I commented on about 5 a week before. Thanks for the great material to keep me pumped!
“but this week while looking at 50 blogs while judging a blogging competition it struck me how much most of them could be improved with more spent on the creation of quality content.”
Content is king for sure. I think a lot of bloggers aren’t REALLY in it for the hustle but the monetization. Ads are great but with anything, if you put too much focus on something, it’ll slowly take time away from other things.
While also creating killer content, we should also look at the prince: Interaction
Encourage conversation within your quality content. ‘Nuff said
Totally right. Sometimes I get distracted and out of the important point, which is creating quality content U__U
I’m sick of statistics. I think I will create a facebook support group because I cannot get away from them!
Arrggghh!!
Leave you, I have to check how many visitors in the last 3 minutes!
I am totally suffering from this!! I’m a newbie, and I love learning about blogging! I think that I need to focus on content more!! Thank you so much for posting about this!
Really great post Darren, I check my posts 5 times in my house, even in my school I skip classes to stay at the computer lab. One thing I’m doing right is that i’m not forgetting to create content.
http://www.dumblittleblogger.blogspot.com
Hello my name is Lisa and I have several vices associated with my blog. I think you have been sitting in my computer watching me. I am disturbed by how well you know me LOL. Thanks for the encouragement to produce great content!
Darren, your post is timely as this is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. How much time did I/am I wasting on focusing on the nuts and bolts of my blog rather than creating content that is useful to my small group of readers?
My biggest vices have been: spending too much time looking at the analytics for my site, messing around with FB and trying to find a way to connect it in a useful to my blog, and learning new ways to ‘use’ twitter. Glad to see I’m not the only one questioning how we spend time online.
At some point, you just have to do the work and quit messing around.
Lol I was going to comment that reading your posts is my vice until you said that last little bit. But in all seriousness, everytime i have had a dip in RSS, Hits or retweets has been because I have stopped writing content and took more of an interest in other things such as Twitter, Forums and Facebook.
Thanks for this post. I hope to regularly write content, before I have done these other things
My vice is not one you mentioned, mine is fear – letting myself get trapped in worry about whether what I have to say is of value. I need to just get over it and focus on creating content. I know just doing that will help me gain confidence.
Once I have more confidence then I’ll start promoting my blog more so I can develop some of those vices you mentioned. :)
My blogging Vice is to look and think a lot what others are doing…
Darren,
You are back from vacation in great form and with loads of great questions!
My vice of choice: stats!
I’m checking my stats and then I’ll look at other sites in my niche and will check their Alexa rating and compare and then sit here and wonder “what MORE can I do?????”
I know it’s sad :-(
I’m getting better at it and I’ve found that blocking time out prevents me from suffering from stats-ADD.
One of your readers had said when the urge comes to turn around and write a kick-ass post or do something productive for our blog. I’m learning and I’m applying that strategy more and more … but it’s sooooooooooo hard to break an addiction.
Great discussion Darren.
Krizia
Darren,
It’s really funny that you put up this video because I was just writing about efficient time management. Brian Tracy said ask yourself one simple question for effeciency “Is what you’re doing of the highest value?” I’m finally starting to realize how important that is. I think if people spend 1/10 of their time commenting and the rest writing, you’d see much more productive blogging. So, I usually work on writing articles first and then comment.
Great vid, and a great insight – it was as though I was listening about myself. On the other hand, it’s no matter what thing you are doing, it’s just human nature to get distracted by other things. Just remember when you had to do some homework at school, suddenly you find yourself cleaning your house, washing dishes and etc. In this case we have blogging and such distractions as SEO, design .. But hey, these distractions are directly related to how your blog looks and works+generating ideas.
My vice is all the social media and my moods . I really do find that some days I am in such a gr8 mood that ideas run through me , while other .. nothing of that sort happens .
Well just waits till the day is good for that mood I guess is my pattern.
Regards
Sudeep
Totally agree with you Darren. I think of moments when I check Google Analytics, Feedburner, Twitter, reading other blogs, finding ideas… But I will stop doing all of these and write more. Write, write, write…
Thanks for video.
I would say that my vice is the incessant checking of stats and emails up to 30 times a day. However, I combat that by doing my blog research and topic picking BEFORE I endulge in my “sick” habits. I make sure I get my research done the day before and take quick notes so that the readers get a thoughtful post. On the days where I slack, I can always tell. Subscriptions drop off. You can’t hide slacking… it shows right through in your posts like you put it on a billboard.
My biggest vice is one that completely keeps me from ever reaching my keyboard. I work 10 hour days at my day job as an IT professional (my blog is on home brewing beer). When I get home from work I’m just so tired that my brain automatically goes to autopilot and I head right for my PS3.
Then I feel guilty because I am not writing posts and my blog is aging, hits are dropping and rss subscribers are flocking to the door.
So I hit the PS3 some more and flip into a game like GTA IV and start shooting things up.
I’m going to try to put myself on a 30 day challenge to write 2 quality posts every day starting Jan 1, 2010. I’m going to publish 1 and save 1 so hopefully if I can finish the challenge I will have two months of posts.
Reason for waiting is because in the remainder of this year there are 2 major US holidays, 6 birthdays and 4 holiday parties that have my attention :).
Terrific video and you hit the nail on the head. I struggle sometimes staying focused in my writing on my blog, but it is key that I maintain it to have success. Thanks for a great video.
I spend half my time reading other blogs, checking stats and checking my twitter account.
I really need to get my head down and focus on my content! I am off to write a new blog post now!
One of my favourite activity is to check the stats of my blog.Some times I put more efforts on analyzing the stats than writing articles.It’s totally wrong.I should be more focus on my blog than the stats from now on. :)
Problogger is some times my biggest distraction :) But not because of itself but because I allow it to be.
So that’s it for today over here.
Great video Darren. I think my vice is, is that I am doing too much. I have been writing daily stories for years on my static web site. I was hoping to try to convert it to a blog by next month, but now it seems like it will be January.
Last week, I was just starting the process to create some pillar content, but I hit a wall: I am starting to get tired of writing. I do not mind writing the daily stories, but when it comes to writing pillar content, it seems to take a little more time. Therefore, I am saving up some money to hire a writer to assist me with the pillar content, because I cannot do it all.
I had wanted to convert my web site to a blog earlier this year, but I had to edit a lot of my mailing lists at Aweber (over 700), because I wanted them to send confirmation emails to my readers. Also, I just recently finished editing my blog behind the scenes at my web site to reflect the stories I wrote on my static web site. This way, when my blog debuts, my readers will have access to those articles I have written in the past via my blog.
So hopefully in the early part of January, I can finally get the ball rolling with my new web design and push my blog to new heights.
Oh man. Not the most fun to hear, but you did just give me a way to admit that checking my RSS feeds is distracting me. I just put the ones I consider essential in a new folder and will only check that one unless I’ve already written a post that day.
Thanks!
One click and such one click will move you and your concentration miles away from your main work.
This happen to everyone who use internet and would love to see and learn new things.
So my advice is simple stop learning while you are doing something important and to avoid distraction as well.
As always, great post! Good job on the video and site, thanks Darren!
You hit the nail in the head with this post. Now let me get back to creating quality blog posts ;)
Definitely design and SEO. I catch myself sometimes spending the entire day on just messing around with widgets, text, tags and so on. I do agree with you though that it has its place, but it should never distract you from what was supposed to get really done that way. Sometimes it’s easier said than done =)
Great post. Darren, you are a master at thinking through what bloggers need.
My weekly blogging pattern is to write 13 posts for three blogs. I write for baby boomer consumers, topics with lots of material and that I enjoy writing about.
The problem I have is finding time to monetize one of my blogs.
Rita blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide
Hi Darren,
I wasn’t going to comment on this post, because I recognize myself in a few of those vices you mentioned … and I really do need to finish writing a post. But then, I re-read this sentence in the middle of your article …
“..to focus upon one of the most important aspects of blogging – creating comment”
freudian slip? or maybe (not so) subliminal message?
In any case, how could I not comment after learning that it’s one of the most important aspects of blogging? :-D
This post is so very true. I think that many people are putting too much attention on their SEO or their site when they forget that the reason people visit their site is because of the content.
By the way i’m not saying I don’t forget about the fact that content is king.
Very quick comment from me, I should be creating my web design lol.
My vice is reading about blogging, reading about design (tutorials especially) and obsessing over business models.
My vice is definitely 1. Theme changing 2. Replying to every single comment. 3. Reading about 50-60 blogs per day and commenting.
You defintiely put a good challenge out there though. Time to get to work! :)
I am new to blogging, but do realize that content is king. I am guilty of checking stats, tweaking my site, etc just as you have suggested.
I visit many blogs and check stats so that I can better understand how I want to move forward. No doubt that my posts are what will attract visitors, but I find I need to go back a forth; write and post when my mind is in that mode and research when I’m in the detail investigative mode.
You’ve totally nailed me to the wall. I’m off to work on blogging rather than tweaking my theme. Thank you for the kick in the arse.
Reading other blogs is definitely my #1 vice.. Followed closely by spending time on twitter, clicking through links, discovering more blogs to read and the vicious circle continues :(
Thanks for the info – I thought I was the only one with a vice, especially the reading/how-to-blog one. I love reading and learning and that’s my biggest problem. Every “pro” blogger through c-list blogger’s have their own book on “how to blog” or “blogger’s guide to marketing”, etc. It’s so hard to keep up with it all. They all have similarities as well as their own technique and then you have to decide which one’s right for you, which is hard.
Darren,
You nailed it again. I am so guilty of all of your little time wasters. This is the kick-in-the-butt I needed to create a time-line for myself each day and stick to it. I know all these things from my previous life as a radio station owner, but have gotten away from basics. Thank you for all you do for us!
Very good post. I certainly could use a critique of my content. Sometimes I don’t re-read the entire post to see if anything sounds out of place…kind of like you did when you hit submit before you corrected “one of the most important aspects of blogging…comment.” I know you meant “content’, but this is such a perfect example, I couldn’t pass it up!
I noticed early on in my blogging career that I was spending a lot of time on things that added little or no value to my blog: minor design tweaks, etc. Then I realized that blogging is about content and providing value for others.
After that, I just picked an easy to use and simple design for my blog, added couple of key features such as subscription and a social bookmarking too. I think that is about.
After doing that I got back to basic of product creation: creating a product and marketing it. There is not much else to it.
No matter how great your blog is, but if nobody knows what about it – what’s the use?
OR
If you spend a ton of time marketing, but you spend no time writing – what’s the use?
OR is you work on design, but nothing else….maybe you should do design instead of writing :)
Point is, we, as bloggers, are here to provide value and spread the word about ourselves to help other people develop and grown. Remember that it is all about customers: without customers there would be no bloggers.
Cheers!
Tomas
Oh good grief vices… commenting!!! I love commenting… and stats checking who is stopping by to visit, yup that has taken years off my life… Oh this is a call to be so disciplined!!! But if I stopped my vices it might take away from the fun of blogging and since I am not about monetizing and all about loving blogging maybe I should stick with a little vice-ness…
Well I am certainly guilty of being pre-occupied with reading and learning about blogging (here every day) along with a few others in my niche and other favorites. I also like to learn more about the things I am interested in though. The other distractions you’ve listed, I could definitely see me being guilty of down the road though. With that being said, above all else, is the fact that I am constantly battling the “perfectionist” in me. “Ducks must be in a row” kind of thing; it’s “a double-edged sword.” Glad I stopped by today; be back in a few days! Thanks Darren.
Ok, I just discovered a new vice…
reading comments! :)
I’m definitely one of the stats guys. I obsess over stats for no apparent reason… I’m not sure why. That’s it, I’m uninstalling WP Stats! :)
My blog vice seems to be checking Facebook or Twitter instead of actually doing any work.
” blogs but most of them can also become distractions”
So true. Easy to fool yourself into thinking that checking rankings is the work you should be doing.
Love this, I’m a newbie and get concerned that while I have a lot of readership, no comments. I’ve realized that I need to just keep writing and not worry about the little details.
Thank you!
This is the best advice for anyone blogging, podcasting or vlogging!!!!
No, no, no.. Darren!
I think you should have told that sometimes we still have to learn. We have to learn where are we (time and place) and who we are competing with.
Especially when it comes to beginners like me.
Though, there has to be some border, where starts the real writing. From there – yes. We have to cut our time wasting.