Don't blog yourself to death

I've been blogging for almost a year now.

It's hard to keep coming up with a relevant post every day, as many of my fellow bloggers already know. If you go a few days without a post, your traffic drops dramatically.

I've also discovered that there's only so much you can say about yourself. Often, the exercise is taxing and people don't really care much about your life -- as Seth Godin pointed out recently.

Instead of bloggin myself to death, digging up arcane facts or irrelevant personal stories, I have focused on coming up with one practical piece of advice that helps the reader improve their life in some way. This is what a good parent or mentor does. In return, my readers have responded with over four hundred comments in less than a year. Many of those comments have fueled posts and helped to inform my point of view. After over two hundred posts, I feel charged up instead of drained. For my fellow bloggers, rethink how you approach your daily posts. Test yourself to see if you can go a week where all your posts have a subject line that simply tells the reader to do something. You'll find it hard at first, but eventually if you get the hang of it, you'll find that your blog tends to write itself -- like a good song.

Comments

[ann michael]

Tim -

I agree with Phil on comments. Answering comments is part of the education process and the learning process for your readers and (I believe) is a critical part of blogging.

It's not that I want a pat on the back or a word "from the master". I want a conversation. I try not to comment "good post" as much as possible. Usually when I comment it's because the idea has resonated with me in some way and it would be nice to know if I'm on the same track as the originator, if we (together) are spawning a new track or if I'm totally insane!

And you are correct, answering every comment can sometimes lead to one liners and just a thank you - but sometimes those are important too.

I used to think that it was odd that the author of "Love is the Killer App" (which is one of my all time favorite articles) and The Likability Factor rarely commented on posts!!! It's nice to see you addressing Phil's points.

Thanks for a great blog and some great ideas!

Ann

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Thanks Tim. That's a GREAT explanation, and I appreciate it very much. I got this feedback and my blog, and hearing it helped me realize that folks want to know they are being heard, especially by the expert writing the post.

You're doing great stuff here, and I enjoy your posts and your books very much. Love is the Killer App changed my life, and it, along with First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham, are the 2 books I recommend to anyone looking to lead people.

Thanks for letting my voice be heard Tim. You are a lovecat!

[Tim Sanders]

Hey Phil, hope all is well my friend.

I do read every comment and some times I even make a post out of them.

Just yesterday, my post on Gray Google was in response to comments.

This post: was dedicated to a thoughtful reader's idea:
Put out the fire starters

So was this one:
Think and Dial

My style of commenting on comments is to do it by posting about them from time to time. I make the decision to do it this way, because I wanted the community of readers to comment and add their .02 without my moderation -- just provocation.

Trust me, I read every comment. I try not to junk up the comments section going back and forth and I've privately (or in this case publicly) replied to any and requests, criticisms or challenges.

I've seen other other bloggers answer evey comment, making most comments useless one sentence back and forth, as opposed to the more observational style that you see on this blog.

That being said, it's good to have you here and I appreciate your work ...

[David Jay]

Interesting - I care about your life Tim. :)

Would you agree with the statement,

"The more somebody knows about a good product the more likely they are to buy that product."

When you are the product wouldn't it be valuable to share more of you?

A few days ago I posted about my love life and it was one of my biggest responses ever (57 comments)

...so I agree that people do indeed care more about themselves but sharing who you are is still interesting especially when you are Tim Sanders.

Rock on,
DJ

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Tim - better ideas do make you feel energized and not tired. The better the quality of the post, the better the quality of your readers.

One thing I'd like to ask of you (and any other blogger) is to respond to your comments. Failing to respond to your comments is a bit like asking someone how they're doing and then not caring what their answer is. Not a real good way to increase your likeability if you ask me. Be it with a personal e-mail off-blog or a response in the comments section, let your readers know you are at least reading their comments and not just stroking your ego with their feedback.

[Aruni Gunasegaram]

Good idea! I think it all depends on the purpose of your blog. I write about babies, parenthood, and business.

I'm 4 to 5 months into blogging and I have to slow myself down on the ideas I have for posts. I have really enjoyed it and fortunately I can type fairly fast. I keep thinking that if I post everything as it comes to me instead of publishing them over time I will run out of things to post about!

Another idea, is to have guest posters. I just did my first guest post for Wendy at eMoms At Home at: http://www.emomsathome.com/blog/2007/08/21/entrepreneurship-a-blessing-or-a-curse/