For people who still read or write blogs, the big news of the week was Andrew Sullivan plans to stop blogging soon.
While I have never read Sullivan’s blog, he is a super-star within the blogosphere. His soon-to-be-departure from blogging sparked a flurry of commentary and debate about the future of blogging. One guy decides to pack in it, and it seems like the end of the world.
As someone who has been blogging for 10 years (man, that’s a long time!), my first reaction was people were over-reacting. I mean, we’re talking about one blogger, albeit a high-profile blogger. It’s not like Sullivan’s exit stage left will spark a stampede out of the blogosphere.
So why did Sullivan’s decision get everyone so agitated?
I think it reflects people taking a hard look at blogging from two perspective:
1. Writing blogs is hard, particularly if you are doing it on a regular basis. Coming up with ideas is a challenge. And blogging is often less than rewarding because it is difficult to attract an audience amid fierce competition from other blogs.
2. Reading blogs is hard. People are time-strapped and overwhelmed by the amount of information available. There is so much content (aka content marketing gone mad) that people are more discerning about what they read. I have seen more people talking about being more selective about content consumption.
As someone who loves blogging, I can honestly tell you I’m less enamoured with blogging these days. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing and how a blog lets me indulge by interests and curiosities.
But I’m no longer sure blogging delivers a solid return on investment. I question whether the time spent blogging is better spent somewhere.
Over the past couple of months, I have been working with a business coach. One of the key themes has been focus. We have spent a lot of time talking about where and how to allocate time and energy.
The changes are slowly happening – things like doing telephone calls rather coffee meetings, and spending less time on social media.
This exercise recently put the spotlight on my blog. I believe the content is valuable and offers insight but traffic on a good is day is 300 visitors.
To me, this is a disappointment, although you could argue it is a quality versus quantity proposition. I see lots of crappy blog content getting shared a lot on social media, and wonder what I’m doing wrong.
Another way of looking at things is maybe there are activities that have higher ROI than blogging. For example, I have thinking about writing e-books about specific topics – e.g. a 15 to 20 page guide on how startups can attract media coverage.
An e-book is the equivalent to five or six blog posts with much higher return on investment and, as important, return on energy. As well, I’m thinking e-books will deliver more value to readers because they have more depth, insight and guidance. It is like making dinner, rather than serving dessert.
With e-books on the horizon and a startup consulting practice rumbling along, something has to give. While I’m not probably going to abandon blogging altogether, it is likely that I will blog less – e.g. once a week, unless I’m inspired.
After a decade of writing a blog maybe the end is near. After all, even the best things come to end.
What will fill the void? I’m not entirely sure but I have lots of ideas around creating content. Maybe another book after my current project, “Storytelling for Startups“, is published in April. Maybe it will be e-books, podcasts or videos, or maybe I’ll find a new and interesting way to write a blog.
Is blogging dying? I don’t think so because good content is always valuable. But I think it comes down to focusing on what delivers the best returns on your time and energy.
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Mark, I’m happy to see you moving away from blogging frequently just because you “should”. I wrote about this eight years ago and people are finally catching up with me now: Blogging infrequently is a feature, not a bug.
BTW as a side project I’m creating a product that will help time-limited people consume the mountains of content more effectively.
I have been on the fence about blogging for awhile. On one hand, I think it provides good Google juice but I think there are better vehicles. Let me know about the content product; always looking for ways to be more productive!
Interesting stuff Mark. Thanks for being so open about this. I think that if you sell expertise for a living then content helps position you as an authority. There are plenty of solid CFOs out there. But being one of the very few that blogs has helped me stand out. So, I guess it depends on your objectives for writing.
For me, I write out of a pure desire to write about a topic. I don’t write for traffic. I don’t SEO optimize. I don’t link bait. Often I write to clarify my own thoughts on a topic.
For sure, blogging is frustrating. Sometimes I post something that I think is great and there’s no reaction. Other times I post something quick and dirty and get lots of engagement. It’s weird. So, I just remind myself that I’m not trying to create a media property. Quantity of visits, etc doesn’t matter. Even in my consulting days, there are only so many clients you can have. So if only a small number of the RIGHT people read it – and have assigned heightened credibility to you as a result – then your blog has served its purpose.
There’s value in re-evaluating where time goes.
I’ve been blogging twice a week since Feb 2007 (one post for each of two blogs). I didn’t think much of ROI in the beginning because of the benefits which come from improving writing skills and showing consistency in shipping. Text doesn’t feel like the most effective way to communicate.
The future looks like video.
Last summer, I stopped my hobby marketing blog (http://marketingactuary.com) and instead write occasionally on LinkedIn. That freed up time to conduct over 70 on-camera interviews (http://bit.ly/TATplaylist), which could be turned in to audio podcasts. The tougher decision was stopping my work-related risk blog at the end of 2014 (http://blog.riscario.com). That’s to free up time to answer real-life questions in a YouTube series. The script then becomes the text for a blog post in which the video gets embedded. I keep delaying the launch …
Thanks for the insight and comment. As a writer, I like having a blog as a platform. You’re right about a blog’s role as a way to demonstrate authority. Maybe I should just keep blogging as a way to go against the grain!
The decision to walk away from blogging is difficult but I think it comes down to deciding if there are better ways to attain your goals – e.g. thought leadership, brand awareness, etc. Congrats on your move to video; it’s something next to explore more seriously. I have all the equipment; just need to get going.
Very interesting, especially since I have been wondering whether or not I keep blogging.
On one hand I have m personal blog that I started in 2006 that keeps driving good trafic even though I only blog once or twice per month now instead of once per day at the beginning. Like Mark, I write to clarify my own thoughts.
On the other hand, I always wanted to reproduce that kind of success with my SaaS company blog without much success. I think I just never found the right angle, the right personality unlike my personal blog where I’m good at telling stories.
I can’t see myself stopping my personal blog, but I also can’t see myself keeping blogging on my company blog!
I like the idea of an e-book. Maybe that’s a better way of using writing to get to our goals.
(Note, this comment is translated with Google traductor) Blog or Not to Blog is a matter returning Every year, in my opinion. The objective are different For Each person. For my part, I first did it Because I’m more comfortable with this medium. I aussi made to Clarify my thinking. I think it is a good excercise Especially since it Attracts customers aussi me and allows me to position myself with my target audience. Currently I-have a lot of happy That I Plan to gather in ebooks.
It would be sad to see you quit blogging Mark. What other channels/methods are you thinking about, to compensate?
It would take a lot for me to stop blogging completely, but I am seriously considering e-books as a way to write and create a content library that offer thought leadership and perhaps generate some revenue.