Blog Business: How much is too much?
I’ve been thinking about this Blogging Business in light of things like the Tots 100 Index, the MAD Awards and the upcoming Cybermummy. I really love blogging and have been on a bit of a tear really, the last few weeks. And therein lies the question: How much is too much?
I’m not talking about how much you reveal of yourself or your family. I’m not talking about whether you name your children or use camera-facing pictures of them. I’m not talking about whether you talk about sex or other “taboo” or controversial topics. What I’m talking about is, can you blog too much? Can you publish too many posts? How much is too much?
All bloggers (like writers) go through times of writer’s block. You can’t think of a THING to write about. You’re uninspired. You have forgotten how to write. Woe is me and all that jazz. But thanks to things like Tara Cain’s Gallery every Wednesday and Josie’s Writing Workshop at Sleep is for the Weak every Thursday, many of us bloggers can drag ourselves out of those slumps and find new inspiration. It seems that I don’t have writer’s block, however. I seem to have writers diarroeah. I can’t seem to stop myself from writing! Since April 1 I have written 14 posts…today is April 12…that’s more than 1 post a day. One March 30 I published 3 posts in one day. What’s wrong with me??
Well, I’ve had a few reviews and have been tagged in a few memes and have been quite moved by Tara Cain’s Gallery so the posts have been coming thick and fast. But what I have noticed is that my comments seem to have dropped off. Am I writing too much? Is everyone sick of me? Have I clogged up everyone’s Google Readers to the point that they have deleted me altogether? I’m not having a crisis, mind you, but I am seriously wondering if it’s possible to write too much? I am sure that published authors would say “uh, no, dumb ass…it’s not” but in this fickle blogging world perhaps it is possible to irritate the bejesus out of people.
How often do you write? In your humble opinion, what is an acceptable number of posts each week? What makes a post worthy of your comments? Do you find review posts a complete load of tosh? Does any review post ever make you want to run out and buy that product? If someone is on a bit of a writing tear do you find it irritating or do you appreciate loads of fresh content? I’d love to know your opinion. Please share your thoughts…
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I know what you mean, but I don’t think once a day is excessive. I think posting comes in fits and starts for most of us, and if you are inspired to write, get it down quick is what I say, you never know when the next dry spot is round the corner!
I write as often as I feel like, Last night I wrote two posts an hour or two apart sometimes it’s days. I write a bit like it’s a journal. I use to write poetry every day years and years ago and on the days I had writers block I try to write about something I liked. Like you I have verbal diarrhoea. I am getting more comments now as I am blogging more and reading more blogs, but my husband said the other days. “You are addicted to this blogging thing” I of course defended myself and carried on surfing the net lol
It’s an interesting question. I don’t think I’m a typical blog reader, because I dip in and out of blogs. I do have a Google Reader with lots of subscriptions, but for me it’s more of a bookmarking service. When I like a blog, I add it to my reader, and then when I have some free time (a rare commodity round here!) I’ll pick a blog, click on it, and catch up.
Comments wise, that’s another interesting one. For a while when I started http://marathonmummy.com I couldn’t understand why none of my friends and family ever commented, despite telling me how much they enjoyed reading the blog. My sister explained that to her it’s like reading a magazine – most people don’t feel moved to write to the editor and tell them how much they enjoyed an article, do they?
Since then I’ve changed my attitude to comments. Sometimes I post and get loads, sometimes I get none. As my children say, comme ci comme ca.
OH BTW how do you get that retweet button on here? Add code into each post?
When I started blogging at the end of last year I did a post every day, but that has dropped off to about two a week on average. I would prefer to blog a bit more often, but the days just seem to slip by with work and family. I try to not blog for the sake of it – I don’t want it to become just another chore on my to-do list.
I don’t have any subscriptions, just dip in and out, but I reckon I might find 14 posts in 12 days a bit hard to keep up with!!
Hi Nat…The Tweet Button is a plug-in through WordPress; I have two Twitter features. That button is Tweet Meme and then I have something else called Twitter Tools. If you go through your Plug-Ins (are you on WordPress??), add new plug-ins and do a search for Twitter or Tweet it will come up with quite a few Twitter Plug-In options…I would go with Tweet Meme…
To be honest I don’t care. I try and blog every day. But if I have lots of ideas I blog them all. I don’t save them for dry spots. I accept if I post a few in a day then only one of them will probably get comments. It’s back to why we blog isn’t it? Mine is an online diary so it doesn’t matter if nobody reads or comments on it – I at least have the thought or event recorded for the future
Have to totally agree with Marathonmummy. I read a lot of blogs – like hundreds – and I don’t feel compelled to comment. It’s impossible to, plus I genuinely love to read. Someone could post 50 times a day – I’m only reading when I have time or when it suits, so it makes no difference to me. I’ll read through posts and move on to the next if it doesn’t hold me, but if I read 150 posts (I did that last night), I may not comment on any. I think it’s important to blog as you want to blog. If your priority is to get comments, maybe less is more although that really varies by blog. Generally, I don’t read ‘review’ posts (the type that tend to appear amongst non review content) unless it’s something I’m interested in. If I see a sudden mushroom of people reviewing the same product or company, I’m also less likely to read. If a site writes about stuff around a subject (I read a lot of design, crafting, interiors blogs), then I do read most of the stuff although most of these don’t do ‘reviews’ per se. Hope that helps
Keep going Karin! That’s what I think.
Keep going girl! I try to write everyday if I can and i don’t think once a day is too much. although recently I have noticed less comments about in general. Perhaps with spring being sprung and all, people are spending less time on the internet and more out and about.
I write everyday, because that is what I want to do for myself.
I think blogging and comments like everything else in life goes in waves. Ups and downs depending on what else everyone has going. Kids have been home now so I guess less time.
I’ve said this before on a number of similar blog posts – I tend not to comment on every single blog post I read because there’s only so many times that you can say “great blog post” or offer a genuine (( hug )) before you become known as the person who comments for commenting’s sake (does that make sense?).
I think everyone is getting paranoid about how their blog comes across because blogging seems to have taken off recently and there’s so many more people doing (more effort to get noticed?). I’ve been having doubts recently too but I can’t spend more time thinking about how to “improve” because there are only so many hours in the day and I’ve got a million and one other committments.
I do have a list of “prompts” in my dashboard and in my filofax in case I “dry up” but I do think that I can also overload my readers with my posts and that writing every day can devalue the words too – but that’s just how I feel. I’d rather everyone just keep on what they are doing. I have felt no need to delete anyone’s subscription and my Reader is always bursting at the seams but that’s what my “Me Hour” is for in the evening
Great post Karin! I say blog when you feel like it and if sometimes it’s two posts in one day then so be it! I used to blog every day but now do it every other day as it was taking up too much of my time. At the risk of causing upset here, if someone blogs every day or more than that I don’t get round to reading all their posts. Just because I follow so many blogs. And sometimes it’s quite nice to see a post in my reader by someone who hasn’t blogged for a few days so I might be drawn to that instead. That’s just how I approach it. But I think the best way is blog how YOU WANT TO.
Firstly this post seems to have inspired lots of comments so I would say that you have hit a topic dear to many people’s hearts. Much has already been covered. So here’s the rub. We all like to receive comments on our blog but it can become addictive i.e the more we receive the more we want or when the blog goes through a patch of not getting any comments the natural thing is to start thinking is it me? Is it what I am writing about? No it’s not. Tune into your flow – if it feels right to write more than once a day do it. If not then don’t. Enjoy it. As Mums we are often have so many other things distracting us, see my Monday cartoon for an extreme example of this, it can be difficult to keep up the rhythm. Anyway thanks for the post and for raising the topic and please keep posting.
I also try to post everyday, though I think I may drop that down to every other day, as I feel a bit like I’m spending so much time on the computer I am neglecting my homelife a bit. I think as long as the posts are interesting (which yours are) I don’t care how many you do! xx
I think blog as often as you feel like doing it. One (sorry the only) thing that made me laugh at the film Motherhood was when Uma Thurman was writing her blog. She wrote a post, then she wrote another, then she wrote another, all in the space of about five minutes.
Sometimes I have a day when I’m on fire and I just have to write a couple of posts because they’re VERY VERY IMPORTANT and I have to say it all now! Other days I write only a little, or not at all.
As far as comments dropping off go – you have to remember it’s the Easter holidays, and a lot of people with schoolage kids simply aren’t around.
xxx
Thanks so much to everyone who has commented on my Blog Business: How Much Is Too Much post today. You’re all delightful. I swear I didn’t bring this up to fish for comments but I just was wondering as I feel like I’ve maybe been writing too much. Valuable insight from so many of you and I really appreciate you taking the time to comment and offer your opinion. Love you all!
Mwah
Last October, I set myself the challenge of writing a blog post a day. Comments did definitely drop off. I think it’s because when someone visits your blog, if there are 2 or 3 or more posts there, they might read them all, but they’ll probably only comment on the most recent one. I’ve noticed that before – that mostly it’s only the ‘top’ post that gets a comment. But it doesn’t mean people aren’t reading and enjoying.
I think we all go through addicted phases and dry phases. When you’re in one, it’s hard to imagine the other – like it’s so hard to imagine winter when you’re in a t-shirt and shorts, or summer when you’re in a thick sweater. My guess is that your rate will just naturally slow off. Blogging seems to have seasons.
Great thank you. I thought it might be a plugin, which I can’t use as I am on a .com I need to change to .org Eventually I’ll do what you’ve done and get a theme and all the bits
My comments have dropped off to, but I have been posting less due to having less time! I had a bit of writers block too, and am now writing again and trying to get back to my post per day. I don’t know if that is too much or not, I would post more if I had a legitimate reason too just because I love to write my posts! I also love to read and due to my reduced amount of time, I am finding my google reader is filling up faster than I can clear it. I’m yet to work out the best way to read through on there either lol!!! But keep doing what your doing coz I may not always comment (and I really am sorry for being so slack with that side of things) but I do always enjoy reading your posts xx
I have a lot less free time recently and so I’m being more picky – I read the blogs that I like a lot and the rest in my reader get a quick squizz for something interesting, so I avoid reviews, memes and stuff, yes I know I’m missing a lot but there’s only 24 hours in the day
I try and post 6 days out of 7 and not to multiple post in a day – that might be why my blog is not an uber blog but hey we are each what we are
Personally, I would love to post every day, but with working pretty much full time, two small children, blah blah, I find I just don’t have the time, so am completely jealous of anyone that manages it! I just tend to go with the flow – I don’t really have a goal.
I was amused by your post… I don’t think you can post too much because readers are either interested in your post and read the whole thing or don’t like the sound of the title and skip it completely.
In my experience, you only get loads of comments when you hit a topic that people have strong opinions about (like this one!). I only wish I had your devotion – I have just had a year off blogging and now I am back. If I had as much to say as you I would just store up some of the posts for those days when I don’t feel inspired.