Official blog of Clark's Blogging for Journalists class, Mass Communication department

Thursday, February 12, 2015

When blogging becomes a slog

Read this article from the New York Times,  on this link: When Blogging Becomes a Slog

Comment below, today

1. What did you learn about blogging from this article?
2. What is the importance of passion and love in blogging?
3. Your suggestions on how could the problem be avoided?

20 comments:

  1. 1. I learned that you better start a blog about something you love and will still love in the distant future so that you dont burn out.

    2. Passion and love in blogging is extremely important because if you do not have passion about what you are blogging your readers will know it and will lose interest.

    3. I would suggest to pick a topic that is broad and has several different sub categories you could talk for years on. If you dont care, your readers wont either

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  2. 1. Blogging can be truly fulfilling if you are passionate and engaging with your work. However, like most other creative outlets, blogging can drag you down, stress you out and burn you out if you dig yourself in too deep.
    2. Being passionate and loving your blog as well as blogging itself is crucial because it helps prevent or slow burn out, it keeps your mind active and excited to learn and post new things and keeping your audience involved. Without these traits, you will grow tired of your blog and feel deflated.
    3. Balance your online life as well as your personal life. Sure, you have readers who are always on the watch for new content but you can’t live in fear of disappointing readers at the expense of your mental health. Being honest and saying you need to take a break isn’t admitting defeat, it’s asking for a chance to create ideas for when you come back.

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  3. 1. I learned that getting burned out on blogging is more than likely gonna happen.
    2. If you are passionate about blogging then you may not get burned out on it. Or at least it will take longer.
    3. Pick something that is always changing and developing. That way there will always be something new to talk about.

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  4. 1. Blogging, and writing in general, can quickly become a chore, even for long-time bloggers.
    2. I think it's incredibly important to be passionate about what you're writing about. Especially if you want to be a full-time blogger. It can seem easy and fun at first, but if you don't really love your subject, it will still become difficult and boring.
    3. If your old niche or subject no longer interests you, try introducing a new one. Even if you still post about what you used to, an occasional post about something new can refresh the blog and make it interesting again. It's better to make a change than have something that's forced.

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  5. 1. I learned that blogging can turn from a hobby to a career very quickly and that it's important to create a balance between your personal life and your blog.
    2. If you aren't passionate about your blogging, your posts won't be quality and you will get burnout very quickly.
    3. I think trying to find a healthy way to balance your personal life and your blog. With individuals who blog as a career, they oftentimes try to blog in a studio or somewhere outside of their home.

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  6. 1. I learned that blogging can become work and you lose your love for it if your not careful.
    2. Passion is key in blogging. If your doing something just for the money you will become very bored with it and become disinterested. You have to love what your blogging about to stay with it.
    3. You have to find something that really interests you and that you think you could continue blogging about for years. If you find yourself not enjoying it anymore find a different angle. I think most bloggers that get burned out, probably aren't blogging about what gives them the most joy.

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  7. 1. I learned that people who professional blog also have a life that they need to attend to. Although they blog constantly, there are times that things come up and they do not have time to do their job.

    2. The importance is to continue the love that you have for it. If you love to blog, blog, but do not get to the point where you're doing it for money, or for your readers. Blog for yourself and enjoy it, or else you'll get burn out. Eventually your passion will feel like a chore.

    3. My suggestion would be to start off blogging realistically on your own time. For example, if you're a mom with two kids, you more than likely won't be able to blog everyday unless they're older or kids are gone away for school majority of the day. Once you're blogging because you told your readers you're going to blog every Thursday the chances of you blogging every Thursday are 9 out 10, but how well is the content? Have a deadline for yourself to blog, but also, be fair and mindful of the time you need for yourself in order for you to continue your passion.

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  8. 1.) I learned from this article that if you put all of your eggs into one basket it can ultimately lead to a demise, which would be the case in any situation. I learned that burnout is almost inevitable and you have to have a plan B for the future so you don't get too bummed out when the burn out hits.

    2.) Passion and love for your subject is the most important thing in blogging. You will still eventually run into dry spells at some point, if you have passion for what you're blogging about, it will be easy to get out of that rut and create more content. If you aren't very into your blog subject you'll burn out much much quicker.

    3.) I think the burn out problem can be avoided if you make sure your blog topic is wide enough and seemingly endless. The couples choice for home DIY is awesome, but eventually you will run out of things. They bought three homes and redid them but when do you quit buying homes? A wide subject area such as "sports" or for me "kindness and lifestyle" can really be endless and content can be tied back to my subject really easily. I think by thinking "What can I blog about with this subject 5 years from now" can really help make sure there will be enough content to spread that far into the future. If you are planning a DIY blog, if you can't see yourself DIYing your home still in five years with a project once a week, you may want to widen your subject matter to maybe include lifestyle and cooking or something of that nature to ensure you can continue creating new content.

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  9. 1. What did you learn about blogging from this article?
    I learned that blogging is becoming more of a job instead of just a hobby for some people. The blogging life can become stressful. You may want to make sure you do not over post so readers are not let down when you haven't posted something in a few days.

    2. What is the importance of passion and love in blogging?
    Without having love or passion for blogging it can be hard to stay connected to the hobby of blogging. It is easy to get burnt out on certain activities we put ourselves in and by having a real passion for what you are talking about will keep you and your readers interested in what you have to say.
    3. Your suggestions on how could the problem be avoided?
    When first starting your blog maybe make it a little more broad about the things you will post. I have seen many blogs that have a theme but some weeks they will post something a little different or something about their family and the different adventures they have been on. Once you pull in readers into your blog they will start to feel apart and connected to you and your blog so they will be interested in anything you have to post.

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  10. 1. When you have excessive ads and your content begin to be slowly replaced by product giveaways, you lose trust and authenticity.
    2. The passion and love for blogging is one of the few things that keeps the blogger from burnout. If you lose the passion and love blogging, eventually blogging just becomes a job and way to earn some income.
    3. To blog about something that won't interfere with other priorities in your life. When the couple got busy with other things going on their life, they could've explained to their viewers that temporarily they will be changing the content of the blog to how to make your own home decor as an example.

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  11. 1. I learned that while from the outside looking in, blogging seems to be one of the most glamorous jobs there is. You get to work from home who wouldn't love that? But in reality there are a lot of expectations and readers to not disappoint, which seems really stressful!
    2. Passion is everything in blogging. As I have learned in my short time blogging, it is what draws the readers in. If you are not passionate about what you're writing about, it bores people. Be passionate and you've got an audience.
    3. I like the idea of the bloggers in the article that are making a studio to do their blogging and blogging projects in. While it is nice to be at home, it is still work, so being able to leave the place where they work and find refuge at home would be valuable to anyone.

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  12. 1. I learned from this article just how consuming blogging can become if it is your full-time occupation. Blogging to earn a living can easily become being trapped by your audience.
    2. Passion and love in blogging has it's place, but as it shows in the article, it can not be the only thing keeping your blog going. I think the biggest key is to be flexible in content and approach for you posts. Don't get pinned down into only one style as doing so will burn you out.
    3. My biggest suggestion to avoid burnout is to write about a subject that can be covered using multiple different formats and styles. If you change how you are writing and posting regularly, then it will continue to feel new even long down the road.

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  13. 1. I learned it is important to spend a lot of time on a niche blog in the beginning and to really use social media to push all of the articles out in front of your audience. The blogger will need to stay away from the same content. It is really easy to get fatigued when writing the same content.

    2. Keeping the passion and continue to post new content is important to the health of the blog. Audiences don't want to see someone prepare the same meal over and over. They what to be able to see new ingredients and new ways to prepare food. If it were a food blog.

    3. They blogged as if they were the only ones on the plant who know how to renovate a home. They needed to see other projects and maybe blogged on other people renovating homes. Maybe talked to experts on how to decorate rooms. Expanded on different products for the home. There are lots of way to continue to keep blogging.

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  14. 1. When you start a blog it is important to set yourself apart Being original and different from other will definitely give the readers abnormal views and if you do it well you will hopefully generate more traffic.

    2. The love and passion you but into your blog will enhance the quality of the post. From the, When Blogging Becomes a Slog, article the reads noticed the lack of enthusiasm in the post, because the blogger didn't have that passion anymore.

    3. I like blogs that I can relate to and blogs with happy endings.

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  15. 1. What did you learn about blogging from this article?
    I learned that sometimes it’s hard to keep a hobby a hobby when it comes to blogging about it. Sometimes it turns into a job to keep your readers engaged in your blog.

    2. What is the importance of passion and love in blogging?
    Passion is what makes your blog good to read. If there is no passion about what you are blogging about then you shouldn’t even blog.

    3. Your suggestions on how could the problem be avoided?
    One of the main things that could help more of these situations is to know where to draw the line on your blog. If you start to feel that your blog is more of a job than a hobby then straight up tell that to your audience. There is a time when things just aren’t they way they use to be and you shouldn’t be ashamed if you cant provide the same content because your life is changing.

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  16. 1. I learned it's so important to blog about what you love because eventually, most people will get burned out on it. It is better to do what we enjoy because most likely it will last longer and we will have good memories to look back on, instead of something we did as a chore. As we grow, we change. I compare blogging to any other hobby. Many people will eventually get tired of their hobby and either completely stop or move on to another.

    2. I think the answer is plain and simple... It's important to be passionate and love what we blog about because what's the point in blogging about what we don't love? Yeah, it'll make some of us money but to me that is not what true happiness is based on. Eventually, it'll become a chore and most will start to lose the spark or just get bored with it.

    3. I think it is inevitable to eventually get tired of blogging for most. But to make it last longer, I would suggest keeping your blog broad. If a person starts losing interest in what they are writing then simply just change it up. Write about whatever makes you happy and the blog will be good.

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  17. 1. Be original. As someone who takes in media constantly and tries to always be in the top of in information circle never allow yourself to become predictable and too simple.

    2. Blog about what you love. I hate baseball why would I ever blog about baseball if I hate it. People can tell your passionate when you write and people can tell you hate it if you do.

    3. Bring every post to a clever close and try to tie it back to the title of the post.

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  18. 1. Blogging can be fun and exciting if you are truly passionate about it. It can gain a lot of attention if readers can see how passionate you are about your blog. They can get a sense that you care about them.

    2. Passion in a blog grabs ahold of readers and makes them want to come back time after time. There is no reason to blog about something if you're not passionate about it.

    3. To solve the problem of being tired of blogging, is to just enjoy it. Make the most of it. Even if you aren't feeling it so much today as you were the following day keep it simple but yet still catchy.

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  19. 1. I learned from this article that blogging can start off as a mutual relationship with both the blogger and reader, but can really become one sided to the reader. Readers can easily get frustrated because they might be dependent on consistent blog posts and if they don’t get what they want or what they are use to it can turn into negativities. That only leaves the blogger feeling guilty, and now they're apologizing because they haven’t met expectations that were never set in the first place. It

    2. It is important because blogging takes self-discipline to focus on how you can benefit others (readers). Blog posts take time in order to communicate sufficiently. It is just like any other habit you have. If there isn’t a deep passion or motive, it won’t last long.

    3. I would suggest have a set time in the week to focus on blogging. You could even go into further detail with set times for each process of a post (brainstorm/writing). I would suggest to keep reading a learning what your passionate about, which sharing it with others will feel natural.

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  20. I found this Article very interesting. I did not want to stop reading. It was a story I could actually see as I as reading. I could feel ho overwhelmed the main characters had gotten by having and raising a family and trying to also keep their love for blogging alive.
    1. What did you learn about blogging from this article?
    I learned that Blogging is a job. It can be a hobby and it can be fun but it also takes work. Depending on what kind of blog you have it could be hard work.
    2. What is the importance of passion and love in blogging?
    If you forget what you started blogging in the first place you loose your passion. The love of the work is what always keeps people going when they want to quite.
    3. Your suggestions on how could the problem be avoided?
    I would say remember to to get overwhelmed by blogging. when you feel like you Must blog on a deadline then it becomes a job and not a love. Also dot listen to what everyone says or doesn't say. often people determine what they do/ don't do by what others are saying. Someone could give up on their blog to easily if they feel they don't have enough followers or they can stop blogging if they feel people don't like their blog. There will always be someone there who doesn't like something but you have to remember the faithful readers and keep moving forward.

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