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Declaring War on Blogger Apathy

Ok so now it’s time to talk about something that has the potential to KILL your blog….

Apathy

A blogger can have the best strategic plan in the world but if they have no motivation, passion or drive for their blogging it will almost always amount to nothing at all. One of the keys to the success I’ve managed to have as a ProBlogger is that I’ve taken a long term approach to my blogging which calls for constant work over 2.5 years (so far).

Whilst there have been times where my spirit has been low and the drudgery of researching, writing, networking and dreaming has threatened to put a stop to what I do – I’ve continually pushed myself to find new and creative ways to beat down the blog killer of Apathy. I’ve seen other bloggers not been able to break through this and as a result their blogs today either don’t exist or have become something like the ghost towns of the Western Movie with breezes blowing around the tumbleweed of comment spam and out of date content.

So for the next couple of days I’m going to declare war on Blog Apathy and will post 10 or so of the things that have helped me keep my motivation up in blogging. Feel free to add your own experience and tips in comments or write your own post on the topic in your own blog and let me know about it so I can link up.

Read the rest of this series of post at:

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. I don’t think blogger apathy is any different from regular apathy, except that it occurs to someone who happens to be a blogger.

    My solution for dealing with (blogger) apathy is to keep a steady flow of positive input coming into my life on a daily basis. I wrote a post on this subject last week:
    http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/07/overcoming-negative-emotions-and-boosting-motivation/

  2. I agree with Steve, apathy happens in all walks of life. Unfortunately apathy for a blogger can quickly kill the blog off as vistors leave in the droves.

    I stay focused on what I did by constantly reviewing the technical side of my sites, which I find generates the enthusiasm to keep the content at the front end upto date and relevant.

    Being enthusaiastic about the subject matter helps, but also being able to look at what other people are doing and taking something constructive from it (like I do by coming to places like problogger) will motivate you and help you stay focused.

    Ensuring your site allows a community feeling to prosper also helps, as you can see that what you are doing has input into other peoples lives – make sure your vistors are able to contact you and let you know how great your are – if needs be, ask for comments/suggestions/feedback – visitors are normally keen to show their appreciation, which helps you stay motivated and lifts that feeling of apathy and ‘I can’t be bothered’!

    I also recommend taking a short break away from the computer – go outside and sit in the sunshine, read a book, play with your children – anything to take your focus away from wondering why you are bothering to update your blog – you’ll come back refreshed and keen. This allows you to gain perspective, and can break that writes block that may be causing the knock on affects of apathy.

  3. When I’m feeling wired and inspired I don’t just write a post, I try and write as many as possible before I crash. This has helped me a lot with the blog I run at PhotoshopSupport.com. So on a good day, or during a good part of an ordinary day, inspiration will strike and I’ll prep sometimes up to a dozen posts. It really feels great afterwards. Like money in the bank. And I don’t have to panic as much when apathy rears its ugly head, because I’ve got my little backup of posts!

    Another apathy-buster is to go through any press releases that I want to blog and to summarize them. It’s really light and non-creative work, perfect for when you are not feeling particularly in the groove, but it ends with an accomplished feeling, which is what usually kick-starts me into high gear again.

  4. Wow, great post and comments guys. I think I hit that apathy this past 2 weeks because I was so busy with other projects that my brain was fried.

    Keep the comments coming, this is great stuff.

  5. Apathy can occur to any writer. If it happens to a book author he/she is in trouble. In blogging though, you can blast your way out of lethargy by putting up a stream of very short posts, like Dave Winer often does. As you get into your stride, the juices will start to flow again. Works for me.

  6. Google alerts are a great way to keep out of apathy, because you are constantly being fed relevant material you can possibly write about.

  7. Sorry if this has been mentioned already but how do you know a blogger has fallen into the trap of “blogger apathy”? They may have different timescales for adding posts which may be a week, a month, every 2nd month, but if they stick to a routine there should be no problem.

    I agree there are ghost towns of blogs out there, however it can be too easy to look at a blog for the first time, check the last post date and not bother to subscribe, as you may think the blogger has lost their momentum.

    I would rather have a blogger post quality posts at least once a month rather than a spurious flow of blogs through the month which are not that well thought out and are just a knee jerk reaction to what’s in other blogs anyway.

    One of the improvements to indicate if a blogger has fallen into the “blogger apathy” trap would be to add a blog frequency indicator on the rss feed. As a reader I should be able to check their blogger stats from their page without having to keep a mental note of when they are most likely to blog again. Maybe this is just me that takes a mental note., but it’s really handy to know the bloggers publishing habits. I know some bloggers will most likely blog tomorrow afternoon, so I can plan my reading habits around that.

    Keep up the great advice … It’s good to learn your experiences, as we don’t really have any uber bloggers out there, so it’s good to have someone set the pace.

  8. Ladies and Gentlemen I am in apathy write now. Its one of those days where I am not getting the readership and/or the clicks on my google ads that I would like. So I have not posted at all. When i go though this I actually feel a little anxiety because I feel I have let someone down. Maybe after dinner tonight I will get to it. You know I have not cleaned my house today either (I am a stay-at-home dad, I clean everyday. Have to with three kids Emma 6, Jon 6, Michael 8)

    I look at other blogs and wonder what can I do different. If you have any suggestions please e-mail me [email protected] Getting out of this apathy will probably take me a day or two. But I will. I put approx, 30 post a day on my blog. Maybe thats too many, but there is so much to talk about in the world of cell phones. I actually want to put reviews, manuals, deals, and/or accessories on my site, but I just feel that I am already doing enough. Quite frankly I am worn out.

    I look at Darren’s network of blogs and think “How does he do it?” I know he works 12 hour days, its just not feasible for me as a father of three kids right now.

    Ok I am done whining back to your regular program.

  9. Commentor No. 8 Cellounge Admin (Shane) Says:

    [snip] “I put approx, 30 post a day on my blog” …
    “I am not getting the readership and/or the clicks on my google ads that I would like” …
    “I actually feel a little anxiety ”

    No kidding. I’m not in a position to give advice, but maybe some sort of cheap publicity stunt may be a start.

  10. RedKite – good comment (#7) – when I say I’ve seen bloggers hit this apathy thing I’m meaning blog that I regularly follow that post at a set rhythm and then just disappear for a month or two without explanation.

    I want to leave room for each blogger to have their own rhythm…

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  16. I think there’s apathy and then there’s what Ken above mentions. I don’t consider it apathy if you’re too flat out (usually with that other thing that puts food on most people’s tables) to post. I go through periods where if just too frazzled by work – normally around deadline time, or when I’m dead tired.

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  20. Yes I have my apathy moments. But my prescription is to go out on the world wide web , browse for ad-ons, or ways I might add another dimension to my blog. Sometimes all it takes is a quote for the day and or in my case an audio blog. (I realize some of the blogs are more professional than mine, and you might not want to “junk” up your blog) Or you might look for some ideas of pithy comments, quotations which add some meaning to your blog’mission. Apathy can be a good time to brainstorm ideas. Just don’t stay in that place to long.

  21. Excellent idea and something I have been going through for the last couple of months. I am hoping it has just about cleared up now after my site had a new design implemented and I started using WordPress.

    I am more motivated and excited I hope it stays like this, I ll be sure to read these posts though :)

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