This is my 300th blog. I’ve written the equivalent of a novel over the last few years—about 80,000 words. I’ve been really struggling with this blog, as I search for deeper meaning. What does blogging mean?
I’m not sure if I have anything earth shattering, but here’s what I’ve learned: Blog 1 through 100 you write for others. It is fun and there is a lot of feedback. After 100 blogs, you must be writing for yourself. Unless you really love writing—the research, the exploration, the frustration of the blank page or what we call the “hungry monster”—you can’t keep it up week after week.
Blogs are easy to start. They are incredibly hard to sustain. It is just like everything in life and marketing. Things are easy to start, but incredibly hard to maintain over the long haul.
Few companies have the discipline: Apple, Disney (the parks are still incredibly clean), Nordstrom and Southwest. There are more, but it is a short list.
So maybe one of the key takeaways of this blog is that a key to success is consistency. It’s great to start things, but to be successful is to sustain the effort. I’ll let you know at blog 600 if I still feel that way. Thank you for reading.
It must be a hungry monster indeed but you feed it well. I look forward to your posts and often look at something in a totally different way through your eyes. You point out the facts in all the hype and fiction.
I’m hoping, like Disney and Nordstrom, you can keep it up!
Thank you Susan. However, there are many people who think “hype” is my middle name.
Don’t know how you do it time after time – but please keep it up!
Thank you David.
Congrats, Mark! 300 is a true accomplishment! But I think you may have it backwards. In my experience (30 posts and counting) you start by writing for yourself. There are not a lot of feedback or even readers in the early days, so it’s a constant battle to keep posting & hope that the readers will come. I hope to graduate to writing for others – what my audience wants to read about and not always what I want to say.
Someday I hope to even hit the 300 mark like you. Keep the great content coming!