Did any of you catch Zesty’s awesome presentation on Blogging 101 either at the summit or watching it online? You can check it out here if you missed it. I listened to about 4 sessions on Saturday afternoon while I worked. It was so fun!
This afternoon I am going to talk a bit about an issue that I started thinking about after listening to Zesty’s presentation.
Zesty gave some great tips on how to make our blogs successful. I am not going to reiterate everything he said, but I will just point out a few of the take home messages that I found most helpful.
1) Content is the most important aspect of your blog
Content is what keeps people coming back again and again. It’s so true isn’t it? We need to have good content above anything else. It is important to find your own niche and how you can make your blog unique.
2) Quality
Remember that every time you hit publish, you are publishing a post for the world to see. Each post you put up will be online forever (unless you remove it/edit it), so make sure that everything you publish is your best work and is the best representation of your blog’s content.
3) Make sure you have a catchy title
Zesty says your title can make or break your post. Make your title captivating and you will attract readers and make them want to click on your blog.
My thoughts:
One message that hit home for myself was the point about content and quality. As you may know, I try to adhere to the 3-times-a-day posting framework for Oh She Glows. Morning, afternoon, evening posts are the norm for me on most days, unless I am away.
With that being said, I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t stressful at times. Given that the majority of my posts are writing-heavy posts (like my hot topics), the posts can take a lot of time to prepare and plan before it goes up. So some days I find myself in a rush to throw up the post so I can get back to my other work.
What is the result of rushing posts?
- Poor content,
- Lack of research,
- Typos,
- A generally ‘hurried’ or ‘rushed’ tone to the post.
- Stress!
Now don’t get me wrong, I do think that some of these quick and rushed posts are real and reflect a real person behind the screen who is leading a busy life like the next person, but at the same time I stop and ask myself why I feel that I should adhere to this strict 3 times a day posting schedule. Is it because I think that I won’t have as many readers if I post less? Or people will think that I am not as dedicated to Oh She Glows?
I think that 3 times a day posting can work for a lot of food bloggers. They eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so it naturally can work for many people, but for others maybe once or twice a day works the best. For about 3 months I was posting 3 times a day while working full time in the workplace. This meant posting before work, on my lunch break, and after work. It was insane and I can’t believe I did it that frequently! Talk about being in a rush to get a post up. Yeesh.
When I tell people about OSG, I don’t tell them I am a food blogger. I tell them I have a healthy living blog where I write about various health and food topics. Yes, I do post pictures of what I eat, but I also write about fitness, health, beauty, food issues that appeal to myself and readers. So why this need to feel like I should post 3 times a day? I know for a fact that I could write higher quality posts if I gave myself the proper amount of time.
I think of many blogs that I absolutely love that are hugely successful- Vegan Yum Yum, Smitten Kitchen, and Bakerella– and they post once or twice PER week. I know, I can hear your *gasps* from here. Their posts are not rushed, I never see a typo, and they read beautifully.
They post whenever they damn well want to post, but you can be assured that when they do post it is good, ohhhh it is good.
A while back I did a poll on OSG to gather your thoughts. I remember being a bit taken aback by a couple comments I received that went something like this:
“Angela, I don’t think you should post 3 times a day. I have a hard time keeping up and I hate missing some of your posts!”
And I thought to myself, my readers want me to post LESS frequently? Huh? I couldn’t quite understand it. But now I think I see what they were getting at.
I have also talked to other bloggers who used to adhere to the 3 times a day posting framework and they got completely stressed out about it. They said they stressed about when they couldn’t post and they started not to like blogging anymore. Once they eased off a bit they found that they had content coming out of their wazoo and they were much happier.
Much like running, when I take a step back, I come back renewed and refreshed with lots of energy to give back.
Now this isn’t to say that I am going to stop posting 3 times a day or vanish from all eternity (although some days that sounds appealing! haha), but I do think that I need to stop and reflect on things more when I do feel that pressure to ‘throw up a post just for the sake of posting’. I have such a strong research background, but I hardly ever maximize it on this blog because I feel like I never quite have enough time in the day to do actual research in scholarly journals anymore. Perhaps, if I gave myself more time, I could do this more often (as I so enjoy doing health research). Makes sense, right?
And I know I can’t be alone. I know there are a ton of you bloggers out there who feel the same pressures to post. I also know that there are many readers out there who can’t keep up with all the posts they want to read because us bloggers are just posting-so-damn-much-all-the-time-when-do-we-sleep!
Thoughts? :D
Thanks so much for posting this Angela! I’m a “lurker” on your blog and recently started my own healthy living blog as I document my training for a sprint tri. As I started to get more and more response to my blog I was feeling more and more pressure to post more and of course make it entertaining so people would continue to read. I was getting a little stressed and it wasn’t as fun as it originally was. However, I took a step back and decided to just keep my focus on fun recipes and my tri training and it became fun again.
Keep up the great work and thanks again!
Courtney
Adventures in Tri-ing
I agree with the less blogging and I do not know how you keep up with 3 times a day. With all you are doing developing your business and baking I can certainly see where the stress would come in. Having sad that I do enjoy reading your morning blog with my breakfast so if you do reduce down to one this is the time I would choose.
People just need to post when they want, however much they want. Period.
Angela – have to agree with the person who said sometimes it is hard to keep up with three times a day. The problem is your topics are just so interesting that no one wants to miss anything!! :)
I only started reading blogs a couple of months ago – while I always like to read people’s new entries I think the only time when I have been tapping my feet impatiently for a new update is after they blog about an upcoming race/event/birth and I really want to find out how they did/outcome/baby pics. :)
If you feel that posting less would make you happier in terms of time management and quality of what you write (though I think the quality is great as is!) then don’t worry about loss of interest. Judging by the number of comments you get on here and the growth of your baking biz you deserve to reshuffle your schedule!! :)
Ange, you have hit the nail on the head. As a new blogger, I feel pressure to get as many posts up as I can (i am trying to adhere to the 3 a day framework myself), and sometimes I find myself posting just to get a post up. The post ends up being about well, nothing. I am still trying to find my niche in the blog world; I don’t want to say that I’m one type of blogger or another, but I learned a lot from Zesty’s presentation and I’m trying to put it to good use. It is extremely hard as I currently work about 60 hrs a week, on top of commuting and trying to have a life. It’s hard, and I don’t want to get stressed about trying to get a post up just for the sake of it.
Thank you for your insight (oh, and your globars, obviously).
:)
I’m with VeggieGirl. Since your posts are very word-heavy, it does get a bit intense if I say, miss your breakfast post, then read that AND lunch at the same time! If you don’t have something to post, don’t post! Since I’m a once-a-day poster, i’m a bit biased, but sometimes, I skip a day!
Great thoughts ladies…I agree, blogging is not something that should stress us out! I think it is great that we are discussing this because I think it is sort of ‘kept in the closet’ and is something no one really talks about but I think it is very real. ~A
I can’t agree more. I think quality always trumps over quantity, and it can get to be a bother to HAVE TO post so frequently. The reason you started this blog is because you were passionate about health and smart living, so why detract from that by being stressed out by it? You’re doing great, so feel free to give yourself a break!
It’s not that it’s “kept in the closet” – it’s that people are creating this unnecessary competition and trying to post 948305983409580349850345 times per day.
Quality trumps quantity.
P.S. – Michelle (commenter above me), I was reiterating your statement at the end of my comment, since it sums everything up perfectly. You said it best!! :-D
I feel very stressed when I feel that I HAVE to do something. I know people probably expect different things from blogs, but I blog because I like to do it when I feel I WANT to do it. This is why sometimes I just don’t feel like blogging, not that it’s not important to me, but because other priorities have come up or I just don’t want to be attached to the computer that much, so I back off a bit.
Blogging to me is meant to be FUN, not stressful! There’s enough stress in this world and I don’t choose to add to this!
Have an enjoyable day!
I do think it is kept in the closet because so many readers have this impression that bloggers perfectly manage and organize their time sans stress. I have spoken to so many bloggers that feel so much pressure to post. No one really talks about it out in the open. I think if we did this more, that many of us would realize how rediculous it really is. And yes quality trumps quantity for sure. ~A
Thanks for posting this! When I started my blog I was posting every other day, and now I post maybe twice a week. I do wish I had the time to post more but also, sometimes I just feel like I don’t have anything to say! I don’t think I’ve found my niche yet so I feel like my blog is kinda random, but at the end of the day, it’s my hobby not my job, so I feel like I have the freedom to do with it what I wish. It took awhile for me to get to that point, however.
i love that you brought this up. when i started my blog, i knew posting three times a day wasn’t going to happen. i knew i might only post once or twice on weekends. and i knew i could never (and had no desire to) post everything i eat. blogging should be fun, enjoyable, a creative outlet, a place to share things we are passionate about. especially in the food blogging community, i definitely think there is pressure to match up to the most successful bloggers, who seem to all post three times a day. but you’re right angela, we each need to find our niche and do what works for us. one of the things i love about your blog is how varied your content is – it covers so many things i am interested in, and it’s different from the norm. but because you have so much content (and are building a business at the same time!), i don’t know how you keep up with your posting schedule! :) if it’s becoming stressful, you should definitely take a step back. do what works for you! i’m sure you won’t lose a single reader.
Thanks for being honest Angela. I say post whenever you want to – you obviously love blogging, but again it’s your blog. You do what you need to do to stay grounded and happy. More stress = less fun.
I, for one, haven’t a clue how you manage the bakery start-up business + blog.
I very much enjoy your blog, both the more serious posts and the, well, sillier/faster posts.
I know that *I* do best when I have some kind of a schedule. If you are that way, then keep to a schedule, but perhaps make it more flexible. For the wedding, I couldn’t follow all the posts — one longer recap would have been fine for me. But you should do what works for YOU! The blog is a two-way street.
And thank you for always taking your logyal readers so seriously. I appreciate that very much.
Thanks for posting this! I recently did a complete rehaul of my old blog and as part of it, made the decision to post multiple times per day instead of once. For me, as a food blogger, this is MUCH easier because it keeps me from doing marathon posts at the end of the day that were leaving me completely exhausted and burnt out from blogging. I don’t beat myself up if I can’t post 3 times per day, but overall it’s a goal because it keeps me structured and helps me with time management at the end of a long day when the last thing I want to do is write a huge post. Just another point of view :)
I’ve gone back and forth over this. On one hand, I sometimes think frequent posting can be obsessive. There are some blogs who post frequently who you can tell they just log in, post a pic and description of their meal, log out. However there are some blogs that follow the 3-a-day framework that I really enjoy – they provide good content, and even the ones that do post every meal I don’t mind – it’s almost like with their friendly tone and openness, I feel like I’m just catching up with a friend. (This is especially true with bloggers I actually know in “real life” lol).
However, there are definitely bloggers like you mentioned (Bakerella, Smitten Kitchen) who don’t post often, but when they do, it is freaking awesome.
Then there are other bloggers (Pioneer Woman) who crack me up, cover a wide variety of topics, post often and whom I adore.
It’s all about balance and everyone finding what works best for you! :) If you like your blog and have fun doing it, then no matter what others will like your blog, too. :)
I think this is a great topic to talk about. I don’t have a food or healthy lifestyle blog, but I do have a sewing/craft blog that I hardly even update once a week! I can’t imagine updating 3 times a day! I wouldn’t know what to say. Granted, I also have to make time to sew or make a project, then photograph it, and edit the photos. I think you do a wonderful job posting interesting topics – but if you did it only once a day instead of 3 times, that would be ok too. Thanks for the great insight. :)
I totally agree with you! I recently started a blog, and I don’t feel like I am posting enough even though when I wasn’t away I posted probably 2 or maybe 3 times a day.