The First Rule of Blogging

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

This is the first post in a roughly 10-part series I'm calling The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series. I’m sharing blogging advice I've picked up on from more established bloggers, different bits of advice which have haunted me profoundly ever since I came upon them. Read the introduction to this series here.

There are many, many rules of successful blogging that many, many people will tell you that you must do.

Such as:

Post everyday (even several times a day!), you should use WordPress and if you have WordPress you must have these plugins, wait, actually, Blogger is better than WordPress, network with other bloggers to grow your site audience, you should use social media sites
(Digg, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter...aagh!)--no, actually, don't use social media to promote your blog, you should have a blog commenting strategy, writing short posts is a secret A-List bloggers employ--no, write long posts!, your blog design matters--no, it doesn't (well maybe a little), you must do SEO for your blog, but realize that SEO is a waste of time, you should read other blogs on a regular basis to stay up to date on the latest blogging trends--well, don't read something until you actually need to, blog about your passion--but don't rely on your passion alone, do lots of guest posts on high-traffic blogs, write catchy and witty headlines--use lists! (the top 5,000,000 keys to a better life...the 8.5 trillion things you must do to get blog readers), use lots of images, use videos, buy advertising for your blog, write a press release announcing your blog, participate in web events (pull an April Fool's Day joke on your blog, do a "what I'm thankful for" roundup on Thanksgiving), use Entrecard!--don't use Entrecard (actually, if you value your time and care about real return on investment, you won't use it), put up ads from day one--no, wait until you have 1000 daily visitors first!, offer a full RSS feed--no, offer a partial one so that readers will have to click over to your site to finish reading the post, thus increasing your Adsense impressions!, link out to lots of other bloggers so they'll notice you and maybe help increase your profile....exhausted yet?

**Note: I know I should link out the second half of this paragraph for consistency's sake, but in keeping with the spirit of this post--the first rule of blogging--I'm not. I'll explain at the end of this post.**

Do this (could be anything) to blog better, every single time!...but never do that (could be anything)!

Chill Out

If you've recently started blogging, you may have gotten caught up in this never-ending quest to build a highly successful blog, searching out information from sources the world over, constantly looking for the latest blogging tip.

Some of the advice is actually very good; some of it isn't. But, you could look at the avalanche of blogging advice, both good and bad, from both successful bloggers and completely unsuccessful bloggers, and begin to feel utterly exhausted. There's so much stuff that you think you have to do now to make your blog a success; problem is, you don't really enjoy your blog much anymore, as it begins to feel like a job.

On a typical day you might be saying to yourself, "Today, I have to write a home-run post with thorough SEO, I have to comment on 10 blogs and get actively involved in those conversations, constantly checking back for replies so I can reply back, I have to Stumble and Digg for a half-hour, I have to drop 100 Entrecards, I have to begin that guest post"--and you've forgotten just why you started a blog in the first place.

If you started a blog to drive traffic to your business site or to establish yourself as an expert in a field to open up job opportunities, then a certain base amount of these activities is vital. But...I bet you there are many people with "personal" blogs who have found themselves turning their part-time hobby into a second full-time job, perhaps thinking they're going to make plenty of money off their ads or gain their 15 minutes of fame. For most, it's an unhealthy pipe dream--time to wake up.

Get a Life

If that's you (or you're a serious business blogger who's getting burned out), you need to keep in mind the first rule of blogging, courtesy of Tim Ferriss, author of the 4 Hour Workweek.

"You don’t HAVE TO do anything," Ferris says.

That is the first rule of blogging, the rule that trumps all others, and one that you should probably write out and post somewhere near your computer.

Ferris explains what he means in response to a question from Mr. Problogger, Darren Rowse, in an interview:

Darren - "Many of the bloggers that I interact with have anything but a 4 hour work week - how can we make ourselves more productive in the day to day of blogging?"

Tim - "Just remember: you don’t HAVE TO do anything. Set the rules of the game so that you can win and have a life at the same time. If you set the expectation that you’ll post 12 times a day, it’s going to overwhelm you. Focus on quality over quantity and the critical few vs. the trivial many. How do you do that? You first define precisely what you want yourself and others to get out of the blog — why are you doing it, and what are you doing it for? It is vain to do with more what can be done with less (that’s quoting William of Occam, originator of “Occam’s Razor”), so if you can get your readers to where they need to be with one post a day, or one post per week, establish that as your rule."

Get a Focus

If you're feeling nauseous from the torrent of blogging "musts" you've come to believe you have to do, the following two takeways (which Ferriss points to) are ones you should address before you go any further:

1. Why do you have a blog?
2. Whatever the reason, make sure you're enjoying yourself.

Yes, there are certain things you should do if you really want to be successful, but what's your definition of successful? Do you really care if you have 20,000 RSS and email subscribers? Or do you just want to write on a subject that you enjoy exploring and sharing with others?

If it's the latter, then don't worry much about how to use social media to your advantage--it's probably a waste of time for you, as is spending much time learning SEO.

If you have a business blog, then you really should do some of these things, but then again, you don't need a blog for your business to be successful...it may actually hinder it if you spend too much time writing on your blog and marketing it instead of actually doing the work that your business is supposed to be about.

I read this advice from Ferriss months ago, but it's only recently begun to penetrate profoundly into my soul and I'm all the better for it. I've been helping another blogger out for awhile now, and I'd find myself chastising him for not doing such and such and exhorting him to do some other such and such--once I realized that's it not necessarily that big a deal, and the only blogging rule is that there are no rules, I lightened up on him and let him start enjoying it again. He's actually enjoying more success with it than ever before. Now, I recommend certain things here and there, but always try to remember that it's his blog and he can (and should) do what he wants, even if he is looking to me for assistance.

Be Professional, But Have Fun Too

I do think you should be professional (but you don't have to be) in whatever you post and how you write--don't post something that you would be ashamed for a potential employer to see and try to always write clearly, with good grammar and punctuation, etc.

Again, though, you don't have to do anything. It's your blog; do what you want. Enjoy it.

Don't be surprised, though, that if you just throw up boring, badly-written content, and never promote your blog, you will probably have very few readers (although you might be cool with that). You do have to do things to create a successful blog, and the successful bloggers do those things consistently.

While you should do certain things for success, just remember that you don't HAVE to do anything. Don't let others impose their standards on you.

Bottom Line

Quit worrying so much about finding the latest "secret key" to successful blogging and simply enjoy yourself. Pick a topic that you enjoy exploring and write as well as you can about it. Blogging is fun so have fun doing it.

**Note Update: I intended to link out the second half of that monster blog rules paragraph, but after having found 23 or so links, I got sick of it, so I quit. It's my blog after all--I don't HAVE to do anything I don't want to. This advice from Ferriss haunts me so deeply that when I got up to take a break, tired of getting all those links, I realized, "Hey, follow the advice you're sharing with the folks," and I started to relax and enjoy myself again. And that's the point of this post, to do what you want, to enjoy your blog, and not to let it (or other bloggers' standards) rule you. Set your own blogging rules. Peace.**

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