Ever since starting this blog I’ve been trying to decide whether or not I should promote it on social networking sites in order to reach a wider audience.
I’ve made some stabs at it – signed up for Twitter, Facebook and Google+ accounts – then let them fall by the wayside, never following through.
I’ve been incessantly nagged received email reminders that I need to get on with promoting my blog. But I never feel quite ready.
I haven’t been able to put my finger on the reason why. Until now. Now I know why I’ve been hesitant to take that big step.
And it’s all OCD Louie‘s fault.
Louie’s been pretty quiet about my blog for awhile. Probably because he’s all worn out from nagging me about my income tax return.
Which I don’t wish to discuss right now. The wounds are still too fresh. Maybe later.
But now, since I’ve finished the taxes and filed the return, and am starting to think again about promoting my blog, OCD Louie’s annoying voice is starting to play in my head again.
“Ya know, if you really want your blog to be successful they say you need to promote it. So why aren’t ya doing that?”
Well, actually Louie, now that you mention it, I’ve been thinking about it. (Notice how I speak to Louie as if he doesn’t already know my every thought? Why do I do that? I have no idea. Maybe to show him who really has the upper hand?)
“Well, umm, I was just thinking. If you ever do get around to promoting, and then your audience grows, are ya sure ya have enough interesting posts in ya? I mean, it would be an awful shame to promise something ya can’t really deliver.”
Thanks so much, Louie. How would I ever identify my worst fears without your helpful input?
Actually, Louie hit the nail right on the head this time. Do I truly have enough interesting things left to say to keep this blog going?
Am I the only blogger who encounters this fear?
Wondering who The Rock and Pebbles are?
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more on my About My Blog page.
Pebbles on the Road 
No you are not the only one. I’ve started and stopped specific blogs so many times because I had ‘wonderful ideas’ that I couldn’t sustain for varied reasons. I’ve promoted (and been rewarded) with greater stats from those promotions. I’ve reached out using some of the ideas from the WordPress Daily Post and other hints. Short of holding readers hostage (which I can’t seem to figure out how to do) and even with the time and yes, even some money that I’ve invested in my blog, I still engage mostly with a core group of followers.
Now that’s not to say that I don’t get new folks stopping by, perhaps because of a new tag or category that draws them in, and I get new followers as well. But honestly, those folks simply are not the engaging ones, the ones who comment or like or even show up after a few posts. I don’t think that it’s necessarily about having enough to say. I write some topics for others, as talking points for discussion. I write other posts as an online journal, so mostly for me. I have looked back as stats and some of my oddest or off-the-wall topics (in my personal opinion) have been the ones that have given the best results.
This whole blogging thing, (if you don’t want to spend every hour of every day at it) is a hit or miss venture I think. People use blogging for so many different reasons, some work and some don’t. People read and follow for so many different reasons and I think many readers/bloggers are fickle. What is liked one day is forgotten the next.
My latest opinion: write what you love, as often as you are comfortable, post it, and move on. Blogging is a tool for friendship and self-expression, but I think that unless someone is known prior to becoming a blogger, we are all just small specks in a huge universe that occasionally bump into each other and connect then move on.
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Thanks, Deb, for you well thought out response. You’ve definitely given me food for thought.
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I agree with Deb. I think you have to decide why you are blogging. Is it for fun; a creative outlet, something specific to say? Or do you really want numbers, which are deceiving?
Deb’s last paragraph says it all.
I hope you continue to enjoy the experience and share your thoughts and adventures with us a while longer at least 🙂
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Why thank you much 🙂
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Aw, thanks. I haven’t said everything I want to, so I’ll be here a while yet. 🙂
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