Posted on November 29, 2007
Why People Stop Blogging
BY JASON CORMIER
We met with a marketing director today who shared that her company's web traffic has increased due to their blog contributing to higher search rankings - but then in the same breath explained that the blog was dead, nobody wanted to write anything for it anymore, and they were on the verge of shutting it down completely.
Of course, this was a softball lob for us in terms of introducing how to turn this sad situation around. James likes to use the bar analogy: You don't walk into a bar, start screaming about what's on your mind and expect people to converse with you. Instead, you first listen to what's being said - as it's always easier to enter an existing conversation than to start a new one.
Such is life in the blogosphere. If you only write but never read, the motivation can be lost. If nobody responds to what you have written (ever), the doubt perpetuates. If you don't respond to what anyone else has written, why would you expect others to respond to you? So the question becomes, who's stuff do I read and respond to? Who's conversation should I be listening to?
As I'm always saying to Stepan here (who sits next to Ben, the guy who makes stuff happen), you need to "use the tools." There are a few good ones out there, some of which should be used in conjunction with others. The obejective is to learn what the key influencers are saying about your focus, then consider how you will participate - or as Covey says, "seek first to understand, then to be understood."
At the end of our meeting, I think our new marketing friend was excited about getting her company's blog revived. I'm certain this is a common problem. Is it your problem too JennyU?
