10 Reasons NOT to Blog

KeyboardI like blogging and I like reading blogs.  I think blogging is an important tool that has been added to our arsenal in our endeavors to live the best life possible.  And I used to think everyone should blog, but I don’t anymore.

Here are ten reasons why you should not blog:

1.    You shouldn’t blog if you have nothing to say.  Talking about your day at the park or your grocery list, or that you need to cut the yard or use the bathroom does not rise to the level of anything compelling enough to blog about.  So if you have nothing to add to the conversation, don’t blog.

2.    You shouldn’t blog if you’re not going to do it regularly.  Once in awhile, even once a week, doesn’t allow you to say enough to get people interested in coming back for more.  I’d say if you plan to blog, you need to blog at least 3 to 4 times a week; preferably every day if, of course, it doesn’t take over your life.

3.    You shouldn’t blog if you don’t have a drum to beat.  You need to pick a niche, get in it, and be the expert on it.  And then we’ll read your blog.

4.    You shouldn’t blog if blogging is really a cover for selling products to people who come to your blog.  Nobody likes to be ambushed.

5.    You shouldn’t blog if your blog posts are too long.  If you’re really a frustrated author and you want to write a book, write a book.  The most compelling blogs are short; the shorter the better.  That’s why Twitter has taken off and become so popular.  It’s forced brevity.  Forced brevity promotes creativity.

6.    You shouldn’t blog if you’re out to attack other people.  Flaming people on a blog or criticizing them by name is the coward’s way.  If that’s the kind of person you are, we don’t need you.

7.    You shouldn’t blog if you’re not willing to be challenged or criticized.  Now that might sound like a contradiction of what I just said.  But the truth of the matter is, people who have other opinions are going to join the conversation.  You can be positive and disagree.  If you want people to respond to what you have to say, be ready for them to respond in a way that may push back against your assumptions.

8.    You shouldn’t blog if you’re giving out more than you’re taking in.  By that I mean, if you’re not reading blogs, reading books, listening to books, learning, going to conferences, discovering, and becoming just simply a more interesting person with more perspective, then we don’t need anymore dry buckets from dry wells.

9.    You shouldn’t blog if you don’t have a sense of humor.  Life is way too serious.  If you take yourself too seriously, you don’t need to blog.

10.    You shouldn’t blog until you sit down and write out a clear mission of what it is you want to achieve by blogging and then stick to it.  And be bold enough to put it on the header of your blog.  In my new blog that I’m redesigning, my mission statement is “Fostering hope, leading change.” That’s my mission – to foster hope in the process of leading change.

What do you think about my ten?  Do you have some more to add?  Join the conversation.