Oh, hello, blog.

Here you are neglected for 5 months as I go about living my life outside of the confines of my browser and your content management system. Poor blog. Ok, you see what I did there? I personified my blog, felt guilt, felt responsibility, FELT.

When you blog consistently, your blog can become your baby, your pet project. And when you ignore it, there is a tiny part of you that feels bad about not giving it attention. But let’s face it, life is hard, life is busy and blogging falls to the wayside unless you’re hardcore. I tried hardcore – nothing like posting everyday, but trying to post 3 times a week – but I burned out.

Then…I went out and cheated on my blog! GASP!!

I created another blog – I Luv Spanish.

AND

I read OTHER blogs – blogs that didn’t ask anything of me other than to waste time passively rather than actively, which left me feeling cheap and like a sell out. (ok, not really cheap, but like I was not living up to my promise to write, write and WRITE).

So, everyone (I mean experts – those who claim they’ve got it all figured out) claim that making lists will help you narrow your focus, figure out what it is you want. Pros and Cons.

Today, I will focus on:

The Cons of Blogging

It is time consuming – If you’re microblogging your wit on Twitter or reblogging someone else’s genius on Tumblr or posting pictures of your clean eating on Instagram, in my opinion, you’re not blogging, you’re just sharing. Totally fine, I enjoy it but it’s social media. Blogging – or old school “web logging” requires quality content and words, sentences, or paragraphs of content. Content you write yourself takes time, at least quality content does.

It requires a schedule - People, bloggers and those who hire bloggers, LOVE to talk about editorial calendars, scheduling content out a few months with a specific goal in mind. Having a plan for the blog’s content is important, but for me, it’s easy to lose creativity when you are analyzing content too much. Plus, for some reason, the term editorial calendar bothers me.

It may invade your privacy – Two words: over share. I can’t tell you how many blogs I’ve read where people post about all about their children (one popular blog had pictures of their children’s bath time, ugh) or all about their fight with their husbands (and what an a-hole he was) or how terrible a specific server at a restaurant was (naming names). And you know what? Those blogs are uber popular because the public wants that. I am a very private person, so it is really hard for me to share my innermost thoughts or my political leanings or my family drama here. So, I have to tow the line and share just enough, but not too much.

It can yield little ROI - If you blog you’ve probably read about return on investment. Basically time and energy is your investment, some might invest money if they use Google Adwords. If you are trying to get your blog to rise in PageRank, then you have to do A LOT of networking. Ask other blogs to link to you, comment on other blogs, etc. Even then, there is little guarantee that all that work will yield the results that you might have in mind. So unless you are blogging for the sheer fun and enjoyment, don’t expect to be blogging for DOLLARS.

I could probably pull out other negatives about blogging, but I’ll let it stand here for now. I’ve decided not to quit, but alter my goals in blogging. Blog when I feel like it, which apparently hasn’t been very often as of late.

So, blog, here is your first post for the new year.

Cheers,