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5 Questions I Ask Myself About Blogging Every Week
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There are many rules that I stick to regarding blogging including keeping a regular posting schedule, keeping the content up to scratch at all times and constantly building the community but there are some more general questions that I ask myself as well to make sure I am on track. You should always be assessing your progress and making sure your ship is not sailing off course no matter how lofty or simple your own goals might be for your blog. People blog for many reasons. Some people want hundreds of thousands of readers while others are happy with their family reading their blog. Some set out to make money while others give it all away. There is no set formula for blogging correctly but I personally always ask myself these questions about once a week…
Does My Content Provide Value?
I always ask myself have I written something that I want to read or will other people actually find it useful? The answer always has to be the latter because I write the blog with the sole purpose of helping other people. Don’t be too blown away though because I do that mainly because a)I know that if I continue to help others it will come back to me in the long run and b)it is a crucial part of building up a community. The day that my content doesn’t add value and I am just rehashing other people’s news and posting YouTube clips is the day I will know it is time to quit.
Would I Read The Blog Myself?
Sounds like a stupid question to ask but at the end if the day if I wouldn’t be able to read it myself would others care enough to read it. Nobody could be more interested in social media than me so if I don’t find the content interesting then who will? I often read a couple of pages of the blog and scan through titles and articles as if I was an outsider trying to see if I’d be interested. It is a hard skill to master but being critical of yourself will only improve the end result.
Can I Improve In Anyway?
People who think they are perfect and have mastered their art are fools. Nobody is at the top of their game. There will always be a younger, hungrier, tougher competitor out there waiting to eat your lunch. You might be the best writer in town but can you improve your SEO in anyway? What about tweaking design to get more RSS readers or adding a new element like video to your blog. You need to constantly be asking yourself how you can improve your blog.
Have I Dreaded Blogging Once This Week?
I think about blogging nearly all day. If I am working then I am looking forward to blogging. If I am trying to get to sleep I’ll be thinking about tomorrow’s blog. I literally bound down the stairs when it is time to write my daily post. If one day I wake up and am dreading it even a tiny bit or say that “I’ll just leave it for today” then I’ll know that the fire is gone and it is time to quit.
Have My Numbers Increased?
This might sound shallow and will draw some criticism from some people but we have a very clear goal on this blog and that is to increase our numbers and build the community. So that is everything from Facebook Fans to Youtube subscribers, unique visitors to RSS and so on. This is our goal. It will not be everybody’s goal but it is what we measure ourselves on. If our Facebook Fans have gone down then we need to know why? What have we done to lose fans and more importantly how can we fix it and make sure we get back to some growth next week? Everybody will have different goals so substitute your own in for this question.
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That’s a great post, and no I don’t find your last point to be shallow. Everyone out there is blogging because they have something to say (whether silly or major) and they want people to listen. And some people really have some good information to share, or have the potential to become great bloggers, if they didn’t have enough support in the beginning or saw that people are increasingly taking interest, it would be discouraging, and you would end up asking yourself this every week:
“Why do I bother?!”
Yes it is of course nice to have readers and if most people are honest that will be the main reason why they are blogging. getting nice comments and more readers often spurs people on to go and write even better content.
Tip: When selecting to retweet this article, the line that is preset for publishing has a typing error. That does hinder the credibility of the post.
Thanks a million for that Manal. You are right that little details like that are important, will get it fixed up ASAP
Cheers for the RT though 
“Would I Read The Blog Myself?” is an important question that one must ask oneself. But nobody should be too obsessed with the question, because sometimes one will keep changing the outlook of the blog to please self
Thank you!! Great tips!
Nice principle, and I think the number one is the most important for a professional blogger.
Great points and in particular “Would I read the blog myself.” I’d not thought of that before but it makes complete sense. If your blog is about stuff you care about and not just some cheesy way of making money with any topic, then answering that question would really help with focus. Thank. John
These are some excellent questions to ask yourself regularly. In regards to point #3, I try not to revisit any “one” post continuously looking for a way to improve it otherwise I’d never publish it at all…
But really, I see your point here and think it’s something we should all think about daily/weekly.