We Blog Better started 28 days ago. It’s been a joy to watch it grow in influence and interaction with the larger blogging community. When starting out, I had a determined commitment not to miss blogging for a single day for at least the first month and to reach 50 blog posts in that amount of time.
Then I got sick. Two days ago I caught some kind of nasty stomach bug and I’ve literally lost 9 pounds in that amount of time. I couldn’t walk from one end of my house to the other. As you can imagine, writing blog posts was the furthest thing from my mind. In fact, I couldn’t stand to look at a computer screen at all.
On Saturday, I wrote my 50th blog post, so I reached that goal, but Sunday and Monday I didn’t write a thing. I couldn’t respond to comments, and I even went about 24 hours without tweeting anything except for some message about how sick I was.
Here’s what I discovered… my blog didn’t die. In fact, it gained RSS subscribers each day and new Facebook Fans during that time. Some kind folks even left comments on older posts.
So here’s the lesson. It’s rather simple. Take a day off now and then, especially when your body tells you to do so. Your blog won’t die. And, you may even benefit from the period of rest.
photo credit: Marco Gomes
Jean Sarauer
Evelyn
Tia Peterson
Josh Garcia
Gurl
Wayne Howard
Blog Angel a.k.a....
Justin Germino
John Soares
Mike Roosa
Blogging is very fun but also very addictive. Personally, I have to be careful of not working too much.
You’re definitely right, bloggers have to take some time off to enjoy some time with the familly (or other things).
It will not kill blogs or businesses ;)
Jean-Baptiste Jung´s last blog ..10 tips to create the perfect “advertise” page for your blog
This is especially true and pertinent with the holidays coming up. We probably shouldn’t be blogging at the dinner table on Thanksgiving!
It’s good when you have every day a new post to read, but it’s not bad either if that blog updates less frequent. I write about once every three days, and it works. I mean, of course you get less hits from aggregators but there are always search engines and readers who hadn’t time to read some posts yet.
P.S. Haha, not an hour as I know about this blog’s existence and I already did it into Top Commenters^^
Eugen R.´s last blog ..Reaching you is reaching me
Hey, that’s cool. And I’m really glad you’re here!
It is good to have you back up and blogging. ;)
I’m fairly new to blogging as well and I definitely take days off, mostly the weekends. I’ll probably wither schedule some posts to drop during the holiday or post less. Not sure about how that will work.
Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..It is Global Entrepreneurship Week!?!
Brandon,
I’m glad you are feeling better. I, too, had made a commitment to make a post everyday this month, but Sunday I missed posting one.
A few weeks before that I had actually been a few posts ahead but took a break and did not have any reserve posts this weekend. I highly recommend having reserve posts for times like these, but you just got to remember to replenish them. ;)
Brad
Brad Harmon´s last blog ..Should Christians Bring Their Religion to the Workplace?
That’s very good advice, I think I’ll take it this weekend – hope you’re feeling better!
Mark Bell´s last blog ..Tuesday 17 November 2009, 18:05
Amen to this Brandon. Your audience is not a search engine, it’s people. The obsession with page rank and SEO tactics sometimes gets in the way of common sense. It’s natural to take a break once in a while; readerships understand this.
I’m glad that you’re feeling better :)
Ryan´s last blog ..What Is An RSS Feed?
I don’t really consider blogging work so I rarely want time away from it, I love it.
Extreme John´s last blog ..Meeting Mr. Butch Patrick a.k.a Eddie Munster
Very good point John – I would do it for free! Oh, wait, I pretty much do, haha!
Days off blogging are fine! I take many off haha (kind of didn’t have much of a choice at times). If you’re taking an extended amount of time off though I would recommend letting your readers know.
For example I took a vacation for a week and left a note on my blog home page stating I would be away for a week. But even then you could get away with it by scheduling posts while you are away and potentially still interacting on twitter and other social media on your phone.
Sarge´s last blog ..OMFG Just Stick To Your Goals!!
Quite a good idea – like leaving a message on the answering machine in the form of a vacation post.
I was sick this week and only published 2 posts which is not my norm. I was a bit upset, but I have to smile now about it. We need to take off some time and reset our brains and body.
George Serradinho´s last blog ..Firefox Plugins to Increase Blogging Productivity (Series 1)
Yep, long-term it’s important to stay alive by resting so we can blog another day!
I have also trying to make the same commitment to writing an article a day for my website for a month. So far so good. Then I will take a few days away.