It also rocks. But more accurately, I wanted to share a few rules I’ve set in place for myself for creating a consistent blogging habit. Please steal them for your own blog and help make the web a better place.
Keep the focus on content, not on ‘the site.’
It can be really fun to change up themes, get picky with the CSS, and pick out the absolute perfect 7 tags and 2 categories for each post. I’ve put in no small amount of customization on this very site. But on a personal blog, this absolutely must come second to your ideas. Whether you blog, photoblog, vlog or whatever– your content should be your number one priority. No one cares what color your car is if you can’t keep gasoline in the tank.
Pick a pace and stick with it.
I picked a daily pace for my blog because it is a small-scale project. My hope is when you choose to follow you’ll become one of my friends, or at least gain and understanding of me that my friends would. Occasionally you’ll get some longer blocks of text, but lots of times it’s just little updates about things I think I are cool.
I really like Ipstenu’s site, which she updates Monday-Wednesday-Friday, but her content is at a higher plane of thought than mine. The extra time is warranted.
My favorite podcast is Welcome to Night Vale, which is released only twice a month. But to push publish they need to write ~25 minutes worth of fiction, record it, and edit it along with all their live shows, promotion, business, and all the other asides that go along with being working artists.
My point is, the actual pace you choose doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it matches your effort and you consistently deliver.
Lose No Ideas, But Set Some Free
When you’re creating something, you must collect your ideas in a nice big pile. I normally just use draft posts in WordPress. I use Simplenote for other stuff, but occasionally a snippet of blog post will get saved there on-the-go too. Whenever something strikes as ‘that’s cool’ take a note down.
If I have something in my drafts for over a week, I send it to trash. It was clearly fleeting to me and I had other things to write about. Letting those ideas go is fine, and I’ve had no regrets about that. But I’ve forgotten and regretted to many other lost thoughts due to the laziness of not taking notes.
There Are No Rules
These are rules I made for myself. They might not make sense for you. They do not guarantee internet fame and certainly not internet fortune. But I’ve found that by following these rules I blog everyday and enjoy doing it. Most importantly, they’ve helped me create a site I’m proud to say is mine.
Alex Gustafson 