Why writing a blog (and presenting yourself) is so doggone hard

I’ve been writing this blog for just under two years and have contributed 265 posts. It is a laborious task but one I know is critical for developing and expanding one’s platform. It is also a good way to consistently keep in touch with many people at once.

I think everyone should have a blog. It’s a great way to present yourself and be in conversation these days. Setting one up is the easy part (try wordpress.com). The hard part is maintaining it and expanding its outreach. Here are my reasons why writing a blog (and by extension presenting yourself) can be an agonizing endeavor, albeit a rewarding one.

1) Coming up with posts that people will find interesting. Let’s face, if you don’t have good, relevant content  you won’t have readers.

2) Writing in an authentic voice. Putting your thoughts and ideas out there for the whole world to see creates insecurity and invites criticism. So we protect ourselves by writing posts in a voice and persona other than our own.

3) Allowing your blog to be the end-all-be-all barometer of success. I know people who started their blog when I did and now have hundreds of thousands of followers. Mine is nowhere near that amount.  I can take that as sole evidence of my failure as a speaker and writer.

4) Putting thoughts to words is extremely difficult. To write in a style that is yours and do it in a way that makes sense is time consuming. Having a hastily or sloppily written blog is a waste of people’s time and a distraction from your message.

5) To post regularly requires discipline and time management. I’m not very good at either. So I have to be very intentional. I have partitioned a part of Monday and Wednesday mornings to write. My readership has steadily increased because I have been steadily consistent in blogging.

I love reading and learning from blogs. Everybody has something unique to offer and I for one am interested in it. I gravitate to the blogs that are relevant, well written, true to the author and are consistently delivered. Just like my best relationships. So start a blog. It’s fun. Just know what you are getting into. It will make the whole endeavor that much more enjoyable.

If you have a blog, where can we read it? If you’ve wanted to blog but haven’t started what are some reasons for not doing it? Add any other comments.