I know this is a crazy post.
I know my blog has certainly helped me rise up. Other’s blogs have helped them rise up. I am going to an unconference that is going to focus on HR people who are interested in blogging. Someone may ask me if they should start a blog.
In the past, my answer was an unhesitant yes. Of course you should. Why shouldn’t you? The real question is how do we get you going and exposed as quickly as possible.
Now? My answer depends on a number of factors. In some cases though, my answer is going to be no.
What gives?
I haven’t soured on blogging nor do I believe the space is crowded. On the contrary, I still think there is a lot of space out there for people to talk about business and talent. We’ve barely scratched the surface of possibilities. But I think there are also a lot of dead blogs out there and that sucks. It means someone put in a bunch of effort, got frustrated and left it behind.
That could have been prevented because while I don’t believe there is one way to blog, there are many ways to fail at blogging:
- You aren’t passionate about the subject – You want to use your new blog as a tool to rise up but you aren’t passionate about the subject. Reverse course matey! Go back and find your passion and then blog about that.
- You aren’t interested in improving your writing – Blogging has helped me improve my written communication skills immensely. Rarely do people come into blogging with that background. Are you willing to craft and recraft messages until you get used to it?
- You can’t write on a consistent schedule – This is a big one. I say writing once a week is the necessity. That’s 52 posts a year. I’ve averaged two posts a week for over three years. It honestly isn’t tough but if your schedule is rough and tumble, you’ll lose interest if you don’t post for a month.
- You can’t do the other things that make your blog great – Keeping up on what other people are doing in the context of what you write is as important as what you write. Making comments, networking with fellow bloggers, and pushing stuff out to your network? That’s part of successful blogging.
So If You Don’t Do Blogging…
You can rise up in different ways. People have this tendency to assume that the path they take is the best path for everyone but that simply isn’t the case. Even with blogging. Now I believe that if you have those four traits, anyone can learn how to blog and do it very well. Seriously. Anyone.
There are other ways to rise up though:
- Through your company
- Speaking and volunteering through local associations
- Doing interesting things and getting press coverage
- Doing guest blog posts
- Using other social media tools effectively
- Start consulting and advising (even pro bono)
I am just scratching the surface here. My biggest point: don’t let anyone tell you that you have to blog. Should you have a findable, online profile? Absolutely. You can build that through any number of resources though that doesn’t involve a blog.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, Lance. I have advised more than a few people to hold off on starting until they know they are ready. More often than not I come back a week later and they have realized that it’s just not feasible for them at the time. But community blogs, guest posts, and other social media interactions can produce the same result as a good blog.
Lance, is that what happened to Meaten LOL?
Bwahahahahaha! Steve, that is hilarious. I wondered that myself just a few months ago…
I would add another requirement, that you need to be able to handle no one really noticing your blog (at least at the start). You can’t get freaked out when you publish a post and get no comments and not that many readers. It really takes time and dedication if getting popular is important to you. As Lance said, dedication to improving, learning, and keeping a consistent writing schedule are keys, and you have to be prepared to sometimes be very patient to see the results of your efforts.
Love the post! However, I’ve added a few tweaks…
1. You aren’t passionate about the subject
I totally agree. Hopefully your blog will focus on a niche/topic so you need to have lots to say about it and you want to say it.
2. You aren’t interested in improving your writing
I think this point should be about improving your communication skills (which I think is what you’re really trying to say). You can have a non text based blog, where instead you have videos, audio or pictures. You should pick the method that allows you to communicate to your audience the best.
3. You can’t write on a consistent schedule
Again, I think this should be that you can’t update/add content to your blog regularly, regardless if it’s a video, writing, audio etc.
4. You can’t do the other things that make your blog great
Agree. You need a good balance of creating content and then marketing it.
Again, great post Lance. They always get me thinking.
Along with passion, I think knowledge about subject matter is important. You don’t have to be an expert – lots of people get by just voicing an opinion, which works too. But there has to be knowledge.
It’s getting easier to update on the fly, so using email to post, or dropping in vids, etc. definitely helps to spice it up and keep people interested.
Lance, I really like your point that blogging is not for everyone – well said. If people can do it, they’ll find it’s the new English teacher. I agree with you that it improves our writing. Doing post after post hones the skill set.
I have an uncle who thinks he’s a writer for the NY Times. In reality, he’s a curmudgeon with way too many obscure theories and a serious case of self-importance. He comments daily on NY Times articles, and adds the comments to his personal blog. He expects everyone to keep up with his latest theories and gets offended if you don’t read his comments. His vanity is the only thing being forwarded.
On the other hand, last night I went to a party hosted by Kathy Rapp of HRQinc and Fistfuloftalent.com. I met ten smart HR leaders, not ONE of whom had heard of Fistful, or of any HR blogs. Several didn’t really know what a blog is. They are participating in this “Improve HR” conversation by showing up and doing great things at work every day, and by mentoring people they know in real life. Some are involved in SHRM, some aren’t.
I fear that the HR blogging community is becoming more like my uncle than like the HR practitioners I met last night. I’d agree that you don’t have to blog, but I’d also note that you don’t have to blog any particular way or under any particular deadlines, to be effective. The main thing is to just find a way to think and contribute to the field, doing whatever works for you and for the community at large.
@Frannyo Your comment is amazingly accurate. It’s so easy for people to get caught up in complaining and never actually produce any positive results. Thanks for the reminder.
Kat, you’re right.
Marsha, knowledge is important but I think that comes naturally for passionate people. I don’t want someone to think they have to be in the field for X number of years in order to have a great blog.
Franny, I agree with the jest of your post but I think there are legitimate best practices when it comes to doing blogging decently. And I think if you are spending time on blogging, you are not spending time on something else that could improve the world so you owe it to yourself to do it well.
Most people who read blogs aren’t using a reader so if they go to a site a couple times in a month and the content isn’t updated, I think they leave and take a significant chunk of readership.
Know why I love–LOVE this post. Because as someone new to blogging—I’m happy to share with the superstars that this post brings a credibility to the medium. Some hr pros I know (haters. . .i know. . . . ) say—”we’ll of course all bloggers say twitter/blogs/ (insert social media here) are the second coming because their popularity depends on it”. I’ve always thought that argument was too easy and really not true. Regardless–it is nice to have a blog expert say—its not the only way.
Lance:
Another addition to your list of other ways to rise up though:
Through your company
Speaking and volunteering through local associations
Doing interesting things and getting press coverage
Doing guest blog posts
Using other social media tools effectively
Start consulting and advising (even pro bono)
COMMENT on blog posts that your are reading. If you have an opinion on something someone else has written EXPRESS IT.
Great post. Thanks.
,..] rehaul.com is one another interesting source of tips on this subject,..]
{ 1 trackback }