Avoiding blogging temptation

Nov 25, 2014 | Better Blogging

“You should write a blog post about that.”

I had just told my neighbor about a less than stellar customer service experience where I was on the receiving end. He thought I should use my leadership blog to tell the story. There was a time when I might have done it.

Back then I thought of my blog as my personal journal, a place where I could share all my wonderful thoughts about all sorts of things. I don’t think that way anymore.

Posts that don’t help your audience make progress in your area of expertise are self-indulgent. They don’t help your readers and they don’t help you.

You don’t blog for everybody

Your blog should have a clearly defined audience. In fact, you should write it for a single person, the one at the center of your bullseye. Other people will read it, too, but you should write for that one person.

Ask yourself: “Will this post help my reader make progress?” If the answer is “No,” don’t post.

You don’t blog about everything

With all the other blogs and writers out there, why should anyone read your blog unless you’re an expert? Use your blog to demonstrate your expertise. Readers will develop the habit of reading your posts if they’re clear on what you’ll be writing about. Consider some of the really expert bloggers.

Dan McCarthy writes about leadership and leadership development. Kate Nasser writes about people skills for managers. Harold Jarche writes about personal knowledge management and the changing nature of work. Mary Jo Asmus blogs about work relationships for leaders. They are all smart people with lots of life experience and they could write about all sorts of things, but they don’t.

Ask yourself: “Will this post deepen my readers’ understanding of my topic and demonstrate my expertise?” If the answer is “No,” don’t post.