3 Reasons to Keep Blogging (Even If You Think No One's Reading)

Starting a blog is simple. Choosing a template isn’t so bad. Publishing actual posts or articles on your blog is as easy as sending e-mail. These days it may seem like everyone’s blogging, and many blog readers are in fact blog authors, as well. But maintaining a blog is about as simple as herding dust bunnies in a blizzard. Keeping fresh content pouring through your keyboard can be time consuming and difficult to do well. Motivation wanes.

What's your motivation?

One of the most de-motivating aspects of blogging is this nagging feeling that no one’s reading what's written. You’ve collected your thoughts, hunted down a nice image that enhances the message, set it all out using the most vibrant colors of language you know (which are always grammatically palatable, of course!), and finally published the post for all the world to see.

 Only... the world doesn’t seem to be noticing. So, you dangle a few hooks in front of all your twitter followers and slam all your facebook friends with invitations to come check out the best thing you’ve ever written. But at the end of the day, your analytics tells you the only ones checking in are your mom, some spam-bot in Pennsylvania, and someone at an IP address that’s registered to the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Incarceration!

No shares. No comments. No chatter or buzz. You know this stuff could be as viral as a cold - but no one’s catching it in the first place to get the sneezing started! Since my first post in April of 2005, I’ve published just over 700 posts on my blog (not a blog on fire, but consistent). While I read some blogs that are getting tens of thousands of visits every day, my highest pageview count for any one month was a little over 3,000. I’m guessing your blog’s not setting many traffic records either. So, why bother?

Why keep dripping content into a digital sea that seems designed to dissipate? Why continue to whisper into a wind that strangles my voice into the unheard whimper of yet another digital tumbleweed? Maybe you’ve wrestled with similar questions. Maybe you’ve felt so drowned out for so long, you’ve simply stepped away from your blog, leaving a grave marker where a spring of life once promised to bubble up... Why bother, right? Here’s why:

1. You have a message. Blogging can help you craft that message. If you can focus your posts on the core idea that initially inspired you to start blogging, every post can be a tool to sharpen the message you’ve been given to share. The more focused your message becomes, the greater its potential to work its way into the fabric of someone’s life and really make a difference - not just online, but in the real world.

2. Someone is reading. Don’t underestimate the deep impact your words may have, even if your audience never grows very wide. For every Michael Hyatt or John Saddington reaching into hundreds of thousands of lives with every word written, there are truckloads of Michael Andrews touching a handful. You don’t need to write for thousands in order to impact lives with your blog. You do need to keep writing. Because someone is reading.

3. You never know. Maybe that next post is the one that will break the dam, enabling your gift to spill over into rivers you’d never even imagined. What if you never publish it?

What motivates you to keep blogging?