Consistency is talked about in terms of importance from day one when we start blogging. It’s important to have consistency because we want our audience to know we mean business and we’ve got to build our credibility early on. Remember and know that the consistency of your blog does not just mean frequency of publishing, and how it can effect your community. It can be tough, just don’t pull the plug.
I’m by no means going back to the basics of how you need to: decide your niche, create quality content, and having a community behind it all.
Always keep the basics in your head. Overtime we tend to lose focus of them.
Instead, I will tell you why we tend to always battle with consistency and the outcomes that could happen if we lose this battle. Do realize though you always need to keep in mind the basics of blogging if you strongly want to succeed in whatever you are doing or even in building your personal brand.
Now if you are familuar with what I believe in and how I see blogging, then this type of post won’t be of surprise to you. I believe in attracting a community without worrying about SEO and that we all need to stand out from the crowd.
I call it the battle of consistency because all of us bloggers will experience a time where we find something else to do, change our minds, want to expand our blogs, or just find ourselves not happy at what we are doing.
And “pulling the plug” is us doing something that would disrupt your community if you still want the same mission or purpose to continue. So, I noticed and experienced some issues that lead us to this battle. Let’s explore!
Other Projects
You know those other projects. Usually when we start one, we think of another by ourselves or usually when we start connecting with others on the web. This is great, we are happy, but before we know it we can’t manage what our blog or first project. Our community starts to notice the frequency of our posting going down, the quality of posts going down, and then they move elsewhere.
Think about all the time you have put into building your initial blog and in creating a community around it.
If you tend to always have this issue, you should think about picking something you want to talk about at anytime but form it as your personal brand. In other words have a blog or place and a community that supports you and everything you do or will do.
I’ve dealt with this ever since I started blogging in 2008 by having multiple blogs because I have so many ideas, but I’ve focused on one with having my personal Tumblr on the side.
You do this or think about if you should start a new project and you won’t pull the plug on your community.
A New vs. Different Passion
Passion is something that defines us. We change. Our passion changes
Yes, there is a difference between a new and a different passion. It’s merely about the development of you versus a change of taste all together. Whichever one you feel you are creating for yourself, both will change your overall consistency on what you are currently doing.
I had a problem where I did not know my passion and it took two years and 5 different blogs later to know my true passion. This is my knowing your passion is so key.
A New Passion
A new passion is one that develops after your initial passion for whatever you are blogging about. This new passion eventually develops into another project. Now, you have to make a choice of where you split your time and if the passion is really different you have now two communities.
Everything is possible and I truly admire how Gary Vaynerchuk can manage his two communities: wine and brand consulting
Just know now that you have more than just one community, unless you are able to tie them all together into your personal brand. And if you “unplug” one community you have a different passion.
A Different Passion
A different passion is what I experienced many times for myself, so in advance I apologize to anyone that I’ve connected with in my earlier days. I know I’ve unplugged my communities and these are just mistakes that I’ve made. But, now I’m telling you to strive and prevent this from happening.
Never be afraid to do what you love. Just know the risk in your community.
So, a different passion is when you decide what you are currently doing is not you or you’re just not happy. The biggest fear and form of inconsistency from this is that your community is unsure to be your community because you might have a different passion the next day.
The “Huh?!” Expansions
Sure, we can always make quick improvements to our blog. But, when it comes time to really expand we could lose focus. This is why its good to practice mind mapping for your blog in the beginning stages so you have an educated guess on how/where to expand.
I’m calling it a “huh?! expansion” when you confuse your community with whatever expansion you decide to take. No, I’m not saying to make announcements because you should incorporate them into your overall content somehow. I am saying that you can’t just expect to have your community follow or support you after some changes that effect the feel of your blog, unless you’ve created a blog focused around just you there could be more flexibility.
An example of some sort of expansion would be to move to advertisements on your site. Everything is a debate and should be tested, but its your choice whether it’s there permanently.
You and your community have to be comfortable together in every expansion and this is all up to you. I would suggest forming some type of inner circle or alliance so they can be the part of the community that stays and influences others to stay plugged in.
Know that a strong community can do great things for you, just don’t disrupt them. Caring and knowing will lead you to win the battle of any consistency.
What’s your battle of consistency story?
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?I use to write sexual stuff when I started out, because I do not know anything much to write about, but when time passes by, it seems to brought me into writing online marketing stuff, since then I found reading and studying marketing stuff seems to feel up my passion more then anything else.
I have lost tons of readers since I move my passion into writing online marketing stuff but I gain new readers that had the same passion as me.
Your plans are wide – good luck!
And thank you for usefull information.
So would you say what you originally wrote was not your true passion or were you just not able to come up with more content related to the matter? Just fyi… its pretty easy to talk about marketing stuff cause there is a lot out there.
But, it’s all up to you and what community you attract
Hi,
Great advice and I agree. If you find that you are not currently following your passion, or you find a new passion, you should think about it and also think about your community. You should think about the risks, and if you have a inner-circle, their support will go a long way in helping you be successful in your new passion.
Kindest,
Nabeel
Nabeel,
Thanks and you didn’t get the first comment this time.. haha
But in terms of that inner circle many bloggers need to form one to always have that initial support for anything we do. These people are ones that are going to push and get your personal brand started.
Best, Derek
I don’t think that starting with a new passion would be wise if your site is not that big yet. Perhaps starting a new passion can wait until your website grows.
I personally think starting a new passion early in the game is better because once your website or blog grows big and the audience are suited to your passion and all of a sudden, you change it… I don’t think is wise, although you could lost tons of prospect but you will also gain new prospect… again the problem is you lost more then you gain… and I have that problem before when my blog is growing and I change my passion to something that’s almost not related to what I had previously written. It’s a mass after all, but now is coming back again.
Paul,
I would have to agree with “bad blogger that really needs to put their real name” because ive personally found it hard to for me to change my actual passion later in the game as it will effect you in terms of time and effort you’ve put in and the community you’ve strived to build.
Now, this is different than having another passion along with the initial one. This is where I of course would agree with you.
Best,
Derek
Hey Derek,
Great Post, as always. Some great advice…!!
Thanks for sharing this great Post Derek.
Keep up the good work.
Btw. Did you received my mail?
~Dev
Dev,
Not a problem and it’d be great to get a comment that added to the conversation
I did recieve your mail, but ive been swamped lately.
Best, Derek
I have seen many blogs that with time just stop posting. When you look a their archive there is like 300 posts for the first year, then 100 for the second, 30 for the third and then just nothing.
It would be much better if they just made for example 2 posts a week, but keep that pace.
Hank,
This is a hard one because its all up to the actual blogger and how they are using the blog. What prolly happened was they either found something else to do with their time, but you see how this would disrupt a community. They still might care about their community and maybe a new post that explained an update in their ‘life story’ would help.
Best, Derek
I guess that ultimately we have to keep our community in mind no matter what we do. I’ve recently implemented several ways to make my blog more interactive for my readers. I have taken measures to ensure that they know that their input is a valued and sought after commodity. It’s done wonders in encouraging comments and participation from the ones who use to just hang back and read.
I always try to foresee how changes will affect my readers and not make too many changes at once.
Joella,
I’m glad to know that you’re keeping your community in mind as we all should and you are taking the needed measures. It’s good to not make too many changes at once, but many changes need to go along with many others and that is just one change.
Best, Derek
Alex, in this post of Derek, now your design is also a reason of distraction …
Mr. or Ms. Web Marketing Tips (please get a real name
),
I surely don’t want to put words in his mouth but this is about you in your community right now, so how are you doing?
Best,
Derek
Really great post Derek,
You are absolutely right!
Being consistent is absolutely important and concerning a community you are absolutely right here.
SEO is important but you can build a community that will do the job for you instead.
Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
Onibalusi,
I always look forward to your feedback and praise!
Its great to know of others that you can build an effective community without worrying too much about SEO. So, what sort of things have you dealt with your community?
Best, Derek
I’ve been going through this for months now, confusing the hell out of most of my community. Luckily most are stickin’ with as things get all straightened out.
Dennis,
I’m glad most are sticking with you as I know you always offer great feedback and input for bloggers. Maybe you should just things done/finalized instead of always editing. I’ve made this mistake and its best to reach a “final stage” and then edit later and it develops.
Best, Derek
Agreed, getting there now.
Good to hear!
Very beautiful Quote I like your style.
Which quote? ..haha Thanks by the way!
Quotes means i got great lesson to blogging which i need to share with my blogger friends that article which they are writing in their blog should have a good theme catchy spicy text with lots tips tricks and guidelines which attract visitors enroll them to post guest article.
I have a huge problem with consistency because during the summer I update as much as possible, something multiple times a day, but when school starts I’m an overachieving AP kid so updates dwindle down to once every few months.
This year now that I’ve been using wordpress for a while and know about more of the features, I think to be more consistent I will write some posts now or whenever I have free time during the year and set them on a date to be published in the future. I might start with making one post per week in advance for the upcoming month (and continue that through the year, moving down to one post every 2 or 3 weeks if I have to), and that way I don’t feel pressured to update my website and keep the visitors (who usually drastically disappear when I stop updating) at the expense of grades and homework. Maybe that will help keep up traffic 
Katie,
I do believe you can use scheduled posting to really help you. So, say you start creating many posts right now, but you don’t publish them till later on and have them spread out. This will help you and your community out.
Best, Derek
I’ve recently started blogging and am still sort of trying to develop my style and find a format that works. It can be difficult to find inspiration and even more difficult to get off one’s ass and just do it. That being said, there is a great sense of accomplishment that comes from publishing a post…
Ronika,
What you’ve just stated is all true and that is the greatest ongoing battle with most people. It’s best though to press forward and ask yourself if you’ve won each day through writing, socializing, and more.
Best,
Derek
You probably mention that one has to keep a balance between consistency and community participation. This is a dilemma which I faced once. I have seen blogger who do nothing but blog and don’t even bother to comment on other blogs or even build a community around their own blog.
It is important not to get aloof of the community since it is community which are where your blog readers are.
It’s all a matter of amount of interaction verses the level of influence you build up through time.
that’s what distinguishes a good blogger from a bad one, being able to right consistent good posts. you need to find the right balance of time and knowledge and will power to keep posting regularly. I find that if I have one or two posts in back up it helps me if i think I may miss a day due to personal reasons
I know I’m striving to schedule more posts rather than write the day before for the next day. It’s all about consistent balance. Life is all about balance.
Ahhh. but the power of staying focused..
For me it’s practically impossible to have more than 2 or 3 sites going at a time, so I have a tenancy to sell them off if I lose passion. I pour my heart and soul into the sites that I genuinely enjoy working day in and day out.. and those are the ones that produce the most income.
I know for me it’s hard to sell what you’ve done because you tell yourself you might do something with it later. But, its better to move on in your case.
Great pot,This will come as no surprise to those subscribed to my WordPress newsletter, but Sugarrae has just released the great Customize Your Community plugin we’ve developed together!
Thanks for the comment.
I have a great consistency when I was started my first blogging day, but as the days goes on, that consistency in me disappearing because I don’t have any resutls yet for what I’ve done. A few months later I got results that amaze me, and know I’m gaining my consistency again.
As long as your community knows what your doing everything should be ship shape
We have to remember that most people in our little “community” is following you because they see you as the expert in the niche that you’re marketing. If you suddenly decide to do something else with your blog, then people will start leaving one by one so they can search for the expert in the new niche that you started working on. You worked so hard to build your reputation so take advantage of it.
This is very true and people also adapt to the level of drive an individual has towards a particular subject. The mistake I made was striving to attract so many different communities and always changing my mind. I’ve developed and now settled, but I’ve learned so much.
Best, Derek
Great article. This is truly what I believe is going to set me apart from the competition. It’s just like interviewing for a job, you need to show love for what you’re doing.
Brad,
Thanks and more people need to treat their blog like a business with their community being their customers, supporters, and fans. I wish you the best!
Best, Derek
Hey Derek,
I’m struggling with consistency at the very moment, because i don’t know why, i lost my blogging mood lol..
It is probably because it is summer where i live, so more outdoor activity, i sometimes look at my blog, but my posting frequency is getting less
I hope i won’t plug it out though..
Hey Kimi,
Every blogger tends to go through this stage. I know I have and this when I look back at what I’m blogging about or doing and see if it’s my true passion.
I wish the best!
Best,
Derek
It seems like it takes forever to build a community for blogs that are more commentary and less instructional. But I think this post still had very relevant info.
Just have to be more creative in your ways of building your community. Everything is possible and you can create a community around anything.
I think what’s interesting is how so many different venues can be used to build a following to your blog. I’ve seen the community at mine grow, and I’ve heard about being found from social media, recommendations from other bloggers, from comments I made on other blogs, word of mouth, or even just good old SEO and being on top of the search engines. Bloggers who want to build their communities need to be careful not to limit themselves – there are many options out there.
You make a great point and finding or going out into these areas with a creative mind on how you are going to utilize that community is always good too.
Awesome quotes and tips. Community is definitely very strong asset to you. And passion should always be cherished.
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