This is a guest post by Sid Savara.
My name is Sid Savara. I have been inspired by some of Michael’s recent writings, and felt I would take a moment to give back by sharing my story.
Why I Started My Blog
When I first started my personal productivity blog a few months ago, I wanted to have a personal site to share my thoughts. For the first couple weeks, I wrote and posted an article whenever it was done. I had no posting schedule and no specific posting frequency in mind - I just wanted the posts to be properly written, proofread, and something that I would enjoy reading. The posts that I was especially pleased with were ones I wrote and edited as I thought of better ways to get my point across, and published when I was happy with them. I was happy in my abilities, and satisfied in why I was blogging.
False Deadlines For The Sake Of "Dedication"
Recently, I felt I was taking too long in between posts, and that my silence between posts (as well as sporadic posting schedule) was an indication that I wasn’t as dedicated to my blog as I should be. Not wanting to let myself down, I gave myself some deadlines: I would write multiple posts a week. Like weight training, playing guitar, or any other area of my life I want to succeed in, I believe having a regular habit helps improve the likelihood of sticking with it. I intended to start them all on the weekend, and just polish them up as the week went on, publishing the most polished each day, up to three times a week. This seemed like a reasonable schedule, but I have found it to be difficult to do. To maintain this pace, I wrote posts quickly, as if following a formula, and fell into a fell into a blogging rut.
Disappointment In My Writing
I was unable to keep up the pace I set for myself, and the quality started to deteriorate. Not only that, but though I posted more frequently, my readership dropped since I wasn’t doing the type of long-term blog planning I used to: interacting with other bloggers with comments, social media, etc.
Though I have since gone back and edited the posts (or unpublished them until I have time to) so they are up to par, I was disappointed in some of the things I published. They were watered down versions of what would have otherwise been good articles. As Michael has challenged us, I had to take a good hard look and ask myself, Sid: what do you believe in?I decided that the truth was, I blogged because I believed I had something important to say. To that end, I put together a creed: a list of guiding principles to ensure my blogging was always up to my own highest standard.
Sid Savara’s Blogging Creed
- I will write unique content, so each post is honest and unique, something that nobody else could have written but Sid Savara.
- I will write for those few people who come across my site, are truly moved by something I wrote and improve their lives.
- I will write however many of the best posts I can every week. I have no shortage of half completed things I could post - but I will never again post them until they are properly finished.
In conclusion:
- I will write every post to the best of my ability.
- I will not post anything until it is done.
- In comments, replies and conversations here, I will always give my readers the best I have to offer.
My name is Sid Savara. I am a blogger.
You can learn more about Sid at his personal productivity blog. In particular, I think you’ll find his recent post Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study interesting. Sid is a great example of how asking for what you want gets you ahead. He asked me if he could write a guest post and I agreed to it. Had he never asked, it never would have happened. I agreed to it for two reasons: I liked his idea of having a creed, inspired by my Remarkablogger Manifesto series of posts, and I believe in and stand for providing opportunity to others.
8 Comments
When I was redeveloping my blog I did a very similar exercise and it’s been my guiding principal since. It’s amazing how much easier and more enjoyable blogging has become since going through the exercise.
@Alex - I think regular exercises like this are important. We need to re-evaluate from time to time: what’s changed and what should never change?
Very inspiring, Sid! Thanks for the reminder about the whole quality versus quantity debate.
I’m struggling with this issue myself. I made a commitment about a month ago that I was going to post every day for a year. Now I haven’t had to rush anything, and I feel that I’ve maintained quality, but I wonder about maybe just doing 2 super in-depth posts each week instead, posts that are packed with value. Maybe that is the better route for my blog…..
Argh! It’s so hard to know.
I’m going to keep posting the best stuff I can. Thanks again for your post.
@Patrick -
Thanks! It is a tough balance to find - I definitely admire other bloggers like Michael who write consistent, quality content much more often than myself. It’s like you said - we just have to keep posting the best we can!
Every blogger has a rhythm and times when they write better, which affects posting schedule. I have found it very beneficial to batch my blog content production for greater efficiency. For example, write all the written posts at once if I can. Produce all the audio posts for a month if I can. Produce all of the video posts in advance if I can. An editorial calendar helps me prepare in advance.
Man, that almost looks like I’m organized!
A most excellent Creed. This is the first I’ve seen by way of a written Creed and I think it’s a great idea. I have a little bit of one formulated in my head but never thought about writing it out. I will now take on the challenge. I believe the theme that comes through loud and clear with your Creed is that you must stay true to yourself, your voice and your readers. I agree completely. Thanks for giving me something today that will help me be a better writer and blogger.
“I will write for those few people who come across my site, are truly moved by something I wrote and improve their lives.”
Sid, that sentence stands out to me and just screams “YES!”.
It’s funny. On day one of blogging, we would absolutely love 100 subscribers. But then when we reach 100 subscribers, we forget about those subscribers and want another 100. And another 100. And so on.
It’s that age old thing of once you have something, you always want more.
But that sentence really stood out to me, because several times recently I’ve stood back and thought, “Wow. 12 months ago I would have loved to have had the amount of readers I have now. Rather than wanting more, maybe I should focus on pleasing those I currently have.”
So often we, as bloggers, focus on the readers that might come by tomorrow or next week and we forget about the readers we have right now, at this very second.
A very thought-provoking post, Sid. Thanks!
Jamie
I love your idea of writing a blog creed! It really focuses you and is something that I should do!
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[...] Today I have a guest post over at Remarkablogger, about writing a blogging creed. I was originally going to publish it here, but Michael was willing to give me a chance to guest [...]
[...] about this. He wrote an excellent guest post on Michael Martine’s Remarkablogger, titled, What’s Your Blogging Creed?. In the post, as a part of his blogging creed, Sid says: “I will write for those few people [...]