Allow your blog to evolve
One of the most common things i see in blogs is a change of direction of the content in the blog. This is especially true in personal blogs but it also happens in mainstream blogs as well.
Clearly a blog about basketball which has the word basketball in the domain name will struggle to find a presence if it all of a sudden turns into a blog about football. However, other non specific blogs might find themselves drifting towards a different topics and to them i say ‘Don’t fight it - Allow your blog to evolve‘.
Great blog posts come from a knowledge but also a passion for the subject in question. You should allow yourself to blog about what you are interested in. For example you may start a tech blog with a vague tech related domain name because you love gadgets and mp3 players etc. In your quest to promote your blog you might start reading more about search engine optimisation and may be keen on writing about that. In this situation i think you should. Another example would be a personal blog where the owner blogged about his love for poker but later stopped playing and started blogging about something else.
I have written some terrible posts for some old blogs ive run and the main reason they sucked is because i lost interest in the subject. The minute you lose interest is the minute the quality of your posts start to suck. Wouldn’t you rather have good posts about a different subject than having bad posts on your blog about the same subject.
I believe this lack of interest is the reason a lot of blogs die and shutdown.
There may come a time when bloggers get sick about the subject they are writing about and it’s at this point a lot of bloggers should let their blog evolve and ensure that they are writing about something they are interested in.
I’d love to hear from readers about this. Has your blog content changed direction at any time?
Kevin
alamster | May 31st, 2007 at 12:27 pm #
hmmm, lack of interest
I prefer call it different focus on playground
Rambling post on different topics
theothereye | May 31st, 2007 at 12:27 pm #
You could also choose a very large subject like Internet, Technology, etc.. That way your blog can evolve when you stop being passionate about what you are writing.
arstan | May 31st, 2007 at 12:45 pm #
As far as I’m concerned it’s all burning now, I started blogging 3 months back. And yes you are right, it’s all about passion. I hope it will last forever
Jennifer | May 31st, 2007 at 4:33 pm #
My site has evolved into telling some bus drivers in the news articles as well as my personal life as a record for my daughter when she is grown. I also throw in some meme’s and payed for posts.
Your article is true. Thanks for reminder.
Tay | May 31st, 2007 at 5:27 pm #
Great post, I agree. A year or two ago was I when I first started to ‘blog’. But I’d quickly lose interest and the blog would be gone in a month, then I’d make another… It was horrible.
But now I have a couple blogs that have lasted more than a month, and I’m proud to say, I still haven’t lost interest in them! And if I do, I will do my best to let them evolve
GoddessCarlie | May 31st, 2007 at 8:10 pm #
Excellent post. Also, sometimes it is easy to sort of “blend” your old topic with your new topic, or perhaps slowly evolve your last blog topic into the new topic. And if your blog totally changes topic, you may lose readers but it has more of a fighting chance of staying (or becoming more) popular than that of a new blog - at least that’s my thoughts.
Success Online | May 31st, 2007 at 10:06 pm #
Understanding the importance of the “forever” mentality.
I have noticed that it is always the person who sticks it out the longest focusing on the fundamentals that wins big.
So I think that you could carry that over to what we are all trying to accomplish online.
Long term success in whatever we choose. Great post.
Jonathan Bankert | May 31st, 2007 at 11:11 pm #
I agree with this philosophy of allowing your blog to expand, but what about keeping your niche narrow like so many blog gurus teach?
Rafael Schouery | June 1st, 2007 at 5:20 am #
My little Blog about Computer Science changed in the same way as you said. The VidaGeek.net was intended to be a Brazilian version of LifeHacker and others blogs about computers and the method of living of programmers.
But when I ask a few friends to participate, the Blog evolved to a Programmers Blog with posts from Linux to Ruby. That was pretty cool and I’m very happy with that change.
More Merchant | July 15th, 2007 at 2:08 pm #
Many of my blogs change continually. I get sick of what I am writing about or my readers often times lead the way!
Listen to your readers, they often let me know what to blog about by what they are saying.