Blogging Tips

Like many of you I have a full-time job in addition to working on my blog. In my job I’ve taken on the role of the media guy. This is not my actual job title or even in my job description. Because I am skilled with HTML, photography, and video production I get to do some extra things at work. Sometimes this can be really fun. Other times however, it is not. The times when it sucks is when I have to work with a micro-manager on my back.

How do you deal with the micro-manager?

Micro-managers want to control you. They want things that they do not understand to be done their way. The worst micro-managers are those people who do not have any real authority over you, but perceive that they do. They make little petty changes to your work and demand to see finished projects over and over. They make a change and want to see that change right away. They could ask you a question directly but instead e-mail you and CC your boss on the exchange making you look like someone who does not cooperate. They always have some change to make seemingly to justify their position and exert control. When you are finally done you are so sick of the micro-managing mentality, distraction, nuisance that you may even miss something that is actually a big mistake.

Is Constant Change a Good Thing?

Imagine going to your local bar. One week it is a karaoke place, the next a biker bar and the week after a coffee shop. This sort of brand multiple personality disorder only serves to drive customers away from the venue. How long do you think that this brand’s identity crisis will retain customers? Not Very.

Do you Micro-Manage your Blog?

Spending hours and hours tweaking your theme is a form of self-micro-managing. Changing themes 2, 3 4+ times a year, a month, even a week is not unheard of. You might think that these changes will attract more followers with all the new pretty, shiny changes. The constant changes actually hurts your blog and can alienate your audience.

I was guilty of doing this early on when I was finding my brand as well as my blog’s voice. I’d just change my theme on a whim. I’d micro-manage the theme because I didn’t really know how to make a theme of my own. I could make the blog pretty but I was essentially rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It wasn’t until I let go of the theme tweaks and focused on producing content that things really got moving on my blog. Later, I was blessed with a gift of a new blog theme from a good friend who was an actual designer. I didn’t then decide that I knew more than him and go back to tweaking the design. I focused on what my strengths were and produced good content with photography, video and writing.

There is no need to control everything if you trust the people that you are working with. Micro-managers do not trust those around them and so those people become more stunted the more interaction they have with the micro-manager. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Avoid the Micro-Management Trap. Focus on what you do Well

A micro-manager tries to do everything including those things that they are ignorant of. A micro-manager cannot give up control to people who actually know how to do things. A micro-manager doesn’t understand things but will do them anyway. Or they will bug people who know how to do things and offer their own spin on things they know nothing about. Don’t be that guy.

If you do not understand something then don’t add it to your blog. Learn all you can before you tackle something new. There is a prevailing sense of urgency and the desire to be first that is found on the Internet. The perception is that if you aren’t first you will be left behind. That is so not true. People who study and learn as much as they can before acting often excel even if they enter a space later than the crowd. This overwhelming urge of immediacy and the need to say something before understanding completely is what leads to mistakes and misunderstandings. Micro-managers act before they think and do so with a false authority, one they did not earn.

A Few Steps to Avoid Being an Online Micro-Manager

• Reflect on your strengths.
• If you don’t understand something… learn it.
• If you can’t learn something or don’t have the time to do so then… don’t. Focus on your actual strengths and find someone who can help.
• If you don’t have the aptitude to design… don’t. Find someone who can help.
• If you can’t write… don’t. Hire writers who can help.
• If you can’t promote… don’t. Find people who can and who can help you.
• Define your strengths… cultivate them.
• Understand your weaknesses… identify them.
• Find trusted advisors who can bolster your weaknesses.
• Listen to those Advisors… trust them.

  Above all Don’t Micro-Manage Them

Do you see areas where you can give up a bit of control and find help? What would that free you to accomplish?