What it Felt Like to Have No Blog for 8 Days

March 15, 2008 · Comments

seenoevil Friends have asked me what it was like not to have a blog for the last eight days. It was interesting. First, I felt like I was without a voice. Sure, I had Twitter, but I didn’t have any place to really stretch out and share my thoughts. Yes, I could utter or make media in other forms, but I felt like my main voice was completely taken away.

I felt deaf, too, because the conversation that I’m used to hosting here at [chrisbrogan.com] was somewhere else. It was on other blogs, all over the place, and sometimes, I’d participate, but other times, I felt like I missed everyone else’s opinions and feedback. I felt like I couldn’t hear you as well, because you weren’t able to simply connect through here.

I felt blind, because I use my website as a way to know whether or not what I’m saying matters. I watch for the impact, and try to improve my message when it feels like I’m faltering. With eight days fewer subscriptions to my site, I felt like all my momentum was gone, or at least, I couldn’t see it.

Blogs Aren’t Everything, But They Make a Good Home Base

Several people were looking for more information about me over the last week, and they found very little when swinging by my crippled site. If you click through and look at the website itself, there’s a picture of me, contact info, and all kinds of information on what matters to me. Without my website, you had to guess based on the other places where I make media.

This all made me wonder about companies who don’t use blogs. Maybe you don’t know because you haven’t felt it, but there’s a huge (HUGE!) difference between a static website where you try to collect leads, inform people, and take orders versus a site that builds into a conversation, a voice, a listening post, and a way to see your impact on the marketplace you care about. If you work for a company that doesn’t have a blog, can you share with us why your organization doesn’t blog?

Should all companies blog? Not sure. But boy, I sure felt wrapped in gauze by NOT having some kind of sounding board back and forth.

What’s your take? What do you think?

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  • Glad you're back, Chris! Although I knew you were still alive because of your Twittering :) Not the same, though, since tweets don't have the same permanence as a blog entry.

    For me, there are three big reasons for businesses to be blogging. The first one Tim Baxter just mentioned: Google loves blogs. A related benefit is that it helps create a pattern of discipline for adding new content on a regular basis. So many static websites were set up and abandoned. I know there are also plenty of abandoned blogs, but the idea that you're not done once you've set up the blog - you have to keep writing now - makes a big difference.

    The second reason is as prospective customers or clients become more net-savvy (and that's already the case among younger businesspeople), they are expecting to find the companies they may do business with online. If you're not there, they move on to the next competitor who is.

    The third one is simple: you don't have to wait for the webmaster to update your site anymore. Just log in and start communicating.

    There are others (like getting to chat with interesting people like, say, Chris Brogan), but those are The Big Three I give to clients to get them thinking about converting to a business blog.
  • Good to see you back Chris.

    As a web developer I always try to sell the idea of running a blog in tandem with a company's main site. Sadly, but understandably this is usually seen as the web design guy try to make a bit more money.

    Apart from the benefits you've already outlined, the absolute killer reason to have a blog in my opinion is because search engines love them. This is especially important for a new domain and website. What other way can you get a new site to be indexed by Google within 7 days?

    And for all my enthusiasm about blogs I've only recently created a personal one, with a primary view to tie together all my 'spaces' into one handy base station. Oh and I used your old theme, so I'm glad to see you've changed it!
  • @Paul - thanks for the comments. I look forward to seeing what your team comes up with. And thanks. I'm happy with the site's look and feel.
  • @jen - specific to medical writing? Not sure, but I'd recommend checking Google Blogsearch and Technorati on those keywords.

    If you mean freelance/consulting in general, there are some great blogs out there, like Web Worker Daily and Brazen Careerist and, um, um, Small Biz Survival and uh, hmm. Someone else jump in?
  • I've always preached that one's blog is the foundation of their social media involvement. After a number of years blogging, I stopped for a few months to regain my focus and re-energize. During that period, I felt lost. Even though I interacted via Facebook, Twitter and other socnets, it wasn't the same. I had no place to call my own.

    I currently serve as marketing director for a web content management company that has no blog. I feel like one hand is tied behind my back in terms of my ability to communicate. The good news is, our developers have been hard at work rolling out a blog component that ties directly into our platform/database, so I should be able to shortly.

    Anyway, believe me, I feel your pain. Your new site looks great, btw.
  • jen
    @chrisbrogan: Thanks so much for your comments! I really appreciate being able to talk about this, because I kind of feel like I'm out there doing this alone and need a "community."

    I hadn't really considered the angle of my audience being other medical writers and editors-- mostly because I don't really know many other people who are doing what I am doing. There seems to be a small number! Or, others are working full-time jobs for pharmaceutical companies or academic medical departments, whereas I am a consultant, and I work with a large number of academic medical departments, and some hospitals, some research institutes.

    However, that doesn't mean that others aren't out there, and a blog might be the way to connect with them.


    What I did try to do (when I had a blog attached to my website, but took it down because I wasn't updating it) was to give tips and resources to my clients. That blog is here: Edit Rx Blog (I had to adjust the settings today because it wasn't even live anymore).

    I tend to have repeat business, and word of mouth as the way I get business and clients-- but I have wondered whether starting an electronic newsletter, or trying to promote my blog regularly with clients would be beneficial, or whether it would just annoy them with one more thing in their inbox... Are people going to view this as spam, if they are physicians and they don't really use ANY internet tools, and don't really know what Google is?

    That would certainly be an argument in favor of targeting the blog at other medical writers-- though, I am really interested in connecting with other consultants and talking fees, contracts, client relations, publicity, conferences, performance (and performance anxiety), etc. Are there any blogs out there that discuss those kinds of issues that you could point me to?
  • FYI, I added back "subscribe to comments" functionality. Sorry about that.
  • @Jen - you've got a great opportunity. As someone with expert skills in editing who focuses on a very tight, useful niche, you have a chance to write all kinds of blog posts in the "how to" department of helping other medical writers be more effective with what they're doing. You can give them advice tips, pointers to useful resources you find online to help with your writing, and links to medical writing you've found online that you find valuable, or at least worth considering.

    If you write from the perspective of "how can I be helpful to my audience," I bet you can think up 20 posts from what I mention above. What do you think?
  • Good to see you back!

    I know what you mean ... I feel like my blog is an important part of my writing but I'm also not sure if it serves me any longer. I've been considering going on a very long hiatus to work on a long overdue book project. Letting it go would seem hard; it's funny how we become "attached" to these things, like relationships. I think that's the most important thing -- how does the blog serve you and your readers? Also, Twitter has given me the opportunity to expand and grow way beyond the blog, not to mention establish new friendships. I like the fact that Twitter means less commitment, but feel like I'm missing something when I don't create new material for the blog ... it's a matter of choice, I guess.

    I'm glad you blog, Chris. I wouldn't know half a thing about you or your work if you didn't. I also enjoy how you ask thought-provoking questions on twitter, which seems like an extension of the blog. Good stuff!
  • Your blog is as smart and inspiring as it has always been Now it just looks REALLY nice too!
  • jen
    I have a personal blog (for four years now! Yikes!), and I started one for my business, but I wasn't sure how to sustain it or what kind of content to have on it.

    I am a medical editor, and my work is confidential before it is published (or before the grant is funded). I hesitate even to write about what projects I am working on because of that.

    Does anyone have any suggestions for what kinds of content they use for their business's blog if they aren't blogging directly about what they *do*?

    My business site is here: Edit Rx, LLC and I'd love to participate in a conversation about *what* to blog. I can already see the power of corporate blogs, having worked for Weblogs Inc. for the past [nearly] three years.
  • I've been trying to get my university to let me blog about our student site. I think it would help our goodwill tremendously. But no bites yet. It has to go thru too many levels of approval.

    If it's not all just sales stuff, I think co. blogs can be great.
  • I started my first blog very recently, and now that I have been sucked in I feel like I won't be able to stop. It is such a great place to share your thoughts and ideas. Without one, I would keep everything to myself ... but since my blog went up it has spurred many more conversations and ideas (and this is only after one week!).

    I am not sure whether all businesses should have a blog, but it would definitely help. It allows for so much more interaction and really gives you a voice in the online community.

    I am glad you're back up and running.
  • Chris -- Your brown-out reminded me of my own blogging crisis, when David Armano had to give me a place to hang when the Daily Fix was down:

    "Is a Blogger Still a Blogger If She Doesn't Have a Blog?"
    http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/0...

    My own silence only lasted a day or so. But I remember that sense of not having a sounding board, of losing my voice, of questioning my impact. In other words, the silence was deafening.
  • Glad you are back online!

    Further to what Justin Rasmussen said, I think people are still working on figuring out the best way for companies to maintain a blog.

    First, there's the content of the blog. Companies should have a definite focus for their blog content before they start rambling endlessly about this product or that. As Justin said, no sales-schlepping! That just turns people off. A company should set some guidelines for blog content at the outset.

    Also, how do you keep people motivated to keep contributing to a company blog? Usually they start off really keen, but other commitments start to push in on posting time, and it trails off quickly.

    I think designating who are the best people in the company to blog, and giving them guidance as to the most effective topics and methods are keys to a corporate blog's success.

    I appreciate what Rick Wolff says too about the "outside the fishbowl" audience. Some valuable info to be gathered here for sure.
  • You saw how 99.99% of your species — the ones outside "the fishbowl" — got through those eight days. An experience you would have missed if you had been busy blogging. I'm just sayin'.
  • I feel your pain. In January, GoDaddy deleted my site by accident and then took 5 days (instead of the promised 24 hrs) to bring the site back. When my blog returned, they had lost a months worth of entries, despite their advertised promise to back up every site, every 24 hours.

    I was able to recreate some of the entries lost and you can read about it at http://wabisabime.com/2008/02/03/and-were-back/

    Like you, I felt blind, deaf, mute and naked. Prior to this experience, I had not realized how much my blog had become a part of "me."
  • I think companies should blog but how they blog is really key to their success. There are a lot of companies that start blogging but it only turns out to be some sales schlepping blog that makes you turned off from the company. I think content of the blog is key no matter what.
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