Re: How to kill a blog
Dear reader,
Robert Birming published a blog post recently, where he encouraged bloggers to stop limiting themselves by only writing about a niche topic.
Don't go niche . . . The only thing that matters is that you feel free in your blogging. As soon as you start limiting yourself, trying to trend, you've got one foot in the grave.
This got me thinking about my blog. In the beginning, I made an intentional decision to only write about privacy, technology, and digital rights, and by doing that, I established boundaries for my writing. I also like to write about blogging from time to time, but overall, my scope has stayed the same. Blogs with distinct themes aren't rare, and it often makes sense since many people possess valuable knowledge on a specific topic, and being able to read the thoughts of these people can be both educational and rewarding.
I sometimes still feel the urge to write about other things since my interests are quite broad. But I haven’t done that because I fear losing some of you who want to read my blog precisely because I write about my chosen topics. I could solve this issue by tagging my posts and offering different RSS feeds for those, but I’m still not sure how well that would work in practice.
I also want to push back against Robert’s advice a bit. Limiting the focus of your blog doesn’t have to be a bad thing, and it can help keep your blog’s identity clear. The most important thing is to write about things that interest you, and for me, privacy is a topic I have been passionate about for a long time, so while it can sometimes feel like I’m limiting myself, I know there will always be new topics to write about. This often means keeping my eyes open and waiting for an inspiration to strike.
I also believe you shouldn’t try to force writing just because you feel you need to get something published regularly. If I’m being honest, the blogs that publish content each day or come near that don’t interest me. While the writing could still be great, I prefer to follow people who publish less frequently, as this usually leads to more interesting topics, and my RSS reader doesn’t get crowded. It is okay to be a blogger while not always having something interesting to say!
Getting back to my blog, I will keep the original theme, as it has worked out great to this point, and I feel just as excited about it. I also maintain a list of potential topics I want to write about, and it’s still just as long as it was when I started blogging. What I’m interested in though, is starting a new blog in my native language and writing about anything I want. But I doubt that interests many of you, and that is fine. But if you are interested, send me a message, and I will send you a link if that becomes a thing. 🌔