The blog that lies dormant for long stretches of time can be easily forgotten by readers. There are a lot of other blogs out there to take up the slack from the blogger who is not producing. Waiting for inspiration can be hazardous to blog vitality. Let's face it, if we treat blogging as an obligation of sorts--like a job or a business--it's up to us to come up with something whether we feel like it or not. If we decide to keep our business open only when we are inspired then our customers (or readers that is) might choose to go elsewhere.
Sometimes a break is good. Sometimes a break is needed. Sometimes we may have no choice than to take a break. It mostly depends on why we are blogging and what kind of blog legacy we are trying to create. Sure, there can be a place for the rogue blog than puts something on line when the flash of genius hits. However, this is not the blog readers can count on to be there when we expect it. If we don't expect anything from a blog, we might see a post or we might not
Personally, I like to have content appear at the same time on the same days much like a show on television. The intent of Tossing It Out is to post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 2 AM Pacific Time. This seemed like the logical approach for me when I set up this schedule three years ago. For the most part I've been consistent. My scheduling may not matter all that much, but over all I think it has been effective for my purposes.
The bottom line of this current post is that I'm filling space with content. Not spectacular content perhaps, but content with an idea and some questions. This blogging limbo period during the holidays sees a decrease in blog traffic for most of us. I know I've been having a difficult time making blog visits--or should I say a more difficult time that I normally have been doing in the past year.
Things on the blog scene will be picking up after the first of the year and I plan some deeper content to come. For today though, I was tempted not to post anything, but then I decided that this is like my business and I need to open at the regular time on the scheduled day. I thank those of you who took the time to stop by.
Do you publish your blog posts according to a fairly strict schedule? If you are a sporadic blog publisher or someone who only blogs when inspiration hits you, does that seem to work well for you? Do you think a schedule would help you? Do you tend to look for postings from blogs with a schedule and do you tend to sometimes overlook the sporadic posts? Do you find a decrease in your traffic and comments during holiday stretches?
