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BLOG PRESSURE DRIVES PEOPLE TO QUIT TOO SOON

June 3, 2021 by
blog pressure

Quitters find a way to quit that suits them, but blog pressure?

Please. Who quits a blog after twenty nine days?

In a blogger rule book, #1 would be ‘Don’t Quit Early.’

Some of us have a different idea of what early means, though.

Besides, if you’re going to quit something, why not try and go out on top?

Quitters are a different breed. They start everything with an eye on the end. If it’s a worthwhile project, they quit when it’s not what they expected.

But, if it’s worthwhile, why quit? Because that’s what quitters do. They quit.

Imagine the blogger who is led to the screen and given a green light to go to work.

Without the prerequisites of setting a blog up, of choosing a domain name, choosing hosting, the right blogging platform, the right theme, the right framework, then it’s easy to shut it down in twenty-nine days.

Like a light switch that’s on one day, off the next, things go dark.

However, if you do the work, make decisions good and bad, then it’s your dog in the fight.

It’s not the same for the blogger who sits down with the table already set. Then it’s easy to walk away, easier if you have extensive experience in quitting.

Quitters Never Win?

blog pressure

That’s the first part of a familiar refrain, and it’s not fair.

Some quitters win and win big. The big man brags about hitting the jackpot in the casino, but never mentions how much money it took before the big strike.

The lasting story is the win, not what it took to get there.

Winning on a blog is similar. Blog traffic is a winner. Membership is a winner. Reader engagement is a winner. Blog pressure grows with every benchmark.

A blogger is not a fragile flower. We go against the grain everyday, because one question hovers over every blank screen:

Why freaking bother?

‘Quitters never win’ is followed by ‘Winners never quit.’

‘Why bother writing a blog’ has one answer: The habit of writing.

If a big quitter has a habit of hiring writers, a blog won’t last.

At the same time, if a would be blogger has more experience writing their name than working on writing posts, that blog won’t last.

No one wants to read a signature copied three hundred times and call it a blog post. That’s not a post and no one wants to read it.

What else drives readers away? Whining and complaining about the same things. Making readers feel stupid for spending the time to find your blog.

The biggest reject in the online world is the disconnect.

If a blogger has the same attention span as a reader scrolling and scrolling and scrolling for something relevant to their lives, the disconnect gets worse and blog pressure grows.

Dear Mr. Trump, Novice Blog Pressure

I have no personal familiarity with the man so I can’t give him the same treatment the major media stoops to.

Vanity Fair goes hard with, “As HuffPost noted in it eulogy, “‘From the Desk of Donald J. Trump’ was preceded in death” by many of its siblings: “Trump Airlines, Trump beverages, Trump: The Game, numerous Trump casinos, Trump magazine, Trump Mortgage, Trump Steaks, a Trump travel website, Trump telecom, Trump University, and Trump Vodka.”

I have no opinion on any Trump product as I’ve never thought to use one, buy one, or consume one.

But, as a fellow blogger, I do have advice on blog pressure.

Keyword research: find the right words to let your readers know who you are, who you want to be.

The wrong keywords send readers away, never to return. Words like morons, idiots, brain dead, ignorant, under educated, stupid, easily led, gullible.

Help your readers feel better about themselves.

Blog about President Biden winning the election without fraud. Explain how accusing people is your way of doing business.

They’ll understand.

Apologize for not doing the job of the President of the United States. Tell them you’re sorry for hanging in Putin’s pocket, the love letters to North Korea, the visit to Saudi Arabia.

They’ll understand if you lay it out on your media platform.

While you’re in the mood, go ahead and apologize for bringing the tribe together on Jan. 6 and abandoning them while they ran wild in the Capitol.

They’ll understand if they read it on your blog.

Blog Pressure Forces Early Exit

More from Vanity Fair:

Spokesman Jason Miller says, “There have been a lot of high-power meetings he’s been having at Mar-a-Lago with some teams of folks who have been coming in, and…it’s not just one company that’s approached the president, there have been numerous companies. But I think the president does know what direction he wants to head here and this new platform is going to be big and everyone wants him, he’s gonna bring millions and millions, tens of millions of people to this new platform.”

High-power meetings? Any meeting with an ex-President is high-powered.

Writing Rule: Don’t repeat yourself, avoid redundancy.

Was Mr. Miller a ghost writer on the blog? Is he related to former aid Stephen Miller?

Writing Rule: If your spokesman looks like Alex Jones, go with the guy who looks and acts like a ghoul. Read the room.

In a sad, bullshit statement, Jason Miller told CNBC: “It was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on. Hoping to have more information on the broader efforts soon, but I do not have a precise awareness of timing.”

With “high-powered meetings” and a notion of “precise awareness” all around, how could the Trump blog fail? After so many New York Times Bestsellers, a blog should be walk in the park easy.

Get the name right, the content stream flowing, and readers will come because you built it.

Quitting A Blog After A Month Feels Premature

It reminds me of a reaction in a John Prine song.

For the sing-along:

I know a guy that’s got a lot to lose.
He’s a pretty nice fellow but he’s kind of confused.
He’s got muscles in his head that ain’t never been used.
Thinks he own half of this town.

Starts drinking heavy, gets a big red nose.
Beats his old lady with a rubber hose,
Then he takes her out to dinner and buys her new clothes.
That’s the way that the world goes ’round.

That’s the way that the world goes ’round.
You’re up one day and the next you’re down.
It’s half an inch of water and you think you’re gonna drown.
That’s the way that the world goes ’round.

I was sitting in the bathtub counting my toes,
When the radiator broke, water all froze.
I got stuck in the ice without my clothes,
Naked as the eyes of a clown.
I was crying ice cubes hoping I’d croak,
When the sun come through the window, the ice all broke.
I stood up and laughed thought it was a joke
That’s the way that the world goes ’round.

This is a video of the same song decades later. John Prine had no quit in him.

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About David Gillaspie

I am a writer. This is my blog story day by day.

Comments

  1. Laurien says
    June 3, 2021 at 4:03 pm

    David I am so impressed with your commitment to your blog. I learn something new every flipping time I slow down to read one. I wish I could tell you I read them all but I have not carved out 15 mins every day to do so – WTF I cannot find 15 minutes to read this enlightening blog witten by a guy I admire greatly? Now that’s ridiculous….quitting too soon is almost as bad as saying I don’t have time…I bet quitters say they don’t have time.

    I also have wanted to comment many times. This is what happens…I write something, then rewite something, then 30 mins goes by, I ponder what word to use, read and re-read and I say flip I gotta move on and I don’t send anything, I hit delete…that’s a form of quitting – no that is flipping quitting.

    Sigh – I want to be a winner that never quits – unless of course it is truly time to quit. Having done my time with grace, gratitude, a pinch of fortitude and a dash of latitude one might hang her hat – job well done.

    I am not going to re-read this comment or change anything I am hitting send now. I did my best.

    • David Gillaspie says
      June 3, 2021 at 9:26 pm

      Hey Laurien,

      Some of the things I like to write about here are about persevering through life, good times and bad. Hearing about some guy who thought starting a blog and keeping it current was easy, then quit when they realized what it takes, bugs me. That it was the guy who called himself the only person who could fix America makes it worse.

      On top of screwing up on the coronavirus, screwing up the last election, and lying to people who think he’s anointed by God, he screwed up a blog?

      One of the reasons he quit was the attention from Facebook falling from millions, tens of millions, to a couple of thousand. He doesn’t know how many bloggers would trade their car for the engagement of thousands. He doesn’t understand blog traffic. Facebook people stay on Facebook, Reddit people stay on Reddit, twitter people stay there.

      Real engagement comes from readers like you, writers who understand the process, professionals who understand responsibility. I’m glad you find the time to comment whether you post or not. The idea is to feel compelled enough to make the effort. What you do with the results ins’t the important part, but I’m glad you made it this time. I do the same thing, write things out, read it a few times, then delete. The active thoughts that develop from reading is the treasure.

      If you write and delete, it’s not quitting. It’s just not the right time. Keep in mind any comments posted here are subject to profuse thanks and appreciation. I get traffic from around the world and I hope someone from far, far, away reads your comment and it moves them.

      We’ll know how brave they are when we read their comments. And by far, far, away I mean across the street and across the ocean.

      Thank you for giving boomerpdx a little time. (I’m thinking of a name change. Let me know if you have an idea.)

      DG