Blogging burnout sucks, but it happens to the best of us. It’s when you come to a point with your blog where you just get tired of publishing new content for whatever reason. It could be that you’re overwhelmed with work and other projects or because you just start to lose some of the drive you had when you originally started blogging. When you’re getting burned out from blogging, you have two options:
- Give up
- Make a change
Unfortunately, a lot of bloggers tend to go for option number one and just give up on their blogs entirely. That’s why there’s a bunch of blogs out there that had a lot of potential but the owner just gave up too soon.
I wanted to write about blogging burnout because it’s something I’ve experienced in the past, and also something I’m working through right now (more on that later). I’m sure you all can relate and have gotten to the point where you just want to say screw it and throw in the towel. But don’t be so quick to give up. Blogging burnout isn’t always a bad thing.
I apologize in advance for the lack of images in this post, but this one was more of a stream of consciousness. It’s a must-read though!
When To Give Up On Your Blog
I’m not going to lie to you, there are some instances when the best option is to just step away from your blog and move on to something else. There’s no shame in it. I’ve done it and a lot of the most popular bloggers you can think of have a bunch of blogs that you’ll probably never even hear about because they shut them down.
The time to give up on a blog is when you’ve lost your passion for it. Once you get to the point where you’re just going through the motions and blogging becomes a chore, that’s a bad sign. Blogging is supposed to be fun and a way to be creative. If you don’t enjoy what you’re writing about, and every blog post starts to feel like working an eight hour shift at a job you hate, why continue?
This tends to happen a lot when your purpose for starting a blog is nothing other than making money. If you plan on starting a blog in a niche that you’re not passionate about, then you’d better hire some writers because you’re not going to be able to produce content for it long term. Eventually you’re going to get burned out, especially if you’re not seeing the traffic you hoped for and you’re not making any money.
Passion is what fuels you to create content even when you’re in the beginning stages and the only person reading your blog is you. There’s no way I would’ve been able to write all of the blog posts I’ve written for this site if I wasn’t passionate about blogging. Also, when you’re passionate about your niche, it comes through in your writing and your readers will really connect with it.
Making A Change
If you feel like you’re tired of blogging, but don’t necessarily want to stop, then I wouldn’t suggest giving up. Instead, try making some changes.
For instance, if you’re tired of blogging because your schedule is too hectic, cut down the amount of new content you’re putting out each week. There’s no law that says you have to stick to the same blogging schedule forever. Sometimes you just have to step back and slow things down.
Another reason you might be getting tired and burned out from your blog is because you need some new inspiration and motivation. One of the ways I stay inspired to keep blogging is by looking at what other bloggers in my niche are doing. Seeing the content that they’re putting out, and looking at their successes gives me the energy I need to keep going. You can do the same thing. Look at some of the top blogs in your niche and use their success as motivation.
Lastly, just do something different. If you’ve been following the same structure for all of your content or only produce one type of content, spice things up a bit. Maybe start a podcast or do some vlogging. Blogs don’t have to be filled up with just written articles. Sometimes what you think is burnout is actually just boredom from doing the same things over and over again.
I’m Trying Something New
For about six months straight, I’ve been consistently blogging 3 days a week. My plan was to build up a huge library of content so that when people come to my site they bookmark or save it somewhere so they can come back and read my other posts. I’ve reached 80 blog posts now, and my organic traffic is growing more and more each month. But here’s the problem.
I’ve been spending so much time producing content that I haven’t been taking the time to properly promote my site like I want to. I’m not “burned out”. I’m at the point where I can either keep doing what I’m doing and build up more content, or take this thing to the next level. Since I refuse to stay stagnant, my goal is going to be to switch things up and focus on growing my site and brand more.
You’re probably wondering what that means. In short, I’m taking a break from posting 3 days a week. Instead, I’m going to be using my 4 week blogging program I wrote about. So instead of getting 12 new blog posts each month, you’ll get 4. This is actually going to be a very interesting case study since I’ll only be creating a third of the posts that I used to.
Why I’m Switching My Posting Schedule
There’s a few different reasons. For one, creating 3 blog posts a week along with working a full time job and doing side gigs is draining. I don’t want to get burned out, so switching my schedule will really help me. I noticed on certain days I felt like I “had” to write a blog post to stay on schedule, instead of writing it because I wanted to.
Another reason is like I said, I’ve been spending way too much time producing content and not nearly enough promoting it. I first learned about the 80/20 rule for blogging a while ago from this post on Social Triggers. The 80/20 rule means that you should spend 80% of your time promoting your content and 20% creating it. But for me, it’s been more like 90% creating content and 10% promoting it. So even though I have a nice amount of great content, it hasn’t been reaching as many people as it could. And that has to change.
The third reason I’m making the change is because it’s going to allow me to take my blog to new heights. Here’s what I mean. My 4 week blogging program was put together to help you create content and grow your audience. You’ll notice that the types of blog posts I laid out setup opportunities for email outreach and drive traffic through social media. That’s what I’m going to be spending more of time now.
The free time I’m going to have by not having to create 3 new posts every week is also going to allow me to work on new projects like courses and maybe even an ebook or two.
Oh yea, and this is going to give you all a real life example of how powerful the 4 week program is. You’ll get to see how I orchestrate it and pull everything together, so you can hopefully replicate what I’m doing.
Let’s Wrap This Up
When you’re starting to feel burned out with your blog, step back and reevaluate things. Ask yourself if the blog is something you really want to do, or dig deeper to find out if you just need to switch something up. The main takeaway I want you to get from this is that you shouldn’t always be so quick to give up on your blog. It’s your blog so you can always try new things and do something different to re-spark your interest.
In the mean time, sit back and relax. I’ll be back on the 14th with a new blog post for you all. It’ll be the start of a new phase for my site and I’m excited to share some awesome new content with you guys!
