Blogging Resolutions

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I hear about new sites like Pheed, cyPOP, and Myspace revisited, I want to toss my computer out the window.

We all want to know how to increase our blog traffic...our Facebook friends...our tribes. "Build a platform," we hear over and over and over again. So we tweet and pin and share like maniacs, and we push ourselves to post to our blogs five days a week.

And then, just when we've finally stumbled upon the way to use StumbleUpon, some jokers decide we need 48.6 new social networking sites added to our lives, because, you know, how can we prove that we're relevant if we aren't spending 17 hours a day promoting ourselves in all the latest virtual communities?

This social media craziness has driven me to get a jump on my New Year's Writing Resolutions this year. I have three blogging resolutions this week.

I Resolve to Blog Less Frequently

In the old days we had to post five days a week. There were not many blogs, and there was no easy way to subscribe. We had to post consistently hoping our readers would bookmark our blogs and check in every morning as they drank their coffee. Those days are gone. Our faithful readers can subscribe to us and they'll never miss a post. We can post once a week and still build a nice following. 

Let me ask you a question: How many of you know interesting bloggers you'd love to follow, but you've found you don't have time?

Thank you. I knew  I wasn't the only totally overwhelmed person with 4,587 blogs in her Google Reader.

And since I'm I good Christian, I'm going to do unto others as I would have them do unto me. I'm going to put up fewer blog posts this year.

I appreciate bloggers who limit long or controversial posts to one every couple of weeks and who give me short posts that are funny or inspirational between times. I don't have time to read long posts every day.

Just. Don't. Have. Time.

And I'm assuming you don't have time either.

I Resolve to Put Quality Over Quantity

I know that when we don't post, our traffic drops. I'm thinking, though, that better and fewer posts might be to blogging what whispering is to speaking. They might make readers lean forward to hear us. And having a hundred people leaning in to listen might be better in the long run than having two hundred people skimming.

We start to tremble when we see our numbers drop between posts. Our fingers twitch on the keyboard. We feel a need to post something—anything—to bring readers to our blogs.

But this year I'm going to try to resist the urge to post when I have nothing to say. I figure it's a win-win situation. My regular readers will thank me for skipping the filler posts, and I'll have more time to do important things like spend time with family, read books, write books, and visit other bloggers.

I Resolve to Comment More on Other People's Blogs

In the time it takes me to write one decent, thoughtful blog post, I can read and comment on six or seven posts written by other bloggers. I think that's a valuable use of time. I think other bloggers appreciate having readers and hearing from readers.

Social media is not all about drawing readers to your blog and building up your numbers. Surely there's some value to be found in being neighborly—in visiting others, in laughing at their jokes, and in tweeting their posts.  

So please comment here and leave a blog address so I can visit your blogs. Maybe I'll add you to my Google reader. While you're here, answer me this: Do you still feel a need to blog every day? And how many blogs do you read every day?

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via photopin cc

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Sally Apokedak is an associate agent with the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency. She's in the process of building a dynamite list of authors. She is also active in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the American Christian Fiction Writers, and Toastmasters International.