Blogging: How do you spend your time?

[John P]

Hey all -

I've been writing a videogame themed blog/site for about 5 months now and, while I love running the site, the blog writing and site management aspects of it are starting to conflict with each other. On the one hand, I want to put up as much creative and insightful material as possible. On the other, I want to build my traffic, have effective ads and good SEO, and make some money.

I don't see this as a problem per se, because it's lots of fun to do both - I really enjoy the writing and I really enjoy learning the technical side of blogging - but I'm sure that there's lots that I can learn from others on this.

So, To all you experienced bloggers: How do you divide your time between writing and the technical side? Any tips on how to maybe simplify things? Is this conflict something that's common among bloggers or am I just over-analyzing?

[Addict]

To me the question was always, not between writing and technical, but a similar issue: how to split time between writing and marketing. If you write and nobody sees it, it's kind of pointless. You do yourself and your potential readers a disservice. But at the same time, time spent on marketing is time that you could be creating valuable content.

I really don't have a good answer to this question or to yours. I would also like to hear from some experienced bloggers on how to find a balance.

[build319]

For me, although I am not an experienced blogger, I believe that content comes first. If you get get dedicated readers coming to your blog they want to see frequent updates.

So how many posts do you publish a day? Do you spend alot of this time researching new video games to write about? If you slow down the amount of posts will you fall behind with the new news thats in the industry? I know in the video gaming industry, things tend to move pretty fast so if you focus more attention on marketing will you fall behind with what the new low down on Halo 23 is going to be? These are the questions you should ask yourself.

If you don't think spending more time on marketing will hurt your current readers who subscribe to your site, then go for it! Eventually, you will manage to be able to focus less attention to marketing and more on your own content.

But again, I believe that content it key and the rest can and will follow. What if you managed to have a buddy who worked for the marketing department of Midway games and you got the sneak peak images on a new game they are coming out with? The point I am getting at is that you get the right content on your site, the traffic will follow.

[AdamF24]

I've had my blog site for two months so I'm not an expert, but I believe in working on content first, then marketing. I started out the other way around, but I realize now that I need to build up a good amount of quality articles before I should even worry making money and getting large amounts of traffic.

In my opinion, quality content will do all the marketing for you.

[mellom]

Build it and they will come.

Focus on quality content and spend time marketing when you can. This way when you get visitors, they will be there for the long haul.

[Marvinq]

I have my own business and I am a computer consultant. Its interesting you've asked this question. I've helped a good friend of mine get off to a good start. And right now I am launching my own blog about lessons learned through movies, books, tv.

To answer your question, running a successful blog is a lot like running your own business. If you're alone you have to wear many hats. So yes, this kind of conflict is very common.

Generally, like a business, you don't want to have to do everything yourself. There are different ways to increase readership. If you have anyone to help you I recommend you split the work. Have one work on getting readership while you work on writing. If you are married have your wife help you grow your readership. If you don't have anyone pay another popular site a "Review Me" of your blog. That should help get you more readers without much work on your end.

Another thing I'll do is make a backlog of posts writing 5 posts in one sitting each set to timestamp throughout the week. During the week you can tweak your posts here and there if necessary, but you can focus on bringing up your readership.

My content so far isn't as in depth as some of the articles I've read here. But, I think it's a fun place to go and I hope I get a loyal audience. If you're really interested in it read 'The Slightest Nod' first.

Let me know if this helps and if you want more tips!

[Guardian Angel]

I have a separate job aside from blogging, and a family, too. At work, I divide my self (it's really hard!) between my work and planning to do when I get home in front of my pc. Of course, a good blogger is a responsible blogger w/c means with good quality and sensible. I "wrote" in a scratch first at WORD, proofread it a couple of times before posting. For me, marketing is harder coz writing is really my passion, and I am still new in this blogging thing, so I really spent most time on marketing...

[Marvinq]

Another tip would be to allocate a certain amount of time to marketing and a certain amount to writing. For example, I compile a backlog of 5 posts over the weekend and timestamp it to appear once a day. Over the course of the work week I'm compiling ideas on what to blog about next and getting my name out. Interspaced with the chores my wife has for me of course. I've found if you put time limits... or give yourself deadlines you can actually produce things much faster.

Also, like I mentioned above treat your blog like a business. Have people positioned to handle other things for you.

Great topic to blog about I'll probably blog about this topic this weekend and set it to post next week.