Is Your Blog Going Up In Flames? Blog Burnout Tips

So here’s the thing. Blogging sucks the life out of you sometimes. Now, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m blabbering about.

Researching topics, keywords, reader interest…golly gee Beaver, that’ s a lot of work. 🙂 I like Wally and the Beav. Anyways, my point? This work can burn you out. Snuff you out just like a hot ash on the tip of a Marlboro Light.

The Blog Burnout

Now, here’s the flip side. Always 2 sides to a pancake right? At some point, your hard work and dedication will begin to pay off. I swear to you it will. I am slowly…yes slowly beginning to reap some rewards.

I am now “in the black” for The Friendly Blogger and am beginning to generate some income. I can’t tell my boss to take a long walk off a short pier yet….but me thinks I could one day. 🙂

But I have to be honest with you, this is rough. Maintaining this blog and working the 9-5 is difficult.  I am constantly trying to come up with fresh topics or old ones with a unique spin. I refuse to be “just like everyone else.” I want to write quality, period.

I can’t stay up all hours of the night, even though sometimes I try. If I do that all the time, I lose productivity at the daily grind. So I try to utilize my days off as best I can. I don’t want to sit at the computer all day on my days off either. I want to spend time with my family too.

So, what to do? Attempt as best I can to avoid the blog burnout or at least curb it’s effects. Because the alternative is ugly….caving in to the burnout will cause your hard work to be diminished and your brand will began to dissipate.

How To Avoid Blog Burnout

I don’t have any secrets for this or some top secret remedy. Only what works for me. I will share with you what helps me and you are free to do with the info as you please….even poo poo it if you think it’s crap! (ha ha, poo poo and crap in same sentence!)

• Take some time off. The key here is not TOO much time. Especially in the beginning of your venture…people will notice you are missing and not updating and socializing. You can easily fade away. You need to keep your name/brand in people’s eyesight, plain and simple. But, do take a few days to yourself and if you must work on the blog, keep it light.
• Write off topic.  I know some people will think I’m nuts here, but it’s true. Write about something wacky in the world and tie it back to your blog. It’s easy really. Simply say, “man, I needed a topic for my next post and Brittany shaved her head again…had to write about that!” People appreciate levity and it’s needed in EVERY business at some point or another. Another great thing about this….it’s writing from the head and heart..no keyword research, nada.
• Visit Friends. No, I don’t mean take a banana cream pie to Susie’s for coffee and gossip. I mean, go visit your blog friends. Catch up on their posts, visit their Twitter feed, Facebook, whatever. No doubt you have been working so hard, you are behind on your reading and socializing. So, in essence, you are “working” because you’re letting people know you’re alive. You don’t have to just post post post to be noticed.
• Invite Guest Posts. I am going to be starting this one soon. But what better way to catch a break then to have others write for you? Be specific about your guidelines and topics and you will have a lot of good stuff to post to your blog. Work smarter, not harder my friends.

Okay, well that’s all the tips I have for you. Seriously, that’s it. Why are you still staring at me?! Go out into the world and take a break!

Let me know your thought and riddle me this Batman:

• How do you ward off the blog burnout?