Beware of Disappearing Blog Posts

By Bob Hughes - Feb 27 , 2012

Where did you go?

I’ve found myself wondering that when I’ve clicked on a link and found that an author has last posted during an earlier presidential administration. (Granted, this isn’t as disconcerting as getting a Facebook “birthdays this week” reminder for an acquaintance who’s passed away – which happened to me a few days ago – but it’s still a bit unnerving.)

Blogs can be timely and even sometimes timeless, but should not be left unattended. How many times have you clicked on a link and found that the latest blog post there dated from months, or even years, ago? This happens frequently.

If you’re writing blogs (and let’s hope you are, considering you are trying to build a platform for your ideas) you naturally look at other blogs and see how you can comment and contribute and carry on a conversation with those other bloggers. And you’re probably at least a little dismayed when you scroll down a blog roll (that’s the list of a blogger’s recommended blogs on a web page), click on a promising link and find that you’re transported into the past.

This is one of those things that can too easily happen to busy writers you neglect the blogs they’ve spent so much time creating and even nurturing. The blogs they’ve designed to build an audience. The blogs that helped them work through their ideas and write their books.

It bears repeating: if you’re blogging, continue to blog.

• Blog at least twice a week. Keep at it.
• If you’ve decided that your web page isn’t working for you, and that you’ve migrated to Twitter, then let your readers know – provide a link and ask them to follow you.
• Or let them know that you’re now on Facebook, and to look for your comments there. Give them the link. Take them with you.
• But don’t let your readers down by leaving them wondering what’s happened to you.
• And if you’ve added a blog roll to your web page, check on those blog links now and then to make sure the blogs you’ve chosen are still up to date – don’t recommend a blog by a blogger who’s given up. Your opinion matters, and if you’re recommending a blog that’s out of date, it shows you’re not engaged with your own site beyond the writing of your blog.

Blogging is a commitment, as is your devotion to your craft and to spreading your message. Your readers want to engage with you – don’t let them wonder where you’ve gone.