If You Quit Blogging, Who Would Miss You?

~ Cristian Mihai

If one fine morning you decided to give up on your blog, to never write a post again, who would notice?

Who would miss your writing style, your views on things, your opinions?

Think about this as a way to figure out what is the right direction for your blog.

Who would miss your blog?

It’s a simple question, but one that provokes some interesting thoughts. If you are truly serving a niche with your blog, they should miss you if you’re not there. Imagine that you stopped blogging—would you get any emails asking you what’s up?

Your blog is a part of a neighborhood, whether you realize it or not. Every reader you gain puts a house on your block, and each link you receive is akin to building a bridge or a four-lane highway. You get the idea.

And much like any neighborhood the selling price of a home is not determined by the number of houses in the area or the number of cars that pass by. In fact, those things can be enough to turn away some buyers completely.

How about a break from the metaphors for a second?

Don’t be so easy to replace

The quality of your blog is determined, in the end, by the degree to which your blogging neighborhood relies on you. If your blog is a part of a crowd that fulfills similar needs, your blog may not be relied upon as much as you think.

Being easily replaced is not a good thing. Luckily, there are some ways you can avoid this.

  • Target your audience. You want to pick something that you love, of course, but also something not being done by many others. A blog about pets is better than one about animals, but one about cat care is even better. And this part of the game is more about what’s not being done than it is about over-specializing your writing.
  • Be unique. The more unique you are, the greater the chance you’ll be missed if you disappear.
  • Interact with your readers on a personal level. The easiest way to begin doing this is to grab the contact information of those readers whom you consider your colleagues. Take an hour and chat with them. Find out what they do, what their likes and dislikes are, and maybe even why they came to your blog. But remember—they already read your blog. Don’t suffocate them. Talk about them. Feed their ego. Then, later, they will remember your blog and how good they felt talking to you. Congratulations, now you have a reader that would miss you if you were gone.
  • Create content that can’t be duplicated. Make your blog about more than just commentary. What is a different approach when tackling a certain topic? What can you add to the conversation?

If you follow these principles (notice, not steps—there is no proven formula; relationships don’t have those) you will be sure to see some results.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself (also I’m interested in the answers as well):

  • Has there ever been a time when readers have noticed your absence, and contacted you about it?
  • Have you ever been surprised at the gratitude of readers or the response to a particular article?
  • Are you truly writing quality content, or just commentating on what’s already being said?
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23 thoughts on “If You Quit Blogging, Who Would Miss You?”

  1. Hello! I found that very thought provoking THANK YOU! The weirdest thing about me doing blogging is I kinda fell into it by accident, because I do have a youtube channel, and I wanted to document my life on that, but because always having to edit videos ETC. I thought I would give blogging ago! AND I feel I am part of community and I feel my blog is going a lot better, in so many ways. THANK YOU!

    Liked by 3 people

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  3. I wrote an article recently (last month) for Pregnant Chicken (isolation of losing a baby) and got such a response, I couldn’t believe it. They told me some big name sites were sharing it on social media.
    My website itself, I have such an up and down schedule with posting I’m not sure anyone would notice unless it fully disappeared. I’ve written a few on here that surprised me with the “I can relate” responses, but I think concepts like that (in my case, the quarter life crisis) aren’t talked about or known as much as the mid life crisis.

    Liked by 2 people

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  4. Really nice blog… I never thought of it this way… Not that I am planning to quit, but if someday I do… I sure will save and read this article and get back on track…

    Liked by 5 people

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  5. I’ve also found that sometimes surprising blog posts get a lot of likes while well thought out and researched ones don’t. (but the researched ones are mainly to use when I’m pitching articles to other sites and less for my own blog, just as a very new freelance writer, I need to be able to show I’ve had published pieces)
    I wrote one completely random “stupid” blog post last Spring talking about how I love gardens and when we own a home that has enough yard space, I have large and elaborate plans for one. That got more likes than most of my others and a lot more views. My posts have gotten better since (I have learned how to create better looking and easier to read posts in the time since last year) but I’m still laughing at that- it was basically “I like gardens, I want to have a beautiful garden” and it got me a bunch more results. lol
    After reading one of your other blog posts a few days ago, I wrote a post for the first time in a while on my second site and so far, every single person who has viewed that post has liked it and followed my site. (thank you for posting that one, by the way- it was the one about dealing with blogger’s block)

    Liked by 5 people

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    1. It happens. Posts we write in 15 minutes or so get more views and likes and comments than posts that we researched and spent a lot of time writing.

      In a way, it is almost impossible to know what piece will resonate with your audience. If I were to pick my favorite articles that I wrote for this blog, I wouldn’t pick the most popular one.

      Sometimes, how a post performs has to do with timing, but this is something few want to admit.

      Liked by 6 people

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      1. Yeah. If you write a Christmas related article and post it in July, you won’t get the number of responses you would in December.
        I think a lot of people do relate to more personal posts that make people seem more human- but it all depends on the audience. It was spring when I wrote that and I think using the gardening tags while people were starting to prep their gardens (it’s why I wrote it, I was starting prep). I also found a bunch of good looking garden pictures and added those. I have a couple favorites that literally took me over a month to fully research and write and I was a bit disappointed that those barely even get views.

        Liked by 4 people

  12. Probably no one would miss me today. I believe that the writer in me is like a baby learning to crawl. The only witnesses to one of my first milestones are those who are supportive because of similar interests. I can’t get around much because of my limited capabilities. As the writer within grows and learns she will reach more readers eager to find a new and creative writing experience! Thanks for this

    Liked by 2 people

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  15. Thanks for the advice. I actually used to feel no one would kiss me if I stopped blogging, I did for a while and that was the response. Although, then I wasn’t connecting with people but I’d like to think I’m better now and hopefully someone notices my absence but blogging is going to be a long term thing cause it’s my ministry.
    I’ve also felt appreciation from some posts and it puts the biggest smile on my face and gives me such joy. I love that I can impact people’s lives and positively, it’s just so great and I’m thankful to God for that privilege.

    Liked by 1 person

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