I’ve been a part of the blogging community for a while. And looking back on some of the people I had known and blogs I have read over the years, I wondered…where the heck did they all go? Why did all these blogs close? What became of all this talent?
Online reports about blog activities are sketchy, but most indicate that over 80% of blogs are eventually abandoned and that over 65% of the entire blogosphere has failed to update their blog in the last two months!
Even if you take into account blogs that are eventually revived after a long break by a blogger, do you ever take this into consideration when you are link building / leaving comments and networking with other bloggers, what happens when these blogs close and these bloggers disappear?
Networking
Running and managing a blog is an incredible experience. It’s like your own “digital business card” that gets you in the door with so many other bloggers too. As I’ve often mentioned, factors such as trust and transparency go a long way in the blogosphere — and often leads to meaningful, beneficial connections with other bloggers.
Blogging, for me, is merely an introduction into many other online projects and business ventures that I intend to capitalize on in the coming months. I am a business person at heart, not a journalist/writer. When I come across a way to add value to the World Wide Web, I feel it should be explored.
The pursuit of many of these online endeavors could not exist without building a team that shares your vision and brings their own expertise to the table. Losing those relations can be costly — as I have experienced.
Fade To Black
You often don’t see it coming. But, when a blogger truly loses interest in his/her blog it is a rapid decline.
The blog closes practically overnight! (in our world, that means that the blogger no longer has a desire to update their blog posts and allows the domain to expire at the end of the hosting period)
It’s like a union welder 5:00p on a Friday; that whistle blows, that torch, grinder, and clamps fall to the floor with a thud! – they’re “outta” there!
At least the welder will be right back to the same spot to collect his tools Monday morning; that blogger is long gone! Try e-mailing him/her. Speaking to you is like a reminder of what they were — and they don’t want to rehash those memories.
Plans / Projects / Dreams
When that blogger closed their blog, you lost your guest post spot, a space in their blogroll, and a nice assortment of backlinks. Which is why you have to be careful how you invest your time online.
This type of constant turnover must be difficult for online readers too.
But, I lost a friend, a business partner, and a project manager too.
And they’re hard to come by!
You can never take these types of relationships for granted.
Your Turn
Have you ever reflected on the relationships you have created online? Did you ever feel abandoned by their sudden disappearance? Do you feel that part of the equation that defines success in blogging has something to do with endurance and longevity?
If you are contemplating closing your blog and minimizing your online presence, the impact goes far beyond you, doesn’t it?
6 Comments
When a blog closes, sure you lose a backlink, but working in SEO you expect a certain percentage of links to drop over time, so that is not really a big deal. Often, the blogs just sit there for years (thanks to automatic domain renewal, yay!), so your link will remain.
As for the human side of things, it can be sad when someone you have an online relationship with disappears, but judging by the dross most bloggers pump out every day it is mostly no great loss!
You know it sounds a lot like opening a small business, the “close” rate is much greater then the success rate and probably should be that way. It also goes with the old saying, “Only the strong survive.” If you’re doing something that isn’t really you, chances are you’re game will come to an end also.
Personally I’m o.k with it to an extent, I want long term business relationships and rarely jump into a bunch of different groups just to increase those relationships. I see a lot less losses that way.
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Hey I liked your post. The DRAMA, very well written. You unite the reality of failing blogs, with real life so well. Oh the shame, should my blog #fail …
You know I think it’s just part of the scene, people come and go and that’s the way it is. It’s life, I have friends that just ‘disappeared’ somehow over time… where did they go? (Well I guess I can find them on facebook now), but you get my drift.
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I’m still uncertain about the loss of backlinks because when I did my own backlink analysis, I realized there are many blogs which have dead backlinks but they still rank high. I don’t know whether backlinks in a cached version of Google count or not.
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I remember I had become close with this gal that wrote about business marketing… communicated with her a lot on Twitter, StumbleUpon, and on her blog. She’s been off the map since February, and since she disappeared, I realized I didn’t know anything about her personally. She operated under a pseudonym, didn’t have a personal Facebook profile, etc. So my optimistic side hopes she just lost interest in blogging and social media, or started up another site under her real name that I never knew (and maybe even interacts with me but I don’t realize she’s that same blogger). But unless she reaches out, I’ll never know. It was sad.
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Hi Jeffrey
In the six months I have been blogging seriously I have seen people who I followed close their blog or just disappear! And even now I notice even a few more who don’t seem to be around either. Whether they are busy with projects I don’t know.
Not replying to my tweets and not posted since early December! Some people start off with a sprint and I would think I can’t keep up. Going much slower and don’t post as many times in the week than them.
Now I realise, one guy got burnt out; don’t know about the others. So I just watch some of the newbies now. Encourage them but also share a few realities about blogging. Will be interesting to see how many of us will be round to write our 2012 goals.
As a good friend of mine reminds me often: Slow and steady wins the race.
Patricia Perth Australia
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