We all know and hear about the advantages of blogging, but if you run your own blog, you’ll also be aware of the disadvantages…
Time
It’s obvious. Articles don’t write themselves. Words don’t put themselves together and accurately describe what you’re feeling. I spend at least 1 hour per day on this blog thinking of stuff to write, actually writing it and then reading comments, editing etc…
Most bloggers will run out of steam after a while and use time as an excuse for not blogging. Not enough time is a great excuse for not blogging – nobody can argue with it. It all depends on how highly you rank blogging on your list of things to do every day. For me, it’s at the top and that’s why i’ll always try to blog once a day.
Because this is something i’ve built in to my daily routine, it’s easy for me to sit down and write a post like i’m doing now… even when i’m under pressure (i had about 10 minutes to get this blog post started and published before midnight – i’ll continue to edit it and add more after midnight). It hasn’t always been that easy though. The more you blog, the easier it becomes… like everything else.
Upgrades
Upgrades don’t just take time, they take some degree of skill and planning. If i upgrade a plugin on this site and it crashes, i’m under pressure to fix it.
If i have no back up plan in place or don’t know what has happened or how to check what has happened, i’d have to pay somebody to fix it for me or i’d have to leave the site down for now and google solutions.
WordPress is constantly evolving and if you fail to upgrade to newer versions, sooner or later you’ll be hacked or spammed in to upgrading. Upgrading can be as easy as clicking a button these days, but again, if you’re serious about your blog, you gotta be prepared for something bad happening. And lets face it, something bad ALWAYS happens when you’re dealing with computers and crossing your fingers everything will work.
Expenses
photo credit: Andres Rueda
Not every blog pays for itself. In fact they vast majority don’t. Yes it’s true that hosting & a domain name cost less than €50/year, but it’s still €50/year… if i spend a couple of hours ‘working’ on the blog daily, you can start to rack up all the expenses and potential expenses you want. Custom themes, logos, graphics… they all cost something. Not necessarily cash if you’re a DIY designer / coder, but all require time and it’s debateable as to which is the more valuable currency.
No matter what sort of a blog you have, it’s probably costing you more (financially) than what you’re making from it. Most bloggers will realise that once the novelty wares off. They’ll quickly disappear if the blog doesn’t produce profit or get traffic.
My counter argument to that would be that if profit comes before blogging, then you really have to question whether you’re a blogger or a business person. You can be both, but a blogger won’t just quit blogging suddenly, even if the figures don’t add up.
Reputation
One of the biggest reasons NOT to start a blog is to protect your reputation. If you put your name to a blog, you’re saying to potential employers – “stalk me”. That can be good and bad. Good if you’re looking for a job and show a huge range of skills and qualities on your blog which your employer is looking for. Bad for obvious reasons like bad mouthing previous employees or showing certain traits which an employer doesn’t want.
Blogs have gotten people hired & fired, so it’s something to be aware of. It’s the same with a facebook profile or twitter account. If i was hiring people i’d look at their social networking accounts or blogs before i’d look at their CV. You learn more. CV’s are sales pitches – blogs and social networking profiles are reality. Blogs in particular reveal a lot about somebody and are easy to navigate and search through.