Blogging through the frustration

I’ve only been at this blogging thing since July 11, 2007. At this point that is only about a month and a half ago (it’s now August 25, 2007). In this time I’ve learned a lot. Both about myself, my interests, and my tolerance level for blogging. The one thing however that I’ve learned which is most surprising is that blogging can be a very frustrating past-time.

Obviously I can’t speak for anyone else, but I doubt anyone of us got involved with blogging in order to be frustrated, and yet on a daily basis I am ready to tear my hair out. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m not the only one who suffers from this blogging affliction. Except maybe Darren Rowse of Problogger. Hard to be ready to tear out what you don’t have… Much of…

I don’t even know the guy and I’m making fun of him. That’s not the purpose of bringing his name up. I was actually watching a video blog posting on Pro Blogger a few minutes ago which gave me the idea for this post. It was about how important first impressions are on a blog. It got me to thinking how frustrating it can be when you are trying to ensure you give a good first impression.

As I said I’ve come to discover that blogging is actually very frustrating. Below I’ve lined out a few things that I personally find frustrating. I wonder how many of you either find the same things, or other things to do with blogging frustrating?

Choosing a title

We all want a title that conveys the essence of our blog to readers. Without that we’re sunk from the word go. If I spent a second I spent countless hours trying to pick a title for this blog. First of all I had to like it. Second of all I had to be able to get the domain name. In fact I bought a domain name and 5 minutes later I changed my mind. In the end I ended up with A Blog about Nothing. Sometimes people ask me why I would choose that name. In answer I did so because it was the antithesis of what I wanted the blog to actually be about. I figured that people would be able to get that the word “nothing” was indeed the antithesis. Is your blog title appropriate? If you had never read this blog would this blog’s title be appropriate? Would you understand the meaning behind the words?

The tagline that isn’t

At one time I had a tagline. I don’t remember what it was, and that tells me it’s a good thing I no longer use it. If the originator, and author of a blog can’t remember their own tagline it’s a pretty good bet no one will. That like the title was something I spent untold hours on developing. To this day I’m still haunted by the frustration of not having a working tagline. How about you, how did you come up with your tagline? Is it effective or are you just holding onto it because it is familiar?

To niche or not to niche

Long before I decided to make this blog A Blog about Nothing, about 3 seconds before I figured out the title I ultimately picked, I thought I wanted to make this a blog about something. That something was going to be about computers. In fact my first post was about computer related things. As you can no doubt see I rarely talk much about computers anymore. Or anything else for that matter. That’s really the point. Sometimes it is less frustrating not to have a niche that you have to honor on almost every post. I also discovered that in almost every niche out there at least 100 other “expert” bloggers were out there promising to teach us the secret to success in that particular genre. Anyone else have a similar experience? Did you start intending to become the next great thing in you niche and come to realize there are so many niche bloggers out there that you just get lost in the shuffle?

Looking for a “cool” layout

I’d be lying if I told you I am pleased with the current layout. It’s not bad, and most people have told me they like it better than the last one I had. It’s not near enough to what I think I want. What do you want asks the industrious designer looking to build her portfolio. I have no clue, and that’s what is frustrating. I want all of the bells and whistles, and yet I want it to be lightweight and spartan. I’ve been through 5 differnt layouts in the past month and a half. Does anyone else have a problem finding the layout? Would you pay someone for a custom layout, or is a downloaded layout just as good?

A new topic everyday?

When I made the decision to go ahead with a nicheless blog I was under the (false, clearly false) impression that no matter what I would always be able to find a relevant and timely topic. Relevant to the events of the day in case you’re wondering. Aside from other blogs I also look at news papers, watch tv, surf the internet, talk with friends, and family… I just live life and find topics to write about. Problem is that there are so many topics out there that it is frustrating. Do you ever have a problem picking a topic to write an article about on your blog?

Communicating your idea

I’m a fan of books. Long books. Books that draw out their plots and their characters. I don’t want to find that I’ve not said enough and lost a reader. Strangely just the opposite seems to happen. I’ve done some statistical tracking and I’ve found that short, concise posts get the most readers. Which is truly a surprise to me as I figured the better worded (read: more heavily worded) enteries would prove to be the most popular. Do you ever have communicating your idea either because you tend to be “wordy” or for some other reason?

That’s a few of the topics which prove frustrating to me. There are more, but that’s enough to get going with. In case you’re wondering why I still blog if so many things frustrate me. Simply because I find it enjoyable, educational, and a challenge. Unlike so many others I’m not going to teach you how to make moooney online with your blog theme, or money for that matter. I’m not going to award you $10,000 for winning my contest. Nope not gonna do any of that. Because I enjoy blogging and because I find myself unable to stop is why I keep going. The frustration is why I continue striving to improve.