7 Ways Blogging is Like Marriage
“I’m not exactly sure how to explain what that is since I’ve never experienced it myself.“
In the interest of helping Joanne out and to give her a taste of that experience, I have developed this list of the seven ways blogging is like marriage. Plus, it’s also a lame excuse to quote and link to her marriage post in a pathetic effort to get my point score up.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes… This post shows you how blogging is like being married, and will give you some tips on how that insight can help improve your blog. Maybe vice versa too.
Please note that this post is from a U.S.-centric perspective. Those of you in other countries, well, your laws and customs may differ, but please keep reading ’cause there is sure to be some tips of use to you.
1. Common Law Marriage
In some areas, you don’t have to have a marriage license to get married. If you start living together and, ahem, behaving like a married couple, you have a common law marriage.
In blogging terms, this would be like setting up your blog on one of the big name blogging sites. It’s like you’re not quite committed to blogging, but you’re a de facto blogger whether you like it or not.
2. Marriage License
In other areas, you’re going to need a marriage license to be recognized as a married couple.
In the blogosphere, this is like registering your own domain name. You’re announcing to the world that you are serious about blogging, and you’re willing to make the investment to do so.
3. The Wedding Day
Perhaps you’re nervous with anticipation. Maybe your feet are getting a bit cold? In any case, it’s the Big Day. You’ve spent a lot of time making sure every detail is perfect, down to making sure none of the bridesmaids will look prettier than you, or your groom, or anyone else in the room, you cruel, cruel…
Sorry. Anyway, like preparing for your Wedding Day, you’ve likely spent some time preparing your blog. You’ve checked into the widgets and plugins and all that stuff you want to have. You’ve selected a theme, and maybe made a logo. You’ve really put some effort into it, and you can’t wait for everyone to see it.
By the way, if you’re planning an actual wedding, you might want to check out this free Wedding Planner.
4. The Honeymoon
Now, you’re married. I’ll leave the rest of the honeymoon details to your imagination…
In the blogging world, your first few days as a blogger is like a honeymoon. At first, your blog is just lying there, naked, waiting for your fingers to work their magic. And, soon enough, your fingers get to work.
For the first few days, you crank out posts like there’s no tomorrow. Being a blogger is great! It’s fun. You can’t wait to share every minutia of your daily life with the two or three strangers who happened to find your blog, but would rather be watching something else.
5. The Next Fifty Freakin’ Years
If you chose wisely, and chose a partner or topic you’re compatible and comfortable with, you can be a happy and productive blogger. You’ll continue writing every day and look forward to doing it.
On the other hand, if you did not choose wisely, and are stuck with a partner or topic you’re not comfortable with, facing each day can be a real grind, not unlike a dog, a panic in a pagoda. (Sorry, just had to find a way to work that in somewhere.)
You’ll have difficulty coming up with topics, you won’t look forward to getting up in the morning, and you’ll stay late at the office to avoid coming home to your blog.
In either situation, you will have days where you just cannot come up with something to post, which will be more often the case in the latter rather than the former, but still a trouble for both at times.
6. Renewing Your Marriage Vows
When you reach the point where things are not as exciting as they used to be, and you feel like you’re just phoning it in on most days, you’ll need to find ways to recharge, to take a break and renew your courtship with your blog. Find ways to spice it up. Maybe you need to try new things or redecorate. Find the spark that you once saw in it and try to recreate it.
7. Divorce
Sadly, if your blog just isn’t working out for you, it may be time to consider a divorce. Maybe you can pawn it off on someone else, or maybe you’ll just drift your separate ways.
Fortunately, in the case of a blog, you probably won’t lose half your stuff. Chances are, if you’re a poor blogger, you probably already lost half your stuff spending way too much money promoting the thing when you only managed a post three times a month.
Conclusion
Hey, you’re still here? Cool.
Anyway, like marriage, your blog is only going to be as good as the effort you are willing to put into it. And, though it may not seem to be so, it is a two-way street. Your relationship is not with a spouse, but with your readers. The blog is the bond that marries the two of you together. Remember that.
You forgot something, kids !!, you can put it in the 6.1 point
6.1 It’s a blog !!
When you have nothing to post about in your topic, create another site one from a different subject!!, so when you have nothing to say about your niche, write about how your other blog is evolving, what changes it’s going through, this also apply to having kids
Good point. Yes, it is a blog. Yet, I still worry that the pirate king’s daughter will want to kill me after she reads this post. Either that, or she’s already planning her revenge. She is devious, as I have mentioned.
Anyway, good point, as I typed about ten seconds ago. You can always create more blogs. Now, are those other blogs like having kids, or additional spouses? I guess you could argue it either way, but it’s probably more akin to polygamy, at least in conjunction with my post. You’ll have all those other spouses demanding attention. I think in religions that allow polygamy, it is only acceptable if you have the resources to handle a second wife. If you can’t make ends meet with one wife, you shouldn’t get another.
The same would be applicable to blogging. If you have the resources (time, money, interest) to do a second (or third, fourth, etc.) blog, then you can certainly do so. But, lacking those advantages, it is best not to take on an additional blog. You’ll only spread yourself thin, and the first blog will certainly suffer as a result, and the additional blogs may not fare much better. At first, they may take the bulk of the attention, which could erode the readership you have built up with your first blog.
Nice post
Thanks!
…and just like marriage you want to avoid divorce. This is the quickest way to lose all the hard work!
True. But, it’s also easier to avoid divorce with a blog. In a marriage, it takes two to put effort into it to make it work. With a blog, it just takes you.
True, your readers are your “partner,” as I said, but in this sense, it’s the old-fashioned kind of marriage, where the husband has the reigns. As the blogger, you are that old-time husband (yes, even if you’re a female blogger). You have to be the driving force behind the blog, otherwise, your readers will stray. Now, after writing that, I realize that some people will argue that the wife is usually the driving force behind keeping the marriage together. Okay, so pick the comparison that best suits you, and remember I did say “old-fashioned.”
The point is that, in a blog “marriage”, the blogger is the dominant force, and the readers are only going to stick around so long as the blogger keeps them interested.
Your foresight is…dead on.
See, I’m psychic. You can’t surprise me!
I’m married to a blog! nooooo
Was it like waking up after a night of excess and looking at your ring finger and saying, “What the…?”
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