The One Tip That Took My Blog To New Levels. Stop Caring.

I’ve been blogging for about 5 years now and as I look back over those years, I’m amazed at how much I have learned. Not just from researching and writing articles, but form the comments/feedback that I have received and the conversations that have been sparked with others via social networks like Twitter.

I originally started at IntranetExperience.com and eventually moved over here to SocMedSean.com to expand my writings beyond internal social networks to both internal and external. In fact, it’s my 2 year blogaversary for SocMedSean, so I thought I’d take a look back at 5 years of content and processes and try to find one thing that I could share with other aspiring bloggers that would help them in their journey.

After culling through old posts, looking at my analytics , analyzing keywords and metadata, and looking at my various social sharing processes, I was a bit surprised at the nugget I drew from all of it.

Stop caring.

Yes. Stop caring.

When I first started blogging, I was so worried about driving readership, getting listed in the search engines, becoming popular, being liked. I was so focused on what other people thought about my blog that it is evident that my content wasn’t as good as it could have been. I was more worried about writing what I thought others wanted to hear, that I didn’t write what I wanted to write.

The biggest change that I observed came when the traffic wasn’t coming and my blog wasn’t growing. I was frustrated. I had put a ton of time and energy into my blog, but it wasn’t going anywhere. So I stopped caring about what others wanted and I just started using it as a repository for my thoughts. I just started writing what I thought was interesting and about my observations and experiences.

My blog became about me.

And people liked that. They shared my stories. They commented on my experiences and shared their own. They helped me grow by blog. And my blog grew. And grew. And continues to grow.

So…my big nugget of advice for you, regardless of whether you’re just getting started or have been in it for a while is to stop caring.

• Stop caring about how many subscribers you have.
• Stop caring about how you rank from a search engine perspective.
• Stop caring about how many followers you have on Twitter and how many retweets you get.
• Stop caring about whether your blog post is going to go viral.
• Stop caring about whether your friends, mom, boss, or wife likes your blog.

Then…when you’ve stopped caring about those things.

Start caring.

Start caring about content that is meaningful to you.

• Start caring about making sure you are passionate about your topic. If it doesn’t turn your engine, don’t write it.
• Start caring about your time. Spend it efficiently and effectively.
• Start caring about writing things that help you grow
• Start caring about sharing the experiences that you have inside of you

Your blog is a reflection of you. Blog about what matters to you. If you inject passion, attitude and experience into your writings, you’ll be surprised how the traffic, followers, ideas and new opportunities will come.

Go forth and stop caring. I dare you.

If you have had a moment that changed the direction of your blog, I’d love to hear about it in a comment. Help others by sharing your experiences!

Cheers!

–Sean

**Stop Caring image via Daquella Maner on Flickr via Creative Commons license.