Why (We Feel We Should) Post Regularly on Our Blog

What I mean is, why has that golden nugget been dinned into my head and probably yours? I’ve regurgitated the wisdom, passed it on and encouraged it to go viral. But on thinking about it, I feel I mightn’t have given it enough thought. And then again, who am I to refute it when

• every search engine guru says that in order to make our presence felt in blogosphere we should write a post at least once a week if not more? 
• blogging networks promote the same wisdom? They reckon the busier their network, the more Google will promote it. They believe it is in their interest that there should be non-stop activity through their blogger members

• writing posts, 
•  conversing with other bloggers and 
•  entering competitions

They try everything in their power to promote activity so that their network shows up on the first page of Google’s search engine. They are the owners of a blogging platform and individual bloggers are their industrious bees.

With a zillion bloggers on the internet, that's a zillion posts a week competing for attention. What a glut. A zillion posts on every topic under the sun – some repeated over and over. And over. To test this theory, I searched Google for the following phrase – why post regularly on your blog – and guess what? There were about 67,700,000 results in 0.16 seconds. Most had written on why we should and how we should and a few on why we shouldn’t.

I've thought long and hard about this and come to the conclusion that I enjoy having a presence on the net but if that involves even a hint of frenzied, desperate action, I don’t enjoy it. Writing a post week after week means searching for a worthy topic to discuss week after week. Why? Not because I want to but because I believe Google and others want me to. Some will reward me with a rank and others, with my blog showing up in search engines on the first page. What will that get me? Very gratifying attention. For a nanosecond (as someone I've quoted later in this post, has pointed out).

So I’ve done my bit by churning out a post with the right keywords and tweaked for SEO to please Google (and others). Now I can sit back on my laurels and reap the rewards. Gosh no! I’ve got to comment on posts to please them too. If commenting on someone’s post is only so that they comment on mine, if I desperately want Google to know I am a busy bee with forward, backward and sideways links to my credit, is it a compliment to the post I’ve just read and commented on? Not really. I posted the comment to curry favour with Google. I hasten to declare I am not sitting in judgement but if that is the case, I have two questions -

Who, therefore, controls my actions on the net? And who am I trying to establish a worthwhile relationship with?


The ones whose blogs I really enjoy, I subscribe to. Whether they write once a month or once every three months, I’d come to know and happily head on over to at least read and often, to comment. But do I remember what they wrote about in previous posts? Very rarely. But I remember one thing for sure - that particular blogger writes something that consistently resonates with me.

Does Google remember their posts? Yes. It will throw up their post if it has value and is tweaked for keywords and search terms again and again. That is why it is so important for them to, first and foremost, write quality content. And that takes time, effort and their full engagement – heart and mind. If they must churn out a post every week, how do they keep that integrity intact?

Ah, I hear you say - at least it reminds Google of my existence. But, I counter, it makes inroads into your time. There’s so much to do and if you spend all your time blogging and reading other blogs, responding to comments on yours and leaving comments on theirs, you end up feeling spent, exhausted and caught up in a mindless, meaningless spiral.

It somehow reminds me of my generation hell bent on acquiring an academic degree. We might end up in a job that makes absolutely no use of our degree but a degree we must have.

As someone said here, People are flooded with information. There is noise everywhere. Long gone are the days where you need to be in front of people every single day. Posting regularly might get you high up on Google’s rankings for a few days but the positions will be short lived. 

Is it really worth the time and effort? That is for each blogger to decide. (I know there are some who are paid to advertise goods or services on their blogs. It isn’t them I’m talking to at all.)

Of late I have seen a few really worthwhile bloggers hang up their blogging shoes. Between jumping off and spinning on there is the option of slowing down.

Also, I have to ask - do they leave a vacuum? That depends on the content of each of their posts and what it meant to us (not to anyone else). We, humans, will definitely miss some of them. As for Google, the world of blogging goes on - a merry-go-round that makes you feel dizzy. There’s more and more .... and more churned out hourly. And Google is busy crawling them all.

I continue to write as I enjoy writing, especially when something disturbs me or when my creativity decides to come out of hiding. I continue to long for kindred souls who feel the same as I do in my posts and I love it when they respond. But I write only if I have something of my own to say; something I feel an urgent need to share. Then the writing is done in minutes. This excludes the edits and re re re re edits till I feel satisfied I’ve said my piece and conveyed exactly what I want to. That, for me, takes a while. As for commenting on other blogs, in my case it is random and disorganised. But, to my logical mind (if I even have one), reading and responding to one or two posts a day is time reasonably and well spent.

Even if we slow down there will still be enough on the net to keep us informed. It will simply be less dross, less repeats and more golden nuggets, unique and compelling. Wonder if you can ever change your formulas to recognise that, Google. After all, you lack the one important quality – that of being human and understanding humans. Whether you do or whether you don’t, this human isn’t planning on posting once a week and is willing to take the consequences. I have enough deadlines to contend with without adding yet another.

I’d like to dedicate this post to “India Against Corruption”. They’ve started a fast at Jantar Mantar this week asking for a probe against corrupt individuals who’ve siphoned off a huge chunk of the Indian tax payer funds for themselves. 

The connection between their fast and this post is only this. The corrupt individuals are ministers in power and 

There seems to be a clamp down on the media so that this monumental effort by India Against Corruption goes unreported and unnoticed by most Indians. 

There are huge crowds at Jantar Mantar supporting IAC. Here’s a link – http://www.granslive.com/public/showEvent?eventId=6cc031b0-0608-47c4-921a-d5ae35f9fd2e - see the event live for yourselves. 

If nothing, it helps us understand what is involved in staging protests, how hard it is and how willing IAC and its members are to give of their time and effort so that fifteen ministers who have been accused of siphoning off huge sums by our country are held accountable. This protest is to ensure they are probed by an independent panel and not by their own cronies or by organisations they themselves head. In between the live protest, you can see Arvind Kejriwal explaining what exactly they’ve been accused of, who is sitting on the panel that is supposed to probe their crimes and what IAC is demanding should happen so that the probe and its findings are swift (not delayed with one weak excuse after another) and fair. 

One thing everyone acknowledges is that IAC and its members are doing this for their country rather than for themselves.

Please feel free to share the links or dedicate your next post to bringing attention to this fast (in spite of the stifled Indian media) if you believe these fifteen ministers (http://news.indiaagainstcorruption.org/iac_new/index.php/fast-against-corruption) should be probed as IAC says they should be. The probes are for hundreds of crores of rupees where
1 crore = Rs.10,000,000 or approximately USD 209,000 – an amount most of us won’t see as individual bank balances in our lifetimes.

Here’s a facebook link - https://www.facebook.com/FinalWarAgainstCorruption - “Like” it if you want to show support.



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