I’ve been blogging since 2005. Back then, pictures were far less common on blogs. And almost always pictures were relevant to the topic. Either as a reference to the serious material we were discussing or as a visual gag.
Then with the rise of social media and the supremacy of Google’s famous algorithm, pictures became a necessary tool for bloggers. This also came along with professionalization and optimization. So bloggers weren’t just writing, we were marketing.
A few years ago, several of my favorite bloggers stopped optimizing. Because, the stuff required to “succeed” through optimization is a lot. And it gets in the way of the writing.
A person could spend an hour writing a short post and expect to spend just as much time finding the right picture, editing, and sharing on social media. Rinse and repeat.
For many bloggers in this post-blogging/social-media era, all of the extra can become the quicksand of lost productivity. We can spend hours updating our sites, optimizing our posts, curating our content, make it shareable on all the platforms, while also being active on those platforms to grow our follower count…
So they quit.
Most quit blogging. Or at least quit blogging regularly.
Some quit optimizing. To focus on the writing. That’s what I did. And it has helped. A lot.
But I’m doing pictures again.
For three reasons.
- Having a post-specific picture really is optimal. Particularly with WordPress and how it shares on social media. I do think it is worth it. (A significant benefit)
- My picture process is relatively simple. And can even help me visualize with my writing. (A small cost)
- My whole approach to writing has changed.
In other words, the benefits now outweigh the costs. And before, they didn’t. I’ve changed as a writer. And I no longer spend 50% of my blogging time crafting the perfect title and search engine optimization (SEO).
I’ve changed as a writer. And as “producer of content”.
So, if you look at my new posts, they each have their own pictures. If you go back a few weeks, you can see that I tried to develop “theme-specific” pictures. And for the better part of two years, I used a single “share picture”.
And if you go back even further, you can see text on some pictures and then not. Different type-faces and formats. Seventeen years is a long time. And with it comes a lot of change.
If you’re a blogger, I still think Seth Godin’s approach is right: just write. Then hit publish. And do it again tomorrow.
Ultimately, that’s what I’m trying to do.