Josh Kenzer of Radical Behaviour has a fabulous post on blogging motivation. Here is an excerpt:

  1. Job – When creating and maintaining a company blog, your are paid your regular pay to perform this task. However, I have seen many company blogs abandoned shortly after starting and this is for one of two reasons. First, the owner or someone high in the organization is the blogger. Second, the blog isn’t a company priority.
  2. Revenue – If the blogger is receiving income from his blog directly, they are very motivated to keep blogging. For most, this isn’t enough revenue to quit their full time jobs, but it is enough to provide positive reinforcement. When the revenue doesn’t match the expectation, the blog becomes abandoned.
  3. Passion – Enthusiast or hobbyist will often create blogs to showcase their passion. I have one that has been maintained for almost a year and a half now. The sustainability of these are based off two factors. First, is the blogger passionate about their topic that they can weather the initial months of talking to the wall. It can feel like an outsider trying to join a conversation that is already too full. Second, will the blogger receive positive reinforcement with others appreciating the contribution to the topic or will the blogger receive punishment which will then be associated to the hobby itself.
  4. Voice – The blogger has something to say, and they want someone to read it. You can also call this ego blogging. This one is tough to sustain. In my opinion, most people overestimate how much they have to say.

Read here for the whole post.

Our job here is to help with number 2 – and I guess, with number 4; the two, in fact, are connected. A good blog has an authentic voice. Part of my personal passion is to help people articulate their voice. That sounds a little strange – but the truth is that just as with a singing voice, it also takes experience and skill and determination to develop a writing voice. And, let’s be clear, that voice can have a wide variety of tones, pitches and colour. “Authentic voice” does not mean you have to sound stiff or relaxed, casual or formal, intellectual or down-to-earth. It just means that you figure out

  • what it is that you really think (and perhaps also feel) in the many roles you have in your life (business person, parent, friend, volunteer, etc.)
  • which ones (one? all? some?) of these roles you want to give voice to; and
  • let the words come out, without immediately censoring them. Let them come out on the paper/screen. You can always edit a bit afterwards. It’s the pre-editing – editing before you have something on paper/screen – that is so frustrating, and this frustration leads to loss of motivation.

Some people don’t have a problem with this. However, if you want to have a web presence and take advantage of the powerful tool that blogging is and you don’t have a lot of writing experience, you might be in a bit of a quandary. That’s where having some assistance with writing, at least for a little while, can be very helpful. Then, rather than abandoning your blog because it’s too hard slogging and because you don’t know how to let your voice shine, you can stay motivated to keep it going.