The Online Marketing Banter Blog wrote a great post about the The Mass Graveyard of the Blogosphere, stating that:
According to Technorati and PC Magazine, in 2007 the number stood at 200 million … More research from Perseus on blogging abandonment behaviour found that 66% of blogs hadn’t been updated for two months.
James goes on to indicate that there are two potential reasons for abandonment:
- The low barrier of entry to the blogosphere – because anyone can create a free blog within minutes.
- The amount of patience required to get a blog off the ground.
ContentRobot is not surprised, nor disappointed, over these stats.
Think about how many email addresses you’ve had over the years – after all, are you still using your original CompuServe address (remember they used to contain numbers)? Technology, techniques, and tools evolve. People test things out and only keep what is working for them.
If bloggers run out of things to say, that is OK. Some blogs aren’t meant to go on forever, but they might represent a snapshot of time (Karen’s Little League blogs, for example, have finite seasons and there are no need to maintain them any longer than the awards ceremony.)
We’d assume that hobby or personal blogs have the highest rate of desertion. But we have had experience with business bloggers who didn’t plan for the long-haul and left their blogs to die. It happens, but long-range goal setting and planning can ward off blog abandonment. Those who are not in it for the quick buck, but who are serious about building a community (often by writing consistently good content) can be rewarded.
Blogs are still one of the best, more personal communication tools out there. Don’t publish a blog because “everyone else has one,” rather do your homework and learn how it can fit into your communications and marketing strategy. And keep at it! But, remember it’s also OK to let it go …