12 blogging lessons after one year on the job

To mark the occasion, here are the 12 things I’ve learned in my first year as a blogger—the good and the bad.

1. Blogging is hard work. Over the past year, I’ve written more than 300 stories, each of which takes about 90 minutes to write and tag. (Some take significantly longer.) That’s 450 hours a year—or 18.75 days—just for writing. Marketing the blog requires hundreds of additional hours.

2. Daily blogging makes work/life balance difficult. Before starting this blog, I was already stretched thin: Running a busy practice, traveling too much, and trying desperately to indulge my passions (such as cooking) once in a while. So, adding a daily blog means that my already busy schedule now borders on sheer insanity. If you’re looking for a relaxed work/life balance, daily blogging on top of a full-time gig isn’t the way to do it.

3. Content is not king. I’ve noticed an almost unquestioned mantra perpetrated by self-anointed marketing gurus: Content is king. They’re liars. Sure, great content matters. But content is only half of the equation. If you don’t spend an equal amount of time marketing your content, no one is going to see it, no matter how great it is.