Why hello there. It sure has been a while.
The last time I wrote anything substantive here was over two years ago, and while I don’t expect that most of you have hung on the silence waiting for some grand return, I have had enough questions from friends about “that blog I used to run,” that I feel like I should explain what happened. I won’t bore you with a lot of details, but it should explain a bit about why I’ve been so quiet.
There’s a TL;DR at the end, if you’re impatient.
The amount of free time I had changed.
The last two years have been very turbulent. Between changes in my family situation, living arrangements, falling out with some valuable people – leaving one job, not having a job, working for myself, then (recently) being brought on with a new agency (Hello Websites), there’s been very little time to constructively research my work, keep up on trends, and – overall – develop commentary that I felt would be of value here.
My relationship with social media also changed.
While my experience getting attention, growing a readership, and communicating with movers and shakers was valuable, it’s lost a significant amount of luster. I look back at the frantic pace I tried to keep, between managing twitter, Google+, a Facebook page which never ended up with traction (mostly because I barely cared about it), and so on… And none of it is terribly attractive.
I’ve lost my itch to get noticed as a person, to have a following. Because of this, my work is evolving in a positive way.
What does that have to do with this blog?
I used to feel as though I was making commentary here that was valuable to some people, and with all the many changes in priority the past two years have required, that commentary dropped right off the radar. I would expect this of anyone having a reasonably full life suddenly double in workload. Without expecting it, planning for it, or adjusting to it, the volume of things I needed to do elsewhere was vastly superior to the amount of care I had for keeping up with this blog, and balance my other social media involvement fell by the wayside as well.
My needs have changed, it’s as simple as that.
Does that mean I’m done blogging? Well, clearly I haven’t been – so I don’t think I can comment there. You’ll probably see some posts here and there, but they’re far more likely to focus on personal interest than business.
Does that mean this site will disappear? Not a chance. The archives here have entries more than a decade old, that’s nothing to sneeze at. However, changes will be happening.
Going Forward.
- This site will be getting an overhaul, far more than just getting the new theme I threw on it today. I expect to put more emphasis on Page content than Blog content.
- My other social media properties are getting some review. My old Facebook page has come down, and my Twitter account will probably get some attention. Others, such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google+ will get looked at as well.
- You will be seeing new content here. In line with this site becoming a lot less about “my work” and a lot more about “my self” – there will eventually be a change in direction for posted content.
- I’m happy to chat about the changes and the past year. Hit me up on Facebook or Twitter, or send me an email – I’m always here.
TL;DR:
If you’re subscribed, connected, following, favoriting, or what-have-you-ing this blog because I used to talk marketing and SEO, chances are the future will disappoint you. There’s a lot of commentary in those areas going around already, and I’ve simply lost interest in adding to the pot. My effort on that side is remaining with my daily work.
If you do feel like sticking around, however, even after this massive chasm of a sabbatical – thank you! I’ll probably start commenting on my field again eventually, but it won’t be the core focus of my personal website.
That’s all I’ve got. How have you been doing this year?