Great Post! Gave me some things to think about. I know I write and write just for the Love of writing! With a blog there is the “writing” and there is the “Blogging” and the activities and tasks for each are very different.

Ben,

You've let the cat out the bag with this one. I do my best to follow my own advice, but like any other human being, I occasionally slip. That's the problem with writing — there will always be some hypocrisy. Just because you can say the right thing, doesn't mean you can do it all the time.

That being said, I think that writing a site about self improvement keeps the subject at the front of my mind and motivates me to practice what I preach. While I can't follow my own advice perfectly, I'm definitely doing better than I would be if I didn't write and think about those topics.

OUCHIES!

I follow my own advice (if I by accident come to think of one), but sometimes I don't follow me own links and googles the info instead :-/

Yes and no. Sometimes I'm very good about following what I advise in some of my site's articles. Other times, however, I mean to but just can't get around to it. I've been meaning to change my site design with my own custom theme but my day job and side projects keep getting in the way.

Ben, this is a great question for the bloggers out there. Personally, I'm a little paranoid that I will run into a reader and they will catch me not doing as I had instructed on my blog. Like everyone, I slip every now and again. But for the most part, I like to think that I would do as I preached on my blog.

A workaround if you do not intend on following your own advice is to clarify some people do the particular thing you are instructing your readers to do. That way, you get to give the information without necessarily having to follow it.

Let me give you an example. Recently I wrote a series on effective self-promotion techniques. In it, I did include some self-promotion strategies that other people use, but not necessarily me. Not every strategy presented is going to work for me personally. Since my readers are salespeople, entrepreneurs, students and people from other walks of life not all of my tips are suitable for every category of reader.

Having the perspective that you are going to give complete information means including tips and advice that doesn't necessarily pertain to yourself.

Ben:

What an interesting, thought provoking article. I'm very conscious of this subject because over at Adversity University, I write about ways of overcoming obstacles and adversity. As I'm writing, I'm always checking and re-checking myself to see if I'm actually walking the talk.

Like you said, we can't be “up” all the time and even those of us who are motivational speakers (like me) or writers (like me) need to go back to our own words for a little “pick-me-up” session.

Thanks for reminding me to make sure I walk the talk with the words I speak or write.

By the way, would you be interested in participating in an interactive experiment I'm conducting over at Adversity University? It's a tagging experiment about ways we face and overcome adversity – it is a common thread among all of us becuase adversity does not discriminate. I would love it if you were inspired to participate. If you click on my name, you'll be taken to this post with instructions.

Again, thank you for reminding me to follow my own advice. It was a very timely and important message.

Stephen Hopson

@Stephen: I'll take a look at the post you're referencing…

Thanks for the comment, and I love the name of your blog: Adversity University – very cool.

It is far easier to offer advice than follow it yourself!

– Martin Reed

@Martin — I agree. So the next question is, does it even matter?

Do readers even care whether bloggers follow their own advice? Is there any expectation on a reader's part that writers follow their own advice? Any ramifications if they do or don't?

That's exactly the reason I don't want to blog just about random stuff that will go to archive in 2 weeks. I've selected for my blog the subject and type of content that will serve people for years to come. Well, maybe in this form it's not exactly what we used to consider a “blog”, but who cares how you call it as long as it's useful for others.
Actually, “random stuff blogging” is absolutely fine with me too, as long as you have your community of people reading this stuff and get into discussion with them. Writing for the sick of building volume of content is for search engines, not for people. Now comes the tricky part – how to build the community without writing a lot… To me the answer is always the same – quality content is the king.

@Sleeping Dude: Writing a lot + building a community are in many ways exclusive of one another.

Paul Graham writes one essay every couple of weeks, if that, but he has a huge following and community. Granted, much of that is because of his name recognition and what else he does outside “web publishing” but the point is that frequency doesn't build community by itself…

At the same time, I don't think it's JUST about quality. Each post doesn't have to be perfect. It's about putting yourself out there, and exposing a bit, reaching out, communicating and participating…and all of that comes back in return.

I only write when I think of something half way decent. I try to put quality into it. But it doesn't always work. So, I have to say that I NEVER follow my own advice. xD

Jenny – That seems a bit harsh. *chuckle*

We should all be aiming for quality content, although it doesn't always work. Even for the best bloggers out there…

This was my favorite part of your post “Part of what makes blogging interesting is the sudden nature of it – publishing content quickly, connecting with people easily – but it’s also easy to post and post and post and not follow through.”

I maintain a couple of blogs and lately blogging has become more about the site and improving traffic than about the readers who make the site. Thanks for the friendly reminder!

@Max: Happy to help. As soon as blogging becomes less fun and starts to become a chore focused on driving traffic, metrics, conversions, etc. you're in trouble. Those things are all important, but the value of blogging is in the fun that people can have with self-expression.

What I usually advice to others are how I do things – those that have given me some benefits in the past.

I am also open to some advices and also give it a shot when all else fails 😉

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For me, bloggers wrote based on their experiences. They share great information.