The Lemon Cookie Blogging Problem
Mar 12, 2012 Blog Content
If you’re a long-time fan of Girl Scout cookies, like I am, you’ll know that they used to sell these lemon sandwich cookies. Used to. They were my sister’s favorite. The Girl Scouts still sell lemon cookies, but they’re now called Savannah Smiles – and they aren’t sandwich-y anymore. They’re crisp-ish dough balls covered with lemon-flavored powdered sugar.
It’s a problem.
I mean, a bad cookie is still a cookie, but they aren’t nearly as good as the previous sandwich offerings. And what’s worst is that these cookies taste nothing like you expect. They look like they’d be soft of even creme filled, but they’re crunchy and they’re definitely a lack of creme. So not only are they not as good as the prior option available from the Girl Scouts, but there’s a disconnect between what you expect and what you actually taste.
I find some bloggers’ content is like that as well.
Sometimes, it makes sense to move in a new direction. If what you’re doing isn’t working or doesn’t make you happy, you should be open to change rather than beating a dead horse with contest choices that make no sense. But if you’re going to change the content to produce something different, keep two things in mind:
- You’re going to have some long-time readers who liked the old content, even if most people didn’t. So make sure your offerings are not just different, but also better. You don’t want to lose the people who liked the old lemon cookies.
- Surprising people with your content is okay…but if there’s a complete disconnect, you’re probably going to turn people off. If you promise creme-filled content, give them creme-filled content!
In general, this boils down to one thing: blogging is not all about you. Yes, you should do what makes you happy, but when you’re blogging (as a business or to make money, not just for personal satisfaction), you need to think about what makes sense for your readers. Make sure changes you make to your content will both keep your current readers interested and entice new readers to become subscribers.
Tags: blog content, blog posts, changing your blog, content, now I want lemon cookies
