There’s a rule of thumb in blogging circles called the 10,000 reader rule. It’s along the lines of, if you only have a few hundred readers, blogging is something you do because you want to. You’re usually new to it and full of enthusiasm so motivation to post every day is never a problem. But if you have 10,000 readers then it can begin to feel like something you kind of have to do. You don’t leave that many readers who check in every day hanging around with nothing new to read. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m nowhere near 10,000 daily visitors. But I am well into what I consider to be a “significant” enough number that I do feel an obligation to keep the content flowing.
But lately I’ve been thinking that maybe putting the words “of the day” in the title of the blog may have been a little ambitious for a blog that I wanted to do long term. I don’t exactly regret it but there are days… well you probably get the idea. Now obviously my blog posts aren’t exactly a chore. I generally don’t include five thousand word editorials like some bloggers do on a regular basis. I’m simply passing along photos that I’ve taken or that folks have sent in to me. It’s not exactly “work”. But still… sometimes you need to step away and recharge the juices that motivated you in the first place. I love pizza but I don’t want to live off of it. I’ve also noticed that daily visits are down a wee bit. Now this is a fairly typical cycle easily accounted for by by the arrival of summer. I’ve seen it happen over the last three years. My readers (especially the ones in snow country) are smart enough to turn off the computer and head out the door come spring time. And well they should. But I can’t help but think that some portion of that drop-off comes from the feeling that my contribution has perhaps been getting a bit stale. Maybe/maybe not but sometimes it feels that way.
So… for my own sanity and peace of mind, I need to shake it up a little. Take a break. Go for a nice looong ride. Turn the phone off and go.
Which leaves me with a few choices:
First I could do nothing and keep grinding and hope that I just shake it off.
Second I could betray the title of my blog and just slow it down for a while. Post only when I’m truly motivated and wait for my batteries to recharge.
Third I could announce that I’m on vacation and that posting will be on hold until further notice.
Fourth, I could open things up to an assortment of guest bloggers. Take myself out as the gatekeeper and see if I can find a select group of volunteers to run the place for a while (or longer, who knows). I KNOW there are people out there with great taste and even better suggestions who could make significant contributions to improve the content. And to be honest I kind of envisioned this place becoming a sort of group blog when I started it.
Now I’m not in a hurry exactly but the fourth option will present itself with some challenges. I’ve made contact with some great people through this page but I don’t know if any of them want to be even part-time bloggers. I’ve also met a lot of other bloggers but they obviously already have their own pages to deal with. For example, I think that a guy like Murph from “wherethehellismurph” for example would be fantastic contributor. But in reality, Murph is busy on the adventure of a lifetime. Why overdo it.
Anyway, I’m interested to hear what my readers might think and if anyone might want to put in their opinion about or be interested in taking the throttle on occasion. Post in the comments or send me an e-mail if you prefer. This would NOT have to be a total day-by-day commitment on any one persons part. I could set up user rights for some folks and see how it goes. If things were to get too wacky then I still have control and could dial things back… or not… whatever… The more I think about this the more appealing it gets.
So I’m throwing this out there to the universe. What do you think folks?
Motorcycle Photo Of The Day 
You could have guest bloggers submit you a few days our weeks of pre done photos with commentary, and just have to do the daily uploads…
Get a little help from your friends. It’s a great idea and will lessen any feelings of “carrying the world on your shoulders”. The Internet is one of the greatest communications devices of our time, but ironically, its’ electronic nature can be isolating. Writing and even reading are enlightening but not very socializing activities. Get others directly involved with some of the writing, editing, and continue to encourage diversity. You have helped to brighten the day of so very many motorcycle enthusiasts the world over. I know I look forward to your posts and pictures as a smiling distraction from the daily business of life. Let some of your followers return the favor. You know who they are.
Hi dear friend
I understand your dilema. Why don’t you upgrade things to:
Motorcycle post of the week
Regards
Carlos (portugal)
I subscribe to a lot of blogs… If you start posting less than one a day I won’t notice the change. If you start posting rubbish because you are not motivated to find “good” stuff then I will probably unsubscribe. Similarly if your guest bloggers do not keep up your standards…
For me your safest option is to reduce your post frequency – post good stuff when you feel motivated to do it. Maybe change the blog name if that makes you feel better.
On the flip side – I do occasionally go through my list of subscribed blogs and delete the idle ones.
Take care,
Brian
Take a break. If you can get guest bloggers, great. If not, don’t worry about it. I enjoy the site and I’m not going anywhere.
Do what you need to do for yourself. You have a great blog and if it’s updated daily, weekly or whatever,I’ll still be cheking it out. Quality, not quantity.
I just discovered this site a week ago. For what it’s worth, its fantastic. I think better than bikeexif.com.
If you decide not to take a break, I’ll send in some pictures of my restored 1965 Honda S90.
Danny
I’m sticking around.. Pleas send em in!
And Thanks! Steve Ducharme
Better than Bike EXIF? How dare you?!
I’d say get the guest bloggers in, but vet the quality very strictly. Quality is more important than quantity.
A question to ponder while you are on your break: what is your goal with MPOTD? Where is it going, what do you want to achieve with it?
When you have that answer, you’ll be able to return refreshed and ready for the fray and with a greater sense of direction.
I say invite others to contribute. Give yourself a break and shake it up a bit!
You could schedule 7 posts per week, like every saturday, or get a reader to do it.
Yeah I’ve been doing a lot of scheduling lately. Fortunately I’ve got a LOT of backlog lately from readers and from shows. There’s still a lot of stuff that pops up that you like to squeeze in there though. Sometimes I’ll post four or five shots a day. It’ comes and goes in waves.
I of the mind lately to just grind through it. This too shall pass…
Post when you feel like it. I only check every few days anyway, not daily. Like another post says, if the content is still good, I’ll still be here. If it starts feeling forced, then I’ll stop dropping by.
If you feel like a break, guest bloggers could be a good idea. Maybe even find someone (or more than one) who feels like doing something similar but is intimidated by it all.
Good luck with your decision and I will look forward to more great posts (whenever they come)