When should you stop blogging?

If you are Tom Peters, you stop blogging because blogging took over your life. Sounds OK to me.

Others stop blogging because they run out of things to write. Also sounds OK.

Then there are a bunch of us people who seem to blog like there was no tomorrow.

It has taken me a while to see that blogging is primarily a tool for underdogs. When you have more time than money, blogging is an excellent means to publicize yourself. You can start conversations with almost anyone on the Internet and build a following with nothing but talent. (Blogger is free.)

Blogging is so simple that many successful people and firms have difficulty understanding why it is so effective. Here is the secret of blogging in fifteen words:

You blog, other blogs link to your blog, you link back, and Google loves that.

Those of us who grasp the significance and raw power implicit in those fifteen words are blogging away as though our financial futures depend on it. They do.

There is a cost, however, and it is the time you must spend to create posts at a frequency that maintains your audience. For an underdog or a start-up enterprise, time is what you have most of. When you reach titan status, like Tom Peters, you have much more money than time and there are ways to let others promote you.

As John Koetsier says, "Tom’s already at the top. He’s doesn’t have to claw and scratch and fight his way up. He’s got the books, the $20K, $50K, $75K speaking engagements. What the heck does he need a blog for?"

Then there is Hugh MacCleod, an outrageous and original blogger who pulls no punches. His ideas and illustrations snag your imagination and keep you coming back for more. He says, "The reality is, blogging is hard, even for famous business gurus like Tom. It’s like figure skating – it looks easy, but it isn’t."

I still feel that blogging is the best investment a person or company on the rise can make, if their life or business depends on authentic communication with prospective friends, clients, or customers who are located at a distance.

A blog is just a tool to help you communicate and leave a record of what is said. There certainly are others, but none that are so cost-effective.

When you run out of time to blog, maybe it’s time to create in other directions. That sounds good, although I can’t imagine how that works, yet.