ANDRE BEGIN

Two years and 100 articles into my blogging, I started contemplating whether pruning the blog was a good idea.

While I enjoy the sense of accomplishment of completing that many blog posts (which would equal the word count of a substantial novel), I sometimes wonder if there comes a point when some posts should be deleted.

After a bit of quick research on the web, there seems to be different schools of thought on the subject.

At its core, at issue is the delicate balance between the business side and the creative side.

On the one hand, bringing in and retaining one’s audience is an important factor.

On the other hand, we have the slow and iterative creative process that sometimes takes a while to gain traction and to fully develop the body of work.

Based on my own experience, it is sometimes through the weaker written pieces that we have to put in some serious sweat equity in order to grow as artists. But weaker in whose eyes?

There are some posts that were fully written in under an hour that achieved great results statistically, while I have toiled for weeks over certain other posts that barely registered a blip.

Either way, I am fine with that, but it just goes to show you do not always know for sure what will resonate with the audience.

Being the typical Libra that I am, weighing pros and cons on almost everything, here is a short list of reasons for and against the idea of pruning the blog.

10 reasons why I could delete a few posts:

1-By decluttering, favourite blog posts should be easier to find for readers.

2-By keeping the blog on a few selected topics and deleting the ones that are outside those lines, it is easier to pitch the blog to a target audience, rather than trying to attract such a wide audience.

3-It could lead to better curated content. By keeping to a combination of the ones that attracted the most views, the most likes, and the ones I enjoy most, a collection of more popular content could be more inviting to new readers.

4-By achieving a better curated content on a limited number of topics, a better established niche could lead a visitor to read more posts on the same topic.

5-If after retweeting several times, a post does not find an audience, perhaps it is not meant to be and it is time to take it down.

6-If a new reader joins in, even if they really like my work, I tend to believe that they probably will not go back and read the entire back catalogue. Will deleted content really be missed?

7-By pruning the blog, I can pick, choose and leave the ones that are most reflective of my voice and point of view, thus letting my authentic point of view shine through.

8-Posts that reflected an opinion or perception at a point in time, might already be considered outdated today.

9-There are so many posts on the blog, there are days I have looked at older posts and barely remember writing them, even though I know for a fact I did.

10-There are some older posts which I read today and I think I could do better.

10 reasons why I should not delete a few posts:

1-Each blog post could be considered a work of art, and keeping the whole collection posted shows my evolution as an artist and as a writer.

2-Each blog post could be considered a point of view at a specific point in time. As the Web continues to grow over time, could posts such as these form a sort of sociological archive for future generations to discover?

3-If I de-clutter the blog the way I do spring cleaning at home, there may not be much left to read.

4-Just because a blog post has not been read often, does not mean it represents bad writing or bad ideas.

5-You never know what will resonate with readers, what are the right words at the right time for someone who needed to hear it.

6-Some posts are late bloomers: I have seen blog posts get retweeted several months after the original posting, resulting in dozens of new views and readers.

7-The full depth and breadth of my blog demonstrates no shortage of ideas or imagination, and demonstrates range. Might this be attractive to an agent or a publisher later?

8-Even with this number of posts and pictures, I am only using 1% of my allocated blog space on WordPress, so it is not like the blog police will be at my door anytime soon.

9-You never know when a random Google search could draw in a new reader which may lead to a retweet which may bring in new audience.

10-Editing can be a little subjective. Who says that the ones I choose to delete are the ones that will leave the best content?
And “best” in whose eyes?

Fellow writers and bloggers, what are your thoughts? To prune or not to prune?

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André