I broke every rule in the “how to be a successful blogger” handbook.

Publish early and often.  This is my first blog post since 2012.  One blog post every 3 years?  Even the IOC can organize an Olympics every two years.  The good news is that my productivity still exceeds FIFA’s.  It takes them four years to get a World Cup done.  If Sepp Blatter is looking for productivity tips he can tweet me anytime at @fwbucher.

Promote yourself.  I’ve read that bloggers who don’t suck deftly use social media to build an audience.  Does failing to tweet, +, like or snap about my blog in 3 years qualify as deft?  Clicking the tweet button about something, anything, with some regularity would help.  Tiger Woods has logged more wins than I have tweets in the last 3 years.

Publicize your fellow bloggers.  The blog culture as I understand it is very communal.  It seems bloggers are more supportive and collaborative.  Bloggers who don’t suck actively promote one other by sharing, commenting and liking one another’s posts.  In the media world where I make my living the competition for eyeballs is intense.  NBC and CBS compete for ratings with the intensity LT used to pursue quarterbacks.  (That’s Lawrence Taylor #56, NY Giants legendary linebacker, for the millennial readers.)  The blogosphere operates more like the X Games where athletes seem to care little for winning and are more interested in “progression”.  (I like the X Games but I’m still not sure I understand the whole progression thing.)

Bloggers who don’t suck don’t wait 3 years to approve comments on their posts.  My apologies to the gentleman who posted a thoughtful comment on my rugby post back in 2012.  For what it’s worth (note the shameless plug, I’m learning) I just posted it.

Pick good headlines.  I like my “Rise of Rugby” post but somehow I don’t think the headline will be remembered like “Ford to City, Drop Dead.”  (Again for the millennials, Ford was president a long time ago, before people used email or even watched cable.)  Listicles, kittens and Kardashian references apparently make for better headlines.  Hopefully I’m making progress though.  A headline posed as a question and use of the word suck shows “progression” on my part.

It’s not New Year’s but today I resolve to suck no more at blogging.  I read Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick’s book “The Art of Social Media” and came away inspired.  I refreshed the look of my site (do you like the image of the 18th at Pebble?) and made a list of topics for future blog posts.  For a while there it looked like Tiger might win another major before I blogged again, but fortunately I pulled myself together.

I will do my best to make For What It’s Worth worthwhile for those who take the time to visit.  And I will endeavor to be more supportive of my fellow bloggers.

It takes a village not to suck, so please don’t hesitate to call me out if I start to slip again.  Thanks for reading.