When It Comes to Blogs, Is It "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow"?

I'm always interested in trying to improve the quality of my blogging, so I often spend time researching blogs recognized by others as among the best on the Web. Recently I put "best political blogs" in my Google search engine and found a link to Forbes Magazine on the subject. I was attracted to Forbes because I largely agree with them ideologically.

I immediately jumped in to check out their choices and found the following reoccurring messages: "nothing new here," "no longer posting," and other posts indicating their demise either voluntarily or due to other causes. At first I found this alarming. Although all of them had high Google rankings, how could they go from the top list of publications to no longer in business? I looked a little closer and found that many of them that do have posts are months old. Finally, I looked at the link and found that this was a list from 2003.

This, of course, made me feel a little better because it provided explanation, but it made me wonder about the future of this blog. Sure, eventually, all things will pass, but three or four years doesn't seem that long to go from the pinnacle in their industry to a mere after thought.

All of these blogs were written by individuals and their survival depended on those people remaining interested or able to keep writing. It helped me to see the wisdom of a Huffington Post (see founder Arianna Huffington's photo, above), which is made up of the opinions of many rather than one. Any one of these writers can walk away, but the blog would continue. I might have to join or put together such a blog.