You’ve announced a contest. A re-design. An interview. More posts. More exclusives. Less advertisements. More interaction. More, more, and more. Yet, do you follow through on what you have promised the readers?

What’s at stake if you don’t follow through on such promises? Your credibility.

The Problem of Over-Extending

A few days ago, Bes asked on his personal site whether it’s possible to get into blog debt. I’m of the belief that blog debt is self-imposed, but there can be some obligations that must absolutely be met.

Some of my examples of obligations or blog debt is:

• Participating in group projects or memes.
• Leaving comments, diggs, stumbles.
• Providing technical and programming favors.
• Writing a post based on a schedule.
• Keeping active on other blogs.

Sometimes, however, I feel like I am over-extended. There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to work on a plugin, a re-design, posts, and still have a day job and obligations in the offline world.

So what’s the solution to the inevitable when you are unwilling or unable to follow through on a promise?

1. Be Open: If that interview didn’t materialize or that contest fell through, be open to your readers. Write a short blurb saying, “Sorry guys, the contest didn’t get enough participants” or, “The interview didn’t work out.”
2. Cut Your Losses: Sometimes you just have to break ties if you can’t meet an obligation. Hopefully no bridges are burned during the process.
3. Apologize: This falls along the same lines as being open, but let your readers know you screwed up and that you bit off more than you could chew.
4. Don’t Be Silent: Don’t just forget about your obligation. Speak up about it and be transparent. Try not to give the run around and be honest. An example was, “Yes, I said I would have it done by this time, but I’m not going to be able to make that schedule and here’s why.”
5. Re-Negotiate: It can be beneficial to re-negotiate an obligation. For example, Bes and I started out RA Project posting seven days a week. I was unable to meet the posting obligation, so Bes and I re-negotiated the schedule. Bes is currently negotiating with his readers on The Reasoner (with a poll) regarding his posting schedule.

Conclusion

It’s often tough to follow through on promises. However, sometimes a follow through is saying, “I have to break my promise. I’m sorry.” It’s not a good thing to lead your readers on for an extended period of time. If something doesn’t materialize or you can’t meet an obligation, let them know about it.

What do you think about promises and obligations in the blogosphere?

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