So a friend of mine talked to me recently about wanting to start a blog. She had all these wide-ranging ideas for content, and I asked her:
What's your goal with blogging? What do you want the blog to do for you? Why do you want to start blogging?
And her answer surprised me.
She said she wasn't looking for new clients. Or even to build her audience. Or to establish her expertise. (All three are already well established.)
She explained that she thought a blog would be the perfect way for her to organize information for her existing clients in a way that streamlined her interactions with them...
One example being that she wouldn't have to answer the same question via email multiple times to different clients - she could simply write up a post that addressed that topic, and share the link to the blog post when asked the question in the future.
And I thought it was a really great use of this amazing new medium.
I hope she'll start blogging soon.
And our conversation inspired me to ask: Why are YOU blogging in the first place?
Is it to build an audience for what you do?
Is it to establish your expertise in your area?
Is it to make a difference in the world in some way?
Is it to provide a service?
Is it to organize information that you want to share?
Is it to have your voice heard?
I think these are all great reasons to blog - but each reason requires different approaches to HOW you blog.
Consider the reasons YOU blog, and please share them with us in comments!
Namaste, and remember to keep it Zen,
Lee
I started blogging because my life was falling to pieces, and since then it has been a way for me to keep track of those pieces, re-read them and analyze my shortcomings and notice where I made a great decision. My blog is for me, for me to write and have a place to go back to those musings. I enjoy reading others blogs as much as I enjoy writing, and for me the blog is a place to keep everything that happens to me, all my thoughts and plans, together, in one place I can go back to if I need to. And I do, a lot.
ReplyDeleteMy blog really doesn't have a theme, and I don't have a lot of followers, but I don't do it for them. Sure I write like I'm talking to someone, but that's just how I choose to do it. I write the things that are most pertinent to my life at the moment or something I think is interesting and would like to share. I also feel like when I get all wrapped up in my own head talking to my blog is a great way to look at things from the outside, which I sometimes have trouble doing.
I was writing fanfiction for kicks when I started blogging a decade ago. It was mostly to keep in touch with other writers and friends I met through mailing lists. Now that I'm published, I blog about my books, my sources of inspiration, day-to-day stuff, and occasional political things.
ReplyDeleteBlogging can be a real boon to introverts. I'm an extreme introvert (yeah, I am - I'm just so used to looking like an ass online day in and day out). What I can't (or won't) communicate through "normal channels," I blog about. I think it's got a lot to do with the fact that I don't have to respond to a subject right off the bat, like in normal conversation. I have time to sit back and mull things over and then write about it.
That's why I suck at all the usual networking sites. Facebook and Twitter all run counter to my modus operandi-esque form of online communication. Yeah, I love blogging. I don't see myself getting off it anytime soon.
I started blogging for the same reason that I crochet and write stories: to create something beautiful. (Whether I succeed or not is another matter.)
ReplyDeleteI continue blogging because of all the wonderful people I've met in the blogosphere.
I started my blog in an attempt to have something I can point to as a special accomplishment when I finish my library school degree and start interviewing for jobs, that is, if anyone is hiring for children's librarians by the end of 2011! I love to read and I've always been a good writer...I've been reviewing books for Amazon Vine and for an on-line toy journal for over a year. In one of my library school classes we were asked to identify blogs that would be useful for YA librarians. I never realized how many blogs were out there and what people did on them until I did that assignment last year. I felt a little like the character in Chorus Line who sings "I can do that!" when he watches his sister dancing! I realized that I don't have to have finished a library degree to have opinions on books that are just as valid as anyone else out there. I decided to specialize in historical fiction and hope my blog will be useful for librarians, parents, and other people looking for good books for their kids.
ReplyDeleteI've had so much fun so far with my blog--my goal is to get to at least 100 people looking at it on a regular basis within a year (is that a reasonable goal?)
My favorite thing so far has been the incredibly nice notes I've received back from nearly all the authors whom I've sent links to my reviews, even people I figured were much too busy to bother responding. I'm saving them in a special file to look at on the days that I despair of ever finding a job as a children's librarian!
I have to say that although my reason for blogging initially was to produce a resource for writers who don't come naturally by optimism and resilience - and to be a resource myself - I find that my "reasons" change as I go on. Of course my main focus is the same. But I choose topics because of what is happening outside and inside of me - what touches or moves me, what makes me think, what makes me want to share my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fascinating journey...
I have done lots of workshops and mentoring on children's public library services. I started blogging to share some of that info and to try to connect people to resources. I am a truly short attention span person and like my info bites as tidbits (I shudder to think of the discipline to write a book) so the blogging format fits my interests and energy!
ReplyDelete