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How Do You Choose What You Blog About?

How Do You Choose What You Blog About?

I think that’s a fair question to ask a blogger. How do you choose what you blog about?

Do you ever ask yourself that question?

How do you choose what topics to write about in your blog? Do you choose to write about them because they are of interest to you? Or because you think they will be of interest to your readers?

Do you write about subjects because you are learning about them and want to share what you learned? Or because you are an expert determined to help others learn about what you know about?

Do you write about your hobby or passion, hoping to find others who share in your interest, creating a community and network of like-minded folks?

Do you blog about specific subjects because everyone is talking about them? Do you feel the need to share the hottest news and gossip, racing to be the first with the news?

Do you write just because you have to? Because you can’t help yourself? Because the words are rushing out of your fingertips through the keyboard before you can stop them? Or is it the feeling you get when you hit “publish” which gives you a much needed thrill? Do you blog because you can say “I’m a published writer”?

Do you blog because you have something to say, something you think worth reading? Because the information in your head is frequently requested and you know someone out there needs to know this? Or because you feel that the information will be lost unless you share it publicly?

Or do you blog because you know that writing is therapy and the process of sharing your thoughts, feelings, and story with strangers will help you cope with life?

Or is it for work? Do you blog to create a reputation in order to get a job? The job could be blogging or it could be something else, but the blog helps you find a job? Or is the blog your job and you blog to put a roof over your head?

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Do you blog about the same thing all the time? Or does your blogging subject choices shift and change with your mood, popular trends, or the wind? Do you blog about a specific catchall topic, or blog within a very narrow field?

There are a million topics out there covering millions of subjects within each topic. Choosing is hard, but there must be some process of narrowing down what you will blog about.

How do you choose what you blog about?


Lorelle VanFossen blogs about blogging and WordPress on , and is a long time support volunteer for . Lorelle travels too much and reports about life on the road in and covers family history and genealogy on , teaches and presents workshops and programs, and writes for many blogs, ezines, and magazines.

View Comments (19)
  • I have spoken to a few people lately who felt their topic chose them. If there is something you can’t stop talking about or that people constantly ask you the same questions on over and over that is a good indication you have a blog topic.

    For me even though so many people say “blogging about blogging” is done to death I love talking about it and my family won’t listen ;)

  • I like Chris’s point – “the topic chose them.”

    It is a “passion” for me – no way I’m an expert – but when we had our daughter (from before then, actually) the way of parenting we were moved by became the necessary subject of the blog. Now I’m doing it, some of the other reasons you suggest kick into play. I like writing, I find it a lot of fun, and extremely rewarding, whatever the result.

    The main subject forms the core, but I do blog about diverse things, sometimes playing off other people’s posts, sometimes being inspired by something I read – or just day-to-day thoughts. But always the blog comes back to the central theme.

    Our main subject is a way of parenting we feel would be of huge benefit to parents, and prospective parents, everywhere. It is there if visitors want it, and maybe they’ll like our style.

  • Everyone has their own take, even wannabes. Blogging helps me discover who i am, in relation to everyone out there. great post, written in questions.

  • I blog about Russia – mostly its politics – so in a sense I’m in a quite a tightly defined niche and that can feel quite limiting at times.

    But, actually, I tend to find that even within the niche, there is plenty of scope for my own personal blogging style – which is to post about whatever catches my eye that day. I go through phases where I focus on foreign policy, crime, human rights – sometimes these can just last a day or two, other times they become semi-permanent themes of my blog.

    Essentially, though, I see my blog as a way to share my enthusiasm for Russia with others – so in order to write anything worth reading, I have to be enthusiastic about it at the exact moment I sit down to write about it.

  • I write about photography because it’s something I’m passionate about. That’s how I chose my main topic.

    The questions you posed, however, don’t necessarily follow the title. Save for the intro and the end, you’re asking questions that go beyond choosing a subject. The way I see it, you’re asking why we blog at all. You’re asking what motivates us to share our thoughts with the rest of the world.

    If I’m over-reaching, I’m doing so because I feel like you’re asking the same questions I found myself asking myself recently. I answered those questions here:

    I blog because I am able to share a bit of my mind. I blog because I know I can do it well. I blog because I want to express myself even better.

    Most importantly, I blog because people react to my writing, to my photography, basically, to my work.

    Why did you blog about this?

  • verbatim from my sidebar

    Atheista was created to inform and remind people on the existence of Atheism in society and to also expose other individuals to the principles, beliefs and practices of one person who doesn’t believe in the existence of a supreme being. Though these pages would contain the inherent differences between people of faith and Atheists, the author hopes that this would open a dialogue for both parties to realize that despite the obvious non-equivalence in paradigms, there are still more things that fall within the common ground.

  • I agree with Elber, your questions were more about why we blog rather how do we choose our topics. I’ve answered some of those questions when I got tagged on Why do I blog.
    For me it’s all about inspiration – inspire others and they will inspire you.

  • Good point. However, why we blog has a very strong influence over what we blog about, thus the purpose behind our blogging directs us towards specific blogging subjects.

    By saying “our topics choose us” we are denying the fact that something within us, often deeper than we are aware of, attracted our blogging subject matter to us. That denotes a lack of self control.

    We have control over the topics we write about on our blogs, thus, we choose. If we let our unconscious mind control our choices, then that’s one method. If we consciously choose what we blog about, what goes into those conscious decisions? What motivates those choices is what I wanted our readers to think about.

    How often are you asked as a blogger, “How do you know what to write about? Where do you get your ideas?” I wanted an answer to that question but I want bloggers to go deeper.

    What is the true motivation between choosing the topics you blog about?

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