My Blog is a Resource For Me. Is It?
January 11, 2008 | By Lorelle VanFossen | Filed Under Blogging, Features
“My blog is a resource for me.”
My mind raced when I had a blogger tell me this recently. What should I say? He’s right. His blog is a resource for him and his needs. He’s also wrong. There is something about a blog that he’s overlooked: A blog is a published form of communication.
A blog isn’t a notebook. It isn’t a scratch paper for you and your ideas. Once you hit publish, it’s out there, visible, searchable, findable - where all the eyes of the world have the potential to read it. Are you sure you want people reading the equivalent of what you used to scratch on a paper napkin?
A blog is a form of communication. Communication means sharing, exchange, interaction, connecting with more than just you talking to yourself. A blog can get a response.
Your blog is not a resource for you. Sure, you may think that, and treat it accordingly, but a blog is not a place you can store your notes to come back to and remember how to add a Gravatar to your blog. There are bookmarking services for that.
A blog is a device through which you can create a dialog, share information, ask questions, get answers, give answers, and show the world what you know, and what you don’t know.
The right thing to say is: My blog is a resource for my readers.
It puts the emphasis back where it belongs. On the publishing and communicating. Keep your notes in a notebook for reference. Share your thoughts, opinions, advice, and expertise with the world.
About the author: The author of Lorelle on WordPress, as well as several other blogs, Lorelle VanFossen has been blogging in one fashion or another for over 14 years, covering travel, nature and travel photography, web design, web theory and development, blogging, and WordPress extensively as web technologies developed. Lorelle is also the author of the fast-selling book, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging, available in the new Blog Herald Bookstore. Lorelle will be speaking at WordCamp Dallas March 29-30, the Alliance for Distance Education in California Summit April 2-5, 2008, and the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference May 2-5 in Chicago.
Comments
20 Responses to “My Blog is a Resource For Me. Is It?”
Leave a Reply
Sponsors
News
Do You Tag Yourself?May 16, 2008 | By Lorelle VanFossen | 2 Comments
Do you tag yourself? Honestly? No, this is not a game.
With everyone back on the tag versus categories versus tags bandwagon, have you checked to make sure you are tagging yourself?
Inside of Lorelle on WordPress is the tag attribute that turns “Lorelle on WordPress” into a tag.
<a href="http://lorelle.wordpress.com/" title="Lorelle on WordPress" rel="tag">Lorelle on WordPress</a>
When […]
A BIG Reason to Read a Pet’s Blog
May 16, 2008 | By Andrew G.R. | Leave a Comment
I’ve often taken a snarky approach when it comes to people who set up blogs for their pets. I barely want to read about humans’ mundane lives, let alone issues with litter and pooper scoopers. However, there might be a new reason to subscribe to Lucky, Fido or Buddy’s blog.
Animals’ ability to prognosticate […]
Yahoo Nabs Safari Plugin Inquisitor
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | Leave a Comment
Inquisitor is a cool plugin for Safari, and now Yahoo owns it. The developer, David Watanabe, won’t be joining Yahoo, but will continue the development.
I look forward to assisting Yahoo! in refining and extending the Inquisitor user experience beyond where it is today. I truly believe that Inquisitor and its users can only benefit, both […]
YouTube Gives You Insight
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | 1 Comment
Now you can get some more statistics for your YouTube videos, with the recently launched Insight tool, available in your YouTube account (under Manage my Videos, which is probably temporary). The new stats feature is described like this by Tracy Chan, YouTube product manager:
For example, uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in […]
Google the New Number 1 in the US
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | Leave a Comment
I thought they were already, but obviously not so. Google has been the leading search engine, but overall Yahoo is the most popular web site according to ComScore’s rankings. No more though, according to an AP report:
According to comScore, Google’s unique U.S. audience in April was 141.1 million, an 18 percent increase from the same […]
Blogging from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
May 16, 2008 | By Thord Daniel Hedengren | Leave a Comment
Stephanie Stockman is a NASA contractor working at the Goddard Space Flight Center, which is cool by itself. What’s even cooler is that she’s blogging it, talking about rocketships in voice and text, as well as posting photos, something every space nerd should follow for sure. Her blog is Geosteph, which incidentally is her Twitter […]
Patrons
Sponsored Links
Recent listings from Blogger Jobs
MBA Blogger WantedWe got this from MBA Channel: MBA Channel is looking for passionate bloggers to write weekly posts for our new community MBA Channel Insider. You c [...]
A Slew of Blogger Openings
This batch is courtesy of our sister site, Performancing.com: Mom Blogger Openings — “Type-A Mom is currently hiring mom editors for a [...]
Horoscopes Writer Wanted
We got this from Jeffrey Kishner: Horoscopes Writer for astrology blog. Write 12 Sun sign horoscopes weekly, plus a General horoscope. $130/1300 wo [...]
Wanted: Tech Blogger
We got this message from from Veselin Nedeff: Hello folks, We need a tech orientated blogger to write on mobiletopsoft.com’s blog. We look for [...]
Call for Writers
Renowned Filipino problogger J. Angelo Racoma is looking from writers: Here’s a great income opportunity for individuals or teams looking for work [...]
More at Blogger Jobs
Contributors
- Andrew G. Rosen
- Andy Merrett
- Anne Helmond
- Arvind Satyanarayan
- Chris Garrett
- Darnell Clayton
- David Krug
- David Peralty
- J. Angelo Racoma
- Jason Kaneshiro
- Jonathan Bailey
- Lorelle VanFossen
- Matt Craven
- Thord Hedengren
- Valeria Maltoni
Latest Reviews
Submitted News
- BusinessWeek Says: Why Twitter Matters
- Free Story Theme For WordPress
- Why Performers and Entertainers Should Twitter
- What Do You Really Need to Know About a Blogger to Admire Their Work?
- Partnering With a Larger Publisher - Week 3
Our Blog Metrics
[…] written with no audience goals, no monetization goals, no agenda. It just is what it is. As Lorelle says, some people build blogs for their own […]
With all due respect Lorelle, people blog for all kinds of reasons. Some people are able to be creative with no concern for the wants or needs of others. Other artists play to the audience. Andy Warhol could probably have blogged his grocery list and someone would’ve considered it to be art.
[…] writing for the Blog Herald has inspired me to post. Thanks Lorelle. She says that saying your blog is a personal resource is somehow wrong. I think she […]
I tend to agree with David. It depends on the type of blog you want. I have a personal blog that I only post what I want. I don’t really care if only 2 people ever visit. It is just mainly put up for fun and learning.
But then again I have some business blogs that should follow this advice.
The fact that you are allowed to read someone’s site does not give you the power to decide that site’s purpose.
It may ultimately turn out to be a resource for the readers also but to summarily decide that that is the inherent goal of all blogs everywhere is presumptuous in the extreme.
Actually, as a reader of blogs, it’s part of my nature to judge blogs. Don’t you? :D However, as I said in the beginning of my article, this person was right and wrong, depending upon where you want to take your blog.
If you are a personal blogger and SEO and audience doesn’t matter, then either make it private or don’t whine when you get no comments nor readers.
As an educator on blogging, I’m constantly begged for tips on how to get more readers and improve SEO on blogs with the core belief that their blog is about ME not the readers. Turn it around and you blog differently.
If SEO and building readership is important, the readers must be a big part of the package in your blog’s purpose and content. This doesn’t mean you aren’t blogging for your needs and passion, it means you are now considering who reads.
“Your blog is not a resource for you. Sure, you may think that, and treat it accordingly, but a blog is not a place you can store your notes to come back to and remember how to add a Gravatar to your blog. There are bookmarking services for that.”
My blog is, in fact, just a notebook for me. A lot of other people find it useful, which is cool, but I only write it for me.
“If SEO and building readership is important, the readers must be a big part of the package in your blog’s purpose and content. This doesn’t mean you aren’t blogging for your needs and passion, it means you are now considering who reads.”
I really don’t agree with this at all either. People need to let go of their obsession with traffic. Following all the nonsensical SEO suggestions out there generally leads people to create cookie-cutter blogs that are far worse than if they would just write their blog for themselves in their own voice.
Actually, as a reader of blogs, it’s part of my nature to judge blogs. Don’t you?
Judging a blog is saying, “This sucks/rules.” You are presuming to tell people what their blogs are. Don’t play at them being the same thing.
However, as I said in the beginning of my article, this person was right and wrong
No, they are right, period; it is their blog to define. Or are you going to accept my now proclaiming that this blog is really about baseball?
If you are a personal blogger and SEO and audience doesn’t matter, then either make it private or don’t whine when you get no comments nor readers.
You’re assuming people are even allowing comments, want readers and will whine when they don’t get things they may not care about.
You’re now also presuming to tell them that lack of consideration for those things requires privacy. That is a separate consideration. It is entirely plausible to publish out in the open with no particular regard for potential readers.
You will note I did not say “audience.” There is a sad assumption rampant on the net that just because you can read something, you are its target audience, which of course assumes a target in the first place.
As an educator on blogging, I’m constantly begged for tips
That’s called a self-selecting group. The people who don’t care about the things you cite don’t need or want you.
Turn it around and you blog differently.
And it’s not allowed to turn it back around and blog the other way?
If SEO and building readership is important[…]
You, not I, placed an “if” at the beginning of that sentence.
I couldn’t disagree more.
I started my blog as an experiment. Two years on I am staggered it is still going. Why, sometimes, I read back old articles and laugh at my own jokes.
If any other person happens to read, comment or subscribe, then that is great but purely secondary.
@Su:
It’s clear you feel strongly about this issue. I do hope you are writing about it on your blog. Thanks for your input on the issue.
@Brian Carnell:
I don’t agree that SEO tends to make cookie-cutter blogs, but I totally agree that bloggers need to write in their own voice and words. That’s first and foremost important for me.
Yes, bloggers need to let go of the obsession with traffic. I agree totally.
I just want people to remember, when you hit publish, it’s about who sees it. Where you go from there is up to you. I like to think about who I’m writing for as that serves my blog purpose.
Serious bloggers whose income is dependent upon blogging aren’t all traffic watching obsessive compulsive nuts. They care about who comes to their blog, who returns, and how to keep them coming back, thus, they think about their readers before they hit publish, publishing their passionate words in their own voice and style.
I don’t want to be a selfish blogger. I want to be a caring blogger.
I think that a blog is a little bit of both. It is for you as it does reflects your thoughts and opinions of the moment and you can use this to reflect upon in the future and it is for others as well as they too may have similar (or opposing) thoughts and opinions on the same subject.
Its kind of like a conversation that does not require reciprocation. You in front of the whoever can find you put your self out there. We choose to read and ignore, Read and just contemplate, or read and react as I am doing now.
I disagree. My site is a place for my own notes, and I’m not trying to use it as a place for communication. Well, maybe a little bit. But that is a completely orthogonal issue to copying text from the Internet and just reposting it. That’s what bookmarks are for. And a blog is just another CMS… there’s nothing really special about a “blog” except the marketing term. It’s my site, my web space, and if I want it to be, it’s a resource for me. If you happen to find it useful, great.
[…] My Blog is a Resource for Me.Is It?” When you read this: “A blog is a form of communication. Communication means sharing, […]
I strongly disagree with you Lorelle. What you described in your post is merely a type of blog, however not all blogs are for that pirpose of communication and dialog or even interaction. A blog CAN be a sort of personal (public) diary. I know some popular entertainment blogs that even disabled comments and there is minimal communication, yet the blog is a very popular one ( http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com ).
Some blogs might offer the expertise of the blogger in certain fields by giving tips or info to the readers in return of displaying ads and getting revenue. Some blogs are like a magazine where you go read an article or watch entertainment and not necesserially communicate.
My point is that there are many types of blogs and bloggers, many types of motivations; that it is very wrong for you to try to make them all adher to a strict definition like yours. The web and the blogs are all about being flexible and breaking traditional boundaries. And yes a blog in many cases is the Blogger’s resource, be it money resource, an outlet to write, or to yes, communicate.
@Arab Aquarius:
I’m missing something here. I am not defining what type of blog should be a blog. I’m saying that if you are going to publish anything on a blog, give a thought to the reader, because a blog is about “publishing” not privacy.
Your motivation for blogging can be anything, but you blog because you want someone to read.
because a blog is about “publishing” not privacy.
The only person here who has brought up the matter of privacy is you. You understand that “private” and “I don’t care who reads this” have nothing to do with each other, right? In fact, they can’t: one’s privacy negates the ignored reader and vice versa. The reader is assumed and accepted; the problem is your granting the reader supremacy.
Not a single person has questioned that blogs are about publishing; the disagreement is over your assertion that blogs must be two-way communication, and not only for the readers you are forcing the person to consider, but not for themselves. That is, diplomatically, absurd.
It should also be pointed out here that notebooks, scratchpads and resources for the writer are precisely what research blogs are. People’s theses and dissertations are pretty much by definition on topics only of interest to them; how could they possibly put the reader first?
@Su:
Good points. And the answer to the question:
By hitting the publish button, somewhere in the back of the minds or front, they are thinking that this will be read.
As I said in the beginning of the article, the “selfish” blogger is right. A blog is their resource and all about them. However, let’s never forget that the importance of a blog is that it is read. A notebook in your drawer might never be read by others.
When you hit the publish button, you have a responsibility for that content that is different from writing in a notebook or diary. It’s published. This changes things. Good or bad, that’s up to the readers and the laws upon published content.
If you aren’t thinking about who reads, which is an odd claim, then why blog? Blogging is about being read. It’s about being found. For many, it’s about the conversation, it’s about being linked to, and talked about. It may not be the sole purpose, but publishing a blog is about making your thoughts, ideas, and concepts public.
That means read.
It’s not wrong and I’m not saying there is only one way to blog. I’m saying that if you blog, remember, you are publishing and publishing is about being read.
[…] There are so many reasons to blog, just as there are many different types of bloggers covering many different angles on the same, similar, or totally diverse […]
[…] My Blog is a Resource For Me. Is It? This brought up a lot of controversy, but it’s clear that the really swift bloggers got the point. Your blog may be about you, but if you hit the publish button, it’s about the readers. […]