Why Are You Really Blogging? And What Keeps You Blogging?
January 22, 2008 | By Lorelle VanFossen | Filed Under Blog Relationships, Blogging, Featured, Features
Jason Boom asks a really good question of bloggers:
Why do we blog?
I’ve thought about this, as I’m sure all bloggers have at some point in their blogging careers. As with anything, its as much about the lifestyle as it is about the blog itself. We create content, network with other bloggers, join communities, rate blogs, write comments, surf listings, seek out new online thrills, buy advertising, sell advertising, trade links, buy links, fret over traffic, add widgets, join RSS feeds, gain readers, and have a great time doing it. All of which I’ve enjoyed doing this first full week at this blog.
The appeal of making money sure does sound great, but when that becomes the primary goal of anything it tends to outshine the other inherent qualities. Do we blog to make money, to increase our awareness of writing itself, to join communities, or do we do it simply because we love to blog? I think its the latter. We love this stuff. This is how we build a strong reader base.
He wants to know, and I want to talk about it, too.
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 topics.
In general, most people blog for one or more of the following reasons:
- Freedom of Expression: Blogging is about writing, storytelling, photography, art, video, music, talking, and all types of modes of expression, allowing people to share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on anything and everything in myriad methods. Their blogs are about the expression of their form of communication and art.
- Self-promotion: Whether for business or the desire to be known, people often blog to promote themselves and their work. We often call this the development of your blog brand.
- Work: For many, a blog is work. Whether it is a source of income or part of their business promotion or customer communications, it’s their job. For more and more workers, a blog is their resume, a way to show potential employers they know what they are writing about, proving their abilities through their blogs.
- Networking: A blog is a very social center for networking, and you can build quite a social life around one. Whether for fun or business, a blog is a social connector.
- Education: Many want to share their knowledge and expertise with the world, as well as their experiences, to make the world a better place, or ensure their knowledge lasts. Bloggers want to teach and help others learn how to do things better, faster, bigger, and easier.
- You Have Something to Say: It could be as simple as you have something to say and you want a platform. Blogs can be the modern street-corner soapbox.
What Do You Really Blog?
The reasons above are some reasons why people say they are blogging, but why are you really blogging?
We blog at first for one reason, say self-promotion, education, and work, but we don’t continue blogging for only those reasons. It’s the reward that blogging gives us that keeps us blogging on.
What are the rewards blogging brings to your life? What is it about blogging that keeps you hunting for blog post content, coming back to face your blank Write Post panel several times a week? What is it that makes this whole blogging thing worthwhile?
- Is it the comments and interaction?
- Is it the networking?
- Is it the friendships?
- Is it the increase in attention?
- Is it the increase in business?
- Is it really just the money?
- Is it they way your reputation as an expert has grown?
- Is it the joy of teaching others?
- Is it the fun of writing down your thoughts and knowing others are reading?
- Is it the hunt to find what to publish next?
- Is it the freedom from editors and publishers from whom you’ve gotten many a rejection notice?
- Is it the sense of control you get from publishing your own content? Running your own online magazine so to speak?
- Is it just the excitement of being a part of this new technology?
So why do you really blog, and what keeps you blogging?
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.
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hi. nice article you got there. if i may add, i blog to remind myself what i’ve done in the past few days. how people affected me. i believe this is the main reason why blogging was created. an online diary, your e-journal. it’s just recently that blogging has been commercialized for one’s gain. it’s worth noting that these breed of personal bloggers are slowly disappearing.
I love food and learning about food. I never thought about blogging until I started reading other food blogs. I never considered myself much of a writer until I started writing.
Now I can’t stop. Sometimes blogging keeps me interested in what I’m doing.
I blog therefore I am :)
@Ruel:
Personal bloggers are disappearing? Maybe off your radar. Personal blogging is on the rise, however, more and more personal bloggers think their blogs should make money, and this puts a different slant on their blogs, both in design and content. This changes their reasons for blogging.
So for you, it sounds like it’s the relationships, the networking and comments that mean the most to you and keep you blogging.
Lewis: So your work with the food keeps you blogging and the blogging keeps you playing with food? :D
As always, a quality, in-depth post from you, Lorelle. You really hammered the point down. I was just musing a little. I like where you took it.
For me, in my infantile state, the blog started as a way to earn extra money, quickly became a great way to have fun and meet new people. And it’s often about the writing itself, as much as it is about the lifestyle. I can spend hours surfing mybloglog.com or entrecard, but some real joy has come from exploring ideas and having great responses through the community.
For me it’s a lot of things:
1) Stories I’ve dying to tell.
2) Getting ideas from other bloggers and readers
3) Experimentation with blog structure and relearning things about the net I forgot.
4) Chance to build a base of readers who can comment on my novels and new writing ideas.
5) Money? I don’t even have Adsense on my blog!
Why do I really blog comes to 4 bullets:
- The deep desire to share and take part in let ting people know about God
- To develop my writing or blogging skills
- To share some personal experience and tutorials in putting the blog and making it SEO.
- And to make some money on the side
Thanks! Engaging article.