We all have something to share. We all have opinions, skills, understanding and experiences. But too often when we begin an endeavor, such as a blog for instance; we forget to bring ourselves. We look at blogs as a way of telling a story. Or relaying a message. Or selling a product or service. In fact, one blogger came up with 34 reasons to start a blog.
Among them, both personal satisfaction and personal improvement. Credibility, building authority, creating a following, aiding causes you believe in, and one very popular reason; making money. And these things can follow from the activity of blogging.
It is generally necessary to research topics and learn to write compelling headlines. And if you succeed at gaining readership, you may be able to parlay your popularity into economic activities.
I know that these reasons are compelling. And if you look at some opinions on the activity of blogging; they will relay the idea that blogging is a must. If you want someone to recognize your abilities or skills, or the uniqueness of your product or services; you must blog. Do I hold this opinion? I actually do not.
I do not hold this opinion because the only valid reason I can see for starting and maintaining a blog is to bring your own unique person-hood to a place where others can see you. At the end of the day, someone is going to be filling that pipeline with articles and ideas and opinions. And in my opinion, it should be you. Your own work. Your own take. Your own self.
I understand that people want to communicate and share. And I understand that businesses want to develop sales. I also understand that there are a lot of blogs that do not get read. That people pass over or never even hear of, because they look and read entirely way too much like 20000 other blogs. Or 30000. Or 100000. How has this happened you may ask yourself?
Let’s look briefly at the history of blogging. A student is credited with creating the first blog, although it was named a weblog at that time in 1994. Although there are some notions that officially more then one person contributed to the creation of the blog as we now know it.
We do know that initially the people who started blogging did so for one reason: to bring themselves to the world. To record their thoughts, opinions, and beliefs for the purpose of sharing themselves.
So perhaps I am a blog elitist who feels that businesses have no place in the blogosphere unless they can bring a unique voice to the cacophony of ideas on the internet. Not to toot my own horn here too much, but I started blogging when it first became popular. In fact, to communicate the challenges of blogging on a regular basis and hopefully make my point; I am willing to link to my original blogging profile circa 2004.
If you will notice, I had 9 different blogs running at that time. And one of them did manage to land me a few clients. Setting up their own blogs. Well, time passed and children arrived on the scene, and before long: I ran out of things to write about. Which brings me back to my original point:
That I was bringing my unique self and skill sets at that time to share with the world. And eventually, I ran out of me. Oh, I still had ideas and opinions, but I shared them with clients and built their blogs with them. And the purpose of all that blogging ran its course.
I am still blogging, however; it is simply to share my opinions. I do not run ads on my blog. I do not seek revenue to support it. I just like to share my personal opinions some times. Or as my tag line states: “I need to vent”.
Is that to say you should not blog? It is not. It is to say that if you are blogging today, I hope you will understand the purpose of your efforts. That you are giving a lot of thought to why you are blogging. And you are being true to yourself in the process.
Share yourself and your expertise and opinions. And remember above all that when someone appreciates your efforts, it is your duty as a human being to show them some appreciation as well. When we speak of sharing it is a two way street.
