Why Do You Blog?
By admin on Oct 6, 2007 in Creative Blogging
It’s a gloomy grey day here in my boring part of England and I’ve decided what could heat things up more than finding out why you blog. This question has been asked numerous times by many bloggers but never to the readership of Blogging Fingers.
It’s good practice to ask this question to yourself on a regular basis to keep your eyes on the target, or to discover that the target may have moved since you started aiming at it.
I thought I’d get the ball rolling by explaining why I blog:
1. The money
This is the big obvious answer but for me blogging doesn’t just provide a “pleasant amount of extra income to spend on the kids” like for so many other bloggers.
Once I have finished (and for that matter, begun) my degree in Entrepreneurship I want to start a business. This is providing of course that for the rest of this year I fail in my online aspirations, which being honest I see being pretty darn unlikely given how well things have been going.
I didn’t study marketing at school, I didn’t even keep studying English apart from when it was compulsory, yet those 2 skills are what is making my living at the moment and they are what will be important for me in the future. Blogging is the perfect platform to practice these skills and it teaches me much of what is needed to start a “real” business.
2. The people!
This is an example of the target changing position slightly. When I started blogging it was all about the money and the excitement of finding out that I may never ever in my entire life need to get a day job.
Since that time I have ‘met’ such a variety of different people from different backgrounds I’ve become quite attached to blogging just because the very strong sense of community that there is. I’m not just talking about the Blogging Fingers community but bloggers in general. They are a friendly bunch!
3. Having A Voice
I’m sure that f I didn’t have a blog about blogging I would end up leaving a massive amount of comments on other blogs in a vain attempt to compensate. For some, the writing is the boring bit and they just want to squeeze out the articles to make the bucks but everyone knows by now that tactic is ineffective. Perhaps it’s because I know that there will be a reaction to what I write, which makes it a whole lot more fun.
4. The Stage I Am At In Life
Now is the only time in my life where my expenses are this low and I have no other commitments whatsoever. The only thing I do not have 100% freedom over is money and now is my chance to change that.
Most people my age spend (waste?) this time spending all their money instead of making it. Perhaps this is because they don’t realise the potential that is in them. It may sound arrogant but I know I have what it takes and I don’t intend on wasting that.
Why do you blog? Are any of your reasons the same as mine? You could even write a whole post about it and I’ll link up to you in this post.
Cool post. I blog because it is the most entertaining job in the world!
I have a blast doing it and it pays very well. I enjoy meeting so many wonderful people and I enjoy reading what they write.
“most entertaining job in the world”, I hope you are right!
I blog for a number of reasons…
1) To interact with my readers.
2) I love writing about marketing businesses.
3) It is an excellent medium to deliver high quality information that can help people improve their business.
4) My blog is a small part of my income.
5) I can help to cross - promote with my colleagues using this format.
Those are just a few reasons why I blog.
Joseph Ratliff
Author of The Profitable Business Edge 2
Those are some great reasons
The money and the money. If it stops paying, I’ll stop blogging.
Could I expect anything else from you
I blog for the memories. I blog so I can look back and read about myself and learn from my past…possibly.
I also blog so that my daughter will have a very accurate record of her life.
I have almost no record of my childhood, maybe like 20 pictures and that is all. I don’t want my daughter to have any wonder. I want her to know if she wants to know.
That is why I blog.
I have gotten so that I love my readers though, so I also blog to be able to interact with them. They are why I blog when I am having a rough day.
Very admirable indeed Jennifer, if only we had such good reasons!
I blog to create more traffic to my web design portfolio and get new clients. I think it also helps to build a reputation.
Reputation building is a great reason to blog, good point!
I blog because i want to share my ideas and thoughts with the others . And money is an added bonus too .
I blog because I need an outlet for my writing and sharing. And then surviving on this. I spent years fearing to step out of my (very) comfort(able) zone and now that I have, I am enjoying life so much more.
Glad to hear it YC
No hiding. I blog to make a living online. I want a new style of earning money apart from the fixed 9-5 schedule.
Hi, Matt!
I have written a post about why I blog. It was written for the Quasi Fictional “Fine Art of Blogging” project. If you’d like to read it, you may find it here: http://www.writersnotes.net/the-fine-art-of-blogging-rewards-that-money-cant-buy/.
When I wrote this post, money was not even a factor, as I had not made a penny blogging; and money still isn’t my major motivator–OR my major income-generator–though, of course, everyone needs money to live and my belief is that, as long as we are providing quality content, monetizing our blogs isn’t a bad thing.
Since writing this post, I’ve begun writing select sponsored posts and joined several affiliate programs, though my returns from sponsored posts have been very modest. I’ve yet to receive any money from affiliate programs, which are fairly new to my blog; and the same goes for Google Adsense ads, since the Adsense minimum payout is rather high.
Your second and third reasons rank high on my list of reasons why I blog: “the people” and “having a voice.” My post lists a few other reasons blogging is important to me, as well.
Thanks for a great post and also for offering to link to our posts on the topic!
Jeanne
uhh…creeeeeepy fingers. can’t believe nobody else noticed. maybe i’m the crazy one.
oh by the way, speaking of blogs…I’ve got a new one….to take advantage of the multitude of blog contests out there.
I am therefore I blog.
For me, Its just trying to get my name out there
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I’d have to say, kind of all of the above. I do it for the money, no denying that. I also do it for the fame. I consider voice to be a part of fame. And of course the stage at which I’m currently at, in life. Currently I’m stranded in a boring country and I entertain myself through blogging.