Blogging just to blog
I know that many of my articles and thoughts tend to focus on making money blogging and driving traffic to your blog both overall more commercialized means of blogging. Although this is an important, and popular, topic that is of interest to me as well, we sometimes need to remember where, or how blogging started. Every now and then we as bloggers need to step back and reflect on what it is that interests us and that drew us into this unique, exciting world of internet publishing.
Sometimes bloggers need to forget the money, forget the traffic and blog just to blog, you should write for the community and not for the almighty dollar. This is afterall, what blogging is about and at some point in time it was probably what brought the money and the traffic you have now. When you just sit down and write with out all of the clutter of commercialization, your thoughts are more heartfelt and pure, they are a mirrored reflection of your personality, your interests and of course your soul. This emotion you scribe on the internet is truly what people enjoy and that is what will draw your readers attention.
The biggest difference between some random website and a blog, is that a blog is more personal, a blog gives that everyday web surfer the opportunity to meet you and dive into your mind to see what you are about. After you visit the same blog a few times, each time you go back it almost feels as if your going to visit a friend, even though you probably have never met the person doing the writing, you have indeed gotten to know them. This reasoning is how many of the more popular, mainstream bloggers have reached the point they are at now. They have in essence befriended their readers and built their very own loyal community of followers that sit and wait for that next hot article to roll off of the press.
The next time you sit down to write your newest million dollar headline, step back for a second and look at what you are actually writing and why you are writing it. Think of how long it has been since you wrote an article for the readers, you don’t have to do it all of the time but consider giving them this one. Maybe you have forgotten how to write from the heart, try writing something about yourself, it can sometimes be very humbling and may put you back on that level that started this journey through the blogosphere.
I spend as much time as I can browsing the internet, learning, reading and watching others. I have over time found many great bloggers that blog with the same feelings that I have described above. Darren Rowse is probably the one blogger that stands out the most in my mind, he is really the one that inspired me to blog and is very successful in building a friendship with his readers. The comments left on his posts, sound as if they came from a childhood friend, they have that sense of being so personal, that is a perfect example of what you should blog for, if you can attain that loyalty, the money will most likely follow shortly there after.
Take the opportunity to give these thoughts a try and see where it takes you. Who knows maybe you will be the worlds next favorite blogger!
Your Friend,
Patric Herber
