Hari's Corner

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The great blogging debate: why do you blog?

Filed under: Internet and Blogging by Hari
Posted on Sat, Nov 5, 2005 at 22:58 IST (last updated: Wed, Jul 16, 2008 @ 20:33 IST)

I recently read an article on successful blogging and I think that while being well-meaning, the author basically failed to understand the wide range of bloggers with a whole different set of priorities, reasons and expectations while maintaining a blog. The blogosphere is a complex world out there and I think the author's recommendations cannot apply universally to many kinds of blogs and bloggers. I'll add my own thoughts to the points raised by the author. While I cannot copy-paste the full article here, I'll just say why I disagree with some of the key points. The quoted portions are in italics.

You should begin your blog with a free blog hosting service such as Journal Home.

This need not be so. I think the power and flexibility of hosting your own blog is much more comfortable. Again, there is no hard and fast rule. I just think that the author should not assume that everybody out there who chooses a free option does so because he/she is a newbie. There are plenty of professional blogs out there hosted on blogspot.com.

You should first decide on a product, service, or topic which interest you.

Why so? I have a wide range of interests which I want to write about. I find limiting the scope of a blog irksome and I like to explore my writing talents. Why should I write just about Linux? Or just about books? Why cannot I write about all things that I find interesting? After all, blogs can be topical or not. It's totally up to the author. Again, I don't say the point is wrong. All I say is that the should is a rather strong point here.

Update Daily (nothing less) This step is a must and not a suggestion.

Why is this a must? I know of some excellent blogs out there that have a good readership base and those blogs don't get updated daily. In fact, I would go the other route and say that those who update daily are actually running the risk of running out of interesting things to say and becoming stale and boring. I think that everybody should feel free to update when they want to. Not just because they *have* to. Too many bloggers become boring by repeating themselves on a daily basis. Just find your comfort zone, that's all.

It's no secret. You must have traffic to profit from blogs

Simple: I don't want to make money off my blog. I am sure that there are many others who share the same opinion. Unless you're a celebrity or otherwise extraordinary, you will just grow old waiting.

Track Your Blog. How do you know if your blog has traffic? Just because no one is leaving comments doesn't mean your blog isn't growing. Many visitors do not leave comments but they are returning visitors.

I agree with this point. Comments are nice though. I always appreciate a message or two, if only to get a little bit of feedback now and then.

Listen to Your Audience

When using the proper page counter you should begin to see how others are finding your blog and if through search engines then which keywords are being used to find your blog. If constantly your blog is being found by 1 or more keywords then focus your blog around those keywords to make it even more powerful

I don't think one should write on something just to strengthen "keywords" on search engines. Again, the writer of this article seems to assume that every blogger out there wants traffic, traffic and more traffic. Nobody should write just to get read. People should write when they have something to say.

Use multiple blogging accounts (free) to attract more people.

See above.

Short & Concise

I'd rather make a stronger point by using more words if necessary rather than keep an article short just for the sake of keeping it short. I think each blogger has his own levels of verbosity and each blogger should find his/her own ideal word count. For the umpteenth time, no hard and fast rules.

Try to include non-advertising graphics, pictures, photos, and art in your blog entries. Not too much.

Not too much is the key. Use graphics lightly to keep load times to a minimum. Again, use graphics only when necessary. Not because X, Y or Z said so.

A blog is most successful when it is kept personal.

Every blog has its own content and style depends on the author. Again, though I agree that an informal way of writing is good, there is no hard and fast rule that such kinds of blogs are more successful than others.

Interact With Your Visitors

I actually agree with this point though I don't think that a "regular feature" is a must to keep visitors coming in. Again, only at my convenience.

Make Money

No thanks! :)

You're a professional now! What are you still doing with that free blog hosting service?

You don't need to be a professional to host your own blog. Take me, for instance. :)

Ok, so I am a bit critical of that article and I do think that the author has got it wrong on more than one point. I think the key issue is the failure to recognize that every blogger out there has his or own exclusive and personal reason for blogging which might not match other people's intentions. Notice how many "should"s and "must"s the author uses. I think there is a failure to appreciate the huge variety of blogs out there with so many different agendas. In other words, everybody has their own definition of success which need not match the definition of this author. But on the whole, I appreciate the efforts of the author in writing such an article to at least give me some points to think about even though I don't agree with many of them.

6 comment(s)

  1. I agree- The article should have been titled "13 suggestions to successful blogging" rather than 13 *hardfast no changing* rules to successful blogging. But then I guess it wouldn't sound so impressive. Yeah, this guy has some good points, but he assumes that people just want to make money from blogging, not actually share something useful with the globe. I like the way you respond to articles btw- very readable.

    Comment by titanium_geek (visitor) on Sun, Nov 6, 2005 @ 07:11 IST #
  2. Titanium, thanks for dropping by with your remarks. I think that most of the points are good, but are relative - not absolute - in application. Especially the part about multiple blogs - I don't think people need multiple blogs to promote themselves.More than anything, I think bloggers who form communities around themselves are the ones who tend to actively contribute to other people's blogs as well by interacting on a regular basis. I think that's the single most important point I can think of why some blogs are so successful (in terms of readership and traffic). Of course, every person's definition of success is different as I mentioned and some people blog just for pleasure and not because they want others to read what they write.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Sun, Nov 6, 2005 @ 08:45 IST #
  3. So, Hari we both post on similar things simultaneously :-)

    Comment by thennavan (visitor) on Sun, Nov 6, 2005 @ 09:49 IST #
  4. Thennavan, yes. It seems so! :P

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Sun, Nov 6, 2005 @ 10:54 IST #
  5. I was reading in a forum this weekend and the guy was talking about blogger being down, and he was expecting to lose $3.00, I guess he is learning that blogger really isn't free! As far as the article, I would recommend using a free blog host such as blogger, etc for anyone who is not expecting to make money on their blogs.

    Comment by Brad (visitor) on Mon, Nov 7, 2005 @ 08:23 IST #
  6. Brad, in any case I think that there are better business models to make money like selling something for instance. ;)

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Mon, Nov 7, 2005 @ 08:59 IST #

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