Have you ever had one of those days when everything seemed to go haywire from the moment you got up? It was probably one of those days when you just couldn’t shake the crazies no matter how hard you tried and life seemed to be against you. Or perhaps you were just going through a tough time emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually or otherwise — and felt like no one around you really understand or could relate?
I know I definitely had a few of those when Ayla was just a puppy and I cried the first two days while I was home alone with her. And there were also the days/weeks/months while we were renovating our house (especially before we moved in) that were just terrifying and frustrating. I wrote about all of that (although sometime we bloggers like to sugar coat things — which is a post for an entirely different day) during my last 6 years blogging — and I never once regretted a word. But I am pretty sure I saved myself some money on therapy! 😉
Blogging is one of those things in life that can help you find your own personal voice, let you solve some of your problems, let you just air your thoughts and hopefully get some feedback about all of it as well. It’s a bit like keeping a journal, but you just happen to share it with the world. True, when you’re just starting out, it’s tough to know if anyone is hearing you or ever going to respond to your calls. But I promise you that if you put yourself out there and you write from your heart, people will take notice. And sometimes all you really need is the support of one person who knows what you’re going through and has been there before. Plus, I have always felt that just getting my thoughts of out my head was often enough to help me gain new perspective on the issue and/or move past it.
The Internet Makes the World Smaller
I’ve been blogging since 2006 and originally just wanted a way to talk to our friends and family about what was going on in our lives, our new puppy, our new home and so on. I was tired of writing the same messages over and over again, so I just started blogging about it all. Then, all of the sudden, people I didn’t know personally started to wander in and leave comments. Those times are both exciting and scary!
Finding new friends via blogging is one of the greatest rewards. I’ve met people all over the world who have become friends even though we’ve never met. Sharing your life in a blog allows you to put yourself out there so that others know far more about you than you do about them (although some of your good friends will be other bloggers too) and they will feel connected to you because they know you so well, even though you’ve never been face to face.
You Are In Control
Sometimes there are many things in life that you have little or no control over at all. But when it comes to writing a blog, you are completely in control. You decide how much you want to share, when you want to share it, what you’re doing to show, what your writing voice will be and how often you want to post. There are no rules about how often you should be posting — it’s a matter of what fits into your personal and what you make time for. Some blogs post multiple times a day (but rest assured that most of those blogs are written by multiple contributors) and some post less than once a week. You need to keep in mind that people will place a lot of value a well written, heart felt post, even though it may not get you to the top of the search results. When you open up to your audience, share about your own experiences and go for quality over quantity, you are almost certain to get a lot of feedback. But you probably won’t have a post like that to share every day…or maybe you will.
Most of the time, you will get more traffic to your blog if you’re posting more often. But that’s simply because if Google has more to crawl from your site, people have more articles & posts that they can find you through. So if you think you can really only post every other day, then just do it that way. If you make the posts worthwhile, you’re going to draw in your readers from the get go.
Forget About the Fluff
When I took creative writing in college, one of the teacher’s pet peeves was “fluff” and filler. In other words, the meaningless content that doesn’t help prove your point or convey your story — but instead is just a bunch of nonsense that detracts from your post in the long run. Sometimes you may get to a point where you want to just ramble on about life in general in your posts — and those have a time and a place. But you’ll often get a lot more interest from readers when you not only tell your story, but also share tips, advice, how to’s and other things that will help people in life.
If you’re already a blogger, why do you blog? And if you’re thinking about starting a blog, why do you want to have one? What are the qualities of your favorite blogs?
Great post, Tiffany. It’s about finding a balance and then getting to the point that you care more about what you’re writing rather than how many people comment. If I start writing what I think people want to read, it usually flops. However, when I write about what’s really on my heart, it comes across as authentic, and people respond.
Why do I blog? Because it combines all the things most love doing: writing, designing, teaching. “Real” teaching became real hard for me; the face-to-face interaction sucks out too much energy and (literally) makes me sick. Blogging allows me to have connection with others in ways that work for me. I really love the writing–and that doing so helps me find meaning in our lives–but just as much I love interaction and connection with others. I don’t get excited about lots of comments, but I get real excited from one or two thoughtful ones. My favorite blogs are the ones in which I have a real sense of the person writing. I love blogs that don’t necessarily play it safe. (I’m really glad I found yours recently–)
Great Points! We get to meet so many wonderful people!
I blog to have a record of what I’ve done/been doing while in Germany. I don’t often while I am in the US. Its also easier to refer friends to my blog than to tell the same stories over and over. So, I guess, basically I blog because I’m lazy.
Love this post! My business partner, Chelsea, and I talk about this all the time. Yes, we love having tips and resources and advice from experts on the site, but what we REALLY love, is getting things off our chest, telling our story, talking about a crazy life adventure. And you know what? Those are the posts that our readers respond most to.
Great post – had to share on our Facebook page to show readers why blogging is so good for the soul!