What Makes You Blog?- Blogging Tickles Me Pink

I've been thinking a great deal about the Nicolas Carr's post on his Rough Type blog, The Great Unread. Yesterday's post shared about that, and I can't get it out of my head. So let me jot down a few of my thoughts before going off to tennis.

What makes me blog? Besides the obvious benefits for business, I mean. Because let's face it, long before any of my blogs started generating traffic for our web sites and business, there was a long time I was writing to an empty room.

I can understand why so many bloggers give up, especially if they are looking for instant results, great numbers of readers and comments, and getting links from the "big guys."

Why didn't I give up in those crucial first 90 days when no one was reading what I wrote except my hubby and the cats, and well, of course Denise, my trusty side-kick?

I believe it has to do with the way my brain is wired. I've got a journalist gene somewhere, and a little bit of writers DNA. I blog because quite simply, I get a kick out of writing a semi-clever headline, and sharing some valuable tid-bit that might help someone. I also blog to lock in some learning that I've picked up: writing about something solidifies it in my memory, and it also unleashes new ideas.

I do all this writing spontaneously into the "Post Introduction" box in my Typepad software. And to hell with the end results, the numbers, the comments, etc. Sure I follow best practices for linking, etc. and I'm certainly not against getting a little link love from someone else, or comments. I love comments.

But I blog for myself, because it tickles me pink. I don't do it because I have to in order to get good business results, that is secondary.

What about you? What makes you blog? And...have you ever thought about giving it up?

Comments

[Lisa Merlo-Booth]

I blog for much the same reason: it's fun to speak my mind and share a tip or two. It's funny that you should ask now if I've thought of stopping since I was just thinking that this morning.

Although I enjoy blogging, there is a whole other side to it that is time consuming and necessary if I want it to benefit my business: ommenting and linking to other blogs in my area.

I just haven't had the time to explore other blogs daily and add comments and links ect. I can see how much that is needed if I would like my numbers to go up. For now, I'm letting go of numbers and doing my best to write when I can. Hopefully in the future the numbers will come.