Why/How to Blog?

Let me try to address the question “Why/How to Blog?”

Many are there who question the same, and many start a blog and give up someday. As I reach the 150 post mark (nothing great but feels great), I thought it would be apt to pen down a few pointers as to why we blog and how we should. Hope it helps someone, somewhere, someway……

1. A blog isn’t only about writing. There are blogs about everything that you can think of. Blogs range from photography, cartoons, movies, wines, cooking, jokes, self-learning, technology, travel, politics, current affairs, share trading, business ideas, books, games, MBA, sex stories, school days, memoirs, fashion, festivities, hobbies and anything that you can relate yourself to. The trick which makes a blog tick is to choose and blog about what you feel for. It need not be words and words only. It can be anything. It can be anything that you want to keep an online journal about. The more you fit in to this road, the longer you shall last. It’s about being YOU, online.

2. A blog isn’t about followers and comments either. When you post, mostly you love it when someone reads it and follows your posts. Comments do feel motivating and are inspiring. But even if you don’t have whole of the world with you, who has? The number you see there is just a number. Blog for yourself and you shall rule. Whenever you feel you don’t have ample readers, remind yourself, you blog for yourself. Doing it matters more than to have people seeing you do it.

3. Blog is highly beneficial. For me, a post helps me when I am high and happy and when I am low and sad. It helps me getting my mind in place. It helps me gauge my direction and the distance I have covered. It helps me question myself, my beliefs, my thoughts and my days. It engages my mind in something I call as “being creative about ME”. It feels great when I see words from my life out there in the World Wide Web. It reassures me of my presence. And above all, it is fun and satisfaction, guaranteed. On another note, I gathered information about GMAT, MBA and schools which i never thought i could. It wasn't Google. It was blogger.com.

4. A blog helps you connect. Believe me when I say this, bloggers are just awesome. I have hardly come across a blogger who isn’t being real out there. For if you aren’t being real, you can’t last. And that’s what makes this whole of blogsphere so cool, so real, so good and so true. I get a positive vibe when I visit pages. It is wonderful to sneak into the lives of people around you. You connect to souls living god knows where and share. Visit any blog placed randomly in some forum, go through the pages, hang around there and you will realize.

5. Blog only when you want. Get over that habit of posting every day. There is no compulsion. Stick to one most important motto: post only when you really want to. A blog shouldn’t be about writing something about something every day. It is also about making others know were there. It is about enjoying and experiencing all of it that is out there. Don’t forget to be a honest reader/follower, if you are.

6. A Blog is simply you. It’s expression online. So try to be “YOU” in whatever ways you can. Only you can feel yourself. Get those feelings onto your blog. Let the blog be what you are, what you were and what you can be. For example, don’t just post something about the Christmas coz everyone else is doing that. Post about what you relate to. Honesty matters most.

7. Publicize your blog, if you want to. These are the days of facebook and twitter. When the social connectivity is THE THING, it’s normal to see peers bragging/sharing/talking about their blogs. Its publicity and it does help. But not everyone. If you aren’t comfy with publicizing your pages, don’t do it. There is no rule. Being you is the rule. And the same applies to the tons of tools out there like monetizing your pages, feed burners, blogger forums, contests, do-follow blogs, blog networks etc. The point here is not to burden yourself with things which isn’t you. It may cloud you blogging experience.

8. Visit your blog. You should be your best reader and follower. If you don’t find yourself doing that, the case might be that you don’t really like what you do out there. I often visit my blog at work. It makes me wonder if all that is mine. It’s private and confidential, yet for display. And to be honest, I find my blog always the best. :)

9. Blog isn’t a necessity/compulsion. If you can’t relate to it till now, don’t blog. Having a blog just because everyone has will get you nowhere more than an additional web link that you need to log into. With life going crazy online, there might be things which are for you. An unfinished venture hurts more than the one you never started.

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