Why I Blog

Whether it is a self-indulgent exercise to claim my worth or a process that encourages creativity to build an audience, I’m going to let it out with why I blog.

It’s a question that people ask me as they embark on their own blogging journeys and rather than my head getting filled with a number of reasons and not making myself clear, this article looks at the reason why I do it.

What I Learnt From Mitch Joel

In an interview with Mitch Joel (author of Ctrl Alt Delete), we talked about the fact that his blog allows him to express himself. His best-written work comes from his own frustrations and view of the world and then adding his own slant of humour, data and question to his audience. An article Mitch wrote explains the necessity for your mind to always be inspired where you are looking to for an idea that creates a ‘feeling or emotion.’ To read his article on ‘how to be inspired at work’, click here (it’s a great piece of work). Read the Talking Content interview with Mitch Joel by clicking here This ‘feeling or emotion’ is the crux behind why I blog and appreciation of the world around us and the questions, challenges, failures and successes it provides. Technology now allows us to now have the platforms to share our viewpoint and opinion and do it with conviction, spirit and warmth.

Why It Is A Total Waste Of Time, For Some

To many businesses, the blogging format can be seen as a pointless exercise. The post that someone published three months ago on the ‘reason why branded stationery is important’ and the feeling that no one was listening or wanted to engage with the business makes total sense that it is a pointless exercise. Many businesses dip their toes in because others are doing so and the biggest reason why people (and businesses) blog is because they can. To make the shift from a pointless exercise to one that helps build a voice, create character and aggregate an audience is the dogged and relentless commitment to have a space to be heard and acknowledgement that this is the equivalent of a game of football, but the referee isn’t going to blow for full time on 90 minutes. We’re going past extra time and penalties and the game isn’t stopping, so to be prepared, that ‘inspired’ mindset is the equivalent of downing bottle of Lucozade Sport for the drink break. The whole reason why I blog can be broken down into many facets, but the prime reason is to identify my self worth and develop a defined identity in a crowded marketplace.

The Reasons That Everyone Says

To many people the reason to blog is the validation of ideas and opinion and a way to express themselves (or their business). It is there to help form a viewpoint and to share this with others to educate and inform, so they can take a look inside your brain and take from it what they want. The continued commitment over time will encourage the generation of an audience who know that you are relevant and persistent. The blog is there for the audience to use as a reference and be seen as a source of content that stands above the self-promotion angles of client wins, team days to Chessington and new staff.

The Selfish Reason

The reason I do it is the idea to build a space that others come to, but more importantly a cathartic exercise to vent the way that I see the world. As mentioned at the top of the article, I get frustrated with the way that businesses are still shoe horning old practices of interruption, disruption and manipulation into a new way of working that presents a new media landscape for us all to become more creative and evolve with (and that we never had a few years ago). My overall message is for us to start marketing in the year we are living in. This becomes the meaning for what I write in terms of capturing thoughts and ideas and then focusing on them in more detail. I guess this is a selfish exercise as you could say that many articles I write are for myself and a means to chronicle the way I see the world, create a thought process and express my opinion. Whilst I don’t aim to write for everyone, what makes me happy are the people who choose to subscribe and are prepared to listen. The most important tool for all of us to have is the ability to bring others around our campfires, to tell our stories in our way and to make ourselves a bit different from the rest. I know it’s important to go to the places that are relevant to our audience; I say that your blog is the place that represents your soul. Apart from the selfish reasons and a more holistic view, the thought process that is created via the blog, can then be revisited at a later date and to move onto the next level. One thing that is fascinating me at the moment is how we all learn. As an example, I started this by highlighting my best books from 2013 to then to why we need to read a book and now a broader curiosity with how we need learn to play a new game (that costs less money), but at the moment there are no defined rules for us all to learn. I believe that if we can start to connect with others via our own spaces, the blog platform becomes the space to be ‘me.’ It is a million miles away from the chest beating bluster of an ‘about us’ page and the only way you can become more normal (if this is such a term) is to become consistent and continued with your viewpoint.

I’m Not A Fan Of The Word ‘Blog’

I’m not a fan of the word ‘blog’ to me it represents an era of techie people since the term was first coined in 1999 as a ‘web’ and ‘log’ and represents nothing we can connect to today. The word ‘information resource’ to me has a deeper meaning of being valuable and perhaps if it was widely known as something different, maybe more of us would be willing to make that sizeable investment required ie. your time. I’d like to think that my blog has its role to collate, form and share but more importantly it’s about me. Those who think that I’m not their cup of tea, that’s great. I’d rather have a small pool of people who ‘get’ my angle, rather than a sea of on lookers who you never have the opportunity to build a discussion and consider as an ally. As we come to the end of the article, lets just reiterate that the reason why I blog/write is for my own self worth that helps define an identity within a packed marketplace. It takes a long time to climb the mountain and the greatest achievement to reach fulfilment is the climb itself. Reaching the pinnacle is a very long way off, but the journey that is being made presents a host of views, paths to choose and people to interact with whilst on the expedition. Be really interested to hear/read the reasons why you blog.