Someone very important asked me yesterday “Why do you blog?” That is a great question. I have been toying with the idea of blogging for already a few years, yes … years. Finally in April of 2006 I started this blog as “The Big Sail Blog” where I documented the preparations and results of the sailing trip with Scott. Then, the trip was over and I wanted to just blog about anything, but I couldn’t because this was a sailing blog. So, finally in the beginning of February ‘07 I re-branded this blog to “Think This //” and opened it up.
I blog because it is fun. It makes me think. I forces me to put into writing what I am thinking. I teaches me to write better. It allows me to express myself. It aids me to share with my friends and family. It facilitates finding new friends and networking with new people.
Through blogging I am learning a lot of aspects of web presence. This is a natural extension of what I do at work and at home. Blogging has many related elements to Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEO) and web production.
I get excited when I go to my web analytics tool (Google Analytics) and to see how many people visited this blog from how many different countries (so far in February only, it is 25 countries!).
But this is not the main reason why I blog. If it were, I would be another narcissistic blogger. I hope that blogging will change me as a person. As Seth Godin states on his blog:
The act of writing a blog changes people, especially business people. The first thing it does is change posture. Once you realize that no one HAS to read your blog, that you can’t MAKE them read your blog, you approach writing with humility and view readers with gratitude. The second thing it does is force you to be clear. If you write something that’s confusing or in shorthand, you fail.
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If you are interested in starting your own blog, stay tuned. In the coming posts I will list simple steps to starting your own blog.
Greeting Marek! I thought I’d return the favor of your encouraging words on my site by checking out your site. Great point about forcing you to be clear with your writing as well as write with humility. Keep up the great work.
Blogging definitely does change a person. In the ways you mention, plus one more.
The other thing blogging does, that Seth Godin does not mention in the quote above (although he may have touched upon this elsewhere, being so prolific) is it causes you to look outward. You become part of an exciting dialog in your industry, and anyone with a curious mind begins soaking up what is being discussed.
Humility is definitely a part of blogging. I am humbled every day by the generosity and intelligence of the bloggers I encounter.
this should be on everyones blog. It would be nice to discover why everyone blogs…