I wrote this editorial about blogging in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine over a year ago. I'm posting it in response to queries writers have had about their blogs.
Blogs became mainstream in around 2004, so by now every writer either has a blog, or feels guilty because he doesn't.
In my chats with writers however, I've come to realize that many/ most writers interpret the instruction to "Get a blog!" or claims about what blogging can do for their writing career in a very limited way. They think their blog is about blogging.
Your blog shouldn't be about blogging per se, and when you blog, it's not about the blog. If that makes sense. :-)
Your blog is just a tool.
It's what you do with it that counts, and if you feel that "blogging doesn't work" it's invariably because you've either had no specific goals for a blog, or tried to get one poor little blog to do too much.
It's very common for example to see writers' blogs which are about everything and nothing at all. One post is about a movie the writer saw, the next is a discussion about brands of coffee, the next is about what the writer is currently writing, or trying to write…
An "everything" blog can work, but it must have an overarching theme. For example, in his "everything" blog humorist Dave Barry covers miscellany, but the blog's theme is sly humor. Every post in Barry's blog has just one goal – to get a laugh.
Blogs are endlessly useful, and you can make blogging work for you, and there's just one thing to remember – it's not about the BLOG, the blog is just a tool to help you to achieve a goal.
Got a goal?
Get blog
A blog can help you to achieve just about any goal you care to set.
Want to write a book? Start a blog.
Want to make money? Start a blog.
Want to get people to buy your articles/ ebooks/ writing services? Start a blog.Want to change jobs and get a better job with more money? Start a blog.
When you think in terms of goals you want to achieve, blogs can help you to achieve way beyond your goals.
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