Saturday, August 1, 2009

Why Do You Want To Be A Blogger

Blogging would certainly rank among the top most activity in the web today. If you are one of those who would want to dip his hand into the blogging pot, you are certainly not alone. There are 12 million blogs on the internet from the USA alone and every day over 120,000 new blogs are created. There are 1.4 million new blog posts every day and over 57 million Americans read blogs.

Why are blogs so popular?

22 of the 100 most popular websites on the internet today are blogs. The reason why blogs are so popular is because blogs are interactive websites. Blogs offer the ability to give and receive instant feedback and blog readers can voice their opinion and add to the discussion.

Blogs also provide free information which is recent and changes rapidly and after all, why do people surf the internet? For information, of course. The blogging platform is an extremely easy to use interface where bloggers can upload new information to the internet as often as they like. A blogger needs only the most basic of computer skills to start blogging. If you know how to turn your computer on and connect to the internet, you too can be a blogger. The wordpress and blogger platform are free pieces of software that are by far, the best tool to use for your blog.

But why do YOU want to blog?

To answer this question, first, we need to revisit the history of blogging.

In the beginning, when blogs actually started, they were online diaries. The term blog is derived from “web log”. People used a weblog as an online journal and talked about themselves, what they were doing, their activities and the events taking place in their lives just as they would in a written personal diary or journal. Even today there are a large number of blogs that are online diaries. These types of blogs are of benefit both to the blogger and his/her readers. It’s great to connect with like-minded people and share your opinions and views of the world.

Another group of people that like to blog are the ones that have special interests, maybe a cause that they support, a charity that they support, or a specific hobby that they enjoy. They blog to promote their message, and to interact with other people who share the same interests. They want their blog to serve as a kind of hub of information for their readers or target audience. These bloggers collect information from many different sources and present it to their readers in a central place. These bloggers create a dialog or conversation about their special area of interest and invite others to participate via their blog.

The third kind of blogger is the business blogger. There are many levels of business blogging or making money from blogging. It starts with something simple - for example, you might be an artist looking for a way to start selling art on the internet. A blog is a great way to promote yourself and your art. You can discuss art, your passion, you can talk about the meaning of your paintings and you can also talk about the work of other artists that you like and promote their work as well.

Then, of course on a completely different level there are the people that call themselves professional bloggers. Whether they are selling their own products and services, or simply selling other people’s products, they treat their blog as a business. Their blog is their passion and their full-time job. Although they might not spend 40 hours a week on their blog it does provide them with a full-time income and they take their blogging very seriously.

Corporate blogging is also being more popular. A corporate blog is a way for a large company to keep their customers up to date with new products and information. It also is a way for customers to communicate with the corporation and make their opinions known.

An Important Blogging Tip – Consider Your Blogging Goals First

To help you decide the kind of blogger that you want to be, it is extremely helpful to pause and think about what your blogging goals or intentions are.

Here are a few questions to consider:

Why do you want to blog?
What do you aim to achieve by blogging?
Who are you blogging for i.e. who is your target audience?

Once you have the answers to these questions you are in a much better position to start blogging. You now have formulated your goals and intentions and you have a plan. With a plan and a vision you have set yourself up for a successful blogging venture.

In the blogging world it is so easy to get distracted and to get lost in all the different avenues of information. So, when you really understand what it is that you want to do with your blog, then you can start to build on that. It is far easier to maintain your focus when you have a vision and goals to achieve. If you want to ramp up your success rate then write your goals down and stick to your plan.

Author: Anne and Katie, http://www.videotimesavers.com.

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