Blog Your Passion

By: Lorelle VanFossen

Apr 18 2012

Tags: blog publishing, blog technology, blog writing, blogging, CMS, commitment, content ownership, copyright, discipline, garden wall, how to blog, publishing platforms, social media, social web, walled garden, web publishing, why blog

Category: How to Blog

3 Comments

Why blog? It’s a good question to ask yourself. Consider your answer carefully before you pursue this adventure.

Blogging takes time, energy, and costs little except for time and energy. Do you have the time and energy to commit to this as a three year project?

That just changed your answer, didn’t it?

Most blogs fail within their first three months. If the blogger commits to a year project, it usually falls down after the first six months. If they commit to a two year project, it often lasts, with fits and starts, through the entire process and grows, becoming a part of their life.

Think bigger, blog better.

When people ask me if they should blog, I ask if they have a favorite subject they could talk about and share with others every day for three years.

When you know the answer to that, you will know the answer to why blog.

Really, Why Blog and Not Website or Social Media?

The second and most important part of the question “why blog” is based upon the technology. Shouldn’t you stick to publishing (micro-blogging) on social media platforms? Why not just have a website? Why do you need a blog?

Content published on social media sites often means giving up your copyright and control over your content. Check the terms of service. Once published, you don’t own it.

Social media platforms often restrict the length and type of media you can publish.

Social media services often restrict whom you may share with. You are usually limited to the audience there on that platform, not the greater social web in general.

Many social media sites are behind a walled garden, which means you must be a member in order to see and access your content.

A blog is a website. The term “website” has come to represent a “static” site with only a few pages or static content. A blog is a website. The difference is that the content on a blog is presented in reverse chronological order by default, a default which can be easily changed to resemble a static website.

Since a blog is a website and merely a Content Management Systesm (CMS), go with a publishing platform that is simple and easy to use, both in publishing and content management, thus use a blog.

You also wish your site to grow with you and have the opportunity for interactivity. Blog publishing platforms are closely integrated with social media and can easily manage thousands of web pages of content.

Large commercial sites like CNN, New York Times, Ford, People, and others are all using WordPress for their publishing platforms, a “simple blogging tool.”

So, yes, you want a blog. What you do with it from there is the first part of the question.

More information in this series exploring the blogging journey and path may be found in the How to Blog category.