Why do people blog? If you are a blogger, do you remember why you started blogging?  I have a feeling there are nearly as many answers to these questions as there are niches out there, possibly more. Sure, some people got into blogging with a specific goal in mind and never lost sight of that goal, but for many bloggers, this has been a fluid process that has led us on journeys we never would have expected. Here are a few of the common reasons I’ve heard for why people start a blog:

Blogging for Personal Reasons

Many times, this blogger sets out to keep in touch with friends and family who live far away. It may be a means of updating the grandparents on how quickly the kids are growing up, what they’re doing and a way to post recent pictures. Sometimes, it’s a couple planning a wedding trying to keep their guests in the loop.

Some of the best written blogs out there are the ones that weren’t written with the thought of anyone ever reading them. There’s something fascinating about reading an online journal of a pregnant woman’s life and relating to it or reading the trials of a mom who is trying to find an outlet for her frustration. When these bloggers choose to share what they are going through with the world, there is something pure and raw that resonates with others.

Blogging to Express Opinions

My dad is a prime example of this type of blogger. He’s had the same site for almost 5 years, his posts are rarely over 100 words and there is absolutely no design to his site. He says he gets under 50 page views per day and that’s fine by him. He blogs about his political opinions and reads blogs from others who are doing the same. While he may not be a “popular” blogger and not everyone wants to read what he’s saying, he has a strong site and a strong core of readers.

Other opinionated bloggers simply want somewhere to put their feelings out to the universe without having to get into a heated discussion with someone who may have a different point of view. Sure, it still happens in comments, but it takes out the chance that you’re going to alienate someone close to you who refuses to see your point of view. Not saying it’s right or wrong, just that it’s there.

Blogging to Share Information

Many of the bloggers I know personally started out in this category. Perhaps that’s because I’ve firmly planted roots in deal land, but I live very much in the information world. Most deal bloggers don’t get into what they’re doing because they want to make big bucks.  And while some do, it’s a good thing that bloggers aren’t overly focused on the money, otherwise many of them would shut down shortly after starting. And as I typed this, I realized that it probably happens every day!

Other “information sharing blogs” are run by homeschooling moms, cloth diapering and green living families, parents of children with different special needs and many other things. The reason for this is simple, it goes back to when you were told in school to “write what you know.” While you may not be an expert on a topic, you are an expert at your life within that topic. And as your site grows and your life goes on, you learn more and you share more. Behind personal blogs, these are some of the best written blogs out there.

Blogging for Money

Yes, there are some people who get into blogging simply for the money. Many times, these are small sites with limited, rarely updated content once the site is live. The key to doing this is to keep making new sites, doing research on the hot keywords and hoping that everything will pay off in the end. And there are some people who do quite well with it, but they’re also not writing in hopes that people are truly reading the content.

If you’re thinking about starting a blog for the money, you need to know something… it’s not as easy as it looks! This isn’t The Field of Dreams, they’re not going to come just because you built it. Unless you’re focusing on niche sites devoted to nothing other than trying to get people to click on the ads, you’re in for a lot of long hours in front of the computer, writing, planning, reading, networking, commenting, promoting, etc. And even then, there’s no guarantee that you are going to have the magic formula.

For the past week, I’ve been working with a great group of bloggers to make their blog even more than what it already is. I can tell you, I’ve had an absolute blast getting to know all of them and their personalities and it’s great to have people who truly want to learn how to build and grow their site.  One of our big topics has been how to promote a blog post to get new eyes reading the blog.

One of the first things I taught them was the value of Stumbling posts. I have seen good results from this, the trick is to choose what is stumbled and not “thumbs up” every post you do. Not only that, but YOU shouldn’t be the one repeatedly submitting your own articles. The point of Stumble Upon is for readers to like things they find and then move on, so if you’re the only one stumbling your posts, you’re suddenly the kid in school who does nothing but brag about how amazing he is. You remember that kid, right? And do you remember how everyone would roll their eyes at him when he turned to sprint to the next group of people to praise himself?  Yeah, not cool.

Pinterest is very much the same. It can be a great tool, but you need to be careful about how you’re using it. Don’t pin all of your own stuff and hope that no one will notice that you’re actually a narcissistic so-and-so who can’t help but fill their own page with everything they’ve written, including that one post about the frozen pizza for dinner.

The best way to utilize both of these sites is to join up with others and pin or stumble for each other. Don’t just expect them to blindly do so because you asked, give them something of high quality to read and be able to honestly help you promote.

Beyond that, you can ask friends to share it with others on Facebook or Twitter. Another hot tip, if you write something you think is awesome and you post it to your wall or feed, others might just share it without you even begging them to! Again, it’s something that you need to do within reason and not make it seem like you’re desperate for page views.

Want to know what NOT to do?

• Don’t post your link to Facebook pages without asking.
• Don’t start leaving useless comments on every blog you find where you can leave a link back to your site.
• Don’t start leaving comments with nothing more than your link on things that have nothing to do with the topic of your post.
• Don’t post it to your own Facebook wall 27 times in a day.

Basically, don’t turn into a spammer just because you think you have something that everyone should read. The only thing you’re going to do there is turn people away when they see nothing but links to your post everywhere they go!

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This isn’t from any book, but rather a little bit of my opinion on a question that was asked today on Facebook.

Am I wrong to think that following the format/posts somewhat of bigger and more successful blogs will help me to grow? We all need to have our own niche, but if someone is already having success (like 500,000 PV a month) then we can look to them for a little inspiration right?

There is some value to knowing what successful bloggers in your niche are posting and how they are creating those posts to have an idea of whether or not you might be on the right track.  Knowing what is going on within your niche truly is a key to success.

The problem I have seen come up time and time again in certain niches is that what begins with inspiration quickly turns into an obsession with what deals the “successful” site is posting and how they are drawing in readers. The individuality turns into trying to replicate what works for someone else. There are a couple of reasons this doesn’t work:

1. Eventually, readers will start to see the similarity. I’ve said it 100 times, readers may be loyal to your site, but I have yet to meet a reader who is so loyal to one site that they forsake all others. And if you’re being overly “inspired” by a larger, established site, it’s going to bite you in the butt, possibly quite publicly!
2. What works for them may not work for you! As an example, I have a friend who has PHENOMENAL success on her site. I swear, the girl thinks about posting a coupon deal and 8,000 people are printing it! Me? I can’t get coupon conversions to save my life!  I tried posting the way she does, with her blessing and guidance, and the post gathered dust. It’s just not what people come to my site for. As much as I would love to have a share of the success she has, if my readers don’t want to print coupons, they’re not going to.
3. Readers don’t blog hop to get the same deals, the same content, etc on every site they go to. You have to give them a reason to come to your site rather than visiting someone else’s site. If you don’t care about what you’re posting, they’re going to see that and you will drive them away. Why did I stop posting so many deals? Because I realized that it’s not my passion. Now, the posts I put up are from the heart, filled with information I’ve either gained along the way or done the research to share, and it’s not a chore to post. My readership may be changing, but I have kept many readers and started to develop a different relationship with them.

Want to know what I learned today? Check out ProBlogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging for a step-by-step guide to getting your blog off to a great start!  Not your first week of blogging?  Don’t worry, this is the first week of the rest of your blogging life, make it a good one!

Yes, by the calendar I’ve been working on ProBlogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging for three days, but as any mom who blogs can tell you, the fact that I’m on day two of the book is nothing short of a miracle!  I am loving this book and want to share it with the world, but I also know just how hard Darren Rowse works to write eBooks that will have true value to bloggers, so I can’t give away too much!  All I can say is this really is proving to be a great book, even for an “experienced” blogger!

Take today’s little morsel, building pillar content on your site, it seems simple enough, but how many of us pay attention to that pillar?  There was a time I thought I knew which pillars would hold up my blog, then I lost track of it, and here I am figuring out if the ones I had before are the ones that fit.

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