Being in the technology industry, and being older, you tend to miss things that other people pick up on. It took me forever to figure out why Twitter was such a big deal, and as I work my way through this blogging thing, I’ve discovered what it appears everyone but me has known for a long time. Blogging is a business.
I rememmber blogging when it first started, and people were trying to explain how the word came about. It was journaling for everyone to see. I’m sure there’s more than a few people that regret being quite so open and honest for the world to see on this new fangled web journalling thing, called blogs. It’s certainly occured to me that some people can make money doing this, and there are a number of blogs that I do my best to keep up with, (meaning I check in occasionally). But blogging for money didn’t even enter my mind as I was shoved into this single parenthood thing. I didn’t think more than a couple of people might be interested in what I had to say. Mostly I just figured I would be more likely to write stuff down if it was in a place that I could access from anywhere, and since it didn’t cost anything to do, why not just use a blog.
I didn’t know until recently that there are blogging conferences, and I can’t really wrap my head around what people do there, besides drink and introduce themselves, and take down a bunch of new blogs to go home and read. I’d be the guy sitting in the corner, with my phone, reading some particularly interesting blog that I has discovered, or more accurately, pretending to read something interesting until someone came along and started talking to me. Actually, I do that now.
I’m sure it doesn’t apply to everyone, but I think I’d change what I write if I was writing for an audience. If I had an advertiser, I’d wonder what would interest the people who might click on that ad. I wouldn’t write things that might offend people, and I’d be overly careful not to be boring, (which should be obvious that I’m not doing now). I might bring in a few bucks, (I don’t really want to know what a well marketed active blog makes), but I think I’d have to go find another outlet for getting the thoughts out of my head.
Ad odds with that, I just read an post at http://www.sgwkids.blogspot.com/ about a day in the life of a single dad. Laundry, cleaning, making lunches, pretty darn close to my routine, but entertaining at the same time.
Maybe this is practice for moving into a role where I can write for money, please feel free to comment and tell me it’s not a good thing to waste my time on. Focus on your strentghs.
