Why do I blog? I asked myself this question after reading William Stites recent blog post, “I blog and why the hell should you care? (or My Expanded About Page).” I enjoyed Bill's post on many levels but probably most for the fact that it made me stop and think about my motivation for blogging.
Start One Place, End up Somewhere Else
Truth be told, I began blogging as a way to protect my employer…let me explain. At my current school, we've been shifting from outbound marketing to inbound marking, and I wanted to test two things: 1. the theories of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that I was reading about, and 2. the blogging platform, WordPress, before we adopted it for use at school. My theory was that if I screwed something up with this social media channel then it would only be my reputation and not my employer.
I've been blogging for nine months now and can tell you that where I started is not where I ended up. There are three main reasons why I blog and they have nothing to do with SEO.
1. To Share
I blog to share. Just as Bill mentioned as the second point in his blog post, I too use Twitter and SchneiderB.com to share information that I find useful, informative, and just plain interesting. I try to keep my sharing focused to “social media, technology, inbound marketing, and branding,” especially as it relates to independent schools. I've always been interested in technology, and more recently social media, and it has been a release, as well as a rush, to have a place to share all of the great content that I find.
2. To Communicate
I enjoy connecting with people – it's probably one of the reasons I like my work in admissions so much. Implicit for me in connecting with people is the joy of communicating and sharing the content I mentioned above. Blogging has helped my make new friends like @wstites, @tmcdonough1973, @peterdbaron, @raventech, @traviswarren, @cassdull, and @justinmalvin to name a few. Blogging has also opened many doors for me professionally including writing for edsocialmedia.com and admissionsquest.com.
For me though, these connections have been a wonderful resource for information and knowledge. I feel that for every bit of information I'm able to share through my blog, I receive back two-fold. I never imagined the solitary act of writing my thoughts down and sharing them online would become such a rewarding experience in terms of interactions with other people.
3. To Create
A hugely rewarding by-product of blogging has been an increase in my creativity and writing. When I began blogging I decided that I would post every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. I have been pretty faithful with my blogging calendar but it hasn't been easy. The process of generating blog topics as well as finding time to write has been a struggle at times but I've found that by writing more frequently, and on a consistent basis, has me feeling more creative – and I like that feeling.
Why do I blog? I blog to share, to communicate, and to create. Those three acts are intertwined in my mind and ultimately help me find a sense of purpose. Why do you blog? Let me know in the comments section below.
photo credit: LoneWalkerNYC
