Do you feel like you’ve lost clarity around what it is that you’re trying to do with your blog?
I’ve recently bumped into a few bloggers grappling with this idea. Some were new, even ‘Pre’ Bloggers, while a couple had been blogging for a while but had lost some direction.
Out of these conversations, I put together a set of questions to help them think it through.
The questions revolve around asking:
What are YOU About?
While I won’t guarantee you instant clarity on answering these questions I hope that putting a little time aside to work through them might help – please let me know if they do!
- What interests do you have?
- What experiences (good and bad) have you had?
- What expertise and skills do you have?
- What are your passions?
- What gives you energy?
- What do you talk a lot about to friends?
- If you could write about anything – what would it be?
I’ve blogged on two different niches- entertainment and life hack, but I dropped out at last. Not because I dont really have things to post but because I dont have passion for those niches. When I opted in for technology niche, I felt the different. So, #4 is a question every blogger should answer first
The idea I have suffered this , I don’t know really where to start a Blog If I follow my passion, I think I am not going to earn as No one would be visiting that Blog.
If I go for my expertise Google is not going to approve my Blog. So No money .
If I just keep on writing what I want to , It is not going to help anyone. Out of sorts :) So would need a lot of help
I think it’s so important to figure out who you are as a blogger, not just to figure out what topic you’ll write about, but to guide you in HOW you approach the topic, how you approach your audience, etc.
For me, I decided one thing for sure when starting my blog- I would provide a place where people can come and feel uplifted, inspired, empowered, and encouraged.
Some people, who are into the ranting, raving, gossipping, and hard hitting analysis, don’t like that approach, but it’s who I have chosen to be as a blogger.
Great comment Sarah. The key is to know who you are and other matters will follow suit.
Checking out your blog now, we do share the same passion.
I found the post very timely because my blog has been going through an identity crisis. Most of the articles that I write are related in some way with the exception of my articles on martial arts. Martial arts is a big part of my life but it just does not flow with the other topics. After reading about how Darren started a photography blog, I decided to have another domain on my hosting account to separate the martial arts from the rest of the blog. I am about half way through with moving the articles. Hopefully, it will result in a better reader experience and more focused topics from me. Thanks for another helpful article.
This Article is very helpful for Bloggers. Most of bloggers don’t know how to go blogging and what actually is that. Now i am clear about Bloggers. Thanks admin for your nice article.
Simple, yet pertinent questions, Darren!
My new blog is, well, new and I have yet to address all of these question yet. I have clarity, but I feel uneasy about delivering the content. Since I am new, every other post is branching out and taking a risk as I share what I am all about.
The good thing about having a new blog is that the stakes are low, I may not have any readers, so I can experiment with revealing and discovering what I am about. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to do it again.
This is all because of unexpected changes that are happening in search engine number of bloggers are losing interest in blogging.Certainly it is very difficult to bring clarity to blogging these days.
Bloggers must know the topic that catches his/her interest and the interest of his audience. This can create a unique and killer content.
Thanks for the set of questions. :)
Simple and perfect! How often do we ask ourselves what we WANT to write about? Not often enough!
I asked myself these questions when I restarted my blog, they did wonders! My blog has a much clearer focus now.
Thanks admin for nice article.This article is very helpful for me.
I have educational background of finance and economics; practical experience of public relation; work exposure with environmental awareness, passion for journalism; always talk about motivation and leadership; never tired talking about success and money making; fondly read posts on blogging; this is me theoretically.
Practically I work in a niche website company and running multiple niche blogs.
hi Darren
quite interesting post never thought of a such post. i think among all the questions the most important ques,
that a blogger must ask to himself is about there interest and their passion this is because if you choose your niche according to your interest you will feel more comfortable in maintaining your blog and you will take the blogging as play but wrong choice of niche can put burden on you so what i suggest is that before entering in blogging everyone should go through ask these questions to himself, it will help them.
Interesting questions. I like the “What gives you energy?” part. Never thought of it that way. Thanks!
The old saying goes “think before you leap”, it is true to know your passion or niche so composing an article would be easy and smooth. You will not beat around the bush and go directly to the point.
Nice post
Great questions for me to ponder at lunch. My blog hit the crisis stage when I finally found a full-time job. My brain feels fried most days because of all the new stuff I am learning. Thanks for another great article.
Definition of a short but powerful blog post. Darren says more in a couple paragraphs than most say in a dozen.
Quick and to the point great article. Although I do not want to write about what I talk to my friends about. lol
I’ve been blogging on and off for about five years. I started my blog because I was passionate about my work, and because I had some expertise. But most important, is to capture the zeitgeist, and understand what people are most interested in at that moment. Of course, Darren is a huge expert but he didn’t need to be an expert to ask smart questions. So having an interest and willingness to learn and a passion for sharing your thoughts and experiences, I would say are critical for maintaining focus and enthusiasm for your blogging.
Perfect set of questions to be asked before starting blogging…… Choosing the right topic is extremely important as blogging is a continuous process and to create quality content for long period one needs to have strong knowledge on the subject….
“Passion” has become the most over-used and therefore meaningless word on the internet. But if I had to guess, the fundamental “passion” of most people who blog is simply the act of blogging — of expressing themselves, hoping that others will connect with their message. Or merely notice them.
This is such a fantastic post and something bloggers deal with regularly.
Whenever I feel a little lost with my blog – it could be about what to write, what projects to accept, how to promote my blog – I return back to why I’m blogging in the first place. Back to the moment that inspired me to change the course of my blog and made a huge difference in traffic, engagement, and sponsorship opportunities.
I just created a new blog and I ask myself this questions- and others…its very helpful to find a position.
Excellent post. I think that if any one knows that why they are blogging then they will get the answer of all of these methods.
The main thing is, If you have interest in blogging and your niche is according to your interest then you can get what you want and do it for long term. :)
Thanks
These are questions that should be answered before one starts blogging. The bulk of the problems that may contradict the initial plan is trying to understand your audience and match up with advancements.
Now, the question is supposing you blog about android and the value for android decreases,what will you do?
Thanks Darren for this important hint.
Finding your own USPs is the most relevant part when setting up a blog and in my opinion it doesn’t stop there. You have to do it over and over again to stay focused!
thanks for the insight!
Hey Darren !
This is nice list of questions, which one should ask himself. I must say that success of a person depends upon his passion. If he is not passionate about it then all would be in vain.
I really liked a question that “What do you talk a lot about to friends?” I usually talk about my niche to my friends. It means I should carry on it. I am also passionate about it.
Thanks for such an awesome post for guiding us.
Brian
It just really is about going back to where you’ve started.
I have forgotten all about me and why I started writing and blogging, in the first place.
I was too engrossed in trying to please my readers that sometimes my writing is not ” me ” anymore.
Thanks, this helped.
-Pier Angeli
Yeah, it just really is about, going back to where you’ve started.
I have forgotten all about ” me ” and why I started writing and blogging, in the first place.
I was too engrossed in trying to please my readers that sometimes my writing is not ” me ” anymore.
Thanks, this article helped.
-Pier Angeli
thanks for information.its helpful
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The one thing I have come to understand about blogging is that one must have passion for it first. Though at first the whole thing may seem not understanding to you as to whether you are doing it right, but with persistence studies and of course energy driven you get the clarity of where your blogging is heading.
In a nutshell, having passion is one thing and having a hungry niche (a niche that begs much question) is another thing.
Hi,
very simple but thoughtful questions. For me personally, inspiration plays a big part in my blogging experience. From every ten ideas I get, maybe two will be good enough for me to think further about and try and develop a meaningful post.
Thanks.
Enjoy what you do is important, it doesn’t make you feel tire and really happy to continue no matter how long you have been working on it but it’s different if you’re doing something you’re not enjoy.
Very insightful post Darren.
Thanks for sharing this. I now believe impacting posts is not really about the lenght ;)
This is really good. I have changed my website all around those questions. Now I feel I am going in the correct path. Thanks Darren.
Recently I changed and created my website basically to reflect these questions. Great post, thank heaps Darren, now I feel I am on the correct path.
Nice questions. Good for making you think. They didn’t bring “instant clarification” as you said, but they did reveal some other things :)
Thanks for the post. Blogging can be tiring at times. Giving up is so easy to do sometimes. Need to keep reminding myself what’s my passion and what gives me energy…
hmmm… that’s so very true. Passion is very much required to Succeed in blogging.
Thanks for this post & making the things more clear.
I am doing whatever I can to prepare myself to blog because I think it could end up being rewarding in a number of ways–mostly, fun.
It really didn’t take very long for me to conduct a first pass through the list and I found the doing of it to be an interesting exercise. Best ‘though, it feels like there is a world of potential material in my answers.
Thanks!
I think clarity comes in waves.
At times you write and it’s just perfect. Other times you look back on 4 recent posts and wonder what you were thinking.
But, most of boils down to going niche-narrow. If you start narrow, expanding gets easier. Everything makes more sense, because you had a strong founding idea.
Just my 2 cents, another good one Mr. Darren.
Nice post sir, for me personally, experience, inspiration & motivation plays a big part in my blogging experience.
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