Every blogger has different motivations, but the interviews we completed as we developed Blog Wise showed how important it is to know what your motivations actually are.
The bloggers we spoke to listed a range of motivations.
The first was community and audience. Darren told us he’s motivated when he sees the community here at ProBlogger getting energy from his ideas. He’s motivated even further when he gets energy back from you guys.
Amy Porterfield’s motivated when she hears about the results her readers have achieved using her advice. And Heather’s dooce.com motivated by providing a place for her readers to form firm friendships.
Another key motivation for the bloggers we met was their blog’s topic.
Gretchen Rubin, of The Happiness Project, said, “The more I think about happiness, and the more I learn about it, the more intrigued I am, the more fascinated I am, and the more directions it seems to lead in.”
She sees that motivation as a key to actually producing a consistent, lasting blogging presence: “The deeper I go into it, the bigger it gets,” she noted.
Anther key motivation was a sense of contribution. Leo Babauta of Zen Habits explained that he’s motivated by his desire to do meaningful work, to enjoy his life, and to question established perceptions.
“All the truths that we believe in as a culture and as a society—none of those are necessarily true,” he commented. “So you have to question them and test them. This is why I do experiments,” he added. Like Gretchen’s approach, Leo’s motives contribute to his very productive creative strategy.
One thing that really stood out about these bloggers is that, in each case, understanding their motivations has allowed each person to set priorities and directions for their blogging work—and to pursue something they love.
It’s your turn: what’s your blogging motivation? How do your motives help you get your work done? Tell us in the comments.
Tomorrow: planning for productivity.
My blogging motivation is to take struggles in life and turn them into victories. Some of what I write about are struggles that are now victories for me, and some topics are ones I’m still struggling with toward victory. By being deliberate, intentional and curious, by pursuing simplicity and balance, and by striving to age gracefully, struggle will lead to victory. My blogging takes everyday life moments and events and looks at them through the struggle to victory lense. God does not exist only in the big events and decisions of life; He is present and active even in the small details of our lives. The more we look for Him, the more we will see Him, and this is the main drive behind my blogging. I want to help others see God in every aspect of their lives down to the smallest detail. Another key aspect with my blogging is that small changes add up to make a big difference. I never want to forget that the little changes made are stepping stones to significant growth. Our struggles are moved along by these changes, which add up to create our victories.
I am passionate about why I write, and because my motives are beyond myself, they help me to get done what I feel led to do.
Hi Georgina,
I am driven to impact as many lives as possible.
In a positive way, of course ;) Really, I just want to inspire people to do more, have more, be more. I know what it’s liked to enter the online world with zero experience. I flipped out 1 day after starting my gifting gig; I had no idea what I was getting into, as I allowed myself to be swept into the opportunity.
3 and a half years later I feel blessed to experience what I’ve went through. I had many difficult times, financially, etc, but I kept going. This gig has taught me to persist like hell, because when you persist, good things happen. Knowing this, I am motivated to help people with similar struggles prosper online.
Making a difference, helping people achieve financial freedom and blast through barriers, this idea inspires me.
Thanks Georgina!
Ryan
Georgina
my motivation for blogging is to help other marketers by teaching them the best and most effective ways to market their online business.
My motivation is readers contacting me to say they followed the steps on my blog and it worked. They always sound so surprised that they managed it. It being anything from transferring blog content, to setting up a Facebook fan page.
I think I also share Leo’s motivation of contribution. I know how to do all the things I post on my blog, and I find it easy. Why shouldn’t I take a little of my time and show others how to do it to?
I’m really enjoying this series so far. I also found the book to be well worth the money I paid for it. I’ve read it twice already and have taken about 6 pages of noces!
Rosemary, so glad you’re enjoying the series and the ebook! Thanks for sharing your motivations—helping others in a concrete way is my motivation too :)
I think my top motivation is comments from my readers. Not only is this a ‘pat on the back’ but they give me insight of what they’re interested in reading at my blog. This is crutial for me seeing that I cover several topics.
I’m with Dooce what motivates me is putting food on the table. That said, I enjoy the process of getting my thoughts out of my head and into the blogosphere to sort them out. It comes in fits however, but usually I’m not lacking in motivation. Finding something to write about is a different story.
My primary motivation is to learn more about my topic: you learn more while teaching. The second motivation is to produce content that helps other programmers in their projects.
Knowing your motivation helps to stay in track.
Nice post!
A growing readership. Everything else flows from that.
My motivation is mostly to help others be successful. When someone sends me an email or a note on Facebook about how an article I wrote helped them, it really makes you feel good. It also helps me get more clients, which is great. :-)
A secondary motivation is similar to what Carlos mentioned. Learning more about your topics, by digging further into the material to assist your readers. This is both fun and informative when you enjoy your topics.
Oprah says the same thing…..everything has an intention behind it….why should blogging be any different? :)
My motivation is to see my articles shared and tweeted in many social media platforms, and I also appreciate that people taking their time to read my work and give me feedback.
I have a question though, which is off the topic: how can I get an avatar or my photo up in the comment section?
Have you signed up with Gravatar.com? That’s how I get a consistent image of myself to show up wherever I comment.
Thank you Kimberly! I’m going to sign up with Gravatar now =)
Isn’t exciting to see like minded people kindly discuss and share their thoughts here?!! … This could be another motivation!
My motivation is knowing that the tips I give out are helping people to reach health, fitness, and success on a daily basis. I feel that extra pump of motivation when I hear from my viewers and readers that what I posted has helped changed their life, even if only a little bit.
My motivation has always been to share what I’m learning about photography, blogging, and now raising dogs. I want to build a community with people who share my same passions. And I want to do turn this into a full time business.
My motivations are
(1)Hoping that the information I provide helps others in someway(whether tech issues or motivational lifts).
(2) Gaining for visitors to my site, and the more return visits the better.
(3). Money.
And to be quite honest, I think most people who have put a lot of time and effort into their sites, would not deny that there are also motivations towards making money.
It’s nice to write informative, helpful posts, though, to do this over a prolonged period without a reasonable amount of fiscal rewards, does seem a little pointless.
Ditto on all three counts. Well put, Daniel.
I have two blogs, one is for a new direction, but my original is for people to relate to… and perhaps find a meaning within for themselves. The money part is under construction!
My motivation is to pay it forward by teaching others how I have managed to earn great passive income through real estate rental properties. Also how I have managed to almost become financially independent.
If someone else can earn a living off of it, then I know I did my part to help others :)
My motivation to write about creative, flexible work options strategies is to show hard-working professionals that a better blend of work and life is possible for THEM. Also, to motivate them to ASK for the flexible work option they need at their job for a better home life, health, relationships, and all that makes life meaningful beyond 9 – 5. Ultimately, it’s about sharing a better way to live, even as we have to make a living.
I like it, Pat :) Being able to empower others presents great opportunities!
I started my blog because so many people I spoke to in real life asked for information about how I earn a living and how they could do it too. It made more sense to write it once and give out the url than to keep repeating myself!
I completely agree with this, my blog started out as a way to save time in my life explaining things in forums.
I started my blog because so many people I spoke to in real life asked for information about how I earn a living and how they could do it too. It made more sense to write it once and give out the url than to keep repeating myself!
Interesting post Georgina,
My motivation is to encourage people do better blogging the easy ways. A lot of positive thing we can do from our blog and the best ways is to make our own passive income or for some people make a living from a blog. I believe every bloggers actually have that potential but not many know it how to realize it.
Why the easy ways? At my first time blogging I was not a tech savvy and that was my number one obstacle back then. That’s why I would like to show “the easy way” do better blogging so other can do the same. My experiences told me that there were alternative ways we can do better blogging than just a tech related matters
Thanks for your post
Always tell other internet marketers whatever you know so that it can also help them make a better living with their blog.
What motivates me is taking a slice from myself to patch up another person’s soul. My blog has gone from nothing to being read in over ten countries in about a year or so. I cannot describe how that makes me feel. It just proves that each one of us does have a unique experience to share. Every human being is looking for someone who may be sharing a similar struggle or fascination with them. When I receive a random email thanking me, it grabs me from the middle of my gut. I just really love it. This motivates me to no end. As I find more ways to give, create, explore, and discover, I become more motivated. Life is shining for me right now even with all of the challenges.
What a beautiful, heartfelt comment Chase :) And a good one to which to refer bloggers who say they have no motivation, or that making money is the only thing that’s important ;)
My motivations are education/relationship first. I blog to keep sharp. Business is always secondary – at least in my head.
I am so thankful for blogging, I gave up my dreams of becoming a writer and blogging has helped me to recapute my dreams. Now I aspire to empower and educate others to follow their dreams.
Its hard to motivate yourself at times. I have this stupid thought:
“this will never work, everyone else is just lucky”
My motivation is to be able to blog about things I love and make an earning from it so I can spend more time doing things I love and spend more time with my family and friends.
My motivation for blogging is to demystify sewing and inspire other people to start making their own clothes.
I believe that making things with your hands, rediscovering your creativity, can have a huge impact on individual sense of agency and can boost happiness and well-being. A longer term effect of making your own clothes is the impact it can have on people’s interaction to the world – social, through feeling a stronger connection to the world by understanding how things are made and feeling like you have the power to do things yourself; ethical, by discouraging consumption of clothing made in sweatshops; and environmental, by giving longer life to the clothes you already have and sending less fast fashion to landfill.
My primary focus is on the first part – the effect making things has on the individual – and I believe the second can follow naturally.
I love when I share a tip or a project tutorial and hear feedback from my readers who have tried it. I enjoy when they share not only what they liked about my post, but what they didn’t like. I want to hear where they ran into trouble, where my direction’s weren’t clear, and when they ask me questions. It gives me a chance to interact with them directly, and helps me improve my future posts.