In the last post on ProBlogger Kevin talked about starting a blog based upon one of your hobbies as a great way to start blogging.
As I mentioned in the introduction to that post – Kevin had really described much of my own motivations for starting my photography blog (and that of many many other successful blogs). While I did see an opportunity for profit in that blog when I started it – my main motivation for kicking it off was to share what I was learning about photography and to see if I could draw others with a similar interest together to learn from one another.
For me I always wanted to see if I could make some money from that blog – but early on it wasn’t the biggest motivation. Over the years as the blog has grown and become more profitable I suspect my motivations have changed a little – I’m still interested in the topic – but it’s certainly more of a focus to make it profitable.
Of course starting a blog on a topic you’re interested in or passionate about is not the only way – many successful bloggers have started blogs with other motivations – including to make money, to grow their profile, to drive traffic to their business etc…. (or some combination of motivations).
Why Did You Start Blogging?
Yesterdays post has got me thinking – why DO people start blogs? Has the motivation changed from a few years back when blogs first began to get popular (when I started 7 years ago most people seemed to be doing it purely for fun and to make connections)?
I’d be interested to hear about your initial motivations to starting a blog? Did you start on a topic you were interested in? Did you start with the idea of making money? Was there some other motivation/s? Also – have your motivations changed since starting your blog?
Interested to hear your thoughts!
i started blogging because it makes me feel better
i started blogging to share all my ideas and have friends around the world
Hi,
I started blogging to do something for myself.
The energy I have when blogging is something one can’t describe.
My blogging moto “Blog for yourself and money will come later”
Shay
http://placeforbloggers.com
I started blogging because we changed the website of the association I am currently president of and decided to go for a blog because it is more interactive (shouldn’t an association be willing to generate interaction?) and also easier to manage (we don’t need a webmaster anymore).
I am now studying and reading and thinking a lot because I’d love to launch my own blog sharing knowledge and writing about my job and business (management consulting).
In this specific case if the question is “Why would you start blogging?” the answers are:
a) because thanks to PWA’s blog I discovered that I enjoy writing a blog
b) because I want to grow my profile as an experienced and reliable consultant
Thanks for all the tips and great thoughts, they help a lot beginners like me!
Blogging is a passion, a kind of Kerouac-like On The Screen so to speak thang. I live in Germany and cultural and global perspective to me can only be done via internet.
So I started a blog about my love for basketball. I cover my home town of Phoenix Hagen, the German national hoops as well as news, stats and trivia from NBA and NCAA. I hope to reach out to some US bloggers and learn from their craft. The free communication and media levels there are awesome and inspiring. Keep it blog ;)
I started blogging because of my passion for writing and never in my wildest dream would I see that it has grown to the industry that we now know of :)
I started blogging the first time to show what I was doing online to make money, and to help others. I think that was a mistake, because my blog became bogged down with a lot of information, and no real personality.
I started a new blog just a few months ago. I started this one to also show others what I am doing online, but now, I focus a little on networking, and giving a little glimpse into the life that I lead on my way from welfare to wealth. I try my best to break up the information that I know people will need with little tidbits of my life. Its a little difficult, because I’m not used to sharing with so many people. But I know that its better than solely being information, because the number of readers to this blog have surpassed the other almost immediately.
I plan to buy the “31 days to a better blog” soon, but for now I will continue to follow this blog. It has really given me great insight on what I should do in order to have a truly effective blog.
to tell the truth, i could go on about how i had this message to get out to the world, but it’s not really, honestly the case…
i started blogging because i have a strong obsessive streak, and it just so happened that i discovered blogging around the same time my other obsessions were waning.
i keep blogging because of the diverse skills needed keeps me on my toes.
i blog because i want to make money from it. I know many people has a skeptic view about making money from blogging, but i want to prove that it’s so worth it to make money from blog, although it’s not easy….
It was somewhat of an impulse. I did have a free webpage hosting and they went down. I wanted to have something else so I tried a blog. The first try was in English and even though I read a lot English it was really hard so I started one in Norwegian a few months ago.
I want to write about things that interests me, and that I can’t find much information about. If it turns into something I can earn money from later, that is just great.
It all began when I decided to learn a new topic in a field of design and and started to collect useful info.
After a whileI’ve realised that the amount of unorganised info I’ve collected became impossible to use, and that I could find nothing in these lists.
I’ve decided to create a blog where I would put the important pieces of that info so it would be easy for me to find in one place and that it might help other people too in someway.
With some experience came the will to share the knowledge with others.
i started blogging just to show my feeings that i couldn’t said it out and share my life to friends which had no longer seen since we aparted.
Hey, fantastic article! Its always great to see someone spend time writing a qualitypost.,
i started blogging to share my thoughts about romance. I want to create a more romantic world.