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 to expose my views of technology to the world.
Haha, that was true for me too when I first started my seminar review blog.
I only had the idea to share what I learn from my seminar company (Success Resources), but when I found out that actually a lot of people are searching for the seminars or speakers, I change my approve.
I have not stop since.
It’s very fun to share what I learn from the speakers.
I started blogging, 3 years ago, while I was still working for a corporate company. My plan was to make ‘blogging’ a way of making a bit of income on the side and eventually give up the 9-5.
I started off in the personal development with a strong bias towards management, arena. That was my knowledge and expertise.
Four months ago, I gave up the corporate world and now ‘blogging’ and my on-line business is my sole income.
I still run the same personal development blog and have since branched out to share my experiences of blogging and help others build theirs.
Andrew
I started on my website tips blog is to remind myself and at the same time sharing what I know.
As there are a lot of people who wanted to start their business online, but do not know what to do when it comes to website or blog.
That is where I come in.
I started blogging for three very distinct reasons:
First, to add another voice and facilitate more discussion about the future of the music industry.
Second, to learn as much as possible and share what I have learnt.
And finally, to establish myself as a thought leader/futurist in the field.
I started blogging to build a tribe. As a classical guitarist, I have very little hope of becoming the “best in the world” as a performer. Which is okay. But I can certainly be better at all of my colleagues with marketing and networking.
I also think it’s important for someone that’s probably going to pursue a career in academia to connect with a larger community. That’s a powerful tool: lots of potential for recruiting really great students. Also, while tenure boards may not see the value in self-publishing right now, they will come around in the future.
I started blogging because I loved talking about and keeping track of the great deals I was getting. It was a fun way to share.
I started blogging to make money. I am mostly self-taught and one of the techniques I learned was that blogs are great ways of making money. “Just start a blog and you will rank well in the search engines” etc.
Ah the the optimisim of ignorance. Naturally I didn’t take long to find out that particular piece of information is misleading. It’s one of many steps, and still one of the reasons I help people today.
– Jeffery
I started blogging to share what I know about technology. I am not a geek in any manner, but I am just interested in reading technology related news. I simplify what I read and make it easy for laymen to understand after reading my view point.
For example I started http://www.freshome.com because I wanted to gather inspiration for a future home that I want to buy. I wasn’t sure how that home will look like, and that’s why I’ve started to search for inspiration, and post everything I liked on this blog. :)
I started my blog to allow the visitors to post and share their goals as I think my visitors are more important than me.
I was a very very lazy student and was always getting the least grades in the class, so I needed some motivation/inspiration to make me study more and increase my grades.
I searched all over the internet but found nothing good enough to motivate me to study more harder and smarter, so I decided to start a journal and write down my ups and downs and how how I can overcome them, I thought it would be lovely to have a website for it so I started to search for a website template that would make it easier for me to write and publish, I searched on google and got to one website that offers vast templates so I wrote a letter to the admin and asked him if they have any template suitable for just writing and posting so as to be able to share my thought online to other lazy students that would love to know how I overcame my laziness and got to the top within 1 year.
That website admin knew what I needed, and he introduced me to blogging and few blog platforms, I went ahead and searched for a free platform and better platform, and there it was “WordPress”.
That’s how it all started, I knew nothing much about online stuffs few years ago but I can tell you I am fully charged now.
To fulfill a desire to engage, communicate and share.
Well, being the most interesting man in the world and all, people wanted to read about my impressive life and ways and of course I couldn’t say no to my beloved fans.
But really it’s to get some fame, glory, help some people, make some money, and just get my thoughts out to the world and hopefully help me sell anything in the future.
I started blogging for two reasons. First to get my photography skills ‘out there’ and get more well known. Also, to keep in touch with other photographers and get advice from them. Since starting last week, I’ve grown a nice little following as well as over 300 fans on facebook and several job offerings. So far my blog has been a real asset to my photography business.
I too Started this blog, to let people know what is the exact way of blogging.
I have spent more than two years. and I know that whats works what not and what can kill your blog.
Problogger.Net has been great medium for learning.
It was pretty much just curiosity with me. After I found out what exactly a blog was and the potential it could have I wondered why I was even attending college if this was out there. So I guess the motivation started out with money but at the same time successful bloggers I learned from advised to blog about something you’re passionate about or else consistent content would be a problem. So I started a free blog on blogger then i moved to wordpress and here I am. So at first it was just curiosity to see if I could really make any money talking about something I was interested in.
I started blogging just July this year. i am doing this only for Earning.
Shajib
http://www.ebooksdock.co.cc/
I started blogging because I wanted writing about my experience and others things which i wanted to share with people.
P. S. Corry for my english. I am from Russia.
Hi from Sankt-Peterburg.
Hi Darren,
Well, although I’ve been keeping an eye on blogs for a few years, it’s just now that I’ll be kicking off two blogs (a WordPress focused blog and another one on email marketing).
My reasons are:
1. For the WordPress one: mainly for making money while sharing WordPress themes and techniques I come across
2. Email marketing: I’ve been in this field for 3 years now, and it’s one of my passions. Of course I’ll try and monetize it, but that’s not the main focus here. I just want to share what I’ve learned in 3 years, keep an online archive of my knowledge and also prepare the road for my biggest dream: an email marketing agency.
Best wishes,
Cosmin.
Just started July of this year. I love leadership and teaching. I find it a venue to establish a platform, build a network and teach. I’m still learning a lot and feel overwhelmed at times. Your site has a been a tremendous help and I’m going through your book (31 days…) right now.
I started blogging when I saw Shoemoney’s adsense check a few years back and I knew at that time that there are money to be made on the internet.
It kinda inspired mr to start blogging..lol
Thanks Jeremy !
I started blogging, 3 months ago with the home to make money but now I am blogging for fun.
The first blog (that I can remember any ways) was to keep in contact with clients and others in the holistic field. It was my what’s new page.
I blog on different sites for various reasons. Here’s two:
My Opinionated Ant blog is a bit helter skelter and I do it to amuse myself and my imaginary mutant ant who was born out of a lack of sleep. On nights I’m working and extraordinarily tired I still write out Eliza Leigh stories to stay alert and amused.
Another one which I just started is to track my first NaNoWriMo experience and later all things books.
Interested to see what others reasons are.
Maybe I’m one of the few, but I started blogging for fun. A lot of my friends had personal blogs, but I didn’t feel like writing about me, so I thought I’d write about books: what I read, what I want to read. Reading is my major hobby, and I’ve had fun blogging about it.
I started blogging just over 2 years ago, spurred by other blogs in my chosen niche, World of Warcraft. My desire to blog was fueled by my enjoyment of writing, and to share with others.
Since then, my focus has shifted away from the game world and more towards the personal, with an emphasis on technology. While I am an Amazon Associate, I’ve only just started that venture; I’m financially secure in retirement, so making money from blogging is not an objective (not that I’m opposed, of course!).
I’m still searching for my “niche” – as somewhat of a perfectionist, but one who is easily distracted, my biggest issue right now is staying focused on one area, and doing it justice.
I’ve been blogging for 3 months because I like the topic about Home Business (Make Money Online). I ever did a mistake by believing some scam websites and lost some money. So I decided to do nothing and don’t believe in Home Business. However I found that some people can make money online by blogging so I change my mind to do it until now.
I started blogging to answer questions! As a mom of se7en smallish kids I get heaps of questions wherever we go… and I wanted to say: “Read my blog” rather than taking ten hours to run every errand! I kept putting off beginning because I thought it would be so hard to be perfect!!! Turns out you just have to be yourself! After getting over the first post hurdle I haven’t looked back and just love it everyday… I have hardly ever said “read my blog” to anyone but quite a lot of folk stop us and say “We read your blog!” It’s a mad mad world we live in!
My first blog (KuyaKevin.com) was started as a way to connect with students I was meeting–I wanted to offer devotional thoughts, etc to people I may not be able to see again personally.
That’s a good reason to start blogging!
I started blogging because i wanted to share my knowledge with the world!
I started blogging because it was recommended by a business network that I belong to. When I started 3 years ago, I had no guidance and blogged about kids, food, coffee, faith and my products. THEN I read your book four months ago, changed my blog and watched my sales skyrocket! I get 41% of my business from my blog thanks to reading your book and implementing the ideas. I started a second blog for Bible Study, and in 6 weeks that blog had 10,000 readers. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Blogging was the best decision I ever made…once I learned how to do it effectively!
Old Blog: http://www.lifeversejewelry.blogspot.com
New Blog: http://lifeverseblog.com
Bible Study: http://womensbiblestudy.com
Thanks for inspiring me, with Gratitude- Christine
I kicked off my blog as a passion project. About a year ago I took a break from my work as an entertainment reporter and critic to attend grad school. During that time I started feeling the need to write entertainment opinion pieces again. Hence, SofaSnark.com.
I started blogging as a method of building websites nearly 5 years ago. I have done both free and self hosted, wordpress, blog.com, and blogger.com platforms.
Blogs that have a focus seem to be a lot easier to do than blogs that have very wide berth. My current blog were I am focusing most of my energy is in the travel niche, and does seem to be progressing much better than my Online marketing blog.
Correction:
http://womensbiblecafe.com
I initially started aphotoassistant.com to market my business, but quickly realized that I could create a community around the blog for others to participate in and share their experience, just as Darren pointed out. Any other blog I found specifically on photo assisting seemed to have been left for dead on the roadside, with few posts made consistently and lacking much personality. It is hard to stay on top of it, but the more I focus on it the easier it gets. Now, I have found other topics to start blogging on and see more possibilities to generate more interest and perhaps advertising dollars. We’ll see….
Now maximum COMMON people starts blog as to earn money and celebrity starts blogging to tell their fan what they have ate on lunch and what they are going to eat in dinner.
So basically this is for three purpose –
Money
Express yourself
Update your fans
I started my blog (a month + old) in hope i can someday escape 9-5. But overtime, which is also very recent, i start to really enjoy sharing my thoughts on the subject of personal development, the topic in which I’m blogging about.
I picked the niche because i am comfortable with the subject. i have interest in it since a very young age. And i’m a sort of nonconformist, which makes it even more interesting for me to write.
And i absolutely love the feeling of being an entrepreneur. Blogging gave me that feeling even though I’m not making any money yet.
One of the reson to start my blog is inspirations i got from reading your blog. An my zeal to start something on my own.
:)
I just checked out your photo blog and I think it is really well designed. Are the cameras linked to your Amazon affiliate?
Well I started because I am the type of person who likes sharing any information I have. It was not for money.
Blogging has helped me in my studies. I never used to take notes before. I now do because I publish some of my notes of my studies. Besides helping myself, it also helps others.
This provides me with a sense of satisfaction that no money can offer.
I started blogging when I found Active Rain and it was so easy. After hearing for 2 years “you should be blogging” I do it to make connections, reach a potentially unreachable audience, relay information and tory others know Bout me and my world. I wish I had started 5 years ago instead of 4.
Here’s my answer: To acknowledge the things I need to change or heal and to share my heart.
I started this blog mainly with the intent of showcasing the art of friends in groups I belonged to. I was also interested in how well a blog with very few words would do! (I’m not much of a writer.)
Its not intended primarily as a money making venture (which is just as well, since it isn’t) but it does from time to time result in sales for the artists whose work is shown
First, frustration. After an initial frustration with people in our topic area, we decided to make it better by starting a blog.
Second, our blog started out initially as an idea for a book. But the media landscape has changed, and the best format to get our ideas out there is blogging.
I’m an english major, have always dreamed of being a writer, and blogging opens the doors to that.
I started blogging to connect with folks across the web who share the same interests as me. (I don’t meet too many people in my small town that are as passionate about crafting as I am.) There’s also the ease of blogging at 3am, and the encouragement of getting a comment or email from a like-minded person on the web that keeps me inspired.
For everyone above (I think all but Alex Blackwell) that started with a goal and a purpose (make money, communicate with clients, help others, …) have you met your goals? Has your blog fulfilled your objective.
I started blogging before everyone was blogging for money. I started simply because I was depressed and wanted an outlet to vent. I didn’t care if anyone read it because it was for me. I reveled in the anonymity…until I got outed. At that point I was a magnet for oddities found on the Internet so I continued blogging personally but decided to post tidbits of funny or informative links. Today I sprinkle in politics, humor and tech but my blog is still a personal journal open to the public.
Simply put: I blog for prosperity. http://realityme.net/about/why-i-blog/
Back in 2007, I wanted to start some kind of online project for myself. I was a Flash developer and was loving the new web 2.0 movement that was just starting up and wanted to be a part of that.
I had just recently learned about Twitter and Virb.com and was trying to think up ideas about what to create. I did a google search for the keywords SEO optimization because I knew whatever I started, I needed people to find it easy. That’s when I discovered ProBlogger.net :)
Anyways, at the end of May 2007, StarCraft 2 was announced! I played the original Starcraft competitively back in the day, it was almost a 10 year old game and all Starcraft gamers have been waiting for the sequel to come out. That’s when I decided to start a blog about StarCraft 2, 1) because it was a passion of mine and 2) I figured I could make a little money on the side via google ads. I’ve come to learn now that google ads suck, at least for my type of blog.
In the past 3 years I’ve grown the blog from nothing, to being one of the most, if not the most recognized blog about StarCraft 2. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without reading Problogger.net religiously for the first year to get started… I’ve gone through a lot of different stages in a bloggers life, but there is still room to grow, and the game isn’t even out yet! :)
i started learning html almost 15 years ago when i first got the internet at home. blogging is just a way to continue learning more in that direction.
I started just as a place to share my pictures and random thoughts with family and friends (and to share interesting articles with them as well).
But since then it’s evolved into a full-time business blogging about all kinds of different topics and niches and even turning my blogs into leverage for some of the things I’m selling.
But it all started as a place to share my “art” with anybody who cared to look and listen.
Hey everybody.
I started blogging with the only purpose of getting new referrals for my PTC sites. Soon, I realised that blogging had become a world wide business and not just personal pages letting others know what you like and do in life. I decided to give it a goal and I’ve become absolutely passionate for blogging. I’m not making any real money yet, but I love blogging and sharing with others what I’ve learned so far. I think that should be the main purpose and concern for starters. Evertyhing else just comes along with hard work.
Best of luck and sucess for everyone.