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!
It was December of 2008. Yuletide season is a cruel month for unattached, lonely people. I was kinda lonely so I started blogging. Well, what do I know, the first months of blogging is even lonelier – I had no reader. There’s only one voice I heard on my blog – and that’s me.
Nine months later – I’m very thankful I’ve persevered. I have lots of blogging buddies many of whom I have met already. And now I have readers, too.
December is fast coming up. Will it be lonely again? Maybe not. My blog has now evolved to something else. And if ever I’d be lonely again, I’m better equipped now in handling it. Blogging – writing it down – taught me all that. :)
I started blogging because I had so much to say about my art and how it related to the experiences of my life, mostly my travel experiences which I love to talk about, that I needed an outlet. Not too many people stay still long enough to listen to all the stories I have to tell. By blogging, I can tell the experiences, relate them to my art, share my images and photographs and the viewer can see them and read them at his/her convenience.
It is working for me, except I am not suure howmany people are actually reading the blog. I get emails from fridns once in a while, but not too often. I would like more people to be reading it truly.
I started my blog because of my love for books. It’s turning out to have some good side benefits besides the (tiny) amount of money it’s making though.
Writing up the reviews makes me think a bit more about the books I’m reading. And, the blog has made me branch out in my reading, finding books I wouldn’t normally have read. Yes, making money was a motivation, but as long as it’s fun, that’s not the main point.
I needed somewhere to track my progress as I needed to lose some weight, started on blogger and went from there. My motivation is different now as I want to earn from it one day but overall I still enjoy educating people about health.
At firs, I started blogging (on BlogSpot) just to leave an online mark of my existence. I actually planned to leave my blog and not updating it regularly, then I would wait for a few years then visit it and say “Oh I wrote this a few years ago” and smile.
But then I started to like it. I felt satisfied when I wrote something on my blog and people reading it. Then I started to make a few dollars from blogging then I became more and more interested in blogging.
Now I’m learning to be a professional blogger and try to make it a full time profession of mine by learning, hard-working, and persistence.
Hi,Darren. If you ask me why I landed on this blogging planet, maybe I could blame my being unemployed as the culprit. I taught English, part time, at a local university. And the salary was nearly sufficient just to keep me well-fed, seriously. The salary was paid on a very IRregular basis. Since I worked as a unofficial part time tutor there, I naturally didn’t have any legal ground to make complaints or legal actions on that (Poor me..). Then I decided to bid farewell to the institution, for good.
Now that I’m jobless, I’ve got more time to get online. I read lots of blogs offering making money online. It did spark off my curiosity. Can I get some, oh no..MUCH, VERY MUCH real cash from blogging?
So, to be short, the first time I voluntarily involved myself in blogging, it was entirely because of cash. Last month, I started blogging, using any free resources I can get in the Internet. I don’t have a domain, hosting, or any things a pro blogger has to have. But who cares, at least I do something.
But then I realized I’ve got to have something to offer, something different that makes people stay on my blog. But how? I was technically miserable, now and then. I’m still as blind as before when it comes to HTML editing or things like that. Then I knew I should write what I really know, and as I love English language and literature, I thought it was a cool idea to build a blog on those topics. As time went by, I learned blogging in English would be quite an advantage, financially! Though I’m not living in an English speaking country, but I learn it for years. You know, it’s about Google Adsense people always buzz on the Internet comment boxes and posts. Learning this, I blog more actively on my Blogger ones and leave my WordPress blogs because I was informed it’s harder to monetize our WP blog.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to find the reliable source of blog learning and real mentor. There’re millions blogs out there offering tips,e-books either free or not. Confusion arises, and I find myself helpless in the jungle of blogging. But I’m lucky enough to find several gurus (like you, Darren!-I’m not flattering) to guide me. Sadly I have no credit card to order your e-books, 31 days to be a better blogger. But after I get a job, I’ll have it and grab your e-books ASAP.
I started Earsucker (my music blog) because I wanted to be read about a topic that I care about. Along the way, I figured it would make some money, but it’s really cool that I can make a few bucks sharing my opinions about the music I love (and hate)…
I started blogging because I wanted a way to reach out and share my talents in the online dating world with geeks who weren’t so good at it.
I have a dual-niche blog, so other than the Geek Love stuff, my assistant and I also post about all manner of things Geek Life – RPGs, movies, sci-fi, etc etc.
It’s been a year and a half and I’m totally loving what my blog and business have grown into… and looking forward to growing even more in the future!
I started blogging because I like to write, I like to share what I know about money and finance, and because I like instant gratification! When I write a blog post I know it will be published!
Even though I write about money and finance topics, I don’t expect to earn a living through my blogs. My “work” is in the offline world, that way my blogging is my fun and my passion.
I started blogging 5 years ago to keep an online journal about what it was like to have cancer, what my treatments were like, what I was feeling during the process, how I was coping with a terminal illness. It was just a natural progression to move my handwritten journal to the online format.
As I got through my 1st & 2nd surgeries, three different treatments, a period of being ‘normal’ and then had a relapse and more treatment and another surgery, the blog changed. I was writing less about my direct experiences with cancer and more about living with cancer and through cancer and other things like dog-training and camping which I enjoy and which IMO make living worthwhile.
At some point I started to get subscribers and comments, and I decided I wanted to get better at blogging. I took your 31 Days BBB challenge, Darren. I decided to move my blog to a new platform so I’d have more flexibility. I went from a free Blogger blog to a free WordPress blog (haven’t made the leap to my own doman and site yet.) I needed a blog project for a writing course, so I did some informal research to find out which of my hobbies might fill a niche in blogging, and actually found two areas where I thought my writing would work.
Turns out that dog training (about which I’m both passionate and experienced) and canning/preserving (which I enjoy and am good at) were both comfortable niches in which I could start smaller blogs that were offshoots of my main blog. Kitchen Jam: Improv with Food has been live for a month, and with the help of food bloggers on Twitter, I’m having a lot of fun pushing my skills in a niche where pictures are a big part of that type of blogging (just what I needed–an excuse for a new camera.) I write KJ for the photography challenges, but I write Dog Trainer’s Log just for me (I think). I started it by reworking some of the dog-related posts in LOL, and am adding to it as an online training log for my senior dog and my 7 y.o. agilty/obedience dog.
LOL is about survivorship, and sometimes needs to be pretty scientific and link-heavy. KJ is just about me having fun in the kitchen with prerserving and with my new camera. DTL is about working the kinks out of my dogs’ lives and performances, and I haven’t decided if I’m going to let it get serious about training philosophy. I could stay focused on my current dogs’ lives and training logs and like it just as much, so I’ll see how it evolves.
In any case, I like the challenge of blogging on different topics and to different audiences. I’m at the point where developing new ideas and posting 2-3 times/week is still addicting, and I keep blogging because I like that fix!
I started ILovePhotoblogs back in 2008 due to my passion for photography. The idea of monetizing this site was never a motivating factor, I was just looking for a way to showcase photographers on one site. I have never given enough time or thought into SEO to really grow my traffic, however, I mainly enjoy conversing with other photographers. Maybe I will get serious about SEO, link building and creating/selling information material. Best of luck to those already making a living through blogging! This article may provide the motivation I need to get to the next level.
I actually just posted 25 reasons a few days ago as to why I started a blog and why I keep going
We started blogging to stay in touch. We lived room by room in college and after finishing we went back to our different branches of service in the german armed forces. Talking about politics and technical gadgets was our favourite way to procrastinate so we try to do this via blog and share our opinions.
Making money is not a goal at all.
My first foray into blogging was very personal – it was an outlet for me. I had just placed my mother into a nursing home after trying to manager her early onset Alzheimer’s disease for more than six years. I needed a place to write about the effects of Alzheimer’s on a family and offer some advice to others.
From there I started blogging about family memories and history and found an entire group of blogger who also blogged about their own genealogy research and family history.
Blogging really got me through a very difficult time in my life.
The motivation for my first blog was to keep friends and family at home abreast of my travel plans. When I decided to plan another around the world trip I decided I needed a blog with a bigger scope, I want to encourage other young people that travel is a valid and viable life choice. Eventually I’d like to monetize, but just a couple months in I’m happy just to get the message out.
I started blogging on myspace — usually about the wacky things I’d be doing for my job as a runner in Hollywood, — but then started up my actual blog ( ScriptXRay ) to record what I was learning about screenwriting.
I only recently discovered Darren’s work here and realized I could probably pull in a few bucks for coffee due to the others in my niche interested in screenwriting.
The main reason I started a blog was to see what it was like to do it, and frankly, to build up my skill-set. Then, when I became laid off recently, one of my resolutions was to post three entries a week, whether I felt like it or not and whether I cared or not and whether I had anything interesting to say or not. (Some of you prolific bloggers might find this this 3x/week thing kind of funny.) I’d been a newspaper reporter, and this is slowly starting to feel more natural to me, and I’m slowly starting to find my “voice.”
The purpose of TheDebtHawk.com is to help people understand the impact debt will have on their lives.
At eighteen years of age in the United States, college kids across the United States and in many other countries are getting themselves in huge amounts of debt all for the purpose of getting an education.
Teenagers need to understand how this debt will affect them all their lives. Hopefully, The Debt Hawk will help people to stay out of debt or to help them to get out of debt if they made the same mistake as me.
I started my blog to teach. To share what I’ve learned over the past 30 years from trading options. It’s rewarding to get positive feedback. And that’s been my reward.
Now I’m working on monetizing the blog, and that’s more difficult – despite all the ideas I’ve taken from Problogger.
I started blogging over three years ago as a way to write consistently. I’ve always loved writing and wanted more opportunities. I was curious about the blogging thing and wanted to see what it was like.
Also it was a way to open myself to new possibilities by sending my dreams into the universe to manifest. It’s working!
My blog was initially a way to join in with the fitness/weight loss community in the shared struggle to escape obesity and develop a healthier way of living. An online support system, if you will. Having shed 100 pounds, I’m at goal now, but I continue blogging to share the “secrets” of my success, in hopes that they’ll enable others to achieve their own measures of success. Plus, it’s loads of fun.
I started the website for my own travel stories but it has now been restructured and republished with travel guides, tour ideas, vacation deals and personal travel stories. It’s been an interesting journey so far!
I started blogging a year and a half ago, to get more invovled in the online design /& freelance community — and i thought i’d be cool. :)
Interesting topic. I started my blog to practice my English skills for examination and it helped a lot. My next motivation was my interest in journalism, so blog for me was the only free way how could I practice it. Recently i also added new motivation to my list- blog to find new contacts from other countries.
I started my blog with the sole motivation of travelling more…luckily this is starting to bare fruit, getting to know more of my country and its tourists attractions. Making money is an additional motivation…along the journey I’ve also learnt that my blog is a vehicle to launch other complimentary blogs/portals as a result of traffic generated through this blog.
The first blog that I used for blogging in the true since was started because I wanted to write a book. I’d read on a writing blog that the best way to practice writing was to do it everyday. So I started my blog to keep me going, and set it as my homepage in Firefox so the date would remind me to write
I’m still not steady at it, but I’m getting there. My writing skills have improved immensely, as well as my communication skills. It’s like I can put things in order better. I now have plans to start two other blogs that are centered around hobbies.
I started blogging last year because I love writing. I wanted to share ideas with other moms and encourage them…I had a website in mind. then I found out about blogging and wordpress and I was so excited I could do all this for free! I love it!
Doing the 31DBBB thing made me think more clearly about what exactly I wanted from my blog, so my vision has grown a bit. I hope to have a ministry from this one day…but I started first and foremost because I just love to write.
I started my blog to work through my grandfather’s death and a family crisis. That time was so painful. I missed him so much. I write about how he would view current events in my life and the world from his front porch rocking chair perspective and raising my children in an ever changing political world. And I throw in pest control advice to round things out! The little blog that could…has a great following and has given many a smile, a nod, or cry.
Even mentioned on the Daily Show!
I started Geektrospective! (geektrospective.blogspot.com) to share my views and inform people about all things nerd. I started a second blog Chasing Wonder With Words (chasingwonderwithwords.blogspot.com) about two days ago to share my short fictions and other art based stuffs… Check ’em out!
I’m a (scary, rightwing) political blogger, so I started as a way to limit the screaming I did at the television. The evening news (war, terror bombings, government waste) was giving me what the Italians call “agita”, so I began blogging.
It’s a sick, codependent addiction. The agita didn’t go away, as i found myself learning more and reading more about the way the world works. My husband banned me from reading books about Jihad before bed. I spend thousands every year on conferences that I attend with the blog in mind.
Some time ago, Wendy (that was me) ceased to exist, and RightGirl (also me) took her place.
Blogging is like heroin. Once you get past the first taste, you’re hooked for life.
I love it, and would never give it up.
RG ~ The Artist Formerly Known As Wendy
I started with the intention of making money. I’ve made 1’s of dollars so far, but I haven’t shifted my focus to making money yet. I’m still trying to build authority. I’m not sure if my current topic the way it is will ever make me money, but I’m still trying to figure out what my audience wants and what I could blog forever about. For now the general focus is a family focused blog, but it could easily change if I came up with an idea that would work better.
I started to give my self a goal. I would post one photo a day for a year, write about the photo and a little about what I am doing. Two days ago I completed my goal and finished my first year. I will continue, but there will be some changes. I would now like to get into some affiliate marketing. Making money is something that never occured to me – maybe it will be something that can happen in the future!
I just didn’t have anything else.
I had lost my job. I had too much time and I was doing to little else. I had to do something to keep learning and challenging myself. Now I’m working again, and got my life moving in a little better direction. I don’t know how related that change is to blogging, but I think there is some correlation. Either way, I have become so enamored with it, it would be hard for me to stop.
I started blogging as another avenue for my affiliates. But then I found out that I adore blogging and that it was a great way to share information. So I turned my focus more in that direction. Now I have my own business and my own products but blogging is a big mainstay of all that.
I started blogging in 2006/2007 because I wanted to share my knowledge about NLP. There was (and is) no other blog in Dutch doing it.
I started to blog because I notice that blogging is the best medium to delivering something that you like to share with others.
Thats why I started http://www.pma2u.net. To empowers people and let them know that they can achieve their goals no matter what.
I started my blog with a view to building it into a business. My goal was to combine my purpose (helping people achieve dreams and live a kick arse life) with my passions (writing, being creative, giving back and having fun) and turn it into a business. Blogging was the perfect platform to do that.
When I first started Green and Chic, it was just to promote my products but it grew fast. Its not only about my web store. Actually, I rarely bring up the store though its connected to the blog.
When I first started, I hardly knew what a blog was aside from Live Journal!
I started blogging as a means of motivating myself to write, and hopefully improve my writing – writing is something I really enjoy once I’ve got a concrete reason to keep going. I’m also interested in how blogging and new media can (and can’t) work – so starting my own blog seemed the best way to explore that.
With retirement several years down the road, I began to consider what I would do during those years. I’ve never been the idle type, so I knew I needed something to do. No rocking chairs for me :-)
Since I’ve been using computers since 1980, I thought I would continue to use these skills and build an online business that would generate a decent income. I found blogging attractive because I can travel and continue to build my online biz.
What I’ve discovered is a wonderful way of life with blogging, social media networking and the day to day challenges of building a successful online enterprise.
Blogging requires a ton of commitment and drive, but I love every minute of it.
I just started mine this weekend, after a long time of telling myself I would start a blog. I have three reasons. The first is to stop my procrastination. The second is to give some ideas to people in the same situation as myself. The third is simply to tell the story of what I’m doing and where I’m going.
Hopefully it will be of some interest / help to someone.
http://mentalvortex.wordpress.com/
About five years ago, I turned to the internet to find other people who were successfully getting out of debt or managing their finances. It was a topic that I wanted to learn more about.
Now, that I am out of debt I have decided to share my story to help others. That is why I started to blog.
@ Akhlis
Wish you all the best, I found your story more sad and motivative. I think you should get a domain name and move away from .blogspot.com at least that should help you come little bit down to something around 2,000,000 from the 11,000,000 Alexa within 1 month of frequent posting,
And work more on your backlinks to help you rank well in google. you deserve to earn from your blog, you see just like me I am not spending much on my website and blog because earning is not about spending its about smartness. you may contact me for more clue. Hope you get to read this anyway ;).
I started blogging because I had something I wanted to say. Even if no one read my thoughts, I still wanted to voice them. I’m so happy to have started blogging, and I’m glad I jumped in!
A little bit about what I started blogging:
http://www.timetoembark.com/blog/?p=1
Still developing my voice, focus and getting comfortable with more than 140 characters.
Thanks for asking!
I started blogging because I was told I couldn’t talk about blogging unless I was doing it. What I thought would be a couple of weeks turned into 5+ years resulting in friends all over the globe and amazing opportunities.
Fame, fortune and a fast cars!
I started blogging because it was a great way to connect and with other, get feedback on posts and interact. Rather than a static website where the message goes one way, blogging has been an on-going conversation.
I started blogging as it was an easier way to keep people updated than updating a static website and then it became more of a personal journal to keep myself updated on how I was going and to test out political ideas and arguments.
I didn’t really think about gaining a readership then.
I started my first blog after moving from the US to Argentina as a way of overcoming homesickness and learning to appreciate my new home. I figured writing about the things I liked about Argentina would motivate me to find more nice things to share. It worked. Blogging inspired me to go more places, travel more around the country, and open my mind to the culture. It was a very positive experience. I’ve only recently started to blog about my other interests in different blogs and it’s a great way to learn more and share what I learn with other people. It started as a hobby, but I’m getting much more serious about it now.
I started blogging due to my Favorite Soap Opera….Days of our Lives….I got into watching the show on youtube vs. taping it on my VCR. THen I decided to start writing my own Fan Fiction, so, then I learned there was a website that someone created that had my favorite couple from the show on it, which then fielded my interest even more. so, then I began to write fan fiction on this website and I have been a blogger ever since. I have been a blogger now for almost 5 months now. I LOVE IT! If you are a Fan of DOOL (Days of our Lives) and want to read some of my Dialogues…don’t hesitate to email me. I am at: [email protected] See ya Online…….I also on twitter.