blogger

The recent 30-day blogging challenge I participated in got me thinking.

Why the heck do I blog?

There’s no way it’s for fame, that’s for sure. This blog, over the past year or so, averages somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 page views per month. Remember, too, that’s page views, not necessarily unique visits. For what I do – that meaning a personal blog – I find those statistics to be pretty solid.

But I’m not going to be making a living off it, that’s for sure.

Usually, I blog about whatever is on my mind. I don’t have a certain niche in which I focus on (though my second blog – Rattling Chains – aims toward disc golf and disc golfers).

The past month has really made me think about blogging and why I do it. The challenge I was in, if you’ve been reading, was to post at least once per day and cover a specific theme. Some of the themes were extremely difficult, while others were quite easy.

What I found good about it was that I connected with many bloggers, some who seem to have a personal blog as well. I had been searching for more personal blogs to read because I think it’s a nice way to connect with people from all over the world.

It seems like whenever I go searching for more blogs to read, I come up with ones that fill a niche or ones that seem to point out how to blog and how to make money off blogging.

I find it funny that there are so many of these blogs. Somehow, they all make money. I guess there must be a demand for blogs to tell you how to blog.

Is blogging that difficult of a concept?

Find some blog software or a platform; decide what you want to write about; and go at it.

The problem is, so many people have decided they need to try and make a living doing it. It’s also a way for people who are not true writers to get involved with writing. If I had a dollar for every blog I read where there were major grammar and spelling issues, I’d have quite a stack of dollar bills.

With blogging, pretty much everybody can be a writer. That’s not always a bad thing, though, as it gives people who may not have known they could write well a place to do so.

But the blogging world is filled with people who tell you how to freelance or how to get ads or how to find topics or whatever else.

I do it to write.

See, I’ve been some form of a writer my whole life. I had my first published story in a local weekly when I was in seventh or eighth grade. I’m proud of what I’ve done. But this version of writing is a lot different. It’s not a deadline assignment or going into print. This is my own little world.

And I like that.

I can be serious or funny. I can be bland or bold. I have a place to still write some journalistic stories or just rambling thoughts that come to my mind.

One thing that 30-day challenge did for me was to make me think about blogging and why I do it. It made me focused on topics that might be entertaining or at least be an outlet for me to share something. It also made me realize that my creative writing can still be something I can utilize.

Not everything has to be news.

Over the course of my recent battle with unemployment, I’ve utilized this blog a lot more. Mainly because I like to write and it’s an outlet. But also because I believe in the Internet and know this type of thing will be the future. There’s no reason to not work on it and understand many things. It can only help me moving forward.

One thing that is tough with blogging is getting your name out there. Again, I’m sure I could read a hundred blogs telling me how I can get hundreds and thousands of readers by utilizing SEO (search engine optimization), tags, topics and other stuff.

But I don’t care with this blog.

See, the disc golf blog I have averages more than 12,000 hits per month. But it’s a niche. It’s something a large pool of people want to read.

Not everyone wants to read my daily rants on this blog. I don’t have a direct audience. It’s a personal blog, after all.

There are other things I could probably cover. Alas, I try and walk the rope a little light because I don’t want something to come back and haunt me one day. I read several blogs where the person does it anonymously. And that’s fine. I understand why some people will or would do that. But I am not ashamed of anything I write.

The thing is, in the digital age, if you put things out there, it’s out there likely to stay. Even if deleted or taken down, many things can still be found.

I guess I’ve gone a little off the path here. That’s another good thing about blogging…

Anyway, the reality I found through this challenge is I blog because I love it. I really do. If I get bored, I don’t have a post for a few days. If I get writer’s blog, I step away. If I’m in a zone, I’ll write two or three posts and save them for later use.

And I can talk about anything I want.

When I worked in newspapers, I was restricted in that I had subjects to cover and write about. When I freelance, it’s the same thing. But when I blog, it’s my world.

I keep a small red Moleskine notebook with me much of the time. If I come up with an idea, I write it in there. This blogging challenge I was in made me realize that there are so many things to write about.

I had thought about giving up the personal blog because I didn’t know where to go with it. This challenge made me really want to re-focus and keep this going. Not for the hits. Not for the money (obviously). And not for the comments. Rather for me. And for me to have a place to write. If people visit, comment or just read, it’s a bonus – and one for which I am thankful.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!