I wonder if there’s an online cemetery for dead blogs where their owners started and then discarded them. I’ve seen it happen plenty with all sorts of people who wanted to cash in on the lure of blogging and the Internet. Then something happened.
They forgot that a blog is just a tool. It’s not magic and it won’t bring you fame and fortune just because you created an account with Word Press or Blogger and published a few posts.
It’s a tool like a hammer that you see in Home Depot which you can buy, take home and put in your tool box and take it out everyonce in a while to use. Unless you have a plan and know how to implement it, the hammer it pretty worthless to you, other than to say you have one.
The same principle applies to blogs and other social media. You have to know how to use it and you have to hold to certain values and be motivated to exercise them.
The first two are: 1) the desire to build and nurture relationships with others; 2) the desire to communicate to those you have a relationship with or who you want a relationship with.
Each situation has its own peculiarities and needs to be thought out before you start the blog. Perhaps, you pastor a church. You could be a candidate running for political office. You might be an elected official or you could be a buisness owner.
Just remember: A blog is just a tool. Time spent learning how to use that tool can pay dividends and can keep your blog from dying a quick death and cluttering the online blog cemetery.
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Well said, Wes.
I favorited a Tweet the other day, from @portentint . He wrote,
“Starting a blog doesn’t make you a visionary. It makes you a typist.”
Had to laugh a few years ago at a marketing firm that asked me to write a press release because “they started a blog.” I didn’t write the release, telling them that it wasn’t news. Not even close!
They argued with me, we parted company.
Today, they have the blog, with a few posts. Last post in 2005.
It’s sad how many folks in “marketing” or “advertising” still just don’t get it!
Laura–
Thanks for the comment and the insight. You are right. I really appreciate the role that you play in educating the marketplace about social media.
I’ve been sitting on the sidelines a little trying to figure out “what I want to do when I grow up”. I think I’m getting there.
Wes