Print This Post
Are You Clear On Your Blogging Purpose?
It was great to get so much positive feedback on the new website and business venture: Powerful Web Content.
I have to say it makes it a whole lot less daunting to launch something new when you’ve got a network of supporters and cheerleaders behind you! Thank you.
There was one comment here though that really hit the nail on the head about the significance of this move for me.
It was from Managing With Aloha Coach, Rosa Say.
She was reflecting on the huge shifts that are taking place in the world of business blogging, and the decisions that people need to make about how (or if) they adapt. Here’s an extract - the whole comment is worth reading for her perspective on this:
What “seasoned bloggers” viewed the blogscape to be is no longer familiar territory, and social media is eroding their blog-reading faithful at a rapid clip. I think the confusion falls within the realization that a blog community is not necessarily the same as a business website community, and many of us have been trying to blend them.
Our earlier success at it may have given us a false sense of security and some blinders we now have to strip away in going forward. How unemotionally can we do that? Better yet, will there be a new blend that is possible and that may be emerging if only we can train our focus (and very powerful intentions) on seeing it?
My answer was yes: a new blend is possible. The possibilities are pretty well limitless if you train your focus on seeing it - and get clear on your blogging purpose.
I believe a new blend is entirely possible but it all stems from knowing your purpose. That’s the hard bit. The technology and the systems are there to allow us to do most anything.
Of course once you’re clear on your purpose it all starts to become fun and easy. You can go out looking for things that will help you deliver it, believing that they exist, and finding them. And nearly all of them are free or very low cost. How astonishing is that!
The language and labels matter too of course. I thought long and hard about how to describe the new site, service and product and powerful web content was the best thing I could come up with. It wasn’t just blogging.
Blogging is a tool, a means to an end.
The most significant milestone for me is getting clear on my blogging purpose.
Once that bit’s done the rest becomes easy. It turns into the search - for software, people, tools, themes, designs, systems, advice, e-books, downloads - that will help you deliver it. And it’s all out there.
In fact there’s so much out there you can get distracted, without difficulty, by the latest wheeze or new-fangled toy. The trick is in working out which ones you need, and which ones will serve your purpose.
I’m not saying I’ve mastered how to do this - just that I’ve got clear on where I’m going (for now) and why. Going to Chicago was a big part of that for me. Sharing ideas here and at Grow Your Writing Business on what we mean by blogging helped me move my thinking forward.
And writing about purpose for 6 weeks has got me doing just that: becoming more purposeful. (Isn’t it wonderful how our words and our writing can help us find the answers we’re looking for?)
I know I’m not the only one who’s getting clear on my purpose.
Amy Palko has relaunched her site to give herself the room to grow in a Less Ordinary way.
Rosay Say has moved to a weekly publishing schedule at her coaching site, leaving her room for conversation and talking story at… yes Talking Story.
Brad Shorr has focused his blog content around his purpose: to help businesses start connecting.
How about you? Are you clear on your blogging purpose? What would help you most to think things through?
This piece was written in response to a conversation about setting up my new business site: Powerful Web Content. That includes a coaching service to help you refocus your blog if you feel you’ve got stuck or lost direction. Please do get in touch if you’re interested.
Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count
Photo Credit: The photo is a self-portrait of sorts, taking a picture of the Chicago skyline reflected in the Cloud Gate. It’s Picturing Chicago by Joanna Young on Flickr
To get future articles you might want to subscribe to the free RSS feed. You'll find more writing tips in the Confident Writing archive. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts:
I’ve been very clear what the purpose of my blog has been from the very first day. Okay, it took a few goes to clear my throat as it were but now my readers pretty much know what to expect from me. One of the biggest problems I find bloggers have, especially those who try and post daily, is drift. Their attention drifts. They start talking off-topic. Eventually they forget why they’re there. Writing a blog is like sailing a ship. You have to continually monitor its course and make corrections to keep yourself heading in the right direction. In my case I write a literary blog and that gives me a fairly broad base topic-wise and it’s amazing when you give it a bit of thought what you can talk about and still stay under that umbrella. In nautical terms I’m not sailing to New York, I’m simply aiming to hit the west coast of America.
I mean EAST coast.
Joanna, Rosa’s comment and your reflection on it are very perceptive. I don’t think you have to have every detail mastered to be successful in your new venture. When you pass along your acquired wisdom to clients, you’re going to keep them on course and help them steer clear of rocks. That’s valuable. When I solicit new business blog clients, I tell them I may not know everything about blogging, but I can save you the three years it took me to learn what I know. Guides and gurus are both necessary, and I think you’re more than a bit of both.
I love the photo; it’s a post in itself.
The way the reflected images curve around you makes it seem as though you’re the center of the universe. And in a way, that’s what you’re doing when you choose your purpose and move into it - it seems like the whole world begins to point to YOU!
But don’t get me wrong; this is a good thing! Have you ever noticed when things are “clicking”, that everything seems to point in the direction you’re going? Looks like that’s what’s happening here.
I think you’re onto something great, Joanna, and I’m here to tell ya - the world is with you!
Jim, I like that analogy - lots of room for creative interpretation, but you’re in control of your own course and can keep on making adjustments to ensure you’ll get where you want to go
Brad, we seem to be on a nautical theme here! Yes, we can save others a lot of time and heartache through the learning we’ve done and shared with each other
Robert, I’m glad you liked that picture. I felt it went well with this idea too. I know what you mean about things clicking. I guess that’s the ’sweet spot’ that most of us hanker after
Joanna
Hi Joanna - I think my blogging purpose has shifted a bit. I suppose I set out wanting to show people how to build a business the conventional way. But now I really want to encourage people to build a business their way - because different things are right for different people.
Joanna,
I must admit that I’m not entirely clear what the purpose of my blog is in my head - there are so many purposes I think it would be good for me to get them clear.
I set up my blog for two main reasons. Firstly, I wanted a way to promote my writing. Secondly, I wanted to encourage others to improve their lives and make the world around them a better place.
However, since then I’ve realised that there are loads more purposes to my blog. Some of these are:
- Giving me impetus and motivation to write and be creative on a regular basis.
- Helping myself work out how I’d like to make the world a better place.
- Meeting other wonderful people with brilliant blogs.
- A wide readership.
- A way to practice and improve my writing skills.
Thanks for giving me a nudge to think this through. Knowing the purpose(s) of my blog will hopefully help with my motivation to keep writing.
David
Cath, you hit on a good point, that we often adjust as we go along - I know I have, several times - partly because we learn so much from blogging, and the feedback we get.
The new purpose you’re talking about is very powerful. It sends shivers down my spine when I read that sentence.
Joanna
PS I’ll also keep following where you take it, because I’m definitely doing business in an unconventional way!
David, I think you are achieving many of those different intentions already. Your blog a real gift to others, but it’s interesting that you set it up in part to help you develop and promote your own writing.
I think you might enjoy thinking it through. Maybe you could try something like the mind-mapping exercise - with one of the stated purposes in the centre - and then see what would spill out from it.
http://www.confidentwriting.com/2008/05/how-to-plan-a-m.html
That might help to give you an idea of what kind of direction they’d take you in, and which felt most powerful and motivating to you.
Joanna
I was just thinking about this yesterday.
I started with a normal wordpress blog that, although my subject matter was pretty scattered, kind of followed the same little path.
Then I decided that I wanted to put a wordpress installation on my own server space and see if I could offer a little bit more.
How was I to know that it would grow legs and morph itself into something that was very different?
I just kept finding more stuff I could do, more stuff I could offer, more information. I’m not really sure where it will end but one thing I know for sure, at the core of it all will still be my little blog, my little take on the world around me.
I have ceased calling it a blog and now refer to it as an “Online Magazine”. I have also moved towards getting other people to try out their blogging and writing wings by guest posting and providing other content.
Hardcore, traditional bloggers will probably not like me much but there is so much information and content out there and so few people know about it or how to find it, that part of my reason for building the new site is to share what’s available.
Traveler Wendell
http://www.travstales.com
Hi Traveler Wendell
That sounds like quite some journey you’ve been on! I think that’s one of the things blogging allows us to do - grow, stretch, experiment and travel.
Good luck with your site
Joanna
So I go away for a short break and what do I find?
New site … nice!
“How about you? Are you clear on your blogging purpose?”
My blogging days have evolved (won’t bore everyone here with the details). But yes, I’d say I’m clear ‘at this point’.
“What would help you most to think things through?”
More time?
Joanna, insightful and thought provoking. I also learned a great deal from the comments. When I started blogging it was a separate entity from business. My purpose began to come into focus through my fingers and I have taken steps to merge the two. In the short months that I have been an active participant in blogging I have watched the landscape change tremendously. It is exciting and helpful to learn from people like you, Rosa, Brad, Robert and so many others. Thank you for being a guiding light.
Karen
Cat, it’s interesting how blogging takes us through those journeys isn’t it, including moments of clarity and renewed purpose and direction. I fear you’re always going to be chasing time! But the days and weeks passing in itself helps us to reflect, and get clear. I’m guessing that sorting out what blogs you’re reading (and why) will also play into it. Something I need to sort out soon too!
Karen, watching your blogging journey is fascinating to me, and I’m looking forward to seeing what leaps and bounds you do know you’re in your new home.
Joanna