I have been writing a blog weekly for over three months now. This post today will be my 15th. It has been going well and I still enjoy doing it very much. I look forward all week to Friday when I will be writing and posting each week’s piece. If there is any issue at all it is that through the week I find myself wanting to post more, just wanting to make short random posts. I could do this, but when I first started I made a choice to try and make everything that goes up meaningful, not just post every little thing that randomly pops into my head. I made this choice with two main goals.
1) I dislike the type of blog that is just short little random posts. I can understand they are fun if you really fallow them, but it is not something I enjoy reading.
2) It is my hope that by keeping to some kind of posting schedule I will keep doing it. I fear that if I post a lot all at once I will burn out and end up having nothing to say. I have seen quite a few blogs where that has appeared to happen. They went strong for awhile and then just stopped.
As part of this mind frame, when I first started I made my own little mission statement for what/how I would post and run this blog.
Mission Statement
“To write a weekly blog that is made up of my own self created content as much as possible. Is something that people want to read without knowing who writes it. Does not name or show pictures of me or anyone around me”
Now that I have been writing it for awhile now I feel as if I need to give this blog a more solid direction, and I have been looking at my options. I have added a list of what I feel are the main types of blog. I could fallow one of these styles or simply take aspects of them that are working and add them to mine.
Blogs on a subject-
I have come across many blogs that people have made about a subject that interests them. These tend to be nice in that they are focused, but they can go for long periods between entries. Often this kind of blog it tied to events in an industry or other such field. So that nothing more can be said until something new happens that would fuel a new entry.
I have come across many blogs that people have made about a subject that interests them. These tend to be nice in that they are focused, but they can go for long periods between entries. Often this kind of blog it tied to events in an industry or other such field. So that nothing more can be said until something new happens that would fuel a new entry.
Blogs that document-
To me this can be split into two separate subgroups.
To me this can be split into two separate subgroups.
The one which I have come across most often is the “family” blog. This is often like a giant Christmas letter. It allows a family to document their family life in a way that other people are able to come and look at whenever they wish. This style is very common with stay at home parents. It helps them to reach out and is something they are able to do whenever they have a spare second in their busy day.
The second is a blog that documents some kind of project. I have been seeing about a great deal of these as well and they do get quite a fallowing. Many people take on projects and by documenting them online it helps them to keep track. It helps to keep them to stay on track because other people are expecting progress and want to see how it is coming. This type is very good, but requires extra time on top of what is needed for just blogging.
Blogs that teach-
This is a type I have considered adding parts of. Basically this is like a tutor. If you feel that you have a unique way of helping with a subject, or just knowledge and desire to help at all, you make a blog with tips and hits that you feel will help. Again this is not the kind of blog you post on a schedule. It is more about interaction. Someone may post a question and you work to answer it. This type gives the writer a good sense of reaching out and helping people.
This is a type I have considered adding parts of. Basically this is like a tutor. If you feel that you have a unique way of helping with a subject, or just knowledge and desire to help at all, you make a blog with tips and hits that you feel will help. Again this is not the kind of blog you post on a schedule. It is more about interaction. Someone may post a question and you work to answer it. This type gives the writer a good sense of reaching out and helping people.
So that is a short list of what I feel are the main types of blog. I am sure that there are more, and that many, if not all blogs fit into under more than one category. To me that is one of the beauties of the medium. It is a place where walls are broken down. Where anyone who has something to say is able to reach the world.
Over the next little while I am going to be looking at where this blog is at and where it is going. I would love any thoughts or input that anyone may have. Anything I am doing right? Anything I could do better? Anything I am doing just plain wrong? Please let me know. I want to be able to reach people and I can do that best when people reach back to me.
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