Professional Weblogs Described to a Friend

A great friend from grad school and (fellow independent consultant) is thinking about starting a weblog and emailed me about the time commitment and what it takes to do it “right�?.

I told her that it really depends on what she wants to get out of it. Goals may be getting readers, higher search results, a creative outlet, new customers, relationships with other bloggers, online community participation, etc.

To add to this, I described my perspective off the top of my head in the email. I'm posting it here to share my recent thoughts onthe subject...

My goal was to get more visibility in my niche- so I write about the subjects in my niche and focus on other weblogs of people in that niche. To be successful in getting readers, it really takes more than writing. It takes being aware of what people are talking about and what value you can insert into those discussions.

It’s a new form of online community where everyone has their own place to speak up on the subjects at hand. I weave personal things into the posts. You learn that people come to your site because they like you, the person, and the more of a person you can be, the better. Once you get into it, it’s amazing how much you can learn and how your concept of “news�? changes. This is just my view... I could go on and on….

While I could probably do better, I thought this off-the-cuff description was worth sharing.