Blogging: What’s In It For You?
Five Things That Keep Me Going
People often send me E-mails or ask me in person why I blog? Is it for the money, the fame, the non-existent fortune? Well, I really wanted to sit down and think about it.
The Freedom To Express Myself
By far the most important thing I get out of this blog, is the ability to express myself. I find myself to be an unsual, creative, and funny (once in a great while) type of person. I love to write about topics that people can relate to. More importantly, I really enjoy writing about things others want to say, but keep to themselves. Writing about my office job, believe it or not, has reminded me that a lot of people are in the same situation. Therefore, I love to write funny things I do to help cheer everyone else up that is stuck sitting in there small, scary, cubicle. Who hasn’t thought about drinking over a lunch break? I sure did. I just never thought the idea would lead me to posting this video and eventually ranking #1 in Google for drinking during lunch breaks (and every other combination of those words). But hey, I love it!
The Feedback from Readers
Not only is expressing myself a great positive to blogging, but the feedback I receive in the form of comments, e-mails, and Facebook friend requests, is awesome. There is no better feeling than putting together a post, publishing it on the web for everyone to see, and then seeing comments come in from all over the world. I really appreciate everyone that has ever left a comment on this blog. I really hope to see more of you around here in the feature. Keep the comments coming!
The Friendships It Creates
Jumping in to this whole thing, I never anticipated making friends from this blog. But believe it or not, I have met a lot of people through this thing. Now, I know some people wouldn’t consider people they have never met in person a friend, but I do. These friends have helped me with this blog in many ways. suggestions, feedback, comments, are only a few of them. I even managed to start my freelance career with the use of this blog. It really has made a HUGE difference.
The Joy of Feeling Success
When this blog started, I was ranked around 16,000,000 in Alexa and didn’t even have a PageRank of 0. Comments were something my friends left on a rare occasion. I didn’t even rank in the first 10 pages of Google for the term “Life of Justin”, with quotes. Not exactly something to brag about! Things took a turn however, as I continued to work on this thing day in and day out. I started learning more and more about blogging and eventually pushed this blog to being ranked around 92,000 in Alexa. That is an increase of 15,908,000! It has really given me the feeling of success and I hope to continue to move in a positive direction.
The Idea of One Day Making A Living From It
I have always wanted to work for myself. I have never been the type of person that can sit at a desk and pretend to be busy all day. I just can’t do it! This blog, has made a few dollars here and there. Not nearly enough to retire off of, but it is a start. Just seeing that a website could actually produce REAL money was enough motivation to keep me trying. I know that it will take more time, commitment, and patience to make a living from this. But I know one day it will come…
What Motivates You To Keep Blogging?
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i agree with you in some of these points ,
but when i think about that matter i mainly think about what doesn’t allow me to do what i love , and most of the time i get the same answer ” Time ” i never have the time to do that .
but when i have time i don’t think i just do it
Hey Justin,
I Stumbled upon your blog yesterday and I´ve to say you made an interesting blog, filled with interesting views on life. It’s cool to see someone that has pretty similiar views on life as I do.
Never thought that you could actually make money by writing a blog, but turns out I´m wrong.
I think I´m going to start a blog myself, seeing that you have put together an interesting journal of your life, that gave me the idea to do the same..
I think you can really benefit from it, especially when you´re a couple of years older and you read back what you´ve learned so far, because you put all your thoughts in your articles..
Keep up the good work.
Cheers from the Netherlands (Europe)
I agree with Jorn, it is a great thing to blog about your life, thoughts, and adventures. It will really help you remember your life and the good times you have had. Especially since I see you include a lot of your photography in your posts.
I think you may have persuaded me to think about blogging.
@ Jorn Thanks for coming back and checking it out again. I hope to see you come back often. It really is nice to have a blog that documents your life and what you have done.
PS. I am going to be vising Europe next year, I might have to ask you a few questions
I blog to raise awareness to issues that are close to my heart. Since I am a devout feminist with a capitol F most of my observations come from within a feminist framework.
Renees latest blog post..If You’re Hungry Eat A Rat
This is nice. I blog solely because it give me the chance to express things I’ll never be able to say out loud. My notebook has been my companion almost 24/7 and people at work who found out about my blog are amazed at how wordy I can get but is very silent in the office. It has also been my outlet ever since my mom died and talking about the pain and what going through to another human being was/is just too much … so I write them.
My Pink Shoelaces latest blog post..D’ Pink Shopaholic
@ My Pink Shoelace
Thanks so much for visiting my blog. I can relate to your comment in so many ways. Blogging allows me to say the things I do not say in person, especially things about my job. Luckily, no one at my job has found out about my blog (yet?).
My list of reasons I blog comes pretty darn close to your list – I blog because I can and I enjoy the freedom of sharing what I know; I use my blog as a sounding board sometimes; I blog because I feel fortunate that I’m able to work at home and I blog because it’s a wonderful creative outlet.
Telecommuting Journals latest blog post..Creating a Professional Impression
@ Justin, just be careful they don’t. lol … our boss, like the head of our entire account found out about it and read my entries one by one. Told her if any of my entries would hit you in the head as I blog about work and what I do and dont like then don’t take it personally against me its my opinion … she said she won’t and she didn’t otherwise I don’t think I’d still have my job.
Thinking of drinking for lunch? Hah, I’ve got 1 better: going to 7 Eleven for coffee B4 work, and grabbing a double shot to go with it. LOL.
Great post Justin. I feel your pain of cubicle syndrome, everyone needs to experience it just once in life, and they will understand the mild insanity that thrives in modern day offices.
This was a nice post to read after a day of EC dropping…:)
TeasasTipss latest blog post..Are You A Hunter Or A Harvester?
I’m with you Justin. The thoughts, and ideas are just waiting to come out, the friendships it creates, the pleasure of reading feedbacks and the potential to make money from it.
Great post.
Bingkees latest blog post..WHY BITCHES DON’T RULE
Hi there, I can’t answer you for now since I just started to blog. But I hope one day, I will get all the excitement that you listed in your blog ^^
shiens latest blog post..HP notebook hinge crack
One word: therapy.