Why Do You Want People to Read Your Blog?

Monday, September 26, 2011



If you know how to write, you know how to blog. Pretty simple.

But something amazing happens once you start.

For the wife of a friend, she began writing to herself. "Is anybody reading this? Nobody's commenting. It's like I'm writing to myself."


Why do you do what you do?
It's natural to desire recognition. You wrote something and now you want people to read, nod along, finish, sit back, breathe, nod again, congratulate you, and eagerly tell you what their favorite part of your post was.

But that's not reality.

Far too many bloggers measure their worth by the number of visitors they see.

They rock back and forth in their chair, repeatedly refreshing, desperate to see another unique visitor, another page view.

But why?

They stress about how many retweets and how many comments and how many likes they're getting.

But why?

They plead with phantom readers to subscribe and they're desperate to grow their email newsletter list.

But why?

Why are (the collective) we so focused on this oft-elusive digital currency? And what are you going to do should you find it?

Do you have a plan?
Let's say I'm feeling generous and gift you all my subscribers, all the retweets, all the likes, and all the contacts in my marketing database.

They're yours. What now? What are you going to do with them? What are you going to send to that email list?

Do you have a plan?

Receiving digital currency isn't the end-all, it's the very beginning.

If this is a personal blog, maybe you're simply looking for a stranger to stroke your ego.

Or, maybe you're looking to grow your personal brand and align yourself with same-minded sponsors. Maybe you're just looking to earn a few bucks through an ad network.

If you're a business, by blogging you're providing soft sell content that reinforces a propect's decision that yes, you're the best and only choice. Maybe it's a way to connect with consumers on a more personal and behind-the-scenes level.

Personally, I blog for a few reasons.

On the surface, it's a lot of free content that prospects can browse at their leisure; all of it intended to reinforce my expertise in my field.

On top of that, it's a feeder channel to my book. If you're getting something out of my free content, the next step might be to consider my book, packed full of insight and advice.

Once you've gleaned insight from my book, it acts as a feeder channel to hiring me. One leads to another, and it started with free content.

Lastly, it's a way to clear my mind. Whether on a walk, a bike ride, reading through a book, or drifting off to sleep, I'll come across an idea that weighs on my mind until it's given birth in writing. My blog functions as a way to lighten my head a bit.

In its simplest form though, there's a reason for my writing.

The big question -- are you spending more time worrying about metrics you don't know how to make sense of, or are you spending that time working on producing quality content?

Do you need to have a plan?
I don't think so.

Write to write for you and you alone. That's what Jeff's manifesto is all about. And there's nothing more perfect than writing for you. And whatever else comes of it, fantastic.

But either have a plan and leverage those metrics to develop your plan, or ignore the endless analytics completely, and write for you.

To me, there's no middle ground. Anything else distracts and sacrifices.

So, answer me this: why do you want people to read your blog?

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