Take More Risks

Brandon tagged me for this a few days ago and I’ve only got around to completing it now. So here goes!

Why I Blog 

1) Voice/Influence/Friends - It allows me to express myself to people I would normally have no influence over. It’s cool interacting with other bloggers via comments and trackbacks, I’ve made a few good friends from this blog.

2) Convienience - It’s so easy to create new content! All I have to do is login > click Write Post and start typing. It isn’t as easy to update static websites where you must integrate all of the templates yourself amongst other things. With Wordpress you can have a blog up and running within a few hours.

3) Laughs -  I love writing for my comedy blogs. It feels like second nature! I’d still create these sites even if I wasn’t making any money from them.

4) Freedom - I can write what I want when I want. It’s a brilliant medium for free space.

5) Making Money - This is probably the biggest one and it’s why I got into in the first place. I think it’s dangerous if you over-priortize money making as your main objective as it will dampen the impact it has with your visitors in it’s early formative years.

Why I Don’t Like Blogging

1) Pressure - Once you’ve started to build momentum you must continue to produce good content otherwise your audience will dwindle. Posting can become more of a chore than a hobby.

2) Finding your Voice / Self Doubt - There’s always the danger that you’ll come across as an ill informed bufoon to your audience, especially if you are new and trying to find your voice/writing technique.

3) Maintaining Consistency - You have to be dedicated to your blog over a prolonged period, even when you are going through hard times. You can’t have any days off, particularly if you are still a small-gun and can’t attract any guest writers.

4) Being Part of the “Blogosphere” - Arghhh! The next person to mention the blogosphere will receive a trout to the face The whole blogging thing can seem a bit incestious, it’s like you are part of a secret society or something. This sucks.

5) Getting a new blog indexed can be like pushing an elephant up the stairs.