This is a question I sometimes hear, in one form or another:
Should I start blogging?
Why blog?
There are a lot of reasons why one would write a blog. To name some reasons, I write a blog so I have something where I can put down my ideas “on paper”, and perhaps share them with people who are interested in the same things. I also voice (some of) my opinions here, in a more refined format than I’ve perhaps said before in a discussion on IRC. As a matter of fact, this very post is something I shortly talked about on IRC not very long ago.
There’s of course the “business blogging” thing – Making money by blogging. While some people seem succesful with that, I don’t really find it something worth of pursuing. I write a blog because I enjoy it. If I started blogging about some topics that are popular, instead of the topics I like, I don’t think I could enjoy blogging anymore. When I don’t enjoy it, I can’t really come up with anything to write about.
But why would anyone read what I write?
If you think like that, no one probably will, partly because you might never start writing and partly because even if you do, it might end up being boring. If you don’t think what you write is interesting to read, then it’s quite unlikely that anyone else will.
You don’t necessarily need to have a lot of things to say… Of course, having things to say helps, but if you can say even something in an interesting and personal way, there’s always someone who will find it interesting.
For example, you’re reading my opinions about blogging right now. Why would you care about my opinion? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I’ve been writing a blog for about two years and that ought to count as something, right? And at least I think what I’m writing is interesting, and perhaps important for someone who may read this and eventually start their own blog, which I may eventually end up reading.
I also read blogs, and while I find most blogs horribly boring, there are some interesting ones that I frequently read. My favorite blog is probably Jeff Atwood’s blog Coding Horror. What makes it good? His writing style is interesting, and he frequently writes about topics that are interesting to me, and you can feel he is genuinely passionate about the things he’s writing about.
Go for it
If you’re pondering whether or not to start blogging, just make a blog in one of the free blogging services and start writing – see if you like it or not, it’s not like you have something to lose. As long as you genuinely care about the things you write about, it will be interesting to someone.