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Successful Blogging – Are you Creating Something, or just Reading and Writing?

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Spoiler Alert: I may be about to step on some toes, including my own!

The other day, Lyn over at A Woman's World was kind enough to award me with the Thinking Blog Award, created originally by Ilker Yoldas who runs, well… The Thinking Blog.

It is an award that you give to other bloggers whose writing makes you think. So, it is an honor to have received the award (thanks, Lyn!), yet for me it also brings up a very serious question:

What are my readers doing with those thoughts?

I've Not FailedHonoring the same advice that I give to other people when faced with a difficult question, I went back to my own desires, which brought up this question:

What do you want your readers to be doing?

Now that question I have an answer for: I want them to be consciously creating the life that they want to be living.

Now, ask yourself that same question about your own blog or website: What do you want your readers to be doing?

You may find that the answer comes very easily, or you may discover that you really don't even have an answer! You're just blogging and having fun, and you aren't really that worried about the big picture.

Kudos to you! Keep having fun if that is your goal.

However for people such as myself, I'm analytical by nature, and I want to know that what I'm doing is having a positive effect. In the case of my own goal (readers consciously creating their desired lives), I have made several large strides toward making that happen:

I am not bragging in any way. In fact, this post is quite to the contrary! The question I am asking now is:

What is the next step?

I am not speaking just of my own blog, but rather about the blogosphere in general. Are we all just going to keep writing content and reporting the news, effectively turning the blogosphere into a giant interactive online newspaper? 

Yes, there are original concepts that are written about around the blogosphere. I write completely unscripted (or un-copied!) myself, and I see original quality whenever I visit the likes of Steve Olson, Edward Mills, Lyman Reed, Rick Cockrum, Dave Olson, Christine Kane, Jonathan-C. Phillips, and many, many others (you know who you are!). 

However, I am not asking about the quality of content that is available now, but rather about how we are going to take it to the next level.

I've got ideas, projects, and concepts written down that will keep me busily providing content for years to come on this site, as well as at Fitness Destinations and The Information Underload.

But is that enough? Will you be content to just keep coming back to this blog and your other favorite blogs to see the latest content? What about your own blog? Will you be content to just keep writing content indefinitely?

Personally, I see a "cap" on the blogosphere as it exists today. I think there is a critical mass that will be reached where just reading and writing will no longer be enough.

People will want more out of the blogosphere, to the point where it will probably transmute into some other Web 2.0 or 3.0 entity with some other fancy name.

I don't see that happening soon, but I do see it happening eventually. And you – dear reader – are in a position right now to start shaping the way the next generation blogosphere is going to look!

What thoughts do you have about taking things to the next level on both a personal as well as a global scale? Here are some ideas that came to my mind:

Bridging the Gap: Right now, the only real connections (that I am aware of) between "standard" websites and blogs is search engine traffic and word of mouth. Although there are many sites dedicated to expanding the blogosphere such as MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, and Technorati, those sites are populated by bloggers. What about everyone else?

Group Interaction: Commenting is standard fare on most blogs, and there are even technology toys that will allow you to track your commenting conversations all over the 'net. That's great, but with 50,000,000 blogs out there, shouldn't there be a better way for that community to grow and interact?

Taking it Outside: Go out in your neighborhood right now and ask 20 people if they know what a blog is, or better yet, ask if they have one. No, don't go asking your online friends, go ask your neighbors. What are we doing to close the divide between the online world and the 3-dimensional world?

Those are just a few things that popped into my mind, and I'm sure that you have ideas as well. Do you have any thoughts on the 3 concepts that I mentioned? Do you have any ideas of your own? 

If you are a blog writer or a blog reader, it is in your best interest to consider concepts such as these, and to think about how they will affect you on a personal and/or a business level. 

Let's have a chat about this in the …umm… comments section below!

p.s. – With regard to my thinking blog award? Congratulations, Lyn. You made me think! :)  

Dan and Jennifer are the Founders and Senior Editors of Ask Dan & Jennifer, which has been called "the best and most popular Love and Sex advice column on the Internet today". Their videos are some of the most popular videos on YouTube. You should Fan Dan & Jennifer on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter!
Posted On June 26, 2007 · Filed Under Goals · Tagged With

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  • Dean,

    Much obliged for the pingback, but what I'm truly grateful for is that my writing was any kind of assistance in your journey. That is always my goal, so it's great to find out when that successfully happens.

    As you said, there are lots of changes going on in the blogosphere. When the dust finally settles, it will probably be just in time for the next shift to begin!

    Always fun to enjoy the the journey and to be a part of the process! :)
  • Hi Aaron,

    I love the synchronicity that happens in my life. I really seem to be more aware of it here lately.

    I read this article months ago when you first wrote it. At the time I was going through some doubt about my writing and the validitiy of my voice in this world of personal development. So I took some time for a little introspection. I read more blogs, took more action, and realized I'm getting more hits, my readership is going up and my voice is being heard, well, at least read.

    Like Marc Barry, I'm writing from my perspective of here is what I AM DOING that is getting me from here to there. A "Watch, Learn and Do" philosophy.

    My post today shows that we get side-tracked from time to time, but it is important to actually get up and "keep on trucking" (I guess I date myself with that phrase) and get back on track.

    BTW, I plugged your article from June 21, 2007.

    For me, at this time, it's fun to watch the changes as they are happening and share those experiences with the blogosphere. Sometimes I don't know what they mean or how they will impact me, but I'm grateful that they are happening. I like writing about my adventures and my goal is to be a living example of deliberate creation.

    Blessed Be.
  • Kara-Leah,

    I can definitely see a point in my life whenever the bulk of the personal growth and development lessons will be as second nature to me as breathing is.

    Many of them already are, and other lessons I am happy to get reminders about by reading other blogs, as well as empowering/inspiring books.

    Until I've got it all down pat, I'll keep writing about it, and even after that we'll keep the reminders flying around the 'net because someone will always be able to benefit from them! :)
  • Aaron & Rick,

    I've noticed that so often my writing about certain concepts is exactly what I need to internalise the same lesson in my own life - it's like one part of me talking to another part.

    I like that idea too, of these concepts becoming so internalised for us all that we don't have to even write about them any more.
  • Jonathan,

    I appreciate you chiming in with your thoughts and experiences! What a great idea to get a domain for your father! Maybe that is part of the solution here - dragging people kicking and screaming into the Information Age! ;)

    And the fact that blogging is associated with MySpace is definitely something that we need to change!

    For just the "friends and family," something like that is fine, but I hardly ever go on MySpace anymore because it is so...ahem...busy, and I think there are a lot of people who feel the same way.

    We need to get those bloggers out here with the rest of the 'net! :)
  • Aaron, as usual you have a way of making me think buddy! i try my best to make people think, sometimes I know that the message I'm trying to get across didn't in fact get accross, but I keep going at it. :)

    "Taking it Outside" I try to do that as often as I can, I just bought a domain name for my father, and I told him "Dad, you say you have everything you need, that's true, except you don't have a blog, well that'll change, you'll have one soon" lol well ok that was easy, but on the other side of the coin, I talk about blogging all the time, and I'm amazed how much people have no idea what it is, and they immediately think "myspace".. oh well my "job" as a blogger is to tell them I guess :)

    Thanks for provoking our thoughts Aaron!
  • Rick,

    I agree about the value of writing vs. reading. One of the reasons why I write about personal growth and development is because it helps me to externalize these concepts "on paper" so I can then permanently internalize them.

    That probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's okay. It's very early on a Saturday morning. I only promised motivation, not coherency... ;)~

    Thanks, as always, for your thoughts, Rick!
  • Like you, I want people to do something in their lives with what they read, to shake lose at least one thought that has limited us and our view of ourselves and our world.

    I say us because I think I get at least out as much out of writing as readers do. I have to be more conscious in my own life.

    That change is the next level I look forward to, change enough that eventually the need for the lessons we learn from blogs and books is eliminated, much like the need for formal rules, regulations, and laws disappears as we internalize the lessons they are meant to instill.
  • Kara-Leah,

    Yes, the more I think about that idea, the more I like it. In fact, I am stirring around some variables right now concerning Personal Development Partners and an upcoming Forum here at Today is that Day. I'm thinking that local meet up plans are going to be part of that process.

    Stay tuned for an update on what I come up with! :)
  • Marc,

    Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on what you are doing with your blog!

    As has been proven many times over, people who blog from the heart have more successful blogs than people who are just in it to accomplish some task.

    In my case, that was part of the inspiration for this post. My passion is in seeing people actually succeed, not just read about it. And you are 100% correct - the process includes ALL of the steps, not just the successful steps!

    Awesome stuff, Marc. Thanks again for sharing, and with regard to the sensing of upcoming blog entries, that happens to me all the time when I am commenting!! :)
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