Personal vs. Professional Blogging
I was having lunch with my friend the other day, and the topic of blogs came up. Maggie mentioned that she was thinking of starting a blog. We ended up talking about blogging for hours.
The one thing I wanted to make sure Maggie understood -- and it's something I think everyone should realize before jumping head-first into blogging -- is that there are two fundamentally different types of blogs:
- A personal blog is blogger-centric, meaning you can write whatever you want, whenever you want. It's all about you. But don't expect to make any money from it. That's the cost of having all that topical freedom (ie., lack of focus).
- A professional blog is reader-centric. If your goal is to make money from blogging, then it's all about the reader. That usually means an ultra-focused topic at a regular schedule.
Knowing what you want before you get started will help ensure success. I'm not saying everyone should forgo writing a personal blog for a professional one. Some of my favorite blogs are of the personal variety, and they are definitely the fun parts of the blogosphere.
But to make any serious coin monetizing your blog, you must make sure you are always serving your readers, and not just indulging your personal whims.
To learn more about about the art of blogging, check out our Blogging section. There you will find useful articles like: