Blog Like No One is Watching

Did you ever journal?

At any given time I have at least 3 “journals” floating around my house.  One is my “dream” journal.  The other tracks my goals, while one is for random thoughts.

I write for myself.  I have no intention of publishing any of those diaries.  And it’s the same for blogging.  Most successful bloggers have a target audience in mind.  But you start off writing without an audience.  If you’re lucky your family members might read it … but more often than not, they won’t.  In essence, a blog is simply a glorified online journal of sorts.

So why blog?

• Creative Expression: Because you want to express yourself.  You have words you want to commit to paper.  Or in this case, stamp into the interwebs.
• Refine your writing skills.  Just like anything improvement comes with time.  The more you write the better you will be at it.
• Share your knowledge:  You might be a seeker.  And you might be generous in what you learn.  A blog is a perfect place to share that knowledge.
• Documenting your life:  I have a short memory.  I take pictures to capture that moment and I love to be able to look back at it.  I just happen to prefer looking at it on a blog than on my hard drive.
• Making friends:  Most bloggers are relationship builders.  And you’ll end up making friends with other bloggers and other creative types through the online networks you create.
• Have a home base:  I started microblogging on Instagram and I LOVE that platform.  But I don’t own it – and at some point it might change so much that I may decide to leave it.  Anticipating the worst case and preparing for it – is why I’m blogging.  So that I have a place online that I can call my own.

[/fusion_text][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Blogging is a Marathon[/title][/one_full][fusion_text]I’ve trained for two marathons now.  After the first one I said I’d never do it again.   8 months later I signed up for another one.   And I’m not a fast runner.  I’m average at best.  But I showed up 4 times a week to train.

Anyone can train for a marathon if you break down the training to daily tasks.  And its the same as blogging.

I know that there are over 210 million pieces of content written DAILY (and that’s stats from 2015 – couldn’t find 2017 stats at the time I wrote this).  The amount of promotion to get a reader to your site takes “work”.

So if you’re thinking about going into blogging …. you have to go into loving it SO much that you would do it irregardless of if you have one reader or none.  And to commit to blogging consistently over a long period of time.

I remember when I first started on Instagram, I was excited to have 200 followers.  And as of Mid June 2017 we’re up to 55K followers.  It blows my mind.  But I never expect anyone to come visit.  I’m elated when they do.  Because I gram because I love to do it …. anyway.  I LOVE my girls.  I’m obsessed with them.  I’m obsessed with photographing them.  And I’m obviously love to share them.

Luckily for me Instagram recognizes accounts that are “publishers” and help me promote it.  But what if Instagram becomes like My Space and closes its doors one day.  What then?

That’s why I’m blogging.  I want to be able to to continue to have a digital home base so that 15 years from now I can look back at my pet parenthood early days.  And smile at the antics of my two goofballs.  I write for myself.  I write for my girls.  And I’m happy if anyone should happen to read about them too and enjoy them – that’s a bonus.

Oh but I do have another end goal.

Ok yes I blog for myself but my goal is that if this blog should happen to grow – then I would blog full time and stay home all day with my girls.  And in case you’re wondering if that’s possible – yes – it is.  But the readership has to be upwards of 100,000 page views a month at least.  To put this in perspective … I’m only at 3000 page views per month.  Like I said its a marathon.  But just like running one means you have to know it’s going to take 26.2 miles.  Blogging is going to take several years before you know if it will pay off.  But stay at home dog mom on my business card would be nice.  And that’s a dream to work towards.

As always – thank you for stopping by.