Blogging has become serious business. Anyone who has anything to say is blogging away these days. We live in a world that is paralleled by Face Book, Twitter, Linked In and Digg, to name a few. And that doesn’t even touch the myriad of web sites and chat rooms that see more traffic than the Autobahn on a summer’s day! We have become a socially connected society…and all through the click of a mouse. How easy it has become to network! What did we ever do before these social networking sites? (Maybe we got out of the house more and met at our local hangouts!)
At a recent writer’s symposium about the changing landscape of publishing in Canada, the presenters strongly encouraged everyone of us aspiring and accomplished writers to get ourselves a web presence. I sat there in awe, thinking about the dusty old web site of my graduate school days ten years ago and wondered about resurrecting it. The task of getting lost in creating a web site/blog seemed ominous and daunting. Where do I start? Do you have to be a techno Geek to have a web site? And a blog–what would I even have to say? (Interestingly, I am never short of words!) I recalled my initial reluctance around having a Face Book account and was still scratching my head about how to use it.
At the same time, I was noticing other people’s blogs and how they seem to have a focus–a purpose. It struck me that the bottom line is promoting yourself and what you do! Okay, so what do I do and how do I promote that? We all do something. Perhaps it’s a hobby you are passionate about or sports, or an activity, work-related or not. And the more esoteric the better! One guy collects airsickness bags as his hobby and to date, he’s hosted a whopping 250 some-odd-thousand visitors to his site! Another collects toothpastes from around the world. Of course, your traditional stamp and coin collectors would still draw a following.
It really is about passion and having something passionate to say! Know that there are other people who share your interest and trawl the Net looking for information. It’s so easy to get a blog that your biggest challenge will not be the technical part, but rather what words to put to your idea. And there exist many free web page design sites to make your home page creation as easy as point, click and drag.
So what are you waiting for? Get creative and put your voice out there on the Internet!