iBlog? My Proposal

"I blog, you blog. We blog. Maybe we should get together and be...a...blogging team." - Blogger Pickup Line. Sorry, that was terrible.

I’ve never blogged, except for when it’s required for school. And I’ve never followed a blog. I think blogging is silly to be honest. Though I have found some useful information on blogs, I’ve never said, “wow, this is really great stuff and I’d really like to read this kind of stuff every day (or week, or month).” I honestly don’t have time in my busy reading schedule to follow what some schmo is doing with his life. To me, the whole concept of blogging sounds like a waste of time. Besides, it’s way overdone. 

But there are some bloggers who have created fairly successful followings. And there definitely are some blogs that draw a lot of random traffic. Bloggers who tackle technical questions or those who can provide a keen insight into something fairly unknown have become part of a new kind of discourse community. It is a fickle one. There are no subscriptions, no coffee table to lay their work down on and pick it back up later. Bloggers must be at the top of their game and their content must be relevant to their audience. It must be able to hold attention and motivate the reader to scroll down the page, click through to other pages and ultimately get the reader to come back again and again. 

Most people don’t just happen onto a blog. It is usually the content that brings them there. Keywords and targeted advertising is what generates traffic and, ultimately, followers. But how does one achieve success in the world of the blog? Is there some magic formula? What blogging platform should you use? What should I write about? How often do I need to update it? How much time should I spend on each blog post? Should I advertise? What about social media? Seriously, is my grandma the only one that’s ever going to read my blog???

There is a ton of information on the web about blogs and what it takes to create a successful blog. In fact, several blogs address this issue. Imagine that!! What I’d like to do is whittle away at these resources and come up with maybe 4 or 5 key aspects of a successful blog so that I can share those with my classmates. I may never make a dime on blogging, but perhaps someone in this class might. And who knows, perhaps I might unlock some mystery within the blog that will motivate me to follow a blog or start my own. If nothing else, I think it will give me some insight into the present and future of writing and what our modern audience is looking for. 

By the way, I ripped off that pickup line in the opening. It's from Better Off Dead. I couldn't find that scene, but here's another gem: