We get letters, oh yes, we get letters. And lately we have received several that suggest that your old pal Jack is a scoundrel and a scallywag. They have chastised me for a variety of things and have accused me of intentionally committing a multitude of blogging sins.
Some of the letters have suggested that I do something that to the best of my knowledge is anatomically impossible. It is an interesting idea and if I could I might not ever leave the house. Unfortunately I am not quite that flexible. Sorry Charlie. But I did decide to dedicate this next sentence to you and therefore I am typing slowly so that you can keep up. I know how cumbersome it is to read words and not look at pictures, especially the glossy kind.
Another one of my fans wrote in to say that I have an obligation to do better than I am doing. I am in agreement that I want to do better than I am doing but it is not because I think that I am doing poorly- it is because I always want to improve. I want to become a better writer. That is a natural desire on my part. But I don’t feel obligated to do so because of the reader.
This isn’t my job. I don’t get paid to do this. I do it because I love it. I do it because I enjoy the interaction and engagement with people. I like talking to moms and dads about parenting. I like sharing stories and talking about science/medicine/music/sports/business. It is fun.
What Makes a Blog Successful?
I could write an entire post about this but it is Friday and my time is limited so I’ll keep this short. The definition of a successful blog is subjective and based upon the goals of the blogger. Â It is not contingent upon being paid to write or getting a hundred comments per post. These things are only significant if they are meaningful to the blogger. Without his/her approval they are meaningless.
For me the most important part of blogging is that I enjoy  it. I love writing. I love the interaction. I love meeting people and developing friendships that could never have come about in any other way. That makes me happy and that is what makes me feel like I am successful.
Keywords and Most Popular Posts
Some people will tell you that you should determine what posts are most popular so that you can focus on writing more about those topics. They’ll tell you that it is important to see what keywords drive traffic to your site so that you can leverage that. I pay attention to those things but mostly because I find it interesting. Here is a snapshot of some of my most popular posts based upon my stats. If you are a regular reader you’ll notice that most are recent.
- The Cure For Insomnia
- Dealing With Divorce
- Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog
- A Whiter Shade Of Pale
- My Children Confront Death Again
- And Justice For All
- The Best Cover Letter….Ever
- Build Connections & Community
- The Rules Of Blogging
- More Proof That Great Headlines Don’t Matter
- The Perfect Blog Post
- Do You Still Beat Your Wife
- Do Things Happen For A Reason?
- 5 Favorites
- Facebooking Proves That Time Doesn’t Heal All Wounds
- The Phone Sex Surprise
- The Inigo Montoya Method For Building a Blog Community
- A Few Words About My Death
It is interesting to see, but like I said most are recent so I have to wonder what is missing. Or should I say that I wonder about posts that didn’t benefit from being showcased/promoted as well. What about posts that weren’t pushed in front of as many eyeballs. Maybe lack of exposure doomed the finest thing I have ever written to obscurity. I wonder about it, but I don’t spend too much time wondering/worrying about it.
Because I do this for fun and not obligation. More importantly, I feel good about it and that is worth a lot. How about you? What do you think? Why do you come here and what do you hope to get out of it?
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