Sometimes I talk about myself as a being a dad blogger. Sometimes I talk about myself as being a writer. Truth is that I write and talk about many different things because I have many different interests.
As a professional writer and marketer that serves me well. You do better when you are a curious person and are interested in people and stories. It makes it easier to look for hooks and angles, to search for the interesting facts.
Flip through the pages here and you’ll find a post or two about why you don’t need to have a niche to be a successful blogger. Hell you’ll find lots of different thoughts and advice about blogging and social media and a boatload of other stuff.
But what I want to know today is how you describe your blog.
What Is Your Blog About?
Have you thought about it? Do you know? Could you give the proverbial elevator pitch and provide some distinction about why people would want to read your stuff?
Part of my eternal dance with blogging is involved in the wrestling I do with self promotion and trying to get more subscribers. How do I get more eyeballs?
There are a million dad bloggers and a million writers out here.
One of the questions that I routinely think about is if someone asked me to share my best material what posts would I send them? Which posts are most likely to grab your attention and make you feel the need to sit down and read my words?
What material is going to touch your heart or make you interested in learning from my experience?
Why Is It Important?
It is important to me for more than just self promotion. I like looking at the dark corners of the closet and seeing what lies in the shadows.
I pull back the covers to see what lies underneath because it is part of the search for stories to share and tell.
When I read about men like Jim Martin I wonder how many stories they have to tell and what can be learned from them. I think about how much we owe them for their service and wonder what D-Day was like and how it feels to jump out of a plane at 93.
I think about how there are stories for writers. I think about how there are stories for marketers and most importantly I think about how there are stories for fathers and how very much I would like to know.
Maybe the biggest reason I blog is because the parts and pieces of me that are a writer demand an outlet and demand that I feed them.
Unanswered Questions
I don’t know that I have answered any of my questions or maybe I have. I surely don’t know what posts I want to represent me because every situation is different.
Sometimes I want something that shows expertise and sometimes I want something that shows I know how to pull on a heart string or turn a phrase in a way that makes a person stop and think.
But there is merit in trying to boil it down, in trying to figure out the best pieces for a portfolio, so I am trying.
What about you?
What is your blog about?
Jens-Petter Berget
I started blogging about marketing, and it turned out to be a too narrow path. Marketing is part of what I do, but when I started to think about changing topics I thought «everything» is marketing or at least «everything» is part of marketing. So, I decided to write about how I work, and how add some parts of my personal life as well. In the end, I try to add a marketing lesson to everyting I post.
-Jens
Jack
Hey Jens,
You just described what I love about your blog. It is the blend of real life and a marketing lesson/comment, it just works for me.
julie
Ask your Readers to write what they think your blog is about, or your About Me page. This falls under the category of you can’t see it all yourself.
Yes I have an elevator pitch but then again, I am not selling anything, per se. That I know of 🙂
Jack
That is an interesting idea. I like it.
Joe
You’ve already recommended that I combine all my blogs into one. At least I think it was you who gave me that advice. My memory is not so good anymore. A few days ago I put my coffee in the microwave and entered my bank PIN. I’m starting to ramble. I’m still trying to figure out how to put Living in Kellie’s World, The Damned Dollar, and Solar Power Joe into one blog. I haven’t even been writing very much because I’ve been busy starting a new business. I’m rambling again. I’ll stop now.
Jack
Hi Joe,
Yeah, it was me who suggested wrapping them up together, got to tell you sir I have a hard time believing your memory isn’t anything but sharp.
Hope the new business is going well, appreciate the visit.
zoe
Holy crap! Its supposed to be about something? Actually I started blogging at the bedside of a terminal relative because I was fatiguing watching a machine push air in and out of him. In order to keep my sanity I started perusing the web and found the whole blogging community out there … decided what the hell and havent really found a niche yet… I dont suspect I will… Im okay with that.
Jack
If it makes you happy and brings you peace of mind it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.
Stan Faryna
Aren’t we trying to make sense of things? Sometimes, we get it almost right. Sometimes, we get it really wrong.
I see certain courage and tenacity in your endeavor, sir.
Jack
Hey Stan,
How is my partner in crime. I think we are chasing the same dragon, the question is once we grab his tail will we be able to hang on.
Always appreciate the kind words.