Blogging Is Passe. Blogging Is Too New For Me.

By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

Lena recently wrote about the reciprocity rule in blogging...reminding all of us that it's still a "new" thing to many...and that you've got to work at it, like anything else.  I can relate since I hear both of the title comments when I talk about blogging in presentations and client consultations. 

I remain convinced if it were called something that didn't sound so silly, it'd get a lot more respect.  Think of it as relationship-building and communications, not "blogging" ("How's the 'glogging' thing going, Mary?")

There is no one right answer in how to make blogging work for you (other than you've got to - um - do it) - but here's my personal experience:

1. I've expanded my network of people all across the world.  If I ever happen to be in Phoenix, London, Sydney, Boston, Malaysia, Amsterdam...or...or...I've got people to call for dinner, lunch or coffee.  And, I can email them for advice and help right now.  It's how I came to be a guest blogger here and it's led to a lot of interesting possibilities working with Yvonne and Lena.  

2. I've gotten lucrative (and interesting) business from it.

3. I'm constantly learning from other bloggers.

4. It helps sharpen my thinking and writing skills.  Writing short is a lot harder than writing long.  

5. My links are out there, (for good or ill) increasing my visibility around the world, and around the clock. Like this email I got a couple of weeks ago: 

My name is xxxx and I got your website address from the Tom Peters blogroll. I just wanted to say that your website give's me so much inspiration. It's short, to the point and very intelligent. Thank you.

I live in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and just started my own internet business.

Thank you again for the inspiration.

Blogging is prehistoric social media stuff for many Webbies but, many (most) people don't live and breathe the Web. If you want to better communicate, it works and - after a bit of a learning curve - it's very simple to do, if  you have a plan and are committed. 

Happy Friday!  Now, I need to go practice that reciprocity rule that Lena recommends.

Comments

[Sarah]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://www.craigslistdecoded.info

[Lee Drake]

I disagree that blogging is passe. "newer" media such as twitter does not lend itself to publishing information rich content. In a sense - one of twitters functions is that it is a new way to index and learn about good blog posts. Twitter reduces content to sound bites and headlines. It's like the difference between watching a news show and reading the crawl. Twitter is the crawl of blogs :)

I learn more technical information and solve more technical problems using data gleaned from other's blogs than any other source of information. And I give much more credence to someone who has taken the time to write things down in an organized and useful fashion that to someone who just turned the link to the article into a bit.ly link and reposted it. I'm much more inclined to do business with the author than the reposter.