"Learn to Blog effectively to build traffic and relationships in just 4 hours..."
While browsing the Internet I stumbled upon a "blogging seminar" advertisement touting the preceding claim.
Like most web programmers I have, at times in my career, worked for various Internet marketing consultants. I have often found this to be a completely soul-sucking ordeal. In my experience, many of these "cutting-edge consultants" hear about technology trends years after they emerge onto the scene. They get a brief explanation from the "geek" they keep chained to a desk and one week later they're holding a seminar on the subject. Anything they've learned has been completely perverted and turned to their own personal gain.
If you're a web programmer and this sounds familiar; I hope you like the taste of blood, because you're going to be biting your tongue a lot!
PLEASE for the love of Christmas DO NOT start a blog!!!
Don't get me wrong, I think blogging is great. I obviously have a blog and it's growing each month. I started blogging because of a niche subject I was interested in. I wanted to give back to the programming community that had offered me so much. As I battled through technical challenges, I documented my findings in an effort to help others; no strings attached. Intermixed, I sprinkled some of my own opinions on various subjects.
Or stated differently; I started a blog because I had something to say. I am delighted by the small opportunities that have emerged, but that was never my intent. My intent was merely to write about subjects I was passionate about and to help others.
I cannot deny that I want my blog to be read. Every author wants to be read and I am no exception. To this end I post links where I believe it is appropriate. Sometimes there is a flurry of interest; mostly my posts fall off the face of the earth. So be it. "The Internet" isn't obligated to read my stupid blog. I'm not going to get pushy in an attempt to litter the Internet with incoming links. I need to stay honest! I never want my chief purpose to become self promotion. The minute this happens my writing becomes false and my readers (the few I have) will disappear.
-- This is what self-promoting Internet marketing consultants will never fully understand. --
Internet marketers frequently abuse good things. "Blogging" began because regular people took the time to write about subjects they were passionate about. Those who did this well s-l-o-w-l-y earned readers. A small handful were successful enough to make money. But in the beginning there was only their passion for a given subject and little expectation that any of it would "pay off".
Like a pack of starving hyenas marketing consultants and self-promoters follow successful people around and attempt their pale imitations...and it shows.
Blogging does offer incredible opportunities. Admittedly, there are strategies that can be employed to maximize the effectiveness of your blog. However, first and foremost you need to have something compelling to say. Stop looking at your Google rank for some obscure search term and instead look at the "# of comments". Does anyone care? Did you help someone? Did you connect with your reader? If not, you failed. Period. Success, by this yardstick, is very very difficult.
How do you know if you should start a blog? You'll know because it will hurt you not to. Your passion for "something" will compel you to write. You will be driven by a desire to contribute to the community by helping, or at least offering a compelling perspective on a subject. This isn't SEO strategy, this is therapy. If this doesn't sound like you, then don't bother. The Internet already has enough SPAM.