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Following are 10 random reasons which show that you may want to blog regularly because you want to:

1. Have more readers.
2. Have more commentors.
3. Have more search engine exposure.
4. Attract more advertisors for your blog.
5. Tell others about your personal life.
6. Keep an online diary for yourself.
7. Meet online people more in order to make more online friends [different than making online contacts in order to make money].
8. Post more as your current income depends on it.
9. Express your views on a certain issue more; like global warming, the myth of global warming, etc.
10. Showcase skills to potential employers through your blog, like writing, video editing, design, etc.

Do you prefer having a regular blog schedule which depends on some element like time, your offline life, etc? Do you feel obligated to blog on a regular schedule?

Please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading.

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I wonder if many people consider new content, posted on a regular schedule, to be a blog, if that content has one or a combination of the following:

• Time stamp
• Different titles for different content
• A kind of a specific approach to the topics
• Claiming the content to be a blog - if you call it something, some people may call it the same thing instantly
• Allowing comments on the content
• Talking about specific type of content

These points, among many others, are typically found in “blogs.” If you take away all these elements and more from any site, the question moves from “Is this a blog?” to “What elements describe a blog, without which something can absolutely, under any circumstances, can never be a blog?”

Is it regularly updated and posted content? Maybe.

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1. Stop learning new things: One of the reasons your blogging skills may be getting outdated can be because of your reluctance to learn new online programming languages, or new ways to do different blog things, like creating new blog themes or creating new kinds of blog content. You may be compensating for such a deficiency by experimenting a lot with what you already know.
2. Have outside factors control your skills: If you allow outside tools to do specific things on your blog, you are depending on those tools. While it is good to use external tools like MyBlogLog or plugins for your site, it is even better to know how such services work in order to come up with your own alternative or replacement if you ever wish to stop using such external tools which are not under your direct control. Otherwise, just because you know how to use an external blogging service does not mean you know how to provide to your own blog, on your own, the same functionality as that external blogging service.
3. Blog about the same thing repeatedly: There is no doubt that you can blog about topics like “Catchy Headlines“, but if you write 20 posts on the same topic even from different perspectives, you should either have a blog that focuses solely on headlines or you should have a plan that incorporates those 20 posts into a larger picture. Otherwise, blogging about the same thing repeatedly may signify that you do not know what to blog about, and are probably not looking into different areas of your life or the offline world in order to come up with fresh topics or different messages to express.
4. Blog about the same things as everyone else: If you are like many news reporting sites or blogs, you probably blog about things that everyone else is blogging about, in almost the same manner too. There is nothing wrong with blogging about something that everyone is also talking about. However, such a behavior from your side shows that your blogging skills are outdated because they depend on the blogging skills of other people. You apparently cannot come up with your own content, and you probably do not even know how to present commonly discussed topics in your own words.
5. Avoid the latest blogging tools: Even though I mentioned in the first point above that knowing how external tools work can be a good idea, you may have noticed that I did not say in that point that using external tools was a bad thing. External tools can be more than good. Use external tools if they allow you to do necessary tasks more efficiently and with better results than otherwise possible. Similarly, trying to do complex things manually, when you can instead use software like WordPress, results in your attention being diverted unnecessarily, and inefficiently, to things that can be done quickly and more efficiently through tools already developed and available for use by others. The more time you focus on different things on your blog, the less time you focus on actually coming up with great ways to convey your thoughts on your blog.

The above 5 are some of the many reasons that can result in your blogging skills to become outdated. You may simply be doing or avoiding one of these things, but along the way, you may be neglecting something more important because of paying attention to something of lesser value. As a result, your blogging skills may not be up to date on many levels. That puts you at a risk of not being taken seriously by employers looking for specific skills, or even your readers who realize that a lot of the things you do are not beneficial in the long term, for both you and your readers.

What is your opinion on this? Is there any point you disagree with, or have an example for? Can you think of other points that signify that you are slowly starting to lose control of your blogging skills and may be falling behind?

Thank you for reading.

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Things can go wrong with a blog during the day. Earlier today, Simonne from All Tips and Tricks e-mailed me saying Bes and I spelled “Reader Appreciation” as “Reader Appreciton”. I felt extremely embarrassed and e-mailed Bes to please fix it since I didn’t have access to my blog at work. And the site has been live for over two months.

Other times, when I have made plugin releases, the comments come flooding in (especially bug reports) and I can’t do anything about it since I am at work. I rush to get home after work and the gym, but by then I am so tired, the energy to perform any band-aids or blogging is just nil.

The efforts made in blogging aren’t always justified, especially since I have a day job that already pays the bills. So I must ask myself, what is my gauge of success? I find that the success in the offline world is a little different than that of the online world.

Success in the Online World

Perceived success in the online world typically has to do with three things:

• The amount of traffic and subscribers.
• The amount of revenue earned.
• The amount of influence.

If you don’t have traffic, money, and influence, is your blog really successful? Is the success I mention the recipe for the mythical A-Lister?

Success in the Offline World

Some would perceive success in the offline world as:

• How many people you control.
• How much money you control.
• How much influence a person has.

Some of the most successful people are politicians, simply because they command huge armies and huge budgets.

Is the Offline Success and Online Success Practical?

Some would call their blog a success after reaching a hundred feed subscribers. Some would call their offline life a success after being married and owning a house. I have come to question what I consider a success, both in the offline and online world.

In the online world, am I successful because I have reached a certain feed count? Am I successful because one of my blogs is making some money? Or am I successful because I enjoy what I do and people are benefiting from what I write?

In the offline world, am I successful because I have reached my education goals? Am I successful because I have a good job? Or is there something more?

The Online and Offline Collision

There seems to be a crossroad where there’s a point where you might have to choose which world to achieve that success in. Is it possible to achieve success in both the online and offline world simultaneously? Is that what the mythical A-Lister has accomplished? Or does one have to choose at some point?

Conclusion

The weekend is coming up. I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading.

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Many corporations blog only to impress potential customers

Take blogs by many corporations. Many companies are giving their employees the opportunity to blog. Many of such blogs, however, are similar to advertisements, where employees blog about the benefits of a product and not on the bad things that may affect an actual customer. Such corporate blogs blog to impress readers, who might end up being potential users of specific products or services.

Many non-corporate blogs try to impress someone online

You could be impressing an employer, or you could be impressing a friend. Usually, many blogs try to impress their readers through attractive content, so the concept of blogging to impress someone is something that is being adopted on a wide scale already. Take many personal blogs, and you may notice that a blogger may write good things about an offline friend differently than writing good things about an online friend, simply because of the fact that the offline friend may not read that blog, whereas the online friend might.

Do bloggers realize when or if their blogging habits revolve around impressing others?

There is usually nothing wrong with the concept of appreciating or impressing people in different ways. You may pay for one friend’s meal while giving another friend a ride. That does not mean that you appreciate one friend less than the other. You are simply appreciating both friends in different ways, while still doing things to impress them. The discussion of whether or not appreciating someone and impressing someone are the same thing is something I will focus on next week.

Online, do bloggers realize that their blogging habits may be influenced by the fact that they may want to impress someone? It may be easy to see in person how we may be extra nice to a specific girl or a guy that we like, but online, can we notice similar traits?

Do you know if you blog to impress someone?

What do you think? Do you know if or when you blog or do something on your blog to impress someone, whether it is a sponsor, another blogger, a reader, or even a search engine?

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The Interview

Ronald Huereca, HOST: Thank you Bes and Chester for both agreeing to meet me on Skype. I wanted to get you both on here to get both your sides of what happened. I’ll start with you Bes. Could you please describe what happened?

Bes Zain, Defendant who almost ran over Chester the Squirrel: I was driving along and I saw a nut on the road. All of a sudden a squirrel jumps out on the road and I slam on my brakes to avoid killing the squirrel. Luckily I was able to swerve my car and miss him, but my car incurred some damage as a result of the sudden stop.

Ronald Huereca: And it is my understanding that you are currently suing Chester for damages?

Bes Zain: My lawyer has advised me that I am unable to comment on pending litigation.

Ronald Huereca: Understood. Chester, what happened on your end?

Chester the Squirrel, almost crushed by Bes Zain’s car: Let’s just make something clear Ronald. Bes was clearly driving recklessly down the road aiming for a nut, as he admitted himself. I had just happened to be gathering food…

Bes Zain: I’m sorry? Gathering food? You were in the middle of the road.

Chester: As I was saying before Bes interrupted… I was gathering food and then I heard the heavy sound of a car engine racing towards me.

Ronald Huereca: Bes, do you want to comment on that? Chester has filed a lawsuit for negligence and now he’s accusing you of reckless driving.

Bes Zain: Chester clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I was driving at a reasonable speed…

Chester: So reasonable that you ruined your brakes trying to stop?

Bes Zain: … a reasonable speed when some squirrel with a death wish just hops right in front of traffic…

Chester: Hops right in front of traffic? I’m not suicidal. I was gathering…

Bes Zain: Look I’m not the one…

(CROSSTALK)

Bes Zain: … not the one who was acting idiotic and running in the middle of the road for a nut.

Ronald Huereca: So Chester, you are also suffering from post traumatic stress from the event?

Chester: Yes. I now have a phobia of climbing trees and entering public roadways. I can no longer function properly as a citizen and am currently going to a therapist twice a week. I can no longer work and am taking medication for depression.

Ronald Huereca: Bes, did you know Chester was going through such pain?

(unintelligible)

Chester: My lawyer and I agreed that suing for damages was in the best interest of my behalf as well as all the other squirrels out there that are in constant danger in public from figures such as Mr. Zain.

Bes Zain: Look. I wasn’t trying to run you over. I was trying to crush the nut. You jumped into the middle of the ro…

Chester: I was getting food!

Bes Zain: … road like an imbecile…

Ronald Huereca: I have an audio clip from Mr. Zain’s lawyer who made a few comments regarding the lawsuit filed by Chester.

(Begin audio clip)

Voice of Bes Zain’s Lawyer: Mr. Chester’s case is clearly without merit. My client, Mr. Zain, was driving normally on a public roadway when Mr. Chester illegally began crossing into the roadway to gather food. My hope is that the judge will throw the complaint out since any reasonable person would conclude that gathering food on a public roadway not only endangers that person, but endangers the lives and property of others.

(End audio clip)

Ronald Huereca: Any response to the audio clip played Chester?

Chester: I am simply appalled. A reasonable person would conclude that gathering food endangers myself and others? Since when? I never had a problem gathering food in the middle of the street until Bes came along.

Ronald Huereca: Bes, if there was one thing you could change about this whole situation, what would it be?

Bes Zain: I wouldn’t have braked.

Ronald Huereca: Last word Mr. Chester.

Chester: I find Bes Zain to be highly arrogant, reckless, and without remorse. I will be glad when the judge rules in my favor.

Ronald Huereca: Thank you Mr. Zain and Mr. Chester for agreeing to this interview. Until next time.

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Copyright Laws are not supposed to be confusing

One thing I like about Daniel’s simple list is that it is a simple list. Copyright laws are usually written and explained in complicated ways. Such complication confuses people. One thing you may get a sense of, while reading the list, is that Copyright Laws have nothing to do with morality. When you deal with the law, your point of view or your ethical beliefs usually do not matter. That is why when you use someone else’s work or you see someone else using your work, you should not focus on your intentions or emotions. You should focus on what rights others have, and the legal steps you can take to ensure the legal protection of your content.

If you have good intentions and copy something, will you be held accountable?

I think we should think about one important dilemma: what if your intentions were good, but you still did something that the Copyright Law prohibits? What if you used someone’s pictures on your MySpace profile without knowing that you need permission? What if you tell someone via email that they “can quote an article” from your site, and in response that person quoted your entire article and added a simple line or two to make it a bit more unique. How can you defend yourself in such cases, even though your intentions may have been good?

I guess, because of such things, we have to take precautions and make sure on a regular basis that no one is stealing our work. Having good intentions is good, but actions are sometimes more powerful than thoughts. Legally, Copyright Laws are only powerful when you are willing to legally enforce them. You should sometimes treat your work as if you were writing essays at a University. You can show your work to others, but you also have to make sure that other people who are also writing essays do not copy something from you. You also want to make sure you do not copy from others without following proper quoting procedures, as the person reading your essay will also read all the other essays from where you copied something from.

What is your opinion on this?

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Do you prioritize nature or presentation of content?

You have two options when you write something, assuming that the the quality of content is the same in both cases: prioritizing the nature of the content, or prioritizing the presentation of the content. The difference lies in whether you want to write something that people already find interesting, or if you want to write something that you find interesting and want people to find interesting also through your writing.

For example, you can write about Paris Hilton since many people like reading about her, or you can write about charity and include Paris Hilton as an example somehow since many people may find posts that talk about her interesting.

Write in a way that comforts you

As long as you are happy with what you write, you can try either approach write on your blog. You should be comfortable with the way you write, whether it is writing things that people like or writing things in ways that people like. You can try changing your writing styles from time to time to see how it feels to approach writing from different perspectives. Regardless of how you write, as long as you have great content and passion for your blog, you can achieve desirable results through your writing.

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When it comes to writing, the only thing that differentiates one form of writing from another is the level of passion that drives the writer into writing. The success of blogging depends on how much you enjoy it, and how well that enjoyment overrides any negative aspects of blogging. The enjoyment can exist in the form of your love for writing, your choice of the blogging platform, or appreciation from others in the form of comments from your readers. Andy from “Andy, ITGUY” recently realized that his passion for blogging paid back when his posted complaints about a certain company resulted in the founder of that company contacting him to see if the issues had been resolved. Sometimes achieving certain results can supercharge your passion for writing and result in an even higher appreciation for blogging compared to before.

Since many people usually stereotype against things that involve money, it is usually thought that a blog that focuses on earning money usually does not have any enjoyable passion behind it. In my opinion, blogging to earn money does not mean your blog may not have a driving passion behind or an enjoyable aspect to it. Darren from “ProBlogger” has explained that he blogs by having passion for both enjoying what he writes and earning money at the same time, depending on the writing topic. Blogging can take a lot of your precious time, but if you enjoy doing it regardless of whether it involves money or not, your posts will be different from all the other people who blog simply because they can, and your readers will appreciate that difference.

Even if your writing does not make enough money, as long as it satisfies that inner craving inside of you, your blog will reflect quality. Take James from Apple Matters; blogging takes a lot of his time and doesn’t earn him as much as his other jobs, but James enjoys blogging and thinks writing is fun. If you do not enjoy writing on your blog and you do not enjoy any other aspect of blogging, you are simply jumping on the blogging bandwagon. And like all other things in history that have people jumping on any bandwagon simply to mimic others, you will fail in your objectives unless you have an enjoyable passion that drives your efforts. Such an interest and passion will somehow be evident in the overall results of your blogging efforts.

When doing things that do not appear to attractive, if the results satisfy your passion for something, those things are worth pursuing. Take childbirth as an example. A friend of mine told me that even though having twins meant she had to endure the worst of pains, the fact that she loves kids means that she “would go through having kids again.” Blogging should have any form of an enjoyable driving passion behind it. That way, you can feel satisfied about blogging. Realizing the reasons you blog and figuring out the existence of any related passion will make you appreciate all the efforts you put into blogging. That realization can do wonders, as finding a passion for some aspect of blogging within yourself is like finding batteries within ourselves that get recharged simply by being discovered.

When you realize the reasons behind your blogging and the passion that drives you to blog, you will have a clear focus as to where you would like your blog to take you, and where you can take your blog to make that happen.

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