Why I “Waste Time” Blogging

Why I “Waste Time” Blogging

Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Andrew Dumont in Marketing, Random Musings

I was catching up with an old friend the other day when she said something that completely caught me off guard… she asked, “why do you waste time blogging?” As the words left her mouth, I didn’t quite know how to respond. I guess I had never really thought about it, it was just something I enjoyed doing – it was a place for me to flesh out my thoughts.

But, as I thought about the question a bit more, I realized that the benefits of blogging are far more than that. Because of that, I’ve taken some time to delve into the top 3 reasons why I “waste time” blogging below.

1) Establishing Yourself As An Expert – Life’s a rat race, a sprint to establish yourself as the best, in whatever it is you chose. That’s where blogging can come into play. A blog provides a platform to explore your areas of expertise, on a public platform. My blog serves almost as a case study of how I can market something. In my industry, if you can’t build your own brand, what makes an employer think you can build theirs? By utilizing this medium to display your knowledge, you open yourself up to a world of opportunity in your industry – from press opportunities, to partnerships, to job offers. The sky is the limit.

2) Exploration of Thoughts – If you’re like me, you have a lot of thoughts that pop into your head throughout the day, most of which fall into the “outlandish” category. Other than the occasional quick second spent reflecting on an experience, much of those thoughts fall by the wayside in the rush of the day. When you write a blog, however, you’re presented with a place to explore the things that may have been looked over otherwise. A blog can serve as a place of self learning, a place of reflecting; to aid in producing the most personal growth possible. It’s astounding how much I learn when I take the time to understand exactly what happened and why, my blog helps me to do that.

3) A Home For YOU – More than anything else, a blog is a place for you. A place for you to be found, a place to update the world on what’s going on in your life. It’s amazing what opportunities can be had if you allow yourself to be found. Whether you have zero readers or a million uniques a month, it doesn’t matter. The importance of having an online home is unmatched. Remember, Transparency is a Marketing Tool.

Final Thoughts – You don’t have to write about anything amazing. Just write about what intrigues you. Whether it’s something intricate like optimizing a user interface or something simple like exploring experiences in training for a fitness competition. That’s the great thing about blogging, no one can tell you what you can or can’t do. So, get started and take the first step in realizing why you should “waste time” blogging.

5 Responses to “Why I “Waste Time” Blogging”

  1. Eric Pratum

    02. Mar, 2010

    I think that it’s hard not to think of blogging as a dumbed down form of journalism or maybe as a bunch of random musings or maybe even someone’s narcissism run rampant in their own online “world,” so as I think you see, it’s not difficult to understand what many people are thinking when they ask why you would waste time blogging.

    At the very least, a decent blog (even if only rarely updated) can establish your interest areas, your thought or creativity potential, and build your SEO…of course, people don’t talk about that last part much, but honestly, creating solid content no matter whether in short or long form and then publishing it online is good for your personal brand if only for the fact that it makes it easier for the “right” people to find you.

    Reply to this comment

    • Andrew Dumont

      02. Mar, 2010

      I couldn’t agree more. The SEO benefits that result from blogging was something that I chose to look over initially for reasons of simplicity, but it’s a huge portion of why blogging can be so powerful. Thanks for the addition, Eric.

      Reply to this comment

  2. Jeffrey Platts

    02. Mar, 2010

    Great post, man. I recently launched my own blog/site, but this reinspired me to really put out there things that I’m thinking about, not just what I think would make a cool post. Though I like to think they’re often the same! :)

    Cheers,
    Jeffrey

    Reply to this comment

  3. Simon

    25. Apr, 2010

    I think that it’s hard not to think of blogging as a dumbed down form of journalism or maybe as a bunch of random musings or maybe even someone’s narcissism run rampant in their own online “world,” so as I think you see, it’s not difficult to understand what many people are thinking when they ask why you would waste time blogging.

    At the very least, a decent blog (even if only rarely updated) can establish your interest areas, your thought or creativity potential, and build your SEO…of course, people don’t talk about that last part much, but honestly, creating solid content no matter whether in short or long form and then publishing it online is good for your personal brand if only for the fact that it makes it easier for the “right” people to find you.

    Reply to this comment

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