Ah yes, that would be me now wouldn’t it? Alright, here we go…
There were three reasons that I started blogging. The first is simple enough...I love to write. The second reason had to do with my past career and hobby which was computer technology. From the late 70’s to the late 90’s you might say that I (and others of course) rode the crest of the wave that eventually lead to the birth of the home computer and the operating systems that came with them. I won’t get into detail here but it was a fascinating time and a fascinating field to be in. And like all new technology, things evened out eventually, standards were achieved and to put it bluntly…it ended up becoming fairly boring when the PC and associated equipment thereof became more of a tool to use rather than something to improve upon and evolve.
So what does the above have to do with blogging? You’d have to be me to really understand why but suffice it to say that after several years of being bored with my favorite interest, here finally was something new, fascinating and evolving and it involved great ideas like writing, community and conversation. It grabbed my interest and wouldn’t let go and now at this point in time, neither can I. I couldn’t really envision not having this avenue that satisfies so many of my interests at once.
Oh yeah, and the third reason; DSL! If you don’t have DSL you don’t blog. Well, you can try but it will likely take you half the night. When we finally got DSL up in my neck of the woods, I grabbed it and shortly thereafter, I was blogging.
And, after all this time, this is what having a blog has come to mean to me personally:
A blog is a vehicle that allows a person to place part of who they are out into the virtual world that the Internet has become. And this virtual world is just as real as the physical one where each blog can be likened to a house or business or library to name a few, in a neighborhood where folks can drop by at any time to pass the time of day and/or listen to what you might have to say. To me a blog is a conversation amongst the folks of a community that has no rules or boundaries, no law enforcement of any kind yet is a much more kind, compassionate and self disciplined group of people than what one may find in anywhere in the physical world. And each community that surrounds a group of blogs resembles a small town in more ways than one. Yet the physical and the virtual is all part of the same thing---the same people are involved and that’s something that I find quite tolerable.
I love it.
The above is something I could go on and on about but in the interest of keeping control of my rather wordy self…
I don’t really monetize the blog in any way that involves making any real income off of it. The only possible avenue of making a bit of pocket change now and then is a few minor ads in my sidebar and occasionally the footer but even then I’m not really expecting anything from it. This personal blog of mine is for my own use and satisfaction and not something I feel should be turned into a substantial revenue generating device. Besides…that would mean I would have to post on a regular basis and that takes all the fun out of it. If I ever attempt a “niche” style blog, then is the time when I would have to get serious about monetization but until that happens, it’s just pure enjoyment.
One thing I do get serious about is SEO and it’s something where I will always have to “do my homework”. SEO is not a “set it and forget it” type of thing these days while the search engines are constantly fiddling with their algorithms and what the “powers that be” in the world of search engines consider to be important as far as page ranking goes. Even now I’m having to change the way I’ve handled SEO in the backend of the blog due to those very changes but I don’t really mind all that much. It exercises the few brain cells I have left. It keeps them healthy and all that.
So, for nearly 5 years I’ve attempted to start a conversation with the entire world and I’m happy to say that the entire world hasn’t beat a path to my door since that would mean a whole lot more conversations than I could handle at once. I’ve been very content and pleased with the small circle of friends and acquaintances that have revolved around our respective blogs and the various social communities that I've joined over the years. Unless the world as we know it falls into a black hole or civilization-as-we-know-it goes down the tubes, you’ll find me out there writing and posting away just for the pure enjoyment of it. After all, that's what blogging is all about.
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