It’s the “why I blog” post

Got that question and a few others three times last week, so here we go.

Why start a blog and why keep at it? Writing things down is a great exercise for the mind. Simple thought can be captured in single lines of text, but a blog normally does require a bit more thought (it should). It is the challenging part I like. Eventually, it is these lines of thought I use later on for an article or presentation. Much of it hardly feels worth writing, but apparently that is not always up to me. It is my contribution to “openly sharing what I can”.

What is the reward? (or what is the business model). Not everything needs to be reward driven (in my opinion). But it does feel rewarding when I can have a conversation every once in a while, about the topics I describe. From strong to weak, and maybe to new connections. It happens every now and then.

Not all is written to be read, just written to be written – I hope that somehow makes sense. If you keep this up for a while, there is an extra reward: you can search your own blog for previous written posts (in case someone asks you a questions you have answered before). And it is true: a blog does help to make it easier for others to find you.

Does it take –a lot- of time?
It takes time, but it doesn’t feel like it does. I keep a few topics on the side and make them ready when I have time/feel like it. I do make notes during my commute and write down notes on my phone. I have measured time for all social media activities, it takes me about one-two hours per week.

Next phase?
My (external) blog first started at http://kortsteroutes.wordpress.com , when I started my thesis (Master of Marketing Strategy). After that I moved it to www.kortsteroutes.nl, mostly because selfhosting gives me greater tools than the webhosted version of WordPress. My next step will be to move to www.jwvaneck.org. Many of the topics are not in Dutch anyway and a .org kind of points out the international reach.

Favorite posts?
I have a few, like Avoiding the shallows: a confession to books (still need to finish a confession to maps, people), Celebrating five years of LinkedIn! = the end of LinkedIn?, (celebrating is always good) and Insightful InMaps shows: clearly I am from France! (I am not). But I am not big on rereading my own posts.

Tools?
Not unimportant, allthough a fool with a tool is still a fool. I use WordPress for the blog (selfhosted), then mash the content with Slideshare (for my presentations), Issues (for printed work) and Anobii (for the books I have read). I added my twitterfeed and Flickr as well. Mendeley will show related articles to a blogpost, depending on the keywords I provide. Feed.ly I (new school blogrolls) I used only on my phone.
I make conscious decisions (?) about how to promote a blog, e.g. to my LinkedIn connections if I believe this might be of interest to them. Some posts are not worth promoting.

That’s all for now. Keep in mind, as starting new things have become relative easy, keeping at it is relatively hard. I think I am doing fine so far. Happy to answer more questions…