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Blogging on WordPress.com - why do you do it?

  1. markel
    Happiness Engineer

    Hey, there. This is a little shameless self-promotion mixed with a call for some discussion. I suppose that's what makes a good Showcase post. :)

    I'm participating in the Post a Day challenge like many of you (http://dailypost.wordpress.com/), and for part of that project, I plan on writing—and encourage you to write about—why I/you blog on WordPress.com.

    My first post on that is here: http://ryanmarkel.com/2011/01/12/blogging-at-wordpress-com/

    Let's get some comments/pingbacks/discussion rolling on this. :)

    And there aren't enough posts in this forum! Surely there are more of you out there who are making awesome things with Custom CSS you want to show off, or are writing on neat-o topics for Post a Day 2011. Show them off!

    The blog I need help with is ryanmarkel.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    I blog on wordpress software because it's superior to other software I have used. IMHO there are plenty of posts on this blog promotion forum but most do not contain an effective blog promotion. As for wordpress.com Staff asking those to extol the virues of being able to pay for a CSS upgrade and do what I think ought to be avaialble free of charge -- I'm LOL :D

  3. timethief
    Member

    Please do let me know when wordpress.com intends to Showcase blogs of those members do NOT choose to purchase upgrades ... lol :D

  4. invisiblemikey
    Member

    I admit to being a bit curmudgeonly about it, but every so often I am compelled to state my objections to promotions of this sort. I dropped by your blog and read several posts. You're a nice guy, Ryan. You (and WordPress) provide an important avenue for democratizing self-publishing by making it easier to do. However...

    Posting just for the sake of posting, or to establish some sort of habit, reduces the value of the wonderful tool you've worked so hard to create. It takes time to consider an idea or a story long enough to turn it into writing that honors readers. It usually takes more than a day. I accept that many people who blog are doing it for social networking, though. That kind of writing doesn't take long, but how much of your life do you want to spend reading that level of writing?

    My sensitivity to how important it is to choose what to read (and what and when to write) probably has something to do with being almost twice your age. I'm acutely aware of the time I haven't got left, and won't get back. It does feel as if I had all the time in the world back when I was 30.

    However, I'm having a wonderful time blogging on WordPress.com. Despite my contrarian (some would say luddite) stands against the over-use of widgets and online marketing, I have regular readers who offer useful reactions and criticism. They respond precisely because I take time, so that my words offer ideas of equal value to the time they donate in reading them.

  5. littledubs
    Member

    For me it's just a creative release, I love to write but will probably never make a living at it, I don't have any background or training in it. If people happen by and enjoy something or I make somebody laugh, well all the better, I've put some positivity into the world. But it's mostly for my own personal satisfaction. If it grows into something bigger of course, I won't complain!!

  6. markel
    Happiness Engineer

    Please do let me know when wordpress.com intends to Showcase blogs of those members do NOT choose to purchase upgrades ... lol :D

    Merely an example; maybe a poorly-chosen one. We love all our bloggers here, whether they are upgrading or not.

    I admit to being a bit curmudgeonly about it, but every so often I am compelled to state my objections to promotions of this sort. I dropped by your blog and read several posts. You're a nice guy, Ryan. You (and WordPress) provide an important avenue for democratizing self-publishing by making it easier to do. However...

    Totally understandable. I participate in it, but I'm not going to push myself to write when I just don't have anything (for instance, I missed a day last week because I couldn't pull something together).

    And thanks for the compliment. :)

    I think that promotions like this are what you make of it and what you put into it.

    What has come out of the Post a Day thing for me so far is myself. I'm going to write about video games, weird or interesting things on WordPress.com, curling, and occasionally my family. Perhaps that's not for everyone, but I'm OK with that.

    However, I'm having a wonderful time blogging on WordPress.com.

    Awesome.

    Despite my contrarian (some would say luddite) stands against the over-use of widgets and online marketing […]

    Keep it simple, I say.

  7. timethief
    Member

    @Ryan

    We love all our bloggers here, whether they are upgrading or not.

    Thanks. That's good to know because many of my readers do not have CSS upgrades and do not wish to purchase them. That's why I have deliberately kept my blog upgrade free with the exception of domain mapping. What many wordpress.com bloggers want is the same ability that those on the free hosted blogspot platform have ie. the ability to change layouts, fonts colors, font families and sizes, without having to pay for an upgrade to accomplish what they want.

    What Invisiblemikey says above goes for me too ie. I'm having a wonderful time blogging here at wordpress.com. When I began there was only a single forum and a single Moderator and Mark Riley on Support Staff.

    I don't blog unless or until I have something meaningul to share with my readers. I'm a baby boomer who has twice escaped the grim reaper's clutches. I'm acutely aware of the passage of time and how I allocate the use of the time I create to blog in. :)

    Keep up the good work. ;)

    @mikey
    High five!

  8. macmanx
    Happiness Engineer

    Why do I blog on WordPress.com? It's hard to say, since I just moved my blog here only a few hours ago.

    I suppose you could say that I pretty much blog whenever I find something interest.

    I've been using WordPress since v1.2, and I signed up for a .com blog the day after it opened, but I have honestly never been big on posting often. In that regard, I took the Post a Day pledge, so this is certainly going to be interesting.

  9. ramonasvintageapplianceforum
    Member

    Just pop in to forum and read all the above blogs (a few I read often). Nice work!

    I started on wordpress to see if I liked it better than blogger and I'm hooked.
    I'm new, not too computer savy but have things running in my head and find I have to get them out.

    I live, work and dream about antiques and need an outlet to release it all. Don't know where it's going but know I love to blog and like doing the research for my post.

  10. breanacarrier
    Member

    i've been blogging since i could type. wordpress is the best software i've used with or without upgrades...the other bloggers interact with each other and it is not a site for emo teenagers starved for attention but for adults with true intentions of blogging and enjoying the work of others...

  11. chunkee2na
    Member

    I blog as an outlet...even if people don't read it, I'll still do it. Maybe posthumously, I'll blow up! Ha! But yeah, mostly thoughts, prose, poetry, rants, reviews...I like writing, as it's one of the best ways for me to express myself. Now the shameless plug: mozbar.wordpress.com

    Cheers guys!

  12. teeceetee
    Member

    I just started blogging, have always wondered about it, but didnt want to start until I knew I could be totally honest. I didnt want to start and then clean up what I wrote about myself, I didnt want to start blogging in the middle of one of my self destructive modes.
    I am a total scatterbrain both mentally and emotionally and really wasnt sure how to go about beginning a blog without introducing who I am and what my life is compromised of.
    I have finally decided to just start, and by the time I get rolling along, people will see me for who and what I am through reading, rather an a biased self introduction. I am only 4 posts in and my blogs are pretty sane at this point.
    I am however trying to decide exactly what I should be writing, how often, and how much of the juicy details.
    When I go into self destruct mode, the posts can be pretty interesting, when I am not and I am searching for reasons why I do what I do, where I want my life to be, those blogs read more like a boring text book, but are still important as they are part of who I am and what makes me me.

  13. balladeer
    Member

    I blog to share my offbeat interests. I'm aware there's just a niche readership for the things I blog about (Sub Division 1 college sports, Bad Movies, Vietnamese mythology, Navajo mythology, Bunyoro mythology, etc.) and I'm content with that.

  14. sonataslut
    Member

    I blog to beat writers block, basically, and to express to people who may be interested my interests. I also blog to keep my creative writing juices flowing.

  15. rinftw
    Member

    Like the OP, I blog here to participate in Postaday2011 (and I'm failing miserably.)
    I write because I like talking a lot, which leads me to like writing a lot too. I twist Postaday topics so that I can talk about my observations and my pet peeves. *shameless plug starts here* I'm a very angry and blunt and pubescent writer, so if that's your thing, check my stuff out (:

  16. yarpnews
    Member

    We blog because we believe there is not enough laughter out there. Too much of the information we receive is negetive and so we created a comedy news blog - if we can reach one person and make them smile than we have succeeded. Admittedly it is hard to come up with something new every day, but then we have a cache of ideas already in draft, so we can post something well thought through (and hopefully funny) on a daily basis. The positive comments we receive keep us going... and as laughter is the best medicine, we know our readers are not only happier but healthier too!

  17. cmhardin
    Member

    I'm participating in Post a Day, too. I have these completely unrealistic dreams of writing. Legend has it, the best way to become a writer is to write and write often.

    Once a day is often, enough.

    It may lead down a dead-end path, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

    My hope is to keep writing each day, let that blossom into finished stories, and then, maybe even try to get something published somewhere that someone might actually read it.

    Also, it saves my poor husband and children from listening to my endless stream-of-consciousness yammering about all the weird things I enjoy.

    Think of it as a charity to those unfortunate souls in my life... You can click away, but they are trapped with me.

  18. bats0711
    Member

    Well lets see....
    I started on wp.COM because other places such as blogger just didn't tickle my fancy, they were either too hard to use or just weren't what I wanted so signed up with wp.COM and have been having a great time with it.
    Now for why I chose to write on a public site, to help others to know that they aren't alone, they aren't crazy and someone (actually many) know what they are going through. AND so I know I'm not crazy and I'm not alone. To share anonymously which I'm not able to do in my f2f life.
    I'm not doing post a day because I did that for 30 days once (I think) last year and by day 7 I was out of steam and by day 30 my brain had rotted nor have I confined myself to posting once a week.
    Anyway so I have enjoyed wp.COM so much, I'm now trying my hand out on using wp.ORG as a CMS. Am enjoying my trials and tribulations with learning that.

  19. dreamopacity
    Member

    I write for the hell of it. Probably seems crazy the things that I write but it's starting to make sense to me

    http://daydreamfile.wordpress.com

  20. imymind
    Member

    At the beginning i just wanted a place to upload my pictures, so i can get some kind of feedback and critisism. Now i like it so much that has become some kind of addiction. I try to update my blog as more as i can.

  21. lewis45
    Member

    When people are bored of hearing me talk crap, i take to the internet in the hope people will read it instead.

  22. wishfulanthony
    Member

    I write (on a postaday basis) because I love writing thing that are of interest to me.

    However, what I really feel lost with is the "niche" (in which I read a comment by Timethief in one forum question), and what would be a best nice for me to have and work on since I would love to cover topics that are of my interest, as well as writing down stories about my life. I feel thrown off at what "niche" I should maintain and how many niches can I work on so that I can keep myself motivated in blogging. I've already written a lot of entries, but, so far, only a few readers have been reading it (I already do social media very well). Sometimes, I just need a little more help and push so that I can really put my blog on the top... I'm a good writer, I've made a commitment to write more often, and yet, it's not yet there. What am I missing?

    Here's my blog: http://www.anthonynachor.com

  23. passionate4pikes
    Member

    I have sort of had a blogspot blog but hey, it was ugly and complicated, this is so much nicer organized, simpler and easier.

  24. daysnet
    Member

    I love putting my thoughts down on the computer and then sending them out into the internet universe. If one person reads my work then I'm happy. I don't have to do it but it makes me feel good knowing that at least I have a say. No one else listens to me but the computer never dies!

  25. cmhardin
    Member

    Hey Anthony,
    I hear you re: niche. I have the same trouble with niche for blogging and genre for writing :) Writing a blog certainly "feels" like good writing practice. Hopefully it is. Good luck, and congrats on having actual readers!

  26. themischief
    Member

    I began blogging originally to get feedback and responses from a wide audience on my ideas... and hopefully along the leave some happiness along the way!

    Its turned into somewhat of a Portfolio for me now. Im a studying Life Coach/CBT Adviser and when people want to know a little bit more about me, i direct them to my site! :)

    Feel free to leave your honest opinion on any of the posts.
    http://www.eachoneteachwon.com x

  27. soulgamer101
    Member

    I decided to start blogging because I have a passion for games (aside doing my University degree unrelated to it) My blog is about gaming reviews and providing an independent in depth review of games from different formats. I decided to follow a structure that showcases important elements as well as keeping it interesting and entertaining at the same time. Gaming has been a hobby for a long time and I like writing about it and to help improve the knowledge of games people invest in as well as an insight into these games as well as hardwares

    If you would like to see my work please check out http://www.totalrevue.wordpress.com Would be great to have your support

  28. kbosin
    Member

    I tried a couple other platforms, but wordpress just seemed classier to me. For me, blogging is like journaling out loud, and it doesn't matter who is looking - or not. I am surprised at how satisfying it has been to keep an online journal. It is simple and basic - my quiet life on the Chesapeake Bay. This is a beautiful place and I like to share it with anyone who's interested. http://Www.chesapeakejournal.wordpress.com

  29. kathyprincerecipes
    Member

    I am new to WordPress. Like kbosin I tryed other blogs. I think I will like this one.
    In my real world I am the owner of http://ecosmartproducts.net

  30. tlc2011
    Member

    I probably waited a year before I decided for sure I wanted to try a Blog. A friend guided me to WordPress & told me this was the best Blog Site with a lot of xtra's.
    When I was a kid I had over 135 PenPals all over the world & when I got married in 1959 all of that went away. My handwriting was OK back then & since has gotten a lot worse. I like to express myself & all of my accomplishments over the years. I have tons of Photo's on my Blog & they only cover Art & Model railroading. I hope to write something everyday or 2 or 3 times a day. I'm retired & I spend at least 4 to 6 hrs. a day on my large train layout & then the rest of the time on my puter.
    BTW, how do I get my Blog posted in the right Headings?
    Have a GREAT DAY everyone. We all deserve it.

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