Why the hell should I blog?

While contemplating on what should be my next topic to blog, it just struck me 'Why the hell should I blog?'

This happened about two years back when I was a green-horn at blogging. It all started when I heard my colleagues talking about it. One of them forwarded his blog URL. Another colleague took the hint and quickly created her blog. I was curious as to who was this new cat on streets- 'blogging'. So I also decided to 'blog' - just to stay put in the race. I created my first blog - Alice in wonderland. But slowly that enthusiasm waned and I just gave up blogging- simply because it didn’t have anything in it for me.

After two long years, a couple of days back suddenly my sister came up with this question- 'Hey sis do you know how people make money by blogging'. I was not impressed at all. I had already tasted it and didn’t find it exciting. It was a simplex communication where I was the transmitter- who was voicing her ideas, her interests but wasn't sure about who the receptor was? On my first post I didn't find any comments... I didn't find anyone looking interested in my views.. then ‘Why the hell should I blog?’, I said to myself... and I left it abruptly. So when my sister asked me about blogging I was not too keen on it.

But the idea of earning money through blogging amused me.

What the heck is she trying to say? How can you earn money by just blogging?

These questions were spinning in my head. I asked my husband about it. Even he didn’t have any idea about it. But this little worm didn’t stop eating my head. I started on a new quest on exploring the equation between blogging and money. It took me almost two days to unravel this mystery.

Like an excited child who had just discovered the lifecycle of water I told my husband that I have finally found out the truth about blogging. He wasn’t curious, though he was kind enough to lend me an ear. He thought this must be one of those fake stories where you sign-up for something and share some information with your friends and your friends share it with their friends and so on then you get money equivalent to the number of hands that information has passed through. I told him blogging is not like that. A blog is basically an online diary, a journal written by an author. Blog is about the author and/or the author’s interests. The great thing about a blog is that you can blog about just anything under the sun. There are no boundaries whatsoever. It could be your career, pet, relationships, car, favorite movie, etcetera, etcetera. You can let go the horses of your creativity run free.

At this moment my husband posed a relevant question- why did I gave up blogging if it were so easy?
A very valid question indeed. I told him that I took up blogging without even knowing what it was all about. I didn’t delve into depth about what blogging meant. I started off with blogging just because people around were doing it. The important thing, that I had earlier missed out on, is that you blog about something that matters to you. Different people have different interests and you’re no exception. Chances are good that others just like you are ready to delve into your material because they have similar tastes. Don’t hesitate to write about something you’re passionate about - just do it! Check out Google’s own blogger where you can create your blog for free and get going.

Well that is fine and dandy but how do we generate money off blogging, was my husband’s next question.
Another valid question, indeed, the answer to which is- Google’s Adsense. I told him that it is a free service from Google and it is as simple as the word s i m p l e itself is. All that you have to do is put adsense on your blogging site – and you make money from people who click on your adsense ads. To top it all, users don’t even need to purchase something on the advertising site. That’s all about it. Really! My husband was impressed with this whole concept. He encouraged me to start blogging all again. I immediately called up my sister and explained to her what blogging is and how do you make money out of it. She appropriately remarked, Adsesnse is no non-sense ;-)

I know that there quite a few souls very much like me who don’t have an inkling about the power of blogging. So this post is dedicated to all those who want to know about blog. I have skimmed through a lot of stuff on the internet and have tried to get out the message in this simple blog. I found a nice article- Introduction to Blogging which discusses everything about blogging. Today I am more convinced and have a clearer picture of what will I blog. I will blog on my interests. I will blog about my passions. I will blog about just anything under the sun that excites me.

Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid
torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want
to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it
on to future generations. – G.B. Shaw

I would like to know if this post has helped anyone in gaining an insight into blogging and its power. Since a blog is a dialogue and not a monologue I welcome your comments and your suggestions on this post.