The definition and purpose of a blog has long boggled the minds of people on and off the Internet. There have been several attempts to define and understand explanations behind logic on the purpose of a blog, but there's never have been a perfectly cut definition of the matter. So, you are free to customize the definition of the purpose of your blog.
Why define the purpose of your blog? For simple reason: You don't want to get lost in the jungle and find yourself preyed on.
This way you have a definite guideline on what kind of contents you've got to published, the areas you need to maintain, and, generally, what kind of online blogger you ought to be. Figuring these things out streamlines all actions you've got to pushed to achieve specific goals of your blog. Otherwise, you will get caught in the following scenarios:
- Killing the purpose of the blog with your motive. Let's say, your blog intends to provide knowledge-based articles on chain link fencing. Of course, you published several contents on this subject. But you end up stuffing keywords everywhere and just anywhere you blog. Worst, you also throw lots and lots of AdSense Ads on almost every page that these money-generating advertisements killed your contents. The motive of making money killed the purpose of the blog, whether intentionally or subconsciously.
- Expanding the purpose of the blog for the sake of traffic. Starting a blog can be frustrating, mind you. If you have been publishing contents for almost a month and you still can't get good traffic and unique visitors, you may get tempted to add contents beyond your niche. You may start adding tech reviews on your religion-faith-based blog, or you may end up publishing online marketing tips for your health-based blog. The frustration of getting traffic for your website can kill the purpose of your blog, and you may not notice your sidetrack route.
- Wrapping the blog off because it fails to give you much. Let's face this. You started a blog because you want to earn money, but after awhile returns are too slim. You are not happy about it. So, you stopped regularly publishing contents. And eventually, the domain registration and hosting account expired. End of the blog...
Chaos. Degeneration. Decline. Death. This is the complete life-path of a blog without a clear purpose. Defining the purpose of your blog is both easy and difficult. As you go deeper on the layers of the purpose of your blog, things can get complicated.
Blogging as a Hobby
Blogs are originally for personal purposes. It is used to share what you think, post your photos, and just what you'd like to do. This is the very nature of a blog. But this definition of blogging is more likely applied to blogging as a hobby than on blogging for business.
If you are blogging as a hobby, you don't have to deal with pressure. There is no goal of making money out of advertisements or products you've got to sell. There's nothing like that at all. You are not a hobby blogger if you are stressed on making money out of your blog. You can't mix up these two categories together.
Most bloggers, however, are more interested on making money out of their blog, even they insist they are just blogging for the sake of blogging. Just a happy, for that sake. Well, you need to pay for hosting accounts and there are several tools you've got to buy to improve your blog.
For a hobby blogger, a blog can be anything. If you want to stuff it with keywords, you can do so. If you want to add new niche to talk about, the door is always open. This is the good thing about hobby blogging. Freedom.
But if you want to earn something out of your blog, you have become a business blogger. Keep on reading to learn about that.
Blogging for Business
Money plays a big role in business blogging. It is not just looking at the stats of the blog, but you are more interested on making money as visitors walk through the door. It is translating the attention or traffic into measurable financial results. To speak, your blog is more than just a blog. It is a business itself.
You are not just blogging because you want to impress visitors with highfaluting words. It is pointless and useless to work on contents without promoting a service or a product. You've got to offer something to your customers. This is the sole and main purpose of the business blog. Get out of this purpose and you are hitting deadlock.
Here are some of the areas of the purpose of your business blog:
- Your blog is your bait. Like when you're fishing, you also need a bait in online business. Because search engines don't have much respect on simple marketing pitch pages, you have to write relevant posts focusing on the industry that concerns your business. These contents have higher edge on search results where your website would never gain ascendancy.
- Your blog is your social headquarter. Social media accounts for your business is not anymore a choice, these are business's necessities. However, there are only few ways on how to customize these accounts to work for your business. With a blog, you can connect these accounts to relate your customers to the social media network seamlessly.
- Your blog is your community. The product page is not the best place to discuss how-to tips or industry-focus topics. Web users are more likely to comment on a post than fill in the contact form or call the customer service. With the blog, you can start an active community for exchanging of thoughts and comments. This way the website can rank well on search engines, and this will generate leads for people to follow and read your blog.
- Your blog is your update. Most business websites are created, launched, and left out for months or years. Through the blog, you can keep the website updated on regular basis. This way search engines will be happy to rank your website on top results. Search engines prefer websites that are updated and on current issues. The blog can keep your website updated and current without even updating it.
Though it is impossible to have a standard purpose of a blog, but you can define the purpose of YOUR blog. It has to deal with the response of the audience. The purpose of the your blog must not be confined to the corners of your mind alone. Your audience must be able to see that purpose. Upon first glance, that purpose must be clearly presented. From there, you have to work out on the branches of the purpose of your blog.
What makes the blog different from the rest? What are its stakes for people to come each day, read posts, and act on these contents? What are you great at? Start here to create the purpose of YOUR blog.
