Blogging With a Purpose: Goals and Intentions

Now that I’m in the process of establishing a blog, I figured it would be a good thing to set some blogging goals for myself. As I mentioned in my last post, my prior blogs had more of a ‘journal-entry’ focus to them. I wrote about anything that was going on in my life, with little regard to the people I was writing about. The situations were probably not appropriate either. I’ve gone through a lot of emotionally damaging situations and I’m beginning to realize that some of it probably will never be entirely appropriate to write about publicly. That’s why I (should) keep a journal at home, something to write my deep and most private thoughts in.

I follow a variety of blogs now, some ranging from blogs that need to be kept in the journal format, others that seem to have primarily informative posts, and a few that are a little of both. I’m not saying the posts in the journal format are bad, I just believe that those posts should generally be more lighthearted and focused. In my older blogs, I would write posts about how depressed I was, yet I would go into extreme detail to the point where my friends and other readers would worry too much for my safety. That’s not a good route to go. If you want to have a public blog, you want people to find joy in reading it.

My boyfriend kind of has a blog through his website, he’ll write posts every now and then (hasn’t much lately). But what I really like about his posts is they are ABOUT something, whether it is a review, or starting a job; it feels like there is direction. And the other aspect I like about it is that it includes a variety of topics (most on the electronic realm, but not all). I figured if I was going to start a blog, I wanted to follow a similar approach.

However, the concept just wasn’t sinking in for me as I was starting to reconsider writing a blog a few months ago. I wrote a few posts, but they just felt unfocused and unsure. So, I set the idea aside for awhile. I also was told to try WordPress but that turned me off to blogging as well. I know it works great for some people; however I find Blogger to be much easier for me to maneuver. I let life take over. I just kept everything I wanted to write about bottled up; figuring inspiration and direction would hit me eventually.

And yesterday, it just did. I went to sit down at my lovely computer and I felt compelled to open up a word document and just write. Write about something important to me. Something that could be important for somebody else to read. And so my post on open-mindedness was born. And you know what? IT FELT AMAZING! You know what else? I want to continue doing it. Every voice in my mind screamed ‘START A BLOG!’ This time while I was setting it up, everything felt natural. The name came easily, I don’t feel nearly as anal about the appearance, and it’s relaxed. Sure, I hope people read my blog… but I’m fine if they don’t.

I could go on and on… I do think it’s probably a good idea to actually talk about my goals now…

-My post has to be about SOMETHING and actually stick to the topic at hand
-It should be about something other people might find interesting
-It should not be entirely self-focused. I want other people to find enjoyment from the advice, thoughts, and other information I provide
-I will take other readers advice to hand. If there’s a topic they want me to cover, I’d be happy to write a post about it.
-Be honest. A lot of bloggers seem intent of keeping this high and mighty image they’ve established for themselves. If people like me for the person I am, then that’s great. If they would rather read about people who seem better than the average Joe, that’s up to them.
-Establish myself with communities and other bloggers. It’s not about me, I intend on developing relationships with people who also have important things to say. You get back what you put forth, too. By going out of your way to help other people, you gain better friendships, trust, and reliability.
-Most importantly, have fun!! While I want other people to enjoy it and I don’t want to present myself as selfish, I’m writing this blog because I believe I have important things to say and I want a creative outlet to get those things out there. This is why I’m blogging, and not writing a private journal instead. This is what I enjoy!

So, now you’re getting a better idea about the basics of who I am. I wanted to share these goals with you, so you can see my intentions for blogging. For the first out of many times I will say this, I really appreciate the people who will come along on this ride with me. I hope this helps me grow as a person, and helps me build strong friendships that I will cherish for a lifetime.

Fin