Most people would consider the term ‘business ethics’ oxymoronic, but I imagine most people wouldn’t find the term ‘blogging business’ oxymoronic at all. Personally, I hold the view that a blog shouldn’t be operated as a business, even if it does generate large amounts of money, but should be operated as a ‘blog’.
Businesses generally aren’t social. Businesses operate to make profit. A blog operates to talk the audience, which is social. Whilst being social and profit-orientated can co-exist in any business, I feel that a blog should be more focused on the audience (and the blogger’s creativity) than the pockets of the blogger/owner.
A blog shouldn’t have a business plan, it shouldn’t have numerical targets or specific ways in which to achieve those targets.
Sure, a blogger can have targets, but my binding themselves to numerical targets, I feel that this would increase pressure which would only result in deteriation of quality of blog posts. Strive for quality; don’t strive for 1000 people to read that article. Strive to write things you believe; not what makes you the most money or what is the most popular view.
For me, blogging is a hobby. I realise that to many, especially in one of my blog networks (Grand Effect), it’s a livelihood. I have massive amounts of respect for full-time bloggers for the simple reason that I don’t believe I have enough creativity to churn out a couple of pieces of quality work daily.
My blogging schedule rotates around my real-life, hence the lack of posts over the past week, whilst it must take an awful amount of self-disciple to rotate real-life around blogging. Perhaps that’s why many full-time bloggers see blogging as a business, but I think what inspires a great blog post is experience from the real world… something which you will see much less of if you’re a fulltime blogger.
The minute a blog turns into a business, it ceases being a truly ‘personal’ blog. It’s importan, even if you are blogging for money, that you never truly let your blog become a business and always keep it personal… something which is key to social media and blogging.
You make some good points Joe. I always try and apply the theory of quality over quantity to every aspect of my life, working and otherwise, but it’s not always a popular model to work from.
However I think the pressure/need to post regularly isn’t necessarily solely on professional blogger, nor is it necessary applied by someone else; I’ve heard of bloggers who get so used to their posting ritual/schedule that they feel awful if they miss one. Or others who feel a responsibility to blog frequently or be the first with the story.
For me I guess the aim is to avoid posting just for posting’s sake - if I don’t have anything to say that I think is worth reading, I won’t post it.
Also, I find if I read a blog regularly it has more to do with the writing style and the topics covered than whether it was the first blog to write about the subject.
I agree. I only post when I have something to say. (Father’s Protect Your Children was my father’s day post, for example.)I also don’t have advertising on my blog because I think it distracts from the ideas.