Among my (offline) friends & family, there aren’t many “bloggers”. A couple of my friends have design portfolio’s, but none are actively blogging to share their work & ideas with the www. Many of my non-blogging pals just don’t get it & in fact, some of them don’t know about the existence of my blog– it’s not something I’m ashamed of, but I don’t shout about it from the rooftops, either. I know some of them read this (& they think I don’t know— so please, say hi!) & it’s linked from my portfolio, but it just doesn’t tend to come up in conversation! If you’re not a member of the blogosphere, then you’re undoubtedly going to see the whole thing as a bit geeky (especially when I use the word blogosphere) & a waste of time.
If you’re working towards a career in journalism / photography / design / fashion / art, then you should seriously consider starting a ‘blog’. If you want to be a journalist & you don’t have a blog already, you’re stupid. Go & sign up now! It’s the perfect (free!) way to practice & it’s much easier to send someone to your blog, when you’re applying for jobs. And for all other creatives, your blog is your big opportunity to let your personality shine through too– people will warm to your work, if they know something about the person behind it & it will mean they return to your website for new content. Portfolio’s on their own can be a bit stale.
Blogging Pros: Networking, communication, feedback, money-earner, personality & branding, drives passion, employer reference & portfolio, sharing, educating & learning — & it’s FREE!
A blog is not necessarily about writing a diary of events & pouring out heartfelt emotions– that kind of stuff is best left on journal websites such as LiveJournal– it’s about communicating your ideas, networking, making new friends with common interests & showing off what you can do to the world, including potential employers. You can receive instant feedback on what you’ve created, from industry people & simply fans of your work. You need to hear responses sometimes, from people that aren’t your friends or family (who will adore anything you create or do, because they love you!)
I don’t really consider myself a blogger, per-sé. I’m a journalist & photographer, primarily. It just so happens that my ‘blog’ is my chosen form of communication, to share ideas, thoughts, post my work & network– categories, tags & the comments feature, make it easy to find related subjects & get feedback. I don’t post about personal matters & prefer to concentrate on articles, tutorials & the odd regular feature. I think of it more as a magazine– I don’t have the opportunity to write for a published one at the moment, but this little corner of the www is here waiting as reference for future writing jobs & has helped me gain some unpaid work too.
More & more businesses & celebrities are using blogs now– Stephen Fry; Ricky Gervais; the BBC; newspapers; the Whitehouse & loads more & so I think they’ve become a lot more acceptable, but what do you think about blogs & blogging?
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Blogging tips for beginners
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How to find readers for your blog
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