Who Blogs and Why

There are some really great blogs out there. Before you decide on a topic for you own blog, I suggest you browse the web for some ideas. One great way to do this is by using Google Blog Search. Just like performing a search on Google, you can type in what you are looking for and the search engine will find the most relevant blogs. So lets take a look at some creative blogs and the reasons why they were started.

One of the reasons people blog is because they have a story that needs to be told. There are many blogs out there like this, but one I found to be particularly well written is A Soldier's Perspective. The authors are 4 men who have been deployed and are blogging from Iraq. This blog is a great one to use as an example because the authors have used a combination of pictures, videos, and links to not only get their point across, but to make their blog credible, but we will talk more about that later.

Another reason people blog is to promote their company or organization. Blogging is used by many different companies, both big and small. Take for example my favorite news channel, CNN. I like to watch it when I'm at home cleaning or doing something else, but sometimes I like to just see what is going on when I'm not at home. Well, CNN has their own blog that constantly updates with top stories. This way, someone like myself can log on and browse through the blog titles to see what is happening. If its something I want to read about, I can click on it.

Nonprofit organizations are using blogs as an effective advertising strategy. It makes sense. Nonprofit organizations often function on a limited budget and blogging is free! In fact, you can even make a profit off advertising through your blog, but we will discuss that later. An example of a good nonprofit blog I have found is NYCON which stands for the New York Council Of Nonprofits. They do a great job of using their blog as a form of advertisement. Their posts are long enough to gather information from, but not so long as to make you feel like you're reading a press release.

One last reason that people blog is similar to the reason you and I blog and that is to just practice this growing trend of social media. A great example of this is the blog More Than Mary. It is simply a blog in which the author, Mary, talks about the things in life that make her happy. In her bio she even states that she is just blogging from experience and is by no means an expert. Blogs such as Mary's just go to show how blogging really is a growing trend that we all should learn.