Blogging is Best with Great Writing

Hi. J. Angelo Racoma here, filling in for Adnan while he’s on a brief blogging hiatus. I’m a problogger and blog network manager. I’m currently the assistant editor at the Blog Herald, and I manage several of Splashpress Media’s blogs and blog-related properties, including Gadzooki, Froodee, Blog Tutorials and Travelogger. My personal blog is the J Spot.

I’ve been blogging for about four years now, and I have been problogging for about two years, in different capacities, which include being a corporate blogger (blogging for my company), a network blogger, an independent problogger (earning from ads and affiliate programs), and even a blog network manager. Here’s one thing I learned from my experience in blogging. If you want to make it big in blogging, or if you at least want to earn from blogging, you have to be a writer first.

In a post a few months back, I expressed some frustrations with the “problogger” title. Where I come from, “problogging” is a virtually unknown profession/occupation/business. So when people ask me what I do, I find it difficult to explain. So I found it easier to tell them I’m a writer. And true enough, I was. Writing is what I do, and blogs are my medium.

I don’t mean to say you have to be an expert in writing. Sure, blogs have different sets of rules (if they can be called that) than journalistic writing or even creative writing. However, it’s always good to consider crossing your T’s and dotting your I’s–that is, minding spelling, grammar, and your language in general. It also helps to mind your style–that is, whether your writing is the right length, well-organized, and that your points are easy to understand.

It’s not only easy on the eyes (and the brain), it’s also search-engine friendly (unless you’re trying to target misspelled keywords!). However, I think the best kind of blogging is when you’re writing for an audience, and not for the search engines. IMHO, the best traffic is return/repeat traffic. If your content is enjoyable and easy enough to read, your readers will keep coming back. Sure, you may not get much in terms of ad clickthroughs, but you get a solid fan base and community from your readers. There’s the trust factor.

So if you’re interested in earning from blogging, start with the basics: writing. And somehow, that helps keep the passion.

I don’t necessarily have to write on blogs to earn. And I don’t necessarily have to earn to blog.

That brings back the excitement in blogging, doesn’t it? That brings back the passion. Imagine blogging solely for the purpose of getting your thoughts published online—for sharing to the world.

The income? That comes in as a secondary concern. At least for blogging, that is.

So I’m a writer. I’m a content developer. Do I write for a living? Yes. Do I blog for a living? Well, I write for a living, and blogs are my medium. So in a way, yes, but not strictly so. Keeping with my desire to remain passionate with blogging, I should not necessarily think of blogs as solely sources of income.

I guess that’s how artists remain true to their craft. Once you think about money first, you end up focusing on commercial stuff and just produce crap.