Why Do We Blog?
Why Do We Blog?
That was the question Donald Driver presented to us in the afternoon session at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. It sounds like a simple question right? Why did I begin blogging? I started it because a friend of mine Danielle started a blog called Live, Run, Grow. I work with her cousin and her cousin told me about it. I knew Danielle had participated in Disney races and that’s where I was first introduced to the idea of running runDisney races. This was before the runDisney community exploded and the races weren’t a huge sellout like they are now. Danielle started her blog to document her training and to also share her stories about the runDisney races.
When I first heard of blogs about 8-10 years ago I thought they were stupid, honestly. I always considered them a soapbox for people to get up and blab on and on about their opinions. I never thought that one day I would have a blog. And the fact, that the blog might make me money as well, was a major stretch of my imagination. As we were boarding our plane today and I looked back and told my husband I didn’t want to leave, he asked me. Is it because you don’t want to go back to work? I didn’t think that was it, but when I thought about it, it kind of was. I mean who really wants to go to work? I don’t hate working; but I would much rather be doing things I enjoy like vacationing with my kids, taking them on field trips to learn, blogging on a more regular schedule, helping others find their happiness, doing things that make me happy.
So why do I blog? Well I started my blog back in 2012 to do what Danielle was doing. I wanted to use it as my online running journal. I used it to document my first races, my training, and to hopefully network with others. I didn’t know anything about how to write a blog, I just knew that you could host one for free with Word Press. So I took out a domain name and started blogging. The name Wife, Mother, Runner came to me very easily. I wanted the blog to cover many areas of my life, my life as a mom, my life as a runner, and my life as a wife and an individual.
Fastforward a few years and I have learned so much more. I attended the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration on the Road in Philadelphia last year and have educated myself on how to self host my blog, get ads going with Google AdWords and there is still so much more I want to learn.
So back to the question from Donald Driver, “Why do we blog?” We all have a story to tell. The story we tell may inspire others. I didn’t realize it when I started my blog, but it does inspire others. People have come up to me and told me that the races that I run and the posts that I post about my training show my dedication and perserverance and they are inspired by that. My mother has told me she was inspired by my marathon training. Friends have told me they wanted to start running the Disney races beceause it looks like so much fun and they loved the pictures and stories I shared on my blog.
I choose to blog about most things positive. I will tell the truth; however. If something happens at a race or during my training or even in a life situation; I will blog about it. Donald said use your blog to share your pain or to share your success. It is a good way to let others know the struggles you have been through to get to where you are now. It helps them realize that maybe what you are going through might be something they are also feeling and they aren’t alone in that situation.
I have an illness called kidney vasculitis caused by Honoch-Schloen Purpura that usually strikes children. For me, it happened when I was 30 and it has caused a disruption in my life when I first got married 13 years ago. It took many years for the doctor to figure out what was wrong with me and it also caused my husband and I to have to put our dream of having children on hold for 5 years while I was treated with a chemotherapy-type medication. I was not blogging at that time; but now I want to share in my blog what I had gone through. It is a part of me and made me who I am today. It also made me the runner I am today. You can read more about it on my About Me page.
Donald said, “at then end of the day when you post something, how do you want people to feel about it?” I hadn’t thought about that when I write my blog posts. I usually write because I want to share news or even look back on my own life to see how I overcame something or what steps I took towards an accomplishment or goal I was reaching for.
What do I want my blog to become? I’d love for it to become a source of income for me so that maybe we could move and I could continue to make it a full time thing for me. Who knows? I hadn’t considered it; because I don’t know how to make an income off of my blog. Perhaps those of you who do, can we network and you can help me learn more about this possibility?
Why do you blog? I’d love to hear your story!
Nice job, Pamela! I would love to kick my blog up a notch too and turn it into something much more. But all of this is part of the journey. Show perseverance and do your homework like you did with the runDisney training and you will get there! And think of all the blogging buddies that will be right alongside you! 🙂
Thank you Sherry!
Awww…I’m touched that you were inspired to start a blog because of mine!
I often wish that I could get a professional design for my blog and move it over to be self hosted, but honesty it’s really not in my budget right now and since I don’t feel that my blog has any sort of informational purpose (I still really consider it just a journal for myself!) I don’t really see monetizing it being successful so I can’t rationalize spending the money on it!
The social media moms conference sounds like it was probably an amazing opportunity to learn from a lot of great people!