Pedasi Panama sunset
Should you blog for yourself or others?
Does this question dance around in your mind?
I struggled to answer this question honestly for quite a long time. Even though I blogged mainly for self-fun I did not connect deeply with my readers. However, attempting to blog solely for other people felt draining at worst and a bit burdensome at best. I enjoyed helping people but lacked that inner passion indicating what my spirit was here to do, that blissful self-expression worldly humans seek.
Do you have a tough time trying to blog solely for yourself? Join the club. Bloggers may feel guilty about blogging for themselves. Why focus on yourself? You owe it to others to help solve their problems, right? But unless you exude Buddha-like altruism you cannot and will not live for others. Buddha, Jesus and other seers saw through the illusion of fear to our true nature as One Living In Perpetual Love. Every other worldly human being lacks this level of selflessness.
Finding the right driver:
- makes blogging fun
- allows blogging to feel rewarding
- positions you to go pro
- energizes you
- stabilizes you for inevitable blogging ups and blogging downs
Lacking the proper driver leads to:
- struggles
- failure
- quitting
No right or wrong answer exists but swaying too far in either direction creates struggles.
Like cooking a fish, the best results occur if you find that “just right” mid-point, wherever the point for you.
I tend more towards blogging for myself because although I am here to love and serve I also own and even embrace my egoic nature. Yogananda, I am not. Blogging needs to feel fun to me for me to keep blogging. I am at peace making this discovery while blogging for 13 years.
Other bloggers care less about their individual passion but deeply enjoy being of service to humanity. Edging toward a more selfless approach may resonate with you.
Keep these ideas in mind to find your blogging driver.
Yourself
Blog for yourself to enjoy the journey. Following your fun through blogging makes the work feel like the reward. Traffic, profits and business success feel like bonuses.
Koh Lanta, Thailand
I blog for fun. But I learned how blogging for others too creates lasting blogging success.
Blogging strictly for yourself leads to problems like:
- failing to connect with your readers
- being out of touch
- losing the ability to solve reader problems
- difficulties with monetizing your blog; how can you give readers what they want and earn a profit if you do not listen to your readers?
The main problem with blogging 100% for yourself seems to be losing the critical connection necessary to cultivate:
- compassion
- empathy
- authenticity
For example, I picked this blog post topic because bloggers struggle to find their driver. I only observed their struggle because I blog for my readers, too, noticing problems, spotting difficulties and providing solutions through my blog content.
Solo-focused bloggers blogging only for themselves soon publish a cyber diary. Readers stop following self-centered bloggers because self-obsessed bloggers blog about what’s on their mind versus what’s on their reader’s minds. Until you become a world-renowned celebrity few humans care about what’s on your mind. People want you to know what’s on their mind so you can solve their problems with your content.
People want you to know what's on their mind so you can solve their problems with your content.Click To Tweet
But be careful about swinging fully over to blogging only for others. Living for others through blogging is impossible if you have fear in your mind. Fear in mind is ego. Ego sees separation. Seeing separation creates even a smidge – not more – of self-interest. Honor self-interest. Honor desiring to possess stuff for yourself like:
- money
- a home
- increased business
- blog traffic
Attempting to deny these ego wants creates:
- resistance
- writer’s block
- exhaustion
- energy-sapping inauthenticity
because lying to yourself creates the illusion that you are 100% altruistic. No, you are not. Not only is this OK, it is a requirement to actually enjoy blogging and to sustain until you become a professional blogger. Humans have passions. People may deeply enjoy helping readers but need to blog for self on even a slight level to stabilize their energy for a long journey.
I love helping people to blog but could never blog for 13 years if I solely blogged for others because I am not fully altruistic. Being honest with myself in owning how I blog partially for me released resistance to blog post ideas, networking and blogging business opportunities.
Blog partially for you to follow your personal passion. Admit that you are not an enlightened blogger; you have some personal material and inner drivers in your being. Blog your fun and admit how you blog for you, on some level.
Others
Blogging for others seems important because success flows through other human beings.
Other people:
- read your blog
- comment on your blog
- promote your posts
- buy your eBooks
- hire you
- form joint partnerships with you
- coach you
- ask for your help
Without others, the only person doing each thing on the bullet point list would be you.
Imagine buying your blogging course. Spend $100. Earn $100. At the end of the day, you experience zero gain. But if other people buy your course you net $100 in profits per purchase.
People buy your course or hire you if you:
- listen to their problems
- solve their problems with your content
- solve their problems with your premium offerings
Bloggers need to listen closely to reader needs to solve their problems with free and premium content.
Bosphorus Strait Istanbul Turkey
Blogging for others feels good. Everyone loves helping people. But beware blogging solely for other people because you are not purely altruistic.
One part of you must love blogging for yourself because expressing some self-interest pulls you through difficult times. Unless you have fun doing something for yourself you quit any venture. Sky high blogger failure rates point toward bloggers lacking a glowing passion for blogging.
YOU need to love helping people-others but you better love blogging for yourself too or you quit. Picture yourself being 4 years into your blogging career. One person subscribed to your list over the past year. No blogging profits flowed to you. 5-10 people visit your blog daily.
Do you say to yourself that you need to keep blogging for humanity?
Nope.
You say:
“Screw it. I am not having fun and never had much fun blogging. I quit.”
Poor results did not force you to quit. Numbers appearing on a screen cannot make you do anything. Fear-filled, passion-less feelings in your being goaded you to quit. The low numbers just reflected back to you your:
- lack of passion for blogging
- truthful feelings about blogging
- honest assessment that you cannot do something solely for other human beings unless you are 100% altruistic and enlightened concerning that discipline
Good news. Bloggers can be passionate about helping others and self. In truth, the top bloggers tend to embody this dual-passion to see the professional blogging journey through.
Both Yourself and Others
Blog for yourself. Follow your passion. Doing what *you* love energizes you for the long pro blogging journey.
Blog for others. Earn a profit by helping people how people wish to be helped. Listen to their needs. Solve their problems with your blog content.
Blogging for yourself and others seems to be the right answer because:
- no unenlightened being is 100% altruistic (despite what ego suggests)
- no blogger goes pro unless they solve other people’s problems
Aim for your midway point between selfish interest and altruistic motives. At the most challenging blogging crossroads, you need to deeply love blogging for yourself to nudge through rough patches. Even if you appear to blog solely for other people, if you use any blogging phrase beginning with “my” you proved that you blog for yourself too because you take personal ownership of various blogging elements. Factor in how every single blogger I have ever known over 13 years at least once flashes concerns about their:
- blog traffic
- blogging profits
- online business
proves self-interest exists. Good! Being comfortable with blogging for your fun or pleasure removes guilt, self-righteousness and other ego trap games causing untold blogging struggles
Manual Antonio, Costa Rica
From this passionate self-interest, begin edging into humanity with branches of compassion. Listen closely to the needs of your readers. Ask how you can help your blogging community. Observe pressing issues. Blogging for others forms a connection that builds a rock-solid foundation for your blogging campaign.
Large, rabidly loyal blogging communities flock to bloggers who solve their problems. Bloggers listen closely to their tribe to solve problems tossed their way via these large, supportive tribes.
Helping people feels fun because blogging for others instills a sense of love coursing through your being. Everyone enjoys the feeling of serving people. Bask in the glow of this added bonus of serving human beings through your blog.
Important Note
I appeared to have a terrible time blogging for others – for a while – because I lacked a deep sense of compassion for human beings. Fear in my mind closed me off from people. Per every human being, I suffered intensely at various points of my life. But the length and intensity of my particular suffering created an ego-contrived wall resistant to feeling my fears.
I pushed my feelings down, my disconnection persisted and I alienated myself from my readers for a bit. Struggles followed because I did feel the fear in my mind fueling my lack of compassion.
I add this note for bloggers who consistently:
- feel annoyed about spam
- feel enraged about readers not buying their stuff or hiring them
- take readers for granted
- make fellow bloggers enemies
- struggle horribly to drive traffic and earn profits
A hefty number of bloggers behave in such fashion for suffering from a lack of compassion. Being compassionate largely dissolves these low energy feelings because feeling other people’s fear and pain dissolves your annoyance, agitation and anger into love, acceptance and compassion. From this energy you organically blog for others seamlessly.
Every blogging struggle is fear in your mind. Struggles appear to be outside of you but the worldly problem simply reflects fear in your mind back to you. Resisting fear makes you less compassionate. Being less compassionate cuts you off from the very readers who help you succeed.
Some blogging communities appear to be dominated by fear manifest as frequent complaining, angry judgements and a general visceral distaste of things related to blogging. Face your fears or else you will go down with these sinking blogging ships, rudderless without the predominant guide of compassion and service to right their course.
Face, feel and release fears in your mind. A new reality slowly reveals itself. Compassion begins to overtake your being. Feeling predominantly compassionate allows you to blog more for others, a necessary shift to going pro. Blogging for others while following your personal passion makes this journey fun, freeing, rewarding and fulfilling.
Conclusion
Listen closely to your reader’s needs. Blog because you possess a personal passion for blogging.
Find a comfortable midpoint for yourself between self-service and service to lay a granite-like foundation for your blogging campaign.
Your Turn
Do you blog mainly for yourself?
Or do you blog mainly for others?
How has your driver helped or hindered your blogging campaign?
