An article today lists eight reasons why blogging can advance your career:
1. Blogging creates a network.A blogger puts himself out in the world as someone who is interesting and engaging -- just the type of person everyone wants to meet.
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2. Blogging can get you a job.
Dervala Hanley writes a quirky literary blog that got her a job is at Stone Yamashita Partners, a consulting firm that ''tries to bring humanity to business." Hanley says the firm was attracted to her ability to put her business experience into personal terms on the blog.
3. Blogging is great training.
To really get attention for your blog, you're going to have to have daily entries for a while. At least a few months to get rolling, and then three or four times a week after that. So you will really get to know your topic well.
I would add that it's also great training for any job that requires you to be able to express yourself clearly. (Which I think would be all of them...)
4. Blogging helps you move up quickly.To escape the entry-level grind, you can either pay your dues, working up a ladder forever, or you can establish yourself as an expert in the world by launching a blog. High-level jobs are for people who specialize, and hiring managers look for specialists online. ''Decision-makers respect Google-karma," writes Tim Bray, director of Web technologies for Sun Microsystems -- on his own blog, of course.
5. Blogging makes self-employment easier.
You can't make it on your own unless you're good at selling yourself. One of the most cost-effective and efficient ways of marketing yourself is with a blog. When someone searches for your product or service, make sure your blog comes up first.
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6. Blogging provides more opportunities.
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A blog gives you a leg up when you meet someone new. Dylan Tweney, a freelance writer, says a blog gives him instant legitimacy with clients.
7. Blogging could be your big break.
… Mark Fearing has a cartoon blog. ''Cartooning and illustration are very crowded fields," he says.
''My blog has gotten me more notice than any other publicity tool I've used. Plus, the blog gives me a way to have a new conversation with potential clients about other work."
8. Blogging makes the world a better place.
''Blogging is about giving stuff away to a community," says Day. ''For years, as a junior developer, I would go to the Internet for solutions and I would always take, take, take. Now I am happy to be a contributor and give something back."
My gut feeling is (and always has been) that these reasons are real. And I think there may be a ninth reason, which is that I think it can show a certain cutting-edge savvy, especially for a blog that predates the buzz.
I can't see my stats so I have no idea how many people regularly read my blog (although I know there are a few based on repeat commenters and occasions where I've found myself listed on others' blogrolls). But what's really interesting to me is the emails I've gotten from one-off readers, or readers who have googled a subject I've written about and apparently found me to be one of the leading authorities on it. I find this incredibly cool (and flattering). But I don't think I would be able to capture their esteem if, when they followed the link over and poked around the rest of the site, they didn't also like what they saw. The above reasons may hold only if you have a good blog. With a bad blog, I'm sure all bets are off.
Comments (8)
I think you ommitted another very important caveat included in the article:
"But pick your topics carefully and have a purpose. 'The most interesting blogs are focused and have a certain attitude,' says van Allen. 'You need to have a guiding philosophy that you stick to. You cannot one minute pontificate on large issues of the world and the next minute be like, My dog died.'
Day realized the value of focus after a misguided mashup of his politics and business.
'I used to have liberal politics on my website as well, but my mentor said, 'Dude, you gotta trim that off.' Which was fine because in the world of liberal politics I was just another piece of noise.'"
Posted by Mark | April 16, 2006 4:29 PM
Posted on April 16, 2006 16:29
Is this a criticism?
Beyond that I figured it was covered by the "good blog" thing - at which point we can debate what makes a good blog. But offhand I'd speculate that a blog that weaves together different threads isn't necessarily a bad one.
Posted by Cathy | April 16, 2006 5:42 PM
Posted on April 16, 2006 17:42
Blogging Rules!
Posted by Son of Crapface | April 16, 2006 9:11 PM
Posted on April 16, 2006 21:11
I don't know if its a critisism, but it is an observation. My experience (admittedly limited) is that people respect blogs that singlemindedly focus on some academic, professional, political or opinion topic, but view blogs that look more like journals (ie on-line diaries of random thoughts) as entertainment. The Globe article appeared to be making this same point.
I've seem too many unfocused blogs (or websites) passed around offices-- and never in a complementary manner. People may think they are fun to read, but they question the judgement of those who write them and tend to pick on any little frivilous thing they might find that shows moodyness, intemperance, or self-importance. Not the kind of calling card you want to be giving in a professional situation.
As I've mentioned to you before, I think that a single-minded blog on a topic like IP might (and I stress "might") be useful professionally in the law, if it is very well thought out and well written-- for the general reasons given in the Globe Article. But where a handful of thoughtful articles get mixed with articles about chicken manipulation, personal battles with student government, disney trips during the school year, symposia interruptus, dissatisfaction with motel soundproofing and customer service, personal financial issues, financial aid inconvieniences, failed relationships with ex-employers, upper bunk beds, fare media for transit buses, non-viewing of grades, mid-summer ending of swim lessons and the like, I think that any possible professional benefit is wiped out-- so potential employers and clients will focus on personality issues, not legal thought. Also, I think the legal thought, even in a blog with only legal thoughts, needs to be thoroughly researched and spot on-- not off the cuff thoughts about--for example-- takings cases that the author hasn't read.
This would be true with any professional blog-- but even more so for a blog by a new attorney. A blog might have a potential to impress, but it also has a potential to scare off. I enjoy reading your blog-- but I do wish you kept it annoymous rather than showing it off to potential professional contacts. I think the number of thoughful, fully researched and reasonably lengthy posts on IP issues here has been in the single digits. And that's a real problem if you are selling this not as entertainment, but as a sort of portfolio.
Sorry for the honesty. I usually keep this sort of stuff in e-mails to you. Feel free to take the post off if you'd like.
Mark
Posted by Mark | April 16, 2006 11:41 PM
Posted on April 16, 2006 23:41
No, I'll keep it, and I appreciate the candor (although given that this genie is already out of the bottle, I'm not sure what it accomplishes by trying to instill me with a sense of regret), but we can debate this forever and I'll still disagree.
I am really, really, really glad I don't blog anonymously. A lot of the anonymous bloggers I read - who are good - are pretty unhappy, because they have to keep this great work they've done a secret. Or fret about it ever being discovered.
I'm immensely proud of my blog, more proud than I can remember being about anything else I've done. And I don't fret at all about it being discovered. I don't think it shames me, I don't think it embarrasses me, and I do think it promotes me.
One of the ways it does so is, by not being anonymous, it tells the world that I'm brave, and I believe in myself. That's a great message to be able to send.
Sidenote though: I wouldn't say public blogging is good for everyone. But I am absolutely certain that it's good for me.
Posted by Cathy | April 17, 2006 5:59 AM
Posted on April 17, 2006 05:59
Cathy...
My intent wasn't to instill you with regret, but to post useful advice. I don't think that the genie is totally out of the bottle, as you could still take the blog off your resume and/or take the blog itself off the web (or move it to some more annonymous url). While it's true that nothing can truely be removed from the memory of the web, these steps would make it far less likely that people would find it when casually looking you up professionally-- especially as time passed.
That said, I understand your reticence to move back from the public blog-- though I sincerely believe it is a bad move for you career-wise.
Mark
Posted by Mark | April 17, 2006 7:37 AM
Posted on April 17, 2006 07:37
On the contrary, I am thoroughly convinced that blogging has absolutely been a good move for me, career-wise.
Posted by Cathy | April 17, 2006 7:47 AM
Posted on April 17, 2006 07:47
This is good news for me. Since your blog is going to help your career, and since my blog is better than your blog (see http://journals.aol.com/derdumkauf/TheWayBetterthanCathysblogblog/), it logically follows that my blog will help my career even more than yours will help yours.
QED.
Posted by Mike | April 18, 2006 8:05 AM
Posted on April 18, 2006 08:05