As many people have moved to Mastodon or Micro.blog because they feel Twitter sucks and Facebook is the devil, I’ve seen many discussions wondering if any social media platform is good? Blogging is usually brought up as what everyone really wants to come back, but most admit they don’t write.

The big question is, why don’t you write? Why aren’t you using this vehicle where you 100% control the content and it’s usage. Where you can own the relationship with your customers?

I’ve got family, work, life

One person recently said they didn’t write because they have a kid, family, job and other stuff that means they just don’t have the time. I hate to break it to you, but so does everyone else.

I have three kids (7, 4, 2). My wife works for much of the year which means I need to be done at 3pm most days of the week. I value my fitness so I run between 30km – 70km a week depending on where I am in my training cycle.

We all have stuff going on. The reason you don’t write is because you don’t value it. You look back on the “old days” with nostalgia. You want to get back to these fondly remembered days when we all blogged and commented. But you don’t want to put the effort in that it’s going to take.

So, when are you going to put that effort in again? You’ve got the time. Maybe cut 50% of the time you post on social media and blog instead. I’d bet you write at least one good blog post a day on social media. Instead of investing in a platform that only wants to steal your attention, invest in one you control.

That may also mean you have to start reading blogs, commenting on blogs, linking to what other people write. You do all of this already on social media. You just contribute to their platform where you’re the product instead of building your own online CV of thoughts.

You decrease your value when you devote your time to social media. Blogging is a much better way to establish yourself as a leader in your field. You can take control of your career with clear writing and thinking.

Maybe you shouldn’t blog much then

Okay, so maybe you tried blogging. It just dosen’t happen. You’ve written 100 posts and had someone take a critical look at them to help you improve your writing. You still hate it. It’s still hard. You’re just not going to do it.

Maybe you should be commenting on what other people write instead. maybe you should be using your site as a “link blog” to the things you find interesting. Not every blog needs to write thousand word posts daily. I don’t even do that all year.

Yes we need people to write, but those that write also need people to engage with their writing. By engaging again, you’re helping the whole system work.

But Regular People Won’t Blog

Another excuse I hear is that “regular people” won’t blog. The hurdles are too high. You have to get a domain, and then host your own site and then figure out how this whole thing works.

You’re correct, under that scenario people aren’t going to blog. It’s way to much work. But that’s not the only scenario.

I run with a fairly technical crowd and what they always forget is that there are done for you places that aren’t terrible to get people started. Tell the next person that says they want to write online to use SquareSpace or WordPress.com or Ghost.

They don’t have to spin up a server. That’s just what you do as a nerd. Some of these places, like WordPress.com, even have follow features so that you can follow and interact with other blogs on their platform. That’s going to help hit the instant gratification monkey as you get going.

Monetizing A Blog is Hard

Finally, so often people complain that monetizing a blog is hard. They are totally correct. If you’re starting your blog to earn money off of it…good luck. It’s a long hard road and has corpses littered every step of the way of the others that never were able to support themselves.

Why does everything have to be about monetizing though? I have some books for sale. I have coaching. At one point I had ads, but that was years ago and I earned essentially nothing.

I spent years writing because I love to write before I really earned a penny based on my writing. After those years I got coaching clients. I started getting asked to write for other people. I saw some traction with Medium’s partner program.

If I had made the sole reason I write come down to earning a few pennies, I would never have kept it up.

A blog is an online CV of your thoughts. It’s a place where you can establish yourself as someone of value in your field. It’s a place to show your current and your future employer that you bring value and are worth paying well.

It’s a place for you to fall in love with the process of writing.

So, when I hear that people want to get back to blogging the only question I ask is where are you writing currently? Most people have a link to some site that hasn’t updated in months. It was months before that as well.

If we want to get back to blogging, then start writing. Don’t tell me that you wish it would happen, be the change you want to see.