While I was putting together 10 Great Strategic Benefits of Blogging earlier on this morning, I bumped into another weblog post that I thought was worth while mentioning on its own since it comes to tackle a question that I keep getting several times a week from folks who are rather skeptic or reluctant to try out weblogging to help them with their knowledge sharing and collaboration techniques. The actual weblog post is titled How to become a Successful Blogger by Christopher Salazar and while going through it I just couldn’t help thinking about another weblog post I created in the past and which comes pretty close to the overall thinking as well: 10 Tips for Becoming a Great Corporate Blogger.
Indeed, Christopher comes to share what he feels are the key points to go for whenever you would want to start your own weblog and while going through them I just couldn’t help adding my two cents worth of comments:
- Think PASSION, not numbers: “Blogs written with passion are much more powerful, resourceful, and interesting” Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! What else would I need to say on top of that ? Not much, I know, but that is exactly how I feel about my own weblogging experience. It is all about the topics you are passionate about and which you would want to share with others and get them involved! Be contagious!
- Join the CONVERSATION: Another big Yes !!! Whoever thought that weblogging is not about the conversations should think again, because that is the whole point of blogs: dive into the conversations and interact with others on those topics that you feel would be worth while discussing. That, to me, is the difference between a standard web site and a weblog. Be conversational!
- Exhibit THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Another good point about what weblogging should be like. Adding your two cents into the conversation because, after all, we all have got an opinion on that particular subject and there is a great chance that you will always have people around you wanting to listen to what you have got to say. Be unique!
- Create Trust: Ahhh, what can I say about this one that I may not have said already. Without trust any KM strategy is bound to run into trouble sooner or later. Trust should be an integral component from any knowledge sharing organisation where collaboration with others is key. Be trustworthy!
- Enable comments: Indeed, and this is one of the things that I have been enjoying myself for some time now here in elsua.net. From the very beginning I had enabled comments but people would need to register in order to post something. A few weeks afterwards I actually decided to open up comments to everyone to get some further conversations going from those who would just bump into whatever weblog post and indeed ever since I did that some of the best conversations over here have taken place that way. On the other hand, though, I should also mention that if it weren’t for Akismet, currently running in this weblog dealing with over 2,500 spam comments, things would have been a whole lot more different. Either way, be open!
- Become the starting and ending point for all conversations: This is one of those tips that I cannot stress good enough how important it is to help webloggers become part of the conversations. How many times have you been to a particular weblog post that you found interesting and added your two cents worth of comments to then find out that the weblogger will not even reply back to continue adding on further. My tip in here is that if you have got comments enabled you should make an extra effort to respond to those comments, even if it is out of courtesy (And that would include as well Trackbacks). Failure to do so you would probably be better off not enabling comments and avoiding the hassle of not interacting any further. Be involved!
- Network with other bloggers: “Build relationships, do not just sit back and hope things will happen“. I know, perhaps one of the critical success factors for any weblogger out there who wants to succeed at it. This is the main reason why I ventured into creating with Denham the KMBloggers community. I always felt that if you would want to network with other webloggers you probably would be better off not just participating in their weblogs but also getting them together in the same space where conversations could flow in multiple levels and with a whole bunch of participants. That is why as things settled down again, after being gone whole of last week, I have got a whole pack of stuff to share to get those conversations going and that would be happening over the next day or two. Thus stay tuned ! Join the KMBloggers community today! (Or whatever other network of webloggers you would feel identified with)
And that would be it! Off you go with some great tips on why weblogging may be the next big thing for you to continue helping spread the knowledge and collaborate with others. Weblogging may be, or may be not, for you, but one thing for sure is that it provides a new ground for people to get together, collaborate and share what they know with others in a way where the benefits would work both ways: for the writer and the listener. It will now be up to you to get involved or not.
Technorati Tags: Metablogging, Knowledge Management, KM, KMbloggers, Business Blogging
These are fine tips, Luis. Thanks for mentioning, for example, the importance of networking among bloggers. I’ve found that to be extremely rewarding.
Thanks a lot, Easton, for the feedback comments and welcome to elsua! Yes, indeed, that is perhaps one of the things that I enjoy the most about weblogging. The fact that you can connect with others out there in the blogosphere with your same interests is something priceless from the perspective where without those connections things would have been a lot more different. Perhaps we would have given up on the medium since it would be too difficult to connect with others if there wouldn’t be that exposure.
Thus you would think that a natural tendency from weblogging is for people to go out there and find other with similar interests and the same defined passion and help drive the conversations. That is indeed when the may benefits would come afloat.
Thanks again for the feedback and for dropping by!
Hello,
You definately have some great additions. This is the real benefit of blogging, being able to
have other people contribute and comment on what you write. Thanks for you additions.
Take care,
Chris
Thanks very much, Christopher, for dropping by and for the feedback comments and welcome to elsua! I am glad to read you have enjoyed the additions I put together and you surely have a good point that without those contributions or additions weblogging would not be the same. What would be the point of just repeating what others would say about a particular topic, right? The interesting part is adding one’s own opinion as that is what would make the discussion meaningful and a continuous learning process. That is what I thought when I was creating the weblog post referencing yours and it surely has helped me learn some more along the way. Thanks for that!