Blogging...any bloggers?

Hey there. Any of you TFPers write a blog? Just curious as I am considering starting two of them. If you do...what is it like...is it worth the time? I'm sure it depends on what your purpose is; to entertain, educate, monetize, advertise, journal thoughts, etc?

 

About a dozen years ago, when I was home for several weeks recovering from major surgery, I started a political blog with a silly name.

It was a lot of fun, and achieved some modest reknown. Things I wrote were quoted and linked to in blogs much better known than mine.

After a few years, I took on a new job, and no longer had much time to blog, on top of everything else I was doing. Postings appeared much less often, and eventually stopped.

Later, the server became infected: malware was written into every html file. The blog was a low priority during the clean-up, and I just took down those pages.

Today, I have a sort-of blog. Well, it looks like a blog. I post writings there that are too long for Facebook.

 

Quick answer for me yes I have one. I started it six year ago and post when I feel like it/have the time/whatever else, which can be few and far between or in periodic bursts of energy.
A general answer for the "Worth the time" question - if you feel it is not worthy of your valuable time then don't waste any making one or posting entries. The very reason I have never touched instagram and never post on the twitter account I setup three years back.
My posts are generally media reviews (film/radio shows/films), computer type stuff, or just random things I feel like posting.

Ads suck, and I am inclined to close your blog on that basis alone if you have any that my adblocker on either Opera or Firefox allows. I vaguely recall every now and then that facebook has a column for advertisements but I haven't seen any in a long time.
Most of my comments have received nothing but spam over the years or attempts blocked by the spam filter add-on I use (over 10,000 at one point), but they have given me "great links" for online gambling, russian porn, French escort services, or probably knock-off italian handbags sold at full price.
I do intend to continue posting a series about watermarking images and other pertinent points about computer and media files but do not expect any income to come from them, so that might count under the "educate" area you mentioned.
Anywho, never mind me. Not posting the link to my blog here as the last thing people need is more spam saying "read my insightful stuff! You will love it! OMG!"**, and it is probably somewhere in my profile already for whatever that is worth.

**Fancy words like "insightful" may have killed the 13 year old teen vibe I was going for there, perhaps I should have mispelled it as 'insitefull' or something along those lines.

 

Yes, I write a blog about surviving doctor school. I do it more to get my thoughts out. And to offer them to others that might be pondering the journey. I find some satisfaction in it.

 

I asked this question to see what you all did for blogging, what drove you to it. Personally I tried but never kept a rhythm in the past...but I sure see/read/research a lot about writing online in general and having a successful blog takes many hours. But the results can be rewarding. I'd love to monetize a blog if I were to become world renown, but that's a slim chance and I feel like blogs just starting off with ads is like going down a hill with break lines cut. I've decided to write two blogs and share some of the same posts I make on both. I've probably spent $50 in the past two years on domains and then the domain privacy package so people can't see who is behind my domain (hehe).

I think making a living off monetizing would not be something I could go for. Perhaps making a little cash on the side would be an option though. I have used Blogger before, but I feel like goog is getting all of the cash and making money off your consumer's visits.

One of the blogs will be about my life/lifestyle. I'm an odd one, and I realize this. A while back that is where I came up with my username - but then I switched to 'Independent' instead of 'Atypical' but now I feel Independent is a word that people will misinterpret and be disappointing at the misuse of the name in my domain - so I'm on the fence between the two words and deciding which to use as my blog name.

The other blog I intend to maintain will be about people in my age range, the things we face and the opportunities that come around. I think there are some passions people can write about that will never be able to draw an audience while other topics such as romance, budgets, travel, and such have more audience options.

Have any of you been contacted to either a.) use content on your blog or b.) write for a company because they enjoyed your content?

 

Weelp. Any comments on IndependentNic versus AtypicalNic? I can't decide which to use. And it's only like...the most important part of the blog for this point (starting).

 

I would use IndependentNic, easier to remember in my opinion. If you have something distinctive like a good header image and/or background it would help as well. The most important thing is your content obviously.
You haven't mentioned it yet, but it came to mind for me as I see this in some of the spam comments I get asking about what platform my site uses (with a link to the crap they are selling). I like Wordpress personally but opinions will vary on that point obviously.

 

I kinda like IndependeNic.
But, I'm weird like that.

 

Well I did already purchase that one, but was thinking Atypic/Atpical Nic would be better, 'cause I have that grass is greener syndrome instead of admitting writer's block.

I started with Joomla, but wiped that and installed WP. Previous WP website had spam out the ass....but I guess it was older version with no plugins for spam prevention and this time I'll attend to that.

I can't stand Twitter. The hashtags, the people posting and reposting the same content, and of course the character limit since I am long winded...

Come closer, I like weird. Me likes IndependentNic better than IndependeNic though....

 

I'm a blogger.
I started because of The TFP. I kept a blog here and then I didn't have it and I'm stubborn and was determined to keep journaling. So in 2004 I started to journal online with the Typepad platform. In 2007, I started paid posting and I created a number of blogs. Times change quickly. I still have my TypePad blog but I cover entertainment--mostly premium TV content. I still have my 2 WP.org blogs but since a huge SNAFU with my host (Hostgator) during my current holiday, I got fed up with the bullshite and will probably migrate everything to TypePad.

Speaking of Twitter, they actually saved my sanity after 4 days of Hostgator's insane headgames. I just had to "@" Hostgator and hashtag the subject and my goodness, were they all over it. Also had several offers to help me figure out the problem--all concluded it was Hostgator's, not mine.

I also like the little rush when I communicate with actors, singers and scriptwriters that I ship. And great exposure for me in finding new-to-me talent. Sometimes, I jump on a fanship via Twitter when a new little show is really good and I want to help create buzz and that segues back into my blog(s). I can't imagine blogging and not using Twitter. There are so many resources and sources of inspiration for writing there!

So, right now I'm on holiday, blogging out of my cottage in Ontario--it's personal but I also push anything cool to help Ontario Highlands tourism. I own property here. I consider it a civic duty to support the local economy.

Meanwhile, summer is a lazy time for TV blogging now that the San Diego Comic Con is over and for that, I'm grateful.
I push decent scifi or fantasy or horror shows via my blog, many of which are made in Canada and in Toronto specifically, which is my hometown.

I have made money blogging. I never had any delusions, though. Paid posting became an ethics issue, then pretty much died, made a few thousand with click through ads after that but they are pretty dead, too.

So as others here have said: Blog for you.
I do it for me. I love to write. I find it satisfying to share an informative, fun post with people. I know they are reading both by pageviews and retweets on Twitter. I do Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as the three blogs.

Writing is inherently satisfying. Interacting with fans and people in various aspects of the entertainment business is interesting and fun.

 

So Fangirl why do you choose TypePad over the alternatives out there? And if you made a few thousand with click through ads...that's very impressive and would pay for a plethora of paid for hosting and domains. Care to explain what went on there?

It seems you have set up your blogs to accommodate you very well. Do you do any other forms of writing, and how many hours do you spend writing per week (including reading and such)?

 

Sorry Nic, for the delayed response. Was on holiday.
I just stumbled into TypePad a decade ago. A friend of mine was using another of their platforms, Movable Type for which one needed coding experience but I needed to get up and going without taking a class.

Not sure what you are asking in re: the paid-for hosting and domains.
I made the vast majority of the loot through writing about Sons Of Anarchy. I knew as they bought the merch from the (my) site where I did that writing. So, no one paid me to write per se.
Paid writing was blatant write a post about "X" product. It was labelled as such and sandwiched in between posts.
As Google changed their metrics, writing paid posts became lucrative for only the bigger bloggers.
The more I wrote the unpaid content, the more I didn't want to wax on about the merits of Sea World for example, so that has worked out fine for me.

I did an unpaid gig--straight up article writing for a large site--but with that comes another issue. Many sites do not pay their contributors for content creation.
Some people simply want the charge they get out of seeing their name "out there." I took on senior editor duties there as well while trying to keep up with my stuff and it again became me giving a lot more than I got.
I'm a hard worker and I don't need to make big money--but I don't want to be taken advantage of.
How much do I read and write everyday?
It depends on the season but I write every day.
For the True Blood finale post, I spent about 6 hours putting together all the content I culled from across the internet. The post itself isn't anything I'd brag about but I put the time in just the same.
One of my biggest time wasters is proofing too much. I'm not a great speller or grammarian so before a big post gets published, I may have proofed it a dozen times. I publicize what I write on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and G+.

Basically, I'm a newshound but it's entertainment news, casting, new shows in the genres I cover, Cons and previewing and reviewing episodes. I scan news feeds, Tumblr and Twitter a couple of times a day. I participate in some pre-show banter on Twitter with various entertainers and I'll promote their show--again for free.

I promote shows that I actually watch for Showtime. That equals free Showtime and no salary but exposure.
If I can get my resume in working order in the next couple of days I'm going to apply for a part-time job at io9 as a pop-culture content curator. Very unlikely that they would hire me as I'm not witty. I'm very much 4W's and an H. My writing doesn't reflect the smart, funny personality the io9 staff seems to have, but it doesn't hurt to try.

 

I have a blog. I post a cartoon a week. It has been ongoing for several years now.
You will gain no nutritional info from this as I make ZERO dollars and can boast tens of viewers a week.
There's a link in my profile is your curious. You can use it as an example of what not to do.

 

i like reading other people's blogs but i don't think i ever would. i don't want there to be an internet version of my journal lying around on the internet for anyone to peruse. it just seems creepy to me