Over at Darren‘s weblog, ProBlogger, he has just shared a very interesting and thought-provoking post that would be worth while reading: 18 Lessons I’ve Learnt about Blogging. Indeed, in that particular weblog post he details what his experience as a pro-blogger has been all along and for the last three years and more importantly what he has actually learnt throughout that period of time about professional weblogging.
If you have been weblogging for a while I am sure that as you read through you will be nodding a few times and identifying some key elements that may apply to you or which you have seen elsewhere from other webloggers. Thing is that this weblog post will make you think, step back and think about your own weblogging experience. At least, it did with me. I have been weblogging for a bit over two years and I just couldn’t help think how some of those elements that Darren mentions are also present in my own weblogging experience.
Thus items like working hard on your weblog(s), differentiating yourself, providing value, diversifying, making mistakes, being yourself really sounded very familiar but of all of them there is one that has certainly become one of the main lessons that I have learnt through these couple of years of weblogging: Relationships are Key. Indeed, if there is anything for which weblogging is just very much worth while on its own is the fact that it is probably one of the most powerful options out there to foster, boost and nurture different relationships and engaging further into whatever the conversations, specially within virtual and distributed teams and / or communities, because that is what weblogging is all about: conversations between a weblogger and its audience, regardless of wherever they may all be.
As I mentioned above already, I have been weblogging for a bit over two years now and during that time both in my Intranet and Internet weblogs I have been able to maintain a whole lot more conversations with my own virtual networks than in any other possible way I may have tried from before. So, indeed, if you are thinking about finding ways of reaching out, establish new conversations, collaborate with a bunch of other people (Whether you know them from the beginning or not) and if you are looking for ways to connect within your teams and your communities, weblogging may be what you are looking for. At least, you will be able to get so much more that whatever you may have achieved with other traditional collaborative tools.
But you also have to remember that it is not going to be an easy road, at least, that is what Darren talks about and I do certainly agree with him. Not to worry, though, it will be worth while your time and efforts, not only for yourself but also for the different networks that you may be involved with.
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