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Are You Blogging With Purpose? (If Not, 5 Ways to Fix That)

written by Jason Katzenback
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Are You Blogging With Purpose? (If Not, 5 Ways to Fix That)

When you sit down to write a blog post, what’s your purpose?

Are you just trying to fill space so your blog doesn’t go without being updated for more than 24 hours?

Are you interested in promoting a product, or convincing your reader to buy something?

Are you trying to express yourself through your blog, and make a meaningful statement?

Are you trying to educate your readers on a topic?

Are you trying to provoke discussion?

When you write a blog post, before you click the mouse or stroke a key you need to know why you’re writing. Every one of the reasons for writing above (with the possible exception of the first one) is legitimate.

Why is it important to have a purpose for your blog writing? There are at least three reasons:

Purposeful writing connects

When you write a blog post with purpose, your readers know it. It shines through in your writing. You are able to meet your readers on a personal level. This is important, because it helps to foster trust, which is an essential part of any blog.

Purposeful writing convinces

If you sit down and haphazardly write a post about why Product X is so grand and why your readers should buy it through your affiliate link, you’re not going to have many sales. To turn readers into buyers, you have to be convinced and passionate about what you’re writing. Writing with purpose means your readers can tell that you really believe in the product you’re recommending.

Purposeful writing changes

When you write with purpose, you have the power to change minds. That can be through a simple addition of knowledge – you’ve changed your reader’s knowledge base. Purposeful blog writing can change an opinion, too. Purposeful writing can, of course, also change a reader into a buyer.

5 Examples of Blogging With Purpose

Here are five contexts in which you can perform purposeful blogging:

  1. News Items: Whenever news breaks that supports the need or usefulness of your product or service, enthusiastically blogging about it creates a connotation that “sells” what you offer without you “selling.” Just make sure to close with a call to action.
  2. Idea Association: Let’s say there are bloggers with bigger audiences in your niche. These people may be viewed as thought leaders, so a post that shows how your own thinking intersects with that of these industry leaders creates a positive association and possibly a relationship with that bigger blogger.
  3. Rally the Troops: On the other hand, blogging about ideas or situations that you and your audience oppose gives you the opportunity to bring your community closer together.
  4. Value Demonstration: At the root of all purposeful blogging is a demonstration of value. Each post you write should reinforce why readers pay attention to you, and convince newcomers that they should be paying attention to you.
  5. Viral Content: While it’s never a sure-shot, sometimes we recognize an opportunity for content to be purposefully attractive to social media news sites. Make sure to follow through with your purpose with smart content promotion.

So, what about you? When you sit down to write a blog post, what’s your purpose?

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Reader Comments (42)

  1. Ah, great thoughts.

    All action is founded on some sort of value code or purpose. Where there is no purpose, there is no action. Where the purpose is vague, the action is vague.

  2. Thanks Jason. Useful tips!

    You can also rally the troops to causes and ideals you support. This also brings your community closer together. It encourages them to live high standards. That’s what I try to do on my main blog.

  3. Good stuff Cow. I think if you don’t have a purpose for writing, or you’re just doing it so you don’t miss a day, your are doing nothing good for your blog or your blog readers. If you don’t have something to say, that will be beneficial….even if it’s just in fun, then don’t post.

  4. My purpose of writing is to write good content! If I don’t have a great idea I don’t write, if I wrote a bad post I don’t submit it. This can be a problem, because you don’t update your blog every day or every two days but…

  5. My purpose is generally to create a relationship of friendship and authority with my content community. To that end, my purpose for any given post is usually to help that community in a measurable way. (Which leads, of course, to them supporting me in fabulous style for the rest of my life. There are one or two steps in the middle there.)

  7. It’s always good to read these kinds of posts because they force me to examine and re-examine why I’m blogging. My central theme is to encourage more folks to take the leap to the freedom of self-employment (and perhaps hire me as their coach to do so). That’s my core root and every post ought to sprout from that.

  8. thank you very much, this is my mistake all along, i never write with purpose, i just rambling about topic even me not understand very much. thank for this articleit change me, even not a lot, but at least there is.. 😀

  9. Awesome advice, Jason! In the past, I’ve been guilty of sitting down to blog without first developing a purpose. Usually, my intention was just as you mentioned: to make sure I updated every 24 hours. If you’re going to be one of the thousands of blogs in the blogosphere, your content has to stand out as purposeful and beneficial. Great post!

  10. The apparent purpose may differ from blog to blog. But, that isn’t accurate. The topic should differ; that is why I write for several — and try to keep the post focus of value to the topic reader. The purpose is to have value to my readers. Sometimes that value is found in an ‘aha’ moment, sometimes it is solid updating on a project, sometimes it is just an acknowledgment in his/her heart that the reader likes the way I think.

  11. What’s my purpose? Wow, that’s a loaded question.

    I won’t publish something, unless I believe in it. It has to be substantive.

    It has to connect with the reader and make their day a little more interesting.

  12. I’m just starting to blog and my site is slowly getting off the ground…..thanks for the advice. I will no doubt keep these thoughts in the forefront of my mind.

  13. Great post…although I often feel myself being pressured to write just so I can have a new post, most of the popular posts on my blog are the ones that I was truly inspired to write. Audiences are not stupid and they have a choice on where they visit. Writing with purpose is a good place to start.

  14. Every now and then, I find myself going off track. I write posts that are more reflective of my personal journey. Bearing a purpose in mind for a business blog is definitely useful to stay the course.

  17. Hi Jason!

    As a pubilc relatins student I have found your blog to be an extremely helpful and insightful resource as I start my social media quest.

    Thanks!

  19. I added a mission, vision, and measures of success to my About page to help keep me focused. Whenever I fall off the horse, it helps me get back on.

  20. My purpose in writing is to find my own space in the blogosphere and the right readers, to write meaningful articles based on previous research, challenge my previous posts to make new ones better and better, to deliver the most important news and ideas, to learn more and to teach others what i have learned.

    Thanks, great post.

  21. Seriously great question.

    Just because I’m interested in a topic, doesn’t mean readers will be too. I’ve learned that you still need to present interesting information in an interesting way.

    Considering your purpose is important in blogging AND in all marketing writing. Decide the goal, then build the road to that destination.

    ~Graham

  22. Thank you for this post on maintaining purpose. I like the idea that purposeful writing can be recognized by the reader. Sometimes, the craft of blogging moves toward one post in 24 hours even if no “good ideas” arise. In these cases, it is easy to post a “heartless” article, despite the nagging feeling of denying authenticity. Re-evaluating and exercising a mindfulness of one’s purpose helps me to write content that is hopefully engaging and worthwhile to the reader.

  23. Great thought-provoking article there Jason.

    It’s a pain sometimes when one visits some blogs and there is nothing really to connect with the ramblings called posts.

    My purpose always: to educate my readers and help them become more effective in marketing their businesses online.

    Thanks for the great post.

  24. Jason,

    Examining the purpose of the post should be part of the initial idea process when we are considering a particular post to write.

    If we stick to the tenets of purposeful writing then we fill the necessary obligation of providing value to our viewers.

    If you post something without purpose, then you’ve posted without value. This wastes the valuable time of the viewer and shame on anyone who is that selfish.

    Cheers

    George

  26. Good practical suggestions, not only did you present a compelling argument for why it is important to have a plan when you sit down, you gave some very practical suggestions on how to do it.

  27. Well, for now my purpose just to express my daily experience because my blog has just to be with my daily activity (very personal blog).

    I think it’s not just the purpose before we post the content, but it’s also about the blog orientation of yours… don’t mind of mine.

    Thanks for this very useful post!

  29. Great question, and that’s why I started my blog. Actually if I had more time, I will do more blogging on different topics which I thing can help and touch other people’s life. For now I will stick on what I have but in the near future I will share more ideas and issues.

  30. Most of my early blogging wasn’t thought out at all, I just wrote what I felt and now I see how that’s a bad way to approach the web. Lately I’ve started to evaluate my own interests and write not only about the things that I know but write about them in a way that new users would find helpful.

  31. Value is key. When a person finishes reading your blog/post, they should say to themself “that was a worthwhile read”, instead of “there’s three minutes I’ll never get back!”

  32. Good points Jason, makes me feel better about my writing. With my blog I’m going for purpose over frequency. Especially since I’m educating my audience primarily, rather than shooting out news blurbs quickly.

    I’m just starting out, but I think that information overload is not healthy. Tim Ferriss is the main guy I think of who promotes this.

  33. I’m a big advocate of purpose driven blogging, and your #2 point about idea association is something that I need to speak about more on my blogs. Thanks for the tips.

  34. Everywhere I turn, it seems like the topic is blogging purpose… why? because people don’t know what the hell their doing. People struggle, with defining or determining their purpose in life and so forth.
    Knowing your blogging aim and intention should drive your daily activity but don’t lose sight of your GOALS! When we feel lost as bloggers, we need to remind ourselves of our goals, aims and purpose. 🙂 Cheers,
    -Miguel

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