Jeff-Goins IBC 1-3

Jeff-Goins IBC 1-3

[Music, typing]

Hi, and welcome back. I still remember the first Website I ever started. It was back in the mid-1990s, and I was in 8th grade, and I was crazy about Star Wars. I still am in fact. And I wanted to build a Star Wars fan site for this kind of nerdy, OK, really nerdy, group of friends that I had where we were like the Jedi Knights Club.

And, so, back in those days on the World Wide Web we used America Online to log in and access the Web, and they allowed you to create these custom Websites. And, so, I had the coolest Star Wars Website ever. There was a .gif image with like a light saber shooting out, you know, constantly across the page. And whenever you refresh the page, or came to the page for the first time, Obi-Wan Kenobi would say, “May the Force be with you.” And I would repeat, “And also with you.”

But that Website was just a static Website. It was just a bunch of like cool images, and words about Star Wars. And that was it. There was no dynamic content. There was no newsfeed. And for the longest time this is what Websites were. And, in fact, sometimes people still think of Websites like this. Like, “I want to build a Website so that I can get discovered, so that my writing can reach the world, so that people can find out I’ve got some cool message to share.

But the problem with that is that if you just have a static Website, and you’re not dynamically updating the content, nobody is going to read it. Because as we know now on the Internet content is constantly being updated. We have social media feeds that inundate our in-boxes with all kind of new things.

And, so, this is important for those of us who feel like we have a message to share, we feel like we have something to say that if you’re not constantly sharing something, then people are likely going to ignore you. And this is why it’s really important to have a blog so that you can enter the conversation and share something that’s, hopefully, worth people’s while.

And, so, before we get into all of the meat of this course, I want to talk about why we blog. And if we rush through all of this, and I teach you how to build an email list, and how to set up your About page, but we don’t really get to the why behind the what that you do, you might just succeed at the wrong thing and six months, or a year down the line, regret the direction that you headed in.

So, it’s really important that as we’re starting to get serious about building an intentional blog, that we set these foundational pieces in place. So, why do you blog?

Well, I think that there are a few reasons why everybody should consider starting a blog, anybody who feels like they have something to say should start a blog. Not, you know, a Jedi Knight’s static Webpage, but an actual dynamic Website where you’re regularly updating the content so that it’s refreshing – it has refreshing, new content that people will want to hear.

And, so, I think that there are four reasons why you should consider blogging. And the first is, there’s a conversation happening, and you need to join in with it. And this is going to be important as we talk about social media, and reaching more people. Because I talked to bloggers who just want to blog, but they don’t want to worry about Twitter, or setting up a Facebook page, or even an email list.

And I think it’s really important that you understand one of the reasons why I’m blogging is because I want to talk to people. I want to connect with people. If you didn’t want to do that, you would just write in your journal. And I love journaling; but I have a blog, because I want to reach people. And, so, that’s the first reason is, there’s a conversation happening online. You need to be a part of it.

The second reason is because, you have a voice. You have something unique that you need to share with the world. And we’re going to talk about how to really unlock that in a future lesson. But for now, it’s good to acknowledge that you’re unique. You have something unique that maybe the world has never heard before. Maybe it’s something as unique as your story, or your view on marriage, or your idea about how to succeed in business. But you have something important, something unique, that you need to share with the world, and that’s your voice. And that’s an important reason to blog as well.

The third reason, and this is kind of a selfish reason, but I think it’s really important. Blogging helps you understand yourself. When I started blogging, I wanted to reach people, but I also kind of wanted to figure out what I was trying to say. And blogging was so important to me to figure out what exactly I believed and even how I was going to express those beliefs. And, so, don’t under – yeah, don’t underestimate the importance of blogging for self-discovery.

The last reason, and this is a reason that I think a lot of people blog, and it’s totally fine. Let’s say you don’t care about starting an online business, and say you don’t care about getting published as an author. One of the biggest reasons people blog is because it’s an easy way to stay in touch with family members, and friends, and colleagues. And I think that that is a great reason.

I actually blog for all four of these reasons: I love staying in touch with friends. I feel like I have a voice. I have something to share with the world. There is a conversation happening online. I want to enter it. And, certainly, I want to understand myself better.

I like what Flannery O’Connor says about this, or what she said at one point which is, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” And I think that that’s a really important process, a really important part of blogging is to write as a means of understanding what you want to say, and to use it to curate your best ideas.

So, its’ really important to know why you’re going to start a blog, or why you’ve even started a blog. And if you have that reason, great. We’re going to talk about how to focus that in a way that’s going to attract the most amount of readers possible.

If you don’t, here’s my challenge for you, you have to find your why. My friend, Michael Hyatt, says, “When you’ve lost your why, you’ve lost your way.” And I think that’s really true. So, you really need to figure out what is the reason, or few reasons, that I’m blogging so that you can focus just on that purpose. So, when the temptations to chase that audience, or do this new thing, or try this new tool come along, you can stay rooted in your why. So, decide what your why is; and, then, actually write it down. And, then, share it with somebody.

And we’re going to talk about when you’re going to actually share that on your blog. You don’t have to do that just yet. But just write it down on a piece of paper, or in a Word document or something. We’re going to come back to it later. Again, it’s really important that you understand your why so that you can lead the way to building an intentional blog.