Can You Afford Not To Blog?
One of the surprises that I came across while attending SXSW was the amount of designers who didn’t blog. This confused me because I always figured that if you were trying to do freelance work and are just starting off it would only make sense to blog. Blogging is free marketing and although it takes a small chunk of time to do that is part of the business.
One of the biggest issues seems to be that many people feel that everything has been discussed already, which obviously isn’t true. How many debates could we revisit from the past? How many sites on the web are there ready for critique? Have you talked about your coding style? How do you manage your projects?
Even if you talk about what has already been written before, as long as you place your own ideas into the pot it is original. Also, too many people believe that your blog has to be successful for its purposes to be served. Even if just 50 people visit your site, that is 50 potential clients and let’s not forget the chance of someone coming across your site via search engine looking for services.
Another great thing about blogging is that it helps to reinforce what you already claim to know. Too often we assume we are knowledgable about a subject simply because it is in our head, but try putting it down on paper or the screen to see how well you can explain it. That will really show how well you understand a topic. Your blog doesn’t have to have comments and doesn’t even have to be public. Do it for yourself first and foremost and if you want to help your business do it for that second.
So again, if you are not overflowing with clients and work, can you afford not to blog?
So if everyone is blogging just to blog, doesn’t this dilute readers chances of finding something worthy to read?
By Soft Gray on March 23, 2006 3:20 pm
When did I say blog just to blog? I went over the purposes for blogging, marketing and exploration of your own knowledge. That to me isn’t blogging to just blog and it certainly isn’t blogging about kittens.
By Scrivs on March 23, 2006 3:26 pm
I think it is so valuable to blog as a designer. It allows you to communicate your thoughts and opinions on your craft to your readers that will hopefully result in a conversion or a client for that matter.
Also Scrivs, how could you not post about kittens? I mean….I like to talk about them all the time because they are so yummy.
By Dennis on March 23, 2006 4:03 pm
My nearly 1-year old blog is constantly evolving - not improving or getting worse - just evolving.
As I learn more about the art of blogging and what it takes to drum up and then maintain a healthy commentary amongst readers, the different angle I take when writing.
Good blogging skills take a long time to learn. It’s an art form unto itself and in most cases you won’t be a good blogger until you spend a couple of years actually doing it.
So start today. Even if it fails, nobody reads or you give up, it’s a great way to explore and discover all sorts of new stuff.
By Geof Harries on March 23, 2006 4:14 pm
Excellent views on the topic Geof and I agree with everything you said.
By Scrivs on March 23, 2006 4:16 pm
I agree. Even more surprising is how many designers or programmers that don’t have a website, period. Frankly, it automatically makes me suspicious, even if their work is top-notch.
Worse, there are many design professors that don’t have a blog or website. As someone who’s paid to have somethign to say and teach groups of people, why don’t more have blogs?
By Lea on March 23, 2006 4:20 pm
It all depends what sector you mainly work in. Some years ago I worked a lot with postnuke, mainly doing SEO. Then the German Postnuke community focused on W3c and accessibility. I can’t remember anyone who had a ‘blog’. We had a ‘personal CMS’. But mainly got orders over the community forums.
Same for mamboo/joomla developers/designers.
Now I am re-orientating after a break and country change. I see the difference, especially if you want to ‘design more than just friends websites’. I am totally new to web2.0 and glad I found 9rules with all those quality blogs, but it still is just a small corner of the Internet. Target is no example and you all know that. Run Microsoft through the validator, HMTL4.0 transitional, MSN fails the doctype validation.
Hence the importance of a blog according to me. Especially if you focus that much on ‘new technologies’/
Btw, sorry for the English, I only learn(ed) it over reading.
By madbull on March 23, 2006 4:58 pm
Scrivs, I think you’re absolutely right. I’ve been running my blog for a couple of years already, I blog only once in a while, and I don’t get 100,000 reads a day.
Yet still, I can’t count the times when I refered somebody (sometimes even myself) to a certain specific post that I wrote. Sometimes I just forget a certain piece of information, but if I blogged it, I can be sure I’ll find it.
To me, it’s never been “just” about blogging, I don’t know how to put it into other words, but “50 potential clients” seems just about right.
By Rami Kayyali on March 23, 2006 6:21 pm
What?
It just goes to reinforce what I have already suspected - design bloggers are so far up themselves it’s untrue.
It’s great that you get so much out of blogging. It’s great that yours and others are very helpful and useful to the community at large - believe me, my professional development would have been severly stifled without many of the blogs I read regualarly - but I do feel there’s an increasing culture of “blog luvvies”, creating a rather dull sub culture of us against them.
By Chris on March 23, 2006 6:39 pm
I completely agree with everuthing you’ve said. But near the end you said “it doesn’t even have to be public” - does that not go against pretty much everything you said previously? You can’t prova your ability, gain clients or reinstate an old debate if no one can see your blog.
Aside from that, good stuff. And what people are saying about learning to blog well, also very true - I’ve been at it for over a year and even now, my blogging is pretty bad.
By Richard on March 23, 2006 6:58 pm
Chris,
after 4 years of postnuke and one year of mambo/joomla totally ‘new worlds’ open to me since I read 9rules. I managed several sites on both platforms, biggest with up to 9000 unique visitors daily and was very active in the German postnuke community.
Today, reading all these blogs here, I feel as if I knew nothing. Design bloggers are ‘the cherry on top’. I mean you guys discuss what should change in IE. Big CMS communities try to make everything work and if possible even W3C-compliant. But last only because they want to be competitive. Web2.0 is too far away for them, but not only for them. Others still ignore validators. How many sites internetwide are valid percentually? My new design will be… one day.
I for myself am glad having discovered the 9rules network, but friends, blog designers around me they don’t really care. Web2.0, what is that? I am sure you get what I mean.
But only consistency (and persistency) will win the fight. Have a look at how long it took till validators were generally accepted.
Design blogs are that far ahead, common blogs are dooce, the winners of the bloggies (Slashdot is a blog as well?). It is like having MSN.com or wikipedia.org as your homepage.
By madbull on March 23, 2006 7:44 pm
I’ve wanted to start a blog for the longest time now. The only problem is that, my writing skills suck. Who wants to read a blog with no personality, not me.
Maybe if I start blogging, my writing skills will get better. nah, I’m just a crappy writer.
By zeronine on March 23, 2006 8:23 pm
zeronine, you just wrote two paragraphs with only a couple of minor typos, and you told us something about yourself. That qualifies you to blog–in fact, it probably puts you in the top 10%…
By Michael Moncur on March 24, 2006 5:41 am
I’m in complete agreement with Scrivs, which is ironic since I’m one of those designers he talked to at sxsw that doesn’t blog. I came away from sxsw with a strong conviction to start blogging. The panel “Does your Blog Have a Business?” addressed several of my hesitations as well as talking to other designer/bloggers.
Blogging, as with any career or business venture, should have a plan, at least in starting out. What I’m doing to prepare to blog(not saying everyone needs to do this)is identifying the primary audience I want to speak to and figure out what they want to hear or need to hear. Then I set a goal of (theoretically) posting a minimum of one post a month, then coming up with a year’s worth of post ideas. On the flight from Austin I came up with two years worth of posts. This gives me some direction instead of sitting at a keyboard wondering what I would write about.
By Chris Kavinsky on March 24, 2006 8:42 am
Another great article, really. This article surely is a good example of that there is always something to blog about. It’s like every podcaster (almost) have at some time talked about podcasting. Lotta luv.
By Alexander K on March 24, 2006 9:25 am
Good on Scrivs. This is something I have been debating over myself.
I personally don’t feel like I have anything to contribute to the likes of Andy Budd, Dan Cederholm, Scrivs, etc… so I never added a blog to my design site (although I do on my personal). I had not however, considered the impact that a blog might have on clients, potential clients etc…
I just may have to get off my ass and put one together.
Good read!
By Mike Ward on March 24, 2006 10:08 am
Scrivs, I am so glad you said this. I just blogged about something similiar in a post a couple of days ago. There are so many reason why you need to but I will focus on two. Branding and career growth. Most techies (developers and designers included) are terrible at defining what sets them apart from the competition (their brand). A blog not only gives them a chance to display their work, but also an opportunity to display their personalities. A lot of companies and recruiters like to see this candidate picture of a potential employee.
All that aside it is even scarier how many designs and developers don’t have a web site at all. It’s like a fat personal trainer telling you how to get in shape.
By Kelsey Ruger on March 24, 2006 10:31 am
and while we are on the subject…
What is the general opinion on having your blog as the home page versus a click link from the home page, and, what do you call it, because most laypeople may not know what a blog is.
Just wondering what others are doing?
By Mike Ward on March 24, 2006 10:34 am
I’ll be honest blogging is a very very bad idea for a hiring point of view. Online portfolio/professional websites are the way to go.
I used to run my own recruiting firm, I have been a technical recruiter for startups/big companies. I still do some engineering work on the side, and have a java development background, so Im not a tech recruiting clown that just looks for buzz words.
Some companies google individuals before they are hired, a big firm I used to work for a year ago actually required it. Yes, this can lead to various things if you name is John Smith. But we did not take someone because their blog was so “actively” complaining about some boss they used to work for years ago. Complaining on blogs about anything is just plain bad news.
In another instance ,my girlfriend in fact, was applying for a web development role. The hiring manager found her blog and actually brought in his laptop to talk about it. She is a pretty feisty character, so many colorful words were on her blog. She did eventually get the job, but her heart was pounding.
Stick with the online porfolio. save yourself the trouble of explaining your personal life.
By Fluidman on March 24, 2006 10:59 am
Fluidman,
That just seems to be common sense. You wouldn’t complain about a former boss in an interview either. If people are still writing about their bosses openly after Dooce, then they are just not using their heads. My advice is to keep in professional if that is what it is for.
By Kelsey Ruger on March 24, 2006 11:20 am
Kelsey,
Definitely. A pro blog discussing your coding style, your memberships to certain usergroups etc shows genuine interest in your career. Also, shows you keep up to date with the latest and greatest tech.
I should have clarified:) Thumbs up to pro blog, thumbs down to personal blog.
By Fluidman on March 24, 2006 11:40 am
part II - though honestly, you wouldn’t believe the absolute lack of commonsense from individuals who apply to positions.
By Fluidman on March 24, 2006 11:41 am
re: #10 Richard
The non-public aspect I was talking applies to individuals who simply wanted to explore their own knowledge with regards to certain topics. Obviously it goes against everything else in the entry when looked at it as a whole. Sorry for not putting up a clear explanation.
By Scrivs on March 24, 2006 12:14 pm
One of the best things you can do is blog about your projects. It gives your potential clients a chance to get to know you and the work you do and it gives you a chance to show off. It’s a win-win situation.
By Christian Montoya on March 24, 2006 2:39 pm
Blogs are wonderful for communicating with the web design community, but I’ve yet to work with a client who has the time or inclination to sift through any of them. My clients want to see a portfolio, a summary of my skills, and contact information. If they have specific questions, it’s easier for them to pick up the phone and call me rather than try to find the answer in a bloated, jargon-filled website.
Of course, I don’t have a blog, so I wouldn’t know how it would or wouldn’t enhance my business. But I’m keeping plenty busy without one!
By Marcello Mastroianni on March 28, 2006 12:30 pm
i agree! everyone has a niche, blogging is the best way to get your viewpoint out there. also for anyone who wants to freelance, you always have to do a little marketing, networking, learn a little business, promotion, blogging is the easiest and best way to do this.
By derek on March 28, 2006 5:30 pm
I’ve always found blogs usefull and interesting in a learning and growing way. But I can’t say it necessarily have to be as enlighting as many want to believe. I mean, in most cases its been written before, by someone else in a other blog or article somewhere.
Sometimes it feels like its just a way to show off and pretend to be someone you not are. At the same time as it can be a good reminder of a previously statement or fact.
People in the design business blog to market themselfs (atleast in the most cases), to in a way show off and tell the crowd “Look at me. I know this - hire me!”. But somewhere on the way the forgot to really show the real deal, a portfolio that speaks for itself. Finished products that they keep on talking about in their blog, on forums and mailinglists. Do clients really read all the jibberish the designer writes? Or do they want something more concrete? I go for the second.
If now everyone starts blog, like many others, there wouldn’t be much of interest or relevance left to read. Mostly a repetition of what someone already been writing about. And that leads to a much bigger risk of confusion and missunderstanding for the reader. I know that most of you wont agree with me, at all, but this my point of view. This isnt aimed at whitespace or Scrivs (cause this one of the blogs I use to read), I just had to post a comment of what I think of the design blogging scene in whole.
By superstoffe on April 2, 2006 1:19 am
Meh…
As a freelancer I can say the number one way to get jobs is plain old networking. No, not with computers, but with business people and other non-techies. A portfolio site is much more important for getting contract work. Likewise, your resume is more important for getting hired. Interestingly, I think having a blog is more important for meeting other techies to work with on projects. This is one area that I’m hoping to explore in the next couple years as I transition from client-work to starting a web business that creates salable products.
Now if you’re a web professional, then I think it’s much more important to be reading blogs. The blogging community really is like a smart filter for all the best information out there. Some people read Digg for CSS tutorials or web-related news, but honestly there’s nothing better than a news reader and a couple years of picking out bloggers you like. This community has really accelerated the development of new techniques and knowledge. When I think of the early days of the web (I got my first PPP account right when Netscape 2.0 dropped), I remember how hard it was to even communicate with other web designers. The search engines sucked, linkage was poor, and usenet was probably your best bet for branching out.
Writing a blog is a mixed value proposition. I think it’s just one of many possible ways to spend your professional development time. Scrivs has a talent for blogging. I noticed this early on when I started reading him back in 2003… back then I thought his writing was pretty poor (he’s come a long long way), but he wrote a lot, and always had some compelling or at least sensationalistic idea to pursue. I don’t think everyone can do this. I’ve tried blogging, but I can never maintain that 2-3 posts a week ratio that I think is necessary to develop any kind of readership. But when I think about developing a popular blog vs creating a cool web application or improving my business site it doesn’t seem to offer the same value to my career. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to blog, but just that I’m not gonna kick myself if it drops further down on my todo list.
By Gabe da Silveira on April 18, 2006 4:31 am