As a web designer, I think the whole blogging phenomenon is pretty interesting. I also find it rather intriguing as a sometime-writer.
Why blog? There are many possible reasons to start a blog. It’s a way to self-publish for one, with basically no one to answer to but whoever your readers happen to be. This applies to professional writers and the inexperienced alike. It’s true of a lot of the web in general, and you get the good with the bad.
Promotion is another reason to blog. Weblogs can promote businesses, books, political campaigns…the list goes on. A lot of websites are adding blogs because it is the “thing to do” these days, and that can often be a mistake (see my comments below about keeping an audience).
Some blogs may seem pointless to anyone other than the author, but even then the person posting gets—hopefully—some satisfaction from the writing of it.
In general, people just have something to say, and they want others to read it.
Who’s reading? To get read by many people from the start, a blogger has to be associated with a known entity (for example, the many NY Times bloggers—check out “The Pour,” a wine blog). Otherwise, you must have a theme or writing style that will draw an audience, keep it interesting, and keep it coming! So many potentially great blogs die when the blogger stops posting regularly.
There is no theme for this blog as a whole. That pretty much destroys my chances of building a loyal readership other than friends and family, but I’m ok with that. Perhaps a theme will come through as I go on (and on and on), but for now I’ll likely be all over the place. If I really wanted to get read, I’d need some sort of gimmick.
Those are my thoughts for now on blogs! I wish all of you serious bloggers out there much luck.