Running with the A-List

Over the past few days I have really been thinking about blogging. It's such an interesting concept, and all Bloggers have a different motivation for blogging. For me, I recently started blogging as a creative outlet...and an opportunity to brush-up on my writing skills (I was always told growing up that I was a "good" writer). Since launching my blog back in March I've quickly realized managing a blog is not only tricky but also time-consuming.

Authoring a blog is really two-fold, in my opinion: the author is writing for himself, as an outlet for whatever platform he's representing, yet the author must keep in mind his readers. Obviously without readers there's not much point in maintaining a blog, unless the author is completely in it for the creative aspect. I suppose you could use the analogy of an artist painting but nobody ever seeing the masterpiece. Is it really art if it's never seen? *wink wink*

Just as I was having these thoughts and contemplating a blog post, an article made its way to me. Originally found on PureBlogging.com, the aforementioned article is titled Your List Versus the A-List. Originally authored by Chris Garrett from chrisg.com, the post raises some interesting points about whether it's more valuable to link to A-list blogs/bloggers, or if you should spend more time making your blog relevant and interesting to your readers. It's really a no-brainer, I think. Besides, like Chris mentions, just because a Blogger is labeled as "A-list" doesn't necessarily mean their content is quality...it just means they are well-known and recognized. Here's a great quote from Chris, that I think should resonate with Bloggers, and be something that is constantly top-of-mind:

"Your readers are your priority, they are who you write for, don’t let them down by linking to sub-par content!" If you create interesting content, readers will find you. It might take some time, but they will come. My blog has been up nearly five months, and both my readership and comments (I often gauge a blog's quality by the number of comments it has, although I know that's not a standard practice) are somewhat low. Sure, I know my blog is being seen, but I also understand it may take a really long time to establish my audience. They are out there -- they simply must find me! And they will....