More Than Diabetes

Diabetes Blog Week Day 5 – More Than Diabetes

The final day of Diabetes Blog Week is here. I have had a great time this week taking part for the first time, and I for one, will be sad to see it end. The feedback and positivity surrounding my blog this past week has been great. It has been great to find so many other talented bloggers this week too.

The final topic is :-

”Share an interest, hobby, passion, something that is YOU.  If you want to explore how it relates to or helps with diabetes you can.”

In the interest of keeping parts of my life for friends and family only, I gave this a fair amount of thought. In all honesty the passion I want to share with you guys is my passion for blogging. I love blogging and the social opportunities which arise from it. In this final piece for the week I want to take a look back at why I blog and what I get out of it all.

 

What Is ”Blogging”?

A blog is a big commitment but blogging is a hobby, not a job. If you go into the world of blogging thinking ”this time next year I will be a millionaire” then you are going to be sorely disappointed.

Blog
You wont become rich, well not in a monetary sense anyway

I have spent hundreds of hours on my blog and haven’t earned a penny, and nor would I expect to. I know many very successful bloggers and they are earning a living out of it . Who knows one day I might as well, but that is not my aim today.
Bloggers publish regular content to their pages and in the most part all for free, nobody is writing you a pay cheque for your efforts.
Blogs can take many different forms; written content, videos, pictures, audio and in many cases a mixture of them all.

If You Don’t Get Paid, Why Bother?

When I decided to set up my blog I had spent many many hours researching it. The thing that struck me most is how many terrible blogs there are on the web. I have read blogs about all sort of subject matters. You can really tell the people who are passionate and care about their blogs from the ones who think doing a blog is a quick way to earn some money. It really isn’t!

I have seen so many blogs where people do 1 or 2 posts, then nothing for ages. After a while another sporadic post about a pointless topic appears. When you read these you know the author isn’t serious about their blog. Chances are they looked at their analytics and saw only 2 people had read their work and just gave up on it. These in my eyes are the ”attention seeking bloggers”. The online equivalent of Louie Spence.

 I look at blogging from the viewpoint ”if my blog helps just one person, even in a small way”, then it’s worthwhile.
People blog about everything and it will only be a success if you are passionate about your subject matter. It is for that reason I have made my blog about diabetes. To me it is an everyday part of my life and I do my best to keep it in control. I am aware that many others really struggle day to day, and that’s what I hope my blog will help with. A one stop shop with loads of info and experiences for people to draw from.

Why I Blog

  • I enjoy it – the most important factor
  • Keeps me focused on my diabetes
  • A great way to help newly diagnosed – I aim to give information that is hard to find elsewhere, in a straight forward format
  • It’s a resource I wanted when I was diagnosed but couldn’t find
  • Gives me a voice online
  • When I write a blog the subject matter stays with me – If you read something you remember it for a couple of days, write about it and it stays for life
  • Helps me to learn about diabetes
  • A great way to raise awareness of diabetes
  • Ideal for sharing ideas with others
  • Helps to refine my writing skills
  • A great way to connect with like minded people
  • My blog over time will become a record of what I care about and how I feel
  • Improves my proof reading skills (as well as Mrs Type1Bri’s proof reading skills)

So to summarize, a blogger spends their own money hosting a website, hours and hours writing a post, proof reading and publishing it. At the end of all that they don’t earn a penny back.
Most people would not bother at that point, but for me it’s worth all the effort. I am proud of each post I put on here and that makes it worthwhile to me.

If you are considering a blog I use 1 and 1 for my web hosting and WordPress for my website –  ➡ WordPress           ➡ 1&1

Thanks to Karen for this weeks great event, it has been a real honour to take part.

Take care and blog everywhere

Type1Bri

JustGiving - Sponsor me now!

8 thoughts on “More Than Diabetes

Leave a Reply, I will get back to you pronto!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.