Hey Gio

This was a defunct group that I took over a few months ago. It’s been around since 2002 and although it had over 200 members, they were mostly inactive. I decided to add more stuff on my plate and committed to have the first meeting in over a year. It was interesting because slots were filled up fast and as soon as someone dropped off, another one took over their place. I just hope I don’t make fool of myself.

Areas of Discussion

The cheesy title of this meeting is “How to Boost Traffic & Turbo Charge Your Blog in 2008″

We will discuss major challenges in blogging including:
1. How to Generate and Grow Traffic
2. Building a Large Subscription Base
3. Monetization Strategies
4. Technology
5. (I will leave this open for you guys to suggest)

I have done very little, actually no preparation for this meeting. I want to wing it and speak from the heart. I fear public speaking and if I had to memorize a subject that I should know about already, then I feel my knowledge or interest is artificial.

I hope to do well and help as many as I can.

I’ve always been fascinated with blogging and how it’s lauded as a great tool to spread ideas and all that stuff. Many have tried it but end up quitting after not generating enough traffic. Technorati alone follows over 44 million blogs so it’s really competitive out there.

Passion Blogging is the Newest Fashion

A HUGE plus is to start a personal blog about a topic or topics you are passionate about. Don’t think of monetization as that will lead to your disappointment. Who cares about the low traffic. Blog for fun. Learn how to write better. Practice the art first and everything will fall into place.

Ask yourself:

• What am I truly interested in?
• What are things or events that inspire me?
• Who annoys me the most?
• What do I want to learn?
• Why are we here?

Even if you are an obscure anti-social hermit who hates everything, you can still write about…how it’s like being an obscure anti-social hermit, the origins of your hatred and how you prefer it to be that way or how you would like to change your lifestyle and escape your dark, dull world. Regardless, there will be a group out there who will share the same interest as you. In fact, that hermit example is probably not a saturated subject and you can immediately own that niche. But I hope I don’t rank for it

The True Benefits of Blogging

Making money isn’t one of them although it’s nice to have more! Remember, this is my personal blog and I have no intentions monetizing from it. Why did I start it and why am I writing this? To me, the ultimate reward is to be able to write about anything I want. It is truly liberating because I get to pour what’s currently on my mind to this virtual diary. Another benefit is improving my writing skills. They are rusty right now but the more I write, the more I develop my writing style and voice. Being able to build a community whose members share similar interests can be rewarding as well.