The Importance of Blogging

I blog. In fact, this is a nearly daily ritual where I research my space, collect my thoughts, and respond using this cheap but time-consuming tool. According to Technobabble’s list of analyst bloggers, it’s done well for me, but despite the rankings, what are the tangible benefits?

1) It helps me learn: every topic I post on, someone will add additional thoughts in the comments, so more is gleaned than just me mouthing off. In fact, I get over 7 comments per post on average, so that’s at least a few more perspectives that just mine.
2) I’m still a social media practitioner: In some cases, when folks become analysts, they stop practicing and may suffer from challenges in understanding the nitty gritty. I still lead events, experiment and review tools, to me, this is a core part of what I’m about, so I won’t stop this.
3) It saves me time: I spend about 2 hours every morning with this ritual, but how does it save me time? This blog is actually an archive and reference point for me, I send links to clients, I’ve lists of the industry, and I can quickly find links, stats, and case studies.
4) It gets me business: My last two jobs, I was primarily found through my blog, and to a great degree it helped me to get my job. Charlene told me that as she often did online research, links continued to point back to me, and eventually it made sense to have a conversation.
5) It brings business: At my previous role, I brought hundreds of qualified prospects to my employer, and it’s only increased at this current company. I get a ton of emails asking for social media help, and I’m known for sending them links to existing posts, or if they need further help, I’ll ask if they want to learn more about being a client.

To me this is a career blog, a blog that will move with me from job to job. I don’t get directly paid to blog, in fact, if I stopped, I’d still get the same size paycheck. I’ll have to be honest however, a great deal of energy and effort goes into maintaining this blog at the current frequency, and it’s not easy. Like a financial plan, you’ll have to budget out time every day/week to do it, and soon it becomes a major part of your lifestyle as I constantly have a filter on when I’m consuming information to see what could be published.

Update: Carter Lusher asks in LinkedIn if you are more likely to buy from an analyst that blogs.