The Blog Connection

I have over 50 blogs in my reader. I like them all. I read at least one post from all of them every week. All of them offer something I find compelling and interesting. Despite how good the content is and even the blog subjects, there are a few blogs I call favorites. These blogs are the first blogs I read everyday. I’ve put them in a “favorites” folder. I always open my favorites folder first. Within my favorites folder, there is an order in which I read them. I have a favorites of my favorites. I almost never miss a post from these blogs. I don’t read every post from all the other blogs in my reader, despite the fact that I do like them all. They are good blogs.

So, why? Why is that we read some blogs religiously and others sporadically.

Conventional wisdom will say it’s the content. It’s the subject matter. It’s the writing style. I agree, but I think it’s more than that. I think it’s a connection.

Blogs are personal. More so than a newspaper article. There is no editor white washing any personality from the story. Blogs are extensions of the authors personality. This personal element of blogging allows people to create a connection to the blog itself. It’s this connection that draws us to one blog over another despite content or subject matter.

I definitely have a connection to my favorite blogs. In some cases, the connection was created through the comments overtime. Other times it’s the authors perspective and attitude. Sometimes it is a combination. What I do know is the blogs I favorite have a personality to them that resonates with me. Like friends, it’s the personalities that draw me to them and determine how much time I want to spend with them.

I was flattered when a former employee told me that he reads my blog everyday. I have other friends and former employees who read this blog sporadically and I know I have friends and former employees who dont’ read this blog at all. It takes more than just a personal relationship to create a blog connection.

How do you create a connection with readers? You can’t.

Trying to create a connection with your readers is like trying to get the kids at the popular lunch table to like you. Either they will or they won’t. All you can do is be yourself. We’ve been trained to avoid controversy, not to offend, and not to be provocative in a public setting. Blogging is for sure a public setting. This approach does nothing to connect with readers. I constantly remind myself of this when I post. I post through my personality. I post with the conviction that this is my blog and therefore an extension of me. Some will connect with A Sales Guy and read it everyday, others will like it and read it when they remember, they rest will just come and go. I’m OK with this, because it’s exactly how I read others blogs.

What is it about one blog vs another? Why do you find yourself reading some blogs everyday, while only reading others a few days a week?

Is it a connection thing for you too?