Buried in my archives is a post from 2008 titled “Biggest Misconceptions of Blogging” which started an interesting discussion where we shared what we learned about blogging AFTER we had spent time immersed in this hobby.
From the comments, here’s a small sampling of what bloggers said.
Today’s Lesson
George from Tumblemoose shared:
I have to say that the biggest misconception for me is that I thought I would run out of things to blog after about a week.
From Davina of Shades of Crimson:
…In the beginning I honestly believe I was writing more for myself, but somewhere along the line I’ve found myself writing for the readers….
Carla of Green and Chic stated:
…one misconception I had was that no one would ever read my blog!
Betsy from Passing Thrushared:
…Never thought it would be a way to meet new, delightful, interesting, knowledgeable and caring people….
Eliza of Silver and Grace said:
…COMMUNITY! If there was something I didn’t know about blogging going into it, it was the incredible high one gets out of interacting with fantastic people all over the globe….
Jungle of Life’s author Lance couldn’t believe:
…it [blogging] would become as “personal” as it has. And that’s in a couple of ways. One is how personal this begins to feel because of community (what many have mentioned). The other big “personal” for me has been how much I’ve allowed myself to open up to people I haven’t known at [all] that long….
Professional blogger Vered wrote:
I thought it would be mainly about writing. I didn’t know about commenting, social media and other types of networking.
John Hoff of Secure My Blog shared:
My biggest misconception was how much time it would take to maintain and grow a blog….
I think it’s common to have misconceptions about blogging and depending on where we received blogging information from prior to starting our blog, chances are, we may not have learned the blogging “truths”.
Just like the comments listed above, I also had many misconceptions.
What about you?
Today’s Assignment
What misconceptions about blogging did you have?
What surprises have you experienced along the way?
Care to share?
Hi. I'm Barbara Swafford and I'd like to welcome you to Blogging Without A Blog. Grab a seat, share your thoughts and join in the conversation. 
When we’re new to blogging, it’s not uncommon to lurk around other blogs; reading the posts and the comments, but staying silent.
The comment section of some blogs may seem personal and jumping into the conversation can feel like an intrusion, whereas other blogs feel more welcoming.
That said, leaving a comment for the first time can be scary.
Today’s Lesson
The first comment I ever left on another blog was on Problogger. I don’t remember the post I responded to, but I do recall the experience was intimidating. At the time I wasn’t aware Darren didn’t answer all of his comments, so I’d check back often to see if he replied to mine. He didn’t.
Instead, I received a comment on this blog and the comment author stated not only had I made a typo in my comment on Problogger, but by leaving the URL to this blog (in my comment), my comment appeared “spammy”.*
Yikes!
His words not only took the wind out of my sails, but for awhile I was hesitant to comment on other blogs.
Fortunately it wasn’t long before I met other new bloggers and commenting soon became second nature for me.
Reflecting back. I recall how frightening leaving comments can be.
We don’t know how our words will be received not only by the blog author but by fellow bloggers who are also reading and commenting.
Will they like what we said? Will we sound mis/informed? Did we word our comment properly? Will be be attacked for what we shared? Or did we hit “submit” only to later regret our words?
A lot of concerns can arise both before and after we comment.
But…that’s part of blogging.
Although a blogger can succeed by not leaving comments on other blogs, the interaction in comment sections can become an integral, as well as enjoyable part of the blogging experience.
Not only does practice make commenting easier, but in the process we meet our peers. Make friends. Expand our knowledge base. Challenge our brain.
What say you?
Today’s Assignment
When did you start commenting on other blogs?
If you’re a seasoned blogger, what advice would you give a new blogger who is hesitant about joining into the conversation?
If you’re new to blogging, what makes you hesitant to share your thoughts?
Care to share?
*P.S. Leaving the URL to your blog or a link to one of your posts doesn’t necessarily appear spammy. However, if a comment doesn’t address the topic of the post, but instead advises others to visit their site, both the blog author as well as those who have replied to the post, may see and/or label this type of comment as spam.