Over at ProBlogger, Darren has started a great thread asking the question, would you run your blog the same way? It is an interesting question. I've enjoyed reading how many other well known bloggers answered the question. Now Darren has put the question out to all his readers. So, I thought I would take a stab at it.When I first started blogging, back in 2002, I remember the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 were still fresh on every ones mind, including mine. I'm a former United States Marine. I'd been out of the service for quite some time when the attacks happened but my sense of duty was running high. I knew I wasn't in a position to re-join my brothers, but I could be vocal about supporting them.
I was reading a copy of Java Developers Journal when I came across an article by the editor, Alan Williamson, and he mentioned a "blogging" service his company started called blog-city.com. So I did some poking around, and started my first blog. It was all about military stuff, specifically, Marines. I had a pretty good little following. It's something I discovered happens when your blog is part of a community. You tend to have a lot of readers from that community. But as time went on I expanded the blog to cover other issues, and inevitably, hosting my own blog with WordPress.
The question then, would I do it all over again, I would have to answer with a resounding yes. I've learned more over the past several years because of my association with blogs than at any other time in my life. My current blog, digitalthom.com, is going through a sort of transition. From something that was a hobby, to something that will actually make me money. I don't want to be a professional blogger like Darren, but I do think my blog can be an integral part of my business.
The things I would do differently would be to have better meta words, better content, and longer relevant posts. Something that would continue to draw people in. I've really been looking at AdSense (because there appears to be a lot of people making money), so, I'm trying to figure out the best way to implement it in my blog.
So yeah, I'd do it all over. For starters I would be a little more focused on what I know and how I can add value, but at the end of the day I'd still be doing this stuff. I'm really getting into podcasting and hope to expand my blog readership by expanding my podcasting.
Thanks Darren for giving others the opportunity to share.
