Hi Dave. I started writing blogs as a hobby almost three years ago after my father had passed away as a way to stay busy and help in my healing process. Last year I was hospitalized for a month and was diagnosed wit an incurable disease called Churg Strauss Syndrome. Now I blog to raise awareness of this life altering disease. My future goals include starting a non-profit group, another blog for the non-profit and also finding a way to make a decent income online the way you and several others have over the years so that I can leave the full time job I have now and blog full time.

Lew Newmark
www.mlcss.com

Two reasons...

1.) Blogging establishes credibility for my marketing consulting services. Readers can get a feel for what I know, and what I can do for them.

2.) Blogging forces me research new marketing and advertising ideas (and it's an easier way to write a book.)

I started blogging as a way to make some things I was learning about my topic (personal finance) more concrete, and to help myself learn a bit more about the topic.

When I learned about how I could actually be making money at blogging, it slowly morphed from more of a personal journal, to something that was better optimized to making money through adsense, affiliates and a variety of other sources. I also happen to think that my writing has gotten a lot better over the year and a half that I've been writing. So it started as more of a self indulgent exercise that wasn't well suited to monetization, to something different that was more educational in nature, and that was better suited to making money.

Why did I start blogging? I started because I am in a fairly limited job market (I'm a university Registrar) and when I first got the job 15 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing - not a clue. I made it up for the first 2 years! Then I subscribed to a blog from the UK for a while but it was quite UK-centric. I don't believe it's good if no one knows what a registrar does - then it becomes too easy to cut the job in a shrinking marketplace: after all, what does a registrar do anyways? I'm not doing it for money. I'm doing it for educational purposes. I'm not marketing it too much, either. Just the odd tweet now and then. I only post about once a week. But over time, I hope to build up an archive such that people entering this world might have a resource. Pretty modest dreams for the blog, me thinks.

Grant
http://gvmcmillan.wordpress.com/

To be perfectly honest, the major factor that started me blogging was you, David, encouraging me to do so. (It's your fault. lol :) ) - Which was one of the best things anyone's ever done for me: As soon as I knew what I was doing, having found my feet as it were, I wondered why I hadn't started blogging a lot sooner.

By becoming a blogger I have blossomed more as a person; and I feel that I now can contribute more towards society in general, if people are willing to listen.

Quite obviously I'm just one voice among billions; but now I can share my knowledge, my ideas, the essence of me, (Perhaps I should market that as a perfume?) with anyone who wants to listen. - I'm another tech-blogger, a geekette: I think, talk, eat, sleep, and breathe tech... Well not quite to that extent, but yes I do love tech.

In the days before the internet I so wanted to be published; but getting published then was as easy as alchemy: Conversely, now it's as easy as typing.

Did I want to be an internet celebrity? Well that depends upon how you'd describe a celebrity: In a way I am a celebrity; as is every blogger: I'm unique. - There is no other blogger who IS me. - The same goes for all other bloggers. - 'Just that some are more popular and well-known than others.

I went into a Web 2.0 world of blogging with a Web 1.0 outlook initially; and found that it was no longer possible to put up a few banner-ads and become rich overnight. The sight of php code and the letters CSS sent me into palpatations and a cold sweat at first... But the "in at the deep-end" experience was like a baptism of fire; and faced with the choice of sink or swim I somehow managed to stay afloat with only a few lungfuls of the wet-stuff.

Er... Please do excuse me writing what amounts to an oversized autobiography on your blog. :)

To conclude then, before anyone dozes off; I want to make some kind of positive contribution to the field of technology, and blogging is the best way that I've found so far to do so.

I started blogging to have a voice in this world. When I speak, I want people to listen.

David,

Your blog was one of the reasons I was inspired to blog. I actually started with blogging for dummies to find out what this blogging thing was all about. Then started reading blogs from the book and eventually came across you blog.

After reading about how you made money while on you were on vacation I was sold on the life style and said to myself I can’t wait till the day where I can write a post like that. You can’t beat the cost to get in to this business and with enough hard work anything is possible. Countless stories of people making a nice income and working for themselves in less then 3 years. That’s my goal.3 years plan to replace my current income and walk away from my corporate job.

The money hasn’t come in for me yet but I know it will come. I have made progress every month, I continue to learn and grow. I connect with like minded people everyday. I am becoming a better writer. I enjoy doing this it is the first time I started something and really treated it a s true business. I just wish I could do it full time. I look forward to that day.

If anyone wants to learn more about my blog click on my name, my intent of The Money Cult is to be a bridge between newbie’s and guru’s. I share success stories of newer less know blogger’s that I come across and promo trusted guru’s like yourself. No crap here just real experiences.

Thanks for letting us share on your site.

With my first blog it was to start a conversation with my current customers and get new ones. Its still doing both well.
With my second one its to show others how to do the same thing.

I got into blogging to earn an income by trying to enrich people's lives.I also wanted to get my name out there a bit to find other like-minded people. It's working so far. :)

I initially started blogging mainly so that I could drop links to projects I was currently working on, the more I did it though, the more I found I enjoyed sitting writing about things that were happening around me.

Basically, I like to just sit and write whatever comes in to my head at the end of the day, often this is complete rubbish, the spelling is atrocious, and punctuation non existent, but that is the beauty of it.

I often go through complete blank periods though, but when this happens I pick my camera up, drive of somewhere for a few hours, come back with 100's of photos and the inspiration to write again.

I blog because I want exposure. The blog is the cyber equivalent of a store front on a street. Once you have people frequenting your blog, you can put anything in the "window" of interest. Just like people walking by a store front on a busy street. The key to a good blog is to make it interesting and informative so people will keep coming back

I started blogging so that I could share my photographs with the world.

I've always been a fan of the internet - I have always socialized online, and have met many great people on here.
Blogging for me is another avenue to interact and share knowledge with individuals with similar goals and interests.

I began blogging to share my experience planning a dream trip around the world. That was on January 1, 2007. I spent those first 11 months building relationships with other new travel bloggers, and then took off on my trip for 20 months! Slowly, my audience grew, and I found that writing from abroad, as I discovered new countries and cultures, became part of the whole travel experience.

I could not separate blogging/writing from the traveling. To do one without the other would've taken something away from my experience. Very strange - and not at all what I expected. Being able to make money from advertising as a result, was a bonus.

Now that I'm back home, I've switched to a magazine-style format, and am still going strong. My blog is listed atop my revised resume, and I hope to make a career change in the direction of online content management/travel writing/editing as a result.

I started my first blog as a means of expression and I still enjoy that blog for that reason. I started my second blog as a means of making information available to customers of my website.

I started blogging because i needed a place to share my thoughts, what i know and how i can help people. Before i started blogging, i had loads of things written in many books. Blogging served as a means to save books and get those things across to people.

That was why i started blogging

I started blogging because I couldn't find a blog anywhere that suitably addressed the concept of leadership as it relates to family. I've been reading on the topic for years and just had to let some of it out before my brain exploded.

I blog because I have to!

Writing is an integral part of who I am as a person. Blogging provides a natural outlet for this drive.

I have no idea what will come after blogging, but whatever it is, I'm sure I'll be writing in that form as well.

I took the leap because I've been involved with computers for so long that I wanted a means of continuing my love affair with them well into my retirement years. I see blogging as my last career. This is both big fun for me and a tool to generate an income, while continuing to ride the technology wave. The challenges of blogging is also something that I enjoy.