In the past I have spoke a lot about being passionate about the subject you write about. I was thinking about this the other day as a lot of you had mentioned in comments that you would love to see me write more travel related posts.
I’ve been reluctant to do this in the past but I decided to give it a try. Yesterday I published an article about my visit to see the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio last week.
There are a few reasons why I haven’t wrote much about travel related topics on this blog in the past. Firstly, I don’t want to stray too off topic. One of the mistakes I made with this blog before was that I posted about too many different subjects. It’s the reason a lot of personal blogs fail. I posted about so many random topics that it wasn’t clear who my target audience was. I do believe that personal posts are important to a blog as it helps readers to get to know you better however I am also aware that everyone doesn’t want to read about my latest travelling antics. I could be wrong (I have been before!).
Passion vs Interest
With reference to blogging, I’ve always used the terms passion and interest interchangeably. That was a mistake. I now believe there are differences between the terms.
Take travel for example. I’m passionate about travelling. Apart from a brief 2 month trip back to Scotland in the Summer, I’ve been in South America for around a year and a half (and no plans to go home until the Summer). And in the months before coming to South America I had spent a month in Vietnam, a week in Thailand and made visits to Ireland, England, Paris, Madrid and Rome too. I love travelling. I got the bug ten years ago and I’ve been travelling actively since. I don’t think this will ever change (even when I start a family).
That doesn’t mean it’s my interest though. I read a lot and what I read is a good indication of what I’m interested in at that time. For example, when I was training 10-15 hours a week in martial arts, I went through a phase of buying lots of martial arts related books.
I’ve purchased dozens of books over the last year and downloaded many free books too. Apart from a few books to help me learn Spanish, all of my books are business related. They are all related to writing, marketing, making money on the web etc. Since returning to South American in September I have been in a new place every few days yet the only travel related book I have purchased in the last few years is the South American Handbook from FootPrint.
So travel is a passion of mine but I cannot say it is an interest. I don’t read travel books actively. I don’t read travel blogs a lot. In fact, I’ve been quite an un-organised traveller over the last year. Most of the time we arrive in a city with no accommodation booked and no real idea of what we are going to do there. It’s half the fun of travelling through a continent :)
The Need to Learn
I have read fiction books in the past but I only do so rarely now. I can see me reading more fiction if I decide to write a fiction book but generally speaking, in all the books I read I am looking to learn something. I’m an information junkie. If I buy a book for $10 and I only learn one new thing, I’m content.
I think this is part of the reason why I haven’t written travel related posts on this blog. I couldn’t bare to write about basic travel related topics now. I don’t want to write about what you should pack when travelling, things to do when travelling or mistakes you should avoid. It’s really old to me. I first went backpacking to Asia and Australia 10 years ago. There were very few travel blogs at the time but I do recall reading a lot of books about travelling at the time. I know there is a market for travel related advice and I know I could help people that are going travelling for the first time; however writing about those topics would bore me.
Writing about my own travels is something that I would enjoy and something which I could integrate into this blog. My concern is, these posts wouldn’t really be helping anyone. All I would be doing is posting pictures and telling people of what I done. Which I think is fine from time to time but I don’t want to do it too much. I’d prefer to use Twitter and Facebook for most travel related updates.
Write About Something That Interests You
Do you know why I love internet marketing? Do you know why I love blogging and making money online?
It’s because I don’t know all the answers. I probably never will.
Every year my knowledge of making money online gets deeper however I know that if I stand still for too long, I’d fall behind. It’s embarrassing to admit this but I find it exciting. I’ve been working online for 13 years now and I still see advertisements for courses and books for subjects that I know little to nothing about. There is a saying in martial arts that a black belt is just beginning. The same could be same about working online. It doesn’t matter how much money you make online, you’re never going to know everything.
That’s why I am always reading books on the subject and why I’m always trying to improve. It’s why I love writing for this blog.
I enjoy writing about all the topics that I post here and that is why I know the blog will be successful. If I start to find talking about any particular topic boring then I will stop writing about it. I’d have to, because if I find a particular subject boring it will be reflected in what I write.
I encourage you all to write about subjects that really inspire you. Subjects that you really find interesting. If you are writing articles for your blog that bore you; sell the blog, move on with your life and and start writing about something that excites you.
Life is too short to spend all day writing about things that bore us.
Kevin