Is it OK to Make Your Blog Confessional?
A prospective client mentioned she blogged but quit because it was too confessional. I started wondering why the confessional nature of her blog made her quit? I thought she should just quit "confessing" on it and shift the content if she had an audience. Then I wondered, should a business owner or entrepreneur "confess" anything on a blog at all. Here is my conclusion:
It depends on the nature of your business. Let's begin with that premise. Are you a counselor? Well, most counselors are not supposed to delve into their own lives so perhaps direct confessions are a no, no. Do you sell products and services? You might want to stick to the product and service world you live in. Do you write self-help or inspirational books? Ah, now we're getting into an area where a little "confession" helps your product and adds credibility to what you're talking about. When I "confess" anything on this blog it typically is with the idea that like you I am human. As a human I tend to error, but as a self-aware human I also learn from my errant ways. If I learn something of value on this journey I will call "life" then I like to share my newfound wisdom. My hope is typically two-sided: I hope to either prevent you from walking the road of my error; or I hope if you already strolled down error lane, you might just feel better about it. "Oh, she did it, too. I'm not so bad."
Confessing for a purpose is fine. Anytime you confess, in my opinion, it should be with a point. Vomiting up your secrets for public consumption should be a lesson in helping others not just purging last night's bad experience. Even venting online should have a practical and useful purpose otherwise it's just putting negative words on a blank screen with no intended usefulness. Whatever come out in e-print just be helpful in some way. If it's just a splurge of your purge, most people will grow weary of it. I can go just about any water cooler and listen to people complain. So if you're confessing make it a lesson to be learned.
It depends on the nature of your business. Let's begin with that premise. Are you a counselor? Well, most counselors are not supposed to delve into their own lives so perhaps direct confessions are a no, no. Do you sell products and services? You might want to stick to the product and service world you live in. Do you write self-help or inspirational books? Ah, now we're getting into an area where a little "confession" helps your product and adds credibility to what you're talking about. When I "confess" anything on this blog it typically is with the idea that like you I am human. As a human I tend to error, but as a self-aware human I also learn from my errant ways. If I learn something of value on this journey I will call "life" then I like to share my newfound wisdom. My hope is typically two-sided: I hope to either prevent you from walking the road of my error; or I hope if you already strolled down error lane, you might just feel better about it. "Oh, she did it, too. I'm not so bad."
Confessing for a purpose is fine. Anytime you confess, in my opinion, it should be with a point. Vomiting up your secrets for public consumption should be a lesson in helping others not just purging last night's bad experience. Even venting online should have a practical and useful purpose otherwise it's just putting negative words on a blank screen with no intended usefulness. Whatever come out in e-print just be helpful in some way. If it's just a splurge of your purge, most people will grow weary of it. I can go just about any water cooler and listen to people complain. So if you're confessing make it a lesson to be learned.
I just saw this! :)
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