Speaking about what interests you, what concerns you, or what you believe should be something for others to think about on a blog is personal. Bloggers give a glimpse into their thinking when they choose a topic, develop the content, and then post. It permits us to stop for a moment, read a blurb about something that we might not have thought about before in any depth and, perhaps, even contemplate the topic or share it with others.

Bloggers are learning all the time. We learn how to market and promote our blog if we want to promote it. We learn how to drive traffic to our blog, if that is what we want to accomplish. We learn how to let our blog self-feed into other aggregating web sites.  We also learn that the blogging community is not politic-free and not always the best in communicating. 

Wending our way through blog-land, we realize that not every blogger or blogging aggregator web site is willing to permit the freedom of thought and creative prose to exist. Some bloggers will actually take negative steps to push down other bloggers with something as simple as a negative comment, a negative vote on a blogging site, or a refusal to permit an RSS feed on an aggregating web site and failing to or choosing not to respond to queries.

In a perfect blogging world, individuals would strive to support one another. Blogging is a commitment to free speech, the free exchange of ideas, and the right of self-expression. Assuming that the content of a blog is not considered generally “offensive,” why not support each other and learn from one another? Even the “offensive sites,” most likely have a following which finds them inoffensive.

It seems that blogging is another part of the world that is also subject to gamesmanship, true or false rankings, and politics, which may come as a surprise to a new blogger.

So, what makes a good blog? Is it when your blog is ranked number five out of all the blogs on x,y,z, subject? Is it when people comment on your blog routinely? Is it when aggregating web sites permit your blog to appear on your page of that web site or its front page? Is it when someone “Digg’s” it? Is it when it is recognized as an authority on a particular subject?  

Your blog is successful if by writing it, you grow personally and you stretch your mind and open an internal discussion. If it is something that you can stand behind, then it should be something from which others with open minds and receptive hearts can appreciate.

You need no external validation about the success of your blog. You are a success if you have created a blog and are willing to continue to contribute to it. Plant the flowers and the bees will come. In the interim, you have pollen and you will be the stronger for it.