I began blogging in April 2004. (I actually began writing articles and posting them on my Web site in 1998, but that was before we used the term “blogging.”) Since that time, I have posted 344 entries. At an average of 800 words per post (which, for me, is conservative), that is 275,200 words—almost four 256-page books.
Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/jallfree
During this time, I have learned a good deal about blogging. I’m sure I still have a long way to go, but I thought I would summarize what I have learned so far:
- Blogging helps me clarify my own thinking. This is probably the primary benefit of blogging for me. Sometimes I am not sure what I think about a topic until I have written on it. Writing helps me untangle my thoughts.
- Blogging has given me first-hand experience with emerging technologies. I have listened to many CEOs pontificate on this or that technology. But they are not speaking form personal experience—and it shows. When you actually use a technology, your learning and insights go to a higher level.
- Blogging has provided me with a mechanism for instant feedback. I love the fact that people can comment on what I have written. Whether the comments are good or bad, they help sharpen my thinking. As James Surowiecki said in The Wisdom of Crowds, the “many are smarter than the few.”
- Blogging has given others a “peek behind the curtain.” The publishing process is a mystery to most people. So is the life of most CEOs. Blogging pulls back the curtain and gives people a behind-the-scenes peek. Based on the emails I receive, this is consistently what most readers like about my blog.
- Blogging has given me a way to engage my employees. This is really the reason I started blogging. I wanted a way to transmit what I was learning to my colleagues. At first, I was going to do this on an internal blog. Then I decided to open it to the public. Regardless, when I am writing, I have my employees in mind first.
- Blogging has helped me bypass traditional media when necessary. I didn’t really understand this at the outset, but it has proven very helpful. When the media fail to get the story right, I can quickly address it and provide my side of the story. This has been particularly helpful when we make big decisions that cause people to speculate. A blog post can stop a rumor dead in its tracks.
- Blogging has made our company more visible. I currently have more than 25,000 readers a week. I have received scores of emails from people who had never heard of Thomas Nelson before stumbling onto my blog. Also, my blog has given me a way to “put a face on the company” and, I think, make it more personal.
Question: So, those are a few of things I have learned. If you are a blogger, what have you learned?
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I’ve been blogging since 2002 and have found much of the same things, Michael. Writing clarifies. Good writing clarifies even more.
As a non-employee, I salute your transperancy. It is refreshing and a blog can do that for a CEO, if he/she writes it personally. If the blog is written by the corporate publicist, OTOH, it comes across as phony as a $3 bill. You are obviously writing this yourself.
Thanks for making it public and letting the rest of us “peek in”!!
I’m not an expert in English, but shouldn’t the title of the post be “four years” as opposed to “four year?”
I like your blog, thanks for being so transparent.
Hi Mike, I’m a lurker here, coming out to comment. I’ve learned that for me, blogging is a way to connect with like-minded people and writers for encouragement and the sharing of ideas and information. I’ve also learned that comments or feedback can be a powerful thing. As is the lack of comments and feedback. I’ve learned not to compare my blog or the amount of comments I get with other bloggers, but to be obedient to the platform God has me on, despite the numbers. That, for me, has been the hardest lesson to learn.
15,000 a week!? Wow! That’s amazing.
Can I, um, borrow a few? ;)
Have a great week, Mike.
Rachel
@Adam: Yes, of course, you are correct! I have corrected the title. Thanks.
@Rachel: No, alas, it is only 1,323 words a week (275,200 word ÷ 208 weeks).
I, too, have learned much about myself when blogging. I appreciate your blog for its transparency.
I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said:
I don’t know what I think until I’ve said it; I don’t know what I know until I’ve written it.
Or something like that. Or maybe it was I who said it. Well, somebody said it.
I live in Japan and I always look forward to reading your blogs!!! I had the previlege of meeting you last year in Atlanta at the ICRS show in the valet parking area. I am no longer directly involved in the publishing industry, but I will continue to read and learn from your blogs as long as you post them. I wish all CEOs were “open” as you are. Thanks Mike!
@Doug: I love that quote. I agree completely with it.
I’ve been blogging off and on for a year or two but only recently started doing it more frequently (i.e. several times a week). As a writer, I’ve found blogging to be a terrific way to get my name out there, so to speak. I try to make my posts interesting as well, but the more contact I can have with my potential readers the better (I’ve written one novel which I’m shopping around as I write my second). So really, what I’ve learned:
1. As a writer it’s important to HAVE a blog or website.
2. Update it frequently.
3. Post interesting and valuable content for readers.
4. The more personal the posts are, the more comments I get. I take this to mean folks resonate better with personal posts. And I’m not talking about throwing around dirt, but really sharing from my heart, or giving advice from my own personal experience.
Your blog is a great place to visit, Michael. I especially enjoyed and benefited from your posts on conquering e-mail. I went out and bought the 4 Hour work week book as well as Getting Things Done after reading your entries here.
I too am a new author. Sold my first two books and trying to get my name out. One of my New Year 2008 committments was that I would begin blogging. It was April before I kept it, but I’m doing it and I do find I enjoy the discipline of blogging and organizing my thoughts. I also really enjoy the personal feedback in comments. It’s nice to know people care.
I started blogging when our family moved to France to be church planters. At first it was a way to connect with so many folks back home, but then it became a place of honest catharsis–about writing, culture-shock, spiritual warfare, you name it.
Now I’m the mistress of two full time blogs (one personal, one publishing related) and write as a guest on several others. I see it as a way to form connections with people.
It humbles me when someone approaches me and says, “I read your blog every day.” What a privilege.
Great post Mike. I have found #2 and #5 to be especially true!
I love your blog, Mike! Even we authors like to have a peek inside the workings of our publishing house. I learn something new all the time.
For me blogging is a way to connect with my readers, to take the pulse of their thoughts on issues, and to let them know I care about them. Besides, it’s just fun to have an online community of friends. The bloggers that comment over on our blog at Girls Write Out have become friends with a true community feel. Who would have thought? LOL
Blogging prompts me think beyond my current writing project to inspire others. Beth Vogt and I encourage beginning/intermediate writers, so we blog five days a week.
Some days I don’t want to blog, but deadlines compel me to focus, write and keep my word. Like the handle on a hand press water pump, that commitment forces me to push until I draw out creative juices.
A blog also improves the skill to think and write tight. I’m a researchaholic. Blogging is a tool—the riffled gold pan—that motivates me to shake out the research sludge, leaving behind golden nuggets.
A daily devotional blog has helped me become more disciplined in going to the Word even on hectic mornings, and staying with the Word long enough to be fed. A self-imposed space limitation has forced me to be clear and concise. Perhaps I could achieve as much with a journal, but a blog makes me more aware of the great cloud of witnesses before whom I live.
I’m a new subscriber to your blog and Twitter updates and I’m excited to comment for the first time.
For me, I also find that your Twitter updates help me to gather more subtitle information from you, which enhances your blog entries. I feel like I can simulate a CEOs life with your feedback.
This is especially important to me as a Christian, business man looking to excel to an executive position someday.
Thank you for being open.
And Mike I’ve been reading and loving all your blogs since 05. I’ve watched you change in your thought process and I think it’s made you a better listener. A lot of CEO’s don’t feel the need to listen. And who’s going to tell them otherwise.
I don’t read a lot of blogs. I’m busy and most are boring. I’ve often said most blogs are either ego trips or cheap self promotion. But you’re not some random street walker, but instead in a unique position to assure us it’s all going to be ok or at least show you’re thinking about making it ok. Certainly last week’s major publishing exit is cause for concern.
I’m readings tons of research this hour on results of media impression, persuasion, and impact. I know some print guys have a strong bias for print, but with no surprise, newspapers and magazines are coming in very low in all these ad catergories. There is a lot of clutter, blur, and uselessness in all publishing.
Remember when we’d be somewhere and hear someone say thru tears “that book changed my life.” I don’t hear that much anymore. I miss that, but think for our survival, it is a necessary next step.
@John Young: Thanks for your kind words. The truth is that I am trying to figure it out myself. The landscape is changing—rapidly.
This is why it needs to be a conversation. Different people see different things. The days of the lone CEO figuring it out from the ivory tour are gone.
Thanks again.
As a relatively new blogger (Dec 2007), I’ve learned: 1) it’s hard to always find something to write about; 2) it’s hard to find time to blog; and 3) it’s hard to establish a blog therem. At least these are hard for me.
Good post, Mike.
DAT
I’ve been writing my Exploring Adoption blog the same amount of time as you’ve been blogging Michael, and I would add a #8 to your list: Blogging gives me insights into what others are most interested in learning about my topic.
Reader e-mails, comments, and visitor stats tell all; some of my posts that get the most hits are on themes I would have never considered writing about otherwise.
I’ve had so much fun with blogging that I’ve co-founded a business that helps businesses and individuals start their own blogs. We frequently cite your blog as a great example of what a CEO blog should “look” like.
Keep up the great work!
Your blog helps me as a writer. And as a fellow blogger, I blog to untangle my thoughts too.
Loved this.
I’ve been blogging since March 2006. I have learned that sharing my thoughts about life and my walk with the Lord can actually bless others in the process.
“Blogging helps me to clarify my own thinking.”. That’s why I encourage all CEOs to start a business blog.
I think that in the future most of the CEOs will blog. Because the CEO is the best spokesperson of the company and because it helps the CEO to think about marketing strategy.
I want to point Michael’s words to all the readers in his recent comment: “The days of the lone CEO figuring it out from the ivory tour are gone.” You are right but this truth in most cases can be seen only by those CEOs, who are in real (not through market research company)touch with customers. And one of the best things to achieve this is to start a business blog.
For those CEOs I even wrote an e-book “The New Rules of Business Blog”, you can freely download it from my blog http://www.positioningstrategy.com.
When I first began writing blogs, I was so negative that when I’d review them later, it was embarrassing. Then I realized that I was writing for my own self-gratification, without consideration of how it might affect the reader. I now begin each blog with a clear idea of how I hope to make the reader’s life better in some way. And, in many ways, it has made my life better. Michael Hyatt, you do that for others. Thank you.
this is awesome. thanks for this mike!
I am still an infant in the blogging world as I started in late 2008, but I find it to be a way to ‘journal’ my thoughts and my story. I have a long way to go before being published, though! Thanks for sharing, Mike.
Well we have something in common with respect to writing. You have written for the internet and thus what you have learned is a certain wisdom that only comes with someone who is passionate about what they do.
For me I am a diarist and have been since a very young age. Although I have been on the internet for 5 years or so and have had several blogs I was never ever comfortable with writing online. But I am keeping a journal.
What I have learned about being a diarist is similar with respect to no.1 in your post. However keeping a journal [see http://www.moleskinerie.com/2008/04/the-notebooks... ] all these years makes writing easy for me just as blogging has for you.
I share this with you because I think both are important for writers over the long term with surprising results. Don't you agree?
Great post Michael. I originally started blogging in 2004 as a way to keep my family up to date on what was happening in our lives. I've since deleted that old blog and started over again about two years ago when we opened our Mission Start.
For me, it was about getting my thoughts and ideas written down and out of my head. It's a great forum to clarify ideas and find direction. I want to be a writer, and writer's write. Blogging is a great venue to practice that art and develop those skills. It's also a place to save my smaller stories that I eventually pull together for the larger picture.
In blogging, I'm learning how to point and not ramble and paint as much as I used to.
Thanks for reposting this article.
Thank you Deana! I visited your site http://deanaohara.com/ and you are going great there!
I liked your description of your use of a blog very much too in your comment to me.
As for learning, the day we stop learning we might as well give in to the couch and a bag of chips. Life without learning is not creativity in motion. That's the way I feel about what our real purpose is.
Cheers and you might want to join my group on twitter @thecalvenigroup for writers and publishers at the intersection of technology. Trying to find a better way for all and there are many voices there. Pass this along to someone you care about enough to share this blog here by Michael Hyatt as well.
#1 and #3 really hold true for me. I have been blogging for a little over a year now, and I actually just posted about my genuine need to write. It helps me figure out a lot of things; it is a great outlet for me; and it is a very healing and satisfying artform. Thanks for encouraging all of us to pursue the craft of writing.
I'm still relatively new at blogging. So I am still learning. After a year and a half I am finally beginning to get feedback and more interaction. The reasons I began blogging were to share my perspective on social media, best practices and agency culture as I see them in the insurance industry. I am striving to continue to expand my base for more interaction so that I can learn how insurance agencies are thinking about and using technology and social media. Thanks for share with us Mike.
In the 5-6 months that I have been blogging, I have realized that I am writting for me. Whether or not people decide to read it or comment, I am able to write my thoughts and clear my mind.
It has also given me a new creative outlet. I used to choose golf or playing music, and still do, but blogging gives me another way of expression.