How does one go about blogging? Or, why to even blog in the first place? In this talk, I have shared some of my key learning over last 15 years of blogging

1. I blog…
therefore
I am!
Tathagat Varma
Pic: https://larnidavies.com/2012/10/25/mug-%E2%99%A5/

2. My blogging journey…
~2005
Crawl
Wrote some random stuff
using Rediff blogs, blogger,
LinkedIn Answers, etc.
~2008
Walk
Registered
http://managewell.net
(installed wordpress myself!)
and started blogging. Have
some ~150 blog posts.
Experimented a LOT with
SEO, Google PageRank, etc.
(it wasn’t worth it!)
~2014
Run
Apress (Springer)
“discovered” me! Resulted in
my first book “Agile Product
Development” (2015).
Experimented with short-
format, and several
platforms.
~2017
Fly
Blog almost exclusively on
LinkedIn in the short format
(1,300 letters!). 3-4 times a
week. Over 1,000+ blog
posts. Still don’t have a clue
how the next one will do J

3. 1. Why blog?
• Attract an audience
• Establish authority
• Build rapport and engagement
• Create opportunities
• Organize your thoughts and learn
• Tell your story
• Meet new people
• Stand out
• Validate expertise
• Make money!
• From : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-
reasons-you-should-sta_b_5326353
Pic: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/business-benefits-of-blogging/377747/

4. My experiences
• Ideas in the mind are like the tree that fell in the forest
with no one to hear it!
• When you share it, you are going out on a limb! First of,
it is testing your own courage of conviction.
• If you go with the flow, what’s point of blogging?
Sticking out is the real deal!
• So first decide, what’s your purpose? Of course, you
don’t have to write to please people either!
• That leaves you with discovering your middle ground.

5. 2. What to blog
on?
• Passion: you should have
an unquenchable thirst on
the topic, whatever that is.
• Expertise: you need to
have some level of
expertise on it.
• Relevance: does your
audience really care about
that topic?
Pic: https://blog.udemy.com/interesting-debate-topics/

6. Which one
will likely
generate
more
interest?

7. 3. How do I go about it?
• Start with what you believe in. Write down your unique
perspectives, your key insights, your bold views.
• Don’t preach. Respect your audience. But don’t be seen
as whining or seeking social approval either.
• Don’t care about using sophisticated English or a
polished well-edited blog. Best posts are simple, raw
and little edgy.
• Engage with your audience. The value of a blog post is
much more in the comments section than your own
writing! (Yes I know, very humbling!)

8. 4. Where do I
blog?
• Literally anywhere! But
choose where your
target audience
frequents
• Some popular sites:
LinkedIn, Medium,
Facebook (yes, why
not?), Huffpo, …
• Your own domain!

9. What
else?