I’ve watched with interest the transformation of an internet acquaintance’s blog over the past several months. In past years his blog has been, in many ways, similar to mine - intermittent family updates, pictures of the kids, occasional rants on music or politics, etc. I subscribed to the blog and enjoyed the occasional updates.

Then several months ago this acquaintance started a topical blog in earnest, then remade his personal blog as the beginning of an organized effort to try to help along the book he is writing. As I’ve followed the blog feed, I’ve seen him follow all the pro-blogger tips - posting at consistent, regular, intervals; asking questions to engage the audience; coming up with catchy titles for the posts; posting lots of multimedia; the list goes on and on. And here’s the thing: while I wish him all the best with his blog and book efforts, I find myself not interested in his blog any more. It’s no longer really about him so much as it is about his brand.

As I was thinking through this, I asked myself a question that’s a good question for all bloggers who are hoping to attract readers: “Fill in the blank: I would recommend this blog to people who are interested in _____”. The answer to that question gives you two things: (1) an idea of who to market your blog to, and (2) the type of content you should be writing to keep them coming back.

I’ll let my book-writing friend work through those questions himself; I just want to turn the question back on myself. To whom would I recommend this blog? And the best answer I can come up with is: people who are interested in me, or in many of the same things I’m interested in.

Until the day I become a massive celebrity, this will naturally keep my readership small (though it’s probably still larger than the quality of the content deserves!). And I’m OK with that - in fact, it’s sort of a relief. When I keep my expectations low, I don’t feel the pressure to serve the blog - the blog can serve me. And that’s how it should be.