The "Use" of What We Blog

Recently, I've been seeing posts about usefulness in blogging and the necessity of sharing things with your readers that will be helpful in their day-to-day. To tell you the truth, this concept bothered me at first. Not because I don't understand why readers would be drawn to blog posts that are applicable to their own lives, but because I wasn't sure what that meant for me. I don't write about recipes or DIYs. I don't garden or make organic cleaning products. I don't even feel like enough of an expert on blogging to offer much insight to newbies. What am I left with?

I began scrolling through the daily posts of a lot of my favorite blogs, taking note of which ones piqued my interest enough to make me click on them, and very few of the topics I listed above caught my fancy. But... I did click on the posts that were related to personal growth, humorous stories and random fun stuff. I was also drawn to tips on organization, business, some style and beauty ideas, and wisdom for dealing with different life situations. Guess what? Those are the very things I enjoy writing about. Those are the topics that I always seem to have ideas for. And while they may not be useful in a "hands-on" way, I have found them very useful and encouraging in my own life, and I know other women do, too. As a matter of fact, the blog I always read is Jess Lively's. She sticks to all the topics I just mentioned and hers is one of the most successful blogs I follow.

My point is that through this little bit of introspection, I was able to pinpoint the sort of posts I love writing and gain confidence that others do enjoy reading them. Obviously, if you're a blogger, it's vital that your content be useful to your reader, but that doesn't always mean the same thing. Usefulness has different manifestations. Find the things that you enjoy reading yourself and/or are encouraged by and focus on bringing that content to your readers in a helpful way.

Do you have any thoughts on what makes a blog post useful to you?

-Song