What Is The ‘Motive’ Behind Your Blog?

Everyone is talking about blogs. Even big companies are using it. The power of blogs has grown so much. But what are these blogs used for? Blogs have evolved from digital personal diaries to powerful marketing tool and money making machine. They have increased visibility and the content often changes. Even search engines have adapted their search algorithms to include blogs. But all blogs have one thing in common – there is something which the author wants to achieve. I am not talking about the blogs with just a couple of posts, and abandoned by the author. Those which are updated often tends to have something behind the blogging.

When I started this blog, a couple of months ago, I had some objectives in mind. They are

1. To make a habit of writing.
2. To share the knowledge I have acquired.
3. To make a brand ( yes, to advertise myself )
4. To do some experiments with web hosting and blogging and marketing.

But if we see the entire blogosphere, we can see a couple of categories like:

1. Developer Blogs – These are often blogs run by some development communities and even big software giants. They provide information regarding the development of the particular product or some happenings in the development area.
2. Corporate Blogs – These blogs are having official images. In old days, there used to be a news section. But now that has been replaced by the blogs, although the difference is very less. But they provide some more interactivity.
3. Personal Blogs – These are the blogs which are authored by individuals. The topics may be anything under the sun. Most of the blogs are just online diaries. You will find a lot of them hosted in Blogger.
4. Niche Blogs – These are the blogs which handle only one topic. They try to provide very good information about that particular niche. It is very focused and is meant only for a community which likes that topic.
5. Product Blogs – These are the blogs which are meant to promote a product. They are used by new generation of web entrepreneurs who sell e-books, mp3 and other digital products.
6. Political Blogs – These blogs handle political issues specific to some area. These may be authored by some eminent personalities in politics or the issues that come up.
7. Make Money Blogs – These are the blogs which are just meant to make some money. Most of them use affiliates or pay per click schemes to generate revenue.
8. Community Blog – These are blogs which are authored by a community. Many users contribute to the content. This is a true web 2.0 concept.
9. Micro-blog – These are the blogs which are written in small number of words. Usually these blogs contain only 4-5 sentences. They are usually updated frequently.
10. Audio Blog – These are the blogs which are meant for people who love to listen, rather than reading. They are a kind of Podcasts. There are blogs which offer the audio version of its content.
11. Video Blog – As the name implies, these blogs are in the form of videos. They may be some incidents, or some lectures or tutorials.
12. Picture Blog – These are the blogs which posts only pictures. Users can comment on the pictures.

So these are some type of blogs. As I said earlier, every blog has some motive behind it. What is your motive?