I haven’t been blogging as much as I have wanted to. Considering that Edubogs is one of the largest blog networks and WordPress sites on the web, it is a shame and a bit embarrassing that I don’t practice what we preach.

I routinely give the same excuses as anyone – like a lack of time and too many competing priorities. But the truth is, fear is the real reason that I don’t blog more. Fear that nobody will be interested in what I have to say. Or worse, a fear that my ignorance will be exposed.

Imposter syndrome is strong in me.

I figure that there is strength in numbers, and hence the #EdublogsClub was born.

The #EdublogsClub is a project where a large group of educators and edtech enthusiasts are writing around the same topic or prompt each week. We’re committing to do this for the entirety of 2017. I’m all in.

My Blog Story

The first topic of the year is around sharing your blog story.

My first experiences with regularly publishing to the web came when I was teaching. I’d share daily updates on what we were learning in class and used it as a resource for my students and their parents.

Even this, with a small and defined audience, was a bit intimidating at first. I was opening myself up to more outside critique of what I was doing with my students in the classroom.

The benefits absolutely outweighed any issues. A more transparent classroom improved communication, awareness, and overall student success.

I left the classroom to join Edublogs and went from publishing for the 90 or so students I was teaching to subscriber lists that numbered in the millions. One small piece of advice, be extra careful with your spelling and grammar when the majority of your audience is English teachers!

Most of what I’ve learned about blogging has come from conversations and feedback from one of the best mentors and colleagues you could ask for – Sue Waters. She shares her story and blogging tips here.

Helpful Wins Out

We’ve published thousands of posts on a wide variety of blogs and topics for our projects. One thing we always come back to is that posts that have a specific purpose of being helpful to the reader always are the most popular and are the ones people come back to even years after they are published.

Helpful posts could include how-tos, reviews, a personal reflection or story, or simply sharing resources and links to other blogs.

So that would be the one major piece of advice to anyone starting out blogging. How can you make sure to include something helpful to your readers in posts that you write?

The Journey Continues

Through the #EdublogsClub and a personal commitment to blogging more in 2017, I’m looking forward to finding new ideas from others, sharing my experiences, and learning together.

Happy blogging!