Talk about going viral! Bloggers everywhere are just eating this one up and blogging about it! Personally I came across it through one of my social media contacts. I was on twitter checking out what copyblogger was up to when he referred me to The Power of Blogs, which then referred me to The Tim Ferris Effect. You’re now getting it fourth hand. Let’s move on!

Unless you checked out the links in the above paragraph you’re probably wondering, “What is she talking about?” Let me sum up: The Tim Ferris Effect is Michael’s article about how one guest blog post on his friend’s very popular blog sold more of Michael’s book than traditional marketing (like being in the New York Times and on CNN), and even marketing on social media. Now that’s powerful.

The reason I am bring this to your attention however is not to say that you need to have a friend with an incredibly popular blog to have an Amazon bestseller (though it can certainly help). Rather I bring it to your attention to show you just how powerful blogging can be.

If you want to know more about what’s happening in politics you follow political blogs. If you want to know more about writing and editing, check out my blog (Wait, you’re here already…).  If you want to sway the general public’s opinion, write a blog! If you want to know who has influence in the area of your concern, hit the blogs! If you want free crochet patterns, want to know more about promoting through social media, healthy recipes, your favorite sports team, etc., etc., etc., then hit the blogs! If you want to learn more about what’s happening in the blogging world, check out social media.

As if that wasn’t reason enough to start blogging, blogs are great for multiple reasons: they are an excellent source of information, they are a great place to start writing. they can be a source of extra or foundational income, and they are powerful. Remember that.

Why the power? Because blogs attract a very specific type of audience: one that is passionate about the topic at hand. We all have our favorite bloggers in the topics that most interest us. I like (I mean that in the facebook sense, but it sometimes applies in the personal one too), follow, and subscribe to my favorite bloggers as this post is proof of. (And, if you’ve just landed on my blog, if you are passionate about the creative process of writing, then this is the perfect blog for you to subscribe to!) Blogs may only attract a small fraction of the size of the audience of CNN, but the small audience blogs do attract are passionate readers which are far more valuable because they are loyal. And a blogger with a passionate and loyal audience, one who engenders trust by providing quality content to that audience, holds influence and power, and has lots of social media fans.

And the world is just beginning to see just how powerful an individual blogging voice can be.

If you don’t have a blog yet because you’re not sure where to start, then stay tuned for next week’s Newsie about how to create your own blog.