Also have recently started my first external (non-tech/work related) blog – http://goingtobeadaddy.blogspot.com/. Early days, but using this to try and develop my writing skills before attempting on other topics.

As for “why”, most people I talk to want to spread knowledge about Oracle, so making money isn't a thought. Frankly, it's way to hard to make money blogging anymore b/c of longstanding blogs like TC.

You're right about the body of work. Traffic is fickle and so are readers. If you can keep it up over time and build a loyal audience, you win.

I think the most significant consideration is the motivation aspection you mentioned: *why* you want to blog. I'm finding many people (myself included) do it for ill-conceived reasons like “a quick way to make money.”

My other thought is that while it's possible any single post has the potential to generate a lot of traffic, the best blogs are ones that have endured over time so patience is needed. A blog won't be remembered by a single post or even several posts; it's the overall body of work that's important, it's kind of like a comic strip in that sense.

That's how I see it, anyway.

However, you and your blog deserve more credit for being there way before we got there. Your XMLP/BIP blog is probably the longest running and most successful Oracle product development blog as far as as I know. You've been around so long that we're taking you for granted.

So, good on ya. We're all in your shadow.

I want to tap that keg.

+1 on consumption by Reader and Twitter. I've dropped out of FF completely due to noise, and I use Twitter for messaging more than information anymore. It's seriously hard to filter out the noise.

Much to my surprise, I was converted from the occasional considered blog post to a stream of < 140 character, inane drivel.

Twitter/FriendFeed/gReader has consumed me almost completely so my blog is almost forgotten now although I still get the occasional inspiration for decent content that doesn't fit (i.e. too long) for FF/Twitter/Jaiku.

But my point is that I am (almost always) now merely reacting to other content rather than creating original content.

It is now a real effort to compose a blog post. And that is a real shame.

As blogs become mature as sources for information for everyone else, it becomes much harder to know what will be successful, which is why knowing your audience is critical. Poorly written posts that have great technical content can succeed, but so can interesting posts with very little content. As more people read, the success factors are not as predictable anymore.

I think you're both onto something about Twitter. The 140 character limit makes it impossible to tell who can and can't write, assuming you get to it at all.

However, after a while I realised the reason I enjoyed blogging was precisely because I enjoyed writing. It helped that a handful of people enjoyed reading it but that was almost secondary.

As a weirdo who has multiple blogs, Twitter (recently deceased) and accounts on Tumblr, Reader, Disqus Jaiku and FriendFeed (all active), I dispute your asssertion that 'Twitter is for people who can't blog'.

They are all valid outlets. Anyone is free to choose to use one, many, none or all.

@Jake: Sometimes a little encouragement helps too. I was prodded into blogging by Jake and Sagar. I am not as prolific a blogger as Jake is, but that is just because Blogging Is Hard.

Blogs are still very much in the now for a lot of the enterprise folks who ask me for advice. The content locked away in people's heads should get out into the world, for Google to find and distribute to users.

The conversation is well and truly fragmented (TM).