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Non-monetary benefits from blogging are greater than the monetary

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This from WordPress co-founder, Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) near the end of his conversation with Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, as part of LinkedIn’s Speaker Series.

Mullenweg’s point, which he acknowledges he picked up from someone else, is that you make money because of your blog, not from your blog. The non-monetary benefits from publishing are greater than the monetary benefits of publishing, per Mullenweg.

Speaking to an audience at LinkedIn, Mullenweg used the analogy that you got a job via networking on LinkedIn. You didn’t make money from your networking on LinkedIn.

Sam Glover (@samglover) responded, via Twitter, to my post yesterday on why we lawyers blog. He acknowledged we don’t do it for the money. “At least not directly. Indirectly and eventually, sure. It can bring the money.”

Lawyers blog to enhance their reputations, to become the “go to” lawyers in their area of law and/or locale, to establish trust, to build relationships, and more.

Much like authoring a book or speaking at a conference, blogging is a reputation enhancer. You don’t make a lot of money from either (unless you’ve achieved star status). You make money because of being an author and speaking.

It takes time to reap benefits from a reputation and relationship building activity such as blogging. The money you will make because of your blogging will come in time.

Trying to monetize your blog immediately or trying to measure success as you start blogging by looking at web stats is fool hardy. We’re talking a reputation here, one that no longer takes a decade or two to earn.

Blog because you have passion, care, expertise, and a desire to share not for immediate gain. By doing so you can achieve a lifetime of significant earnings doing the type of work you love for the type of clients you want to represent.

If you 50 minutes to watch the video conversation between Mullenweg and Hoffman, it’s great. Especially via Apple TV on the big screen.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Aaron Patterson

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