Blogs are the current sweetheart of the search engine marketing world. They are natural link attractors, easy to update with new content and tend to draw quality traffic more quickly than traditional web sites. That's why many online entrepreneurs are so intrigued by them and are looking to learn more about how to get started. To that end, Performancing's Chris Garrett has a great post this week that examines the idea that blogging for dollars takes more than just...well...blogging.

From his post:

There's more to it than that, and anyone thinking about blogging would do well to read Chris's entire post, but it also got me to thinking about the bigger picture.

Chris's post is primarily about using a blog as your primary source of income...in other words, of having the blog BE your business. Among Search Engine Guide readers, it's far more common to hear about people that want to use a blog to enhance or promote their business. In fact, I wrote all about doing that very thing in the Zero Dollars, Thirty Days challenge.

What I didn't get to address during that process was a concept that is at the very base of Chris's point. You've got to LOVE what your blogging about, or you won't be able to keep it up long term. Blogging takes a tremendous amount of dedication and energy. Factor in a topic-specific blog like The Lactivist or even Search Engine Guide itself and you often find yourself sitting around going "now what?"

Bloggers and businesses that plan to get into blogging need to be prepared for this up-front and have a plan in mind to get them through the rough patches. On both Search Engine Guide and The Lactivist, I sometimes find myself sitting around, all of my resources exhausted, saying "there's absolutely nothing new to write about." That's one thing to deal with when you absolutely love blogging, it's a whole other thing to deal with when you're simply blogging for a pay check.

Blogs were born from passion, not from a desire for more cash. There's a reason for that...and there's a reason that the most passionate bloggers are the ones that last the longest.

If you're getting ready to launch a blog...either a blog as a business or a blog for your business, ask yourself what your motivation is. If it's simply to earn more money, you may find yourself better off investing your time and energy into new marketing techniques. If it's a combination of long-term earnings and a desire to really share insight and information with a community, then blog away.