Sometimes when we’re alone, we come across something that stops us in our tracks: a poster that raises your eyebrow, a mug with a funny quote that’s perfect for your bestfriend, or a used condom right in the middle of the street. There’s that feeling of wanting to share this with someone.

Thirty years ago, you’d either wait until you see whoever you want to share it to, or wait until you find a phone.

Twenty years ago, you had the option to send a terse message via a pager.

Ten years ago, you were able to send it instantly from your mobile.

Now, with a couple of taps and clicks, you can send it for all the world to read, see, or even hear.

The way we disseminate information now is almost instantenous and can reach a much wider audience. The question now is — do people really want to know about it?

“Hi, I’m Nina. My passions are travel, dolls and little boys.”

That’s how I introduced myself at the Blog and Soul Visual Storytelling Workshop last week. The words slipped from my lips nonchalantly, knowing that the people in the room will get my humor. If this was a workshop with strangers, I wouldn’t say what I said then, for fear of being branded a pedophile.

We always strive to make a good first impression, and it has to extended to our blogs. It’s not just through the themes or the super awesometastic domain name you got, but it’s also through the entries we post. I may not be the best blogger, but I am a blog reader. I know which blogs capture my interest with just a few words and gets me clicking and clicking through their archive, poring through each article, wondering why I never discovered it sooner.

That’s the kind of reaction you want to get from the visitors that stumble into your blogs. The way I see it, there are two challenges facing the blogger: getting casual browsers to stay and converting them into readers/subscribers, and; getting these readers/subscribers to keep reading the drivel you put out in your blog.

Through the years, I have subscribed to hundreds of blogs: personal blogs to keep track of friend’s lives, industry blogs to keep abreast of what’s happening and blogs that reflect my interests. The number has dwindled as time passed, mainly due to my changing tastes.

If I look at my current RSS subscription list, I can count the number of blogs whose entries I read from beginning to end. I am still a subscriber, but as time pass, their writing fails to enchant me now. It’s not enough to lure people with your catchy titles and pretty pictures; you have to keep them interested with your words.

Blogging is writing. It’s the well thought off blog posts that gets readers, and it’s your personality that gets them to stay (or leave, depending on how despicable you are).